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Reptiles, or animals of the serpent, turtle, and lizard class, are found in various parts of the United States; and in some in pernicious abundance. All varieties of the rattlesnake57 are seen; of these, the largest is the yellow rattlesnake. This is sometimes seen from six to nine feet in length, and as large as a man’s leg. A species of small rattlesnake is numerous on the prairies; in the far west, they are said to live in the same burrows with the prairie dogs. The snapper, or ground rattlesnake, is very troublesome; it travels by night, and frequents house paths and roads. The copper head is a snake supposed to be more venomous even than the preceding, but is less frequently found. It is of a dirty brown color; but when it has recently shed its skin, some parts of its body resemble burnished copper.

There are three or four varieties of the moccasin snake inhabiting the southern country. The upland moccasin somewhat resembles the rattlesnake, but is still more disgusting in its appearance. The largest variety of the moccasin snake is similar to the water snake of the Atlantic country. It is a serpent of the largest size, exceedingly venomous, with a very large flat head, lazy, and unobservant of man. There is another species of the moccasin seldom seen on shore, of a brilliant copper color, striped with gray rings. The brown viper, or hissing snake, is from six to eight inches long, terminating in a sharp tail; when angry, the color of its back changes, its head flattens and dilates to twice its usual extent, and its hiss resembles that of a goose. It is extremely venomous, and of a very repulsive aspect. One that was confined by a stick across its back, instantly bit itself in two or three places; and when released, it soon become swollen and died.

Mr. Flint expresses his conviction that the Mississippi valley presents a greater number of serpents, and is more infested by them than the Atlantic shore, excepting perhaps its southern border. Wherever the population becomes dense, the swine prey upon them, and they quickly disappear. Their most permanent and dangerous resorts are near the bases of precipitous and rocky hills, about ledges and flint knobs, and in the southern countries along vast swamps and stagnant waters. The bite of these serpents is venomous, and the person that is bitten often becomes blind. During the latter part of the summer, the serpents themselves become blind; the popular belief on this subject is, that this blindness arises from the absorption of their own poison into the system. During this period, though their aim is less certain, their bite is most dangerous. Death seldom occurs, however, from this cause.

The country has the usual varieties of harmless serpents, such as the green garter, chicken, and coach-whip snakes. The glass snake is often seen with a body of the utmost brilliancy. A stroke across the back separates the body into several pieces, each of which continues for some time to exercise the powers of locomotion. The bull or prairie snakes are of hideous appearance and of large size; they inhabit holes in the ground, and run at the traveller with a loud hiss, but instantly retreat if he stands and faces them. They are believed to be perfectly harmless, but their aspect is such as to excite great horror.

Ugly animals of the lizard kind are seen in all the climates in a greater or less number; they are found under rotten logs, and are dug out of alluvions, the last description being lazy and disgusting. They appear to be harmless. Common small lizards are frequent in the southern districts, and also varieties of small chameleons. These will change in half an hour to all the colors of the rainbow. ‘We have placed them on a handkerchief,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘and they have gradually assumed all its colors. Placed on a black surface, they become brown; but they evidently suffer while under this color, as is manifested by uneasy movements, and by strong and quick palpitation, visible to the eye. They are very active and nimble animals, three or four inches in length.’ Some lizards of a larger class and with flatter heads, are called scorpions; they are ugly animals, and are considered poisonous. When attacked, they show the angry manner of the serpent, vibrating a fiery and forked tongue, and biting with great fury at the stick which arrests them.

Of this class, the most terrible is the alligator. The description of this animal by Mr. Audubon is so interesting, and so strongly marked by the agreeable peculiarities of his attractive and original style, that we shall transfer it to our pages with but slight abridgment. This distinguished naturalist, by his eminent services in the cause to which he has been so zealously devoted, has erected an eternal monument; and posterity will read the name which it records for ages, after every trace of the great warriors and ambitious politicians of our time has faded from the pages of history.

‘In Louisiana, all our lagoons, bayous, creeks, ponds, lakes and rivers, are well stocked with alligators; they are found wherever there is a sufficient quantity of water to hide them, or to furnish them with food; and they continue thus, in great numbers, as high as the mouth of the Arkansas river, extending east to North Carolina, and as far west as I have penetrated. On the Red river, before it was navigated by steam vessels, they were so extremely abundant that, to see hundreds at a sight along the shores, or on the immense rafts of floating or stranded timber, was quite a common occurrence, the smaller on the backs of the larger, groaning and uttering their bellowing noise, like thousands of irritated bulls about to meet in fight, but all so careless of man that, unless shot at, or positively disturbed, they remained motionless, suffering boats or canoes to pass within a few yards of them, without noticing them in the least. The shores are yet trampled by them in such a manner, that their large tracts are seen as plentiful as those of sheep in a fold. It was on that river particularly, thousands of the largest size were killed, when the mania of having shoes, boots, or saddle-seats, made of their hides, lasted. It had become an article of trade, and many of the squatters and strolling Indians followed for a time no other business. The discovery that their skins are not sufficiently firm and close-grained to prevent water or dampness long, put a stop to their general destruction, which had already become very apparent. The leather prepared from these skins was handsome and very pliant, exhibiting all the regular lozenges of the scales, and able to receive the highest degree of polish and finishing.

‘The usual motion of the alligator, when on land, is slow and sluggish; it is a kind of labored crawling, performed by moving alternately each leg, in the manner of a quadruped when walking, scarce able to keep up their weighty bodies from dragging on the earth, and leaving the track of their long tail on the mud, as if that of the keel of a small vessel. Thus they emerge from the water, and go about the shores and the woods, or the fields in search of food, or of a different place of abode, or one of safety to deposit their eggs. If, at such times, when at all distant from the water, an enemy is perceived by them, they droop and lie flat, with the nose on the ground, watching the intruder’s movements with their eyes, which are able to move considerably round, without affecting the position of the head. Should a man then approach them, they do not attempt either to make away or attack, but merely raise their body from the ground for an instant, swelling themselves and issuing a dull blowing, not unlike that of a blacksmith’s bellows. Not the least danger need be apprehended: then you either kill them with ease, or leave them. But to give you a better idea of the slowness of their movements and progress of travels on land, when arrived at a large size, say twelve or fifteen feet, believe me when I tell you, that having found one in the morning, fifty yards from a lake, going to another in sight, I have left him unmolested, hunted through the surrounding swamps all the day, and met the same alligator within five hundred yards of the spot when returning to my camp at dusk. On this account they usually travel during the night, they being then less likely to be disturbed, and having a better chance to surprise a litter of pigs or of land tortoises, for prey.

‘The power of the alligator is in his great strength; and the chief means of his attack or defence is his large tail, so well contrived by nature to supply his wants, or guard him from danger, that it reaches, when curved into half a circle, his enormous mouth. Woe be to him who goes within the reach of this tremendous thrashing instrument; for no matter how strong or muscular, if human, he must suffer greatly, if he escapes with life. The monster, as he strikes with this, forces all objects within the circle towards his jaws, which, as the tail makes a motion, are opened to their full stretch, thrown a little sideways, to receive the object, and, like battering-rams, to bruise it shockingly in a moment.

‘The alligator, when after prey in the water, or at its edge, swims so slowly towards it as not to ruffle the water. It approaches the object sideways, body and head all concealed, till sure of his stroke; then, with a tremendous blow, as quick as thought, the object is secured, as I described before.

‘When alligators are fishing, the flapping of their tails about the water may be heard at half a mile; but to describe this in a more graphic way, suffer me to take you along with me, in one of my hunting excursions, accompanied by friends and negroes. In the immediate neighborhood of Bayou-Sarah, on the Mississippi, are extensive shallow lakes and morasses; they are yearly overflowed by the dreadful floods of that river, and supplied with myriads of fishes of many kinds, amongst which trouts are most abundant, white perch, cat fish, and alligator-gars, or devil fish. Thither, in the early part of autumn, when the heat of a southern sun has exhaled much of the water, the squatter, the planter, the hunter, all go in search of sport. The lakes are then about two feet deep, having a fine sandy bottom; frequently much grass grows in them, bearing crops of seed, for which multitudes of water-fowl resort to those places. The edges of these lakes are deep swamps, muddy for some distance, overgrown with heavy large timber, principally cypress, hung with Spanish beard, and tangled with different vines, creeping plants, and cane, so as to render them almost dark during the day, and very difficult to the hunter’s progress. Here and there in the lakes are small islands, with clusters of the same trees, on which flocks of snake-birds, wood-ducks, and different species of herons, build their nests. Fishing-lines, guns, and rifles, some salt, and some water, are all the hunters take.

‘At last, the opening of the lake is seen: it has now become necessary to drag one’s self along through the deep mud, making the best of the way, with the head bent, through the small brushy growth, caring about nought but the lock of your gun. The long narrow Indian canoe kept to hunt those lakes, and taken into them during the fresh, is soon launched, and the party seated in the bottom, is paddled or poled in search of water game. There, at a sight, hundreds of alligators are seen dispersed over all the lake; their head, and all the upper part of the body, floating like a log, and in many instances, so resembling one that it requires to be accustomed to see them to know the distinction. Millions of the large wood-ibis are seen wading through the water, mudding it up, and striking deadly blows with their bills on the fish within. Here are a hoard of blue herons—the sand-hill crane rises with hoarse note—the snake-birds are perched here and there on the dead timber of the trees—the cormorants are fishing—buzzards and carrion-crows exhibit a mourning train, patiently waiting for the water to dry and leave food for them—and far in the horizon, the eagle overtakes a devoted wood-duck, singled from the clouded flocks that have been bred there.

‘It is then that you see and hear the alligator at his work—each lake has a spot deeper than the rest, rendered so by those animals who work at it, and always situate at the lower end of the lake, near the connecting bayous, that, as drainers, pass through all those lakes, and discharge sometimes many miles below where the water had made its entrance above, thereby insuring to themselves water as long as any will remain. This is called by the hunters the alligators’ hole. You see them there lying close together. The fish that are already dying by thousands, through the insufferable heat and stench of the water, and the wounds of the different winged enemies constantly in pursuit of them, resort to the alligators’ hole to receive refreshment, with a hope of finding security also, and follow down the little currents flowing through the connecting sluices: but no! for, as the water recedes in the lake, they are here confined. The alligators thrash them and devour them whenever they feel hungry, while the ibis destroys all that make towards the shore. By looking attentively on this spot, you plainly see the tails of the alligators moving to and fro, splashing, and now and then, when missing a fish, throwing it up in the air. The hunter, anxious to prove the value of his rifle, marks one of the eyes of the largest alligator, and, as the hair trigger is touched, the alligator dies. Should the ball strike one inch astray from the eye, the animal flounces, rolls over and over, beating furiously about him with his tail, frightening all his companions, who sink immediately, whilst the fishes, like blades of burnished metal, leap in all directions out of the water, so terrified are they at this uproar. Another and another receives the shot in the eye, and expires; yet those that do not feel the fatal bullet, pay no attention to the death of their companions till the hunter approaches very close, when they hide themselves for a few moments by sinking backwards.

‘So truly gentle are the alligators at this season, that I have waded through such lakes in company of my friend Augustin Bourgeat, Esq. to whom I owe much information, merely holding a stick in one hand to drive them off, had they attempted to attack me. When first I saw this way of travelling through the lakes, waist-deep, sometimes with hundreds of these animals about me, I acknowledge to you that I felt great uneasiness, and thought it fool-hardiness to do so: but my friend, who is a most experienced hunter in that country, removed my fears by leading the way, and, after a few days, I thought nothing of it. If you go towards the head of the alligator, there is no danger, and you may safely strike it with a club, four feet long, until you drive it away, merely watching the operations of the point of the tail, that, at each blow you give, thrashes to the right and left most furiously.

‘The drivers of cattle from the Appelousas, and those of mules from Mexico, on reaching a lagoon or creek, send several of their party into the water, armed merely each with a club, for the purpose of driving away the alligators from the cattle; and you may then see men, mules, and those monsters, all swimming together, the men striking the alligators, that would otherwise attack the cattle, of which they are very fond, and those latter hurrying towards the opposite shores, to escape those powerful enemies. They will swim swiftly after a dog, or a deer, or a horse, before attempting the destruction of man, of which I have always remarked they were afraid, if the man feared not them.

‘Although I have told you how easily an alligator may be killed with a single rifle-ball, if well aimed, that is to say, if it strike either in the eye or very immediately above it, yet they are quite as difficult to be destroyed if not shot properly; and, to give you an idea of this, I shall mention two striking facts.

‘My good friend Richard Harlan, M.D. of Philadelphia, having intimated a wish to have the heart of one of these animals to study its comparative anatomy, I one afternoon went out about half a mile from the plantation and, seeing an alligator that I thought I could put whole into a hogshead of spirits, I shot it immediately on the skull bone. It tumbled over from the log on which it had been basking, into the water, and, with the assistance of two negroes, I had it out in a few minutes, apparently dead. A strong rope was fastened round its neck, and, in this condition, I had it dragged home across logs, thrown over fences, and handled without the least fear. Some young ladies there, anxious to see the inside of his mouth, requested that the mouth should be propped open with a stick put vertically; this was attempted, but at this instant the first stunning effect of the wound was over, and the animal thrashed and snapped its jaws furiously, although it did not advance a foot. The rope being still round the neck, I had it thrown over a strong branch of a tree in the yard, and hauled the poor creature up swinging, free from all about it, and left it twisting itself, and scratching with its fore feet to disengage the rope. It remained in this condition until the next morning, when finding it still alive, though very weak, the hogshead of spirits was put under it, and the alligator fairly lowered into it with a surge. It twisted about a little; but the cooper secured the cask, and it was shipped to Philadelphia, where it arrived in course.

‘Again, being in company with Augustin Bourgeat, Esq., we met an extraordinary large alligator in the woods whilst hunting; and, for the sake of destruction I may say, we alighted from our horses, and approached with full intention to kill it. The alligator was put between us, each of us provided with a long stick to irritate it; and, by making it turn its head partly on one side, afford us the means of shooting it immediately behind the fore leg and through the heart. We both discharged five heavy loads of duck-shot into its body, and almost all into the same hole, without any other effect than that of exciting regular strokes of the tail, and snapping of the jaws at each discharge, and the flow of a great quantity of blood out of the wound, and mouth, and nostrils of the animal; but it was still full of life and vigor, and to have touched it with the hand would have been madness; but as we were anxious to measure it, and to knock off some of its larger teeth to make powder charges, it was shot with a single ball just above the eye, when it bounded a few inches off the ground, and was dead when it reached it again. Its length was seventeen feet; it was apparently centuries old; many of its teeth measured three inches. The shot taken were without a foot only of the circle that we knew the tail could form, and our shots went en masse.

‘As the lakes become dry, and even the deeper connecting bayous empty themselves into the rivers, the alligators congregate into the deepest hole in vast numbers; and, to this day, in such places, are shot for the sake of their oil, now used for greasing the machinery of steam-engines and cotton mills, though formerly, when indigo was made in Louisiana, the oil was used to assuage the overflowing of the boiling juice, by throwing a ladleful into the kettle whenever this was about to take place. The alligators are caught frequently in nets by fishermen; they then come without struggling to the shore, and are killed by blows on the head given with axes.

‘When autumn has heightened the coloring of the foliage of our woods, and the air feels more rarefied during the nights and earlier part of the day, the alligators leave the lakes to seek for winter quarters, by burrowing under the roots of trees, or covering themselves simply with earth along their edges. They become then very languid and inactive, and, at this period, to sit or ride on one would not be more difficult than for a child to mount his wooden rocking-horse. The negroes, who now kill them, put all danger aside, by separating, at one blow with an axe, the tail from the body. They are afterwards cut up in large pieces, and boiled whole in a good quantity of water, from the surface of which the fat is collected with large ladles. One single man kills oftentimes a dozen or more of large alligators in the evening, prepares his fire in the woods, where he has erected a camp for the purpose, and by morning has the oil rendered.

‘I have frequently been very much amused when fishing in a bayou, where alligators were numerous, by throwing a blown bladder on the water towards the nearest to me. The alligator makes for it, flaps it towards its mouth, or attempts seizing it at once, but all in vain. The light bladder slides off; in a few minutes many alligators are trying to seize this, and their evolutions are quite interesting. They then put one in mind of a crowd of boys running after a football. A black bottle is sometimes thrown also, tightly corked; but the alligator seizes this easily, and you hear the glass give way under its teeth as if ground in a coarse mill. They are easily caught by negroes, who most expertly throw a rope over their heads when swimming close to shore, and haul them out instantly.’

The Tortoise is found in considerable numbers and variety. In the lakes west of the Mississippi, and near New Orleans, a soft shelled mud-tortoise is found, which epicures declare to be not much inferior to the sea-turtle of the West Indies. The gouffre is an animal apparently of the tortoise class, and is abundant in the pine barrens of the south-western states. Its shell is large and thick, and it burrows to a great depth in the ground; its strength and power are wonderful, and in many respects it is similar to the logger-head turtle. The siren is nearly two feet in length, and a very singular animal; it somewhat resembles the lamprey. It is amphibious, penetrates the mud easily, and seems to be of an order between fish and lizards. The whole of the republic is prolific in toads, frogs, and reptiles of that class; but they are found in the greatest number and variety in the regions of the warmest temperature.