THE SNAKE. 



207 



their boles, and stepped from branch to branch, 

 every now and then getting an imperfect sight of the 

 snake. Sometimes I headed him, and sometimes I 

 was behind him, as he rose and sank, and lurked in 

 the muddy water. During all this time, he never 

 once attempted to spring at me, because I took care 

 to manoeuvre in a way not to alarm him. At last, 

 having observed a favourable opportunity, I made a 

 thrust at him with the lance ; but I did it in a bun- 

 gling manner, for I only gave him a slight wound. I 

 had no sooner done this, than he instantly sprang at 

 my left buttock, seized the Russia sheeting trousers 

 with his teeth, and coiled his tail round my right 

 arm. All this was the work of a moment. Thus 

 accoutred, I made my way out of the swamp, while 

 the serpent kept his hold of my arm and trousers 

 with the tenacity of a bulldog. 



As many travellers are now going up and down 

 the world in quest of zoological adventures, I could 

 wish to persuade them that they run no manner of 

 risk in being seized ferociously by an American 

 racer snake, provided they be not the aggressors : 

 neither need they fear of being called to an account 

 for intruding upon the amours of the rattlesnake 

 (see Jameson's Journal for June, 1827), which 

 amours, by the way, are never consummated in the 

 manner there described. The racer's exploits must 

 evidently have been invented long ago, by some 

 anxious old grandmother, in the back woods of the 

 United States, to deter her grandchildren from stray- 

 ing into the wilds. The account of the rattlesnake's 

 amours is an idle fabrication as old as the hills. When 



