33 



THE LIZARDS, 



August. 



^**^s-^s~-*^s~^s-^s~^ 



NE peculiar feature cf life in India is 

 the way we are beset by lizards, and 

 nobody seems to notice it. We all 

 come out to this country more or less 

 prepared to find scorpions in our slippers, 

 snakes twined about our hair, and white ants 

 eating up the bed in one night, so that in the 

 morning we are lying on the floor ; but nobody 

 warns us to expect red-throated hobgoblins 

 clambering about the trellis, and snaky green 

 lizards prying about the verandah at noonday, 

 and little geckos visiting the dinner-table at 

 night. Perhaps, because they are not very pestilent enemies 

 nor very useful friends, shallow-minded people do not think 



