Casco Bay breeze. [volume] (South Harpswell, Me.) 1901-1917, 1914-09-03

lence, and we followed him
quietly, almost stealthily, as we
walked, chanting solemnly, writes
George Renwick in the London Chron-
1cle. Suddenly the chant ceased, he
stopped, and Immediately we, too,
stood still and waited, watching Gag
erly, expectantly, for we were hunt
Ing for serpents in the sacred pre-
cincts Of Karnak itself Comparative
ly few people today are interested in
the ancient art Of snake charming and
yet 1t is one Of the oldest arts that
exist known long before the days Of
Ptolemies, and used even now when
! snakes become too numerous and a
trouble to the people Of Egypt
Although many Indians and Egyp-
tians profess: to have the power to
fascinate serpents, there are but two
or three men at present who are really
| expert, SO that we were exceptionally
fortunate that at the time of our visit
| to Luxor Moussa-el-Hawy, the most
| famous of them, should be there also,
and that we were able to arrange a
| hunting expedition with him.
Hunting With Moussa.eI-Hawy.
Mounted on sturdy donkeys we had
ridden out from the great hotel on the
eastern bank of the Nile, out past the
| gardens filled with palms and Labbak
trees, past the great avenue of sacred
| sphinXes placed there 5000 years ago
| by Rameses II. Then, just before we
reached the Grand Pylon itself, we
! turned abruptly to the right and gal
| Looping across the sand, drew up at
the entrance Of a grove of date palms
| surrounded by high mud wall.
"AwadEl-Halla Mahammed- Hamdi-
Allah" Again the weird chanting be-
gan. words that to us meant nothing;
| they sounded but a series of names,
but in them lay the secret of the
charm. The meaning Moussa told us,
when we asked him later was this:
"Oh! sacred Is the power hold over
78 varieties Of reptile, descended to
me from the prophet. Oh! come you
| snakes to me and l will not harm you,
for should l kill you l would lose my
| charm"
Moussa shook his head and started
forward again, walking cautiously, mo-
tioning to US to follow, and this time
as he stopped he smiled, showing his
perfect white teeth. One SNAKE" he
said, and plunging his arm into the
| vegetation at the foot of a tree, he
drew out a long, thin reptile, wrig-
Cling violently and showing its thin,
pointed tongue. Moussa dropped it for
an instant, and then, as the snake
was about to escape. he seized II
just above the head and, holding 1t
close to his face, spoke to 1t softly
while he said to US, as at last he put
the now quiet creature into basket
he had brought, MOUSSE now find one
big cobra, but not in this garden" and
SO off we went across the desert.
AS we mounted our donkeys, Nous
sa-el-Hawy had pointed to the temple
Of Karnak, but as we rode toward one
OF the eastern gates 1t suddenly oc-
cured to US that 1t would be we'll to
test his powers, and, choosing a spot
where there was only an old tumbled
wall, we called to him to see what he
could find here where he must be en-
tirely unprepared. Willingly the snake
charmer jumped down and, walk.
ing directly to the wall, picked from
the top large scorpion which crawled
and chung to his hand. Without even
stopping to put the horrible thing into
his basket, he started on again, walk.
ing swiftly this time, an though on
the track Of something worth while,
chanting softly as though oblivious OF
our disturbing presence. Then, deft-
ly changing the scorpion into his
other hand, Moussa plunged his arm
into crevice in the wall and with an
exclamation of delight pulled out
thick serpent covered with red spots,
which fought and chung to the pro-
tecting stones. "one very bad cobra, q
he shouted with glee. "Standa!" and
the cobra that he had thrown upon the
ground lay motionless as though dead
Another wave and It came to life
again, wriggling backward and for.
ward, twisting and turning, altogether
repulaive and loathsoma and them q n