National Republican., 1883-01-30
GOOSE AND SNAKE.
A Lively Account OF Lively Fight Be-
tween a lTongoose and n Cobra.

Letter 10 he London Standard.
At the present time, when the proposed in
Production of the mongoose into Australia is
under discussion, perhaps the following ex-
tract from the Leisure Hour October 1870,
describing combat between one of those ami
mails and cobra, may prove interesting to
some of your readers. A report of the fight, it
is stated was sent to the Madras newspapers,
signed by several Indian officers who wepe
cyewtnesses, and dated Trichinopoly, July
TO- 1863 IL is as follows: "The mongoose ap-
preached the cobra with caution, but devoid
of any appearance of fear. The cobra, with
head erect and body vibrating, watched his
opponent with evident signs of being aware
of how deadly an enemy he had TO contend
with. The mongoose was soon within easy
striking distance of the snake, who, suddenly
throwing back his head struck at tho mon.
goose with tremendous force The mongooso
quick as thought, sprang back out of reach,
uttering at the same time savage grOwls.
Again the hooded reptile rose on the defensive,
and the mongoose nothing daunted by the dis
tend jaws and glaring eyes of his antagonist
approached so near to the snake that he was
forced back, not relishing such close proximity,
to draw his head back considerably; this les
sened his distpnce from the ground The
mongoose, at once siozing the advantageous
opportunity, sprang at the cobra's head, and
appeared to intliCt us well as receive n wound.
Again the combatants put themselves in a po-
sition TO renew the encounter; again the
snake struck at his willy opponent and again
the latters agility saved him. 1t would be
tedious to recount in further detail the par
ticulars of about a dozen successive rounds.
at the end of which time neither Combatanb
seemed to suffer more than the other. The
fight had lasted some three-quarters of an
hour, and both combatants seemed now to
nerve themselves for the final encounter.
The COBRA changing his position of defense
for that ofattack, advanced, and seemed deter
mined now to do or die.' Slowly on his watch
ful enemy the cobra advanced; with equal cour-
age the mongoose awaited the advance of his
still unvanquished foe. The cobra had now
approached so close that the mongoose (whO,
owing to want of space behind, was unable to
spring out of reach by jumping backward, as
it had done in previous encounters) nimbly
bounded straight up in the air. The cobra
missed his object, and struck the ground under
him. Immediately on the mongoose alight-
ing, the COBRA quick as thought, struck again,
and to all appearance, fixed his fangs in the
head of the mongoose. The mongoose, as the
cobra was withdrawing his head after he had
inflicted the bite, instantly retaliated by fix
ing his teeth in the head of the cobra. This
seemed to convince the cobra that he was no
match for his watchful antagonist; and now,
eye, he unfolded his coils and gnominiously
skunk away. Instantly the mongoose was on
his retreating foe, and burying his teeth in
his brain, ended the contest. The mongoose
now set to work to devour his victim, and in
q few minutes had eaten the head and two or
three inches of the body, including the venom
so dreaded by ALL We should have NEIL
toned before that previous to this encounter
the snake had struck u fowl, which died
within half an hour Of the inliction Of the
bite, showing beyond doubt its capability of
! inhictng deadly wound. After the mon
goose had satisfied his appetite, we proceeded
to examine with pocket lens the wounds
that he had received from the cobra, and on
washing away the blood from one Of these
places the lens disclosed the broken fang of
the cobra deeply imbedded in the head of the
mongoose. We have had the mongoose con-
| fined ever since (now four days ago), and it
is now as healthy and lively as ever" This
anecdote lends strong confirmation to the
theory that the mongoOse is uninjured by the
venom of poisonous snakes.