Library of Cryptozoology

The chief facts about the "mamba" are these: it deliberately pursues and attacks man, lying in wait for him; its bite is most deadly, and in a very few hours its victim is dead. It is about twelve feet long, and has a kind of crest like a cock's comb on its head; it also makes a noise resembling the crowing of a cock; it haunts rocks, and is also found in the forest. If one is ever met with near one of the paths, that path is at once deserted, and with no undue reason, for this snake is known to oppose whole caravans, killing, one after another, all who attempt to pass by the tree or other position where it may have for the time taken up its quarters. This "mamba" is by no means uncommon about here, and the hill near where Mr. Porter's house stands is its favourite haunt.

I moved us into a smaller, pleasanter house in the [Shire Highlands] foothills, about 300 feet above the river, and it was here that Madamat met the nsongwe – the "crowing, crested cobra" which no white man has ever seen. Madamat was walking up one night to keep guard on the verandah, when the snake crossed his path. He arrived looking paler than I have ever seen any African – and shaking. It had, he said, a "red hat" (comb) and crowed like a cockerel! Next day, he took me to see the place where it had appeared. There were marks on the sand and a branch was broken in the tree into which it had vanished. Note : This story is told by Betty Matthews, who lived in Nyasaland in the late 1940s.

Dr. Kirk informs me that the natives of the Zambesi district spoke of a large animal, which was not the Hippopotamus, but as large as it, inhabiting Lake Shirwa. Of course, the natives were familiar enough with the Hippopotamus, and not likely to make any mistake as regards it; but as the animal was not actually seen by any of Dr. Livingstone's party, the statement is only of importance as indicating a point to be inquired into when occasion serves.