NOTES ON SNAKES IN EAST AFRICA 
828 
The immediate result is intense pain and blindness caused 
by the superficial capillaries absorbing the venom. This 
conjunctivitis subsides in a few days if remedial measures 
are taken, such as bathing the eyes in a weak solution of 
permanganate of potash, boric powder, or milk. 
One settler, who promised to collect snakes for the writer, 
disturbed a cobra in the rickyard one day, the reptile taking 
refuge behind a disused door leaning against a shed. As it 
disappeared, my friend struck at it with a panga, cutting 
off a portion of its tail. He then foolishly looked behind the 
door, with the result that for a moment he saw the cobra 
with spread hood facing him at close quarters. His brother 
led him back to the house and then unwittingly bathed his 
eyes in a solution of formalin, which he admitted to me was 
as painful as the venom itself. Nevertheless in about three 
days he recovered. 
Another friend was crawling through long grass after a 
Kongoni. A cobra suddenly rose in front of him, and my friend 
had the presence of mind to close his eyes tight as the venom 
was ejected on to his eyelids. Lying back, he waited the 
arrival of his syce, whom he told to take his water-bottle 
and empty its contents on his face. After a careful sponging 
away with a wet handkerchief he opened his eyes, and was 
none the worse. 
The cobra is very nervous in captivity, and for this reason 
nearly always spits when disturbed. On one occasion it spat 
on a passing native’s neck through the ventilating gauze when 
the boy was fully four feet from the cage. This happened 
several times, and for safety the gauze had to be removed 
from the cage. 
Toads seem to be their favourite diet, and the half-grown 
cobra at present in the writer’s possession eats about one per 
week. On December 7 it killed a very large one, and its 
deglutition was one of the most difficult and laboured I have 
ever seen ; the head lost all shape, resembling a circular band 
of skin in which shone two beady eyes, the quadrate bones 
stuck up against the distended skin like horns about to bud. 
In conformity with its diet it is nocturnal in habit, though 
frequently to be found basking by day. One of the most 
