64 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



rapids when a rustling in the long grass, some 

 twenty yards above stream, attracted my attention. 

 It seemed as if a herd of bullocks were rushing 

 down to the stream. Then I heard splash ! splash ! 

 and ough ! two huge snakes, from ten to fifteen 

 cubits long and as thick as my thigh, entered the 

 water. I felt great fright and could not run, but 

 crouched behind the stone and looked. Whether 

 they were fighting or merely gambolling I cannot 

 tell. They twined their bodies round one another 

 and raised themselves higher than a man out of 

 the water, and fell with a great crash. This they 

 did several times, and then one the smaller of the 

 two unloosed itself from the coil of the other and 

 swam to the opposite shore, where I lost sight of it. 

 Its mate, after swimming once or twice round the 

 pool, came out on the bank near where it entered 

 the water, and stretched itself beside a log of sal 

 (wood) which was lying on the sands. So well did 

 it conceal itself that not a vestige of it was to be 

 seen, and had I not seen it creep beside the log I 

 should not have known there was so large a snake 

 there. I waited some time, and then was about 

 to steal off home when I heard a shrill squeal, 

 followed by a succession of grunts, in the forest 

 behind me. The snake also seemed to have heard 

 the sounds, for when I next looked at him his 

 head was resting flat on the log and his body 

 drawn up in zigzags behind him. The log was 

 lying across the mouth of a small water-course 

 leading to the river, and down this water-course 

 the sounds were fast approaching. A wild pig 



