Seen and Lost. 375 



tion was scorched and dead, and dry as ashes. The 

 ground being so favourable, I crossed this low 

 plain at a swinging gallop, and in about thirty 

 minutes' time. In that half-hcur I saw a vast 

 number of snakes, all of one Iiind, and a species 

 new to me ; but my anxiety to reach my destina- 

 tion before the oppressive heat of the afternoon 

 made me hurry on. So numerous were the snakes 

 in that green place that frequently I bad as many 

 as a dozen in sight at one time. It looked to me 

 like a coronella — harmless colubrine snakes — but 

 was more than twice as large as either of the two 

 species of that genus I was already familiar with. 

 In size they varied greatly, ranging from two to 

 fully five feet in length, and the colour was dull 

 yellow or tan, slightly lined and mottled with shades 

 of brown. Among dead or partially withered grass 

 and herbage they would have been undistinguishable 

 at even a very short distance, but on the vivid 

 green turf they were strangely conspicuous, some 

 being plainly visible forty or fifty yards away ; and 

 not one was seen coiled up. They were all lyinc 

 motionless, stretched out full length, and looking 

 like dark yellow or tan-coloured ribbons, thrown on 

 to the grass. It was most unusual to see so many 

 snakes together, although not surprising in the cir- 

 cumstances. The December heats had dried up all 

 the watercourses and killed the vegetation, and 

 made the earth hard and harsh as burnt bricks ; and 

 at such times snakes, especially the more active non- 

 venomous kinds, will travel long distances, in their 

 slow way, in search of water. Those I saw during 

 my ride had probably been attracted by the mois- 



