Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 5.djvu/573

 ID" s. v. JCSE IB, 1906.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Why was the old letter e pronounced as an a ? For instance, Derby, Darby ; Herts Harts ; Clerk, Clark, &c. I think it still exists in the north of England. Was it Norraar French 1 ? W. BARNES HELMEROW.

[The question asked has been frequently dib cussed in our pages.]

SNAKES IN SOUTH AFRICA (10 th S. v. 428), If MR. F. CLAYTON turns to p. 345, vol. ii of 'The Last Journals of D. Livingstone, Murray, 1874, he will find ample illustrations of statements concerning the nature of the terrible snakes which infest South Africa Livingstone's faithful native attendants were carrying his corpse to the coast in order to send it to England :

"As they wended their way through a rocky

Elace, a little girl in their train, named Losi, met er death in a shocking way. It appears that the poor child was carrying, water-jar on her head in a file of people, when an enormous snake dashed across the path, deliberately struck her in the thigh, and made for a hole in the jungle close at hand. This work of a moment was sufficient, for the poor girl fell mortally wounded. She was carried forward, and all means at hand were applied, but in less than ten minutes the last symptom (foaming at the mouth) set in and she ceased to breathe. Here is a well-authenticated instance which goes far to prove the truth of an assertion made to travellers in many parts of Africa. The natives protest that one species of snake will deliberately chase and overtake his victim with lightning speed, and so dangerous is it, both from the activity of its poison and its vicious propensities, that it is perilous to approach its quarters. Most singular to relate, an Arab came to some of the men [bearers of Livingstone's remains] after their arrival at Zanzibar, and told them that he had just come by the Unyanyemb6 road, and that while passing the identical spot where this disaster occurred, one of the men was attacked by the same snake, with precisely the same results ; in fact, when looking lor a place in which to bury him they saw the grave of Losi, and the two lie side by side."

Further details of the above nature follow this, with special reference to the mamba, that is, the reptile named by MR. CLAYTON, which the text I have quoted refers to thus :

"Susi, to whom this snake is known in the Shupanga tongue as ' Bubu,' describes it as about twelve feet long, dark in colour, of a dirty blue under the belly, with red markings like the wattles of a cock on the head. The Arabs go so far as to say that it is known to oppose the passage of a caravan at times. Twisting its tail round a branch, it will strike one man after another in the head with fatal certainty."

Surely I have read something like this in the narratives of other travellers. Was it in 'The Arabian Nights,' or in the text of Humboldt concerning his exploration of South America, and that of Stephens as re- gards Central America? I have a lively

recollection of an engraving illustrating a work of this nature which shows how a stupendous python, holding its tail round a branch of a tree, launched itself downwards, and thus lifted bodily a horseman out of his saddle. Vol. i. p. 260 of the above-quoted ' Last Journals' states that in the neighbour- hood of the Lofubu river, 27 December, 1872, "1 killed a naia hadje snake seven feet long here ; he reared up before me and turned to fight." O.

JOHN HOOK, OF NORWICH (10 th S. v. 410). Dr. A. H. Mann, King's College, Cambridge, would certainly be the best person to apply to for information. J. S. S.

GREEK AND ROMAN TABLETS (10 th S. v. 228, 350). Two of the Latin quotations in the second communication at the latter reference require some correction.

The words from Juvenal (I. 63, 64) should be followed by a note of interrogation.

Martial's " sneering remark " (IV. Ixx. 1, 2) is no intelligible sentence as it stands, the verb reliquit being without object or recipient. The meaning appears when the first line is quoted in full :

Nihil ammiano preeter aridam restem Moriens, &c. EDWARD BENSLY.

University College, Aberystwyth.

'JOHN BULL'S BIBLE' (10 th S. v. 389).-! have not seen a copy of this book, but con- jecture that it may be practically identical with " The Chronicle of the Kings of Eng- land by Nathan Ben Saddi, a priest of

the Jews," published in its original form in 1740-41, and often attributed to Robert Dodsley, the publisher, though also ascribed to Lord Chesterfield ('D.N.B.,' vol. xv. 171). [t was again published in 1821, with a con- tinuation to the accession of George IV. At 6 th S. i. 126, allusion is made to an edition Drinted at Preston in 1809 ; and it may also lave been reprinted at Stamford or else- where. William Hone, the publisher, quoted Torn the 'Chronicle' amongst other paro- diesat his three trials in December, 1817.

W. B. H.

Louis PHILIPPE'S LANDING IN ENGLAND ,10 th S. v. 349, 391). From the details fur- nished by correspondents, I am conscious of a couple of slips in my reply upon this nteresting subject. Confidence, it appears, hould have been expressed in the date of he ex-King's departure from France, namely, >n 28 February, 1848, not of its being also the lay of his arrival in this country. I believe 848 to have been a leap year. If so, his ourney to these shores must certainly have