18 RemarTcs hi Defence of the Author 



But he does not recollect whether in this instance it was 



a rattle snake or not." 



3d. General Gibson, the Commissary General of our 

 army has also assured me that he has seen the rattle 

 snake upon hushes and upon the top rail of fences. He 

 likewise stated a case In which he saw a rattle snake in 

 the fork of a tree about eight feet from the ground, coiled 

 and at rest. The tree stood by itself and the diameter of 

 its trunk was upwards of one foot. He knocked the snake 

 out of the fork and killed it. I could cite many other 

 cases, " but I prefer hmiting myself to these^ as I am 

 personally acquainted with the gentlemen named, and 

 received their stories from their own mouths." 



^^ Now after these facts I cannot suppose that any rea- 

 sonable man will doubt the ability of the rattle snake to 

 climb. Both Generals Jessup and Gibson are well ac- 

 quainted with this snake, and good observers and fond of 

 the woods. The latter particularly so, being now one of 

 our most expert sportsmen, and has been during his life 

 stationed in almost every State of our Union. He is also 

 particularly attentive to the habits of the animals which 

 In the course of his amusement, he seeks either to obtain 



or to destroy." 



I am in possession of unpublished certificates (of a 

 similar character with the above,) from Dr. Cooper, re- 

 cently President of the South Carolina College, and 



others. 



That the rattle snake sometimes takes to the water, 

 and is found a considerable distance from the shore in salt 

 water is a fact now fully established. Dr. Leitner, a 

 German botanist, now residing in this city, and on whose 

 veracity the fullest reliance can be placed, authorizes me 

 to state, that In exploring the Florldas during the last 

 summer, he met with a rattle snake crossing Tampa 



