The anti-monopolist., 1875-12-30
ORIENTAL JUCCLERY.

va lie the sacred alr.-LTdce GREENWOOD.
ORIENTAL JUcCLERY.
Rindoo conjurers and Snake-charmers As.
tonish the Prince OF Wales.
The special corresp ondent Of the London
Telegraph with the Prince of wales writes
from Bombay on Oct. II: An incident of the
.'quiet day" was one which is de rigueur with
all visitors to lndia-namely, an hour or so
with the Hindoo conjurers aud snake charm
ers, of whom Bombay possesses many skill
tul and extraordinary specimens
The professions OF juggler and charmer
are very often united in the same person or
company, and no doubt the Prince saw some
thing to astonish him, even after the puz-
cling performance Of the Uoudins and Mas
Kelynes of Europe. There is certainly much
that is highly curious in these snake charm
ers Of the East; nor has any one thorough
ly 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
in fiat wick. baskets to the door of any one
who will pay trihe for tie exhibition
They lift. the lid and out glides the dreaded
cobra; but at a light pluck of his tail, or a
light touch with stick, 'the living death
rears head and neck, puffs out his hood.
and dances time to the sound Of the tumbi.
| = rude instrument which the .samp- wallah''
blows upon, being gourd stuck over with
| the req and black seeds of the a6rus precat-
or,us, and fitted with double reed. The
gray horrid eyes Of The serpent fix them
selves sleadfastly upon the mans gourd, or
turban, and the creature mods backward
and forward, this way or that, with an ODE
dient movement which follow every bend Of
! the charmer. Armed with the same rude
musical instrument these men profess, as is
| well known to be able to draw yenomcus
snakes from their holes-but it NAV be
doubted whether the reptiles care for the
playing, OF even hear it, since the auditory
apparatus of the cobra is imperfectly devel-
| oped, and In Burmah as well as Egypt they
| play the same trick with this snake. not on
ly without any such music, but when the
/, fangs are not extracted, as they almost al
| ways are In the case OF these tanned reptiles.
The ma jority of cobras carried about by
these men will be tonnd not only fanyless,
but the fang gun caut. .rized, sothat the poi
son 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 charm
ers are not NJ all afraid to handle new
caught and deadly snakes as indeed every
body must confess who has seen them N,
| work in an Indian garden Mr.. Nicholson
in hE excellent book on Indian ophiology
has very truly pointed out that even the
deadliest snakes may be taken up with i'm
punity by those whe have nerve ami quick
ness Of touch. Unless frightened or hurt,
| hey are remarkably slow to exercise their
power. They seem to have an instinct
| which warns them 10 economixc il for a real
extremity; for once spent by angry s,rik-
| ing the cobra IL seems, must have time t.
collect his lethSi torce-not, however, his
venom, for he elects but drop Of that n,
each stroke. MIR. Nicholson says: IL have
often envied the nerve OF a man here wle
pGt his hand into u narrow noulhed baskc,
containing several fresh cobras and pick
out the one he wants, without the slichtes 81
objection on the part or the snake beyond .
furious hissing." The great thing Is, in fact
not TO territy the terrible noga; and half the
mystery Of the business stands explained
when this odd smiability in the deadly cob
ra is understood. and the perfectly collected
manner OF the charmer is also observed
The snake. judiciously handled seems te
know that he will not bs
hurt; and even when he EN-
erges, indubitably fresh and fatal, from
his hole, it Is lesson which Rarey would
have treasured TO see how the charmel
presses his head quietly to the ground and
takes him up calmly and smilingly, hissinf
aud expanded, though one sixteenth Of an
inch Of that curved needle tooth driven in
earnest is death beyond hope In illus
tration Of this curious good temper in poi
sonous snakes We may mention that III,
Hindoos have little or no fear Of them L
il considered rather lucky to have Cobrs
in the chuppur Of the hut, and the children
put out milk and eggs every night fo1
their uncle, who keeps down the rats, ans
will live whole season about the plac
without doing any kind Of harm. Religion
and legend combine TO protect these rep
tiles in India, and, besides all the mythology
which clusters around the great serpent .
: Vishnu and its antique worship. lIindoo
belive that the cobras guard al kind of un
derground treasures. They account 70
shooting stars BY saying that when the ser
pent finds buried gold he curls round i, and
gradually changes it into . gem, which b.
finally bears away to the Nag2s, the strang'
serpent race living in the North. The trac
Of the shooting star is the efulgence Of III
transported jewel. The lunettes on the Go
bras mead are, by these Indian legends
marks o. eKrishua's feet. When you find III
snakes jewel you . tell its value b. pni
ting it upon the surface Of water and pour
ing gold dust over IT, f3r the gem will no
sink till an immense amount has been thu
, deposited"
If,hls singular mildness Of disposition il
! the dreaded Nag accounts, as we think
! does. for good deal Of what seems other
, wise wonderful 10 the snake charming yes
) terday Witnessed by the Prince, many (
the cosjuring tricks performed by II