264 ADVENTUKE WITH A BLACK SNAKE. 



must have been under the driving-machine for some 

 weeks, and I have no doubt they admired the very regular 

 attention that I daily paid to my ablutions. I fear that 

 the stamping always necessary in drawing on a boot after 

 bathing, must have sadly annoyed the young fry. I never 

 liked going near this place afterwards, and was obliged in 

 consequence to invest some capital in a square board upon 

 which to perform my toilet. 



I had another escape from a snake near the Sea-cow 

 Lake, about six miles from Natal. I had been looking 

 for a duiker, which I was anxious to shoot for the pur- 

 pose of concocting a bowl of soup, this particular animal 

 being celebrated for that purpose. As I was slowly 

 walking through the grass, something just in advance 

 of me moved and the grass shook. I stepped back, 

 preparing for a shot, as I expected a buck to spring 

 up. Instead of a duiker, I saw the broad head of a 

 black snake, of a most poisonous species, rise up little 

 more than a yard from me, and draw his head back as 

 though about to strike. I felt a disinclination to raise 

 the gun to my shoulder to fire at him, thinking that he 

 might then spring at me, so taking a quick aim from the 

 hip, I fired, and nearly blew his head off. He tumbled over, 

 and, with one twist, expired. I approached carefully, and 

 found him to be a very large black snake, about seven feet 

 long, and nearly as thick as my arm. I took him home, 

 and on dissection saw that his poison-fangs were three 

 quarters of an inch long, and the bag above them was full 

 of poison. A bite from this fellow would have settled my 

 account with this world in about three hours. 



