Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-01-30


been 30 doctored.
Our cobra being replaced upon the
cement floor of the room, and the
chicken given to the operator, the latter
clutched it in his hand SO as to make
the wings partly serve AS a shield, and
leased the serpent into rage. 1t rose
upon its coil. drew back, expanded its
hood TO the widest extent, and Kissed
with a sound like the drawing in and
expelling of ones breath through the
closed teeth. 1t seemed hardly willing
to look at the poor fowl, but fixed its
gaze upon the Hindoo's hand. Pres
emily it lunged forward as quick as a
! fash, and struck at the hand where it
was unprotected T., the birds wings.
Tie man never fimrhed, and the angry
snake then struck II @ chicken again and
again. The char.,r dropped it on the
floor where it W., again struck, and
then its enemy, IS if satisfied, rose
again, end resumed its Kissing. The
! chicken staggered about for few sec
onds, Topped, turned over on its back,
kicked coEvulsively, and soon died.
The charmer pinched the back Of his
hand, and squeezing out a drop OF
blood, showed us where one of the
fangs had pierced the skin. His cool
ness at once surprised me and excited
my suspicious, though we had just wit
messed the end of the fowl. He went
! to small tin box that he had placed
conveniently near, and turning over
what appeared to be some small dried
roots, took out dark, hard substance,
about the size of vest button, which
/ he applied to his wound. Its diane
! ter, as subsequently ascertainel, was
1882 of an inch; its thickness
IL Of an inch. Not having any
weights small enough to weigh
it by, l put rice grains in the
opposite pan of the scale, and found it
just balanced eighty of them. It's col
or above is dark brown; that beneath
dull lead color; and the two lamin~
are joined in such q way as to quite
resemble shell cameo. 1t feels to the
touch more like fine grained horn than
anything else. This was one of the
famous madstones" of India.
1t stuck fast to the wound at once,
and the Hindoo then turned his whole
attention to the Kissing snake, which
had not moved from its position. He
leased it with towel until it struck it
half dozen times, but never taking
its eye from his face. All this while
the hard button stuck TO the one drop
OF blood ON his hand, and, as I ascer-
tanned by taking hold of it, stuck fast.
After awhile it dropped of its own ac-
cord. L could not perceive that it had
changed at all in color, nor was there
on the surface that had been applied to
tho mans hand any gummy or sticky
substance that would account for it
having adhered SO tenaciously. He
saiA that that was due to magical (say
maj hetic or odic, if you choose) prop
erty it had, which caused it to attract
to itself the cobra virus, and, while so
attracting, to cling to the wound. Be
this as it may, it certainly did stick
tighter than the gumminess of single
coagulated drop of blood would ex-
plain.
That this stone" or substance had
curious resident properties was now
shown in q remarkable manner. The
Rajpoot, taking it between his thumb
and finger, held it out toward the SER
pent, whose rage seemed not to have ut
all subsidized. As though some electric
current had suddenly struck it, the
reptile drew back its head as far as it
could, and without attempting to strike,
Kissed less and less violently, swayed
from one side to the other, folded its
hood, loosened its coil, and sank lower
and lower until it lay, silent and re-
laxed, on the floor, the charmer con-
stantly pushing the maidstone nearer
and nearer toward its head until he
touched the skin, and held it there. We
were amazed, indeed, for we could not
comprehend that the reptile could so
perfectly simulate the state of narcoti-
! cation or mesmerization. Still, to
satisfy myself that We were not witness
ing either the effect of the mans own
mesmeric power upon the animal or
clever bit of ophidian acting, I took
the stone in my own hands, and. first
arousing the snake by teasing it until
it had risen IN rage at me and was hiss
ing as venomously as before, / moved
it toward him. The result was. as be-
fore, the snake coming rapidly under
the power of the stone, uncoiling itself,
staggering, and falling limp in a heap.
The friends present, who had been
ready to pull me back by my coat-tails
for fear l might be bitten, now pressed
near, and Nine. Blavatsky at once
struck bargain for a snakestone, and
took possession of her prize for few
rupees. l will not attempt to explain
this seeming mystery; you have tho
exact details, and may draw your own
conclusions. L am quite aware tnat DR..
Fayrer, in his splendidly illustrated
work on the Indian "Thanatophidia "
expresses his entire disbelief in the
virtue Of these madstones, and de-
scribes his Intellectual attempts to save
with them the lives OF dogs which had
been bitten by cobras. have also
been told that standing reward of
some thousands of rupees is offered by
the British Government for stone or
any other antidote to this deadly poison.
Nevertheless, the incidents above de-
scribed actually happened, and it must
be admitted they are very strange. AS
to the charmer's producing his cobras
from such places as we indicated, that
is mere trick of sleight of hand
though very clever one, as l disco
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