Texas: the rise, progress, and prospects of the Republic of Texas, Vol.1 Page: 187 of 432
This book is part of the collection entitled: From Republic to State: Debates and Documents Relating to the Annexation of Texas, 1836-1856 and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
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CHIAP. V.]
REPTILES.
133
nor to avoid man. The largest alligators measure
about sixteen feet in length; the skin is valuable
for the tanner.
Few new countries have been less troubled with
serpents than Texas, yet it has some of a venomous
character, but for whose attacks remedies may
easily be provided. The rattle-snake, which grows
to a large size, is not apt to assail man unless it be
trampled upon, or otherwise provoked, and it almost
invariably gives timely warning of hostilities by
shaking the rattles with which it is furnished. The
large rattle-snake is seldom seen far out in the prairie;
the mocassin snake is confined to wet, or marshy
land; the prairie snake is a small reptile about a
foot in length, and of a drab colour. Besides these,
the copper-head snake is the only venomous serpent
to be found in Texas, and though the list may
appear to Europeans much too long, Americans
do not regard it as forming any serious objection to
settling in the country. The Indians, it is said,
when bitten by the rattle-snake, kill the reptile
(taking care that it does not bite itself) and apply
the fleshy part of the tail to the wound, until (as
is supposed) the poison having a greater affinity for
the flesh of the serpent than for that of the man, is
thereby extracted. A root called snakes'-master,
which grows abundantly in the pine-woods, is said to
be an efficient remedy for the reptile's venom. It
is a received opinion in the Western States, that the
external and internal application of volatile alkali
will neutralise the poison and effect a certain cure.
The following remedy hlas been recommended by a
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Kennedy, William. Texas: the rise, progress, and prospects of the Republic of Texas, Vol.1, book, January 1, 1841; London. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2389/m1/187/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.