CHAP. XXVI.] SERPENTS. 133 



declared were all as nothing compared with this, I am 

 inclined to believe it must really have been a monster. 

 Such creatures are rather plentiful here, for a man living- 

 close by showed me on his thigh the marks where he had 

 been seized by one close to his house. It was big enougli 

 to take the man's thigh in its mouth, and he would pro- 

 bably have been killed and devoured by it had not his 

 cries brought out his neighbours, who destroyed it with 

 their choppers. As far as I could make out it was about 

 twenty feet long, but Ali'.s was probably much larger. 



It sometimes amuses me to observe how, a few days after 

 I have taken possession of it, a native hut seems quite 

 a comfortable home. My house at Waypoti was a bare 

 shed, with a large bamboo platform at one side. At one 

 end of this platform, which was elevated about three feet, I 

 fixed up my mosquito curtain, and partly enclosed it with 

 a large Scotch plaid, making a comfortable little sleeping 

 apartment. I put up a rude table on legs buried in the 

 earthen floor, and had my comfortable rattan-chair for 

 a seat. A line across one corner carried my daily- 

 washed cotton clothing, and on a bamboo shelf was 

 arranged my small stock of crockery and hardware. Boxes 

 were ranged against the thatch walls, and hanging shelves, 

 to preserve my collections from ants while drying, were 

 suspended both without and within the house. On my 

 table lay books, penknives, scissors, pliers, and pins, with 



