Cañon City record., 1898-11-03
THE REAL SNAKE oIiARNER

sss 0NSkG 0fINHM 80
- He Dfnss From The cras,.yw -
napaaassr of Harni<ss R<pef1~a
Tho famous snake charmern o. n.
Ola are divided into two ciassss.
w, the genuine and the imitation.
O. the hsal charmer and the txickv
pot clever manipulator Of snakes
mo former actually charms the
vsnomous reptiles isto tempor.xv
dociiity and harmlcssness. while he
latter merely handles those which
nave been rendered harmless by the
attraction Of their fangs
The real charmer seldom PERFORMS
N large town, because snakes ara
not as numerous there as In fha
smaiier villages and the jungles.
one OF this class carries his worldly
possessions in two bags hung on =
bamboo pole which rests on one OF
nus shoulders His most important
ana highly priced belongings. his
pipe, q rude MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
made OF . gourd and q section 81
--0Sf AS Sa1 III Ills 01n0-
II you are living In the mofussil.
1 rural district, and desire to ascer-
tam whether there are snakes har-
bored within the precincts of your
garden, pay the charmer rupee or
two and he is at your service. Care
fully depositing his bags on the
ground, he sits down beside them.
crosslegged, closes his eyes and be-
gins to play mournful melody
upon his pipe.
To the occidental ear there is moth
ing impressive or thrilling in the
performance, and you fail to detect
even faint resemblance to har-
monious arrangement of tones such
as you have heard in your native
land 1t appears more like an ir-
regular series of melancholy moans,
soulful wailings and dismal shrieks.
not unlike the productions Of q be-
ginner on the clarinet. You listen
with some degree of interest at first.
for the music, If it may be so called,
is decidedly novel; then you feel
rather bored and are gradually
drifting toward the conviction either
that you are being bunkoed out of
your rupee or that there are no
snakes on the premises, when sud-
denly you notice a movement in tho
grass some distance from the PLAYER
and the head of a snake appears
above the blades, swaying to and
mo at least a foot or two from the
ground.
II it is cobra, the hood is expand
ID and the eyes fash and sparkle like
electric lights. Presently, perhaps,
another snake viii appear in a diff
ferent part of the garden, followed
by another, and, il your place is
well supplied with the reptiles, there
may be a dozen of them moving to-
ward the player in spasmodic leaps,
while swaying their heads and at
least one-fourth of their bodies clear
Of the ground and keeping perfect
time with the music. They seem to
give themselves up entirely to the
fascination of the weird sounds and
to lose all consciousness of every-
thing else.
Az long as the man plays. they ~
main within two or three feat ok
him, while he sits with closed eyen.
apparently uncgnscious Of their
presence And kti1I, ho seems 10
WELD . mysterious power sver
them, holding them at safe dis
tance from him, while they never
cease to oscillate as II In supreme
ecstasy. Suddenly he removes the
pipe from his lips and opens his eyes.
Slowly the snakes sink fat upon tho
ground, and then glide swiftly away
through the grass, disappearing ho-
fore you have sufficiently recovered
from your astonishment to begin to
think Of killing them. The charmer
never kills them; his religion for
bids it.-Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune