SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 187 



negroes. Venomous snakes, both cobras and 

 puff-adders, were numerous, and the river was 

 full of crocodiles. 



On one occasion, near the Lorian swamp, 

 I saw a very curious snake. There was nothing 

 remarkable about the body, but it had a shiny- 

 looking red head, from the shape of which it 

 did not appear to be poisonous. I tried to kill 

 it with my stick, but it eluded me with much 

 agility in the grass and bushes. Suddenly, in 

 its panic, it made a dash straight at Tagarru, 

 who fled in terror amid roars of laughter from 

 the negroes. The snake, by this manoeuvre, made 

 good its escape. 



Rhinoceroses and dikdik abounded in the 

 thorn-bush at a little distance from the river, and 

 in this country, when beckoned by Tagarru, 

 I did not know whether I was expected to shoot 

 a rhino or an animal which is not much bigger 

 than a large English hare. The most notable 

 features of the shooting were the number of the 

 rhinoceroses and the excellence of the impala. 

 I shot four impala in the course of the expedition 

 with horns of 27, 27^, 27^, and 3i| inches, the 

 record impala head that has been obtained in 

 North- West Rhodesia up to the present time, 

 according to Rowland Ward's book, having been 

 22|- inches. 



Much nonsense is written about the deterioration 

 of heads owing to shooting. I have even seen 

 it suggested that the inferiority of the horns of 

 the Burchell's rhinoceros, which have been shot 

 upon the upper Nile, to those of animals shot 

 by Gordon Gumming in South Africa is due to 



