144 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch, 
and this village several natives had been killed by 
snakes. On two occasions, when travelling along this 
route, we encountered a large snake, sunning itself 
in the middle of the way, which on our approach 
immediately sought shelter in a convenient hole. 
On the second occasion, we securely closed up the 
entrance with sticks so that the reptile couldn’t poss¬ 
ibly escape, and as we heard of no further casualties 
among the natives of the village, we inferred that 
we had taken ample vengeance for those poor fellows 
whom the reptile had killed. The snake in question 
was one of a deadly poisonous species, called, by the 
Angoni, najika, and by the Mwera, kolapongu. 
The skin is of a greyish tint with three black stripes 
on its neck, and the reptile attains a maximum 
length of nine feet. 
There is a beautiful non-poisonous snake in the 
pori, called by the Angoni, ulalu, and by the Mwera, 
naru, which has a white skin marked with three 
longitudinal blood-red stripes, and to meet it, when 
hunting, is considered a most auspicious omen. 
Very occasionally, I have encountered a large 
black, spotted snake, called by the Angoni, 
gulalahie, which is extremely poisonous, but not at 
all vicious, and which is generally found in the 
vicinity of ant-hills. 
On one occasion, when we were hurrying along 
on the spoor of elephants which had bolted, a small 
