CHAPTER XIX 



THE POWER OF FASCINATION 



THE evident facility with which certain animals can 

 capture and kill others which are stronger, fleeter, and 

 to all appearance generally better equipped than them- 

 selves, has led to a belief that the latter fall victims to 

 a mysterious form of fascination. Serpents in parti- 

 cular, which have ever been objects of suspicion, are 

 popularly supposed to exercise some baleful influence 

 on their prey ; but actual instances of such fascination 

 have seldom been recorded by competent observers. 

 Recently, however, a correspondent in Natal witnessed 

 what seemed to be an instance of complete paralysis 

 by a snake, which he described as follows : 



"Our attention was first attracted by something 

 moving on the branch of a tree, about ten feet above 

 the ground. We then saw it was a Cape cobra, of the 

 deadly kind, standing erect with only the lowest coils 

 of its tail round the branch, with its hood expanded, 

 and swaying from side to side. On going nearer we 

 saw, what we had not noticed before, a pigeon, sitting 

 on the branch, about a yard from the snake. It was 

 perfectly motionless, not crouched on the bough, but 

 standing up, and made not the slightest attempt to 



fly away. We shot the snake, but neither the fall 



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