SNAKES. 215 



The natives of India always ascertain 

 whether a snake is venomous or not, by the 

 length of its tail, which., if less than a fourth 

 of the whole length of the animal, they con- 

 sider it to be of the venomous kind ; but a more 

 certain mark is their teeth : none but the ve- 

 nomous having hollow teeth. I believe all 

 the snake species that bring forth their young 

 alive are venomous, and all that are oviparous 

 are innocent, I only mean that they do not 

 contain poison ; some of the enormous large 

 snakes kill by their mechanical powers. Some 

 people think a particular kind, kill by a blow 

 with their tail, such effect, I have never seen, 

 and think it is fabulous and imaginary. 



I was once on a shooting excursion with 



o 



Captains T. Williamson and Hamilton : we 

 left our budgerows in an afternoon after din- 

 ner, in consequence of hearing a number of 

 partridges calling near us; it was on a spot 

 which had been lately over flowed by the 

 Ganges; we remained out until near dark, 

 and in returning to our boat, the dogs were 



P4 



