66 | A COLLECTING TRIP 
just the same. I was very happy to hear of Fritz’s 
getting the two deer; that was fine. The news which 
I received to-day, although long awaited, was very 
welcome and seemed so cheerful. This letter, from 
a purely impersonal point of view, may not be very 
entertaining, but it gives us a bit of a chat together. 
The Zoo here is very good indeed. Everything is 
outdoors and wonderful palms, ete., about. You 
ought to see the big bats here; they hang in hundreds 
in some of the trees and at dusk it is a sight to see 
them fly off as big as large hawks, scattering to rob 
the natives’ orchards, for they eat only fruit. I 
have some good photographs of them; also of birds 
of various sorts, one of a parrot sitting by its nest 
and two other very good ores of parrots. At Jaipore 
we saw the big crocodiles in the moat of the Mahara- 
jah’s palace; formerly they threw condemned eri- 
minals to them, but that was one of the trifling ee- 
eentricities which the English put a stop to. We ob- 
tained some splendid pictures of some of the Mahara- 
jah’s elephants having their bath in the river. One 
of his chief state elephants was simply a monster. 
Most gorgeously painted and trapped out, they are 
by far the most stately means of conveyanee in the 
whole world. I have some photographs of wild monk- 
eys which are quite good. The wild peacocks in the 
native state of Rajputana go in droves and are as 
tame as hens as they are never molested because they 
are sacred. I have become very unpopular with the 
Hindus on account of my eolleeting; they do not be- 
heve in taking any life. One sect, the Jains, cover 
their mouths with a cloth when walking for fear of 
swallowing a fly which might blow in; they even 
