Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1857-03-06

"AAA otfeh thoutns l khG 1901 q tile Tree,
toward which the bird, in convulsions of
fright, slowly descended' Keeping per
feet quiet, he saw it gradually come with
in reach Of the jaws, when it was seized
with jerk, and slowly swallowed.
/ share, with many of mankind, a pc
cnliar dread Of serpents--snd when on
our return across this wilderness my
horse stepped in the road close upon
huge specimen Of this species, who sruck, /
but fortunately did not wound him. ] al |
most fell faint from the saddle The
Texan settlers seemed to care very little
anywhere for snakes and, indeed, they
are perfectly right in ignoring them, as
fatal accidents are so extremely rare -,
The physicians in San Antonio corrobo- /
rated the general declaration on this
point. We saw one patient who had
been struck by a water-snake, in collect
ing lula" for thatch, from the river
edge. He was in fair way, after three
weeks treatment, to lose an arm by cry
sipelatous' sloughing and necrosis of the
bones Of the forearm, but no danger to
life was apprehended. From what we
could learn, more than one half the ac-
cidents were followed by no fatal eonse-
quences whatever, and a very small per-
centage, only, proved fatal. The imme-
diate remedies were, for the profession,
ammonia; for the people, whisky. A
medical man from Illinois told Us of
patient to Ehom he was called, lady,
who was letting down the bars who
instantly returned to the house and drank
pint Of whisky. He contented him
self with awaiting the result, and found
the antidote real.
The principal venomous snakes Of
Texas, besides the rattle-snake, are the
land and water moccasins, cotton-heads,
coach-whips, and copper-heads. We saw
none Of these, however, in a six months
journey, with the exception of the moe
casins, so that they must be comparatively
rare, and little to be dreaded. With the
moccasins we became very familiar, in
traversing the coast region of the east
ern part of the State, one or two Of the
black water-moccasins showing them
selves in every pool we entered, even
twenty times a day. My acquaintance
with the land variety originated week
or two before this, in returning from the
mountains. l was creeping up TO get
within shot Of deer Ga useless labor,
need not confess,) when ] suddenly drop
ped my eyes upon one Of these creatures.
about five feet before me, aud in my d.
rec, path. ! drew back aghast, for he
did look Ike devil incarnate, to be
sure. lie lay coiled, with a short, Thick
black body, a huge head, a wide-open.
flame-colored mouth, long fangs, and
a forked tongue.dancing about in ecstasy
Of malice. 1t was moment or two be-
fore I recovered my discretion, which, !
acquiesced in such a case, was the bet
ter part Of valor. The day before, one
of the Sisterdale gentlemen had descri-
bid these creatures to me while bathing,
and had recommended me to be careful
in entering the water.
He had seen a calf, on putting bis nose
to the creek TO drink, struck by one Of
these moccasins. His head Immediately
swelled TO an enormous size. and con-
vulsiye movements followed, which termi-
mated in death in less than ten minutes.
The variety Of harmless snakes is con.
siderable, but the only ono with which
! we became familiar was the egg-snake
before mentioned.
As TO the peculiar venomous insect,
Of Texas, we saw not one Of the family
out Of scientific collections. The taran
tula was described as simply very rar'
: huge black spider, whose bite is poison
Gus, IN different degrees, 10 different IN
dividuals. The scorpion IS minute
fattened, crawling lobster, perhaps bal
5 an inch long. Is sting il painful, bu
q not dangerous oecasioning q sufIr-ini
e ike that Of the hornet The most for
0 midable insect IS the centipede, who's
; eracl is said 10 be poisonous, when 10
e terrupted, leaving upon the body Or lim
g II il traversing an intenseIy-painluI ia
: famed track. Prostration aud grea
Il nervous agitation follow. For all these
I ammonia, if instantly applied, Is eonsid
e cred 40 antiloie. Should il Dol be a
It hand, or be unsuccessful, the afier-symp
= toms are treated according to their na
a ture, without empirical remedies.
st Near the Naeces, we saw the fir
Of the horned frog" Til
of singular creature is apparently sort Q
10 lizard. Of the gize, and Of somewhat fll