244 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



Karim interrupted our reminiscences of Cooper's 

 Hill with " Sahib ! coolie loka boltha burr a samp 

 hai pad may najeek (coolies say there is a large 

 snake in the hill near)/' With all the ardour of 

 schoolboys we sprang to our feet, forgetting the 

 sweltering sun and our half-told tales of school- 

 life, and set off at a run to scotch the snake. The 

 old Hebrew writer was correct, I think, so far as 

 Eve's descendants were concerned : "I will put 

 enmity between thy seed and her seed." The 

 horror and detestation of a snake is pretty general 

 among human beings ; at least I can answer for 

 myself. Taking my shot-gun with me, we hurried 

 off with our informants, who stated that they had 

 just seen a monster snake, as large and as thick as 

 a sal tree, take refuge in a cave among some rocks 



on a neighbouring height. S g declared it must 



be an Ophiophagm elaps, or King-Cobra, of which 

 a specimen had been seen in these parts. He 

 declared he was acquainted with the forest of 

 Singbhoom and there were no boas in the district. 

 I was new to the country so could not offer an 

 opinion either way, and was only half-inclined 

 to go for our friend the King-Cobra after the 

 dreadful accounts I had heard of the ferocity and 

 deadliness of that monster snake. The natives 

 however said it was not a nag (cobra), and after 

 seeing the cave a mere hole about a foot or more 

 wide I was more inclined to think it an iguana, 

 common in these parts. But peering in at the en- 

 trance, we could make out the great coils of an 

 enormous snake round a projecting rock in the 





