7 IN THE EAST INDIES. 85 
with my little 32-gauge pistol shotgun and he will 
go in a bottle to the museum. The people had pray- 
ed this cobra to move but he ineonsiderately refused 
to find another rathole, eat the tenants and take pos- 
session. The people on the other hand kept right on 
walking in their old path in the middle of which was 
this snake’s abode. There was great rejoicing when 
it was learned that some Sahib had taken the respon- 
sibility of killing him, for they did not consider that 
their chances of Nirvana were certain enough to war- 
rant their killing anything so holy as a cobra. Was 
it not one of these that spread his hood over the great 
god Shiva when he was once upon earth and did he 
not get two finger prints of the god on his hood to 
prove the truth of the tradition ? We got a num- 
ber of other snakes at a pond near-bye and also a 
krait in the dust of the path. This snake is as 
venomous as the cobra but easier to catch as it is 
small and not very quick. This was a fine place to 
eollect and we got a lot of insects and other odds 
and ends. We ate our tiffin in a thatch shed under 
a fine big banyan tree and rested in the shade watch- 
ing the Indian crows on the cows’ backs and the 
turtles on the buffaloes’ backs as the beasts were soak- 
ing in a mud-hole near at hand. In the afternoon 
several persons, said to be of very high caste, they 
wore the Bramin’s thread, came to thank us for 
killing the cobra. They were an evil-odored crew 
and we were glad when they returned to there vil- 
lage. They look upon too general collecting with 
considerable suspicion. We left Lucknow with re- 
gret but we must hurry through with India and get 
to the East Indies where real work begins. 
