Great God Cobra

AN INDIAN JOURNEY--Waldemar Bonsels--A. & C. Boni ($4).

The better to study enigmatic reptile nature, the Sahib kept a cobra under glass, until he found he was losing caste with the natives for imprisoning a god. And throughout his Indian sojourn he learned to understand that reverence for the almighty cobra. One night he was wakened by an unearthly din; his terrified dog crept under the mosquito netting with him. In a pool of moonlight a family of cats fought with a host of rats: danse macabre to the rhythm of warlike squeaks and terrific meows: Then sudden silence. A glistening cobra had glided out of the gloom. Glassy-eyed, cats and rats, man and dog, stared fascinated while the snake feasted upon a rat, upon a kitten.

The horror of the jungle haunts the fevered dreams Bonsel records, but he tells of waking hours filled with the serene beauty of India and the calm philosophy of its lowliest inhabitant.