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