204 THE TRIBES ON MY FRONTIER. 



valour of inexperience, the centipede fell upon his impene- 

 trable foe, and when at last he retired, with blunted fangs 

 and dislocated jaws, you could see that the very name of 

 a beetle was abomination to him. Then the beetle un- 

 packed its legs, and got up and climbed the centipede's 

 nose, and travelled up and down his back and explored 

 his geography, until the tide of pity turned, and we had 

 compassion on the shame and misery of the vanquished 

 ruffian. 



But of all the things in this earth that bite or sting, the 

 palm belongs to the biscobra, a creature whose very name 

 seems to indicate that it is twice as bad as the cobra. 

 Though known by the terror of its name to natives and 

 Europeans alike, it has never been described in the pro- 

 ceedings of any learned society, nor has it yet received a 

 scientific name. In fact, it occupies much the same place 

 in science as the sea-serpent, and accurate information re- 

 garding it is still a desideratum. The awful deadliness of 

 its bite admits of no question, being supported by countless 

 authentic instances ; our own old gliorawalla was killed by 

 one. The points on which evidence is required are first, 

 whether there is any such animal as the biscobra ; second, 

 whether, if it does exist, it is a snake with legs or a lizard 



