32C 



THE NOGA-POUTSANE. 



number of beasts is annually destroyed by the Picakolous ; the 

 fangs of an individual killed at Kolobeng distilled poison for several 

 hours after its head had been severed from its body. It is probably 

 this plentiful secretion which the natives call " the serpent's spittle," 

 and which leads them to suppose that the Picakolou is endowed with 

 a power of injecting it into its enemies' eyes when the wind is 

 favourable. 





Python Molure. 



Echidna, or Picakolou. 



Fennec (Megalotis}. 



Other venomous species exist in this part of Africa, of which 

 several are vipers, and among others the Puff- Adder ( Vipera inflata). 

 The natives have named it Noga-Poutsane, or the Goats' Serpent, 

 because it makes at night a bleating exactly resembling that animal. 

 There were certainly no goats, says Livingstone, in the place where I 

 happened to hear it. The natives suppose that by this bleating it 



