A CROCODILE PALACE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2008, 15 February 1890, Page 3

A CROCODILE PALACE.

Mr J. C Kerr is Erank Leslie's Weekly says:— "We went through the palace in the I city of Jypore in India, and were beginning to wonder whether it might | be, after all, a mere traveller's tale, when our Hindoo guide suddenly hurried us with marked alacrity up a broad marble stair, on to a raised terrace nearly midway along the garden face of the palace, and then, leading forward to a low, white parapet that ran along the further Bide of the terrace itself, pointed over it and bade us look down. At the site of the horrible pit below, we both drew back with an irrepressible start and shiver of disgust. What we beheld was just what we had expected and had come

Durposely to see; but so frightful was the sudden revelation of this foul slimy pool, crawling with monstrous, and hideous reptiles, in the very midst ef this splendid palace, with all

its oraceful architecture, and beautiful ornamentation, and glittering pomp of luxury, that had we seen a herd of swine rioting in a fashionable drawing room, or an Afghan gorilla sitting in all his squalid ugliness at a ministerial dinner table, we could hardly have been more utterly startled and shocked.

The beautiful white walls oyer which we were leaning enclosed a black, dismal pool, of thick, muddy, lifeless water, from the shiny depths of which steamed upwards through the hot, , breezeless air a sickening stench of rank loulness and decay. Above the thick, oily surface low banks of glistening black mud rose every here and there ; and on that congenial couch lay basking the horrible reptiles which the Maharajah's strange "taste had preserved and nourished as pets. Some lay outstretched on the mud-banks in the full glaro of the Bun, torpid ae gorged snakes, but giving a sudden snap with their cruel jaws ever and anon, as if they were dreaming of tearing some living victim to pieces. Others were wallowing in the sullen waters, above which nothing could be seen but their scaly snouts and long, saw-like tails; while others still were completely hidden, betraying their whereabouts only by the huge brown bubbles that crept lazily up to the stagnant surface. If the devil had a pet beast of his own, thought I, looking loathingly around me, it should certainly be a crocidile. Just below us, the hugest of these foul creatures lay asleep on an islet o£ mud, half in the water and half out.

Wishing to stir it up, I threw a large stone at it which rebounded from the scaly back like a hailstone from a roof; but the monster never moved. Mrs Kerr threw another stone with no better success; and then two of the Hindoos, seeing what we were at, joined in the bombardment so lustily that the mud bank was studded like an almond cake with stones of all sizes; but to all appearance we might have built an entire house upon the phlegmatic crocodile without disturbing it in the least;- At length one huge stoae hit it fair on the nose when it finally condescended to wake up, stretched itself, yawned, and waddled lazily down into the water, while its flat, scaly head, and mudbesmeared body, its narrow, cunning eyes, short, clumsy . limbs, and ungainly movements formed a picture more hideous and repulsive than the ugliest demon ever imagined by Dante. At that moment a tiny English child, having escaped from its ayah (native nurse) while the latter Was engaged watching the crocodiles, scrambled up on the parapet that overhung the tank. It was horrible to see how, the moment the poor little victim appeared, the whole surface bel©w was alive with flapping tails and gaping jaws, as the monsters caught sight of their prey. Beared by the tumult, the child grew dizzy, staggered forward, and in another instant would have fallen headlong into the terrible pool, when one of the Maharajah's native gardeners, an active young fellow, sprang forward and clutched her by the arm just in time. " Crocodile know how man-flesh taste!" said a tall gaunt Punjabi beside us. " When old Maharajah reign, that time plenty man throw in here; crocodile plenty much fat—aha! " This speech, and the ghastly grin that accompanied it, were all that was needed to complete the horror of this frightful spectacle, and turning away with a shudder, we hurried from the ill-omened spot as fast as we could.