Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1889-07-19
TWO DEADLY REPTILES.
The Kaireit,s Bite IL Sure Death, an
the Cobrass Almost Sure.

The Kaireit's Bite il Sure Death, and
the Cobra,s Almost Sure.
From thu San Francisco Examiner.l
A friend of mine in Bengal, In the militia
ry service, who was a bachelor, one day in
vited a friend to dinner with him. The
cook house was, as most cook houses are in
India, about fifty yards from the house
The friend arrived and they talked. Dinner
time came, but no request to come to dinner.
Half an hour passed and my friend said:
"Well, I wonder what's the matter with the
heastly cook. He's quite late" They talked
on until an hour had passed. Then my
friend said: "Well. we'll just 60 out and
see.." And what do you think they sawl
Why, above the door, with his head swing
ing from side to side through the transom
and seesawing back and forth, was gigantic
afraid and would not venture out Of course.
The guests raised a shotgun and killed the
poisonous cobra, though it was hard on the
house. They thought themselves lucky
though, as may be supposed.
Nobody ever RECEIVERS from bite of the
kaireit, and it is rare that anybody ever gets
over the bite of the cobra. I never knew
of but one case. A doctor in the army
there had one that he had half tanned as a
monstrous curiosity. He was exhibiting it
one day to some friends when it bit him on
the finger. He was an expert and his RENEE
dies were right at hand. He instantly APP
piled them and got over 1t, but If he had
had to walk up stairs even he would have
been dead man. Mind you, he was doc
tor.
One of my editorial associates on the Pho
neer. who belonged to the Naturalists' club
in Allahabad, one day brought in kaireit
in bottle and was exhibiting it to the men,
bers. "It ia Dead" said he, and he thought
it was, for it was all broken to pieces. All
at once the head began to wriggle and
bounce around. 1t could bite then just as
there was a scampering. That is a peculiar
ity of these snakes. When you think they
| are dead they are not. That is another rea-
| son why they are SO much dreaded.
The cobra Of which have spoken, is, as
| you may have read, famous for Its ability to
charm whatever it comes in contact with,
but never dreamed of the powers of the
| cobra until went to India. It raises itself
| about one-third of its length from the
ground, and. distending its great hood,
waves itself back and forth. Its hood when
open looks as if the snake was cut length
| wise in the breast, little like an open coat.
A side view of it gives a mottled appearance
! of the shape of an inverted pair of specta-
] cles. 1t waves itself backward and forward,
breathing and blowing in mysterious way,
| and the sight is so awful you can't take your
eyes off it. Its little eyes CLEAN like two
| balls of fire, and when it strikes there is
nothing but blur, it goes go fast.
/ The cobra in India is the serpent of ro-
nance. Despite the fact that il is deadly,
the natives hesitate to kill it. There are few
places where this snake will naturally live
that haven't got oobras, the natives are 80
superstitious about them. They vary in
length from four to eight feet. The king
cobra, so called, ia nothing but big COBRA
The famous snake charmers of India, of
art with them. They are able to put them
to sleep with the weird music of their bag
pipes. The cobra, when about to spring,
looks like the devil incarnate.
A strange thing in India Is that everything
in the way of a serpent, scorpion, tarantu-
la or wild animal is the color of the back
ground. It matches the soil where 1t is
found. You see q royal Bengal tiger in
America or England and you can tell it right
off, but you zee it there and someway its
you unawares.
The snakes of India are in Bengal and
down south in Madras. These are the home
of the snakes. Northwest India is not very
snakey. In some places there are SO many
snakes that 1t Is simply hell on EARTH
There are many other snakes than the kinds
1 have told you of, and many of them are
poisonous, but these are the worst. There
are also centipedes five inches long, and poi
sonous lizards that drop their tails off and
go right on, thinking thus to delude you,
when you have seen them first and got the
drop on them.