Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/356

310 the fangs being caught in it, the man seized the reptile by the throat, extracted them, and then squeezed out the poison, a clear oily substance, upon a leaf.”

“What does the rattle of the rattlesnake look like? and how does it sound?”

“At the tip of the tail are a number of curious loose, horny structures formed of the same substance as the scales. A very good idea of the structure of the rattle may be formed by slipping a number of thimbles loosely into each other.

“The rattlesnake lies coiled with its head flat, and the tip of its tail elevated; when alarmed or irritated it gives a quivering movement to the tail which causes the joints of the rattle to shake against each other with a peculiar sound not easily described: all animals, even horses newly brought from Europe, tremble at this noise, and try to escape.”

“What is the best thing to be done for the bite of a serpent?” inquired Fritz.

"Remedies are very various, very uncertain, and differ with the species inflicting the bite.

“Suction, ammonia, oil, the use of the knife, application of fresh mould, lunar caustic, leaves of certain plants, all these and more are mentioned. There is a creeping plant, called Aristolochia indica, the leaves of which have, in repeated instances, done wonders for fearful bites. It is found in many parts of the world, but most plentifully in the hotter regions.

“A mode of cure adopted by the natives of India, Ceylon, and parts of Africa, is by the application of a remarkable object called snake-stone. These are described as flattish, something like half an almond with squared ends, rather light, bearing a very high polish, and of an intense jetty black.

“On being bitten by a cobra, the sufferer applies one of these ‘stones’ to each puncture, where they adhere strongly for a time, five or six minutes being about the average. They seem to