Mention of the snake incident reminds me of a very peculiar and interesting sport which the blacks indulge in.I refer to fights between snakes and iguanas.These combats certainly afford very fine sport.The two creatures are always at mortal enmity with one another, but as a rule the iguana commences the attack, no matter how much bigger the snake may be than himself; or whether it is poisonous or not.I have seen iguanas attack black snakes from six feet to ten feet in length, whilst they themselves rarely measured more than three or four feet.As a rule the iguana makes a snapping bite at the snake a few inches below its head, and the latter instantly retaliates by striking its enemy with its poisonous fangs.Then an extraordinary thing happens.The iguana will let go his hold and straightway make for a kind of fern, which he eats in considerable quantities, the object of this being to counteract the effects of the poison.When he thinks he has had enough of the antidote he rushes back to the scene of the encounter and resumes the attack; THE SNAKE ALWAYS WAITS THERE FOR HIM.
Again and again the snake bites the iguana, and as often the latter has recourse to the counteracting influences of the antidote.The fight may last for upwards of an hour, but eventually the iguana conquers.The final struggle is most exciting.The iguana seizes hold of the snake five or six inches below the head, and this time refuses to let go his hold, no matter how much the snake may struggle and enwrap him in its coils.Over and over roll the combatants, but the grip of the iguana is relentless; and the struggles of the snake grow weaker, until at length he is stretched out dead.Then the triumphant iguana steals slowly away.
The spectators would never dream of killing him,--partly on account of their admiration for his prowess, but more particularly because his flesh is tainted with poison from the repeated snake bites.
These curious fights generally take place near water-holes.
I have also seen remarkable combats between snakes of various species and sizes.A small snake will always respond to the challenge of a much larger one, this challenge taking the form of rearing up and hissing.The little snake will then advance slowly towards its opponent and attempt to strike, but, as a rule, the big one crushes it before it can do any harm.I had often heard of the joke about two snakes of equal size trying to swallow one another, and was, therefore, the more interested when I came across this identical situation in real life.One day, right in my track, lay two very large snakes which had evidently been engaged in a very serious encounter; and the victor had commenced swallowing his exhausted adversary.He had disposed of some three or four feet of that adversary's length when I arrived on the scene, and was evidently resting before taking in the rest.I easily made prisoners of both.
Not long after this incident a delusive hope was held out to me that I might be able to return to civilisation.News was brought one day that the tracks of some strange and hitherto unknown animals had been found to the north, and, accompanied by Yamba, Iwent off to inspect them.I found that they were camel tracks--for the second time; and as Yamba informed me that, from the appearance of the trail, there was no one with them, I concluded that in all probability the creatures were wild, having long ago belonged to some exploring party which had come to grief.
"Here at length," I thought, "is the means of returning to civilisation.If I can only reach these creatures--and why should I not with so much assistance at my disposal?--I will break them in, and then strike south across the deserts with my wife and family." I returned to the camp, and taking with me a party of the most intelligent tribesmen, set off after the wild camels.When we had been several days continuously tracking we came up with the beasts.There were four of them altogether, and right wild and vicious-looking brutes they were.They marched close together in a band, and never parted company.The moment I and my men tried to separate and head them off, the leader would swoop down upon us with open mouth, and the result of this appalling apparition was that my black assistants fled precipitately.Alone I followed the camels for several days in the hope of being able ultimately to drive them into some ravine, where I thought I might possibly bring them into a state of subjection by systematic starvation.But it was a vain effort on my part.They kept in the track of water-holes, and wandered on from one to the other at considerable speed.
At length I abandoned hope altogether, though not without a feeling of sore disappointment, as I watched the curious, ungainly creatures disappearing over the ridge of a sand-hill.Of course Itook good care not to tell any of the natives the real reason of my desire to possess a camel,--though I did try to explain to them some of the uses to which people in other parts of the world put these wonderful animals.
I never lost an opportunity of leaving records wherever I could.
As I have said before, I was constantly blazing trees and even making drawings upon them; and I would have left records in cairns had I been able to make any writing material.Talking about this, I was for a long time possessed with the desire to make myself a kind of paper, and I frequently experimented with the fibres of a certain kind of tree.This material I reduced to a pulp, and then endeavoured to roll into sheets.Here again, however, I had to confess failure.I found the ordinary sheets of bark much more suitable for my purpose.
