SNAKE CHAKMING. 207 



strain was ended, wound its way off into the forest. We may as 

 well add that the time which is reported to have thus charmed was 

 no other than 'Patrick's Day,' whistled by a son of the sod." 



The fact that many spectators of the exhibitions of the snake 

 charmer failed to detect any deception does not prove that there 

 iras no deception. While the detection of imposition by others, 

 in simihir performances, would seem to argue the probable exis- 

 tence of it in the other cases. Even poisonous snakes can, by 

 kindness and ample food, undoubtedly be rendered sufficiently 

 tame to permit handlino:, and where charmers pretend to operate 

 OR strange serpents, it is suspected that the reptiles used are 

 really tam.e ones, surreptitiously introduced beforehand into the 

 places whence the charmer proposes to bring them forth by his 

 charms. One case is recorded where a strange snake happened 

 to be in the place so chosen ; he destroyed the tame snake, and, 

 on emerging, being mistaken by the charmer for his own snake, 

 struck his fangs into the man when he attempted his usual 

 jugglery with it, causing his speedy death. 



That dexterity and coolness enable men who, in eastern 

 countries, make a profession of capturing dangerous snakes, 

 which often intrude into dwellings, to capture these reptiles 

 seems unquestionable; but the familiarities described by travel- 

 ers, we believe to be attempted only with snakes which the 

 performer has tamed and trained, or else rendered harmless, for 

 the purpose. AVe will, however, give the opponents of this 

 theory a chance to be heard, and so present a splendid account, 

 which is given by an English officer in India, of the capture, 

 by one of their professional snake catchers, of a cobra which 

 had found its Vv^ay into the room of a sick fellow-officer, and 

 was discovered by the narrator on paying his friend a visit. 

 After the alarm had been given, the usual confusion outside the 

 door, and the various expedients proposed for expelling the un- 

 welcome '^ squatter,'*' the narrative goes on to describe the ar- 

 rival and doings of the snake catcher : 



" He came, a tall, muscular native, a slip of cloth around 

 the waist, his hair long and matted, except on the centre of his 

 head, which was shaved close in a circle, and a turban covering 

 it, bearing over his shoulders two baskets and a musical instru- 

 ment made out of a gourd, with a single bamboo pipe coming 

 from its upper end, and two smaller ones from its lower, like a 

 flute, whilst the breath is blown through the upper and single 

 one. Before he was allowed to enter the room ho was searched, 

 and his baskets and instruments taken from him. Nothing 

 could have been concealed, for his clothing was reduced to its 

 minimum, and he carried a short iron rod. 



