The Start 17 



violently at me two or three times. In its action and 

 temper this snake was quite as vicious as the most irrita- 

 ble poisonous snakes. Yet it is entirely harmless. One 

 of the innumerable mysteries of nature which are at 

 present absolutely insoluble is why some snakes should 

 be so vicious and others absolutely placid and good- 

 tempered. 



After removing the vicious harmless snake, the doc- 

 tor warned us to get away from the table, and his attend- 

 ant put on it, in succession, a very big lachecis — of the 

 kind called bushmaster — ^and a big rattlesnake. Each 

 coiled menacingly, a formidable brute ready to attack 

 anything that approached. Then the attendant adroitly 

 dropped his iron crook on the neck of each in succession, 

 seized it right behind the head, and held it toward the 

 doctor. The snake's mouth was in each case wide open, 

 and the great fangs erect and very evident. It would 

 not have been possible to have held an African ring- 

 necked cobra in such fashion, because the ring-neck 

 would have ejected its venom through the fangs into the 

 eyes of the onlookers. There was no danger in this case, 

 and the doctor inserted a shallow glass saucer into the 

 mouth of the snake behind the fangs, permitted it to 

 eject its poison, and then himself squeezed out the re- 

 maining poison from the poison-bags through the fangs. 

 From the big lachecis came a large quantity of yellow 

 venom, a liquid which speedily crystallized into a number 

 of minute crystals. The rattlesnake yielded a much less 

 quantity of white venom, which the doctor assured us 

 was far more active than the yellow lachecis venom. 

 Then each snake was returned to its box unharmed. 



