THE HIGHER NAEBADA. 353 



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 bearskin 

 being a poor affair), nor food. Most sportsmen ere long come 

 to agree with the natives, and let the ddam-z&d alone, except 

 when they turn up by accident. 



It was in these jungles 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 unwill- 

 ingly 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 gathered pyramid of 

 coils, and I lost no time in leaning over and firing both 

 barrels of the rifle into the mass, at the same time drawing 

 the horse back to the pathway, as I did not know the 

 customer I had to deal with. The snake made off down the 

 hill, and my horse refused to follow, so that, before I could 

 dismount and get down on foot, all trace of him was lost. 

 I was taken by surprise, or should perhaps have made a better 

 business of it. My impression was that the creature was 



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