6400 Extracts from the Letters of 



excellent swimmer. Thousands may be seen on the banks and shallows 

 of the Nile, during the heat of the day, luxuriously reposing, with only 

 their heads, or even the tips of their hippopotamus-like noses visible 

 above water : the stream that is continually passing over them brings 

 renewed coolness with it : at times one envies them their position. — 

 p. 176. 



Serpent Charms witnessed and vindicated. — Just before quitting 

 Cairo, on the 10th of July, I had an opportunity of witnessing the 

 performance of the serpent-charmers who profess to clear the houses 

 of the city of the reptiles of that order, with which they are all more 

 or less infested. Dr. Abbot kindly allowed me to bring the men to 

 his house, in which they captured six snakes of a harmless description 

 in less than half-an-hour, which number included no less than three 

 different species. These snake-charmers belong in general to a parti- 

 cular tribe of Arabs, who boast of having possessed their mysterious 

 faculty for an indefinitely long period. The chief actor in this case 

 was a fine-looking man, with a handsome and intelligent, but peculiar 

 cast of countenance. He carried a stick in his hand, with which, on 

 entering each apartment, he struck the walls several times, uttering, in 

 a low measured tone, a form of exorcism in Arabic ; adjuring and 

 commanding the serpent — which he declared, immediately on the door 

 being thrown open, was lurking in the walls or ceiling — to come forth. 

 Presently, the reptile would be seen emerging from some hole or 

 corner, with which every room, even in the better class of Egyptian 

 houses, abounds ; on which the enchanter would draw the unwilling 

 serpent towards him with the point of the stick, and when within reach 

 put it in the bag he carried about with him for that purpose. It is 

 said that the charmer conceals one or more serpents in his ample sleeves 

 and these he contrives to let loose in the apartment during his 

 evolutions with the stick ; such may very possibly be the case, seeing 

 that in ordinary juggling tricks the quickest eye may be deceived by 

 the dexterity and rapidity of the performer's movements. I can only 

 declare that I was myself utterly unable to detect such a manoeuvre as 

 that on which the operation of charming these reptiles is said to be 

 founded ; for although the charmer did not allow the spectator to be 

 actually in the room during the exorcism, he permitted persons to stand 

 close behind him, whilst at the same time the door of the apartment 

 was thrown wide open. Besides I have been assured by persons of the 

 highest credit, that they have witnessed the feats of the serpent- 

 charmers after their garments had been thoroughly searched for con- 

 cealed serpents ; that they have been made to change their clothes for 



