
cfuite unharmed, so I thought it a good opportunity to send it
to England. I got a box ready, but the difficulty was how to
get the snake into i t !
Before I could prevent him, Ambari stooped down, unfastened
the rope round its neck, and lifted the snake into the-
box, where it remained perfectly quiet and passive. As it
was a good three days’ overland journey to Mombasa, Ambari
suggested putting a couple of hen’s eggs in.the box as food on
the way, actually plaeing one near its head without its
attempting to touch him. I nailed up the box securely, and
sent it off the same day by a special messenger.
I subsequently heard that the gentleman to whom I sent
it for shipment received a rather startling shock when the
box reached him.; I. had: placed a large'placard on the box
notifying its contents, for the voyage to England, and had
written a note to him asking that a stronger box should be
made. The gentleman forgetting the letter and thinking
the box contained some curios, took it to ; his house, and
placing it on a table with the placard downwards, endeavoured
to open it; luckily he found it difficult, and turning it over,
lo and; behold the notice- This Box contains a Live Puff-
Adder !!! ” stared him in the face1
The snake reached England safe and sound, and was sent
by the. Directors to the Zoological Gardens m Regent’s Park,
where I had the pleasure of seeing it on my return home.
Ambari brought me another puff-adder a few days afterwards,
but one .was enough, so I told him to kill. it, which he
did in a curious manner. The snake was lying almost in , a
straight lin e : Ambari walked up close to its head— it never
moVing-^and placed his; stick gently upon its head, and then
drove it through to the ground. I observed that Ambari
after handling the snakes had a trembling fit, and, if he could,
would get drunk on coco-nut toddy. A message was brought
to me one day that one of the estate women had been bitten
•by a poisonous snake, which. had escaped. I found her in
great pain, and vomiting, and her left leg (she had been bitten
in the ankle) greatly swollen. I tied a tight ligature above
the wOund, which I lanced, bathing it freely in warm water,
and gave her nearly half a bottle of raw whisky. .After an