516 



THE COBRA DI CAPELLO. 



This celebrated serpent has long been famous not only for the deadly 

 power of its venom, but for the singular performances in which it takes 

 part. The Cobra inhabits many parts of Asia, and in almost every 

 place where it is found certain daring men take upon themselves the 

 profession of serpent-charmers, and handle these fearful reptiles with 

 impunity, cause them to move in time to certain musical sounds, and 

 •ssert that they bear a life charmed against the bite of their reptilian 



playmates. One of 

 these men will take 

 a Cobra in his bare 

 hands, toss it about 

 with perfect noncha- 

 lance, allow it to 

 twine about his na- 

 ked breast, tie it round 

 his neck, and treat it 

 with as little cere- 

 mony as if it were an 

 earthworm. He will 

 then take the same 

 serpent — or apparent- 

 ly the same — make it 

 bite a fowl, which soon 

 dies from the poison, 

 and will then repeat 

 his previous perform- 

 ances. 



Some persons say 



rp„^ r'^^T,. r. , XT . . ,. X that the whole affair 



iHE Cobra di Capello {Naja tnpudians). • i ^ i •i.-x- 



•^ -^ IS but an exhibition 



of that jugglery in which the Indians are such wondrous adepts ; that the 

 serpents with which the man plays are harmless, having been deprived 

 of their fangs ; and that a really venomous specimen is adroitly substi- 

 tuted for the purpose of killing the fowl. It is moreover said, and 

 truly, that a snake thought to have been rendered innocuous by the 

 deprivation of its fangs has bitten one of its masters and killed him, 

 thus proving the imposture. 



Still, neither of these explanations will entirely disprove the mastery 

 of man over a venomous serpent. In the first instance, it is surely as 

 l>pnlous an action to substitute a venomous serpent as to play with it. 

 Where was it hidden, why did it not bite the man instead of the fowl, 

 and how did the juggler prevent it from using its teeth while he was 

 conveying it away? And, in the second instance, the detection of an 

 impostor is by no means a proof that all who pretend to the same 



