THE RUSH OF THE MAMBA. 211 
‘ Please address this to my mother,’ and grabbing his gun, he 
started for the spot where the natives had fired the shot. About 
sixty yards from the camp, and a few yards away from where the 
natives stood, Moller had his eyes fixed on the latter when he 
suddenly put his foot on a large black Mamba snake, measuring 
over six feet long. In a moment the snake reared and put its 
fangs in his foot above the left ankle. Moller, with presence of 
mind, cut away the part bitten with a penknife, and tightly tied 
a bootlace above the wound and another strap below the knee. 
Mr. Shaw came upon the scene immediately, and two more 
ligaments were put on. Everything possible was done, and 
remedies were applied as well. Moller apparently recovered, 
and the poison was stayed. Preparations were then made to 
go into Malapyre, but just as they were starting, some six or 
seven hours afterwards, Moller’s left side suddenly became 
paralyzed, and in a few minutes he had expired.” A full 
account of this sad case is given in the Addenda at the end of 
the book. 
THE RUSH OF THE MAMBA. 
The Black Mamba, as a general rule, has some secure retreat 
to which it decamps when alarmed. If a Mamba be surprised 
when out in the open, and if you happen to be between it and 
its retreat, it will not rush off in an opposite direction, as most 
animals would do, but will instantly dart off at terrific speed, 
apparently charging right at you. If a Mamba should act in 
this manner, and if you are not prepared to defend yourself, 
your safest plan is to sprint off without an instant’s delay. 
Whilst travelling at great speed, a Mamba can strike right 
and left with consummate ease, without apparently abating 
its speed in the slightest. To stand in the path of a Mamba 
rushing off to its lair, is fraught with the gravest danger, 
even if wellarmed. Atsuch times the nerves are none too steady, 
and it is as likely as not that even an expert with the gun will 
miss his aim. There is no time for reloading, and often not even 
time to take a second aim should the gun be a double-barrelled 
one, before the snake has swept past, and in the passing deposited 
its death-dealing venom. 
When making off through the bushveld, the Black Mamba, 
with a rapid and continuous succession of forward propulsions, 
