'^ TRIGONOCEPHALUS LANCEOLATUS." 5B 



of safety lay in getting nearer the head of the snake, so as 

 to diminish the impetus of the stroke. He threw therefore 

 his naked body flat on the coiled snake, and succeeded in 

 getting his hands round its neck ; he held it as in a vice, 

 then straightening its long body out with the other hand, 

 he made it run the gauntlet of his powerful jaws, and in 

 a short time it was dead. Negroes are not often hysterical, 

 but after such a meal it can hardly be wondered that the 

 poor fellow fainted. 



As to the effects of the poison of the Fer-de-lance, there 

 are various accounts, but from my own experience I should 

 say the following are the most prominent symptoms. There 

 is but little pain or swelling at the seat of injury, except 

 in very bad cases, nor is there sickness or nausea. The 

 injured limb first and then the body gets cold and insen- 

 sible, and the pulse very weak and thready and respiration 

 slower. Faintness increases, and brings on ringing in the 

 ears and an inclination to sleep and dimness of vision, and 

 sometimes there is contraction of the pupils. The poison 

 acts chiefly on the heart, and as it gets weaker there is 

 an increased dread of death, which when it comes is pain- 

 less. On one occasion I saw a negro who, having been 

 badly bitten in the hand, and there being no help near, 

 had tied a ligature round his arm and completely cut off 

 the circulation. Grangrene almost immediately developed, 

 and in two days not a vestige of flesh remained on his arm 

 from the shoulder downwards, so rapidly did it spread. I 

 attempted to save his life by an amputation, but it was too 

 late. 



The only treatment of the slightest avail is to make the 

 patient intoxicated as fast as possible, and his chances of 

 recovery are in exact ratio to the amount of intoxication 

 that can be produced in a given time. The native " pan- 



