27 o IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



no cure ; whether it bites in the foot or chest, 

 death comes all the same, only the one is quicker 

 than the other. Can there be any connection 

 between this story and that of Cleopatra and the 

 viper ? 



" Yes, Sahib, I can cure the bite of the cobra 

 and krait, in fact, of all serpents but the bingraj. 

 I can show the Sahib the medicines I use if he 

 will give me bucksheesh (a present). This is nag ka 

 thitka (gall of a cobra). If this is applied to the 

 bite at once there is no danger of death, although 

 the person bitten will have fainting fits and cold 

 sweats for a week ; but we give a little gall mixed 

 in milk to the person once a day, and he is cured. 

 I am proof against snake venom, as I take a little 

 snake poison every week, in a pill. I have taken 

 it for years. All our people take snake poison, 

 and we are not afraid of snakes. We dip a paddy- 

 straw into snake venom and wipe the straw on a 

 paste of hillul (a creeping plant that looks like 

 sarsaparilla), and this we swallow. We must take 

 this every week, or it will have no effect. I have 

 been bitten frequently on the back of my hands 

 by snakes that I keep. Yes, we draw the venom- 

 fangs, but they grow again in a fortnight or a 

 month. We can also take out the venom without 

 drawing the fangs. See, Sahib, if I press here, 

 in the snake's jaw, with this piece of stick, the 

 fangs are erected and the poison exudes at the 

 point of the fang. The fangs are hollow like a 

 pipe, and the poison comes out through this pipe 

 when the poison bags are squeezed. We sell the 



