CHAP. VI. THE COBRA DI CAPELLO. 197 



animals alone, it does not attack man,, if unprovoked ; 

 but then this provocation may be given in a hundred 

 ways, even unintentionally, and death may be the con- 

 sequence. Bartrum asserts that he had seen individuals 

 as thick as a man's thigh, and more than six feet long ; 

 and that they were found in Georgia of a much larger 

 size. So subtle is their venom, that the slightest prick 

 made by their poisonous fangs will kill almost the 

 largest animals. Laurenti says that, in the human 

 subject, the entire body is swelled, the tongue becomes 

 prodigiously inflamed, the mouth has a burning heat, 

 an excessive thirst is felt, the edges of the wounds be- 

 come gangrened, and at the end of five or six minutes 

 the victim dies in frightful agony. But there seems to 

 be much inaccuracy in this. From a more authentic 

 source than the last, we are told that the first symptom 

 which appears, about an hour after the bite, is excessive 

 vomiting, succeeded almost immediately by a strong 

 fever. " At the time," continues our author, " when 

 I saw the man who had been bitten, his leg and thigh 

 were prodigiously swelled, his respiration very laborious, 

 his physiognomy turgid, and resembling some hydro- 

 phobic patients whom I once had an opportunity of 

 seeing. I have known several persons who have been 

 thus bitten. Those who survived were constantly 

 valetudinarians, and extremely affected by the vari- 

 ations of the atmosphere." * 



(211.) The Cobra di Capetto ( fig. 60.) is one of the 

 most deadly serpents of India. When unintentionally 

 disturbed, it raises its head, dilates the hood on each 

 side of the neck, and advances against the aggressor by 

 the undulating motion of the tail. It rarely happens 

 that any one recovers, who has had the misfortune of 

 being bitten ; and Forbes observes that death generally 

 takes place in less than an hour. These reptiles are not 

 only frequently met with in the cultivated grounds and 

 plantations, but will creep into the houses, and insinuate 

 themselves among the furniture. Bishop Heber heard, 



* Michaux's Travels', vol. i. p. 512. 



o 3 



