120 Animal Life 
my hand and vainly trying to extricate itself. Taking the bag he pulls out the neck 
to its fullest extent, and then, placing it on the ground, where, owing to the stiffness of 
the canvas, it stands by itself, he takes the two loops of the check strings in each hand 
and stands ready. In the meantime, with my left hand I have unwound the clinging 
coils, and the captive hangs for a moment inert. Now is the time. I lower him 
until his body is inside the bag; then with a quick jerk downwards his snakeship 
finds the bottom, the check strings are pulled, and the capture is complete. Such were 
our methods—foolhardy I daresay, but not so dangerous as would at first sight appear, 
for, reckless as boys often are, we never quite forgot what one small mistake nught 
mean. Needless to say, neither of our respective parents had the faintest idea of how 
Wwe procured our specimens. Had they known, our expedition would have come to 
an abrupt end. 
Hlated by our success we struck off for a vlei about a mile away, where we intended 
’ to bathe and lunch. On our way there we make a second capture, almost stumbling on 
a fine Scarp Sticker, as these snakes are called at the Cape. JI managed to pin it just 
as 1t was going to ground, and with scant ceremony it is bundled into the second bag, 
for the scarp sticker, though to all appearance a dangerous snake, is quite harmless. 
The Kaffirs are much afraid of them, and invariably assert that they are most deadly, 
which is a striking example of the gross ignorance so often shown by the natives when 
questioned as to the local fauna. 
A long bathe and a short lunch, and then we strike out for a vineyard some three 
miles off, where we hope to secure a Puff-Adder, that most deadly of South African 
snakes. We always treated these with great respect; in fact we never attempted to 
capture them alive. A four-foot puff-adder would take some holding, as I doubt if 
there is any snake more powerfully built.” Fortune again favoured us, for after a 
half-hour’s ramble between the vines we nearly walked on top of a fine specimen, some 
four feet six inches long. Indignant at our intrusion it raises a hideous head, and the 
neck and body visibly increase in size. Then with a noise like a long-drawn sigh the 
air with which it has just distended itself is expelled. W. pushes his stick forward, 
and the brute lashes out with a speed incredible in such a clumsy-looking snake, 
and a viciousness that lands it heavily flat on the ground. While W- keeps the 
angry reptile employed, I make a flank attack, and one well-directed cut with a 
supple stick lays the puff-adder at our feet. We sling his still moving carcase on 
one end of a stick, with the two canvas bags to balance things at the other, and 
start for our tramp. home, well satisfied with a most successful day. Our method of 
disarming snakes was simple in the extreme. Emptying the subject to be operated 
on into a big barrel, we proceeded to angle for him with a bit of coarse flannel, a 
foot of string, and a piece of springy bamboo. ‘The fangs, being compavatively loose, 
become entangled in the flannel, and are jerked out. Once disabled temporarily like 
this, it is an easy matter to cut out the embryo teeth already fcrmed, and the 
portion of the gum in rear of them. Cruel it may seem, but it appeared to 
inconvenience the snake very little. That it was effective I can vouch for. To 
anyone interested in snakes I can suggest no happier hunting ground than the 
vineyards and flats of Cape Colony. 
