ITS MODE OF ATTACK. 269 



Then drawing their heads back again, they pull the animal 

 to the ground at once, and, coiling round it, commence the 

 crushing process. This power of squeezing must be enor- 

 mous. On attempting to skin this animal, the muscles 

 inside had the appearance of strings of rope extending 

 from the head to the tail ; these he seemed to have the 

 power of contracting or extending, so that a part that might 

 be three feet long as he coiled himself round your body, 

 could be instantly reduced to about a foot, by this means 

 giving any one in his embrace a very tolerable squeeze. 

 I have before remarked that these snakes are not con- 

 sidered dangerous to man, as they are not poisonous ; and 

 if those attacked had a sharp knife, and managed to keep 

 their arms free, Mr. Snake would get the worst of it. If 

 one happened, however, to be asleep, and a boa-constrictor 

 then became familiar, he might so have wound himself 

 round arms and body as to prevent a knife being used. I 

 have no doubt that they have power sufficient to crush any 

 man to death in a very few seconds, did they once get 

 themselves comfortably settled round his ribs; but I 

 never heard of such a case during my residence at Natal, 

 although I made every inquiry from the Kaffirs. For- 

 merly there was a great deal of superstition amongst the 

 Kaffirs with regard to this snake, and a person who killed 

 one had to go through a quarantine of purifying ; now, 

 however, the Kaffirs do not seem to care much about 

 them. I saw an old fellow near the Umbilo River pin- 

 ning a large boa- constrictor to the ground with several 

 assagies to prevent its wriggling ; he had about a dozen 

 different ones stuck into its body, and seemed to think a 



