70 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



fully four times that of my walking-stick, which 

 was a long one, so that he was at least 12 feet 

 long. The head was that of a poisonous snake ; 

 the neck was rather thicker round than a man's 

 wrist, and the body was considerably larger. 

 The coloration was magnificent ; the body was 

 glossy black flecked with some white streaks, 

 and the throat and the upper part of the belly 

 was a brilliant orange shading into yellow. 

 I had had no previous experience of hamadryads, 

 but have seen and killed numbers of snakes, 

 and have always taken an interest in them ; 

 and I studied the hamadryads in the Calcutta 

 Zoological Gardens very carefully after this 

 incident, and am sure that the snake was a very 

 fine specimen of the hamadryad. It was most 

 assuredly not a python. The head of all the 

 Pythonidae is quite different in shape from the 

 head of the Thanatophidia. I regret, however, that 

 I did not take the skin, though I had bashed the 

 head so completely to pieces that, as a specimen, 

 it would have been imperfect. I wished to take 

 the snake to the rest-house to show to Mr. Wheler, 

 but the native boatman absolutely refused to 

 have it in the boat upon any terms, and it was 

 accordingly left on the ground. For two days 

 it lay there and became decidedly odoriferous. 

 On the morning of the third day, when I passed 

 the spot on my way up-river, it was gone. Some 

 animal or animals had apparently eaten it, but 

 I certainly did not envy them their repast. 



I have not heard of a large hamadryad being 

 killed with a stick by anyone else ; but we took an 

 unfair advantage of this one. 



