410 JOURNEY TO CENTRAL AFRICA.

ing, as lie was about to roll up my mattrass, he suddenly let it drop and rushed out of the tent, exclaiming : " Oh master, come out ! come out ! There is a great snake in your bed ! " I looked, and truly enough, there was an ugly spotted reptile coiled up on the straw matting. The men heard the alarm, and my servant Ali immediately came running up with a club.

As he was afraid to enter the tent, he threw it to me, and with one blow I put the snake beyond the power of doing harm. It was not more than two feet long, but thick and clubshaped, and with a back covered with green, brown and yellow scales, very hard and bright. The Arabs, who by this time had come to the rescue, said it was a most venomous creature, its bite causing instant death. " Allah Jcereem ! " (God is merciful !) I exclaimed, and they all heartily responded : "God be praised!" They said that the occurrence-denoted long life to me. Although no birds were to be seen at the time, not ten minutes had elapsed before two large crows appeared in the air. After wheeling over us once or twice, they alighted near the snake. At first, they walked around it at a distance, occasionally exchanging glances, and turning up their heads in a shrewd manner, which plainly said : " No you don't, old fellow ! want to make us believe you're dead, do you?" They bantered each other to take hold of it first, and at last the boldest seized it suddenly by the tail, jumped backward two or three feet and then let it fall. He looked at the other, as much as to say : " If he's not dead, it's a capital sham ! " The other made a similar essay, after which they alternately dragged and shook it, and consulted some time, before they agreed that it was actually dead. One of them then took it by the tail and sailed off through the air, its scales glittering in the sun as it dangled downward.