THESPORD, ELIZABETH SNAKE CATCHER... 249 
frequently protrude its head from its place of concealment in a 
hole, crevice, or amongst the herbage when shrill music is played, 
or even the clinking of a chain, or beating a steel triangle. Sounds 
of high pitch excite it. Low muffled sounds or the beating of a 
drum it pays little or no heed to. 
THE PorRT ELIZABETH SNAKE CATCHER. 
The snake charmers of India would pale into insignificance 
when compared with Mr. James Williams, the Port Elizabeth 
Snake Catcher, who for some years past has captured venomous 
snakes for my experiments, and for exhibition in the Port Eliza- 
beth Museum. He makes no pretence of exercising any hypnotic 
power over these reptiles. From the very beginning he evinced 
a keen interest in snakes. Nothing pleased him so much as to be 
helping with my experiments. He gloried in holding venomous 
snakes between his finger and thumb while I extracted their 
venom for experimental purposes. He is an Irishman, and 
like the majority of that nationality, always willing to take big 
risks. 
He knows all about the ways and habits of the local snakes, and 
therefore can find and capture snakes almost at any time. I 
must admit, however, that the doings of Mr. Williams, and his 
absolute fearlessness, in fact I may say recklessness, startle 
even me. As will have been read elsewhere (on p. 141), he was 
once bitten by a Boomslang and lay apparently dying for a 
couple of weeks, with huge dark purple patches caused by 
hemorrhage, all over his body. He lay there suffering agonies 
of pain, due to acute inflammation of the mucous surfaces of his 
bowels and other parts, and for a considerable time after rising 
from his sick-bed he felt the after-effects. 
Yet James Williams will come sauntering along to me, and 
with a tired and indifferent voice observes: “‘ Sir, I managed to 
catch two fine Boomslangs to-day.” Diving his hand into a 
satchel or linen bag, he forthwith drags out the writhing, struggling 
reptiles, and allows them to twist and coil about his arms and 
neck. He just smiles and remarks that Boomslangs seldom bite 
if they are handled gently when they have once been captured 
and kept for a time in a dark bag. 
