Vlii MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES, SiC* 
their merriment is unbounded when lookers-on are present. At some 
future day, I hope an early one, it will afford me pleasure to intro¬ 
duce to you my Dyak neighbors, whom, with all their faults and 
vice, I love, and hope to see changed in spirit and estate. There 
are among them men of very apt discernment, who perceive the 
bearing of a remark w ith electric quiekness, and, in all their aimless 
degradation, the embers of an indomitable pride still sleep, to be ea¬ 
sily fanned to a glow by passing- gusts. Nor has the rust of indolence 
utterly eaten out all energy, as a glance at the usual phases of “ Sa- 
dang”, i. e. kampong, life might lead one to suppose : and yet, in the 
preparation of rice-grounds, they are reckless beyond all shame, and 
there are those who, from year to year, plant perhaps seven gantangs 
of padi, and reap 150 to 200, worth at harvest prices less than three 
dollars ! In. a family of adults and children a supply of padi equal 
to “sa’ratus sa’orang” is reckoned abundant for support and hospi¬ 
tality. I will record, next time, some pleasing features of their life. 
Kalamatan. 
AN EEL FASCINATED BY A SNAKE. 
Genus, Coluber. Div: Xenopeltis, somewhat modified having its 
dorsal aspect black, and its ventral yellowish white. Subcauda! scales 
double but interrupted by single transverse ones. Length of body 
about 4 feet with a head not much larger than the body, with large 
irregular scales behind the eyes. Teeth fixed; neither maxillary 
fangs nor large upper maxillary teeth with apertures. 
This snake, from these characters, cannot be said to belong to the 
venomous kinds, although the native who was with me when I se¬ 
cured it affirmed that it did ; but it is very frequently the case that all 
serpents are considered by natives, and even by Europeans, as 
poisonous, more especially when of a black, or lurid colour. What 
attracted my attention w-as a property of fascination or charming, 
and that exerted on an animal so low in the scale of creation as an 
Eel. This property is seldom allowed to any snakes out of the class 
of Crotula or Rattlesnakes, but notwithstanding in this instance It 
was most distinct. 
