194 BEASTS AND MEN 
though quite young; for, the poison fangs being the only 
weapons which these creatures possess in nature, they are 
wholly disabled by their removal, whereas the non-poisonous 
snakes are endowed with other weapons of defence, with 
which they can at any time give'a good account of themselves. 
Their bite is much more severe than that of the poisonous 
kinds, and by their habit of coiling round their enemy, a snake 
eighteen feet long can squeeze a strong man sufficiently to 
put his life in danger from suffocation. 
So-called snake tricks are very easily contrived. As a 
rule they consist of nothing more than letting the animal 
suddenly out of darkness into a strong light, when it will fly 
up in anger and appear to threaten its master. The display 
is then concluded by playing music, with which the snake 
seems to be calmed; for snakes, in common with all other 
animals, are very sensitive to the effects of music. I do not 
suggest that they would appreciate the Moonlight Sonata as 
much as they would a rabbit, but nevertheless it is undeni- 
able that they derive real pleasure from listening to music. 
As we are now on the subject of venomous snakes I may 
take the opportunity of relating a method by which the poison 
may be extracted from these animals. I learnt the method 
from a learned Indian, by name Mr. Docton, who was em- 
ployed at the time in the Zoological Gardens at Bombay. 
From a cage of venomous snakes he took out the animals 
one by one with the aid of an iron bar twisted at the end into 
a hook. When this hook was placed round the snake’s body 
the animal could be lifted up by means of it; for the cobra, 
which is the common venomous snake of India, and of which 
I am here writing, does not possess the power which other 
snakes possess of twisting round a smooth rod, but just hangs 
loosely from the hook. Having lifted it out of the cage, Mr. 
Docton laid it on the ground, at the same time pinning it 
down with a forked stick by the nape of the neck. The 
poison is now extracted by the following method: An as- 
sistant brings a mussel shell, of which the concave side is 
