SERPENTS. 163 



injecting poison on external objects as for keeping in any animal 

 or bird of which they have got hold. In the case of the Dasy- 

 peltis inornatus (Smith), the teeth are small, and favorable for 

 the passage of thin-shelled eggs without breaking. The egg is 

 taken in unbroken till it is within the gullet, or about two inches 

 behind the head. The gular teeth placed there break the shell 

 without spilling the contents, as would be the case if the front 

 teeth were large. The shell is then ejected. Others appear to 

 be harmless, and even edible. Of the latter sort is the large py- 

 thon, metse pallah, or tari. The largest specimens of this are 

 about 15 or 20 feet in length. They are perfectly harmless, and 

 live on small animals, chiefly the rodentia ; occasionally the stein- 

 buck and pallah fall victims, and are sucked into its comparative- 

 ly small mouth in boa-constrictor fashion. One we shot was 11 

 feet 10 inches long, and as thick as a man's leg. When shot 

 through the spine, it was capable of lifting itself up about five feet 

 high, and opened its mouth in a threatening manner, but the poor 

 thing was more inclined to crawl away. The flesh is much rel- 

 ished by the Bakalahari and Bushmen. They carry away each 

 his portion, like logs of wood, over their shoulders. 



Some of the Bayeiye we met at Sebituane's Ford pretended 

 to be unaffected by the bite of serpents, and showed the feat 

 of lacerating their arms with the teeth of such as are unfur- 

 nished with the poison-fangs. They also swallow the poison, 

 by way of gaining notoriety ; but Dr. Andrew Smith put the sin- 

 ordinary, unable to resist the propensity to advance from a situation of actual 

 safety into one of the most imminent danger. This I have often seen exempli- 

 fied in the case of birds and snakes ; and I have heard of instances equally curi- 

 ous, in which antelopes and other quadrupeds have been so bewildered by the sud- 

 den appearance of crocodiles, and by the grimaces and contortions they practiced, 

 as to be unable to fly or even move from the spot toward which they were approach- 

 ing to seize them." — Dr. Andrew Smith's " Reptilia." 



In addition to these interesting statements of the most able naturalist from 

 whom I have taken this note, it may be added that fire exercises a fascinating 

 effect on some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it in the even- 

 ings without ever starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot embers 

 rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the hottest parts, and 

 they never cease their struggles for the centre even when their juices are co- 

 agulating and their limbs stiffening in the roasting heat. Various insects, also, 

 are thus fascinated ; but the scorpions may be seen coming away from the fire 

 in fierce disgust, and they are so irritated as to inflict at that time their most pain- 

 ful stings. 



