The Snake. 



501 



Of this kind are the dancing-snakes, which are carried 

 in baskets throughout Hindoostan, and procure a main- 

 tenance for a set of people, who play a few simple notes 

 on the flute, with which the snakes seem much delighted, 

 and keep time by a graceful motion of the head; erect- 

 ing about half their length from the ground, and follow- 

 ing the music with gentle curves, like the undulating 

 lines of a swan's neck. It is a well-attested fact, that, 

 when a house is infested with these snakes, and some 

 other of the coluber genus, which destroy poultry and 

 small domestic animals, as also by the larger serpents 

 of the boa tribe, the musicians are sent for ; who, by 

 playing on a flageolet, find out their hiding places, 

 and charm them 'to destruction: for .no sooner do the 

 snakes hear the music, than they come softly from their 

 retreat, and are easily taken. I imagine these musical 

 snakes were known in Palestine, from the Psalmist 

 comparing the ungodly to the deaf adder, which stop- 

 peth her ears, and refuseth to hear the voice of the 

 charmer, charm he never so wisely. 





THE SNAKE, (Coluber natrix,) 



Is the largest of all English serpents, sometimes exceeding 

 four feet in length. The colour of the body is variegated 

 with yellow, green, white, and regular spots of brown 

 and black. They seem to enjoy themselves when bask- 

 ing in the sun, at the foot of an old wall. This animal 

 is perfectly innoxious, although many reports have been 

 circulated and believed to the contrary ; it feeds on 



