WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
I gave him some good advice, and told him the danger 
to which he had exposed himself and his fellow passengers 
by train and omnibus. I explained to him the best 
method of catching and bringing to me the next one he 
found, but I never saw any more of him, so I am inclined 
to suppose he failed to capture the second cobra. 
I may add that the one I bought was a fine, strong, and 
poisonous beast, and lived several years in captivity. No 
doubt this animal had fed, while on board ship, upon the 
rats and mice it could easily find there. 
My friend Mr. Frank Buckland saw the snake and heard 
my story, and begged me to let him have the old ragged 
bag as a curiosity for his museum. 
SERPENT BITE. 
Previous to the death of the man Girling, who was killed 
many years since by the bite of a cobra in the Gardens, I 
had been in the habit of removing the broken fangs and 
attending to the diseased state of the mouths of poisonous 
serpents. In the Gardens serpents are frequently troubled 
by abscesses and tumours in the jaws, which are generally 
caused through injury. With the assistance of Girling I 
had no fear in handling them. It is, of course, dangerous 
work, and requires some skill and great care ; but after the 
inquest on Girling, Mr. Thomas Wakley, who was coroner 
at the time, made me promise not again to risk inj^ life 
by depending upon any assistant, in case he might 
behave like the man Girling, who in a drunken fit killed 
himself, or rather allowed the serpent to bite him. The 
occurrence is related on a previous page. I have 
endeavoured to keep my promise, and avoid handling 
these deadly creatures. 
Since that time I have frequently had occasion to 
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