DOCUMENTS 361 
spots spared by the inundation, and the natives frequently kill them 
in their houses. Thus M. Mariapregassam, the Sanitary Officer in 
charge of the the Medical Service of this dependency, was in a 
position to procure for us, at the very commencement of our 
operations, important doses of venom: it should be added that he 
acquitted himself of this task with a perseverance and devotion 
worthy of the fullest recognition. Of the 653 cobras captured 
between August 1, 1901, and February 23, 1903, 229, or more than 
one-third, were furnished by Yanaon. Moreover, the cost price of 
the cobra fell in proportion to its numbers, and Yanaon paid for 
its snakes on the average at the rate of 33 centimes apiece; while 
at Chandarnagar and Pondicherry the snake-charmers frequently 
received 1 rupee (1 franc 67 centimes) per reptile, though it is 
true that even this was an extremely poor remuneration, when we 
consider the risk of the calling. 
Again, owing to the limited amount of our grants, we were 
obliged to restrict. our expenditure, regulating the purchase-price 
of the snakes according to the quantity of venom collected. Thus 
at Pondicherry, having observed that each cobra yielded on an 
average twenty drops of venom, we fixed the value of two drops at 
one fanon (one-eighth of a rupee), never more. In this way it was 
decidedly to the snake-charmer’s interest to bring us fresh snakes, 
and not such as had been previously deprived of their venom. 
In spite of this new regulation, snakes continued to pour into 
the hospital, and several were repeatedly brought to us at the same 
time ; in October and November, 1902, the figure 9 appears three 
times in our statistics. 
The combined results of the snake-harvest at our five settle- 
ments, from August 1, 1901, to February 23, 1903, are shown in 
following table :— 
Quantity of Average weight Average price 
Number of — venom of dry venom average DECOR Gra CAUSE 
PTE TEE collected per cobra of the cobra of venom 
653 R. 446 242 0:37 R. 0.68 KR. 1.84 
grammes gramme (US ee) UE) 
