THE KING-COBRA, OR HAMADRYAD. 411 



page 180, remarks : — *' At about a mile from the coal we oame on a 

 large Hamadryad snake. One of the men had a double-barrelled gun, 

 but when he attempted to fire at it, all the rest cried to him to stop. 

 I said, ' Shoot him/ but the snake looked at us and glided away unhurt. 

 I asked him why he did not shoot it. The reply was curious as 

 bearing out a statement in Mason's * Tennasserim ' which I confess, 

 I did not credit before. They said it would, if hurt, turn after and 

 chase them ; so it got off. It was about 9 feet long." Boulenger, 

 " Reptilia and Batrachia " (Fauna of British India), page 393, 

 states : — " From its larger size and fiercer habits this snake is still 

 more dangerous than the cobra; it is fortunately less common." 

 Mr, Hauxwell, I.F.S., informed me that at Shwegyin in 1883, while 

 sitting in his verandah one day, he heard screams and shouts of snakes 

 from the hoase on the opposite side of the road. He ran across and 

 found a Burmese girl under the portico at the foot of the steps striking 

 with a bamboo about 8' long, at an infuriated Hamadryad, afterwards 

 found to be over 8' in length. Owing to the length of the bamboo she 

 was doing more harm to the posts and balustrade of the steps than to 

 the snake ; at the same time it was evident that the snake was more 

 intent on escaping than on attacking her, although quite prepared to 

 defend himself. On his telling the girl to leave off trying to hit the 

 snake and to run away — a request she complied with without demur — 

 the snake at once settled down and endeavoured to escape, when it wag 

 an easy matter to break his back and bring him to book. In 1892 

 while the same gentleman was " collecting " along the sand banks of 

 the Thoungyin river, he observed a large snake coiled up in a willow 

 bush. Being anxious to take him alive, Mr. Hauxwell sent some 

 Burmans to cut forked sticks, while he with a small collecting gun in 

 his hand remained to watch the snake which never moved till the men 

 returned and commenced poking about with the sticks, when he quietly 

 tried to glide away. On being touched with a stick, however, he im- 

 mediately reared up and dilated his neck. There was then no (Question 

 as to what the snake was, but as he was not further molested, he sank 

 down and made for the river, when he was shot. Length — 10'-7" 

 Girth— over 5". Mr. Hauxwell in a note to me, added :— " I do 

 not believe in the aggressiveness with which this snake is cre- 

 dited. He will, like anything else, make every effort to defend himseif 

 when cornered, but wUl, in nine cases out of ten, prefer to make off and 



