d ourselves, therefore, with a piece of his skin
about six inches long, which remained our only trophy. The colours of
this boa were very brilliant, and they had a bloom on them like a ripe
plum; he was evidently up to good living, for he had breakfasted that
day on a partridge, as was shown by the _post-mortem_. His length was
21 feet, and circumference about 1 foot 6 inches; he must have weighed
about 200 pounds.

Our bag on this day was a reitbok, a boa-constrictor, and a brace and a
half of partridges. I believe that we should not have obtained either
of the larger animals, had it not been for a second examination of the
suspicious moving grass in the manner that I have mentioned. Had we
stopped at once to look at the object, the buck would have bounded away
without a moment's notice, but as it was, he fancied he was unobserved
and secure.

I give these details to show on what small hinges success in
South-African sport may turn.

The Kaffirs reported that a boa-constrictor lived in some long reeds
near the Umganie, and they said it was an enormous animal, and fully
fifty feet long. I once saw its spoor on the sand, and judged that it
must be nearly thirty feet long. On several occasions I sought
interviews with it, but was unsuccessful in finding it at home. It is
always better to give all snakes a wide berth, and not to go out of
one's way to destroy them, unless they have taken up their residence in
or near your house, or their destruction can be accomplished with ease
and safety.

Many snakes of South Africa are not poisonous: a very good plan for
telling them is to notice the shape of their head; anything approaching
the form of the ace-of-clubs, or a breadth across the forehead as it
were, is indicative of venom; while those with the narrow lizardlike
heads are harmless.

The secretary-bird is one of the greatest destroyers of snakes, and
either is proof against their bites or is too active to be bitten. He
seizes them generally by the neck, and goes sailing aloft with a long
reptile wriggling about in agonies. If the bird finds the snake
troublesome during his aerial voyage, he lets it fall a few thousand
feet on to the hardest ground, and then quickly following after, takes
the snake on another trip. A fine in money is very properly imposed in
the Cape colony on the destroyer of one of these birds.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

AN INVITATION--TERRIFIC STORM--SILENT ELOQUENCE--MOUNTED BUSHMEN--THE