but for the first two months we seldom went into ``the bush’’ without one of our number starting some of them.  I remember perfectly well the first one that I ever saw.  I had left my companions, and was beginning to clear away a fine clump of trees, when, just in the midst of the thicket, but a few yards from me, one of these fellows set up his hiss.  It is a sharp, continuous sound, and resembles very much the letting off of the steam from the small pipe of a steamboat, except that it is on a smaller scale.  I knew, by the sound of an axe, that one of my companions was near, and called out to him, to let him know what I had fallen upon.  He took it very lightly, and as he seemed inclined to laugh at me for being afraid, I determined to keep my place.  I knew that so long as I could hear the rattle I was safe, for these snakes never make a noise when they are in motion.  Accordingly I continued my work, and the noise which I made with cutting and breaking the trees kept him in alarm; so that I had the rattle to show me his whereabouts.  Once or twice the noise stopped for a short time, which gave me a little uneasiness, and, retreating a few steps, I threw something into the bush, at which he would set his rattle agoing, and, finding that he had not moved from his first place, I was easy again.  In this way I continued at my work until I had cut a full load, never suffering him to be quiet for a moment.  Having cut my load, I strapped it together, and got everything ready for starting.  I felt that I could now call the others without the imputation of being afraid, and went in search of them.  In a few minutes we were all collected, and began an attack upon the bush.  The big Frenchman, who was the one that I had called to at first, I found as little inclined to approach the snake as I had been.  The dogs, too, seemed afraid of the rattle, and kept up a barking at a safe distance; but the Kanakas showed no fear, and, getting long sticks, went into the bush, and, keeping a bright lookout, stood within a few feet of him.  One or two blows struck near him, and a few stones thrown started him, and we lost his track, and had the pleasant consciousness that he might be directly under our feet.  By throwing stones and chips in different directions, we made him spring his rattle again, and began another attack.  This time we drove him into the clear ground, and saw him gliding off, with head and tail erect, when a stone, well aimed, knocked him over the bank, down a declivity of fifteen or twenty feet, and stretched him at his length.  Having made sure of him by a few more stones, we went down, and one of the Kanakas cut off his rattle.  These rattles vary in number, it is said, according to the age of the snake; though the Indians think they indicate the number of creatures they have killed.  We always preserved them as trophies, and at the end of the summer had a considerable collection.  None of our people were bitten by them, but one of our dogs died of a bite, and another was supposed to have been bitten, but recovered.  We had no remedy for the bite, though it was said that the Indians of the country had, and the Kanakas professed to have an herb which would cure it, but it was fortunately never brought to the test.