170 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



September 5th. — This place is much infested 

 by snakes. Since we came here two cobras 

 have been killed in close proximity to the 

 fowlhouse, and two days ago it was thought 

 prudent to burn the long grass in a dry gully, 

 running just below the cattle shed, with the 

 result that three cobras and one tic polonga fell 

 victims to the flames. But yesterday we nearly 

 had a tragedy. A poor woman was bitten 

 by a snake whilst weeding ; happily it turned 

 out to be a very small baby tic. She was at 

 once taken in hand by one of the Kanganies, 

 who is supposed to have a native specific for 

 snake bite, and beyond giving herself and us a 

 great fright, she seems to-day none the worse 

 for the accident. The natives have a super- 

 stition that if you kill the snake that bites you, 

 you will die, consequently it is often difficult to 

 ascertain what kind of snake it really was ; 

 but in this case it was clearly proved that the 

 delinquent was a very young green tic polonga, 

 a snake which is exactly the colour of the cocoa, 

 and coffee leaves, and therefore very difficult, 

 for those working amongst the bushes, to see 

 and avoid. 



There seems little doubt that some of the 

 natives have real specifics for snake bite. This 

 Kangany lately cured a man on a neighbouring 

 Estate who had been bitten by a cobra. He says 

 he got the stuff from India. Of course, the in- 



