CHAPTER XIV 



A lack of amusement Fishing on the lake Good sport Snake charming 

 A performance described " Music hath charms " Discordant but 

 fascinating Lured out of a well A marvellous performance Re- 

 moving poisonous fangs The hamadryad Its rapidity of movement 

 A friend's experience Hatching the eggs A male mother The 

 nest found A rare specimen The insatiable collector The biter bit 

 The snake stone Method of using it The cure effected An heir- 

 loom Purging the stone A narrow escape Rough on the fishing- 

 rod A snake in the hall Prompt measures Taking the bull by the 

 horns A strange protest Posted to Shikapur Its evil reputation 

 The hottest place in India How we kept cool at night Sand-flies 

 and mosquitoes Sand storms No regular rainfall A change to 

 Sukkur Cold weather, short and severe Wild fowl in plenty Pleasant 

 days at Khairpur An old-time chieftain A sportsman over seventy 

 Wild shooting Ali Murad and his falcons A day's hawking Well- 

 trained birds An old reprobate Curious way of fishing. 



APART from pig-sticking and small-game shooting, there 

 was little in the way of amusement at Sholapur, but as 

 the station boasted of rather a good lake, we rigged up a 

 boat and for some time amused ourselves with sailing. 



However, discovering after a while, that there were 

 fish in the lake, we used the boat for fishing ; the fish we 

 found, though small, were very plentiful and good eating, 

 and what is more to the point, gave excellent sport with 

 a fly. 



It was while at Sholapur, too, that I witnessed some 

 curious feats of snake-charming, performed by a wandering 

 gang of professional snake-charmers. The principal per- 

 former was an individual of the native juggler type, who, 

 to the weird music of a reed instrument, which he called 

 a " phunghi," made several cobras, which he brought 

 with him, sway and keep time to, what by courtesy might 

 be called the tune, which, however, seemed to have an 

 extraordinary fascination for the snakes, for they were 



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