A TRUE SNAKE-STORY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR:1
SIR,—In perusing lately some letters in the daily papers on the immunity of certain human beings from the effects of snake-bite, the following authentic story, related to me by the only white spectator of the occurrence, recurs to my memory. A road-party, comprising the usual gang of from fifty to sixty Kafirs with a white man as superintendent, was employed on the construction of a road in the Tugela Valley, Natal, about thirty, or more, years ago. In the course of their work they came on a huge stone which it was necessary to remove, but beneath it was the home of a large black mamba, well known to the neighbouring inhabitants as being old, and, therefore, very venomous. The mamba is the most deadly of the South African snakes, and the superintendent anticipated some trouble over that rock. He offered a bribe for the snake's skin, and the gang " Wow—d ! " and sat down to " bema gwi " (take snuff). But a slim youth sauntered forward, and, amid the jeers and protestations of the rest, declared himself as equal to the task. He took from his neck what looked like a bit of shrivelled stick, chewed it, swallowed some of it, spat out the rest on his hands, and proceeded to rub his glistening brown body and limbs all over. Then, taking up his stick, and chanting a song of defiance, he advanced with great confidence and swagger to the boulder. There he roused up the mamba, who, in great fury at being disturbed, bit him in the lip with great venom. The boy took no notice of she bite, but broke the snake's back with his stick, and,n bringing him to his master, asked for the reward, obtaininpof which, he went back to his work, and the bites of the reptilFi- had no effect on him whatever. - No bribe, not even that of a cow (better than any gold in the eyes of a Kafir) would induce this native to disclose the secret of his antidote, which, he said, had been banded down in his family for generations. The snake was a very long one, and so old that it had a mane. It is a well-known fact that certain of the Zulus have antidotes for the more deadly snake poisons, which they preserve as a secret within their owr
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