[1] The bael or wood-apple is a sacred wood with Hindoos.  It is
    enjoined in the Shastras that the bodies of the dead should be
    consumed in a fire fed by logs of bael-tree; but where it is not
    procurable in sufficient quantity, the natives compound with their
    consciences by lighting the funeral pyre with a branch from the
    bael-tree.  It is a fine yellow-coloured, pretty durable wood, and
    makes excellent furniture.  A very fine sherbet can be made from
    the fruit, which acts as an excellent corrective and stomachic.

[2] Deaths from actual snake bite are sadly numerous; but it appears
    from returns furnished to the Indian Government that Europeans
    enjoy a very happy exemption.  During the last forty years it would
    seem that only two Europeans have been killed by snake bite, at
    least only two well substantiated cases.  The poorer classes are
    the most frequent victims.  Their universal habit of walking about
    unshod, and sleeping on the ground, penetrating into the grasses
    or jungles in pursuit of their daily avocations, no doubt conduces
    much to the frequency of such accidents.  A good plan to keep
    snakes out of the bungalow is to leave a space all round the
    rooms, of about four inches, between the walls and the edge of the
    mats.  Have this washed over about once a week with a strong
    solution of carbolic acid and water.  The smell may be unpleasant
    for a short time, but it proves equally so to the snakes; and I
    have proved by experience that it keeps them out of the rooms. 
    Mats should also be all firmly fastened down to the floor with
    bamboo battens, and furniture should be often moved, and kept
    raised a little from the ground, and the space below carefully
    swept every day.  At night a light should always be kept burning in
    occupied bedrooms, and on no account should one get out of bed in
    the dark, or walk about the rooms at night without slippers or
    shoes.

[3] Somewhat analogous to this is the custom which used to be a
    common one in some parts of Behar. Koombars and Grannes, that
    is, tile-makers and thatchers, when trade was dull or rain
    impending, would scatter peas and grain in the interstices of the
    tiles on the houses of the well-to-do.  The pigeons and crows, in
    their efforts to get at the peas, would loosen and perhaps
    overturn a few of the tiles.  The grannes would be sent for to
    replace these, would condemn the whole roof as leaky, and the
    tiles as old and unfit for use, and would provide a job for
    himself and the tile-maker, the nefarious profits of which they
    would share together.

    Cultivators of thatching-grass have been known deliberately and
    wantonly to set fire to villages simply to raise the price of
    thatch and bamboo.