TWO LITTLE INDIAN S ADRIANS. 
89 
capable of a very rapid movement when under alarm ; though 
timid as a hare on the approach of danger, yet, 1 should repeat, 
they hurry off to concealment in their holes with great alacrity ; 
these holes they burrow in the sand or clay to a considerable depth, 
and they construct them in such a manner that the animal can 
enter in for about its own length in a direct course, and then 
go off to the right or left as the case may be. When reaching 
its hole under fear, it at once disappears from sight, but, in the 
apparent belief that its thorn)' tail will protect it from harm, it 
may often be seen to escape from the hole with the tail foremost. 
Its great enemy is the snake, and to guard against its inroads at 
night the lizard puts together a sort of mud cork or lid to the hole 
which the natives term a “ Dutta.” 
There is a tribe of low caste Punjabis, of the sweeper caste, 
known as “Chooras” who eat this lizard, which they call a 
“ sanah,” and so much do they relish it that they may often be 
noticed in pursuit of it. From the description I have already 
given it will at once be understood that their task is not an easy 
one, but they are very successful none the less. They provide 
themselves with a heavy wooden mallet with a long handle; this 
mallet is square at one end and pointed at the other, and is 
termed by them a “ dhremna.” They have also a wooden peg 
or pointed piece of hard wood of about 18 inches in length, which 
is styled a “killie.” Furnished further with a coarse bag and a 
string girdle round the waist, they are fully equipped for the 
hunt. 
During broad daylight they approach the sandy, gravelly 
plains frequented by the “sanah,” and stealthily adv'ancing they 
watch for the retreat of them to their holes, and marking down 
what seems to them a likely find, they go near to the hole and 
strike the ground heavily with the dhremna at about a foot from 
the entrance ; this has the effect of driving the sand into the hole, 
and so cutting off the further retreat of the sanah ; then with 
the killie they extract it, break its neck, and hang it over 
their string girdle. The animal is so inoffensive that it never 
attempts to bite. If very successful they fill their girdles and 
put the over-plus into their bags. The mode of preparing the 
sanah for food is generally by boiling, though sometimes they 
are eaten with curry, but more often with a chupathi or un- 
leavened cake of wheaten flour seasoned with salt. Some too 
for future use are exposed to the blazing sun, and dried. Out 
of the skin of this lizard the chooras make little bags to 
carry their tobacco and other daily necessaries. 
They prepare also an oil from it with which they anoint 
their bodies, with the view as they say to recruit their vital 
powers, and to renew their strength after illness. This oil is 
much sought after by Mahomedans, who though, like those of 
the Jewish faith, are forbidden by their religious belief to eat of 
any “ creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth,” are not pre- 
cluded by the laws of Mahomed from the external application 
