278 THE SNAKES ‘OF SOUTH * AFRICA. 
These dissatisfied or revengeful spirits sometimes come in 
their own form, but usually they appear in the form of some 
such creature as a snake. Ifa snake should enter a Kafir’s hut, 
he concludes that it is possessed by the spirit of a friend or foe. 
To determine satisfactorily for what intent the spirit has visited 
him, he takes a stick, and covering his face with one hand, lays 
the stick gently over the back of the serpent. If it should not 
show any sign of anger or resentment, he is assured it is the spirit 
of a beloved dead ancestor. If this is the case, he instantly goes 
forth and sacrifices an ox, if he has one to spare. If not, a goat 
or two serves the purpose. He argues that the spirit of a dead 
ancestor would not take the trouble to visit the earth and appear 
to him, unless as a warning to be more careful in future, and treat 
him with greater respect by offering sacrifices more frequently 
to him. 
If the serpent should show irritability or anger, the Kafir makes 
up his mind it is the spirit of an enemy who is intent upon doing 
him some grave hurt. He therefore abandons the hut, at least 
for a period. As a consequence of this belief, Kafirs, as a rule, 
have a strong dislike to killing snakes in the vicinity of their 
dwellings, for fear they may be offering an insult to a dead 
ancestor, who will revenge himself upon them. If the snake 
should be possessed of the spirit of a foe, and be killed, the 
hatred of that enemy is increased an hundred fold. 
Contact with Europeans, however, is rapidly undermining 
these old traditions and beliefs of the Kafirs. 
On an occasion when I was camping out at a Kafir kraal, a 
Puff Adder crawled through the doorway into the centre of the 
hut. The usual testing took place to ascertain if it were an 
ancestor, or a bitter enemy. It proved to be the former. The 
friends of the owner of the hut gathered around him, and brought 
all their influence to bear upon him to sacrifice a cow forthwith. 
I ridiculed the whole affair, and told him that his friends were 
trying to scare him into killing a fat cow so that they might 
participate in a glorious feast. I offered to kill the snake and 
bring the penalty upon myself. No, he would not permit that, 
because his dead ancestor would be doubly furious with him 
for allowing a white man to interfere and insult him. The 
simpleton was utterly terrified by the forecastings of his friends, 
if he did not appease the ancestor with the spirit of a good cow. 
