Tigers, No Doubt,
Are Banished To The More Remote Jungles, But All Hinds Of Snakes,
Especially Cobras And Coralillos, Which Last By Preference Inhabit
Trees, Still Abound In The Forests Of Mataran As In Days Of Old,
And Wage A Regular Guerilla Warfare Against The Invaders.
Woe
betide the belated pedestrian, or even horseman, if he happens to
pass under a tree which forms the
Ambuscade of a coralillo snake!
Cobras and other reptiles seldom attack men, and will generally try
to avoid them, unless accidentally trodden upon, but these guerilleros
of the forest, the tree serpents, lie in wait for their victims. As
soon as the head of a man comes under the branch which shelters the
coralillo, this enemy of man, coiling its tail round the branch,
dives down into space with all the length of is body, and strikes
with its fangs at the man's forehead. This curious fact was long
considered to be a mere fable, but it has now been verified, and
belongs to the natural history of India. In these cases the natives
see in the snake the envoy of Death, the fulfiller of the will of
the bloodthirsty Kali, the spouse of Shiva.
But evening, after the scorchingly hot day, was so tempting, and
held out to us from the distance such promise of delicious coolness,
that we decided upon risking our fate. In the heart of this
wondrous nature one longs to shake off earthly chains, and unite
oneself with the boundless life, so that death itself has its
attractions in India.
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