The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1848-05-26
4 History Of the Rattle Snake.
by WM. ". SMELLING.

r1tilespokes. zoo ba,o b,,, ,l,.o Fiji
the crotoi,Js horriJ,,s mr. C,aat cor,r,on rat
ue,uaLc. ,.vt ,nntI,o, II,o l,i,,, j., c,l,,
faury. rattIey. eyer,, china In sbnr, I'm,
shane. helm, mu,h Shorter Snd tbicl,er Of
this SnccieS' we never saw hnt oua anL
that we killed LASTLY tho N,..aSsa,,a
rattle>nakc. blocl- ahont sicLteen inche,
long. and ncyerevccedi,.r, tvo foot vyherc.
a, the LARGEST Kind ottoins five. merriam.
more, we have heard Of lancer ones. bn,
never saw them. Ono TRANSMITTED to ,be
Dey of Alters i said IN have attained ten,
feet. The NIaSSassauo, ,at,IesnoLe onre
abouudcd about the Falls of Niagara: per.
hap> does so still.
Though we have disspcfeI. and seen dis .
scctpd great number of ral,losugl,cs. we
are unable to saw whether thcv are wilma
rouS or oyiyarouS. We never saw q ora-
vid female. The venom oftbe rattlrSnake
i. contained in two Glands. at fine base Of
the iang>. in the MINER law The r,uoS are
very slender. croukrd and Iollnv,ed half
way from the base. thcy ct into ,hralhc, in
the lower law, and are of po use in ,pasf
cation. They are NOT firmly Gved and are
easily extracted. bv boldir,, ont a rao IN the
animal when irritated. He hooks ON and
cannot readily diSer,r,,n himself ,,Inn
thew are torn ont with p, Iyich q, one mills
out a small fish from thc ,yater Tbn ,n.ln
then becomes ~ harmless a. ,pv o,,c, SER.
pent. and NAV a, safely he handled. When
the animal is about +, .trii-r H.. tbr,,,s
himsrlriuip 4 coil and sounds his olarn,
His BODY SwrIls. his cnIors b,irhtrr aud
his eyes shine with ureterpat,iral lu,tre.
His head na,tens, his law, are thrown back.
wards SO as 10 form ,ne ,Iarc.
He does not strike straight forward. rs a
bird would pccl,-yith that uotion fine
curve of his fanrS wouH strike fr,t-.be
throweS and hooks himself u,,on nj, victim.
Ia striking. the atr, are dressed u,on ,b,
glands at their roots. and Tie venom, !, for.
ced outward through the tubes into the
wounds. These fanrs retain tb,ir yc,,n,n
for years after they are extracted. The rat
tlrslaSe i, easily avoided hon r.,t seen
or heard, for he is slow. clumsy scrpcnt.
never act, unless irrit.t,J ,r ,rr,.J' ,,.i
will always yet ont of q mans way il ,,IrI;.r.
ed. He cannot lean III, GlU lrrp.l. he
strikes only bv leans. and h, j., rl,ioad IN
coil himself for each >nriur. He never
uursueS more than few feet. and , ,linbt
blow with a small stink >uc:cr. +, Iii nr
disable him.
The courage Of the croiaIuS is irJomifa.
bic, his hght ineytinrui>habln. lie rives
place to man. indeed. but NOT with thc alac-
rity of fear. he rc,ireS SLOWLY and ,nrns -,
the first Indication of active hn,tjli,ios ~
If 10 >av."I don't want In hurt van hut II
Won viii have il. fake il" Nrr,Icrs ,,',la
no difference to him. If Won como r,o,.
him swimming the NIi,>i,.ipri. fos we Eavc
seen hundred, of rattlr,natrs Il, in tb.
spring luod,) ne aiycs your Ln,i , y.,3c
berth. but il YOU pur,lr. he boards Won
boldly. He Grnts to tL,. last. and ,pr;r,,. q,
the hand that touches him even lfter nj,
head is off. When hemncd in and tc,zcl
he turns upon himself and dies bv hi, oyyn
iaug>, rs the SCORPION Is said In dI.
Il i, said, we know not with y,h9frqasoo
that the crctauS does not ACQUIRE his first
rattleIlN the fourth wear of hi. oac. md tl,,
he increases their number by one yearly.
We have heard ofrat,lesuaLrI win RI rot-
ties. but never saw one with mor, tnap ~
We have seen an infant crota,yS tn"' NOT
more than six inches lnur.. ouifr \, .,it,G,I
and much more lively than his rtH,r ,,,l
mother and he had the rudjuent, ,r , RAJ.
tie. 1t is said that ratlle,uaLrs L,vn a ma.
raj abllpAlNN 10 the ash tree. and they will
pass through fire rathcrthan oycri,, Icovc.
and the Indians wear wrcathS of the sane
about their ANGLES. rs a SAFEGUARD ,nair,,
them. We will au>werit that tine Indian,
do no such thing. and that we have seen
rattlc>nakc> under ash trees. uncourcr,,,d
among the fallen leaves. Ii is said. foo
that swine eat them alive, and sustain no in.
Jury from their bites. Cannot say--rrvrr
saw a hog fed on rattlcSnalics: never knew
any body to breed the latter.
The bite of the crotalus is uotucccssariIv
mortal; 1t seldom proves So to the IuJiant
From whatever cause it may be thrv sol.
dom if ever die Of rat,leSnakrs. tionrh
sometimes bitten by them.-Nri,hcr
death from the rattlc>nahc necessarily
speedy when I;,docs cnsur. mlnc summer
uf 1921. we saw an Indian bow who had
been bitten at the Rcdwind', VILLAGE. ON rho
upper Mississippi, a famous locality orthc
crotau>. The wound was i'm the calf or fine
leg, not rcccut,the flesh had >louobpd o,yay
two inches aroundit, leaving the bone hare.
and the lad had wasted TO a skeleton. NJ,
verlhele>s, his case did not look bv qny
means desperate, and we thourht' lLot
anputation would have saved him cyr,,
then. This was tho DpI,, -, ~, 81, l.,z y