SNAKE-CHAKMING. 
265 
precautions to ensure that the snake-charmer had no tamed 
snakes concealed about his person, Mr. Reyne proceeds 
to tell how he made the man accompany him to the jungle, 
where, attracted by the music of a pipe which the man 
played, a large cobra came from an ant-hill which Mr. 
Reyne knew it to occupy : — 
On seeing the man it tried to escape, hut he caught it by 
the tail and kept swinging it round until we reached the 
bungalow. He then made it dance, but before long it bit him 
above the knee. He immediately bandaged the leg above the 
bite and applied a snake-stone to the wound to extract the 
poison. He was in great pain for a few minutes, but after that 
it gradually went away, the stone falling off just before he was 
relieved . 1 
Thus the only remarkable thing about the charming of 
a freshly caught snake seems to be that the charmer is 
able to make the animal ‘ dance ’ — for the fact of the 
snake approaching the unfamiliar sound of music is not in 
itself any more remarkable than a fish approaching the 
unfamiliar sight of a lantern. It does not, however, ap- 
pear that this dancing is anything more than some series 
of gestures or movements which may be merely the expres- 
sions, more or less natural, of uneasiness or alarm. Any- 
thing else that charmed snakes may do is probably the 
result of training ; for there is no doubt that cobras admit 
of being tamed, and even domesticated. Thus, for instance, 
Major Skinner, writing to Sir E. Tennent, says : — 
In one family near Negombo, cobras are kept as protectors, 
in the place of dogs, by a wealthy man who has always large 
sums of money in his house. But this is not a solitary case of 
the kind. . . . The snakes glide about the house, a terror to 
the thieves, but never attempting to harm the inmates . 2 
Thus, on the whole, we may accept Dr. Davey’s opinion 
- who had good opportunities for observation — that the 
snake-charmers control the cobras by working upon the 
well-known timidity and reluctance of these animals to 
use their fangs till they become virtually tame. 
1 Natural History of Ceylon p, 314. 
8 Tennent, loo. cit p. 299. 
