382 NATURAL HISTORY. 



regard by the Buddhists. The tenets of their faith forbid the sacrifice of 

 the life of any animal, and this noxious serpent is especially protected by 

 them. In their eyes the killing of any animal is a terrible sin, but to 

 dispose of one of these snakes is a far more heinous crime. On account of 

 this .superstition the cobra continues to abound in the Indian Peninsula, 

 and south into the Malay regions. Each year thousands die from its bite, 

 and yet no Buddhist or Brahmin will take the first step to rid the country 

 of the pest. It is estimated that in Hindustan alone the annual mortality 

 from this serpent's bite amounts to over five thousand! Can fanaticism 

 go farther than this? 



Let us look a moment at the animal as represented in the plate. It is 

 a large form, remarkable for the 'hood' which it possesses just behind the 

 head. In this region the ribs, instead of being curved downwards as they 

 are in other parts of the body, are straight, and are capable of being placed 

 close against the backbone, or being extended at right angles to it, at the 

 will of the animal. In the latter case it produces this wonderful expan- 

 sion of the neck, paralleled only in a very few forms. In color these snakes 

 vary greatly, blacks and browns predominating ; but most of the specimens 

 arc provided with a curious white mark on the back of the hood, which 

 has not inaptly been compared to a pair of eye-glasses or spectacles. 



The home of the cobra is in the jungle, where it feeds on lizards, frogs, 

 small mammals, and the like. It sometimes takes to the water, and then 

 it varies its diet with fishes. It is a rather sluggish form, and it knows its 

 powers. It will not flee, but holds its own, with head erect, hood dilated, 

 ready to strike any intruder. The effects of the poison are rapid. In a 

 ICw moments all parts of the system are affected, and the victim suffers 

 the most excruciating pain, and in most cases death soon intervenes and 

 puts an end to the sufferings. Even where antidotes save the life, there 

 are apt to be periodical returns of the pain. 



Notwithstanding the exceedingly venomous character of this serpent. 

 it tonus a source of livelihood to large numbers of itinerant snake-charmers. 

 These carry their pets about in peculiarly shaped baskets, and when a 

 crowd is assembled, they give an exhibition. Two or three of the party 

 beat drums and play upon wind-instruments, making a music not over- 

 agreeable to civilized ears, but which seems to exert a species of fascina- 

 tion on these reptiles, which are handled with impunity. In some cases 

 these serpent-charmers are frauds; the snakes they exhibit have been ren- 

 dered harmless by extracting their fangs. At other times this is not the 

 case, and the performers probably owe their immunity, in a large degree, 

 to an utter absence of any indication of fear. Occasionally, however, one 

 is bitten, and the consequences arc the same as with any other person. 



