but, as it is rarely seen except when coiled, its length can hardly be
conjectured. It is of a dull lead color, and generally lives near a spring
or small stream of water, and bites the unfortunate people who are in the
habit of going there to drink. The brute creation it never molests. They
avoid it with the same instinct that teaches the animals of India to shun
the deadly cobra.

3. Several of these reptiles have long infested our settlements, to the
misery and destruction of many of our fellow citizens. I have, therefore,
had frequent opportunities of being the melancholy spectator of the
effects produced by the subtile poison which this worm infuses.

4. The symptoms of its bite are terrible. The eyes of the patient become
red and fiery, his tongue swells to an immoderate size, and obstructs his
utterance; and delirium of the most horrid character quickly follows.
Sometimes, in his madness, he attempts the destruction of his nearest
friends.

5. If the sufferer has a family, his weeping wife and helpless infants are
not unfrequently the objects of his frantic fury. In a word, he exhibits,
to the life, all the detestable passions that rankle in the bosom of a
savage; and such is the spell in which his senses are locked, that no
sooner has the unhappy patient recovered from the paroxysm of insanity
occasioned by the bite, than he seeks out the destroyer for the sole
purpose of being bitten again.

6. I have seen a good old father, his locks as white as snow, his step
slow and trembling, beg in vain of his only son to quit the lurking place
of the worm. My heart bled when he turned away; for I knew the fond hope
that his son would be the "staff of his declining years," had supported