FATALITIES. 231 



indeed, a poor chance of recovery if a Puff Adder succeeds in 

 driving both his fangs home and getting a grip, which he assuredly 

 will do, if he possibly can. He knows full well that if he can 

 succeed in hanging on for a few seconds, he will be able to drive 

 the whole of his stored-up venom into the wounds. A full 

 discharge of venom will often amount to fifteen drops, four of 

 which are sufficient to cause death in a robust man. 



The little daughter of a farmer friend of mine lost her life by 

 the bite of a Puff Adder. She trod upon the tail of the reptile, 

 whereupon it made a fierce lunge, striking her leg just behind 

 the knee. One of the fangs lacerated an artery, and the parents, 

 not knowing what to do, she rapidly bled to death. 



In Natal, a native labourer was once gathering up a pile of 

 brushwood. A Puff Adder happened to be lying concealed 

 beneath it. The instant his hand touched the reptile, it struck 

 and buried its fangs in his arm. With a hoarse cry, he summoned 

 his fellow-labourers, but within two minutes of being bitten, the 

 man was dead. The post-mortem showed tfiat one of the snake's 

 fangs had penetrated the vein which lies just beneath the skin 

 on the inner side of the elbow. A charge of venom had been 

 injected therein, which caused almost instant clotting of the blood, 

 and death. Happily, such cases of direct injection of venom into 

 a vein by a snake are uncommon. 



I was driving a two-horse Cape cart one day along a country 

 road, followed by my two fox terriers. Presently I spied a Puff 

 Adder sluggishly crawling across the road about forty paces 

 ahead. One of my terriers, seeing it, made a dash, but, failing 

 to swerve aside sufficiently, the reptile coiled, and shot forward 

 like a released steel spring. The force of the blow knocked the 

 dog on his side. However, he was quickly up, and tried to 

 run off, but the snake held on firmly. By this time the horses 

 had taken alarm, and attempted to bolt. Three minutes later, 

 when I had succeeded in pulling them up, the stricken terrier 

 came bounding up to me, apparently all right. Without the 

 slightest warning, however, he suddenly turned a somersault, 

 gave a few gasps, and lay dead. 



The snake had evidently discharged a large dose of venom 

 into him, which caused clotting of the blood, and consequent 

 rapid death. 



