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10: On Snakes; and On the Humming Bird
<< 9: Description of Charles-Town; Thoughts on Slavery; on Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene || 11: rom Mr. IW—N AL—Z, A Russian Gentleman; Describing the Visit He Paid at My Request to Mr. John Bertram, the Celebrated Pennsylvanian Botanist >>
Why would you prescribe this task; you know that what we take up
ourselves seems always lighter than what is imposed on us by others.
You insist on my saying something about our snakes; and in relating
what I know concerning them, were it not for two singularities, the
one of which I saw, and the other I received from an eye-witness, I
should have but very little to observe. The southern provinces are
the countries where nature has formed the greatest variety of
alligators, snakes, serpents; and scorpions, from the smallest size,
up to the pine barren, the largest species known here. We have but
two, whose stings are mortal, which deserve to be mentioned; as for
the black one, it is remarkable for nothing but its industry,
agility, beauty, and the art of enticing birds by the power of its
eyes. I admire it much, and never kill it, though its formidable
length and appearance often get the better of the philosophy of some
people, particularly of Europeans. The most dangerous one is the
pilot, or copperhead; for the poison of which no remedy has yet been
discovered. It bears the first name because it always precedes the
rattlesnake; that is, quits its state of torpidity in the spring a
week before the other. It bears the second name on account of its
head being adorned with many copper-coloured spots. It lurks in
rocks near the water, and is extremely active and dangerous. Let man
beware of it! I have heard only of one person who was stung by a
copperhead in this country. The poor wretch instantly swelled in a
most dreadful manner; a multitude of spots of different hues
alternately appeared and vanished, on different parts of his body;
his eyes were filled with madness and rage, he cast them on all
present with the most vindictive looks: he thrust out his tongue as
the snakes do; he hissed through his teeth with inconceivable
strength, and became an object of terror to all by-standers. To the
lividness of a corpse he united the desperate force of a maniac;
they hardly were able to fasten him, so as to guard themselves from
his attacks; when in the space of two hours death relieved the poor
wretch from his struggles, and the spectators from their
apprehensions. The poison of the rattlesnake is not mortal in so
short a space, and hence there is more time to procure relief; we
are acquainted with several antidotes with which almost every family
is provided. They are extremely inactive, and if not touched, are
perfectly inoffensive. I once saw, as I was travelling, a great
cliff which was full of them; I handled several, and they appeared
to be dead; they were all entwined together, and thus they remain
until the return of the sun. I found them out, by following the
track of some wild hogs which had fed on them; and even the Indians
often regale on them. When they find them asleep, they put a small
forked stick over their necks, which they keep immovably fixed on
the ground; giving the snake a piece of leather to bite: and this
they pull back several times with great force, until they observe
their two poisonous fangs torn out. Then they cut off the head, skin
the body, and cook it as we do eels; and their flesh is extremely
sweet and white. I once saw a tamed one, as gentle as you can
possibly conceive a reptile to be; it took to the water and swam
whenever it pleased; and when the boys to whom it belonged called it
back, their summons was readily obeyed. It had been deprived of its
fangs by the preceding method; they often stroked it with a soft
brush, and this friction seemed to cause the most pleasing
sensations, for it would turn on its back to enjoy it, as a cat does
before the fire. One of this species was the cause, some years ago,
of a most deplorable accident which I shall relate to you, as I had
it from the widow and mother of the victims. A Dutch farmer of the
Minisink went to mowing, with his negroes, in his boots, a
precaution used to prevent being stung. Inadvertently he trod on a
snake, which immediately flew at his legs; and as it drew back in
order to renew its blow, one of his negroes cut it in two with his
scythe. They prosecuted their work, and returned home; at night the
farmer pulled off his boots and went to bed; and was soon after
attacked with a strange sickness at his stomach; he swelled, and
before a physician could be sent for, died. The sudden death of this
man did not cause much inquiry; the neighbourhood wondered, as is
usual in such cases, and without any further examination the corpse
was buried. A few days after, the son put on his father's boots, and
went to the meadow; at night he pulled them off, went to bed, and
was attacked with the same symptoms about the same time, and died in
the morning. A little before he expired the doctor came, but was not
able to assign what could be the cause of so singular a disorder;
however, rather than appear wholly at a loss before the country
people, he pronounced both father and son to have been bewitched.
Some weeks after, the widow sold all the movables for the benefit of
the younger children; and the farm was leased. One of the
neighbours, who bought the boots, presently put them on, and was
attacked in the same manner as the other two had been; but this
man's wife being alarmed by what had happened in the former family,
despatched one of her negroes for an eminent physician, who
fortunately having heard something of the dreadful affair, guessed
at the cause, applied oil, etc. and recovered the man. The boots
which had been so fatal, were then carefully examined; and he found
that the two fangs of the snake had been left in the leather, after
being wrenched out of their sockets by the strength with which the
snake had drawn back its head. The bladders which contained the
poison and several of the small nerves were still fresh, and adhered
to the boot. The unfortunate father and son had been poisoned by
pulling off these boots, in which action they imperceptibly
scratched their legs with the points of the fangs, through the
hollow of which, some of this astonishing poison was conveyed. You
have no doubt heard of their rattles, if you have not seen them; the
only observation I wish to make is, that the rattling is loud and
distinct when they are angry; and on the contrary, when pleased, it
sounds like a distant trepidation, in which nothing distinct is
heard. In the thick settlements, they are now become very scarce;
for wherever they are met with, open war is declared against them;
so that in a few years there will be none left but on our mountains.
The black snake on the contrary always diverts me because it excites
no idea of danger. Their swiftness is astonishing; they will
sometimes equal that of a horse; at other times they will climb up
trees in quest of our tree toads; or glide on the ground at full
length. On some occasions they present themselves half in the
reptile state, half erect; their eyes and their heads in the erect
posture appear to great advantage: the former display a fire which I
have often admired, and it is by these they are enabled to fascinate
birds and squirrels. When they have fixed their eyes on an animal,
they become immovable; only turning their head sometimes to the
right and sometimes to the left, but still with their sight
invariably directed to the object. The distracted victim, instead of
flying its enemy, seems to be arrested by some invincible power; it
screams; now approaches, and then recedes; and after skipping about
with unaccountable agitation, finally rushes into the jaws of the
snake, and is swallowed, as soon as it is covered with a slime or
glue to make it slide easily down the throat of the devourer.
One anecdote I must relate, the circumstances of which are as true
as they are singular. One of my constant walks when I am at leisure,
is in my lowlands, where I have the pleasure of seeing my cattle,
horses, and colts. Exuberant grass replenishes all my fields, the
best representative of our wealth; in the middle of that tract I
have cut a ditch eight feet wide, the banks of which nature adorns
every spring with the wild salendine, and other flowering weeds,
which on these luxuriant grounds shoot up to a great height. Over
this ditch I have erected a bridge, capable of bearing a loaded
waggon; on each side I carefully sow every year some grains of hemp,
which rise to the height of fifteen feet, so strong and so full of
limbs as to resemble young trees: I once ascended one of them four
feet above the ground. These produce natural arbours, rendered often
still more compact by the assistance of an annual creeping plant
which we call a vine, that never fails to entwine itself among their
branches, and always produces a very desirable shade. From this
simple grove I have amused myself an hundred times in observing the
great number of humming birds with which our country abounds: the
wild blossoms everywhere attract the attention of these birds, which
like bees subsist by suction. From this retreat I distinctly watch
them in all their various attitudes; but their flight is so rapid,
that you cannot distinguish the motion of their wings. On this
little bird nature has profusely lavished her most splendid colours;
the most perfect azure, the most beautiful gold, the most dazzling
red, are for ever in contrast, and help to embellish the plumes of
his majestic head. The richest palette of the most luxuriant painter
could never invent anything to be compared to the variegated tints,
with which this insect bird is arrayed. Its bill is as long and as
sharp as a coarse sewing needle; like the bee, nature has taught it
to find out in the calix of flowers and blossoms, those mellifluous
particles that serve it for sufficient food; and yet it seems to
leave them untouched, undeprived of anything that our eyes can
possibly distinguish. When it feeds, it appears as if immovable
though continually on the wing; and sometimes, from what motives I
know not, it will tear and lacerate flowers into a hundred pieces:
for, strange to tell, they are the most irascible of the feathered
tribe. Where do passions find room in so diminutive a body? They
often fight with the fury of lions, until one of the combatants
falls a sacrifice and dies. When fatigued, it has often perched
within a few feet of me, and on such favourable opportunities I have
surveyed it with the most minute attention. Its little eyes appear
like diamonds, reflecting light on every side: most elegantly
finished in all parts it is a miniature work of our great parent;
who seems to have formed it the smallest, and at the same time the
most beautiful of the winged species.
As I was one day sitting solitary and pensive in my primitive
arbour, my attention was engaged by a strange sort of rustling noise
at some paces distant. I looked all around without distinguishing
anything, until I climbed one of my great hemp stalks; when to my
astonishment, I beheld two snakes of considerable length, the one
pursuing the other with great celerity through a hemp stubble field.
The aggressor was of the black kind, six feet long; the fugitive was
a water snake, nearly of equal dimensions. They soon met, and in the
fury of their first encounter, they appeared in an instant firmly
twisted together; and whilst their united tails beat the ground,
they mutually tried with open jaws to lacerate each other. What a
fell aspect did they present! their heads were compressed to a very
small size, their eyes flashed fire; and after this conflict had
lasted about five minutes, the second found means to disengage
itself from the first, and hurried toward the ditch. Its antagonist
instantly assumed a new posture, and half creeping and half erect,
with a majestic mien, overtook and attacked the other again, which
placed itself in the same attitude, and prepared to resist. The
scene was uncommon and beautiful; for thus opposed they fought with
their jaws, biting each other with the utmost rage; but
notwithstanding this appearance of mutual courage and fury, the
water snake still seemed desirous of retreating toward the ditch,
its natural element. This was no sooner perceived by the keen-eyed
black one, than twisting its tail twice round a stalk of hemp, and
seizing its adversary by the throat, not by means of its jaws, but
by twisting its own neck twice round that of the water snake, pulled
it back from the ditch. To prevent a defeat the latter took hold
likewise of a stalk on the bank, and by the acquisition of that
point of resistance became a match for its fierce antagonist.
Strange was this to behold; two great snakes strongly adhering to
the ground mutually fastened together by means of the writhings
which lashed them to each other, and stretched at their full length,
they pulled but pulled in vain; and in the moments of greatest
exertions that part of their bodies which was entwined, seemed
extremely small, while the rest appeared inflated, and now and then
convulsed with strong undulations, rapidly following each other.
Their eyes seemed on fire, and ready to start out of their heads; at
one time the conflict seemed decided; the water snake bent itself
into two great folds, and by that operation rendered the other more
than commonly outstretched; the next minute the new struggles of the
black one gained an unexpected superiority, it acquired two great
folds likewise, which necessarily extended the body of its adversary
in proportion as it had contracted its own. These efforts were
alternate; victory seemed doubtful, inclining sometimes to the one
side and sometimes to the other; until at last the stalk to which
the black snake fastened, suddenly gave way, and in consequence of
this accident they both plunged into the ditch. The water did not
extinguish their vindictive rage; for by their agitations I could
trace, though not distinguish, their mutual attacks. They soon re-
appeared on the surface twisted together, as in their first onset;
but the black snake seemed to retain its wonted superiority, for its
head was exactly fixed above that of the other, which it incessantly
pressed down under the water, until it was stifled, and sunk. The
victor no sooner perceived its enemy incapable of farther
resistance, than abandoning it to the current, it returned on shore
and disappeared.
<< 9: Description of Charles-Town; Thoughts on Slavery; on Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene || 11: rom Mr. IW—N AL—Z, A Russian Gentleman; Describing the Visit He Paid at My Request to Mr. John Bertram, the Celebrated Pennsylvanian Botanist >>
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