it as were the whites.

In order to protect one's self against these creatures, unless there are
too many of them, it is only necessary to make noise enough to let the
snake know that some one is approaching, and it gets out of the way as
fast as possible; or, if it has not time to do this, it coils itself up
and springs its rattle, thus giving notice that it is on hand, and ready
to strike.

It has often been said that the snake's rattle is for warning to birds
and other animals; but this is now known to be a mistake, for when a
snake rattles, it strikes its victim almost at the same time, if it has
a chance.

It is now believed that the rattle is used to attract the attention of
birds and other small creatures; and when they turn, and look into the
eyes of the terrible serpent, they are so overcome with terror that they
cannot fly away, and soon become its prey. This is commonly called snake
charming; and a great many instances of it are related by people who are
in the habit of telling the truth, and who have seen a snake charm a
bird which could have flown away just as well as not, had it not been
for the terrible attraction of those great eyes, which drew it nearer
and nearer, until at last it found itself in the jaws of a snake.

The Indians did not give this significance to the rattle: they believed,
as many people now do, that it was merely used as a warning. So, when an
Indian met with a snake which rattled before he came up to it, he took
it to be a snake of honest, straight-forward principles, who wished to
deceive nobody, and therefore gave fair notice of its presence. Such a
serpent was never molested. But if a snake rattled after an Indian had
passed, the red man went back and killed the creature, on the ground
that it was a sneak and a coward, which had neglected to give warning to
the passer-by.

A farmer living in Cumberland County tells a story about having
discovered an island in a swamp, which so abounded in snakes, that he
and some of his neighbors conceived the idea that this was the place
where they made their headquarters, and from which, in summer time, they
wandered to forage upon the country. The farmers waited until winter
before they made an attack upon this stronghold; and then they came and
dug up the ground, knowing that these reptiles always pass the cold
season in a torpid state underground.

It was not long before they came to what might be called in these days a
cold-storage v