1873.] FATAL SNAKE-BITE. 343 



Those who knew the brave and generous spirit in which 

 this hard-working volunteer set out with Lieut. Cameron, 

 fully hoping to relieve Dr. Livingstone, will feel that he 

 ended his life by an act alien indeed to his whole nature. 

 The malaria imbibed during their stay at Unyanyembe 

 laid upon him the severest form of fever, accompanied by 

 delirium, under which he at length succumbed in one of its 

 violent paroxysms. His remains are interred at Kasekera. 



We must follow Susi's troop through a not altogether 

 eventless journey to the sea. Some days afterwards, as 

 they wended their way through a rocky place, a little girl 

 in their train, named Losi, met her death in a shocking- 

 way. It appears that the poor child was carrying a water- 

 jar on her head in the file of people, when an enormous 

 snake dashed across the path, deliberately struck her in 

 the thigh, and made for a hole in the jungle close at hand. 

 This work of a moment was sufficient, for the poor girl fell 

 mortally wounded. She was carried forward, and all means 

 at hand were applied, but in less than ten minutes the last 

 symptom (foaming at the mouth) set in, and she ceased to 

 breathe. 



Here is a well-authenticated instance which goes far to 

 prove the truth of an assertion made to travellers in many 

 parts of Africa. The natives protest that one species of snake 

 will deliberately chase and overtake his victim with light- 

 ning speed, and so dreadfully dangerous is it, both from the 

 activity of its poison and its vicious propensities, that it is 

 perilous to approach its quarters. Most singular to relate, 

 an Arab came to some of the men after their arrival at 

 Zanzibar and told them that he had just come by the 

 Unyanyembe road, and that, whilst passing the identical spot 

 where this disaster occurred, one of the men was attacked by 

 the same snake, with precisely the same results ; in fact, when 

 looking for a place in which to bury him they saw the grave 

 of Losi, and the two lie side by side. 



