Tombstone epitaph., 1891-03-29
TWO EAsrERn SHAKES.

! -et+-N "
 The Cobra Js Gooa-Natuzea Bai sss Pc
 lenSa ss . Bad NeiEhbor.
 From ages past, says a writer iD Pop
 ular Science. the suseept sbilitE of snakes
 to the influence of music has been fnIly
 recognized. and it would be interesting 1 to know how EaaAy varieties seIxnoxf-
 ledge its power. "a Ceylon the natives
 say shat only twos-and they the two
 Hcst yenomous, the cobra and the tic ] lpolonga-ean De charmed. The former,
 the hooded or spectaeled snake. every one has heard of. the latter is not SO wall known os.. et .stiis island ssTlts is a far more deadly and dangeross foe. l The natives hold the cobra tn the high est estimation and look upon ii as the king of snakes-the Tamil name for it
 being in fact '.nulla parlnbn, or good snake and I think il is an admitted | fact that 1t will seldom if ever attack any one unprovolSed. l have myself seen cobrae under many circumstances, and although l have eonseientiousiy destroyed every one that l have been able to. have no hesitation in saving that they are not dangerous unless dis ] turbed. Tn proof of this would quote the case of pair that occupied hole h a clump of oleanGers in a certain garden for several years. No one ever disturbed them and they stunned 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 ia 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 tie poleags is always ready to attack on the slightest prosoeatioE, and as il inhabits many loealities--some being found in shrubs and trees, some in grassy waterways and others in variably in the vicinity of footpashs- it is more often met with. and is I 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 oi the Singhalese fables, which Is as follows:
 One very dry year, when little rain fell, when rivers had dwindled into silver thread, when tanks were baked hard and brown and wells and water courses were dried up, a prolonga, suffer ing aRonies from thirst and faint from the overPowering heat, met a 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, implore you, for I am dying of thirst!' said the prolonga- The cobra replied: ''i can not tell yOn unless you promise to do no harm to any living thing that may be beside the water As for that" replied the polonga, 'I would promise any thing so that might queBeh this intolerable thirst" And he
 gave a solemn promise Well, then said the cobra, beyond those bushes is a large earthen pan of water, in which a child is playing. Go and drink from it, but atyour peril do not harm the i 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 proionga and punished him severely, biting of a piece of his tail Hence tO this day all prolongas have blunt tails, Ever since eobras and prelongas have been at deadly feud They are the most deadly serPents in CeyIon. When people hate one another noTtally they are said proyerbially to be like cobra and prolongSnN