RATTLE-SNAKE. 
76 
to kill the snake, which he carried home, and, 
throwing it upon the ground, told them that he was 
killed, and that the snake was his murderer. In 
such an extremity no time was to be lost, and olive 
oil, the remedy nearest at hand, was immediately 
applied to. His arm, which was beginning to swell, 
was tied up near the shoulder, and the wound well 
rubbed with the oil. By the help of this applica- 
tion, and every other that could be thought of, a 
stop was put to the infection, and his constitution 
so far got the better of the poison that he at length 
recovered ; but not without feeling the most various 
and dreadful symptoms for several weeks together. 
The gentleman, who wrote this account himself to 
Mr. Collinson, says, that his arm below the ligature 
appeared of many colours, with a writhing among 
the muscles, which to his terrified imagination ap- 
peared like the motions of a snake under the skin. 
After the swelling of his arm had considerably sub- 
sided, he was attacked by a fever, attended with de- 
lirium and great weakness ; from all which, how- 
ever, he recovered, though he tells us that his hand 
and arm were covered with spots, which continued 
all the summer. 
The Indians sometimes succeed, in slight cases, 
by sucking the wound : they consider this method 
as very successful, but at the same time tell you, 
very gravely, that the person who is thus recovered 
will annually feel the pains return at the time he 
was bit. Among the remedies which they chiefly 
rely on, according to Catesby, and which most of 
