FATALITIES. 231 
indeed, a poor chance of recovery if a Puff Adder succeeds in 
driving both his fangs home and getting a grip, which he assuredly 
will do, if he possibly can. He knows full well that if he can 
succeed in hanging on for a few seconds, he will be able to drive 
the whole of his stored-up venom into the wounds. A full 
discharge of venom will often amount to ten drops, two or three 
of which are sufficient to cause death in a robust man. 
The little daughter of a farmer friend of mine lost her life by 
the bite of a Puff Adder. She trod upon the tail of the reptile, 
whereupon it made a fierce lunge, striking her leg just behind 
the knee. One of the fangs lacerated an artery, and the parents, 
not knowing what to do, she rapidly bled to death. 
In Natal, a native labourer was once gathering up a pile of 
brushwood. A Puff Adder happened to be lying concealed 
beneath it. The instant his hand touched the reptile, it struck 
and buried its fangs inhisarm. Withakoarse cry, he summoned 
his fellow-labourers, but within two minutes of being bitten, the 
man was dead. The post-mortem showed that one of the snake’s 
fangs had penetrated the vein which lies just beneath the skin 
on the inner side of the elbow. A charge of venom had been 
injected therein, which caused almost instant clotting of the blood, 
and death. Happily, such cases of direct injection of venom into 
a vein by a snake are uncommon. 
I was driving a two-horse Cape cart one day along a country 
road, followed by my two fox terriers. Presently I spied a Puff 
Adder sluggishly crawling across the road about forty paces 
head. One of my terriers, seeing it, made a dash, but, failing 
to swerve aside sufficiently, the reptile coiled, and shot forward 
like a released steel spring. The force of the blow knocked the 
dog on his side. However, he was quickly up, and attempted to 
run off, but the snake held on firmly. By this time the horses 
had taken alarm, and attempted to bolt. Three minutes later, 
when I had succeeded in pulling them up, the stricken terrier 
came bounding up to me, apparently all right. Without the 
slightest warning, however, he suddenly turned a somersault, 
gave a few gasps, and lay dead. 
The snake had evidently discharged a large dose of venom 
into him, which caused clotting of the blood, and consequent 
rapid death. 
