178 BEASTS AND MEN 
beasts were springing about their cages as though they had 
suddenly gone mad, dashing themselves against the bars with 
loud roaring or mewing. The apes and parrots were shriek- 
ing, so that the din was hideous. 
To catch the snake was no easy matter. Its warm bath 
had given it so much vitality that for a long time it eluded 
all our efforts to capture it. In vain did we throw a cloth 
over it; each time it quickly wriggled out from underneath and 
we had to pursue it again. At last we got a net which | 
often used for taking monkeys or small carnivores out of their 
cages, and-this we threw over the serpent’s head. He bit 
savagely at it and soon made large holes in it; but the 
manceuvre gave me time to grip him by the back of the neck, 
and very shortly, with the help of several keepers, and by 
exerting our utmost strength, we got him safely packed into 
the net and transferred to a secure cage. The excitement in 
the carnivore house gradually subsided, and peace reigned 
there once more. 
.., The apprehension excited among the animals by the 
escape of this reptile points to an instinct which is very valu- 
able to them in wild nature. For no animal is more danger- 
ous, none requires to be treated with greater caution, than a 
snake. With the poisonous kinds, this is readily understood ; 
but even the non-poisonous kinds, especially when large, 
are very dangerous, for they possess prodigious muscular 
strength and bite fiercely whenever they are irritated. They 
are exceedingly ferocious. Of the many animals which at one 
time or another have endangered my life, snakes have been 
the sinners much the most frequently. Often as I have been 
bitten or scratched by various animals, I have suffered far more - 
from snakes than from anything else. I have known many 
thousands of them and acquired an intimate knowledge of their 
habits and disposition. I have even had to fight with them 
almost as in a wrestling match. It is said that in Borneo the 
natives are frequently attacked and devoured by giant 
serpents, and from what I have seen of their capacity for 
