THE RUSH OF THE MAMBA. 211 



' Please address this to my mother,' and grabbing his gun, he 

 started for the spot where the natives had fired the shot. About 

 sixty yards from the camp, and a few yards away from where the 

 natives stood, Moller had his eyes fixed on the latter when he 

 suddenly put his foot on a large black Mamba snake, measuring 

 over six feet long. In a moment the snake reared and put its 

 fangs in his foot above the left ankle. Moller, with presence of 

 mind, cut away the part bitten with a penknife, and tightly tied 

 a bootlace above the wound and another strap below the knee. 

 Mr. Shaw came upon the scene immediately, and two more 

 ligaments were put on. Everything possible was done, and 

 remedies were applied as well. Moller apparently recovered, 

 and the poison was stayed. Preparations were then made to 

 go into Malapyre, but just as they, were starting, some six or 

 seven hours afterwards, Moller's left side suddenly became 

 paralysed, and in a few minutes he had expired." 



The Rush of the Mamba. 



The Black Mamba, as a general rule, has some secure retreat 

 to which it decamps when alarmed. If a Mamba be surprised 

 when out in the open, and if you happen to be between it and 

 its retreat, it will not rush off in an opposite direction, as most 

 animals would do, but will instantly dart off at terrific speed, 

 apparently charging right at you. If a Mamba should act in 

 this manner, and if you are not prepared to defend yourself, 

 your safest plan is to sprint off without an instant's delay. 

 Whilst travelling at great speed, a Mamba can strike right 

 and left with consummate ease, without apparently abating 

 its speed in the slightest. To stand in the path of a Mamba 

 rushing off to its lair, is fraught with the gravest danger, 

 even if well armed. At such times the nerves are none too steady, 

 and it is as likely as not that even an expert with the gun will 

 miss his aim. There is no time for reloading, and often not even 

 time to take a second aim should the gun be a double-barrelled 

 one, before the snake has swept past, and in the passing deposited 

 its death-dealing venom. 



When making off through the bushveld, the Black Mamba, 

 with a rapid and continuous succession of forward propulsions, 

 glides over the stubble, the head and anterior part of its body 



