midnight
India is the home of the deadliest serpents and fiercest wild beasts on the globe . When it is stated that more than twenty thousand persons are killed annually by the snakes and animals of that country , some idea may be formed of its attractions in the way of a residence . To this should be added the fact that , during certain seasons , the climate is like that of Sahara itself . For days and nights the thermometer stands above one hundred degrees in the shade and in the city of Madras , unacclimated persons have died at midnight in their beds from apoplexy caused by the appalling temperature . Among the venomous serpents of India , the _ cobra di capello _ holds foremost rank , though it is claimed that a still more deadly reptile has been found in the interior , and I believe the British Museum has one of these terrible creatures , whose bite brings death with the suddenness of the lightning stroke . However , the cobra has been known to strike two persons in instant succession , proving fatal to both within ten minutes of each other . It is hard to conceive of any serpent more venomously destructive than this .