14G THE HAJE, OK SPUUGH-SLANGE. 



that they hold dominion over the Serpent tribe. It has already been mentioned that the 

 native who produced the Snake-stones, employed a small piece of wood as a charm to 

 render the Snake harmless while he handled it. Mr. Lavalliere, in the course of his 

 narration, remarks that the man who was bitten proceeded to bandage his leg above the 

 wound, and to stroke it downwards with a piece of some root. I have also inspected the 

 identical substances used in the two cases just narrated, and have come to the conclusion 

 that no virtue resides in the particular plant from which the charm is taken, but the whole 

 of its value lies in the confidence with which the possessor is inspired. 



There are three specimens of charmed woods, all belonging to different plants. One 

 is apparently a part of an aristolochia, another is so small and shrivelled that it cannot 

 be identified, while the third, on being cut and tasted, proves to be nothing more or less 

 than a piece of common ginger. This fact serves to establish the theory of Mr. Waterton, 

 that there is no particular secret in Snake-charming, except the possession of confidence 

 and unhesitating resolution. 



ONE notable peculiarity in the Cobra is the expansion of the neck, popularly called the 

 hood. This phenomenon is attributable, not only to the skin and muscles, but to the skeleton. 

 About twenty pairs of the ribs of the neck and fore part of the back are flat instead of 

 curved, and increase gradually from the head to the eleventh or twelfth pair, from which they 

 decrease until they are merged into the ordinary curved ribs of the body. When the Snake 

 is excited, it brings these ribs forward so as to spread the skin, and then displays the oval 

 hood to best advantage. In this species, the back of the hood is ornamented with two 

 large eye-like spots, united by a curved black stripe, so formed that the whole mark bears 

 a singular resemblance to a pair of spectacles. 



The native Indians have a curious legend respecting the origin of this mark, and their 

 reverence for the reptile. One day when Buddha was lying asleep in the sun, a Cobra 

 came and raised its body between him and the burning beams, spreading its hood so as to 

 shade his face. Th grateful deity promised to repay the favour, but forgot to do so. In 

 those days the Brahminny kite used to prey largely on the Cobras, and worked such 

 devastation among them, that the individual who had done Buddha the forgotten service 

 ventured to remind him of his promise, and to beg relief from the attacks of the kite. 

 Buddha immediately granted the request by placing the spectacles on the Snake's hood, 

 thereby frightening the kite so much that it has never since ventured to attack a Cobra. 



It is rather curious that many persons fancy that the Cobra loses a joint of its tail 

 every time that it sheds its poison, this belief being exactly opposite to the popular notion 

 that the rattlesnake gains a new joint to its rattle for every being which it has killed. 



The colour of this Serpent is singularly uncertain, and the British Museum possesses 

 several specimens of each variety. In some cases the body is brownish olive, and the 

 spectacles are white, edged with black. Another variety is also brownish olive, but covered 

 with irregular cross-bands of black. The spectacles are remarkably bold, white, edged with 

 black. Other specimens are olive, marbled richly with brown below. The spectacles are 

 like those of the last variety. Sometimes a few specimens are found of a uniform 

 brownish olive without any spectacles ; others are black with white spectacles, and others, 

 again, black without spectacles. Even the number of rows in which the scales are 

 disposed is as variable as the colour. The specimens without spectacles seem to .come 

 from Borneo, Java, the Philippines, and other islands. The length of the Cobra di Capello 

 is usually between three and four feet. 



The AFKICAN COBRA or HAJE is equally poisonous with its Asiatic relative. It is 

 sometimes called SPUUGH-SLANGE, or Spitting-Snake, on account of its power of projecting 

 the poisonous secretion to a distance. It effects this object by a sudden and violent 

 expiration of the breath, and, if aided by the wind, will strike an object at the distance of 

 several feet. Gordon Gumming mentions an instance of his suffering from the poison of 

 this Serpent. " A horrid Snake, which Kleinberg had tried to kill with his loading-rod, 

 flew up at my eye and spat poison in it. I endured great pain all night ; the next day the 

 eye came all right again." This short narrative was much ridiculed when the work first 



