TIIliiTY YEAIIS A HUNTER. 61 



burn the woods in May to destroy the snakes ; and 

 another mode was to make a large pile where they 

 were the most numerous, and toward evening set 

 fire to it, when the snakes would run into the fire, 

 and vent their impotent rage upon it, until they were 

 burnt to death. I hunted five years in this part of 

 the conutry, and in all that time I noticed that the 

 rattle-snakes were never seen farther than six miles 

 from Pine Creek, and on the smaller streams they 

 were never seen more than two miles from the 

 waters. They were never found near the source of 

 the small streams. I have taken particular notice of 

 the habits of the snakes, while hunting on various 

 streams. 



In the year 1816, I resided near Cornplanter's 

 Town, on the Allegany River. I made inquiries 

 of Cornplanter, then the head chief of the Six Na- 

 tions, concerning the rattle-snake, and he told me 

 that thirty years previous they had found the snakes 

 as numerous from the place called Red Bank to the 

 State line, as they used to be at Pine Creek. He 

 said all the traveling in summer had to be done in 

 canoes, on account of them. The way they destroyed 

 them was to burn the woods in the same manner that 

 we did. I asked him if any of the people were ever 

 bitten. He replied that the men were seldom bitten 

 as they wore woolen socks and leggins, but several 

 of the women and children had been bitten, and it 

 proved fatal in some cases before remedies could be 

 procured. When they were obliged to lie out at 

 night in a place which was infested by snakes, they 



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