198 NATURAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



danger is past. Much as I was accustomed to the sight 

 of them, and the hundreds that I have killed, I never 

 saw one without a cold chill running through my blood ; 

 and it is often with a shudder that I look back upon the 

 many narrow escapes I have had from snakes. How 

 I avoided being bitten is a mystery to me. I once 

 threw myself on my blankets for a rest, during a hot 

 windy day, in my shirt-sleeves, and a large carpet-snake 

 lay curled up within three inches of me ! Twice have I 

 taken up the little whip-snake in a bundle of dry grass ; 

 and twice have I had a large snake twist itself round my 

 leg ; and in one instance my leggings saved me, for the 

 snake struck me below the knee. I have picked up 

 a dead quail in long grass, which had fallen close to 

 a snake ; and scores of times have I all but trod on them 

 in thick grass. I always wore long boots, or game- 

 keeper's leather leggings in the bush during the 

 summer ; and I should recommend every one to do 

 the same. I consider the greatest danger we ran was 

 if we chanced to pick up an old log at night for the 

 bush-fire in which might be a snake ; a man cannot be 

 too careful in handling dead logs and sticks in the 

 forest ; for, independent of snakes, this dead-wood is 

 infested with centipedes and other insects, the bite of 

 which is dangerous. One thing is fortunate, by constant 

 practice the eye becomes so accustomed to range over 

 the ground that, in most instances, I could see a snake 

 before I reached it, unless it was coiled up very snugly. 

 I could never identify more than three distinct species 



