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of native gentlemen, when the conversation turned upen the nature of 
antidotes in the case of Snake-bites, the belief as to the cure effected by 
applying to the wound the head of the identical reptile that had in- 
flicted it, the charms powerful to compel the Snake to appear, —as to 
all which matters I have never been able to obtain, amid many tales, 
any relator daring enough to declare himself an eye-witness of the 
marvels he recounted. At last, mention being made of the King- 
snake, a party present said—‘ At any rate I can assure you of the 
existence of him, for it is well known that I have seen,” and the story, to 
the following effect, was then told. The narrator, being at that time, 
he said, about fourteen years old, had run hastily to the terraced roof 
of a ground-floor house to recover his kite, when his attention was 
attracted by a large Goomna (Cobra capello) which, without perceiving 
him, raised itself with dilated hood in the erect attitude common with 
those Snakes, and uttered aloud cry. Immediately some ten or twelve 
Snakes appeared from different quarters, and assembled before their 
king, when, after a short time, he pounced upon and devoured one of 
the smaller ones, with which arbitrary assertion of regal power the con- 
vocation terminated. Now the narrator of this tale had no interest 
in attempting to mislead me ; he had mentioned what he stated again 
and again to the majority of persons present for years before I ever saw 
him, and he is naturally of intelligence, and in no sort the man to tell a 
useless falsehood. It is, I was then informed, by these sort of assem- 
blages that the King-snake asserts his power, and that his subjects 
are called to them for the purpose of bringing tribute, in the shape of 
dainties for the royal palate; should, however, no tributary Frog 
or Cat, or bird be forthcoming, or should even the offering produced 
be insufficient, one of the luckless ophids pays in person the penalty 
of the omission, even as had been witnessed by my informant. I 
ventured with respect to his story to object, in as delicate a way as 
I could, to the incident of the cry uttered by the King-snake, but 
in this I was immediately over-ridden. The cry of the large Goomna 
was well known in the ruinous city where we were, and in which 
they abound, and it was described to me as a strident sound, the 
attempted imitation of which resembled the acute staccato note of 
a treble hautboy. I heard this sound myself subsequently during a 
sleepless night, emitted by a large Snake which killed a Rat in my 
bed-room : as it was pitch dark, I was unable to rise and destroy the 
intruder, but the sound was too peculiar not to have been that of the 
ophid, according as it did with the description given me, and being 
unlike anything I ever heard before, as also contrasting distinctly 
and remarkably with the cries of its victim. I have noted down 
these trivial, but not incurious matters, as an inducement to the 
record of more valuable facts as to the opinions held by natives upon 
the habits of animals, whence perhaps some really useful information 
may be elicited. 
Note by Mr. Buiytu. 
The Snake which I have had invariably pointed out to me as the 
Raj Samp by natives of Bengal, is Bungarus annularis, which 
