CATCHERS. 207 



at the sound of their music, you may be 

 certain that it is a tame one,, trained to it, 

 deprived of its venomous teeth, and put there 

 for the purpose ; and this you may prove, as 

 I have often done, by killing- the snake, and 

 examining it, by which you will exasperate 

 the men exceedingly. 



It is however, astonishing with what dex- 

 terity they hide them about their persons, 

 with very little clothes on ; and it is amusing 

 to see the manner in which they draw the 

 attention of the spectators by their grimaces 

 and volubility of tongue, whilst they secretly 

 deposit the, snake in a hole, or under wood. 

 It is almost incredible, and I have known 

 several sensible men positively insist that 

 it could not be. I witnessed myself a cir- 

 cumstance which proved it. 



As some Gentlemen were sitting with me 

 in a bungalow at Calwar ghaut, smoking our 

 hookahs behind a check [serene,] we obser- 

 ved a man tumbling over some logs of wood 



