146 



THE HAJE, OR 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 con- 

 clusion 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. Water- 

 ton, 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. The grateful deity promised to repay the favor, but forgot to do 

 so. In those days the Brahminny kite used to prey largely on the Cobras, and worked 

 such devastation among them, thatthe 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 color 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 spec- 

 tacles, and others, again, black without spectacles. Even the number of rows in which 

 the scales are disposed is as variable as the color. 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 AFRICAN 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 pro- 

 jecting 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 dis- 

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

 poison of this Serpent. " A horrid Snake, which Kleinberghad tried to kill with his load- 

 ing-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 



