

< f 



70 



CURIOUS BELIEFS REGARDING SNAKES. 



canteen kept by a Boer, I saw a wonderful painting re- 

 presenting such a contretemps as it would be expected 

 to occur where such a formidable brute had its 

 existence. The artist who was answerable for this 

 production was not without skill in the use of his 

 pencil, and very lavish in the expenditure of his 

 gorgeously-brilliant pigments. I offered to purchase 

 the art treasure, and actually went as high as the 

 price of two good fat treck oxen ; however, the owner 

 could not be induced to sever connection with his 

 valuable piece of property, although these people 

 will generally sell anything they possess ; always 

 excepting their froivs^ but then the grey mare here 

 is almost invariably the better horse. 



'* Vaat ! " exclaimed my host, indignantly ; then 

 followed a vocabulary of choice Dutch oaths ; ** sell 

 my fader, ineiti got ! vaat a man this Englander take 

 me for ! " 



I will attempt to describe the picture. In the 

 foreground was a very obese woman with two 

 daughters of equally rotundant proportions, their 

 arms in the air, with a manner denoting great 

 solicitude, the stoup of a house close by. A short 

 way off, riding at full speed, was a burgher, with a 

 paunch, cheeks, and limbs proportioned after the 

 pattern of the renowned Johnny Gilpin. In his 

 enormous fat hand was a powerful jambock, which he 

 was using with great energy upon the flanks of a 

 diminutive horse, as plump as a stall-fed bullock 

 while, close behind him, and in resolute pursuit, came 

 the snake. But for its ample proportions it might 

 have been taken for the driving wheel of a bicycle ; 

 still, this error could scarcely occur to a close 

 observer, for an enormous head, with wicked, glaring 

 eyes, and some length of tail inserted into a half-open 

 mouth, fringed with the cruellest fish-hook-curved 

 teeth, was faithfully and conspicuously delineated. 

 As it was obvious that I could not purchase the 



