ii2 DEL AGO A BAY. 



The green species are usually seen coiled up 

 in the branches of trees, and it is said that both 

 will attack unprovoked, but all I have seen 

 make off as soon as they are observed. I once 

 came upon a green mamba lying in the path 

 trying to swallow a large lizard, but when it saw 

 me it hastily disgorged its prey and glided off, 

 leaving to me the unpleasant task of killing the 

 poor half-crushed thing. My boy Jack trod on 

 a brown one once, and the flying leap he took, 

 flinging down box and net, startled me, but it 

 had not attempted to bite him. He called to me 

 one day in the wood to look at a large snake 

 that had reared its head and hissed at him when 

 he threw a stick at it, but unfortunately it had 

 vanished before I reached the spot. 



From his description I believe it must have 

 been a puff-adder, and some time after I saw 

 one of the same sort. I nearly trod on it, but 

 instead of gliding away it reared up about a 

 foot quite close by my side, following me with 

 its head wherever I turned, and puffing out its 

 cheeks. I could not help gazing on it., it was 



