HPB-Caves-5: Difference between revisions

It was long past midnight, but we still sat listening to this legend and others of a similar kind. At length the innkeeper sent a servant to warn us of the dangers that threatened us if we lingered too long on the verandah on a ''moonlit'' night. The programme of these dangers was divided into three sections: (1) snakes, (2) beasts of prey, and (3) dacoits. Besides the cobra and the “rock-snake,” the surrounding mountains are full of a kind of very small mountain snake, called ''furzena'', the most dangerous of all. Their poison kills human with the swiftness of lightning. The moonlight attracts them, and whole parties of these uninvited guests crawl up to the verandahs of houses, in order to “warm” themselves; in any case here it is warmer for them than on the ground. The verdant and perfumed abyss below our verandah happened, too, to be the favorite resort of tigers and leopards, who come thither to “quench their thirst” at the broad brook which runs along the bottom, and then wander until daybreak under the windows of the bungalow. Lastly, there were the mad dacoits, whose dens are scattered in mountains inaccessible to the police, who often shoot Europeans simply to afford themselves the pleasure of sending to one’s forebears one of the hateful ''bellatis'' (foreigners). Three days before our arrival the wife of a Brahmin disappeared, carried off by a tiger, and two favorite dogs of the commandant were killed by snakes. We declined to wait for further explanations, but hurried to our rooms. At daybreak we were to start for Karli, 6 miles [9.66 km] from this place.

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