212 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. VII. 
some serpent-charming he had witnessed in Cairo. 
He was convinced that the ‘ charmers ’ were frauds 
after an examination of their methods : — 
‘ The charmer came to appointment, accom- 
panied by a boy with a bag, said to be for the 
snakes that were to be captured. 
‘ The houses were of the low tumble-down 
character common in those suburbs ; most of 
them detached, in patches of slovenly-cultivated 
ground. 
‘ I suggested that the charmer should have his 
garments searched before entering ; but he re- 
fused, and even resisted the temptation of half a 
sovereign extra — a large sum in piastres — which 
I thought suspicious. The outer garment of the 
villainous-looking old sheik was the long, loose 
frock of a coarse blue-cotton stuff, called “ gala- 
bieh,” with large baggy sleeves, or what looked 
like sleeves from the mode of its adjustment. A 
conjuror could have concealed the major part of 
his property in its ample folds. 
‘ He entered a house, followed by his boy 
and ourselves. The sheik, on entering, stepped 
forward, mysteriously glancing to the right and 
left, muttering and occasionally whistling, and 
passing from room to room, closely followed and 
watched by us ; he, however, left that house, 
intimating that it was free from snakes. 
‘ In the next house — and whenever any inha- 
bitant was visible, the charmer was reverently wel- 
