Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/512

496 Mr. Simson says that he had an elephant-driver, or mahout, who was a great snake-catcher and very reckless. He writes thus: "I never saw him press down the snake with a rod such as I have described, but he caught numbers of snakes of all sorts, and sent them alive to his house. His movements were so rapid, and generally in jungle and with his back to me, that I never made out exactly why he did not get bit. He used to jump off his elephant, leaving the animal in my guidance; in a moment afterward he had the snake's neck in his hand. He said that he caught them by their tails, swung them under his arm, and held them there, while he slipped his hand up to the back of the head. He then gave the snake some of his clothing to amuse himself with, and on which to expend its venom. He then wrapped the reptiles up in a loose cloth and took very little trouble with them. I have seen him catch snakes scores of times, but I rather discouraged him, as I did not like the idea of having live venomous snakes at large, or even in earthen pots or boxes. At the same time he received good prices for his snakes."

Some people who are used to handle snakes seem to lose all feeling of apprehension regarding them. Sir Joseph Fayrer, whose work styled "Thanatophidia" contains the most perfect colored plates and descriptions of the principal venomous snakes, had no fear of them. But he was very nearly bitten one day. He and a friend were busy examining the peculiar anatomy of a portion of a cobra's tail. The cobra was in a box, and a native assistant was supposed to be holding down the lid of the box so as to allow only the tail to protrude. Somehow the native became careless, and he relaxed his hold on the lid, so that the cobra suddenly put out its head to see what Sir Joseph Fayrer was doing with its tail. Luckily it was more pleased than offended at the liberties which were being taken with its tail, but it was unpleasant for Sir Joseph Fayrer to find his face almost touching the cobra's mouth. Dr. Richards was another officer who assisted Sir Joseph Fayrer in his experiments with snakes. Dr. Richards came one day to see a lady patient at my house. He arrived in a palanquin which was put down in the portico. He went to the lady's room and paid her a brief visit; and when he came out of the room he went to the palanquin and brought out a large cobra which he had brought over to show me, in order to prove by experiments in my presence that a particular kind of wood, which a native fakir declared to be an antidote to snake-poison, was of no value. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the experiments, but his familiarity with the deadly snake was quite alarming. I could not help wondering what his lady patient would have said if she had known that he had brought a snake with him to the house, for she was terribly nervous about snakes.