{Ground Squirrel.}
Ground Squirrels Are So Call'd, Because They Never Delight
In Running Up Trees, And Leaping From Tree To Tree.
They are
the smallest of all Squirrels.
Their Tail is neither so long not bushy;
but flattish. They are of a reddish Colour, and striped down each Side
with black Rows, which make them very beautiful. They may be kept tame,
in a little Box with Cotton. They and the Flying-Squirrels seldom stir out
in Cold Weather, being tender Animals.
{Fox.}
The Fox of Carolina is gray, but smells not as the Foxes
in Great-Britain, and elsewhere. They have reddish Hair about their Ears,
and are generally very fat; yet I never saw any one eat them.
When hunted, they make a sorry Chace, because they run up Trees, when pursued.
They are never to be made familiar and tame, as the Raccoon is.
Their Furs, if in Season, are used for Muffs and other Ornaments.
They live chiefly on Birds and Fowls, and such small Prey.
{Supposed Lion and Jackall.}
I have been inform'd by the Indians, that on a Lake of Water
towards the Head of Neus River, there haunts a Creature,
which frightens them all from Hunting thereabouts. They say,
he is the Colour of a Panther, but cannot run up Trees;
and that there abides with him a Creature like an Englishman's Dog,
which runs faster than he can, and gets his Prey for him. They add,
that there is no other of that Kind that ever they met withal;
and that they have no other way to avoid him, but by running up a Tree.
The Certainty of this I cannot affirm by my own Knowledge,
yet they all agree in this Story. As for Lions, I never saw any in America;
neither can I imagine, how they should come there.
{Rats.}
Of Rats we have two sorts; the House-Rat, as in Europe; and the Marsh-Rat,
which differs very much from the other, being more hairy,
and has several other Distinctions, too long here to name.
{Mice.}
Mice are the same here, as those in England, that belong to the House.
There is one sort that poisons a Cat, as soon as she eats of them,
which has sometimes happen'd. These Mice resort not to Houses.
{Dormouse.}
The Dormouse is the same as in England; and so is the Weasel,
which is very scarce.
{Rearmouse.}
The Bat or Rearmouse, the same as in England. The Indian Children
are much addicted to eat Dirt, and so are some of the Christians.
But roast a Bat on a Skewer, then pull the Skin off, and make the Child
that eats Dirt, eat the roasted Rearmouse; and he will never eat Dirt again.
This is held as an infallible Remedy. I have put this amongst the Beasts,
as partaking of both Natures; of the Bird, and Mouse-Kind.
Having mention'd all the sorts of terrestrial or Land-Animals,
which Carolina affords and are yet known to us, except the Tame
and Domestick Creatures (of which I shall give an Account hereafter,
when I come to treat of the Ways and Manners of Agriculture in that Province)
I shall now proceed to the known Insects of that Place.
Not that I pretend to give an ample Account of the whole Tribe,
which is too numerous, and contains too great a Diversity of Species,
many not yet discovered, and others that have slipt my Memory at present;
But those which I can remember, I here present my Readers withal.
Insects of Carolina.
Allegators.
Rattle-Snakes.
Ground Rattle-Snakes.
Horn-Snakes.
Water-Snakes, four sorts.
Swamp Snakes three sorts.
Red-bellied Land-Snakes.
Red-back'd Snake.
Black Truncheon Snake.
Scorpion-Lizard.
Green Lizard.
Frogs, many sorts.
Long black Snake.
King-Snake.
Green Snake.
Corn Snake.
Vipers black and gray.
Tortois.
Terebin Land and Water.
Brimstone-Snake.
Egg, or Chicken-Snake.
Eel-Snake, or great Loach.
Brown Lizard.
Rotten-wood Worm, &c.
{Strange Genitors.}
The Allegator is the same, as the Crocodile, and differs only in Name.
They frequent the sides of Rivers, in the Banks of which they make
their Dwellings a great way under Ground; the Hole or Mouth of their Dens
lying commonly two Foot under Water, after which it rises
till it be considerably above the Surface thereof. Here it is,
that this amphibious Monster dwells all the Winter, sleeping away his time
till the Spring appears, when he comes from his Cave, and daily swims
up and down the Streams. He always breeds in some fresh Stream,
or clear Fountain of Water, yet seeks his Prey in the broad Salt Waters,
that are brackish, not on the Sea-side, where I never met with any.
He never devours Men in Carolina, but uses all ways to avoid them,
yet he kills Swine and Dogs, the former as they come to feed in the Marshes,
the others as they swim over the Creeks and Waters. They are very mischievous
to the Wares made for taking Fish, into which they come to prey
on the Fish that are caught in the Ware, from whence they cannot
readily extricate themselves, and so break the Ware in Pieces,
being a very strong Creature. This Animal, in these Parts,
sometimes exceeds seventeen Foot long. It is impossible to kill them
with a Gun, unless you chance to hit them about the Eyes,
which is a much softer Place, than the rest of their impenetrable Armour.
They roar, and make a hideous Noise against bad Weather,
and before they come out of their Dens in the Spring. I was pretty much
frightened with one of these once; which happened thus: I had built a House
about half a Mile from an Indian Town, on the Fork of Neus-River,
where I dwelt by my self, excepting a young Indian Fellow, and a Bull-Dog,
that I had along with me. I had not then been so long a Sojourner
in America, as to be throughly acquainted with this Creature.
One of them had got his Nest directly under my House, which stood on
pretty high Land, and by a Creek-side, in whose Banks his Entring-place was,
his Den reaching the Ground directly on which my House stood.
I was sitting alone by the Fire-side (about nine a Clock at Night,
some time in March) the Indian Fellow being gone to the Town,
to see his Relations; so that there was no body in the House
but my self and my Dog; when, all of a sudden, this ill-favour'd
Neighbour of mine, set up such a Roaring, that he made the House shake
about my Ears, and so continued, like a Bittern, (but a hundred times louder,
if possible) for four or five times.
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