Hornets and Snakes. 7 



their dying struggles they all began to bite hard, which 

 proved too much for the duck. 



Hornets, especially a variety, native name magu, sting 

 most painfully, and if a bush is touched where they are 

 hanging to their paper-like nests they dart out and sting. 

 1 have still a lively recollection of two fastening on to the 

 lobes of my ears and the shooting pain that followed. 

 Why each hornet chose an ear lobe I cannot say; but the 

 fact was evident, and the pain did not cease for several hours. 

 In India, a variety (possibly more than one variety) builds 

 its nests in the tea bushes, and the Indian women get badly 

 stung at times. In fact, I have seen several women nearly 

 killed by them, and I have heard of a few cases where 

 people died from the numerous stings inflicted, and in one 

 instance a pony was stung to death. As these insects 

 generally attack the necks of their victims, death is often 

 caused by suffocation, as violent inflammation and swelling 

 results. 



I have not found that snakes are so dangerous as 

 statistics would cause one to believe, for I spent nearly 

 seven years of my life as a tea-planter in Cachar, Assam, 

 Sylhet, and the Terai Dooars. During that time I only 

 heard of two or three cases of death from snake-bite, so I 

 cannot understand how the Government can issue statistics 

 of thousands of deaths annually. Like others, I can only 

 believe that the majority of deaths are murders pure and 

 simple, which are reported to the authorities as snake bites. 

 While working in a tea-garden snakes are often disturbed, 

 and I suppose I have killed over 300 Indian snakes, and 

 the worst varieties were cobras and banded kraites. In 

 Africa, by far the worst snake is the puff-adder, as he is 

 usually in a torpid condition, with heat or cold, so is much 

 more liable to be touched. His skin, too, greatly resembles 

 dried dead leaves, and it takes quick and clear eyesight to 

 spot him as he lies quiescent. Some of the water snakes 

 are very deadly and so are the mambas (of three varieties, 

 I think). Personally, I have had narrower escapes from 

 snakes than wild animals, for I can remember three narrow 



