56 PJONKEB life; ok, 



went to the roof and destroyed the snake. On leav- 

 ing the house we always pnt on a pair of woolen 

 socks and leggins over our shoes to protect our legs 

 from the snakes ; this was a necessary precaution for 

 many years. Burning the woods proved of some 

 beneiit to us, as the snakes would not come near 

 a place where a lire had been, for some time, x\bout 

 the first of August they came in pairs, and should 

 one be killed, the other would be found at the end of 

 even three or four days near the dead one. Some- 

 times toward the end of August, thirty or forty could 

 be seen at one time lying on and among the rocks. 

 My brother and myself were hunting and fishing one 

 afternoon, and as we were pushing up the river in 

 our canoe we passed a rattle-snake's den, near which 

 we counted forty rattle-snakes, some coiled up, and 

 others stretched out, sunning themselves. We went 

 ashore and provided ourselves each with a stick made 

 similar to a flail, so that we could kill them with a 

 single blow. One then went below them and the 

 other above, and we killed all we could until we met. 

 We succeeded in killing thirty of the forty snakes 

 which we first counted, hi killing so many snakes, 

 we inhaled so much of the poisonous effluvia as to 

 make us sick. We returned home immediately and 

 took freely of sweet milk and hog's lard, to prevent 

 any more serious effects. Frequently when hunting 

 we saw eight or ten snakes, but we would only kill 

 four or five of them nearest us, or that were ugly. 

 We never found then; numerous at a greater dis- 

 tance than three miles from the river, and there they 



