One of my servants came to me this morning, and told me that there was a boa-constrictor in the garden. I immediately desired all the men to take long bamboos, and we sallied forth to attack the monster. By the time we got to the place, however, he had retreated into his hole in the ground; we had therefore to dig him out, and as soon as he appeared all the men struck him with their bamboos until they killed him. It proved not to be a boa, but a yellow snake about seven feet long, and was not venomous. We killed it, however, lest it might endanger the poultry-yard. [Sidenote: EXCURSION TO CHOGGA.] On Wednesday the 15th of February we started on our trip--myself and Mr. L., a missionary: Captain W. was not able to accompany us on account of the parade, but was to join us in the evening. On Tuesday afternoon we got our guns in readiness, and sent off some camp furniture, viz. a bedstead, table, &c., which fold up so as to be easily portable. My bed, food, clothes, &c., were carried by two men, each of whom was to receive two annas, that is three pence, a-day. Chogga, and not Condah, is the name of the place to which we were going, and it would be impossible to obtain anything there to eat except what we shot ourselves. At four o'clock on Wednesday morning Mr. L. came to my house, and we took some coffee, eggs, and toast, and then set off, my companion on a tall white horse and I on a little native pony, both of us dressed entirely in white. I had with me a bearer, a kitmajar, and a syce. Mr. L. had also a bearer, a cooly, and a syce, with several coolies carrying provisions. The syces were only to accompany us as far as the river, and then take the horses back; the others carried our guns, pistols, powder, hunting knives, which are very necessary both to kill everything that is wounded, and also to defend ourselves if thrown down by an elk, tiger, &c. It was necessary that we should cross the river about ten miles from my house, so off we trotted followed by our train. Everything was perfectly still, the moon just setting, and a cold damp fog hanging over the whole island. For the first half-mile we got along very well. We had then to turn into the bed of the river, now dwindled to a narrow stream. Our course lay over a deep bed of loose sand something like that at Weston-super-Mare, only much worse, our horses' feet sinking at every step five or six inches; the poor animals could not move quicker than a trot. As the moon set, and the fog closed around us, the scene became one of utter desolation: the narrow pathway, if you can call it a pathway, winding so as to avoid the deeper sands and quicksands, did not permit us riding two abreast. Far ahead, magnified by the mist, I could just see the tall figure of Mr. L. and his white steed; behind I could hear a low chattering, and now and then one of the black servants would emerge from the fog and then vanish again as suddenly as he had appeared. From time to time arose a shrill cry