The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-08-01

that he mad made q great DaB, Dut Aic
had been caught trespassng by a jan
warder and chastised, hence he had not
been there again.
The man set to work, followed by q
little knot Of spectators, consisting OF
Jail officials only. He first approached
an orchard of lime bushes armed, as ne
always was, with small stick two
feet long, with an iron hook at the end,
1t must be understood that up to the
last moment kullan had no idea Whlth-
er the doctor was going to take him.
After a few minutes Of searching he
called out: Look here, sahib," and he
pointed out a small viper (Echis carl
nata) coiled round the twig of lime
BUSH apparently fast asleep, for 1t was
quite motionless He told the specta-
tors to stand well aside, and then with
a dexterous and lightning-like move
ment he planted the hook between the
snake and the twig on which 1t was
coiled and jeried the reptile to the
ground The vicious little viper, about
a foot in length, Immediately coiled IT.
self into a little knot and began slowly
rubbing it's coils against each other,
producing thereby Kissing noise, not
unlike the hiss Of an angry cobra.
Kulans method of securing these
reptiles after he has brought them to
bay on the ground is peculiar, and
quite different from the way IN which
he deals With other snakes. The Echls
carinata is a small viper, seldom more
than eighteen inches In length, and is
the most deadly, aggressive and fero-
cious of all venomous snakes in Upper
India, with the exception Of the Russell
viper The latter, however, is seldom
found in the neighborhood of Delhi
Owing to the knotlike condition INTO
which the Echis coils itself when on the
defensive, II Is quite impossible TOT
even the dexterous Kullan to seize 1t
by the tail, as he fearlessly does the
cobra and the kerait. Then again, the
Echis keeps it's head almost hidden
from sight among its coils. and only
shoots 1t out when it strikes at its ad-
versary or its prey. 1t also has the
power, when coiled on the ground, OF
propeling its whole body forward to a
distance of a foot or more with sud-
den jerk. Kullan, knowing the habits
of this viper so well, begins by dangling
a dirty rag in his left hand, just out Of
striking distance, and 80 engrossins the
creatures attention in that direction.
In his right hand he holds the hooked
stick, but this time with the hook to-
ward him. He waits patiently till the
viper exposes his head for moment
from among It's coils. and then in an in
slant he pins the head to the ground
1,,ft nf 10 at1
but not sufficiently roughly to injure
the reptile. Then in another half sec
ond he sezes it by the neck between
his thumb and index finger He then
catches hold Of its tail with the other
hand. and while an assistant holds
open the mouth of the canvas SACK he
jerks the viper to the bottom
Having proved by finding two more
during the next ten minutes in the
same lime orchard, that to him the
finding Of vipers was an easy matter,
Kullan proceeded to search for some
other snakes
Presently he came to an old dry well,
one of those wide stone masonry struc-
lures so commonly found around Delhi,
which were constructed generations
ago, in the time Of the Mogul emperors.
He looked into It for few moments,
and then asked one of the Jail officials
to take off his ''puggree,' or turban,
and let him down into the we'll. 1t was
only about ten or twelve feet deep At
the bottom Kullan remained for few
minutes, examining the earth most
carefully.
He peeped into every crevice and cor
ner, and pushed his stick into many
holes. Eventually he howled, Send me
down ghara, some one. will your"
The ghara was let down attached to
the end of a turban. Then began a
most exciting spectacle. Kullan was
to be seen at the bottom of the well, in
serting his hook gently into a hole be-
tween two stones and then jerking ii
out again, At last, with one of the
outward jerks, he managed to bring out
about four or five inches of the tail end
of a dark colored snake, which he
grasped at with his hand. The snake
was, however, too quick for him, and
withdrew itself before Kullan could
seize it, The contest commenced again,
and eventually Kullan managed to get
a grip on the serpent's tail and in an
other instant was dangling large kerr
ait In his left hand. Every time the
creature tried to raise it's head to get
at the fingers that gripped its tail and
suspended it the man gave Il Jerk and
knocked the head down again. He then
lowered the head gently down into the
mouth of the ghara, and the snake, be-
ing only too anxious to get out Of sight
and harms way, began to coil itself up
inside the vessel, Kullan meantime
slowly lowering the tail till the reptile
tied over the mouth of the vessel.
Kullan could no doubt have found
many more snakes that morning In the
Jail garden, but time would not permit.
Let us now return to the laboratory
and witness the process of venom ex-
traction from the hundred odd venom
Gus snakes the three snake catchers had
caught.
Kullan had taken four large cobras
from their receptacles by gently plac-
Ing his hook round the thickest part of
their bodies and drawing them slowly
out He threw them on the ground In
front Of him. Each snake Immediately
raised it's head to It's utmost height,
spread out it's hood and facing the in
trepid snake catcher, began to hiss fu-
riously, its beady eyes flashing and its
forked tongue darting necessarily in
and out of its mouth.
The creatures were on the defensive,
but not one of them attempted to strike