latter country, as well as in the southern parts of the 

 Sudan, it is very numerous and has often caused the death 

 of natives by its fatal bite. In these last-named countries 

 it also seems to grow somewhat larger and is not infre- 

 quently found to exceed six feet in length, with a girth of 

 some twelve to fifteen inches. 



A puff adder, which I found on one of the foothills of 

 Mt. Kenia, seemed to be almost impossible to kill. I had 

 passed close by the reptile's tail, stepping not more than 

 two inches from the same, when the gun bearer, who was 

 walking close behind me, saw the hideous creature, and 

 begged me to shoot it with the gun. My first inclination 

 was to do so, but, not wanting to spoil the beautifully 

 marked skin, I secured one of the sticks of the porters, 

 with which they support their loads from the shoulders. 

 With this weapon I struck the snake over its head several 

 times. I then lifted it up on the end of the cane and car- 

 ried it for a while myself, as I could not induce any of the 

 men to do it for me. They assured me that the snake 

 would not die before sunset, unless I completely severed 

 the head from the body. This I did not care to do, as I 

 wanted to preserve the whole skin of the reptile ; but when 

 we arrived at our camping place about two hours later I 

 put down the snake a few yards away from the place 

 which I had selected for my tent, and got ready to take 

 some photographs of the puff adder before it should be 

 skinned. 



Imagine my surprise when I came back with the camera 

 and found that the snake was slowly crawling away from 

 the place where I had put it ! After having placed it again 

 on a bare spot and taken a few photographs, I completely 



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