194 ANECDOTES. 



near, all the shot must have had effect, for we 

 mortally wounded the snakes. They proved to be a 

 male and female of the boa kind, coiled up 

 together. To the best of my recollection, one of 

 them measured sixteen feet, the other twelve. It 

 was as much as a man could do to drag the 

 largest to the boat, which was about a mile off. 

 I had them both skinned, and I now regret that 

 I did not keep them : they were given to the 

 natives to make scabbards for their swords. 



Soon after my arrival in India, I was appointed 

 surgeon to a detachment of recruits and dis- 

 charged men, from the Calcutta hospital, com- 

 manded by Lieutenant William Knox, (now a 

 Colonel in Bengal), ordered to join the 73d King's 

 regiment at Cawnpore. 



On the river Ganges, somewhere between Ra- 

 jemaul and Boglepore^ I saw thousands of wild 

 duck and teal in a nook of the river, where the 

 water was shallow, and I imagine they were at- 

 tracted to the place by a multitude of small fish 

 which appeared in every part. Having a dingy 

 (small boat like a canoe) attached to my budge- 

 row, I sallied forth in it with a Harcarrah, one 

 of the boatmen, and two guns. I had excellent 



