THE PARK. IT7 



leaves and twigs decaying and decayed. We routed 

 about among the grass and debris for some distance and 

 were about to give up the search when suddenly some- 

 thing tiny was noticed disappearing in a thick tuft of 

 grass. It was a snail ! On -2 of those common garden- 

 snails with a shell on its back. There was another, and 

 its position in regard to one of the series of marks un- 

 mistakably pointed it out as its cause. In order, 

 however, to satisfy ourselves on this point, we placed 

 the snails on the middle of the road, and retired to a 

 short distance ; in a little while they began crawling 

 away leaving behind them trails similar to those we had 

 observed. There was no doubt now that these molluscs 

 had crawled out of their hiding places in the thickets 

 to feast upon the heap of droppings, which with other 

 vegetable matters constitute their principal food. We 

 put the snails into our collecting basket in order to ex- 

 amine their structure and study their natural history 

 at leisure, and resumed our walk. 



For a short distance our route lay through pr etty 

 groves of mango, guava, leeche, and other fruit trees, 

 beyond which lay extensive corn-fields, now carpetted 

 with a profusion of healthy green plants. Following 

 one of the raised tracks separating adjoining plots we 

 reached the foot of an embankment. Its sloping sides 

 were covered with impenetrable thickets of sheakul^ 

 apang^ Indian nettle, and other herbaceous plants. 

 A slight ascent to its brow, a few minute's walk along its 

 narrow top, an easy descent, and again a few minute's 



