CHAPTER III 

 SNAKES 



BORNEO, like other tropical countries, is a land abound- 

 ing in reptiles, and a newcomer is apt to scrutinize 

 with care the odd nooks and corners in his house 

 which he thinks likely places for the harbouring of 

 venomous serpents, or to tread delicately when first he 

 ventures into the jungle, lest he disturb some monster 

 Python or vicious Cobra. But a few months' experience 

 will soon teach him that his fears are groundless. 

 Snakes are not creatures that obtrude themselves on 

 the notice of mankind, and the idea that a poisonous 

 snake savagely attacks its human enemies or even stands 

 boldly on its own defence is for the most part quite 

 erroneous. Moreover, in a densely forested country like 

 Borneo snakes have innumerable hiding-places and are 

 never easy to find ; as will be seen later on, many species 

 spend much of their lives in trees, and to this fact may 

 be attributed the great rarity of cases of snake-bite in 

 the Malayan region. During a seven years' residence in 

 Borneo not half a dozen came under my notice. In 

 India, with its dense population, cases are common 

 enough, but I believe that a scrutiny of statistics would 

 reveal the fact that the majority of snake-bites occur in 



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