Wichita eagle., 1889-08-17
TWO DEADLY REPTILES.


The Kaireits Bite Is Sure Death and the
CobrA's Almost Sure.
A friend of mine in Bengal, in the mil
itary service, who was a bachelor, one
day invited 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 re-
quest to come to dinner. Half an hour
passed and my friend said: "Well, l
wonder what's the matter with the
beastly cook He's quite late" They
talked on until an hour had passed. Then
my friend said: "Well, we'll just go out
and see." And what do you think they
saw? Why, above the door, with his
head swinging from side to side through
the transom and seesawing back and
forth, was a gigantic cobra. The cooks
inside were very much afraid and would
not venture out, of course. The guests
raised shotgun and killed the poisonous
cobra, though 1t 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. /
never knew of but one case. A doctor in
the army there had one that he had half
tanned as monstrous curiosity. He was
exhibiting it one day to some friends,
when it bit him on the finger. He was
an expert and his remedies were right at
hand. He instantly applied them and
got over it, but if he had had to walk up
stairs even he would have been dead
man. Mind you, he was doctor.
One of my editorial associates on The
Pioneer, who belonged to the Natural
lists club in Allahabad. one day brought
IN kaireit in bottle and was exhibit
ing it to the members. 1T is dead"
said he, and he thought it was, for 1t
was all broken to pieces. All at once
the head began TO wriggle and bounce
around. It could bite then just as good
as it could before. You may guess there
was scamparing. That is popularity
of these snakes. When you think they
are dead they are not. That is another
reason 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 I never dreamed Of
the power of the cobra until l went to
India. 1t raises itself about one-third
of its length from the ground, and, dis
tending its great hood, waves itself back
and forth. Its hood when open looks as
if the snake was cut lengthwise in the
breast, little like an open coat A side
view of it gives notified appearance of
the shape Of an inverted pair of specta-
cles. 1t waves itself backward and for
ward, breathing and blowing in mys-
FERROUS 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 so fast.
The cobra in India is the serpent of ro-
nance. Despite the fact that 1t is dead
ly, the natives hesitate to kill it. There
are few places where this snake will nat
urally live that haven't got cobras, the
natives are 80 superstitious about them.
They vary in length from four to eight
feet. The king cobra, so called, is moth
ing but big cobra. The famous snake
charmers Of India, of when have seen
many, exercise a curious art with them.
They are able to put them to sleep with
the weird music Of their 5agpipes. The
cobra, when about to spring, looks like
the devil incarnate
A strange thing in India is that every
thing in the way of q serpent, a scorpion,
tarantula or wild animal is the color Of
the background. 1t matches the soil
where it is found. You see royal Ben
gal tiger in America or England and you
can tell it right off. but you see it there
and soIneway its stripes do not stand out
and it springs upon 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 have told you of,
and many of them are poisonous, but
these are the worst. There are also CEN
tipedes five inches long, and poisonous
lizards that drop their tails off and go
right on, thinking thus to delude you,
when you have seen them first and got
tho drop on them.-San Francisco Ex-
aminer.