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Chapter nineteen. Dogs, Snakes and Leopards |
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Considering that we lived in a semi-tropical climate we were really very fortunate with snakes. There were, it is true, two hamadryads which nested in the bamboos at the foot of the hill, a few yards from the main path to Laisong; but the villagers used to put up a knot of grass and a railing there during the nesting season, to warn pedestrians against straying; and we never bothered them or they us. The only snake of which the Nagas were really in awe was, strangely enough, the python, and that was a superstitious fear and not a physical one. |
