A POISON-SPITTING SNAKE 211 



since we were here last. Fresh green had sprung up every- 

 where after the rain, the land birds were building their nests 

 in the branches and filling the once lonely solitudes with the 

 sound of their merry twittering love-making. On the other 

 hand, the beach was quieter and more deserted than ever ; the 

 cormorants, ducks, geese, flamingoes, and other water birds 

 had long since taken their flight to more favoured latitudes, 

 whilst the elephants had withdrawn further inland, where 

 there was now plenty of water and of fresh green foliage. Not 

 one of these animals was to be seen anywhere. We now 

 realised that it had only been the quantity of elephant-meat 

 obtainable at the time of the greatest drought which had 

 enabled us to make our way to the northern end of the lake. 

 Had we attempted the journey at the present time of year 

 we should probably have lost nearly all our men. 



We made acquaintance here with a very remarkable snake, 

 which we found in the morning coiled up in a corner of one of 

 our cases. It was some 26 or 27 inches long, rather thin, and 

 of a uniformly pinkish-grey colour. Our Somal, Mahommed 

 SeifF, who was just going to put away our coflee cups, dis- 

 covered it and tried to kill it with a long hanger, but as he 

 bent over it he suddenly sprang back with a scream of pain, 

 covering his eyes with his hands. The snake had spat in his 

 eyes, causing a burning smart. We had never heard of poison- 

 spitting snakes, and imagined the Somal was making much 

 ado about nothing, so I thought I would examine closely into 

 the matter. 1 took care, however, to station myself in such a 

 position that the strong wind then blowing should carry off 

 the spittle. The snake remained coiled up in its corner and 

 allowed me to approach to within a couple of yards of it, when 

 I noticed its little black eyes gleaming, saw it raise its crest, 

 and felt something strike me on the neck. Only a few drops of 

 some black liquid, which caused no pain at all on the skin. 



p 2 



