JiRT. 17 EAST AFRICAlSr VERTEBRATES LOVERmGE 59 



this and pulled the owner down and out as he made haste to ascend 

 the hollow trunk, but dropped him like a hot cake when his head 

 came into view. 



He made for the next tree, but pursuing I flicked him into a more 

 open space, and had time to see that he was about 4 feet long. 



At this juncture he nearly got away, for he traveled very fast down- 

 hill toward a belt of impenetrable scrub. 



In trying to overtake and pass the snake with my eyes fixed on 

 him, I ran blindly into a big bush of wait-a-bit thorn, which hooked 

 into my bare arms as well as my clothes and so took me some sec- 

 onds to free myself. I shouted to the boys to head him off, but 

 Salimu, who like myself was very much out of practice, shielded his 

 eyes with a slouch hat and would not go within 30 feet of its head; 

 the other boys also were very tardy about coming forward. Salimu 

 in passing him, however, caused him to halt in a bush and raise his 

 head with spread hood. Just as he dropped to the ground I ran in 

 and flicked him back 10 feet. He spat several times, but my eyes 

 were shielded by my helmet. The cobra now tried to push his head 

 under a fallen tree trunk and gave me the opportunity of running in 

 and pinning his neck to the ground ; the rest was plain sailing, though 

 I had only a rather small bank cash bag to cram it into. 



After my cautious handling of these snakes it was one of the 

 most interesting and amusing incidents of the whole trip to watch 

 Gurukesi and Kifinda remove these and four others from Shinyanga 

 from their cage and pack them for shipment. 



They were certainly very respectful toward the big one, but the 

 others, which were about 4 feet long, Kifinda pulled out of their cage 

 by their tails. Holding a cobra at arm's length in his left hand, 

 with inflated cheeks he would make a dab with his right hand for 

 the back of its neck; sometimes he missed and the twirling, wriggling 

 reptile would nearly get him as it struck at his hand. Nevertheless, 

 neither of them was bitten on this occasion. They both said, however, 

 they had been bitten many times by black-necked cobras, which are 

 common in their district and whose skins are in considerable demand 

 for binding round the drums used in festivities. 



When bitten they apply the "musaweye" medicine (as detailed 

 under the notes on puff adders) but do not drink a decoction of it. 

 They recover within 24 hours, I asked if they had ever known any- 

 one to die from a bite of this snake; they replied in the affirmative, 

 but said that if you applied the medicine and died it was not a real 

 snake but a wizard ("mchawi"), in which case, of course, you could 

 not expect the medicine to be efficacious. 



They believe that it spits in your eyes to blind you, then bites your 

 feet. If the venom gets in their eyes, they apply a "dawa" (kata- 

 makamakikulu) made of leaves of a small plant bearing the same 



