178                                  VAN   DER   DONCK's
cessarily be imperfect. Many affirm that the fiery serpents' which plagued the Israelites in the wilderness, were rattlesnakes ; but this is uncertain. Those are vile serpents, which seldom go out of the way of man or beast. They are speckled with yellow, black and purple colours, chub-headed, with four sharp teeth in the front of the mouth, which the Indians use for lancets. The body, except the tail, is fashioned like ihe bodies of other snakes; at the end of the tail it has a hard, dry, horny substance, which is interlocked and jointed together, with which these snakes can rattle so loud that the noise can be heard several rods; but they never rattle unless they intend to bite. The rattling is made by the thrilling of the tail, to the end of which the rattles are by nature attached. The rattles increase one joint every year. Snakes with six or seven rattles are very common, and I have seen one with fourteen rattles (which is an uncommon instance). When those snakes intend to bite, they have a dreadful appearance. The head is then spread out, and they open a wider mouth than they appear to have, and then also they open a bluish skin or valve, which lies at the rbot of the teeth of the upper jaw, from which the poison issues by the teeth into the wound inflicted by the serpent. In appearance the poison resembles a bluish salt, which I have seen by causing the snake to bite at a long stick for observation, on Long Island. When persons are bitten by those serpents and the poison enters the wound, their lives are in great danger. I have seen persons who were bitten by the serpents, that were not bad, and others whose whole bodies became coloured like the snakes by which they had been bitten, before death. The Indians also dread those snakes, and when bitten by this species they also frequently die of the bite. Fortunately the rattlesnakes are not numerous, and a person who does not frequent the woods and fields much, may reside in the country seven yea'"S without seeing one of those snakes. There is a certain plant which grows in the country, named snake-wort, which is a sovereign remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. I have witnessed an experiment made on Long-Island with snake-wort, on a large rattlesnake, when a person chewed a quantity of the green plant, -and spit some of the juice on the end of a stick, which was put to the nose of the snake, and it caused the creature to thrill and die instantly. The Indians hold this plant in such high estimation, that many of them always carry some of it, well dried, with them to cure the bites of those serpents. Adders also are found in the country, but I have never heard of injuries done by them.
Lizards like those found in Holland are in the country, and also another species which have pale bluish tails. Those are Winch feared by the Indians, because (as they say) this kind