96 WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
I really believe all the snakes of the country had 
come to bathe in this creek on that day, and I did not 
wonder at it, it was so hot and sultry. I had often met. 
with snakes in the river before, but never in such great 
numbers and of so many different species. In little more 
than one hour and a half I must have seen two hundred 
of them. JI had never seen such a sight before and 
never have since. — 
Snakes are nasty things! I do not like them at. all. 
They will never be my pets. But there is a country in 
the Bight of Benin where snakes can not be killed, un- 
der penalty of death. 
The sun began to go down, and as we paddled along 
we looked fora dry place on the shore where we might 
spend the night. The snakes had disappeared, and none 
were to be seen in the water. Of that circumstance I 
was very glad. 
To find a dry place was not an easy matter, for the 
- land was low, swampy, and overflowed. The prospect of 
sleeping in the canoe and of being eaten up by mus- 
quitoes was not very cheering to my spirits. But the 
men knew a place where all the year round there was a 
dry spot, and where they often stopped when fishing; but 
we must pull very hard in order to reach there before 
dark. As none of us wished to sleep in the canoe, the — 
fellows paddled as hard as they could, and by half-past 
five o’clock we reached the place. 
It was sunset at six o’clock, so that we had plenty of 
time to fix our camp. 
The place was dreary enough and not very safe, to 
judge from the foot-prints of wild beasts that had come 
prowling about there, among which I could see distinct- 
