60 MAY 



with arms and legs in the air, whenever the dogs 

 gave the warning, or whenever a snake was seen 

 by anybody; no one waited to ascertain if it 

 possessed poison fangs or not. " Kill ! kill ! " was 

 shouted by mild Hindoo and gentle Mahommedan 

 alike. No one seemed to think of caste restrictions 

 against the taking of life, but one and all were 

 imbued with the spirit of the chase ; or was it the 

 master's reward of 4 annas a snake ? Thus the 

 place is much clearer of them. But the pace at 

 which these reptiles go is amazing. The dogs often 

 used to turn one out in front of me as I went 

 round the garden about midday. A very long rat 

 snake I raced as it slid along by the wall. There 

 was some fascination in trying who could go the 

 fastest ; but it was rather gruesome when it hit out 

 at me with a sudden swish of half its body, and 

 though I knew it was a harmless kind, I came to a 

 full stop pretty quickly, with a shuddering, irre- 

 pressible " Oh ! " 



The largest that has been killed here is 7 feet 

 10 inches long, and we had it stuffed and hung up 

 in the Professor's room ; waiting till he came out 

 from England. 



