108 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
his sudden excitement, I cast my eyes on the ground 
in the direction towards which he pointed, and to my 
consternation saw a large cobra snake actually gliding 
between my feet with the most quiet deliberation. 
For a moment I felt paralysed. In fact, I was too 
much alarmed to stir ; but in the course of a few 
seconds the reptile passed harmlessly on its way, and 
escaped into the thicket. Had I been more collected, 
I probably should have fired at it ; but my energies 
were so completely overcome at the moment, that 
this never once occurred to my mind, though as soon 
as the snake was out of sight, I confess I did enter- 
tain the somewhat ungenerous regret that I had not 
destroyed it. I was however no longer disposed to 
continue my search after game, but returned to the 
serai, where I felt not the slightest disposition to 
demur at seeing a chicken served up for dinner instead 
of a roasted partridge or peacock. 
It is generally imagined, and by persons too who 
have been some time resident in India, that the Cobra 
di Capello exhibited by the jugglers in this country, 
is perfectly harmless, in consequence of its fangs being 
extracted by these practised adepts in the art of leger- 
demain ; but this is altogether a mistake. The fangs 
are positively not extracted, and the creature is pre- 
sented to the spectator possessing all its natural powers 
of mischief unimpaired. The bite from a snake shown 
by any of these itinerant conjurors would as certainly 
prove fatal as from one encountered in the jungle. 
This will, perhaps, appear strange to those who have 
heard of these reptiles being constantly shown in 
the houses of the curious, and more especially when 
