The chequered green snake of Canada is not
poisonous. It was more afraid of you than you were of it I make no
doubt."
"Do you think it was a rattle snake, nurse?"
"No, my dear, there are no snakes of that kind in Lower Canada, and very
few below Toronto. The winters are too cold for them. But there are plenty
in the western part of the Province, where the summers are warmer, and the
winters milder. The rattle snake is a dangerous reptile, and its bite
causes death, unless the wound be burned or cut out. The Indians apply
different sorts of herbs to the wound. They have several plants, known by
the names of rattle snake root, rattle snake weed, and snake root. It is a
good thing that the rattlesnake gives warning of its approach before it
strikes the traveller with its deadly fangs. Some people think that the
rattle is a sign of fear, and that it would not wound people if it were
not afraid they were coming near to hurt it. I will tell you a story Lady
Mary, about a brave little boy. He went out nutting one day with another
boy about his own age, and while they were in the grove gathering nuts a
large black snake, that was in a low tree, dropped down and suddenly
coiled itself round the throat of his companion. The child's screams were
dreadful, his eyes were starting from his head with pain and terror.
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