34 THE SNAKES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



minutes. Two coils, sometimes three or even more, are thrown 

 round the body of the victim. A well-known naturalist 

 states that snakes never throw more than two coils round their 

 prey. This is not true. The number of coils depend upon the 

 size of the victim. The constricting power of snakes is very 

 great. I have held Mole Snakes by the neck between my finger 

 and thumb, allowing them to throw their coils round my wrist. 

 Within five minutes the hand would grow cold and numb, the 

 blood circulation having been almost entirely stopped by the 

 pressure of the snake's constrictor muscles upon my wrist. The 

 constricting power of the African Python is tremendous. I have 

 seen a Duiker Buck squashed by a Python into a sausage-like 

 shape within ten minutes. 



So rapidly is the victim seized and constricted that the eye 

 can barely follow the various movements. The snake remains 

 quite motionless until the prey is witliin striking distance. Then, 

 with a movement so rapid that the eyes can but distinguish a 

 kind of blur, the serpent seizes its victim, and next instant its 

 coils are doing their deadly work. 



So swiftly and silently does a snake strike and constrict, that 

 the nimble quick-witted rat and mouse, or the active bird are 

 powerless to escape. I have frequently seen House Snakes seize 

 mice which were leaping past them at top speed. 



Hearing a squeak under the table when I was once having my 

 evening meal, I looked to see what was the matter. A House 

 Snake had seized and was constricting a mouse. For years I 

 kept these House Snakes, which are quite non-venomous, in my 

 house, not only because I was fond of harmless snakes, but because 

 they were of practical use, for those snakes were better than any 

 house cat in keeping down the mice. Finding my House Snakes 

 too small to tackle big rats, I tamed a Mole Snake, and let him 

 loose under the floor. Within a month the rats had evacuated 

 the premises. Later on, my snaky pets had to go, not because 

 my wife objected, for she knows much about snakes and 

 rather likes them, but because we could not manage to keep any 

 servants. The servant class in Natal are kafirs as a rule, and all 

 raw kafirs have a holy horror of snakes. It is of no use trying to 

 convince them that any snakes are harmless. To them the bite 

 of a snake is thought to be death for certain, unless some kafir 

 " mooti " (medicine) is taken. 



