292 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



He died within two hours and a half, and I lost a most 

 faithful and attached servant. It brought the uncertainty of 

 life very forcibly before me, to think how near I had been to 

 falling myself a victim to this horrid snake, the third one 

 that endangered my life in the course of one day. My Arab 

 servant expressed surprise, that the bite did not kill Ferhani 

 more quickly. If what he says is correct, the puff-adder's 

 bite may prove fatal in a very few minutes. He told me, 

 that on one occasion, when some Arabs were together in a 

 hut, one of them left the company and went to a cocoa-nut 

 palm close by ; the others heard a scream and saw the man 

 sink down at the foot of the palm, but by the time they had 

 hurried up to him, he was in extremis, and died. A puff-adder 

 had bitten him. 



Ferhani had been only ten months in my service. Before 

 he came to me, he had tried various callings, including that 

 of a small pedlar, but had failed to earn enough to provide 

 the bare necessaries of life. In a starving condition he 

 applied at Fort Masindi for work, and was sent on to me, 

 as I was willing to add another to the number of my 

 servants. He did not know a word of Swahili, and knew abso- 

 lutely nothing of the duties of a servant. Yet very soon he 

 had learnt enough Swahili to make himself understood, and 

 had^ mastered all the details of his duties to render himself 

 indispensable to the household. He was a Mohammedan, and 

 a strict observer of the Mohammedan ritual. He was frugal 

 and thrifty, and a sum exceeding £2 was left by him in cloth 

 and rupees, and taken over by the Government for any heirs 

 that might turn up. He was devotedly attached to me, and a 

 plucky little fellow, standing by my side and carrying my rifle 

 for me on more than one occasion, when I was in imminent 

 danger of death. To me his death was a great loss. He was 

 willing and hard-working, tidy, sober, and scrupulouslv honest. 



As he was being carried into my tent, he asked for his 

 " kitabo," or book ; this contained certain passages of the 

 Koran. When it was brought to him, he was already too 

 drowsy to remember it. 



The bite of the snake was almost instantly followed by a 

 racking pain which travelled up the poor fellow's leg, and then 

 passed on successively to the abdomen, both arms, and the other 

 leg. Severe vomiting set in within a quarter of an hour, and 



