NOTES. 43 



His house, it may be mentioned, was at Grand Pass — " a 

 country seat built by the late Dutch Governor van Anglebeek." 

 Are any of the trees planted by him or any of their descendants 

 still to be found on its site ? (Cordiner, Vol. I. , pp. 386, 46.) 



Quisisana, Walton by Clevedon, - J. P. LEWIS. 



February 5, 1913. 



2. Fight between Snake and Mungoose. — At dirnier in the 

 evening I was witness of an exciting fight between a small but 

 venomous snake which fell from the roof, and Mr. Denham's 

 tame mungoose which fortunatety happened to be m the 

 house. The fight lasted half an hour, the mungoose circling 

 round the snake, which, sittmg up in a sort of figure of eight 

 coil, made repeated darts at the mungoose, but only succeeded 

 in striking the coconut matting each time, lashing its tail 

 from side to side. The mungoose kept moving its head 

 quickl}^ from side to side,- a sort of feint apparently to avoid 

 the snake's blows, and as it circled round the snake, the latter 

 moved its head round so as never to take its ej'e off the 

 mungoose, or let the mungoose get at it from behind. At the 

 end of 10 minutes or so, the mungoose got in under the snake's 

 guard and caught it by the back of the neck, but it did not, as 

 it easity might have done, kill it. Apparent Ij^ from sheer love 

 of the fight it wanted to have some more rounds, for it dropped 

 the snake which immediately tried to get away. The mungoose 

 followed it, but was very careful not to catch it by the tail. 

 All through during the actual fight it treated the snake with 

 great respect, from which circumstance, and from the '' spade " 

 shape of the snake's head, I concluded that it was a poisonous 

 one. 



The second and third rounds were simply a repetition of the 

 first, and ended in the same sort of by-play in the intervals. 

 The snake seemed exhausted and could only just come up to 

 time, the mungoose was always quite fresh. Finally, the 

 mungoose seized the snake for the third or fourth time b}^ the 

 back of the neck, and, deciding to end the matter, gave it two 

 or three vigorous shakes, as a terrier shakes a rat. This 



