THE WESTERN BEND 231 



by a big" black snake. To reassure him I spun this South 

 African yarn : " Remember that the black mamba is not 

 so bad. It is the green mamba you should avoid, since 

 its bite means death in twenty minutes; whereas you may 

 be struck by a black mamba and yet survive (in agony) 

 . . . for three hours!" 



We spent a couple of nights out here, penetrating 

 far back from the river into attractive, park-like country, 

 where stretches of grass-prairies alternated with thorn- 

 bush and scattered groves. Both big-game and gazelles 



GIRAFFES NEAR JEBEL ZERAF. (Sketched February igth, 1913.) 



were fairly plentiful, chiefly of the usual species already 

 described, but including both herds and many small groups 

 of giraffe. At one point I descried a pair of Secretary 

 birds (Serpentarius secretarius] the only instance of their 

 occurrence during all my rambles in the Sudan. During a 

 full hour, while we enjoyed our midday rest under grateful 

 evergreen shade, I watched these two '.' Secretaries (un- 

 paid) " sedately stalking about in open grass ; but no prey 

 rewarded their search while they remained in sight. 1 

 During the half-light next morning I saw a couple of 

 lionesses slowly strolling forest-wards, and presently 



1 Only once during his sixteen years in these regions did Petherick 

 meet with the "Secretary." He gives a characteristic description of that 

 encounter in Upper Egypt and Central Africa, p. 295. 



