52 2 SNAKES. 



order to convince two or three challenging sceptics that he 

 could do this with impunity.l 



As in all other trades, there are various grades among the 

 Oriental snake-tamers. The legitimate ' charmer' of India — 

 the Samp Wallah — prides himself on being a descendant of 

 the prophet, and the secret of his art is cherished as an heir- 

 loom in his family. This also is the case in Arabia and 

 E&ypt> where the astonishing feats which, without any 

 doubt, are performed by professional 'snake men,' are 

 attributed to special and secret powers, jealously guarded 

 from age to age. It may be possible that, like the Psylli of 

 old, they may have recourse to some drug which renders 

 their person repugnant to the serpent, and thus provides 

 immunity from a bite. Not yet altogether discarded, either, 

 is the ancient belief that in the body of the viper itself is 

 found a specific for its poison. Since the days of ^sculapius, 

 decoctions of vipers and recipes enough to form an Ophidian 

 cookery-book and pharmacopeia combined, have found 

 favour not only among the ' faculty ' of classic days, but 

 among all our ancestral dames. We are told that vipers 

 abound in volatile salts that are cures for many ills. Certain 

 it is that ' viper wine,' viper broth, viperine salts, the powder 

 of dried vipers, preparations from the dejecta, the oil, and 

 even the slough have all enjoyed a high reputation, and I 

 believe are — some of these at any rate — still in vogue in 

 secluded districts where the refinements of medical science 

 have not yet replaced them. It is remarkable, too, that 

 for skin affections their virtues chiefly commend them- 



1 Some interesting correspondence on this subject appeared in the Field 

 during August and September 1881. 



