i 4 6 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. xiv 
frequently come across the black mamba and green 
mamba, both very deadly and vicious snakes. The 
black mamba is called, by the Angoni, duguwaloh, 
by the Mwera, letaebo ; the green mamba is known 
to the Angoni as the jokomahamba, to the Mwera, 
as the namabamba. 
As far as I can gather, practically the only 
effectual antidote to snake poison known to the 
natives is the root of a very small shrub called the 
cherungu. The root is pulverized, and some of the 
powder is taken internally with water, while some is 
rubbed into the actual wound. 
While on the subject of snakes, which are, 
perhaps, of all living things the most repulsive to 
man, I must make mention of a dreadful little animal, 
which the natives are very averse to tackling. It 
is about the size of a badger, is covered with coarse, 
greyish-black hair, and has a white patch on the 
back. The Angoni call the beast mculae or 
chembulae, the Mwera, nculie. The extraordinary 
feature about this animal is its habit of springing at 
game and fastening on to its victim’s testicles with 
its teeth. Some years ago, I shot a koodoo and 
found its testicles completely eaten away, and the 
natives stoutly asserted that this had been the work 
of the mculae, and averred that they had come 
across innumerable instances of an exactly similar 
kind. 
