94 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



morning turning over, previous to donning, the boots 

 and clothes is a wise one. A puff adder as a bedfellow 

 is an unpleasant companion. Mosquito curtains, always 

 useful, have the additional value of keeping off such 

 intruders. Snakes have the strongest possible objection 

 to the smell of disinfectants, and nicotine is fatal to them. 

 One drop of tobacco oil on the tongue will kill any 

 ordinary sized snake. A rope soaked in carbolic and 

 laid round the tent will always obviate the risk of a 

 midnight visit. This objection of snakes to cross a bar 

 of some substance objectionable to them is well known 

 among the native " doctors." The fowl-house at Sabi 

 Bridge had suffered severely from the nightly depre- 

 dations of a cobra which always managed to elude capture, 

 and which it was impossible to keep out of the rough 

 shelter of reeds and grass. My wagon driver, who 

 happened to be qualifying at the time as a " doctor," 

 volunteered to stop the marauder, and, other means 

 failing, I enjoined him to do his best. He then, with 

 considerable ceremony, proceeded to draw a little trench 

 round the fowl-house, in which he scattered some acrid 

 smelling powder, produced from one of the numerous 

 cartridge cases and antelope horns which he kept about 

 his person. He next pronounced a sort of blessing over 

 his work, and, turning to me with a bland smile, stated 

 that the trouble would not recur. Although at the time 

 I secretly ridiculed the whole thing, it is a fact that the 

 snake thenceforth ceased its visits. 



The poison of venomous snakes is secreted in glands 

 on each side of the head. When the reptile strikes, the 

 hinged fangs, which normally lie back horizontally along 

 the inside of the jaw, are protruded forward, and the im- 

 pact on the bitten substance sets to work certain muscles 

 which drive the poison from the glands down a groove or 



