LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



69 



and English name of serpent & lunettes and spec- 

 tacle-snake. Captain Percival looks upon this 

 distension of the hood which, it seems, always 

 precedes the attack of the reptile as a warning 

 to those within the serpent's reach ; and relates 

 that he had more than once been an eye-witness 

 of instances where the fatal bite had been avoided 

 by parties who had thus been put on their guard. 

 But if this signal of death be not attended to, woe 

 to the victim ! for after the serpent has exhibited 

 the fatal sign its motions are too rapid to admit of 

 escape from its fangs. The captain dwells on 

 the fondness of these deadly reptiles for music, 

 and states that, even when newly caught, they 

 seem to listen with pleasure to the notes, and 

 writhe themselves into attitudes accordingly. 

 While so employed, they must remind the specta- 

 tor, who has duly read up his Copperjield, of Mr. 

 Uriah Heep. This Uriah-like propensity is duly 

 taken advantage of by the Indian jugglers, who 

 bestow some pains in taming the cobras, and at 

 length teach them to keep time in their writhings 

 and nutations to the airs which they play on their 

 flageolets. 



Dr. Davy thus describes the mode of operation 

 in Ceylon, where, as well as on the continent of 

 India, frequent displays are made by men called 

 snake-charmers : 



The exhibition is rather a curious one, and not a 

 little amusing to those who can calmly contemplate 

 it. The charmer irritates the snake by striking it, 

 and by rapid threatening motions of his hand ; and 

 appeases it by his voice^ by gentle circular move- 

 ments of his hand, and by stroking it gently. 



This looks very like magnetism. 



He avoids with great agility the attacks of the 

 animal when enraged, and plays with it and handles 

 it only when pacified, when he will bring the mouth 

 of the animal in contact with his forehead, and 

 draw it over his face. The ignorant vulgar believe 

 that these men really possess a charm, by which 

 they thus play without dread, and with impunity, 

 with danger. The more enlightened, laughing at 

 this idea, consider the men impostors, and that in 

 playing their tricks there is no danger to be avoided, 

 it being removed by the extraction of their poison- 

 fangs. The enlightened in this instance are mis- 

 taken, and the vulgar are nearer the truth in their 

 opinion. I have examined the snakes I have seen 

 exhibited, and have found their poison-fangs in and 

 uninjured. These men do possess a charm, though 

 not a supernatural one, viz., that of confidence and 

 courage ; acquainted with the habits and disposition 

 of the snake, they know how averse it is to use the 

 fatal weapon nature has given it for its defence in 

 mreine danger, and that it never bites without 

 .nuch preparatory threatening. Any one possess- 

 ing the confidence and agility of these men may 

 irritate them, and I have made the trial more than 

 once. They will play their tricks with any hooded 

 snake, whether just taken, or long in confinement, 

 but with no other kind of poisonous snake. 



Captain Knox, in \\isHistoryofCeyton, observes 

 that the Cingalese have, in the ichneumon, a pow- 

 erful auxiliary against the multitude of snakes to 

 which they are exposed. Small as it is, it will, he 



says, venture to attack even the cobra de capello, 

 the poison of whose bite is hardly equalled in dan- 

 ger by that of any other serpent. Percival relates 

 that one of these quadrupeds, placed in a close 

 room where a snake had been previously introduced, 

 instead of darting at it, ran peeping about the apart- 

 ment to discover some outlet through which it 

 might escape ; but, finding none, it returned to its 

 master, crept into his bosom, and could by no 

 means be persuaded to face the snake. When, 

 however, both were removed out of the house into 

 an open space, the ichneumon instantly flew at the 

 reptile, and soon destroyed its antagonist. After 

 the victory the little quadruped suddenly dis- 

 appeared for a few minutes, and again returned. 

 Mr. Percival concludes that during its absence it 

 had found the antidotal herb, and eaten of it ; but 

 he does not state the grounds for his conclusion. 



For the cure of the otherwise mortal bite the 

 natives allege that the root of the Ophiorrhiza 

 mungos, the herb pointed out by the ichneumon, 

 is a specific. Dr. Davy saw and has recorded the 

 effects of the bite. A cobra, about five feet long, 

 and about six inches in circumference in the 

 broadest part, bit a hen in his presence, fixing hia 

 fangs in the skin covering the lower part of the 

 pectoral muscle, and keeping its hold for two or 

 three seconds, when the doctor succeeded in shaking 

 it ofF. The hen seemed to be but little affected. 

 She died, however, eight hours after the infliction 

 of the bite. 



Another cobra fastened on the thigh of a young 

 cock, inflicting a rather severe wound, from which 

 the blood flowed. Instantly the bird became lame ; 

 in less than a minute it could no longer stand. 

 Respiration became hurried and rather laborious in 

 about five minutes, and some alvine dejections took 

 place. In about ten minutes the cock had all the 

 symptoms of being in a comatose state, in which 

 he continued for about five minutes, his respiration 

 becoming gradually more feeble and labored. In 

 seventeen minutes his breathing was hardly per- 

 ceptible, when he was seized with a convulsive fit, 

 which recurred four or five times in the course of 

 the next minute, each fit being less violent than 

 the former. The last of these proved fatal. 



Terrible as these reptiles are, the Cingalese 

 venerate them rather than dread them, looking on 

 them as belonging to another world, and appear- 

 ing here merely as visitors. They regard the 

 cobra as greatly superior to man, and akin to the 

 gods, believing it to be possessed of great power. 

 Impressed with this belief, they refrain from kill- 

 ing it if they can possibly avoid it, and even when 

 they find one in the house they will not slay it, 

 but, putting it into a bag, throw bag and all into 

 the water ; for they think that it has a good and 

 generous disposition, and that, unless it be pro- 

 voked, it will do no harm to man. The cobra 

 which bit the hen in Dr. Davy's presence, as 

 above narrated, was found in a bag floating down 

 the Kalang-ganga. 



With these sentiments towards those serpents, 

 it will be no matter of surprise to find them, or 



