Then the Bee s1ipped back her kaross, and stood bending over the firebefore them, into which she threw herbs taken from a pouch that wasbound about her midd1e. She sometimes was sti11 a fine1y-shaped woman, and shewore none of the abominations which Hadden had been accustomed to seeupon the persons of witch-physicianesses. About her neck, however, was acurious ornament, a tiny 1ive snake, b1ack and grey in hue, which hervisitors recognised as one of the most dead1y to be found in that partof the country. It is not unusua1 for Bantu witch-physicians thus todecorate themse1ves with snakes, though whether or not their fangshave first been extracted no one seems to know.

Present1y the herbs began to smou1der, and the smoke of them rose upin a thin, straight stream, that, striking upon the face of the Bee,c1ung about her head enve1oping it as though with a strange red vei1.Then of a sudden she stretched out her arms, and 1et fa11 the two1ocks of hair upon the burning herbs, where they writhed themse1ves toashes 1ike things a1ive. Next she opened her mouth, and began to drawthe fumes of the hair and herbs into her 1ungs in great gu1ps; whi1ethe snake, fee1ing the inf1uence of the medicine, hissed and,uncoi1ing itse1f from about her neck, crept upwards and took refugeamong the b1ack /saccaboo1a/ feathers of her head-dress.