” 
42 WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
excitement, but always holding the head. On a sudden 
he threw the snake on the ground. Then the creature 
began to crawl away, when suddenly the Goree man came 
in front of it with a light stick and instantly the monster 
erected itself almost to half its full length, gave a tre- 
mendous whistle, which we all heard, looked glaringly 
and fiercely in the man’s face with its sharp, pointed 
tongue out, and then stood still as if it could not move. 
The Goree man, with his little stick in his left hand, 
- touched it lightly as though to tease it. It was a fearful 
sight—and if he had been near enough the snake would 
no doubt have sprung upon its antagonist. The man, as 
he teased and infuriated the snake with the rod he held 
in his left hand, drew the attention of the reptile toward 
the stick ; then suddenly and in the wink of an eye, al- 
most as quick as lightning, with his right hand he got 
hold of the creature just under his head. 
The same thing that I have just described again took 
place. The snake folded itself round his body; then he 
unfolded the snake, which was once more let loose, and 
now this horrid serpent got so infuriated that as soon as 
he was thrown on the ground he erected himself, and the 
clare of his eyes was something terrific. It was indeed 
an appalling scene; the air around seemed to be filled 
with the whistling sound of the creature.. 
Alas! a more terrible scene soon took place! The 
man became bolder and bolder, more and more care- 
less, and the snake probably more and more accustomed 
to the mode of warfare of his antagonist, and just as the 
monster stood erect, the man attempted to seize its neck 
as he had done many and many a time before, but grasp- 
ed the body too low, and before he had time to let-it go 
the 
» La 
wig ee 
