46 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OP ANIMALS. CHAP. II. 



nothing of the kind has yet been observed among quad- 

 rupeds. 



(56.) The effect of music upon snakes has been 

 attested in modern times by the author of the Oriental 

 Field Sports, who observes, that, " when snakes are 

 known to infest particular places, the cunjoors, or snake- 

 catchers, are called in. These people, by smelling at 

 the different burrows, at once discover which are in- 

 habited. Taking care to keep out of sight, they play 

 on an instrument not unlike a hautboy ; and having 

 scattered some scents on the floor, the snake soon comes 

 forth : another of the party, watching his opportunity, 

 seizes the delighted reptile by the tail, and rapidly 

 slipping the other hand up to its neck, holds it firm . 

 the musician then puts away his pipe, and, taking a 

 pair of pliers, soon disarms the reptile of its poisonous 

 fangs. Thus even the formidable Cobra di Capella be- 

 comes changed from a dreaded enemy into an innocent 

 instrument of display, and is taught to obey the com- 

 mands of its dexterous captor." 



(57-) That there is a peculiar sort of fascination in 

 the eyes of snakes, which not merely affects animals, 

 but man, may be gathered, incidentally, from various 

 authors. Among these, we may cite the following pas- 

 sage from Stedman : " One morning, awakening by 

 daybreak in my hammock, the first thing that I saw, 

 on looking up, was a snake, about two yards long, hang- 

 ing with its head downwards, like a rope, and straight 

 above my face, from which he was not one foot distant, 

 while his tail was twisted round the rafters under 

 the thatch. Observing his eyes bright as stars, and his 

 forked tongue in agitation, I was so distressed, that I 

 scarcely had power to avoid him ; which, however, I 

 did, by running out. After this, I heard a rustling in 

 the dry thatch, where the negroes attempted to kill him, 

 but in vain, he having escaped."* The same writer 

 gives another instance of this power in the rattlesnake : he 

 says, " Mr. Francis Rowe, of Philadelphia, informed 

 me, that, riding out one morning to visit a friend, his 



* Voyage to Surinam, voL i. p. 37*. 



