394 
VEETEBEATA. 
ling piecemeal beneatli the foot of time, lay mouldering an ancient building of Moorish archi- 
tecture, still suggesting, by its extensive ruins and palatial structure, recollections of the Mahom- 
etan prowess which, so far back as 1741, had wrested the province of Condapilly from the hands 
of the Hindoos. 
" A long but sleepless night in sultry March had fevered my blood, as one morning, ere yet a 
single individual was stirring about our quarters, I strolled toward the mountain gorge, and had 
stumbled almost to the top of the steep acclivity before the faint flush of dawn had roused the 
sentinel, whose call awoke the solitary pair of musicians of our party, a drummer and fifer, to 
sound the reveille. In ten minutes more I stood panting on the summit of the rock, gazing 
thirstily on the scene beneath me, Avhere Asiatic beauty winded slowly before me, like a glori- 
ous river, whose changeable waters the eye tired not of drinking. I had no fear of thief or 
Thug, for a late excursion in the district behind me had assured me of safety ; but nevertheless 
I started violently when, from the branches of a stately peepul tree that grew close by, a dark 
figure, that seemed of human proportions, leaped with a jibbering cry upon the ground. 
"I had no great reason to be alarmed, for I saw not a man, but a monkey — one of those long- 
legged, brown monkeys, with white-streaked faces, that abound among these heights, and which, 
probably little less startled than myself, receded as I advanced, jibbering its dissatisfaction at my 
intrusion. At the foot of the peepul tree, throwing up its rich white petals, that shed around a 
sweet but sickening odor, grew a magnificent plant of the datura ; and as I stooped to pluck it, 
a rustle in the underwood beyond, followed by an acute, sharp scream, which I ascribed to my 
friend the monkey, arrested my hand. I had judged correctly ; but I had underrated the num- 
ber of my early companions. With a spring that brought it almost to my feet, making me in 
my turn retreat, the monkey lay moaning, and, as I thought, ^dolently convulsed among the 
grass ; nor did I at the moment perceive, what indeed I discovered with a degree of horror, that 
around its body w^as twisted a gorgeously -spotted snake — the cobra di capello ! I wish I could 
describe the maddened contortions of the monkey, as, writhing beneath the straining coils of the 
reptile, it rolled on the grass in vain eftorts to rid itself of its deadly assailant. The piteous gaze 
of its eyes, as they wistfully looked up into my face, was eloquent with a summons for help 
which I was by no means inclined to resist. Whether the snake had bitten it or not I could 
not guess, for it seemed to me as if it were merely playing with the animal — that fatal game 
which the cat plays with the mouse ! But I shouted, and threw a stone, and then seizing a 
withered branch that lay on the ground, I advanced to the chai-ge. The monkey, which at 
another time would have fled at my approach, now remained perfectly motionless, a& if it awaited 
certain succor. But the serpent, aroused to the cognizance of an assailant by a smart blow on 
the head, instantly inflating its horrid crest into that hood-like form which renders it so appall- 
ingly hideous, gave vent to a loud hiss that seemed brimful of passion. 
" Again and again I struck at it ; nor was it without a cold thrill through my veins that I saw 
it disengage itself from the monkey ; but far from attempting to make its escape, as I conjectured 
it would do, it turned itself, half erect, toward me, and with a fluttering hobble — like the hop 
of a bird whose wings have been broken — it leaped, with forked tongue protruded, right in my 
very path ! There was no time for thought ! My stick was neither strong nor long. I could 
see the venomous eyes burn like fire, and the colors of its SAvelling neck glow more deeply, as it 
prepared to spring again ; and I was fairly on the point of making my retreat, by plunging, at 
all hazards, down the rock behind me, when a shrill, chirruping cry, somewhat like that of a 
guinea-pig, was heard, and suddenly an elegant little creature, Avhich at the moment I was well 
nigh ready to spiritualize into a good genius, sprang upon the serpent with a bound of lightsome 
ferocity, which reminded me of the swoop of a kite upon a Avater-rat. 
" It was a raungoos ! And now, indeed, a combat took place which fixed me to the spot with 
mute admiration ; but not very long. Once or twice it seemed to me that the mungoos was 
bitten, but it might not have been so, for the velocity of their movements, as, clinging together, 
the snake and its foe rolled over and over among the long grass, prevented minute observation. 
It is asserted that, when bitten by a snake, the ichneumon retires for a moment to eat of some 
imknown plant, capable of rendering null the viperine venom ; but on this occasion nothing 
