22 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
a certain trader's poultry yard, the trader was 
awakened by the noise. He went out with his 
gun, but the night was very dark, and he could 
see nothing, but he fired a shot in the direction 
where he heard a noise. Next morning he came 
across a pool of blood. He sent for the police 
and these were able easily to trace the spoor, the 
wounded man having bled very heavily, to a 
neighbouring kraal. But there was no wounded 
man there, and the police were baffled for a time. 
Then a native woman, who was very much upset, 
said her husband had been very badly wounded 
and that his three friends, in order to hide all 
traces of their fowli stealing, had buried the 
wounded man alive. • She showed them the grave, 
and there sure enough the body of the wounded 
man was exhumed. But whether he was buried 
before or after he' died the post-mortem examina- 
tion will no doubt prove. 
CROCODILES. 
The Sinoia correspondent of the "Rhodesia 
Herald" reports that recently while some oxen 
were drinking in the Hunyani River, on "Brae- 
side," the farm of Mr. P. W. Kidwell, a crocodile 
seized one of the animals by the nose and dragged 
him into the water. The herd-boy pluckily 
jumped in after the bullock and made such a 
splash and noise that the crocodile got scared 
and let go, not, however, before inflicting an 
ugly wound on his victim. Reports at various 
times about these pests having been seen at diff- 
erent places in the Hunyani have usually been re- 
ceived with derision, but with this proof of their 
presence people will in future think twice before 
bathing in the deeper pools in the river. 
A STRAY HYENA. 
Some time ago a rumour that a lion spoor 
was to be seen on the farm "Ullswater," owned 
by Mr. J. Thomas, and lying about six miles or 
so from Douglas, caused great excitement in the 
town, says the "D.F. Advertiser," and several 
well-known public men, armed with rifles, went 
out to track and shoot the formidable and dan- 
gerous beast. They, however, were forced to 
return empty-handed, having found eht "spoor" 
of some strange animal, but having failed to 
catch sight of the animal itself. 
Many people laughed the story to scorn, and 
refused to believe it. But the excitement broke 
out afresh when news was brought into the town 
that a wild animal of some kind had killed a cow 
at the Douglas pound during the night. A regu- 
lar "commando" was formed, and set out to find 
the "lion," as many now fully believed the animal 
to be. The spoor was found and followed up, with 
the result that a large hyena, or "tiger wolf," 
was sighted and shot at "Stratford," a farm ad- 
joining the commonage. 
Hyenas are no longer common in these parts, 
and it is curious that this one should have put in 
an appearance. Its spoor is said to have been 
traced quite near to some of the houses in town, 
and several people actually saw the animal, mis- 
taking it for a large dog. 
A SNAKE CATCHER. 
Mr. Fritz Kan writes to the Potchefstroom 
" Herald" describing a remarkable incident wit- 
nessed by himself and several other residents, 
when Mr. de Castara, employed at the King's 
Hotel, who evidently possesses some extraordin- 
ary influence over reptiles, was seen to catch a 
deadly "rinkhals" snake alive. Mr. Kan says: — 
"One of the natives employed on the Golf 
Links saw this snake in the sixth fairway. It 
crept in a hole in the ground, and the native put 
some stones on it and warned the green-keeper, 
who promptly sent for Mr. de Castara. Several 
of us were asked to attend the demonstration. 
Mr. de Castara had a hole dug, smelt the place, 
and took the snake by its tail, but the head stuck 
fast. He took his stick and pressed gently on the 
head, and out it came, a rinkhals about three feet 
six inches long. The snake pressed its head out 
and wriggled over the ground, but Mr. de Castara 
passed his hand over it a few times and it im- 
mediately lay quite still. He took it with his 
hand, just behind the head, held it out — the snake 
hanging quite limp and quiet — for a second, and 
then put it in his bag. I took some snapshots of 
the performance, which altogether did not take 
ten minutes. The incident was witnessed by 
Messrs. Beynon, do Toit, E. F. E. Wright, 
Hosking, Mrs. Wright and myself." 
We understand that Mr. de Castara has 
caught a large number of snakes alive in this 
manner, and that he exports the reptiles to 
America. 
SNAKE-BITE. 
A QUOTATION. 
Sir, — I noticed in "The Farmer's Weekly" 
of April 10th a letter written and signed by 
"R.P. " At the conclusion of his letter he asks 
for an article to be written on the symptoms of 
different snake-bites. There are very few, if any, 
who could do this better than Mr. FritzSimons, 
