CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 141 



wards discounted when it was discovered that 

 the snakes had been rendered perfectly harm- 

 less by the simple process of drawing or filing 

 their fangs. It happens now and again, how- 

 ever, that a snake-charmer, performing with 

 the genuine article, is bitten, and then he just 

 dies like any other mortal. The question of 

 the extent to which even the most dangerous 

 snakes will attack a man without provocation 

 is a matter of opinion, and travellers are by no 

 means agreed on the subject. As was said 

 above, it is the silent, bare-footed natives who 

 run the greatest risk, and the cobra bites (it 

 bites, and does not sting) less from any desire 

 to kill than for fear of having its escape cut 

 off. At the same time, Major Talbot writes 

 that he once saw a hamadryad, a large Indian 

 cobra that feeds only on other snakes, chase a 

 man, who had done nothing to provoke its 

 anger, and follow him for some distance. 

 Why, unless, perhaps, it had its young ones to 

 defend, a snake of such tastes should want to 

 hunt a man is a mystery. 



Crocodiles are plentiful in most parts of 

 India, and in some districts they are held 

 sacred by the natives. One kind, known as 

 the gharial, has a long and slender beak, and 

 it is generally described in print as feeding 

 only on fish, and being incapable of eating 

 a human being. This sort of general descrip- 



