Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/240

 whereas the poison of the latter species creates immediately a marked effect on the punctured wound, causing violent swelling, intense pain, and a yellow or livid hue over the surface; the bite of Australian snakes does not cause much pain or inflammation in the wound itself, but seems principally to affect the whole nervous system, rapidly causing the patient to fell into a comatose state. In this respect the poison resembles that of the asp of Egypt. I can speak from experience on this subject, having been myself bitten by a large snake three years ago, at the MacLeay river; a rather exaggerated account of which accident was sent at the time to the Sydney Morning Herald, by one of the country correspondents of that paper.

The manner in which the accident occurred was as follows:—I was riding in the forest, about three miles from our station; attired in very loose nankeen trowsers, and thin Wallabi-skin boots. Being very thirsty, I rode hastily to a pond of water, and disengaging both my feet from the stirrups at the same time, I leapt very suddenly to the ground. Instantaneously, as I alighted on my feet, I felt a sharp prick in my instep, like that of a needle, and found that I had trodden on a very large snake, which had turned and bitten me through the Wallabi skin. Although my boot, from its extreme thinness, (being as slight as kid leather) had allowed the fangs of the snake to wound me through it, I did not, at that moment, anticipate any danger,