SNAKES DISTRESSED BY THEIR OWN POISON. 265 



It is a very difficult thing to recommend a cure for a 

 poisonous snake's- bite. One of the most simple and 

 classic is to suck the part. When a person is alone, this is 

 of course only possible if he is bitten in the hands, arms, or 

 low down in the legs. Cutting out the bitten part is con- 

 sidered the best remedy, but this requires a tolerable 

 amount of nerve and determination. Some say that run- 

 ning about most perseveringly will keep off the stupor that 

 generally follows the reception of this powerful poison into 

 the blood. Happily, having no personal experience in snake- 

 bites, I cannot speak with certainty about their cure. 



I am under the impression that the poisonous snakes 

 are much troubled, at certain seasons of the year, by the 

 poison-bladder becoming surcharged, and that thus, being 

 anxious to rid themselves of this poison by biting some- 

 thing soft, and thereby pressing it out, they naturally 

 seize the first thing which their instinct tells them will 

 not injure their poisonous fangs. Two instances that 

 occurred at Natal appear to bear out this theory. A 

 Hottentot was crossing the Mooi river drift, another man 

 following a short distance in the rear. The last man saw 

 a snake dart out from some rocks, seize the first Hottentot 

 by the leg, and glide back again ; the bitten man died 

 within a very short time of receiving the bite. There is 

 at the present time a man in the Royal Arsenal at Wool- 

 wich, who, when far up the country with his master, and 

 walking near the waggons, perceived a puff-adder spring 

 at his face. He suddenly lowered his head, and the snake 

 wound itself round his wide-awake hat. The man knocked 

 the hat off, and the snake was immediately shot by a 



