AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



35 



places. In some spots the council-fire seems to have been 

 suddenly extinguished, and the yell and the war-whoop 

 to have immediately succeeded. Near the summit of one 

 of our hills there is a number of Indian graves, in which 

 the bodies seem to have been interred singly, and in the 

 modern style of sepulture. 



These few anecdotes will be sufficient to demonstrate 

 the wonderful changes which often occur in some parts of 

 our country, even when uninfluenced by peculiar local 

 advantages, or by the all-pervading stimulus of commer- 

 cial speculation. The same individual might have here 

 seen the same spot of earth, at one time a wild forest, 

 the haunt of the Indian and the resort of beasts of prey, 

 and at another the site of a flourishing town, and a distin- 

 guished abode of science and the liberal arts. Along the 

 same path where he once pursued the deer, the bear, and 

 the panther, he might now on either side behold the com- 

 modiousdwellings of a refined society, and spacious temples 

 devoted to a pure religion. He might have seen the wily 

 Indian paddling his rude canoe gently over the surface of 

 our creek, to surprise his game in the tangled brake, where 

 now he hears the ceaseless splashing of the mill wheel, or 

 beholds the highly cultivated field rich with the golden 

 harvest. In a word, " he might here have seen all the in- 

 termediate stages through which a people pass, from the 

 most simple to the highest degrees of civilization." How 

 important, then, is it if we wish to preserve accurate anec- 

 dotes of our early history, to seize upon all existing facts, 

 and all present authentic reminiscences, before every ves- 

 tige of the past is hurried to hopeless oblivion. 



On some of the Reptiles of our neighbourhood. 



No department of the animal kingdom has furnished so 

 much amusement to my leisure hours, as the class called 

 Reptilia; and in the vast assemblage of animals grouped 

 by naturalists under this name, those familiarly known by 

 the name of the Tortoise, have been peculiarly interesting. 

 Count De Cepede happily remarks, "that the tortoise 

 has every where been the type of laziness; that it has fur- 

 nished the philosophers with speculations, the poet with 

 images, and the vulgar with proverbs." The lover of na- 

 ture will frequently meet with much obloquy from the ig- 

 norant, and will sometimes be thrown into a little diffi- 

 culty in consequence of his favourite pursuit. On one 

 occasion, while searching for these animals in the neigh- 

 bourhood of a remote, unfrequented town, my motions 

 through the woods, and along the streams, were narrowly 

 and secretly watched, and on returning to the village, 

 while sitting at the tea-table, with one of the officers of the 

 peace and his family, the judge was called from the par- 



lour to make out a warrant for my apprehension, the in- 

 former testifying that I was a suspicious person, — that he 

 had seen, in my room at the inn, a number of vials of 

 " poticary stuff," and that I had been lurking in the fields 

 and woods after no good. Th.e judge could scarcely pa- 

 cify him by acknowledging me as his friend, and by stat- 

 ing that my visit was to analyze their mineral waters, and 

 to search for natural objects. 



The American tortoises, both land and aquatic, are quite 

 numerous, and have as yet been but very imperfectly de- 

 scribed. The species which inhabit the streams in the 

 immediate vicinity of our town, are probably seven in 

 number. The Testudo Pennsylvania, and T. odorata, 

 (Kinosternon,) I have not seen, though I am informed that 

 they inhabit our ditches and muddy streams. The Tes- 

 tudo Punctata, or Guttata, (Emys.) is not very common, 

 and rarely reaches the length of three inches. The Tes- 

 tudo Picta, is also small, and not often seen. Major Le 

 Conte observes of this animal, " that it is always found 

 in ponds, and never in streams of running water. Here 

 they may be seen in great numbers, basking in the sun, 

 on rocks or logs, and plunging instantaneously into the 

 water on the approach of any one." The above remark 

 of this accurate and experienced observer of nature, is no 

 doubt true in general, but I have seen and captured the 

 Punctata and the Picta, on the same spot, in one of our 

 clear running streams of water. These two species are 

 perhaps the most beautiful of our tortoises; their colours 

 and markings are striking and peculiar; in young speci- 

 mens, these are the most brilliant and well defined. The 

 Testuda Serpentina, {Chelydra,) inhabits our creek, and 

 reaches a very considerable size. It is the most irritable, 

 furious, and voracious of reptiles; it snaps at every thing, 

 and will not "let go its hold even when the head is sepa- 

 rated from the body." It is often very destructive to our 

 3'oung ducks, seizing them, as Mr. Say remarks, by the 

 feet, and dragging them under water for the purpose of 

 devouring them; in its turn, however, it is eaten by our 

 villagers, with great gout, forming, as everyone knows, a 

 most delicious and nutritive soup. The Testudo Geogra- 

 phica, {Emys.) I have not, as yet, been able to detect in 

 our creek; but I captured a small one in the Ohio, not far 

 from its junction with that river.* The tail was destitute 



* I take this opportunity to describe a fine shell found last summer near 

 the banks of the Ohio, some distance lower down, by Mr. W. T. R. Smith, 

 a young limner of great promise, and which he kindly presented to me. 



Helix Pomum-adami. — Shell, reddish-brown, with a metalliferous hue, 

 lighter round the base ; spire, convex ; whorls, eight or nine, with regular 

 elevated transverse lines, forming deep grooves between them ; sutures, deep, 

 aperture rather narrow ; lip, not reflected ; within the aperture on the outer 

 lip, there are two parallel white teeth, the upper one is broad, flattened, rfnd 



