Excerpt from The Man-Stories of a Black Snake<br><br>The class of men is growing larger day by day which craves for the knowledge of that which 'eye hath not seen'; these are the persons whom this critic believed would chiefly take an interest in the following pages, and to whom I am now addressing these words.<br><br>The Snake Stories first took shape in the author's mind as long ago as 1893, but they only assumed concrete form in the winter of I 89 5 - 96. They were written while the influence of the Bush still powerfully moved him, partly, indeed, with a view to describing that wonderful Wild West of Tasmania so little known even to the in habitants of Tasmania itself.<br><br>I suppose all who have travelled away from civilisation, be it for ever so short a distance, have felt the strange weight of solitude which presses upon their minds, and know how that feeling gradually gives place to a sensation of deepest content, as a thousand companions are disclosed to them in bird and beast and tree.<br><br>These men will appreciate the fact that the author has dwelt for long in the closest com munion with Nature, and has written these stories while still imbued with her mystic teachings.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.