136 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



Yesterday, as I sat in the verandah, I was 

 forcibly reminded of my childhood, when as a 

 good little girl with my hands behind me I was 

 wont to stand up and repeat the well known lines 

 11 On a chameleon." There, straight in front 

 of me, crawling up the stem of a loquat tree, 

 was a real live chameleon. Instead of moving 

 away, when it saw it had attracted my notice, 

 it remained perfectly still for about ten minutes, 

 changing colour, from red to green, then brown, 

 then blue, then yellow, and finally once more 

 red, in all cases (excepting when its feet be- 

 came blue) the hideous head of the creature 

 appeared the first part of it to change. 



In the early morning I had a disagreeable 

 experience. As I was plucking, a small kind 

 of edible passion-fruit from a tangle of creepers 

 lying on the ground, a tic polonga snake 

 wriggled its green body from almost under my 

 hands ; giving me a shiver of fright, and a 

 great feeling of thankfulness that I had escaped 

 from the deadly poison of its bite. Twice 

 before, I have just avoided treading on snakes. 

 The knowledge that they are lurking about in 

 the grass, and amongst the creepers, and that 

 every leafy thicket may possibly hide one or 

 more, rather detracts from the pleasure of my 

 walks and makes it imperative to avoid as much 

 as possible, short cuts, and excursions into 

 the jungle. 



