Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1891-08-19
TWO EASTERN SNAKES.
The Cobra Ia Good-Natured But the POI
Tonga Is "A Bad Nelghbor.


Tonga Is Bad Nelghbor.
From ages past, says writer in Pop
ular Science, the susceptibility of snakes
to the influence Of music has been fully
recognized, and it would be interesting
to know how many varieties acl<now-
ledge its power. In Ceylon the natives
say that only two-and they the two
most ,venomous, the cobra and the tic
polonga-can be charmed. The former,
the hooded or specialized snake, every
one has heard of; the latter is not so
well known out of the island and is a
far more deadly and dangerous foe.
The natives hold the cobra in the high
est estimation and look upon it as the
king of snakes-the Tamil name for it
being in fact ''nulla parmbu," or good
snake" and | think it is an admitted
fact that it will seldom if ever attack
any one unprovoked | have myself
seen cobrae under many circumstances,
and although | have conscientiously
destroyed every one that | have been
able to, have no hesitation in saying
that they are not dangerous unless dis
turbed. In proof of this | would quote
the case of pair that occupied a hole
in a elump of oleanders in a certain
garden for several years. No one ever
disturbed them and they summed them
selves where they pleased and the gar
dener rather looked upon them as an
additional attraction to the place. They
used to eat squirrels, young birds and
any thing else that came in their way,
but never attempted to do any harm, and
remained unmolested as long as | knew
the place, and probably raised an inter
esting family meanwhile. Unlike the
cobra, the tic polonga is always ready
to attack on the slightest provocation,
and as it inhabits many localities-some
being found in shrubs and trees, some
in grassy waterways and others in
variably in the vicinity of footpaths-
it is more often met with, and
is l think, responsible for most
of the fatal cases of snakebite
that happen from time to time. This
difference in the habits of the two
snakes is well known to the natives and
is the subject of one of the Singhalese
fables, which is as follows:
One very dry year, when little rain
silver thread, when tanks were baked
hard and brown and wells and water
courses were dried up, a prolonga, suffer-
ing agonies from thirst and faint from
the overpowering heat, met cobra
looking very lively and refreshed.
Have you found water anywhere?'
gasped the polonga. The other said:
yes" ''Where-oh, where is it? Tell
me, l implore you, for l am dying of
thirst" said the prolonga. The cobra
replied Il can not tell you unless you
promise to do no harm to any living
thing that may be beside the water"
Gas for that" replied the polonga, 81
would promise any thing SO that might
quench this intolerable thirst. And he
gave solemn promise. 'Well, then,'
said the cobra, beyond those bushes
is large earthen pan of water, in
which child is playing. Go and drink
from it, but at your peril do not harm the
child" So saying they parted. The
cobra, after going a little way, began
to distrust the prolonga, knowing the
latter's treacherous disposition and
rugged temper, and turned to follow
him. He arrived too late. The pro-
Tonga had not only drank of the water,
but crept into the pan where the child
began to play with him. On this he
grew violently angry, bit the child with
all his force, so violently, indeed, that
the infant died in few minutes. The
cobra, in hot and fiery indignation, at
tackled the prolonga and punished him
severely, biting off piece of his tail.
Hence to this day all prolongas have
blunt tails. Ever since cobras and
prolongas have been at deadly feud.
They are the most deadly serpents in
Ceylon. When people hate one another
mortally they are said proverbially to