THE SERPENT. 



423 



terrified imagination, appeared like the mo- 

 dons of the animal that wounded him. A 

 fever ensued ; the loss of his hair, giddi- 

 ness, drought, weakness, and nervous faint- 

 ings ; till, by slow degrees, a very strong 

 habit overpowered the latent malignity of the 

 poison. 



Several remedies have been tried to alleviate 

 this calamity. A decoction of the Virginian 

 snake-root is considered as the most effectual ; 

 and at the same time the head of the animal, 

 bruised and laid upon, the part affected, is 

 thought to assist the cure. In general, how- 

 ever, it is found to be fatal : and the Indians, 

 sensible of this, take care to dip their arrows 

 in the poison under the rattle-snake's fangs, 

 when they desire to take a signal revenge of 

 their enemies. 



Thus much concerning this animal is agreed 

 upon by every naturalist : there are other cir- 

 cumstances in its history, which are not so 

 well ascertained. And first, its motion, which 

 some describe as the swiftest imaginable ; 

 asserting, that its Indian name of Ecacoalt, 

 which signifies the wind-serpent, implies its 

 agility : others, on the contrary, assert that it 

 is the slowest and the most sluggish of all 

 serpents ; and that it seldom moves from one 

 place. In this opposition of opinions, there 

 are others, who assert, that on even ground it 

 moves but slowly ; but then, among rocks, 

 lhat it goes at a great rate. If we may argue 

 from analogy, the opinion of those who con- 

 tend for its slow motion, seems the most pro- 

 bable ; as the viper, which it so very much 

 resembles, is remarkable among serpents for 

 its inactivity. 



It is said also by some, that the rattle-snake 

 has a power of charming its prey into his 

 mouth ; and this is as strongly contradicted 

 by others. The inhabitants of Pennsylvania 

 are said to have opportunities of observing 

 this strange fascination every day. The 

 snake is often seen basking at the foot of a 

 tree, where birds and squirrels make their 

 residence. There, coiled upon its tail, its 

 jaws extended, and its eyes shining like fire, 

 the rattle snake levels its dreadful glare upon 

 one of the little animals above. The bird or the 

 squirrel, whichever it may be, too plainly per- 

 ceives the mischief meditating against it; and 

 hops from branch to branch, with a timorous 

 plaintive sound, wishing to avoid, yet incapable 

 of breaking through the fascination : thus it 

 continues for some time its feeble efforts and 

 complaints, but is still seen approaching lower 

 and lower towards the bottom branches of the 

 tree, until, at last, as if overcome by the po- 

 tency of its fears, it jumps down from the tree 

 dj rectly into the throat of its frightful destroyer. 1 



' The power said to be possessed by the Rattle-suake 



In order to ascertain the truth of this story , 

 a mouse was put into a large iron cage, where 

 a rattle-snake was kept, and the effects care- 

 fully observed. The mouse jremained motion- 

 less at one end of the cage ; while the snake, 

 at the other, continued fixed, with its eye gla- 

 ring full on the little animal, and its jaws 

 opened to their widest extent : the mouse lor 

 some time seemed eager to escape ; but every 

 effort only served to increase its terrors, and to 

 draw it still nearer the enemy ; till, after se- 

 veral ineffectual attempts to break the fascina- 

 tion, it was seen to run into the jaws of the 

 rattle-snake, where it was instantly killed. 



To these accounts the incredulous oppose the 

 improbability of the fact : they assert, that 

 such a power ascribed to serpents, is only the 

 remnant of a vulgar error, by which it was 

 supposed that serpents could be charmed, and 

 had also a power of charming. They aver, 

 that animals are so far from running down the 

 throat of a rattle-snake in captivity, that the 

 snake will eat nothing in that state, but actu- 

 ally dies for want of subsistence. 



A serpent, called the Whip-snake, is still 

 more venomous than the former. This ani- 

 mal, which is a native of the East, is about 

 five feet long, yet not much thicker than the 

 thong of a coachman's whip. It is exceed- 

 ingly venomous; and its bite is said to kill in 

 about six hours. One of the Jesuit mission- 

 aries, happening to enter into an Indian pa- 

 goda, saw what he took to be a whipcord lying 

 on the floor, and stooped to take it up ; but, 

 upon handling it, what was his surprise to find 

 that it was animated, and no other than the 

 whip-snake, of which he had heard such for- 

 midable accounts : fortune, however, seemed 

 favourable to him, for he grasped it by the 

 head, so that it had no power to bite him, and 

 only twisted its folds up his arm. In this 

 manner he held it, till it was killed by those 

 who came to his assistance. 



To this formidable class might be added the 

 Asp, whose bite, however, is not attended with 

 those drowsy symptoms which the ancients as- 

 cribed to it. The Jaculus of Jamaica also is 

 one of the swiftest of the serpent kind. The Hse- 

 morrhois, so called from the haemorrhages which 

 its bite is said to produce; the Seps,* whose 



of fascinating its prey, has been the theme of many an 

 astonishing tale, and the possession of this faculty is still 

 believed hy many. There is no doubt that the smaller 

 animals on which the reptile subsists are alarmed in the 

 presence of their known enemy, and that fear may 

 cause them to lose their self-possession, and thus they 

 are more readily seized by their cunning opponent. 



* The Seps. This word, which comes from a Greek 

 word, signifying to corrupt, was used by the ancients to 

 designate an animal which some considered a lizard and 

 others a serpent. 



The Seps is no longer considered to be a lizard, nei- 

 ther is it quite a serpent. Its Jftugtbened body giVos, at 



