DEATH FROM COBRA BITE. i8i 



for the door. The news soon spread, and within half an hour an 

 army of Malays, Chinamen, and folk of every shade of colour, 

 from white to ebony black, had gathered round the building, 

 and were excitedly discussing the situation. Not one had the 

 boldness to enter. The Cobra held the fort until a European 

 arrived on the scene with a shotgun. Cautiously peering in at the 

 open doorway, he observed the snake endeavouring to climb a 

 partition. He entered the schoolroom and blew it to pieces with 

 a charge of shot. The remains were brought to me for identifica- 

 tion. The Cobra measured five feet eleven and a half inches. 



The superstitious parents of the cliildren refused to allow them 

 to return to the school, declaring that the Cobra's mate was sure 

 to be somewhere in hiding under the floor or elsewhere in the 

 building, and that it would issue forth to avenge its mate. The 

 scliool principal was in a dilemma. The School Board Secretary 

 advised her to come to me. Sending a message to Mr. Williams, 

 the snake catcher, I asked him to go along and search every part 

 of the school. He did so, but found no widow Cobra or any other 

 kind of snake. Instead, he discovered a horde of rats, which was 

 strong circumstantial evidence there were no snakes inhabiting 

 the cellars of the school. This inspection reassured the parents, 

 who allowed their children to return. 



This incident occurred ni Port Elizabeth. 



Death from Cobra Bite, 

 A sad case occurred near Graaff Reinet of the death of the 

 wife of a well-known farmer from the bite of a Cape Cobra. 

 She was walking in the vegetable garden, and happened to tread 

 upon the tail of a Cobra which instantly bit her on the ankle. 

 One of the fangs punctured an artery, and the blood spurted 

 out in jets. In five minutes' time she was blind, and within 

 ten minutes was in a state of complete collapse. She died in 

 forty minutes from the time the snake bit her. Shortly after 

 death the whole body turned bluish-black. This was due to 

 mortification which rapidly sets in after death, caused by the 

 poison destroying the antiseptic properties of the blood. When 

 snake venom enters the circulation direct, as some of it did in 

 this instance, death often occurs within ten minutes. A post- 

 mortem instance came under my notice of a man who died five 

 minutes after being bitten on a vein on the back of the hand. 



