SNAKES 103 



would be a mistake. At any rate, after being so 

 cornered and flaunted my snake becomes resigned 

 to its fate. It gives up for the present any attempt 

 to escape, and if I leave it so and move a little way 

 off it is some moments before it very slowly uncoils 

 and begins to go off by stealth. 



I am not going to trouble it much more. I will 

 only show you what might possibly have happened 

 if the snake had proceeded to the extremity of 

 biting me. I have got its mouth open with some 

 difficulty, and invite you to put a finger in. Note 

 the hundreds of very tiny little teeth all pointing 

 backward. It is easier for you to put your finger 

 into its mouth than to take it out. The snake can 

 swallow good large frogs, but it cannot easily 

 disgorge, and it would be awkward for itself if in 

 proceeding to the very extremity of hate it were 

 to anchor itself to an enemy as big as a man. 

 4 That 's all, Mr. Snake. You may go.' Off he 

 goes ; the most conspicuous thing about him, the 

 badge of his harmlessness, the bright yellow 

 crown at the back of his head, picked out and 

 accentuated by two black splashes behind it. 

 You need never give way to a snake so adorned 

 that disputes the stepping-stones with you. 



As June wears on, big snakes annoy the farmer's 

 wife by haunting the marrow bed in the cowyard 

 and the waste heaps of straw in the rickyard 

 where her best hens lay. Before they leave, there 

 are buried in the warm heaps of fermenting 

 material strings of tough-skinned eggs about the 



