42 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



way to them, for though an alligator can live on the land, 

 he could not travel far over it without attracting observa- 

 tion, and once observed, his destruction would be speedy. 



On this matter I remember once hearing a curious 

 story. There is a tank held very sacred by the 

 Hindoos among the hills in a very wild part of India, 

 somewhere, I think, near the frontiers of Bengal. In 

 this tank there lives always a single alligator, never 

 more. When this alligator dies, in the course of a 

 few days another takes its place, but where this last 

 alligator comes from, how it finds its way to the tank, 

 or how it becomes aware that the tank is tenantless, 

 are mysteries that have never been explained. In the 

 neighbourhood of this tank there is, or used to be, a 

 small military station. The story was told me by an 

 English officer, who held a command there ; he was 

 himself quite persuaded of its truth. 



I will, conclude this discourse on the alligators by 

 mentioning that there are in India two distinct varieties 

 of these creatures ; they are termed respectively the 

 " gurrial " and the " mugger." The two varieties differ 

 only, at least to an ordinary observer, in the shape of 

 their heads. The " gurrial " has a comparatively small, 

 long head and enormously lengthened pointed jaws, 

 resembling, as I have already remarked, the blades of 

 a pair of gigantic, long, thin scissors. The head of the 

 "mugger" is squarish and clumsy-looking to a degree. 

 It calls to mind a good deal the head of a hippo- 

 potamus. 



The " gurrial " is the variety which is much the most 

 commonly seen. I presume that it is also the most 



