270 SIZE OF THE SLAIN SNAKE. 



few more would do no harm. He told me that the snake 

 was a great rascal, and had killed a calf of his some time 

 hefore ; that he had long watched for an opportunity of 

 catching it out of its hole, and at last found it so, when a 

 smart race of some yards ended in the Kaffir assagying the 

 veal- eater. 



We tried to skin the boa-constrictor that I had shot, 

 hut found great difficulty in separating the skin from the 

 muscles, and his odour was strong and disagreeable. 

 Whenever we put in the knife so as to touch his nerves, 

 he made a little sort of jump that was anything but plea- 

 sant. We contented ourselves, therefore, with a piece of 

 his skin about six inches long, which remained our only 

 trophy. The colours of this boa were very brilliant, and 

 they had a bloom on them like a ripe plum ; he was evi- 

 dently up to good living, for he had breakfasted that day 

 on a partridge, as was shown by the post-mortem. His 

 length was 21 feet, and circumference about 1 ft. 6 in. ; 

 he must have weighed about 200 Ib. 



Our bag on this day was a reitbok, a boa-constrictor, 

 and a brace and a half of partridges. I believe that we 

 should not have obtained either of the larger animals, had 

 it not been for a second examination of the suspicious 

 moving grass in the manner that I have mentioned. 

 Had we stopped at once to look at the object, the buck 

 would have bounded away without a moment's notice, but 

 as it was, he fancied he was unobserved and secure. 



I give these details to show on what small hinges success 

 in South African sport may turn. 



The Kaffirs reported that a boa-constrictor lived in 



