OTHER REPTILES 281 



of mine at Beira was killed by a puff-adder 

 during an evening stroll ; he lived some hours 

 afterwards but, in spite of every effort and the 

 ministrations of two doctors, finally succumbed. 

 In another instance a very smart httle pony, the 

 property of a Swiss gentleman of my acquaintance 

 at QueUmane, met with a similar fate from the 

 same cause. 



There are one or two other venomous adders 

 of smaller size which are capable of inflicting 

 painful and dangerous if seldom fatal bites. 



In the Xyasaland Protectorate, however, and 

 doubtless in parts of the adjoining Portuguese 

 Sphere, there is the persistent rumour of an 

 arboreal snake which the natives certainly regard 

 with such dread that nothing would induce them 

 to go within a long distance of their reputed 

 haunts. I refer to this creature, I must confess, 

 with some diffidence, for an allusion to it con- 

 tained in one of my previous books was received 

 with so much wonder, not to say amusement, that 

 it almost cost me my reputation for seriousness ; 

 but, let doubters and ca^^Uers say what they 

 will, I am nevertheless satisfied, first from the 

 vmanimity of detail ^^^th which native report 

 describes the creature, and secondly from the 

 statements made to me by a cautious Scots 

 cleric on the subject, that this reptile exists, and 

 that one day his scientific name, almost as long 

 and far more unsightly than his stuffed carcase, 

 wiU be duly chronicled in the hst of African 

 reptiles. 



The snake in question would appear to be 



