210 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



at the buffalo; and there, after a little time, we 

 found the track of the wounded animal and blood 

 upon it. 



Before we picked up the track, as we were 

 walking along the bank, I nearly trod upon a 

 large cobra. I had a stick in my hand, and was 

 stepping over a fallen palm-tree, when a large 

 brown cobra emerged from under the tree, travel- 

 ling in the same direction as myself. My foot 

 was descending right on him, when I saw him 

 and he saw me ; and, as I drew my foot back, he 

 raised himself very rapidly and sat, with his hood 

 erect, ready to strike. I had the stick, and might, 

 if I had been smart, have broken his neck with it ; 

 but I was not prepared to see a cobra in Africa, 

 and was so startled by the apparition that I stood 

 for a second or two on guard. I was very near the 

 snake, and think I was within his striking dis- 

 tance ; but he was only eager to get away, and, 

 seizing the opportunity afforded by my inaction, 

 he wriggled rapidly back under the palm-tree and 

 disappeared. He seemed to be a very large 

 cobra ; and a few days after this Gimlette killed 

 one, which was three full paces long. In India 

 six feet is supposed to be the maximum length of 

 a cobra. 



I always wore leather gaiters as a protection 

 against snakes and thorns ; and on the lower 

 reaches of the Guaso Nyiro, when we were in the 

 heart of Equatorial Africa, protection was neces- 

 sary, as poisonous snakes were numerous. 



We followed the track of the buffalo through the 

 forest to a strip of sand on the river-bank, and 

 there from blood, which was on a small bush 



