Year: 1860

and as the evening was closing in, i thousnI
might have difficulty in making fire, as
the dew was so heavy that all the wood
became damp, even inside the hut; so
lay down and blew amongst the white
wood ashes, to try and rouse flame.


Whilst was thus occupied, fancied
that heard something move amongst the
blankets that lay by the side of the hut
looked at the spot, and there, to my aston
ishment, saw gigantic snake, which ap-
peared nearly as large round as my body.
The animal was coiled up amongst my
bedding, but had about three feet, head
and neck, stretched out and pointed at mo
its forked tongue now and again shoot
ing out some inch or two from his mouth
The instant that I saw the monster, L
jumped to my feet, and looked round for
weapon, but there was not one at hand.
My gun / had placed outside; my large
knife had left with Plache, to enable him
to cut up the buck, and, in fact, was un-
armed. A cold shudder came over me
when / realized the state of affairs; the
door of the hut was only two feet high, and
to escape, therefore, must crawl out, and
felt certain that if l stopped down, the
snake would instantly dart at me.


was not at all aware what power the
boa constructor might possess; believed
that monster like this would make short
work of me. ] might fight and struggle,
but unarmed what could do. How long
I stood looking at the snake, l do not
know, but it could not have been seconds,
although the time appeared minutes; sud-
denly I remembered that my Caffre had,
g few days before, asked me to allow him
to place an assagai in my hut, because the
night,dew caused the blade to rust when
the weapon was exposed. Here, then,
was a hope for me, for | knew. that the
man had not taken away the assagai with
him.


1 scarcely dared take my eyes off the
snake, less the brute should dart at me;
but giving glance round the upper part
of the hut, saw the handle of the assagai
protruding from the thatch, and nearly
within reach of me. / knew that the in
slant l moved the snake would spring at
me- l however, raised my hand and arm
very slowly towards the assagai, and at
length, by bending over little, managed
to grasp the handle AS / did so the snake,
which had gradually uncoiled during my
movements, darted towards me, / jumped
aside, and pulled out the broad -bladed as
sagai, which had been sharpened very
keen, but the snake moved like lightning,
and although he had missed me in his first
dart, he recovered himself instantly, and
sprang at me again. Before | could make
a cut at him, his teeth caught in my leath-
er trowsers, and he thus obtained a strong
hold, and with pull as sudden as his
lunge, he dragged my feet from under me,
and brought me to the ground: big lold
of his body rolled his head, and fell upon
my legs, while itweighed me to the ground
as if loaded wagon were on them. he
managed all this in very short time; but
| was not idle, for / knew that if he could
once manage to press down my chest, or
my arms, he might kill me.


Now, the feeling that first came upon
me was certainly not pleasant one, be-
causeI was without a weapon; but as soon
as l grasped the assagai | knew that l
was safe; consequently, when he really at
tackled me, felt as though it was piece
of imprudence on his part, for never ex-
pected the affair would have been as dam
gerous to me as it proved to be. These
things take some time to tell, but they do
not take long to happen, and struggle
for life and death is frequently decided in
half minute So it was with me. The
instant the snakes body came over on my
legs, l twisted around, and sliced it with
the assagai. gave two terrible gashes,
and the monster releasing his hold OF my
feathers, sprung at my face. | raised my
arm instinctively TO protect myself, which
saved me from being bitten; but l was
knocked down fiat, and the brute was again
ON me; but this time l caught him by the
neck with my left hand, and in an instant
had nearly severed bis head with the as
sagai. | scrambled away from the mon-
ster, which was writhing about in its agony,
and escaped from the hut Then | began
to examine how | had Jared in the fight.
To my surprise, l found that few deep
scratches near the ankle, and bite near
the wrist, neither of which was of great i'm
portance, were all the wounds which l had
sustained. For some days afterwards,
however, suffered great deal OF pain in
the legs, where the snake had pressed me.


| do not think that / should have es-
caped to tell the tale, if / had not found
the assagai, as the boa, although unwilling
to attack you when he is in the open coun-
try is pugnacious enough when shut up
with you in circular hut about eight feet
in diameter. We soon hauled the snake
from the hut, when my Hottentot arrived,
and found it measured twenty-eight feet
in length, and nearly foot in diameter in
the thickest part The Hottentot thought
it must be that which he had seen, as its
markings appeared the same. 1t was evi-
dent that the flood had driven the snake
from its usual concealment in the reeds,
and the animal finding warm hut, in
which were blankets and the remains of
fire, had taken up its position without
ceremony, and had been probably much
irritated at my intrusion upon him.