The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1921-08-18

logan's History Of Upper South
Carolina, in speaking Of the snakes
OF This section, says:
'Bcrt1arn net With Il rcptil which !
he calls the horn snake IN his travels
In Carolina, and speaks Of it as fol-
lows:
'"lh' pin. or buiI.Snnkc is very
large and noflon$ivc, With reHpcct to
mankind, but dcyour5 squirrels,
birds, rabbits and every Other crea-
turc 1T can take as food. They are
the largest snake yet known in
North America, except the rattle
snake, and perhaps exceeds him in
length; they are pied Slack and
white. They utter a terrible loud,
hIsslng noise, sounding very '1Yuffow
and like distant thunder, when irri.
lated, or at the time of Incubation.
when the males contend with one
another for The desired female.
ihesc serpcntS are also called horn
snakes, from their tail terminating
with hard, horny spur, which they
vbratc very quickly when disturbed
put they never attempt to strike
with it. They have dens in the
earth, whittier they retreat prccip
lately when apprehcnsivc of dangcr.'
Lawson, who travGrScd the same
region about seventy years earlier
than the botanist (teitram}, de-
acribcs another under the name Of
the hC;7Ii.-snako serpent, Of totally
different character. OF the horn.
snake he says, j never saw but two
that ] remember. They are like the
rattlcsnake in coIor, but rather
lighter, They hiss exactly like q
goose when anything approaches
them. They strike at their enemy
with their tail, and kill whatsoever
they wound with IT, which is armed
like a cocks spur. This is their
weapon have heard it crcditably
reported by those who said they
were eye witnesses, that I, small TO-
Gust tree, about the thickness Of {,
mans arm, being struck by one Of
morning, then vcrdant and flourish
ing, at four IN the afternoon was
dead, and the leaves red and withcr,
ing, Doubtless, be il how it will,
they are very vcnomouS. think the
Indians do not pretend to cure their
wound.
"This singular statement of the
old surveyor, in relation to the locust
tree, could scarcely have ever come
TO the knowledge Of the good, but
plain pcopla living on Coronaka and
Wilson'S creeks; yet there is still cx-
tant in that region a tradition in
which it is related that many years
ago man in the lower part Of the
district or in Edgefcld, being close
ly pursued by q horn snake, took
refuge behind a tree, when the en-
ragged serpent rolling swiftly after
nm like a trundcd hoop, plunged
ltS horny sting deep into it's trunk,
"here IT was made fast, and so diff
fused its venom into the circulating
sap as to drstrop in a few hours tho
vitality fthc tr,c.
"Bertram, with all his ac,,tcncee
and enthusiasm as naturalist hae
certainly confoundcd the names of
two distinct native scrpcnts of Caro-
lima. The bull snake, as he describes
it, was well known in the upper coun-
try at the period Of his visit and long
after; but the old people had seen
and talked much Of the horn snake
as well, whose sting they dreaded
as the visitation Of death. Hewitt
informs us that the horn snake was
found in Carolina and owed its nam >
not to horny cxcresence growing
upon its head, as some have suppos
Gu put to the horn-like sting at the
extremity of it's tail, with which it
defended itself, striking it with great
1orce INTO every aggressor. 1t was
also deemed exceedingly venomous;
and the Indians when stung by it
dld not resort to their usual anti
dotes, but instantly cut out the
wounded part as the only safe nre-
vcntativc of the deadly poison be-
ing infused through the svstono
Mills, in his Statistics, enumerates
among the indigenous reptiles Of
Carolina, both the horn and bull
%ffe TIE fouocr noSevcr. mlist