254 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



the conclusion of the lecture I counted sixteen bites on his bared 

 arms, hands, and neck. 



An American Snake Catcher. 



I was much amused to read an illustrated article in a well- 

 known magazine of the " daring and perilous " exploits of a snake 

 collector in America. This brave man who " ran the most appalling 

 risks " of death from snake bite, issued forth on his snake-catching 

 excursions clothed in a leather shirt, a pair of tough leather 

 breeches, top boots, gauntlet gloves and a mask. What a brave 

 man he was, and what a perilous occupation was his ! Williams, 

 the South African snake catcher, sallies forth in a cotton shirt, 

 slouch hat, rolled up sleeves, and as likely as not a pair of thin 

 khaki trousers. Occasionally he wears leather gaiters. These 

 latter he dons for protection against the thorny shrubs which 

 abound in the South African veld, more than as a safeguard 

 against snake bite. 



Can Snakes fascinate Their Prey ? 



That snakes are able to exercise some kind of mesmeric or 

 hypnotic power and so paralyse the movements of their intended 

 victims, is almost universally believed throughout the Western 

 world, except amongst those few naturalists who have made a 

 close study of the subject. Popular literature is teeming with 

 anecdotes and essays on the power of snakes to fascinate birds, 

 small mammals, and even human beings. 



In all literature, ancient and modern, frequent references are 

 made to snakes. In Egypt there are many ancient carvings of 

 the Egyptian Cobra on the old ruins of a past civilization. 



The fact that a snake carries a subtle, potent fluid, and an 

 apparatus by which, at any moment, when least expected, a death 

 wound may be inflicted, has caused mankind to invest snakes with 

 the most magical and diabolical of powers, leading to snake- 

 worship and the belief that serpents are the incarnation of all that 

 is evil and demoniacal. The Cobra is an object of veneration and 

 superstitious dread even to-day among the natives of India. 



