THE HIGHER XARBADA. 367 



time to give a shot at the ** horse-shoe " mark on liis 

 chest, to penetrate which is fatal, is, as a rule, a mis- 

 take. But a shot, when he is ten or fifteen yards off, 

 will nearly always turn, if it does not kill him. The 

 most successful way of getting bears is to get up very 

 early, and go up to some commanding position, that 

 overlooks the pathways taken by the animals on their 

 return from the low ground, where they go nightly to 

 feed. They can then either be intercepted, or marked 

 into some cover, and afterwards beaten out. It is a 

 sport of which a little is great fun ; but one soon tires 

 of it, the animals being generally so easily killed, and 

 furnishing neither trophy (an Indian l)earskiu beiuo- a 

 poor affair) nor food. Most sportsmen ere long come 

 to agree with the natives, and let the ddam-zdd alone, 

 except when they turn up by accident. 



It was in these iungles that I first saw the great 

 rock python of India, which is the subject of so many 

 wonderful tales. I was following the track of a 

 wounded deer, and, the day being very hot, had 

 mounted my horse, a chestnut Arab, from which I 

 could shoot, carrying a rifle. The horse almost trod 

 upon him, lying on a narrow pathway, and started 

 back with a snort, as the great snake slowly twisted 

 himself off the road, and down the slope of the hill, 

 along which it wound. A loud rustling, and here and 

 there the wave of a fold in the grass, told me that 

 something was moving down the bank, and I forced 

 the horse after it, very unwillingly on his part, till 

 with a loud hiss, and a swish of his folds, the serpent 

 gathered himself into a great coil, just under the horse's 

 nose. A very unpleasant sound, like the boiling of 

 a big kettle, came from the gathering pyramid of coils, 

 and I lost no time in leaninor over and firinor both 



