264 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



His wages were nine pence per day, and although he was al- 

 most as deaf as an adder, and knew not a word of English, he un- 

 derstood the sign-language perfectly, and his eagerness to please 

 quite counter-balanced his infirmity. He was a simple-hearted 

 fellow, faithful as a watch-dog, and hung so constantly on my looks 

 and desires, that from the character of his devotion to me he 

 hourly reminded me of one. 



From this resemblance I called him Canis. I grew to like the 

 poor fellow very much, and was really sorry to see the last of him 

 when I went away. He asked to be taken with me, but of course 

 that was out of the question. 



Mullaiti%ai is a notorious place for fever, and also a worse 

 disease, as I learned by a visit to the hospital. The old physician 

 in charge, a very intelligent and well-educated native, showed me 

 a number of cases of a mild form of leprosy, which is the result of 

 a syphilitic venereal disease, from which the doctor solemnly assured 

 me not a single native in that district was free. Some of the cases 

 were feai'ful to behold, each patient being a living, breathing hell. 

 The disease is, of course, hereditary, which accounts for its univer- 

 sal prevalence. 



Although there is absolutely nothing either pleasing or attract- 

 ive in either the village or the adjacent country, the jungle round 

 about, within easy reach, is good collecting ground. As Mr. 

 Haughton had told me, all the lagoons in the vicinity were inhab- 

 ited by crocodiles, and to them I turned my attention first. Even 

 the stagnant little fever-breeder ^vithin rifle shot of the rest house, 

 at the foot of the Government Agent's comjDound, has its comple- 

 ment of these scaly scavengers, swimming lazily around and among 

 the lotuses. I shot two specimens almost from under " my own 

 vine and fig-tree." 



The next day after my arrival I made an excursion three miles 

 back into the country, to where the road crosses a naiTow arm of 

 the lagoon. Although the pool was not more than sixty feet wide, 

 . it was quite deep, and literaUy swarming with crocodiles. The 

 banks were level and perfectly bare, and the only chance for a sure 

 shot was by crawling on hands and knees for seventy-five yards, up 

 to a pUe of boards which lay within easy range. 



This bit of water, which I called Crocodile Pool, became my 

 regular hunting groimd, and for more than a week I visited it daily. 

 At about foiir o'clock in the afternoon, the crocodiles began to come 

 out to lie on the banks and from that time until nearly sunset was 



