332 — : A JOURNEY INTO THE 
the progress of the poison, and the dog was finally, though slowly cured. 
These kind of snakes are not rare in the western districts of the Cape 
Colony, towards Namaqualand. They can force, through the hollow 
of their fang, when they are pursued hotly (as they instantly turn 
when they cannot escape, facing their combatant), a very caustic acid, 
smelling like formic acid, and spirt exactly into the face of their enemy. 
One instance I relate where I pursued such a kind of a snake, near the 
banks of the Kousie River. Having no chance of escape, it turned 
round and, facing me, projected a frothy liquid towards me; of which 
only a small quantity touched the under part of my face, but the most 
of it fell on my breast. It was fortunate that the distance between me 
and the snake was about eight paces, otherwise the poison would have 
infallibly touched my eyes, and blinded me. Thinking that it was an 
Elak-snake when I pursued it, I had no idea of any danger at such a 
distance, until I received a warning of that dangerous reptile. We 
despatched it however; but it cost one of our whip-stakes, which the 
waggon-driver broke when beating it. These kind of snakes seem to 
be equally dangerous when they bite with their teeth, as when they 
spirt through the hollow of their fang a poisonous fluid into the eye 
of their pursuant. 
We saw in front of us a number of houses, belonging to several 
families of the emigrants, soon after we left the river, and ascended 
towards an elevated spot, with the Rhinoster River at a short distance 
_ towards our left side, proceeding nearly parallel with it. As our custom 
. was to travel on foot over the fields, joining our waggons at a distance 
. as they went on, and carrying generally a gun with me, I was so for- 
tunate as to shoot a fine adult specimen of Vultur occipitalis, Burch., 
being obliged, however, to creep for a distance on hands and feet in 
order to come near him. This kind of vulture was first discovered by 
Dr. W. Burchell, the well-known and distinguished traveller. It seems 
that the most southern limit of that bird is about here, although they 
seem rare. We had opportunities afterwards, when we reached the 
_ Macalisberg range, to see them more plentifully. They are smaller 
than the two other kinds, the V. auricularis and V. Rolbii, which are 
not uncommon within the Cape Colony. As the feathers of this kind 
of bird are cleaner than those of the two other sorts, it seems that its 
_ habit is not so gluttonous as that of its congeners. 
I Vrmn welcomed at the front of the farmhouses by Mr. Chr. 
