the Python Natalensis. 245 



prey may be compared to that of a cord when tightened 

 ai'ound any thing, and some one puUing first at one end and 

 then at the other. I thought it best to thrust the dagger into 

 the snake as near the head as possible ; but as that was hidden 

 by the bench, I could not see it, and I made a thrust through 

 the lungs. It started and Fanny was thrown from its folds 

 with a jerk, when its object was to retreat by the way it had 

 entered. I then withdrew the dagger and thrust it into the 

 snake further back, so as to hold him till the men on the out- 

 side could disable him. As his head appeared they beat him 

 with sticks so as to prevent him from running away entirely." 



To the above I will add, that Mr. Smith displayed great 

 fearlessness on the occasion ; for though there were on the 

 spot a number of men, both colonists and natives, yet not one 

 could be induced to follow him into the house. An attack 

 from the serpent might have been apprehended, for he was 

 evidently in a state of extreme hunger. 



The general habit of this serpent in seeking for its prey, is 

 to lie in ambush near a frequented path, or watering place, 

 and suspended from a tree or with its tail fixed to some other 

 object, suddenly dart upon the unwary animal. The attack 

 is so sudden and violent that the victim is often prostrated 

 and stunned, and then begins the dreadful process of constric- 

 tion. A bullock was so much injured in a recent attack as to 

 be supposed beyond the possibility of recovery. 



In making the onset, it is not always necessary that the 

 tail should be coiled around a fixed object. The hooks or 

 claws near the anus are sometimes protruded, it is said (and 

 the evidence is wholly satisfactory) and inserted in the ground 

 or under roots, thus affording a fulcrum which gives incon- 

 ceivable force to the blow. 



These horny processes or rudimental feet, as they have been 

 called, are also serviceable in ascending trees. They are in- 

 serted into the ground, and bark of the tree, constituting 

 fixed points which greatly facilitate the ascent. We have 

 satisfactory testimony also in proof of another habit that I 

 have never seen mentioned, in which these hooks must be 

 highly serviceable. It is said that in fields more or less ojxin, 



