Year: 1879

1t stuck fast to the wound at once, and
the HindoO then turned his whole atten-
tion to the kissing snake, which had not
moved from its position. He teased it
with a towel until it struck it a half
dozen times, but never taking his eye
from his face. All this while the hard
button stuck to the one drop of blood on
his hand, and-as ascertained by taking
hold ofit-stuck fast. After while it
dropped of its own accord. / could not
perceive that it had changed at all in
color, nor was there on the surface that
had been applied to the mans hand any
gummy or sticky substance that would
account for its having adhered so te-
naciotsly. He said that that was due to
a magical (say magnetic or odic, if you
chOose) property it had; which caused it
to attract to itself the cobra virt1s; and,
while so attracting, to cling to the
wound. Be this as it may, it certainly
did stick tighter than the gumminess of
single coagulated drop of blood would
explain.


That this "stone" or substance had
curious resident properties was now
shown in a remarkable manner. The
Raipoot, taking it between his thumb
ard finger, held it out toward the SER
pent, whose rage seemed not to have at
all subsidized. AS though some electric
current had suddenly struck IL, the rep
tile drew back its head as far as it could,
and without attempting to strike, hissed
less and less violently, swayed from one
side to the other, folded its hood, loos-
ened its coils. and sank lower and lower
until it lay, silent and relaxed, on the
floor, the chatmer constantly pushing
I'll mad stone nearer and nearer toward
its head until he touched the skin, and
held it there. Wewere amazed, indeed,
for we could not comprehend that the
reptile could 90 perfectly simulate the
state of narcotiZation or mesmerizatiOn.
Still, to satisfy myself that we were not
witnessing either the effect of the mans
own mesmeric power upon the animal
or clever bit of ophidian acting, took
the stone in my own hands, and, first
arousing the snake by teasing it until it
had risen in rage at me and was kissing
as venomously y as before, l moved it to-
ward him. The result was as before,
the snake coming rapidly under the
power of the stone, uncoiling itself,
staggering, and falling limp in a heap.


The friends present, who had been
ready to pull me back by my coat tails
for fear might be bitten, now pressed
near, and Nine. Blavatsky at once struck
bargain for the snake stone, and took
possession of her prize for few rupees.
| will not attempt to explain this SEEM
ing mystery; you have the exact details,
and may draw your own conclusions. I
am quite aware that DR.. Fayrer, in his
splendidly illustrated work on the In
dian Thanatopnidia,n expresses his
entire disbelief in the virtue of these
mad-stones, and describes his inffectual
attempts to save with them the lives of
dogs which had been bitten by cobras


have also been told that standing re-
ward of some thousands of rupees is of
fered by the British government for a
stone or any other antidote to this dead
ly poison, Nevertheless, the incidents
above described actually happened, and
it must be admitted they are very
strange. AS to the charmer's producing
his cobras from such places as we indi-
Gated, that is mere trick of sleight- Of
hand, though a very clever one, as l
discovered when he privately showed it
to me; but unless we are to believe
that strange cobra would go through
such a performance for me as | have
narrated, the effect of this bony sub
stance upon his nervous system would
seem to be a subject for scientific inquiry.


have been at the pains to procure
from the government archives the sta
tistics of the number of wild beasts and
snakes killed within the past twelve
month in the Bomby Presidency, and
the number of men and cattle they have
destroyed. They are as follows: