ri2 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



in the left one. Smarting was followed in a minute or 

 two by intense pain, and complete loss of sight. For- 

 tunately, assistance was at hand, and the eyes were 

 treated continuously for three hours with fresh milk 

 squeezed liberally into them. The clot of blood with 

 which each was covered then came away, and the surface, 

 though much inflamed, became visible. The milk ap- 

 peared to possess the power of coagulating with and 

 sucking up the venom. It was a great relief to discover 

 that I was not permanently blind, as I had feared ; but 

 bandages were necessary for a couple of days, and blue 

 spectacles for a month. At the end of that time re- 

 covery seemed complete, and then there came a relapse, 

 the left eye, which had received a double dose of poison, 

 giving way, and causing me considerable inconvenience 

 for a long time. The snake, which was killed and skinned 

 during my period of prostration, proved to be a black- 

 necked cobra. Wolhuter once had a similar accident, a 

 cobra being under his dining-room table ; but in his case 

 the dose of venom was a slight one, and recovery was 

 rapid and complete. Many of our domestic animals, 

 dogs, calves, and, on one occasion, a foal, have com- 

 pletely lost the sight of one or both eyes in this manner, 

 and solitary natives, unlucky enough to meet with such 

 an accident in the bush, far away from water, are said 

 to experience like results. 



THE RINGHALS is a first cousin of the cobra group, 

 and, though foreign to the eastern low country of the 

 Transvaal, is well known as a spitting snake throughout 

 the more civilized parts of south Africa. Its bite is 

 dangerous, and it is marked in black and brown, deriving 

 its name from the white band or bands on its neck. 



The black-necked cobra is the only representative of 

 the hooded tribe I have met with in the neighbourhood 



