38 
A NATURALIST ON THE PROWL. 
comes within its reach. Suddenly it darts forward, and 
next moment, by some process which the eye cannot follow, 
the python is wound round that monkey, or jackal, and in 
a few minutes more the life has been squeezed out of the 
shapeless body. Then the python unwinds, and turning 
the corpse round so that its head points towards him 
(lest the hair should rub the wrong way), yawns like the 
grave that he is and introduces the head into his throat, 
down which, with slow solemnity, the funeral marches, 
and the grave is closed. 
These are facts ; both the jackal and the monkey are 
historical. But there is no instance on record of a python 
swallowing a man, and most of us are familiar with the 
snake-charmer who presents himself at the door with one 
wound about his limbs ; so the alarm of the villagers 
surprised me. However, koonbees are strange creatures, 
so I asked where the beast was, and the boldest of them 
undertook to show me. He guided me silently into a 
clump of trees and pointed upwards. I could see nothing. 
Yes, yes ! I could get glimpses of great coils among the 
boughs, and there, quite plain, was a white throat and 
a cold, cruel visage deliberately watching me. Surely 
no python ever looked like that. A python’s eyes look 
