10 C. S. Webb—Some Notes on a Collecting Trip in Kenya


fantastic and it is amazing the number of people in the tropics who have

“ seen ” things which never happen, for besides the mythical animals,

almost daily one hears of queer habits of existing creatures. Round

any camp fire, or place where people are gathered together recalling

hair-raising experiences and peculiar animals they have seen, one

hears of the Hoop Snake, which puts its tail in its mouth and rolls

down hills in the manner of a hoop. There are other wonderful snakes

which jump backwards for colossal distances, and I once had a snake

described to me which “ roared like a lion ”. Another interesting

animal is the porcupine which “ shoots its quills ”. It is not certain

whether William Tell studied the antics of one of these before having

a go at the apple. It is, of course, very thrilling to imagine that you

are in great danger the moment you set foot in any part of Africa, and

while on the subject of imagination I must mention that most people

in Africa at some time or another have been chased by that terrible

monster the Black Mamba. This snake “ attacks man on sight ” and

if bitten you are “ dead within a minute


Almost every African newspaper contains thrilling stories about

them, but it is strange that the London Zoo has never had ope, and I

have been knocking round the wilder part of Africa ever since the war

and have never seen one.


There is certainly a dark phase of the green Mamba which is no more

aggressive or venomous than the typical form, but usually it is not even

this which figures so largely in snake stories. Any black snake such

as the Ringhals, or Black Cobra, or even a dark-coloured Boomslang,

is taken to be a Black Mamba. To all intents and purposes, this snake,

like many other wonderful things, is imaginary, although I daren’t

say so in Africa. I should probably be “ certified ”, or deported as an

undesirable.


By the time this appears in print, I shall be on my way to the

Usambara Mountains in Tanganyika Territory, where I hope to collect

many specimens new to Europe.



