66 Serpents. REPTILES. Colubrine Serpents. 
THE ASPIC (Nuja haje). — This is the serpent so 
celebrated among the ancients under the name of 
Aspic. It is nearly of the same size as the Cobra de 
Capello, and besides resembles it very much in general 
appearance. The colours are somewhat different ; the 
spectacles-mark is generally absent, and the neck is 
less expansible ; the muzzle is more conical, and the 
plates or scales belonging to the lips differ in structure. 
The Aspic owes much of its European reputation 
to the belief that it was this serpent which produced 
the death of the celebrated Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. 
The story, as told by almost all historians, is well 
known. Abandoned by fortune, who had so long 
smiled upon her, she commanded a reptile of this 
species to be brought to her, concealed in a basket of 
flowers and fruit. Placing the serpent in her bosom, 
she caused it to bite her, and thus put a period to 
her existence. Amongst the monumental and hie- 
roglyphical paintings of the ancient Egyptians, the 
portrait of the Aspic is seen in great abundance. 
Engraved upon the portals of a great number of 
ancient temples, it testifies the veneration of which their 
superstition has made it the object. The figure of 
this serpent may be still seen printed in colours on the 
covers of their sarcophagi, and its efiigy cast in bronze 
was used in the form of bracelets and other ornaments. 
One of their chief deities was represented, in symbolical 
writings, under the form of a serpent twisted round a 
globe, or placed in the centre of a disc ; and the figure 
of this serpent surmounting the royal crown, or attached 
round the arm, was the distinctive ornament of the 
high priestess. In fact, the ancient Egyptians revered 
the Haje, as it was called by them, as the emblem of 
the protecting divinity of the world, and the faithful 
guardian of their fields. This opinion appeared to take 
its origin from a remarkable habit this serpent has. As 
soon as it perceives any person approaching it, the 
Haje raises its head, evidently watching for its own 
safety, and taking care not to be surprised without 
being ready for its defence. Misinterpreting this move- 
ment, the superstitious Egyptians gave it the character 
of benevolence to man and a certain amount of wisdom, 
as if it were really watching the fields it inhabits. We 
are indebted to the celebrated expedition of the French 
into Egypt under Napoleon, and to the naturalists 
attached to it, for a knowledge of the fact that this 
serpent was the true Aspic of the ancients. This 
classic reptile had been by many referred to the species 
of viper called the Asp, and which was known to 
inhabit the forest of Fontainebleau, Vipera Aspis. By 
Bruce and others it was considered to be the Horned 
Viper, or Cerastes ; while the traveller Forskahl main- 
tained that it was the Libetina, Echis arenicokt. The 
Froncli savans, however, during the expedition referred 
to, and still more recent travellers, have proved that 
the serpent known to the natives of Egypt by the name 
of Haje was the true Aspic of Cleopatra. It is spread, 
according to M. Isidore St. Hilaire, who has given an 
excellent account of the species in the great work on 
Egypt, in considerable abundance over that country. 
It lives, he says, sometimes in the ditches, but more 
frequently in the cultivated fields. The labourers are 
thus frequently exposed to encounter it; but although 
they are not ignorant of the danger of its bite, its pre- 
sence near them seldom compels them to leave off their 
ordinary work. Understanding the habits of this for- 
midable reptile, they know well that they have no rea- 
son to fear an attack, unless they are imprudent enough 
to go too near it. They know that as long as they keep 
at a respectable distance from it, the Haje will content 
itself with keeping its eyes upon them, and raising aloft 
its head in an attitude of attention. When irritated, 
however, it swells out its neck, raises its body, and 
springs with a single bound upon its enemy. The 
poison is very virulent, as many sad accidents have 
proved, and Forskahl found, in making experiments 
with the venom, that the bite was always fatal. In one 
instance, the smallest quantity introduced into an inci- 
sion made in the thigh of a pigeon sufficed to produce 
immediately profuse vomiting, violent convulsions, and 
finally death at the end of a quarter of an hour. Many 
singular opinions of the effects of the poison produced 
upon human beings were entertained by the ancients. 
They believed, for instance, that though inevitably 
mortal, it produced no pain, and merely occasioned a 
gradual loss of strength, which was followed by a quiet 
and lethargic sleep that “ knows no waking.” Galen 
tells us that in Alexandria, to shorten the punishment 
of criminals condemned to death, they were bitten in 
the breast by an Aspic, of which he declares himself to 
have been an eye-witness, and that it was with much 
difficulty the traces of the wound could be discovered. 
A variety of tbe Haje is found in South Africa, and 
has been welt described by Sir Andrew Smith, who 
observes, that he could not detect any specific differ- 
ences between it and the common Egyptian species. 
This opinion is confirmed by Schlegel, who, after a 
comparison of manj' specimens from both South and 
North Africa, declares them to be mere varieties of the 
same. The colour of the South African variety is 
generally either entirely yellow or purplish brown, or 
they have the two tints existing distinctly, more or 
less, in the same individual. These serpents are 
known by the name of the Yellow snake and the Brou n 
snake ; and another variety is called by the colonists 
the Spuugh-slang , or Spitting-snake. This appellation 
is bestowed upon it from a belief that it possesses the 
power of ejecting its poison to a considerable distance. 
In the course of this work we have several times had 
occasion to refer to the practices, with various reptiles, 
of the jugglers of Egypt. Of all the reptiles used by 
these men, this Haje is the one which they know how 
to turn to most account. After having taken out the 
venomous fangs, they tame it, and teach it a great 
number of tricks more or less singular, and produce 
effects with it which astonish the ignorant people of 
Egypt, and which, as M. Isidore St. Hilaire says, 
“ would without doubt astonish still more the savans 
of Europe.” One of their cleverest tricks is, as they 
profess, to change the serpent into a stick, and oblige 
it to counterfeit death. The celebrated French natu- 
ralist quoted above informs us, that when the jugglers 
wish to produce this effect they spit into its throat, 
force it to close its mouth, and lie down on the ground. 
Tlum, as if to give it the final command, they press 
their hand on the nape of its neck, and immediately 
