THE SNAKES 277 



Although they invariably retreat before man 

 with all the small amount of celerity which Nature 

 has bestowed upon them, these reptiles are by no 

 means averse to taking up their abode in the 

 vicinity of human habitations, being doubtless 

 attracted thereto by the fowls and domestic ani- 

 mals, which afford them a moderate certainty of 

 plenty with a minimum of effort. Dogs, cats, and 

 fowls begin then mysteriously to disappear, and 

 continue to do so until the marauder is discovered, 

 probably in the space between the flooring boards 

 and the ground without which few houses in the 

 interior ot Africa are considered to be properly 

 built. If the new-comer should unguardedly ask 

 what this ill-devised space is for he will probably 

 be contemptuously told that it is for fresh air and 

 ventilation, and will retire feeling rather crushed. 

 If this should be the case, all I can say is that the 

 advantages mentioned must be obtained at no 

 small cost, for I find as a rule that little by little 

 this ventilation space degenerates into a squalid 

 rubbish-heap, the happy hunting ground of rats, 

 snakes, cockroaches, and specimens of many 

 species of the countless types of spiteful and 

 noxious vermin with which poor Africa has been 

 so richly — so undeservedly — endowed. 



Exactly what is the amount of constriction 

 which pythons can exert is not known. Oc- 

 casionally they are disturbed in this portion of the 

 preparations for their melancholy feast, and more 

 than once the victim has been snatched from their 

 jaws in the very nick of time. I think it was my 

 old friend P6re Torrens of the Franciscan Mission 

 19 



