THE COBRA AND OTHER SERPENTS. jj 



lar to that from which he had just recovered. There he lay again, 

 to all appearance dead, with every muscle rigid and his jaws fixed 

 In a partial gape as if sudden dissolution had prevented their clos- 

 ing. Seeing in this an opportunity of giving the boy a lesson 

 against the danger of meddling with seemingly dead cobras, I 

 called him down to my side. " Do you think that snake is dead ?" 

 said I. 



" Yes," he replied, " I believe he is surely dead now ; you must 

 have given him his death wound getting him out of the hole." 



" Well, my boy, I'll show you whether he is dead or not ; and 

 from what you will see, take warning that a bite from an appar- 

 ently dead cobra like this is a thousand times worse than if he 

 were to strike you perchance in the usual way as you pass through 

 the bush." 



So saying, I put the end of the stick into the stiff, gaping jaws. 

 Instantly they closed on it like a vise until the fangs were buried 

 in the wood. Then, lifting him up till his tail swung clear of the 

 ground, I bade the boy count the time by his watch, to see how 

 long he would retain his bulldog-like grip. The body was 

 gathered into unbending curves ; but, as the minutes went by, 

 these straightened out, commencing at the tail and advancing 

 gradually upward to within three inches of the head. At last 

 this too became limber, the jaws unloosened, and he dropped to 

 the ground as the boy exclaimed : " Well, I'll be blamed ! that 

 bulldog snake held on for eight minutes and a half." As he lay 

 now exhausted on the ground he put out his tongue at intervals, 

 but never otherwise moved until I attempted to put the stick 

 across his neck preparatory to taking him, when he stood up for 

 fight as fresh as ever. However, I was nimble with the stick, and 

 by its aid got my fingers round his throat just as he went into his 

 third fit, and held his deadly jaws open again ready to close upon 

 anything they should chance upon. Thus open-mouthed he re- 

 mained as I carried him homeward, but recovered from his fit as 

 he was placed in his cage. 



The fears of the boy had quadrupled the animal's size, but 

 still for a cobra he was large, being considerably over four feet 

 in length. Having him now at home to practice on, I soon learned 

 how to throw him into this state of temporary lockjaw, and in- 

 stantly restore him again at pleasure. And besides this, I became 

 certain that the ordinary wounds made by a cobra are nothing 

 compared with his terrible bite when in this strange condition. 



Among my collection I had at first six cobras. They used to 

 eat frogs and toads, pursuing them around the room as a dog 

 would a rat, seizing them by whatever part they could catch hold 

 of, and swallowing them down whole and alive. After a time the 

 family increased, for one Saturday night an old lady cobra sur- 



