UNCANNY COOKERY 



I have had several narrow escapes from these reptiles, 

 perhaps the most serious of which happened when I was 

 staying on a farm in the Orange River Colony. 



Just before sundown one day on coming out of the 

 heat of the sun into the shade and cool of the house I 

 threw my sun hat on to the floor and did not notice 

 that it rested over a saucer of milk that was kept there 

 for the cats. About an hour later after the evening 

 meal we had a smoke, and as I was about to bend down 

 to pick up my hat preparatory to departing, I was seized 

 from behind and dashed to the ground. Thinking my 

 friend had taken leave of his senses my hand instinctively 

 clutched the knife in my belt, but my eyes followed his 

 finger as he pointed to the small length of tail which 

 showed from under my hat. A blow from a sjambok, 

 and the remains of a deadly night adder — one of the 

 smallest and most venomous snakes extant — lay in a 

 small pool of milk amidst the fragments of saucer. 



Few women would have shown the pluck once dis- 

 played by Miss Crawford, the senior sister at Mombasa 

 European Hospital. She was walking along a narrow 

 path that overhangs the sea on the cliff a short distance 

 from the hospital. Her favourite dog was a little way 

 ahead of her when it attracted the attention of a puff 

 adder. The reptile was so busily engaged in exercising 

 a fascination over the little pet that Miss Crawford was 

 able to deliver a swinging blow with a small sjambok 

 that she carried, and she returned to the hospital carrying 

 the dead reptile, which measured fifty-two inches. Snakes 

 abound on the Island of Mombasa, and one frequently 

 encounters them when out for a stroll, and it is not at all 

 uncommon for them to be run over on the road by a 

 gharri. The puff adder is one of the most venomous 

 reptiles in the country. 



A few hints as to how to deal with a snake bite may 

 not be inappropriate here. In the first place }-ou must 



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