380 FORTY-POUE YEARS OP 



away after losing its skin, it moved by means of its ril)s, 

 like those large worms which frequent old stables. 



I was once on the Yough. River with Mr. Jeremiah 

 Casteel, when, seeing something crossing the stream above 

 us, being in a canoe, we paddled up to it, and found it to 

 be a rattlesnake. We pushed our canoe close to its snake- 

 ship ; but when it discovered that it was our intention to 

 assault it, it prepared for battle, and gave notice that it 

 was as good on water as on land. It coiled itself up on 

 the water, inflated its body with air, and there laid, as 

 light as a bubble, holding its rattles high up from the 

 water, and rattling as well as if it had been on land. Not 

 thinking it could jump on the water, I was in the fore-part 

 of the canoe, holding the paddle in my hand to strike with, 

 when, just as I was drawing off to give the snake a blow, 

 it made a pitch at the canoe ; but as it came 1 struck it 

 with a paddle, barely checking it. I then made another 

 blow at it, disabling it slightly, caught it with the end of 

 the paddle, and pushed it down to the bottom of the 

 stream. 



I held it under the water long enough, as I thought, to 

 drown anything ; but when I allowed it to rise again, it 

 was as fresh as when I first put it down. I held it under 

 another term ; but to no purpose ; for it was the same 

 thing still, and I could not see that my strokes of the pad- 

 dle were doing it any harm : it seemed as if the water had 

 restored the snake to its former strength and vigor. When 

 I found that it could not be drowned, I took my paddle 

 edgewise and aimed a heavy blow across its neck, which 

 put an end to its resistance. 



It would appear that rattlesnakes can neither be readily 

 choked to death nor drowned. Once, when a boy, I was 

 going on an errand to a place about two miles distant, and 

 near my Irome I found a rattler. Quickly procuring « 

 piece of bickory bark, I made a noose, tied the bark to » 



