the late Dr. Bromfield. 



6401 



others provided by the owner of the house, and, what is yet more con- 

 vincing, have frequently been compelled to divest themselves of all 

 covering before entering the room they engaged to clear. It is usual 

 to object that, in these extreme trials, the serpents were introduced 

 upon the premises the night previous to the experiment, by persons 

 who usually accompany the chief performers ; but it is not easy to 

 conceive how, without some secret mode of enticing them from their 

 lurking- pi aces, serpents so introduced could be found and captured at 

 the precise moment when it was desired to do so, as the nature of this 

 class of reptiles is to ramble about in holes and obscure retreats, and 

 to withdraw from the eye of man, rather than, like the lizard tribe, to 

 frequent open, sunny situations where they are much exposed to view. 

 Supposing the serpents to be introduced at the time of exorcising by 

 the performers' attendants (which could not be done in the room in 

 which the charmer himself exhibits, as he always enters alone, and 

 under such rigid examination, when every precaution is taken to pre- 

 vent deception, he would not be allowed to have a companion), how, 

 I say, could the reptiles be prevented from making their escape 

 amongst the rafters or in the holes about the apartment, whicli instinct 

 would assuredly teach them to do, rather than come and present them- 

 selves to view, unless impelled to show themselves by some influence 

 like that by which they are apparently induced to come forth from 

 their retreats at the word of the enchanter ? Were the art of serpent- 

 charming a mere juggling deception, how could it for so many ages 

 have been exercised as a profitable employment by a particular tribe ? 

 it being, in fact, customary in Cairo to send to the serpent-charmer 

 when a house is much infested with serpents, just as we should 

 require the services of a rat-catcher to rid our premises of those de- 

 structive animals. The extreme antiquity of serpent-charming is much 

 in favour of its honesty as an art, and, were it once ascertained that 

 conveying serpents to the premises to be cleared was a general or even 

 frequent practice, the poor and generally covetous and parsimonious 

 Cairenes would not give a para to have their houses stocked with 

 noxious reptiles under the pretence of being rid of them. I certainly 

 did not witness the exhibition under any of the above-mentioned cir- 

 cumstances of rigid scrutiny, but the men were taken from the street 

 to Dr. Abott's house, without a moment's previous intimation as to 

 whither they were about to be conducted. One or two circumstances 

 respecting the kind of serpent brought forth, and the weak, torpid con- 

 dition of the whole six, throw a shadow of suspicion on the matter, but 

 I am not prepared to object too strongly against either of these points : 

 XVIT. N 



