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Serpents.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-CoLDBRiNE Serpents. 



THE ASPIC {Naja haje). — This is the serpent so 

 celebrated among the anuients under the name of 

 Aspic. It is nearly of the same size as the Cobra de 

 Capello, and besides resembles it very much in general 

 appearance. The colours are somewhat different ; the 

 spectacles-mark is generally absent, and the neck is 

 less expansible ; the muzzle is more conical, and the 

 plates or scales belonging to the lips differ in structure. 



The Aspic owes much of its I'^uropean reputation 

 to the belief that it was this serpent which produced 

 the death of the celebrated Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. 

 The story, as told by almost all historians, is well 

 known. Abandoned by fortune, who had so long 

 smiled upon her, she commanded a reptile of this 

 species to be brought to her, concealed in a basket of 

 flowers and fruit. Placing tlie serpent in her bosom, 

 she caused it to bite her, and thus put a period to 

 her existence. Amongst the monumental and hie- 

 roglyphical paintings of the ancient Egyptians, the 

 portrait of the Aspic is seen in great abundance. 

 Engraved upon the portals of a great number of 

 ancient temples, it testifies the veneration of which their 

 superstition has made it the object. The figure of 

 this serpent may be still .seen printed in colours on the 

 covers of their sarcophagi, and its effigy cast in bronze 

 was used in the form of bracelets and other ornaments. 

 One of their chief deities was represented, in symbolical 

 writings, under the form of a serpent twisted rouud«a 

 globe, or placed in the centre of a disc ; and the figure 

 of this serpent surmounting the royal crown, or attached 

 round the arm, was the distinctive ornament of the 

 high priestess. Iii fact, the ancient Egyptians revered 

 the Haje, as it was called by them, as the emblem of 

 the protecting divinity of the world, and the fivithful 

 guardian of their fields. This opinion appeared to take 

 its origin from a remarkable habit this serpcni has. As 

 soon as it perceives any person approaching it, the 

 Hajd raises its head, evidently watching for its own 

 safety, and taking care not to be surprised without 

 being ready for its defence. Misinterpreting this move- 

 ment, the superstitious Egyptians gave it the character 

 of benevolence to man and a certain amount of wisdom, 

 as if it were really watching the fields it inhabits. We 

 are indebted to the celebrated expedition of the French 

 into Egypt under Napoleon, and to tlie naturalists 

 attached to it, for a knowledge of the fact that tliis 

 serpent was the true Aspic of the ancients. This 

 classic reptile had been by many referred to the species 

 of viper called the Asp, and which was known to 

 inhabit the forest of Fontainebleau, Vipera Aspis. By 

 Bruce and others it was considered to be the Horned 

 Viper, or Cerastes ; while the traveller Forskahl main- 

 tained that it was the Libetina, Ec/iis arenicola. The 

 French savans, however, during the expedition referred 

 to, and still more recent travellers, have proved that 

 the serpent known to the natives of Egypt by the name 

 of Haj(3 was the true Aspic of Cleopatra. It is spread, 

 according to M. Isidore St. Hilaire, who has given an 

 excellent account of the species in the great work on 

 Egypt, in considerable abundance over that country. 

 It lives, he says, sometimes in the ditches, but more 

 frequently in the cultivated fields. The labourers are 

 thus frequently exposed to encounter it ; but although 



they are not ignorant of the danger of its bite, its pre- 

 sence near them seldom compels them to leave off thuir 

 ordinary work. Understanding the habits of this for- 

 midable reptile, they know well that they have no rea- 

 son to fear an attack, unless they are iiu prudent enough 

 to go too near it. They know that as long as they kee]) 

 at a respectable distance from it,. the Haje will content 

 itself with keeping its eyes upon them, and raising aloft 

 its head in an attitude of attention. When irritated, 

 however, it swells out its neck, raises its body, and 

 springs whh a single bound upon its enemy. The 

 poison is very virulent, as many sad accidents have 

 proved, and Forskahl found, in making experiments 

 with the venom, that the bite was always fatal. In one 

 instance, the smallest quantity introduced into an inci- 

 sion made in the thigh of a pigeon sufficed to produce 

 immediately profuse vomiting, violent convulsions, and 

 finally death at the end of a quarter of an hour. Many 

 singular opinions of the effects of the poison produced 

 upon human beings were entertained by the ancients. 

 They believed, for instance, that though inevitably 

 mortal, it produced no pain, and merely occasioned a 

 gradual loss of strength, which was followed by a quiet 

 and lethargic sleep that " knows no waking." Galen 

 tells us that in Alexandria, to shorten the punishment 

 of criminals condemned to death, they were bitten in 

 the breast by an Aspic, of which he declares himself to 

 have been an eye-witness, and that it was with much 

 difficulty the traces of the wound could be discovered. 

 A variety of the Hajd is found in South Africa, and 

 has been well described by Sir Andrew Smith, who 

 observes, that he could not detect any specific differ- 

 ences between it and the common Egyptian species. 

 This opinion is confirmed by Schlegel, who, after a 

 comparison of many specimens from both South and 

 North Africa, declares them to be mere varieties of the 

 same. The colour of the South African variety is 

 generally either entirely yellow or purplish brown, or 

 they have the two tints existing distinctly, more or 

 less, in the same individual. These serpents are 

 known by the name of the Yellow snake and the Broun 

 snake ; and another variety is called by the colonists 

 the Spmif/h-slang, or Spitting-snake. This appellation 

 is bestowed upon it from a belief that it possesses the 

 power of ejecting its poison to a considerable distance. 

 In the course of this work we have several times had 

 occasion to refer to the practices, with various reptiles, 

 of the jugglers of Egypt. Of all the reptiles used by 

 these men, this Haje is the one wliieh they know how 

 to turn to most account. After having taken out the 

 venomous fangs, they tame it, and teach it a great 

 number of tricks more or less singular, and produce 

 efteots with it which astonish the ignorant people of 

 Egypt, and which, as M. Isidore St. Hilaire says, 

 " would without doubt astonish still more the savans 

 of Europe." One of their cleverest tricks is, as they 

 profess, to change the serpent into a stick, and oblige 

 it to counterfeit death. The celebrated French natu- 

 ralist quoted above informs us, that when the jugglers 

 wish to produce this eftect they spit into its throat, 

 force it to close its mouth, and lie down on the ground. 

 Then, as if to give it the final command, they press 

 their hand on the nape of its neck, and immediately 



