68 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



The Egyptian cobra, which wants the curious 

 spectacle-like mark on the back of the neck that 

 distinguishes the Asiatic species, is of a somewhat 

 dark and greenish hue, marked with brownish, and 

 attaining the length of from three to five feet. 

 This is the serpent which the Egyptian conjurers 

 know how to render stiff and immovable by press- 

 ing the nape of the neck with the finger, and thus 

 throwing it into a sort of catalepsy. The serpent 

 is thus apparently converted into a rod or stick. 



Traces of this conversion occur in the Scrip- 

 tures for instance, where Pharaoh's wise men 

 cast down their rods, which were turned into ser- 

 pents, but were devoured by the serpent of Aaron. 



Take thy rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and it 

 shall be turned into a serpent. 



Then went Moses and Aaron unto Pharaoh, and 

 did even as the Lord had commanded : and Aaron 

 cast foorth his rod before Pharaoh and before his 

 servants, and it was turned into a serpent. 



Then Pharaoh called also for the wise men, and 

 sorcerers : and those charmers also of Egypt did in 

 like manner with their enchantments. 



For they cast downe every man his rod, and they 

 were turned into serpents : but Aaron's rod de- 

 voured their rods.* 



Dr. Smith, in his Zoology of South Africa, 

 gives figures of no less than three varieties of 

 Naia haje. They do not appear to differ specifi- 

 cally from the naia of Egypt. Dr. Smith closely 

 compared them, and he could not perceive greater 

 differences between some of the individuals from 

 the Cape and those from Egypt than he had found 

 between some of those inhabiting Southern Africa. 

 The young of the Cape reptile corresponded ex- 

 actly with the figure of the young Egyptian naia 

 given by Geoffrey. 



The rarest of the southern varieties is called by 

 the colonists Spungh-slang, or spitting-snake, from 

 its alleged power of ejecting poison to a distance. 

 Dr. Smith describes this reptile as being of a uni- 

 form livid, blackish-brown, the livid tinge strong- 

 est on the under parts, so as to present almost 

 purplish-slate color, which becomes very dark ant 

 shining towards the head. He remarks that al 

 naias of South Africa distil poison from the points 

 of their fangs when much irritated, and are able 

 by a forcible expiration, to eject a portion of it to 

 a considerable distance. Both the Europeans am 

 natives aver that this snake has the power of cast 

 ing its poison to a distance of several feet, espec 

 ially if the ejection be favored with the wim 

 blowing the same way. They declare that th 

 reptile often projects it into the eyes of those whi 

 intrude upon its haunts, and that the injury i 

 followed by inflammation, which terminates no 

 unfrequently in loss of sight. It must have bee 

 .one of these spit-venoms that Mr. Gordon Cum 

 ming encountered, when watching in one of hi 

 hiding-holes for the brute aristocracy of the forest 

 One night, while so engaged, a horrid snake 



* Barker's Bible, Gen. c. vii. See also c. iv., wher 

 it is written that the rod of Moses was turned into a ser 

 pent. 



hich Kleinboy had tried to kill with his loading- 

 od, flew up at my eye and spat poison into 't. 

 mmediately I washed it well out at the fountain. 



endured great pain all night, but next day the eye 

 ame all right.* 



A naval officer, who distinguished himself at 

 he taking of Acre under Sir C. Napier, had a 

 arrow escape from one of these naias. He was 

 hooting near the Cape, when he trod close to or 

 upon one of these horrible reptiles. The snake 

 ivas coiled round his leg in a moment, and its 

 nflated head was raised to give the fatal dash, 

 when his companion, with admirable presence of 

 mind, placed the muzzle of his gun close to the 

 Cobra's head, which was drawn back for the pur- 

 pose of a surer aim and a more vigorous stroke, 

 tnd blew its head off, without inflicting the slight- 

 est injury on his grateful friend. 



The malignant perseverance of these serpents, 

 when their anger is once fairly roused, is most 

 remarkable? Dr. Smith, while walking in the 

 vicinity of Graham's Town, happened to excite 

 the attention of a naia, which immediately raised 

 its head and warned him of his danger by the 

 strength of its expiration. 'The serpent then 

 commenced an advance, and the doctor observes 

 that had he not retired he would, in all probability, 

 have suffered, if he had not been fortunate enough 

 to disable it ; which, possibly, would not have 

 lappened, considering, as he says, that these cobras 

 are very active. An officer of the Cape Corps, 

 for whose accuracy the doctor vouches, informed 

 that distinguished zoologist that he was chased 

 twice round his wagon by one of them, and that 

 the pursuit might have been prolonged if a Hotten- 

 tot had not disabled the enraged reptile by a blow 

 from a long stick. 



The Asiatic form of this genus of serpents is 

 even more highly developed than that of the Afri- 

 can species. The general length attained by the 

 cobra de capello in Ceylon ranges between two 

 and four feet. Their color varies, and the light- 

 colored individuals were called, in Dr. Davy's time, 

 and perhaps are so called still, high-caste snakes, 

 whilst those of a darker color are designated as 

 low-caste snakes. The largest seen by the doctor 

 was nearly six feet long ; but Captain Percival, 

 in his account of the island (1805) states that this 

 hooded snake is found there of a length varying 

 from six to fifteen feet. When enraged and pre- 

 paring for an attack, the head and body are raised 

 to a height of three or four feet, and at the same 

 time the rest of the body is coiled to accelerate the 

 spring, and add force to it. At this moment the 

 membrane, which lies along part of the head and the 

 sides of the neck, and is hardly perceptible till the 

 animal is irritated, is distended somewhat in the 

 form of a hood, just as it is in the Egyptian cobras ; 

 but in the Asiatic nag the hood is marked with a 

 curious streak or pattern, somewhat in the shape 

 of a horse-shoe, and resembling a pair of barnacles, 

 or spectacles without arms, whence its French 



* A Hunter's Life in South Africa. 



