294 DIFFERENT SPECIES OF SNAKES. 



aim." The average length of a full-grown specimen I be- 

 lieve to be about five feet. 



The puff-adder {vipera inflaid) was not uncommon in Na- 

 maqua-land and Damara-land. My saddle-ox had an ex- 

 ceedinoly narrow escape from being bitten by one. The rep- 

 tile was lying at length across the path, and I did not dis- 

 cover it until the ox almost trod on it. Any serpent less 

 slow in its movements must have fixed its fangs in the ani- 

 mal. Another time a woman, the wife of a native servant 

 of mine, found one of these horrid creatures comfortably 

 sleeping in the folds of her skin apron. 



Notmthstanding its venomous character, the puff-adder, 

 from its inert, heavy, and sluggish habits, is comparatively 

 harmless. The only real danger arises from treading on it. 

 This, however, is not always easy to avoid, since its color 

 so much resembles the ground. 



"Wlien about to seize its prey or attack the enemy, the 

 puff-adder is said to be unable to dart forw^d, but, on the 

 other hand, to possess the faculty of throwing itself backward 

 with unerring certainty. 



Different species of what the Dutch term " schaap-steker," 

 or sheep-stinger ;* " boom-slang," or tree-snake ; " ringel- 

 hals," or ring-throat ; " the spuig-slang," or spitting-snake ;"|" 

 the '•' z wart-slang," or black-snake,]: &c., are also occasional- 

 ly met ^^'ith, but none of these are very poisonous. The 

 spuig-slang, however, is much dreaded by the colonist, less 

 for its bite — which, though venomous, is not fatal — but from 

 its peculiar habit of projecting a jet of poison to a distance 

 of several feet toward the eyes of any person who may hap- 

 pen to approach its haunts, the result of which is usually loss 

 of sight. 



The common people at the Cape have some very singular 

 notions and superstitions about the different reptiles indigen- 

 ous to the Cape Colony, but more especially with regard to 



* TrhnerorTiinus rhombeatus. f JVaia kaje. $ Cohimher camia. 



