have harmed the
reptile, had my life depended upon my actions."

It was singular, but his feelings were the same that I had experienced,
and I refer the matter to scientific gentlemen, and desire them to solve
the question. Can a black snake, by the aid of lamp light, fascinate two
men, separated a distance of three yards, so that they lose all mastery
over their actions, and are impelled, by a power that appears
uncontrollable, to approach an object that they most dread on earth?

It seems a strange story, yet it is a true one: I will give the
dimensions of the reptile, so that the public may know that it was no
puny monster. Its length was exactly thirteen feet, five inches and a
quarter, and its circumference was thirteen inches and a half. The snake
was of the Diamond species, and grows quite large in Australia. I have
heard of even larger ones being destroyed, but I thank fortune that I
never met them during my residence. Their bites are not of a poisonous
nature, but their fangs are so large and strong that they inflict an
awkward wound; and in one case, when a miner was bitten, all efforts to
stop the flow of blood were futile, and the poor fellow bled to death.

This occurred at Ballarat, soon after we located in that cheerful place,
and Fred and myself were both sent for to investigate the case. We
judged that the fangs of the snake had struck an artery, and this
supposition, I have, since my return to this country, found to be
correct.

There is quite a number of species of the serpent tribe in Australia,
whose bite is death; but there is one kind, of a bright orange color,
with a dark ring around the neck, that is very venomous. I once saw a
miner bitten by one, and in defiance of all exertions that were made to
save his life, the poor fellow died in less than an hour. We cauterized
the wound with a hot iron, and at the same time compelled him to swallow
huge draughts of raw whiskey; but to no purpose. In twenty minutes after
he was bitten, the miner began to swell--in half an hour he could not
swallow another drop of liquor, although what he had taken apparently
had no effect upon him. In three quarters of an hour he was speechless,
and in fifty-five minutes he was dead. That was quick work for the
poison, and proves that the snakes of Australia are more venomous than
the rattlesnake of America. Luckily, the orange colored snakes are not
numerous, and I only saw three during my residence on the island, an