212 PROFESSOR OWEN ch. vn. 



some serpent-charming he had witnessed in Cairo. 

 He was convinced that the ' charmers ' were frauds 

 after an examination of their methods : — 



' The charmer came to appointment, accom- 

 panied by a boy with a bag, said to be for the 

 snakes that were to be captured. 



' The houses were of the low tumble-down 

 character common in those suburbs ; most of 

 them detached, in patches of slovenly-cultivated 

 ground. 



' I suggested that the charmer should have his 

 garments searched before entering ; but he re- 

 fused, and even resisted the temptation of half a 

 sovereign extra — a large sum in piastres — which 

 I thought suspicious. The outer garment of the 

 villainous-looking old sheik was the long, loose 

 frock of a coarse blue-cotton stuff, called " gala- 

 bieh," with large baggy sleeves, or what looked 

 like sleeves from the mode of its adjustment. A 

 conjuror could have concealed the major part of 

 his property in its ample folds. 



' He entered a house, followed by his boy 

 and ourselves. The sheik, on entering, stepped 

 forward, mysteriously glancing to the right and 

 left, muttering and occasionally whistling, and 

 passing from room to room, closely followed and 

 watched by us ; he, however, left that house, 

 intimating that it was free from snakes. 



4 In the next house — and whenever any inha- 

 bitant was visible, the charmer was reverently wel- 



