66 



THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



Then in a whisper to the Witch-doctor he named the man whose 

 gall he coveted, adding that he was the fellow who had killed a 

 Python. The cunning and unscrupulous Witch-doctor instantly 

 took the hint. Going forth, she proclaimed in exaggerated and 

 excited language, and with wild gestures, that the Cliief had been 

 bewitched. The men of the tribe were, in due time, summoned, 

 and commanded to sit in a circle. The apparently sick chief or 





Fig. 31. — An Indian Python constricting an antelope. The squeezing power of a large 

 Python is enormous. The ribs of the victim are crushed and the body elongated. 

 It is then swallowed head first. {From Warne's Royal Natural History.) 



king is brought forth and laid upon a mat, supported and attended 

 by a bevy of his wives. 



Then the serious part of the business begins. The Witch- 

 doctor, with horrible yells and mutterings, bounds into the circle. 

 A weird and repulsive-looking object she generally is. She is 

 not necessarily old and shrivelled. On the contrary, those I 

 have seen were usually stalwart women of unusual height, with 

 a commanding, bold aspect. 



The face is smeared with daubs of white, and other paints. 

 Strings of the claws of birds, bones of human beings and animals. 



