Snake and Tortoise friendship 149 



tortoises cohabit ; and I have seen paintings of turtles and 

 tortoises, and metal castings also, with a snake wound about, 

 the emblem of strength and longevity; and, on inquiry, I 

 have always been told the same story — that it was the only 

 way of multiplying both species. Be that as it may, and let 

 naturalists say what they like, one thing I am certain of, and 

 that is — that one summer afternoon, whilst walking along the 

 banks of the Chung-ngan River, below Kwei-chow, on the 

 look-out for a carp for my dinner, I chanced to see a turtle 

 going across the clear stream, with its head out of the water, 

 some thirty yards off. I directed my rifle towards the turtle ; 

 and when I had fired, a snake floated on the surface, cut in 

 two, and a turtle dived to the bottom and swam away out of 

 sight amongst the rocks. I guess his snakeship was just 

 taking a sort of saloon, or rather a deck passage, across the 

 Chung-ngan kiang by the turtle ferry." 



The day being hot, we sat about generally, saw the boys 

 with their tutor engaged in their monotonous, noisy 

 repetitions, and discussed the wonders of foreign countries. 

 In the evening we ascended a neighbouring height, on 

 which was the handsome grave of a sister of my host, from 

 which we looked down a precipice some five hundred feet 

 sheer on to the romantic valley of the Siao Ho, which here runs 

 parallel to the main river, the land-neck between the two 

 rivers at this spot narrowing to two hundred yards in width ; 

 the city of Chung-king is situated where the peninsula on 

 which it is built widens out immediately above the confluence 

 of the two rivers, which run in deep, narrow valleys between 

 steep sandstone cliffs. At this season of the year, with the 

 trees in full foliage and the crops nearly ready for harvest- 

 ing, the view is exceptionally beautiful. 



The following is a translation of the inscription referred 

 to on page 147 : — 



