H2 THE INDIAN SNAKE-CHARMER 



consists in making a miniature mango tree grow 

 up in a few minutes, and even blossom and bear 

 fruit, out of some bare spot which he has covered 

 with his mysterious basket. It has been written 

 about by travellers in extravagant terms of astonish- 

 ment and admiration, but, as generally performed, 

 is an extremely clumsy-looking trick, though it is 

 undoubtedly difficult to guess how it is done. A 

 more blood-curdling feat is to put the unclothed 

 and precocious imp aforementioned under a large 

 basket, and then run a sword savagely through and 

 through every corner of it, and draw it out covered 

 with gore. When the sickened spectators are about 

 to lynch the murderer, the imp runs in smiling from 

 the garden gate. 



The connection between these performances and 

 the man's second trade, namely, snake-charming, is 

 not obvious to a Western mind ; but it must be 

 remembered that the snake-charmer is not a mere, 

 vulgar juggler, amusing people with sleight-of-hand. 

 His feats are miracles, performed with the assistance 

 of superior powers. In short, he is a theosophist, 

 only his converse is not with excorporated Mahatmas 

 from Thibet, but with spirits of another grade, 

 whose Superior has been known from very remote 

 antiquity as an Old Serpent. In deference to this 

 respectable connection the cobra holds a distin- 

 guished place even in orthodox Hinduism. So it 

 is altogether fit that a performer of wonders should 

 be on intimate terms with the serpent tribe. The 



