d by his powerful tail, surges and dashes in eddying
whirls. He rises and darts backwards and forwards, snapping his
horrible jaws, moving his head from side to side, his eyes glaring with
fury. We hold stoutly on to the rope, although our wrists are strained
and our arms ache. At length he begins to feel our steady pull, and
inch by inch, struggling demoniacally, he nears the bank. When once he
reaches it, however, the united efforts of twice our number would fail
to bring him farther. Bleeding and foaming at the mouth, his horrid
teeth glistening amid the frothy, blood-flecked foam, he plants his
strong curved fore-legs against the shelving bank, and tugs and strains
at the rope with devilish force and fury. It is no use--the rope has
been tested, and answers bravely to the strain; and now with a long
boar spear, Pat cautiously descends the bank, and gives him a deadly
thrust under the fore arm. With a last fiendish glare of hate and
defiance, he springs forward; we haul in the rope, Pat nimbly jumps
back, and a pistol shot through the eye settles the monster for ever.
This was the first alligator I ever saw hooked; he measured sixteen and
a half feet exactly, but words can give no idea of half the excitement
that attended the capture.

CHAPTER VII.

Native superstitions.--Charming a bewitched woman.--Exorcising ghosts
from a field.--Witchcraft.--The witchfinder or 'Ojah.'--Influence of
fear.--Snake bites.--How to cure them.--How to discover a thief.--Ghosts
and their habits.--The 'Haddick' or native bone-setter.--Cruelty to
animals by natives.

The natives as a rule, and especially the lower classes, are
excessively superstitious. They are afraid to go out after nightfall,
believing that then the spirits of the dead walk abroad. It is almost
impossible to get a coolie, or even a fairly intelligent servant, to go
a message at night, unless you give him another man for company.

A belief in witches is quite prevalent, and there is scarcely a village
in Behar that does not contain some withered old crone, reputed and
firmly believed to be a witch. Others, either young or old are believed
to have the evil eye; and, as in Scotland some centuries ago, there are
also witch-finders and sorcerers, who will sell charms, cast
nativities, give divinations, or ward off the evil efforts of wizards
and witches by powerful spells. When a wealthy man has a child born,
the Brahmins cast the nativity of the infant on some a