The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-12-26
EASTERN SCENES.
HINDoo CoNJURERs AND sNAKE-CHARMERs-
MARVELLOUS FEATS.

|
The special correspondent of the London
7eleqrqph, with the Prince of Wales, writes
from Bombay on October II:
An incident of the "quiet day was one
which is de rigueur with all visitors to India
namely, an hour or so with the Hlndoo cen
iurars and snake -charmefs, OF whom Bonn
bav possesses many skillful and extraordinary
specimens. The professions OF juggler and
charmer are very often united IN the same
persons or company and no doubt the Prince
saw something to astonish him, even after
| the pulling performance of the Houdlns and
NJ 4skelynes of Europe There is certainly
much that is highly curious IN these snake
charmers of the East nor has any one yet
thoroughly explained the method OF many OF
| their tricks.
| The men themselves, always of low caste,
| possess an amazing command OF the deadly
varieties of reptiles, which they bring III HAT
wicker baskets to the door OF any one who will
pay trite for the exhibition. They lift the
| lid and out gldes the dreaded cobra; but at a
pluck of his tail, or a light touch with a stick,
the living death" rears his head and neck,
putfs out his hood, and dances time to the
sound of the tumbi, q rude instrument which
the samp-walah" blows upon, being gourd
stuck over with the red and black seeds OF
the dJruS precutOrus, and fitted with douole
reed. the gray, horrid eyes OF the serpent
fix thems elves seadtastly upon the man $
gourd or turban, and the creature mods back
ward or forward, this way or that, with an
obedient movement " hich follows every bend
of the charmer.
Armed with the same rude musical instru-
ment, these men profess, as is well known, to
be able to draw yenomous snakes from their
holes-but it may be doubted whether the
reptiles come for the playing, or even hear II,
since the auditory apparatus OF the cobra Is
imperiectly developed, and IN Burmah, as
well as Egypt, they play the same trick with
this snake, not only without any such music,
but wnen the fangs are not extracted, as they
almost always are in the case of these tanned
reptiles. The majority of cobras carried
about by these men will be found not only
fangless, but with the fang gum cauierized,
SO that the poison teeth cannot grow again.
At the same time instances are common
enough, like those quoted by Forbes in his
"Oriental Memoirs, to show that many OF the
charmers are not at all afraid to handle new
caught and deadly snakes, as indeed every
body must confess who has watched them at
work in an Indian garden.
Mr.. Nicholson, in his excellent book on In
dian opiology, has very truly pointed out that
even the deadliest snakes may be taken up
with impunity by those who have nerve and
quckness of touch. Unless frightened or
hurt, they are remarkably slow to exercise
their power. They seem to have an instinct
which warns them to economizs it for real
extremity; for once spent by angry striking,
the cobra, it seems, must have time to collect
his lethal force-not, however, his venom, tor
he elects but a drop of that at each stroke.
Mr. Nicholson says: 81 have often envied tne
nerve of a man here who puts his hand into
a narrow mouthed basket containing several
fresh cobras and picks out the one he wants
without the slightest objection on the part OF
the snake beyond furious kissing"
The great thing is, in fact, not to terrlty
the terrible naqa: and half the mystery of
the business stands explained when this odd
amiability of the deadly cobra is understood,
and the perfectly collected manner of the
cnarmer is also observed. The snake, judi
ciously handled, seems to know he will not be
hurt; and even when he energies, individually
fresh and fatal, from his hole, it is a lesson
which Rarey would have treasured to see how
the charmer presses his head quietly to the
ground aud takes him up calmly and
smiIingly, kissing and expanded, though one
sixteenth of an inch OF that curved needle
tooth, driven in earnest is death beyond
hope.
In illustration of this curious good temper
in poisonous snakes we may mention that
the Hindoos have little or no fear of them.
1t is considered rather lucky to have cobra
in the clupplu of the hut, and the children
put out milk and eggs every night for &c their
uncle" who keeps down the rats, and will
live whole season about the place without
doing any kind of harm. Religion and legend
combine to protect these reptiles Ill India,
and, beside all the mythology which clus ers
around the great serpent of Vishnu and its
halI hot Dlrac
guard all kind OF underground treasures.
They account for shooting stars by saying
that when the serpent finds buried gold he
curls round it and gradually changes it into a
gem, which he finally bears away into the
Nagas, the strange serpent race living in the
North. The track Of the shooting star is the
effulgerce Of the transported jewel. The
lunet.es on the cobra's head are, by these
Indian legends, marks of Krishna's feet.
When you find the snakes jewel you may tell
its value by putting it on the surface OF water
and pouring gold dust over it, for the gem
will not sink until an immense amount has
been deposited.
If this singular mildness of DISPOSE
ton in the dreaded Nag accounts, as
we think it does, for q good deal OF what
seems otherwise wonderful in the snake
charming yesterday witnessed by the Prince,
many OF the con uring tricks performed by
the samp-wallahs may, perhaps, be also ex-
planned by their knowledge OF way by which
the snake may be pinehed between the fingers
into temporary paralysis. This, If true, as Is
alleged by some among them, might cast
light at once upon the feat exhibited by
Egyptian jugglers at the court OF Pharaoh,
and also upon a very common piece of leger-
demaln which the Bombay snake-charmers
show, and which is described by M. Rous-
selet in his charming volume upon 1.-The
India of the Raj abs.
He writes: The juggler having no other
garment on him than the lingouti, chooses a
serpent of harmless species, and places it
ostensiply in basket, which he covers with
lid. He then rises and filings his arms
about, the while muttering some cabalistic
words which his companion accompanies on
tambourine. Suddenly he arms himself
with a flexible wand, which he whirls for some
minutes above his head, and then suddenly
throws down at our feet, where it arrives in
the form of serpent In spite of the closest
attention on two repetitions of this feat, l
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