( 6>7 ) 
it, agreeable to his Dream, but this not dire&Iy relating to Na- 
tural Philofophy, I omit the Particulars, tho’ the Relation 
Teems to be well atteftedv 
The following Letter Tent likevvife to Mr. Waller, treats 
chiefly of the Rattle-Snake, hinting at the occafton of its Name, 
from the Rattles in its Tail, in which he lays are fometimes 
twenty of thofe loofe Rings, tho’ he does not come in with 
the Opinion, that one is added every Year. Next follow thefe* 
Obfervarions. That the more Northerly they travel, thefe 
Snakes are lefs numerous, as well as lefs venomous ; nor as it 
is laid, are any Teen to the North of Mer smack River, which- 
is about 40 miles North of Boflon. Here he relates a Story, 
as he fays, conflantly affirmed by the Indians, that thefe Snakes 
frequently lie coiled at the Bottom of a great Tree, with their 
Eyes fixed on Tome Squirril above in the Tree; which tho’ 
feeming by his cries and leaping about, to be in a Fright, yet 
at laft runs down the Tree, and into the Jaws of the Devou- 
rer. Then he relates, that the Winter aboad of thefe Snakes 
is in the Clefts of inacceffible Rocks, from whence in the 
Spring, they come forth a Sunning themfelves, at firft very 
feeble, which is their chief time of deftroying them. At this 
time the Cyfiis or Gall bladder in thefe Snakes is full of an 
acid azure coloured Tuice, which they fqueeze out into 
a Glafs, but it is fo Spirituous, that if the Glafs be 
not immediately flopt, it will foon evaporate; this Li- 
quor therefore they mix with a convenient quantity 
of powder’d Chalk or Indian Meal, and ufe it as a pro- 
per Medicine againft the- venemous Bite of this Snake; fome 
have named it Trochifci Qonmtticotianl, from the Conne&icoc 
Colony. ’Tis obfervable when the Summer Heats come on, 
the Snakes have no longer this azure Liquor in their Gall- Blad - 
ders, in which there is only found a black thick Sediment, 
of no known ufe, at which time they think the foremenrio- 
ned fpirituous Juice is carried to,* and lodged in their Gums, 
and fo conveyed or thrown by the hollow of the Teeth into - 
the Wound, when they. Bite, having received another Dige*. 
ftion* . 
