REWARDS FOR DESTRUCTION 107 



not think of the venom as a material substance 

 situated in the mouth. It is an effluence from the 

 entire animal, which may be projected at a man in 

 various ways, by biting him, or spitting at him, 

 or giving him a flick with the tail. 



The Government of India spends a large sum of 

 money every year in rewards for the destruction of 

 snakes. This is one of those sacrifices to sentiment 

 which every prudent government offers. The senti- 

 ment to which respect is paid in this case is of course 

 British, not Indian. Indian sentiment is propitiated 

 by not levying any tax on dogs, so the pariah cur, 

 owned and disowned, in all stages of starvation, 

 mange and disease, infests every town and village, 

 lying in wait for the bacillus of rabies. Against 

 the one fatal case of snake-bite mentioned above, I 

 have known of at least half a dozen deaths among 

 Englishmen from the more horrible scourge of hydro- 

 phobia. In the steamer which brought me home 

 there were two private soldiers on their way to M. 

 Pasteur, at the expense, of course, of the British 

 Government. 



