SNAKE CHARMING. 209 



The convulsive movement lasted ten seconds^ and then the bird 

 lay down as if completely comatose and powerless. In fifteen 

 ^conds it gave a sudden start and fell back quite dead. 



"As no deception could have been practised in this instance^ 

 1 was most anxious to see the reptile killed ; but the charmer 

 said he would not have it destroyed j that if it were injured 

 the power he had over snakes would be interfered with, and 

 the next one would no doubt bite and kill him. lie accounted 

 for his easy capture by saying this was a great holiday for the 

 snakes, and that they had been enjoying themselves. '• This 

 one/ said he, * is not living in this house. He has come from 

 bis home visiting, and has lost his way. On this account he 

 got down a wrong hole, and I was enabled to pull him out. 

 Nasty neighbors, and abominable visitors, these cobras! I 

 will take this snake home, and feed him and make him tame.' 



" However, we insisted upon having the animal made harm- 

 less, or comparatively so, and directed the man to remove the 

 fangs. This he agreed to do, and performed it in this manner — 

 a piece of wood was cut an inch square, and held by the charmer 

 to the head of the snake. The reptile seized it as he had done 

 the fowl, and with a dexterous twist of the hand, the most 

 primitive performance of dentistry was accomplished. The 

 four fangs sticking into the wood were extracted by the roots 

 and given to me. I have them now, and look upon them as 

 more suicidally pleasant than a pint of prussio acid or a cask 

 of white arsenic. 



" Another fowl was brought and attacked by the snake as 

 before, but without any effect ; it shook itself, rustled its feathers, 

 and walked away consequentially. It is alive still, unless some 

 enterprising culinary agent has converted it into curry or devil. 

 So it was proved beyond any doubt that an Indian snake 

 charmer was not a humbug and a swindler, as many suppose, 

 but a strong-minded, quick-eyed, active, courageous man. The 

 cool detei-mination and heroism of the charmer in the present 

 instance was rewarded by the sum of two rupees (two shillings, 

 sterling), and he left the compound with an extra snake in his 

 basket, thankful to the preservers of his children, as he styled 

 us, and to whom, he said, he owed his life and existence.'^ 



The snakes used in performances at circus or ** side shows "" 

 m this country are not poisonous, though their bite causes a 

 painful wound, which it is very diflScult to heal. The snakes 

 are fed to satiety, and the only thing necessary to constitute a 

 " snake charmer " of this kind is the overcoming of the natural 

 repugnance to these reptiles. What was exhibited as a won- 

 derful example of affection between a child and a snake some 



