Our bag on this day was a reitbok, a boa-constrictor, and a brace and a half of partridges. I believe that we should not have obtained either of the larger animals, had it not been for a second examination of the suspicious moving grass in the manner that I have mentioned. Had we stopped at once to look at the object, the buck would have bounded away without a moment's notice, but as it was, he fancied he was unobserved and secure. I give these details to show on what small hinges success in South-African sport may turn. The Kaffirs reported that a boa-constrictor lived in some long reeds near the Umganie, and they said it was an enormous animal, and fully fifty feet long. I once saw its spoor on the sand, and judged that it must be nearly thirty feet long. On several occasions I sought interviews with it, but was unsuccessful in finding it at home. It is always better to give all snakes a wide berth, and not to go out of one's way to destroy them, unless they have taken up their residence in or near your house, or their destruction can be accomplished with ease and safety. Many snakes of South Africa are not poisonous: a very good plan for telling them is to notice the shape of their head; anything approaching the form of the ace-of-clubs, or a breadth across the forehead as it were, is indicative of venom; while those with the narrow lizardlike heads are harmless. The secretary-bird is one of the greatest destroyers of snakes, and either is proof against their bites or is too active to be bitten. He seizes them generally by the neck, and goes sailing aloft with a long reptile wriggling about in agonies. If the bird finds the snake troublesome during his aerial voyage, he lets it fall a few thousand feet on to the hardest ground, and then quickly following after, takes the snake on another trip. A fine in money is very properly imposed in the Cape colony on the destroyer of one of these birds. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. AN INVITATION--TERRIFIC STORM--SILENT ELOQUENCE--MOUNTED BUSHMEN--THE BUSHMAN AS AN ENEMY--A DUTCH HUNTER--GALLANT DEFENCE--A COCKNEY TRAVELLER--BOER INCREDULITY--BRITISH DISBELIEF--ADVENTURE WITH A BUSHMAN--AFRICAN RIVERS--CHANGE OF SENTIMENTS.