no 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
warning when it is perilous to approach his captive. 
The snake never bites while the hood is closed, and 
so long as this is not erected, it may be approached 
and handled with impunity. Even when the hood 
is spread, while the creature continues silent, there is 
no danger. Its fearful hiss is at once the signal of 
aggression and of peril. 
Though the cobra is so deadly when under ex- 
citement, it is nevertheless astonishing to see how 
readily it is appeased even in the highest state of 
exasperation, and this merely by the droning music 
with which its exhibitors seem to charm it. It ap- 
pears to be fascinated by the discordant sounds that 
issue from their pipes and tomtoms. 
I confess, for some time after my arrival in In- 
dia, I laboured under the general delusion that the 
fangs of these reptiles were always drawn by the 
persons who carried them about, and had often fear- 
lessly ventured within their spring with a feeling of 
entire security; I however took especial care never 
to approach a captive snake, after I discovered that 
it still retained its powers of destruction. The jug- 
glers, who gain a precarious subsistence by showing 
these creatures, will bring them in from the jungles 
by the neck, and an instance of their being bitten is 
scarcely ever heard of. They themselves appear not 
to have the slightest apprehension of danger, for it is 
not often that the snake, though so rudely seized, 
manifests any symptoms of irritation. 
We were induced to extend our halt near the Chauter 
Serai in consequence of a hunting party having ar- 
rived in the neighbourhood, which we gladly availed 
