legends of both these tribes.

The latter related that once upon a time among the glens of their
mountains dwelt the prince of rattlesnakes. Obedient subjects guarded
his palace, and on his head glittered in place of a crown a gem of
marvellous magic virtues. Many warriors and magicians tried to get
possession of this precious talisman, but were destroyed by the poisoned
fangs of its defenders. Finally, one more inventive than the rest hit
upon the bright idea of encasing himself in leather, and by this device
marched unharmed through the hissing and snapping court, tore off the
shining jewel, and bore it in triumph to his nation. They preserved it
with religious care, brought it forth on state occasions with solemn
ceremony, and about the middle of the last century, when Captain
Timberlake penetrated to their towns, told him its origin.[115-1]

The charm which the Creeks presented their young men when they set out
on the war path was of very similar character. It was composed of the
bones of the panther and the horn of the fabulous horned snake.
According to a legend taken down by an unimpeachable authority toward
the close of the last century, the great snake dwelt in the waters; the
old people went to the brink and sang the sacred songs. The monster rose
to the surface. The sages recommenced the mystic chants. He rose a
little out o[TN-3] the water. Again they repeated the songs. This time
he showed his horns and they cut one off. Still a fourth time did they
sing, and as he rose to listen cut off the remaining horn. A fragment of
these in the "war physic" protected from inimical arrows and gave
success in the conflict.[116-1]

In these myths, which attribute good fortune to the horn of the snake,
that horn which pierces trees and rocks, which rises from the waters,
which glitters as a gem, which descends from the ravines of the
mountains, we shall not overstep the bounds of prudent reasoning if we
see the thunderbolt, sign of the fructifying rain, symbol of the
strength of the lightning, horn of the heavenly serpent. They are
strictly meteorological in their meaning. And when in later Algonkin
tradition the hero Michabo appears in conflict with the shining prince
of serpents who lives in the lake and floods the earth with its waters,
and destroys the reptile with a dart, and further when the conqueror
clothes himself with the skin of his foe and drives the rest of the
serpents to the south where in that latitude