SOME HARMLESS SNAKES 101 



There are several kinds of water snakes, one brown 

 and four green. The brown type found in the Sabi is 

 olive colour above and pinkish white below. These 

 snakes are generally found in and about pools of water, 

 but I have seen them in my compound, where they no 

 doubt came to hunt frogs. The teeth are very small 

 and solid, and the length of the snake is about two feet 

 when full grown. Natives are very frightened of them, 

 but they are quite harmless. 



Another type of snake which inspires great terror in 

 the native mind, and is generally supposed by white men 

 to be very dangerous, is the FILE SNAKE. These are quite 

 big reptiles, sometimes running to five feet long. They 

 have a three-cornered file-like appearance owing to the 

 scales along the middle of the back being raised, making 

 the cut section of the snake appear triangular. They 

 are often found about rubbish heaps, and natives say 

 that they are quite as dangerous as mambas. They are, 

 however, perfectly harmless, having solid teeth and no 

 poison glands. 



There are also several kinds of harmless house snakes, 

 which are apt to inspire great terror owing to their habit 

 of hanging about human dwellings on the hunt after rats 

 and mice. They are usually about a couple of feet long, 

 and there are four kinds described from South Africa. The 

 OLIVE BROWN HOUSE SNAKE is of the named colour above, 

 and white below. The spotted species is of a yellowish- 

 brown colour with reddish-brown spots. The STRIPED 

 HOUSE SNAKE is pale brown above with two yellow lines 

 on either side 'of the head, while the last kind, the BROWN 

 HOUSE SNAKE, is mixed brown and yellow above. 



Although no one can be blamed for at once killing any 

 snake he sees, of the nature of which he is not quite 

 certain, however harmless it may really be, it would be 



