SNAKES 345 



spaces in which several cobras are confined, tranquilly 

 neglecting the fact that he is surrounded by the 

 swaying and nodding heads of the startled reptiles, 

 and merely pushing them aside when they come too 

 close or get into his way. In Lower Bengal the 

 great time for acquiring a stock of cobras is towards 

 the end of the rainy season, when the general in- 

 undation of the low country has driven them to 

 congregate in all the patches of higher and dryer 

 ground; and, when there was much demand for 

 stores of dried venom for European laboratories, 

 the old snake-man in the Zoological Garden at 

 Alipur was sent out every autumn to collect as 

 many snakes as possible for use during the ensuing 

 winter. His excursions generally lasted for a week 

 or two, and then he would return laden with sacks 

 full of snakes. Once he came back in great triumph 

 bringing a hundred and fifty cobras, and it was a 

 gruesome sight to watch him loose the mouth of 

 one of his sacks and plunge his arm down into it in 

 order to haul out one after another of his prisoners. 

 The operation looked much more risky than it 

 really was to any one thoroughly used to the 

 feel of snakes, and so able to realise exactly where 

 to lay hold of them. The cobras were so crowded 

 and hampered in their confined quarters as to be 

 quite unable to raise their heads and necks for the 

 downward stroke with which they normally lay hold, 

 and the man knew so well where and how to seize 



