. v- 



178 SNAKE CATCHERS. 



Cunjoors, or snake catchers, for nearly twelve 

 months, at four rupees each per month, to- v catch 

 snakes for me to try experiments with. The 

 result of those experiments I have unfortunately 

 lost, but I well remember that J. could find no 

 medicine to counteract entirely the effect of the 

 poison. I had dogs, cats, poultry, and other 

 animals bitten, and all the cases tended to prove 

 that the power of the animal to destroy vitality 

 became considerably weakened after every bite. 

 It required a tolerably large cobra de capello to 

 destroy a cat ; a second cat, bitten by tjie same 

 snake about half an hour afterwards, recovered. 

 I shall here remark that a cat withstood the poison 

 better than any other animal, excepting the 

 Mungoose (Ichneumon) ; the commonly re- 

 ceived opinion that the latter animal is never 

 killed by the poison, is certainly erroneous, and 

 that it repairs, when bitten, to the grass, and eats 

 of some particular herb, which acts as an antidote^f 

 is also imaginary. I have seen several Mungooses 

 die almost instantly after being bitten by snakes, 

 and have often observed them, after the bite, to 

 appear for a time sick, and tumble about in the 

 grass, without ever attempting to eat any ; per- 

 haps they may sometimes eat grass, but I am 

 confident it is not of any particular kind, and 



