SNAKE CHARMING. 



141 



The following narrative of Mr. H. E. Reyne, quoted by Sir J. E. Tennent in his 

 " Natural History of Ceylon," seems to be a sufficient proof that the man did possess 

 sufficient power to induce a truly poisonous Serpent to leave its hole and to perform cer- 

 tain antics at his command. " A Snake-charmer came to my bungalow in 1854, request- 

 ing me to allow him to show me his Snakes dancing. As I had frequently seen them, 

 I told him I would give him a rupee if he would accompany me to the jungle and catch 

 a Cobra that I knew frequented the place. 



He was willing, and as I was 

 anxious to test the truth of 

 the charm, I counted his tame 

 Snakes, and put a watch over 

 them until I returned with him. 

 Before going, I examined the 



.an, afd satisfied myself h I 

 had no Snake about his person. 

 When we arrived at the spot, he 

 played upon a small pipe, and 

 after persevering for some time, 

 out came a large Cobra from 

 an ant-hill which I knew it oc- 

 cupied. 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 im- 

 mediately bandaged the leg 

 above the bite, and applied a 

 Snakestone to the wound to ex- 

 tract 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. 



When he recovered, he held 

 up a cloth, at which the Snake 

 flew, and caught its fangs 

 in it. While in that posi- 

 tion, the man passed his hand 

 up its back, and, having seized 

 it by the throat, he extracted 

 the fangs in my presence and 

 gave them to me. He then 

 squeezed out the poison on to 

 a leaf. It was a clear oily sub- 

 stance, and when rubbed on the 

 hand, produced a fine lather. 

 I carefully watched the whole 



operation, which was also witnessed by my clerk and two or three other per- 

 sons." 



With regard to the so-called charming of Serpents, there is no need of imagining these 

 men to be possessed of any superhuman powers ; for these, and most of the venomous 

 Serpents, are peculiarly indolent, and averse to using the terrible weapons which they 

 wield ; in proof of which assertion, the reader may recollect that Mr. Waterton, though 

 not pretending to be a Snake-charmer, carried a number of rattlesnakes in his bare 

 hand without being bitten for his meddling. Not that I would positively assert that 



COBRA Dl CAPELLO. Ab/a trlpudiaas. 



