THE WESTERN BEND 
231 
by a big black snake. To reassure him I spun this South 
African yarn —“ Remember that the black mamba is not 
so bad. It is the green mamba you should avoid, since 
its bite means death in twenty minutes; whereas you may 
be struck by a black mamba and yet survive (in agony) 
. . . for three hours! ” 
We spent a couple of nights out here, penetrating 
far back from the river into attractive, park-like country, 
where stretches of grass-prairies alternated with thorn- 
bush and scattered groves. Both big-game and gazelles 
Giraffes near Jebel Zeraf. (Sketched February 19th, 1913.) 
were fairly plentiful, chiefly of the usual species already 
described, but including both herds and many small groups 
of giraffe. At one point I descried a pair of Secretary 
birds (Serpentarius secretarius \—the only instance of their 
occurrence during all my rambles in the Sudan. During a 
full hour, while we enjoyed our midday rest under grateful 
evergreen shade, I watched these two “ Secretaries (un¬ 
paid) ” sedately stalking about in open grass ; but no prey 
rewarded their search while they remained in sight . 1 
During the half-light next morning I saw a couple of 
lionesses slowly strolling forest-wards, and presently— 
1 Only once during his sixteen years in these regions did Petherick 
meet with the “Secretary.” He gives a characteristic description of that 
encounter in Upper Egypt and Central Africa , p. 295. 
