ON SNAKES. 



281 



In days gone by, they tell us, that a king of 

 Elis, kept three thousand oxen in one stable, which 

 bad not been cleaned out for the space of thirty 

 years. The stench becoming insupportable, a well- 

 known man, by the name of Hercules, contracted 

 with the king to clear away the filth. Finding the 

 job more than he could manage, he turned the 

 river Alpheus through it, and succeeded admirably. 



Would, that some modern contractor could be 

 found, to scour our own departments in zoology. 

 But, if he be engaged, and clean water be required, 

 he must not come into our manufacturing districts 

 to look for it. The rivers there, (that of once 

 merry Wakefield to wit,) have now become so 

 filthy and polluted, that, on looking at the stream, 

 you might fancy, it had its source from under 

 graves, and charnel houses. 



In taking a retrospective view of what I have 

 written on the nature and habits of snakes, as it 

 differs widely from the accounts which we have 

 already received, I really hesitate to lay these notes 

 before the public. May the following little adven- 

 ture assist me in obtaining the reader's confidence. 



It took place some three or four years ago, in 

 the rich and smoky town of Leeds. 



There lived in the interior of the United States, 

 a country blacksmith by name Vangordon. One 



