If I did not believe the day to be gone by when it was necessary to defend my snake stories, I could send you many curious accounts of the habits of those reptiles; and I should do it, if it were not that I might be thought to enjoy—too much that triumph which the feeble hostility of three or four selfish individuals has forced upon me. I receive so many acts of real friendship and disinterested kindness, that, I thank God, there is no room left in my heart to cherish unkind feelings towards any one. Indeed, I am not now so much surprised at the incredulity of persons who do not leave cities, for I occasionally hear of things which even stagger me, who am so often a denizen of woods and swamps. What do you think of rattlesnakes taking to the water, and swimming across inlets and rivers? I have not seen this, but I believe it; since the most respectable individuals assure me they have frequently been eye-witnesses of this feat. I can conceive of inducements which reptiles may have for traversing sheets of water to gain dry land, especially in a country much intersected by streams, and subject to inundations, which compel them to be often in the water. In such countries, it is not an uncommon occurrence to find snakes afloat and at great distances from the shore. This appears, no doubt, surprising to those who live where there is almost nothing but dry land; still they ought to be good natured, and believe what others have seen. It has now been made notorious, that numerous respectable individuals, whom duty, or the love of adventure, have led into the woods of our country, have often seen snakes—and the rattlesnake too—in trees; the good people, therefore, who pass their lives in stores and counting houses, ought not to contradict these facts, because they do not meet with rattlesnakes, hissing and snapping at them from the paper mulberries, as they go home to their dinners....