136 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



been seriously hurt. As it was, the claw of the kite had 

 scratched her hand ; the blow on my hat was given 

 by his wing. 



But besides the birds I have other objects of interest 

 to watch as I sit in the verandah. My compound, and 

 still more, the compounds adjoining abound in squirrels ; 

 and many of the little creatures pass a good deal of 

 their time about the outside of the house and in the 

 verandahs. Never being molested, they gambol about 

 without apprehension. They climb the pillars and the 

 reed blinds, scamper along the floor, and when I am 

 taking my tea some of the bolder among them will 

 even venture on the table. 



The Indian squirrel is smaller than our English 

 squirrel, and by no means so pretty. It has not the 

 same thick fur or bushy tail, and its colouring is poorer : 

 instead of the rich chestnut brown of our squirrel, 

 its fur is of a dull greyish white, varied by stripes of 

 black running the length of its body. On the other 

 hand, the Indian squirrels are far more numerous — 

 they are to be seen in hundreds on all the clusters of 

 trees — and I also think they are more active. They 

 dart up the trunks of the trees, spring from branch 

 to branch, and race each other to the highest summits, 

 and this with unbroken speed and apparently with- 

 out effort. 



I have spoken already about scents and perfumes ; 

 I will now conclude this chapter with a few words on 

 the kindred subject of narcotics. I am led to do so 

 by an incident that occurred about this time in the 

 office. Not many miles from the station there resides 



