CHAPTER VII

Snakes in India

HEN talking on India, I am frequently requested to tell something about the animals and reptiles of that country. What is related in this chapter is largely based on personal observation. One time when we were living in Central India, I was sitting in the office about midnight, at work on some Bible lessons. It was the time of the monsoon rains just the time for reptiles to seek a place of shelter from the chill and dampness outside. Several times I heard a strange noise above my head, and looked up, but saw nothing unusual. Then I heard a hissing in the transom window. I was now suspicious of danger, and could not rest till I had found what this strange noise meant; so I took the lamp and began a search.

In a moment, I found in the window seat, only two feet above my head, a very poisonous fellow about two feet long, and quickly smashed his head with my cane, grateful that I had discovered him before he had

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fallen on me. By the way, that is one reason why both ladies and gentlemen usually carry canes wherever they go in India. There are so many snakes and other reptiles, so many dogs and wild animals, that it is wise to have some weapon of defense.

IN HOUSE, TREE, AND FIELD

Not feeling well one evening, I returned home early. My wife had been out that evening to visit a sick patient, and returned rather late. As she closed the outside door, suddenly an awful hissing was set up, and a scream fully awakened me from my

slumbers.

"Come quick! Quick!" Mrs. Wood called; and springing out of bed, I turned up the lamp in the corner, and ran toward the door.

A large snake, which evidently had been dozing on the top of the double door, had been caught between its two leaves as the door was closed. Half of his body was outside, and the other half inside. Of course, he was angry in his intense agony. My wife held the door with her hand just a few inches beyond the reach of the poisonous creature. I never saw a snake strike at

any one as he did, but he could not get close enough to reach the hand that held the door. I seized a shoe for a "war club," and made short work of the reptile, and together we thanked God for deliverance.

Near the front

Its leaves had

One afternoon, I walked from the mission bungalow to the public road. gate stood a large shade tree. been well washed from all dust by recent rains, and, being young and tender, were a bright green. Just as I was about to open the gate of the compound, I saw a snake as green as the leaves on the tree, and nearly six feet long. He had twisted his tail about one of the limbs, and hung there, ready to strike at anything that came in his way. I got a long pole and soon disposed of him. This was a whip snake, which usually hangs from the limbs of trees and strikes at his prey.

One Sunday afternoon, when I was ready to go to the bazaar for our regular preaching service, I called our native helpers, and started on ahead, expecting the others to follow. Just then our Bible woman ran to me to say that her little boy had been bitten by a snake in the yard, and that he was suffering great pain. We used what reme

dies we had to counteract poison, and prayed for the little fellow. He recovered; but for a number of days, he was dull and stupid, and his body was badly swollen.

On another occasion, I went for a walk with two young men. It was just about sundown. We had not gone far when a huge cobra crossed the road in front of us, and made for the fields, we after him. There were no stones at hand, only lumps of dry earth. We threw those, but of course they only enraged him. Several times he turned, raised his head, and darted toward us; but we managed to keep at a safe distance. Then a man with a cartload of wood came along; so we quickly got a long stick and threw it at the snake, which was making for a large banyan tree in the middle of the field. Just as he reached the tree, he turned and leaped after us; but we stood our ground, and threw the club at him until a blow wounded and crippled him, and we could come near enough to kill him.

The cobra, a very common pest in India, is the most poisonous of all snakes. It has on the back of its neck a mark like the letter V, and has a way of spreading out its body near the neck in an oval shape. This is called