TIMIDITY OF SNAKES 103 



But if you want to see them properly, you must 

 be careful not to frighten them, for there is no 

 creature more timid at heart than a snake. One 

 will sometimes let you get quite near to it and watch 

 it, simply because it does not notice you, being 

 rather deaf and very shortsighted, but when it does 

 discover your presence, its one thought is to slip 

 away quietly and hide itself. It is on account of 

 this extreme timidity that we see them so seldom. 



Of the two hundred and thirty-seven kinds that 

 I have referred to, some are, of course, very rare, 

 or only found in particular parts of the country, but 

 at least forty or fifty of them occur everywhere, and 

 some are as plentiful as crows. Yet they keep 

 themselves out of our way so successfully that it is 

 quite a rare event to meet with one. Occasionally one 

 finds its way into a house in quest of frogs, lizards, 

 musk-rats, or some other of the numerous male- 

 factors that use our dwellings as cities of refuge 

 from the avenger, and it is discovered by the Hamal 

 behind a cupboard, or under a carpet. He does the 

 one thing which it occurs to a native to do in any 

 emergency — viz. raises an alarm. Then there is a 

 general hubbub, servants rush together with the 

 longest sticks they can find, the children are hurried 

 away to a place of safety, the master appears on 

 the scene, armed with his gun, and the 



Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie, 



trying to slip away from the fuss which it dislikes 

 17 



