lamenting my madness, whilst
others were turning angrily upon my rival, and accusing him of having
brought about my death. At a favourable moment I rushed up the ridge of
the hollow and stood before the horrified medicine-man, who, in response
to my triumphant demand to go and do likewise, returned a feeble and
tremulous negative. Even he, I think, was now sincerely convinced that I
possessed superhuman powers; but it would have been awkward had he come
along when I was laboriously and surreptitiously extracting the poison
fangs from the snakes, and placing my "hall mark" upon them.

His refusal cost him his prestige, and he was forthwith driven from the
tribe as a fraud, whilst my fame rose higher than ever. The blacks now
wished me to take over the office of medicine-man, but I declined to do
so, and nominated instead a youth I had trained for the position. It may
be necessary here to remark that the blacks, under no circumstances, kill
a medicine-man. My defeated rival was a man of very considerable power,
and I knew quite well that if I did not get the best of him he would have
_me_ driven out of the tribe and perhaps speared.

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