154 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



statement, the well was searched. They told me that 

 the human remains were many yards in depth — 

 scattered bones, skulls, whole skeletons, and, at the 

 top of all, many bodies not yet altogether decomposed. 



From robbers and Thugs it will be a relief to return 

 again to the insects and animals. I will first conclude 

 my remarks on snakes, and then I will say a few 

 words regarding the locusts. 



Snakes, as I have mentioned, are but very rarely seen 

 near English houses ; nevertheless I once came on a 

 large collection, not, however, of snakes themselves, but 

 of their eggs. It was some years ago, and at another 

 station. One afternoon the servants came running in 

 to inform me that they had discovered a "bombay" 

 in the garden. This, they explained, was a place where 

 snakes of the same species collected together and de- 

 posited their eggs. I proceeded with them to the spot. 

 It was in a large, round flower-bed, not a hundred feet 

 from the front of the house. The eggs were lying all 

 near together, about sixty in number ; but whether they 

 were beneath the soil, or lying exposed on the surface, 

 or covered with leaves, I do not remember. 



The eggs were nearly round in shape, a greyish white 

 in colour, and with shells almost as hard as stones. 

 They were not much larger than walnuts, and felt 

 quite cold to the touch. The servants declared that 

 they were the eggs of the cobra, but I do not think 

 that really they in the least knew. 



The prettiest snake I ever saw was one that I came 

 suddenly on in an open space in a forest below 

 Mussoorie. It was very slender, not more than 



I 



