ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE 



263 



Apart from actual hypnotism 

 and acute paralysing fright, some 

 persons' minds are so constituted 

 that when faced with a sudden 

 and unexpected emergency they 

 lose all self-control, and act in a 

 variety of ways. Some remain 

 rigid, with bulging eyes. Others 

 become hysterical ; others again 

 gibber and talk utter nonsense. 

 The lower animals are apt to act 

 similarly. 



It must be borne in mind that 

 humanfolk, as a general rule, 

 regard snakes with extreme dread 

 and horror, and when unexpectedly 

 confronted by one, the working 

 power of all the brain centres is 

 apt to become temporarily para- 

 lysed, as is frequently the case with 

 the lower animals when suddenly 

 faced by a much-dreaded foe. 



Acquiring Knowledge. 



One night I spread my tired 

 body under my blankets near our 

 camp fire, and in stretching my 

 legs to get the blankets all round 

 me, my leg touched something cold, 

 which hissed. I shot out of my 

 blankets like the release of a 

 coiled steel spring. The cause of 

 the bother was a Cobra who 

 had made himself comfortable 

 among my blankets. I learned 

 from that experience to shake 

 out my bed-clothes carefully before 

 lying down on the veld. 



One day I thrust my hand and 



