282 
ON SAFARI 
the remainder gliding along the ground. In thickness 
they might be 18 ins. in circumference. Being assured 
that their bite involves certain death after half-an-hour’s 
terrible agony (though whether this is true or not, I 
cannot say), one could not but regard those gliding 
apparitions with a cold shudder and a freezing sensation 
around the heart. 
Puff-adders up to 4 ft. long, very thick, with flat 
j >.. ■/ 1 ^ 
GREEN MAMBAS. 
toad-like heads, are numerous in the Transvaal, though 
at the period of my visit (June to September) some¬ 
what lethargic. From a female, killed July 2, 36 ins. 
long, I took twenty eggs, about the size of thrush’s. 
There were also Ring-hals = ring-necked snakes 
(Sepedon hcemachatis) and other species, not to omit 
the python. One of these latter which we killed 
measured 11 ft. 9 ins., but that is far below their full 
size, for pythons of 22 ft. have been recorded. 
On one occasion a Shangani “ boy ” with me pointed 
excitedly into a hole leading into one of those laby¬ 
rinthine systems of burrows, made by creatures of the 
