282 



ON SAFARI 



tlie remainder gliding along the ground. In thickness 

 they might be 18 ins. in circumference. Being assured 

 that their bite involves certain death after half-an-hour's 

 terrible agony (though whether this is true or not, I 

 cannot say), one could not but regard those gliding 

 apparitions with a cold shudder and a freezing sensation 

 around the heart. 



Puff-adders up to 4 ft. long, very thick, with flat 



'-^^^^A^^fc^^ 



GREEN MAMBAS. 



toad-like heads, are numerous in the Transvaal, though 

 at the period of my visit (June to September) some- 

 what lethargic. From a female, killed July 2, 36 ins. 

 long, I took twenty eggs, about the size of thrush's. 

 There were also Ring -hols = ring- necked snakes 

 (Sej^edon hcemachatis) and other species, not to omit 

 the python. One of these latter which we killed 

 measured 11 ft. 9 ins., but that is far below their full 

 size, for pythons of 22 ft. have been recorded. 



On one occasion a Shangani " boy " with me pointed 

 excitedly into a hole leading into one of those laby- 

 rinthine systems of burrows, made by creatures of the 



