DO SNAKES DRINK 1 87 



house.' And again, * that the cobra is fed with milk in some 

 of the temples where it is worshipped.' 



Dr. Shortt of Madras keeps a man to attend to his cobras, 

 and finds them thrive excellently on sour milk, which is 

 administered once in ten or twelve days.^ ' Snakes feed 

 on eggs and inilk] says Sir J. Fayrer. 



When we read similar facts mentioned incidentally, and 

 with no especial object, we may give them credence even 

 more than if a prejudiced writer were endeavouring to prove 

 such or such a thing. For instance, during the visit of 

 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales to India, the exhibition of 

 snakes and snake-charming formed a not unimportant item 

 in the programme, and furnished many columns of cobra 

 performances and cobra traditions to the papers. More 

 than one of the journalists unintentionally corroborated 

 what Balfour and other writers tell us about the ' good luck ' 

 of having a cobra in the chiippitr of the hut, the fearlessness 

 with which the children regard their * uncle,' as they call it, 

 and their care in placing milk and eggs for it each evening. 



But I am reminded of a singular case which came to me 

 through a personal acquaintance from India who was present 

 at the time. 



Four officers sitting in a bungalow in India were deep in 

 a game of whist. Suddenly one of them, turning deadly 

 pale, made signs that no one should move or speak. In 

 a hushed voice he exclaimed, ' Keep still, for God's sake ! 

 I feel a cobra crawling about my legs ! ' He knew that 

 timidity was one of the strongest characteristics of this 

 snake, and that if not disturbed or alarmed, it would in due 



1 See Medical Times, 1872, p. 730. 



