SNAKE-CHAEMING. 265- 



precautions to ensure that the snake-charmer had no tamed 

 snakes concealed about his person, Mr. Eeyne proceeds 

 to tell how he made the man accompany him to the jungle, 

 where, attracted by the music of a pipe which the man 

 played, a large cobra came from an ant-hill which Mr. 

 Eeyne knew it to occupy : — 



On seeing the man it tried to escape, but he caught it by 

 the tail and kept swinging it round until we reached the 

 bungalow. He then made it dance, but before long it bit him 

 above the knee. He immediately bandaged the leg above the 

 bite and applied a snake-stone to the wound to extract the 

 poison. He was in great pain for a few minutes, but after that 

 it gradually went away, the stone falling off just before he was 

 relieved.^ 



Thus the only remarkable thing about the charming of 

 a freshly caught snake seems to be that the charmer is 

 able to make the animal ' dance ' — for the fact of the 

 snake approaching the unfamiliar sound of music is not in 

 itself any more remarkable than a fish approaching the 

 unfamiliar sight of a lantern. It does not, however, ap- 

 pear that this dancing is anything more than some series 

 of gestures or movements which may be merely the expres- 

 sions, more or less natural, of uneasiness or alarm. Any- 

 thing else that charmed snakes may do is probably the 

 result of training ; for there is no doubt that cobras admit 

 of being tamed, and even domesticated. Thus, for instance. 

 Major Skinner, writing to Sir E. Tennent, says : — 



In one family near Negombo, cobras are kept as protectors, 

 in the place of dogs, by a wealthy man who has always large 

 sums of money in his house. But this is not a solitary case of 

 the kind. . . . The snakes glide about the house, a terror to 

 the thieves, but never attempting to harm the inmates.^ 



Thus, on the whole, we may accept Dr. Davey's opinion 

 — who had good opportunities for observation — that the 

 snake-charmers control the cobras by working upon the 

 well-known timidity and reluctance of these animals ta 

 use their fangs till they become virtually tame. 



» Natural History of Ceylon, p. 314. 

 2 Tennent, loc. clt., p. 299 



