TABLES AND PREJUDICES. 109 



ous, and so small, could produce such an effect, he care- 

 fully examined the fowl, and found the folds of the tail of 

 the snake around the neck of the bird, which would have 

 perished had he not disengaged it. Many birds of small 

 size are accustomed to pursue birds of prey, and other 

 enemies of their race, or to fly about the place where the 

 object of their hatred lies concealed : there is reason to 

 believe that this phenomenon, known in Europe to every 

 observer, also takes place in exotic regions ; and perhaps 

 this is also one of the circumstances which have contribut- 

 ed to the invention of the stories which have been related 

 of the powder of fascination in serpents. 



But I have too long interrupted the progress of my 

 work, in exposing the numerous errors which have dis- 

 figured one of the most beautiful parts of natural science ; 

 and I believe I ought to omit the fables concerning the 

 basilisk, the hybrid snakes produced by the congress of 

 eels and serpents, and the other tales as strange as absurd, 

 which are still believed by many persons. Yet, before 

 terminating this division of my work, I shall notice the 

 magic power which certain persons pretend to be able to 

 exercise over snakes. This pretended art, which formed 

 at ail times, and among various nations, the occuj^ation of 

 a particular caste, consists in certain tricks which the ser- 

 pents execute at the will of the conjurors, who have trained 

 them expressly for the purpose : as they chiefly make use 

 of the Naja tripudians and Naja haje, I have, in these two 

 articles, stated the manner in which they employ serpents 

 in those tricks.* 



Such conjurors exist now in the Indian Peninsula, and 

 in Egypt ;f those of the latter country boast themselves to 

 be the descendants of the Psylli,J — a tribe who inhabited 

 ancient Lybia and India, and were celebrated for their 



* [ The author here alludes to the descriptive part of his work, not 

 yet translated.] 



t Geoffrov, Descrij). del Egypte., xxiv. p. 88. 



+ Plin. vii. 2 ; ^lian, 16, 37, 17, 27; Lucax, ix. 891. Consult 

 also the paper of Mr Spalding, entitled Uber die Zwaberei durch Sehlan- 

 gen, and inserted in the Memoires de V Academie de Berlin^ 1804—11, 

 classe Historico-philosphique, p. 9. 



