224 TRAVELS IN 
of the snake while darting out its tongue, as these creatures 
usually do when enraged. The effect of the application was 
almost as instantaneous as that of an electric shock. With a 
convulsed motion, which was momentary, the snake half tin-^ 
twisted itself, and never stirred more ; and the muscles were 
so contracted that the whole animal felt hard and rigid as if 
it had been dried in the sun. The Hottentots consider the 
oil of tobacco among the most active of poisonous substances ; 
though it is never applied to the points of their arrows, being 
probably of too volatile a nature to retain its deleterious qua- 
lity for any length of time. 
In the course of our long hunting excursions, several kraals, 
or dwelling-places of Bosjesmans, had been seen, but all of 
them deserted ; but, from many circumstances, it was evident 
that most of them had recently been evacuated. Their in- 
habitants, no doubt, had fled at the appearance of so large a 
party of white men, which they could consider in no other 
light than that of an enemy. The commandant now an- 
nounced in form to his party, that for some time all hunting 
excursions must be suspended, and that the usual order and 
obedience to command must be observed as in a regular ex- 
pedition. He assured us that, unless this plan should be 
adopted, we might pass through the heart of the Bosjesmans' 
country without seeing a human creature, as they were few 
in number, and there v/as little doubt of their being already 
well apprised of our approach. In fact the principal object 
of our present journey was to ascertain the manner in which 
the boors conducted their expeditions against these miserable 
set of beings. I thought it, however, expedient to make a 
