turban, and continued to crowd him into it till nothing but his tail was in
sight. Then he took off his head covering, and showed the reptile coiled up
within it.

Lord Tremlyn looked at his watch, and then carried a piece of money to the
chief charmer, which he received with many salaams, in which his companion
joined him, for the fee was a very large one. He suggested that the party
had had enough of this performance, to which all the ladies, with Mr.
Woolridge, heartily agreed. The carriages were at the door of the hotel,
and the company were hurriedly driven to the Apollo Bunder, where they
found a steam-launch in waiting for them. Lord Tremlyn had arranged the
excursions so that everything proceeded like clockwork, and Captain
Ringgold wondered what he should have done without his assistance.

The island of Elephanta was about five miles distant, and in half an hour
the party landed. Upon it were a couple of hills, and it was entirely
covered with woods. One of the first things to attract the attention was a
singular tree, which seemed to be a family of a hundred of them; for the
branches reached down to the ground, and took root there, though the lower
ends were spread out in numerous fibres, leaving most of the roots above
the soil.

"This is a banyan-tree," said Sir Modava. "It is a sort of fig-tree, and
you see that the leaves are shaped like a heart. It bears a fruit of a rich
scarlet color, which grows in couples from the stems of the leaves. They
are really figs, and they are an important article of food. In time the
trunk of the tree decays and disappears, and temples are made of the thick
branches. Some of these trees have three thousand stems rooted in the
ground, many of them as big as oaks: and these make a complete forest of
themselves. One of them is said to have sheltered seven thousand people;
but I never saw one as big as that."

The party proceeded towards the caves, but had not gone far before they
were arrested by the screams of some of the ladies, who were wandering in
search of flowers. Louis Belgrave was with his mother and Miss Blanche. Sir
Modava, who was telling the rest of the company something more about the
banyan-tree, rushed to the spot from which the alarm came. There he found
Louis with his revolver in readiness to fire.

"Snakes!" screamed Mrs. Belgrave.

In front of them, asleep on a rock, were two large snakes. The Hindu
gentleman halted at the side of the lady, and burst o