PYTHON. 435 



mense brute measuring thirty-one of my feet, or 

 rather more than nine yards in length, being the 

 largest snake I had ever seen. Immediately after 

 I fired, a crashing in the bush a short distance 

 a-head announced the presence of large game of 

 some kind, and on creeping through the under- 

 wood I found my shot had scared away a herd of 

 wild cattle. Some of the people also hearing the 

 report came up, and to my surprise the snake was 

 cut up into lengths and divided, as they said it 

 was very good food. 



As we could find no sign of gorilla, the chief 

 object of my search, we continued our way, and 

 coming to a clump of isolated forest with prairie 

 all round, I posted myself at one end and made 

 my people go to the other, and walk through it, 

 making a noise as they went. In this manner I drove 

 several belts of forest, and got fair shots at different 

 kinds of game, chiefly " n'cheri " antelope, or hog, 

 of which I killed two of the latter for food. We 

 also saw a leopard, and a large antelope the colour 

 of a fallow-deer, but striped with white, a species 

 I had never seen before, but unfortunately they 

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