The rattlesnake is not among the most active of the species of snakes: it never springs a greater distance than its own length, which rarely exceeds four feet. It is owing to this that the black snake has the advantage, being able to spring from a greater distance on its prey, and, from its rapid motion and method of seizure to deprive it at once of the power of injecting its venom.
I have since seen the rattlesnake destroyed by bucks in the open plain, and that without risk of suffering from the fatal effects of its bite.
The buck and the rattlesnake
A buck, when he discovers a rattlesnake, immediately prepares to attack it as a dreaded enemy, while he will pass other snakes unnoticed. The buck, depending on his sharp bifurcated hoofs, with which to sever the body of his adversary, is very skilful in his manoeuvre. He approaches the snake to within about ten feet, and then makes a bound, cutting the snake down with his hoofs with such unerring celerity and fatality as rarely leaves any chance of escape.
The two incidents of the vampire and the snakes threw my mind into a state of reflection on the system of nature which makes the existence of one animal depend on another for its subsistence. Then my thoughts reverted to the number of living things I had myself to dread, separated as I was from society where men unite for mutual protection. I had seen in the case of the chegoe, that a very small insect could inflict a severe injury on the human frame, and I had narrowly escaped being carried off by the jaguar. Snakes, serpents, and enormous lizards, crossed my path at almost every step, and the monkeys pelted me.
Uneasy and restless, I rose on my feet, to wander I knew not whither; I proceeded forward as if running from danger, yet dreading it at every step as I advanced. Presently my progress was impeded by a broad piece of expanded network, such as, from appearance, might have been manufactured by the hand of man,—it was spread from tree to tree. In the network was a small bird struggling to free itself from the toil which had ensnared it. Thinking I had now crossed the path of fowlers, my heart leaped with joy, and I flattered myself that deliverance was at hand; yet, fearing to spoil their sport, I drew back, and took up a position behind a tree. My mind was soon disabused of the error into which I had fallen. Several spiders of enormous size approaching the captive, I sprang forward to release the bird, and then perceived that the netting was the work of insects. The captive proved to be a humming bird, one of those beautiful little creatures that are fabled to feed on the nectar of plants. They however feed on insects, those which are attached to the nectarium of plants: these they seize for food with their long bills.
The spiders that weave these extraordinary webs from one tree to another, are not, like those of Europe, of solitary habits, but live in communities; they mutually share in the labour of forming the web, and divide the prey they catch. It is worthy of notice that all animals who unite their labour, possess infinitely more ingenuity in their proceedings than those who work individually. The weak, however, are generally provided with some compensating, self-protecting secret, that enables them to rear their young in as much security as the strong. Many insects that execute their buildings in trees, and there collect provisions for their infant colony in fear of the depredations of birds, cover the extremity of their store with substances of nauseous taste. Having saved the elegant little bird from the voracious spiders, I could not resist giving it freedom.
The web which had impeded my progress brought to my recollection the bush-rope, which I had previously proposed to examine by daylight, in the hope of falling into the original track my family had taken through the forest. After having spent the whole of the subsequent part of the day in surveying the barrier and its approaches, I was reluctantly constrained again to take up my position in the hollow of the tree, under the firm conviction that I had no clue by which I could, for the present, at least, emancipate myself from the mazes of the forest. I retired to rest much depressed, and half disposed to abandon myself to despair. I, however, got some sleep at intervals, notwithstanding the renewal of the frightful noises heard the first night; and, upon the whole, on the approach of morning, found myself somewhat resigned to my fate.
Preparations for defence
Possessing an excellent pocket-knife, I now thought of cutting a good staff, and, if occasion should render it necessary, of defending myself with it against any assailant. How it happened that I had not thought of this before surprised me; and I acquired new confidence from the consideration that I possessed some means of defence. While trimming my staff, the history of Crusoe occurred to my recollection; and I then resolved to adopt his mode of registering time by making notches on the stick; and this employment brought home to my recollection that I had now been lost four days, and, while so engaged, that the present day was a Sabbath.