“Having now gratified my curiosity, I proposed that the snake should be destroyed, or at least that his fangs might be extracted, an operation easily performed with a pair of forceps. But, the snake being a remarkably fine one, the charmer was unwilling to extract his teeth, as he said the operation sometimes proved fatal, and begged so hard to be allowed to keep him as he was, that I at last suffered him to put him in a basket and carry him off. After this he frequently brought the snake to the house to exhibit him, and still with his fangs entire, as I ascertained by personal inspection, but so tame that he handled him freely, and apparently without fear or danger.”
The best proof that the snake’s fangs were not extracted is, that some weeks afterwards the reptile bit the charmer, and killed him.
It seems strange that serpents should be thus subject to man. It is comparatively easy to tame a bird or a beast, as hunger can be employed in the process, and really is the chief power, the creature learning to be fond of the person who furnishes it with food. Or, in extreme cases, the power of inflicting pain is employed, so that the animal is ruled by fear, if not by love.
But, in the case of a snake, the tamer is deprived of both of these adjuncts. As a serpent only feeds at very long intervals, and possesses an almost inexhaustible power of fasting, hunger cannot be employed; and its peculiar constitution would render the infliction of pain useless. The charmer has, therefore, to fall back upon some other mode of working upon his pupil, and finds it in music, to which the cobra seems peculiarly accessible. That it is powerfully influenced by music was known many centuries ago, as we may see by the references to serpent charming in the Scriptures. Any music seems to affect the creature, and, if it can be rendered docile by the harsh sounds that proceed from the charmer’s flute, we may conjecture that more melodious sounds would have a like effect. Mr. Williams, who was very much inclined to be sceptical on the subject of serpent charming, and thought that the poison fangs were always removed, mentions that a gentleman at Chinsurah, who was a very excellent violinist, was forced to lay aside his instrument because the sounds of the violin attracted so many serpents to his house.
Serpent charming is thought to be a semi-sacred calling, and is one of those cases where the process of taming partakes of the religious character. The charmers are regularly initiated into their duties, and undergo certain ceremonies before they are thought to be impervious to the serpent’s teeth. Sometimes an European has been initiated into these mysteries, as happened to Lady Duff Gordon, to whom a snake charmer took a fancy, and offered to initiate her. He and his pupil sat opposite each other, and joined their hands. The charmer then twisted a cobra round their joined hands, and repeated some invocation. Both of them afterward spat on the snake, and the novice was pronounced to be safe, and enveloped in snakes as a proof of the success of the incantation.
There is perhaps no better instance of the mastery of the Indians over animals than the manner in which they catch and instruct elephants.
The reader will doubtless remember that, though the elephant is abundant both in Africa and India, the inhabitants of the former country never attempt to domesticate it. It has been thought that the African elephant is not trained, because it is fiercer than the Asiatic species or variety, and lacks the intelligence which distinguishes that animal. This, however, is not the case. The African elephant is as docile and intelligent as that of Asia, and quite as capable of being trained. The elephants which were used in the time of the ancient Romans were brought from Africa, and yet we read of the most wonderful feats which they could perform. Moreover, the African elephants which have been in the Zoölogical Gardens for some years are quite as tractable as the Asiatic animals. The real cause for the non-use of the African elephant is, not its incapacity for domestication, but the lack of capacity in the Africans to domesticate it.
In almost all cases of domesticated animals, the creatures are born in captivity, so that they have never been accustomed to a wild life. The Indian, however, does not trouble himself by breeding elephants, but prefers to capture them when sufficiently grown to suit his purposes. There are two modes of catching the elephant, one of which is so ingenious that it deserves some description, however brief. A common way is by making a large enclosure, called a “keddah,” and driving the elephants into it. The keddah is so made, that when the elephants have fairly entered it they cannot get out again, and are kept there until subdued by hunger and thirst.
By this mode of elephant catching, the animals are taken in considerable numbers, and of all sizes. The genuine elephant hunter, however, cares little for this method, and prefers to pick out for himself the best animals, the Indians being exceedingly particular about their elephants, and an elephant having as many “points” as a prize pigeon or rabbit.
In every herd of elephants the males are given to fighting with each other for the possession of the females, and it often happens that a male, who for some time has reigned supreme in the herd, is beaten at last. Furious with rage and disappointment, he leaves the herd, and ranges about by himself, destroying in his rage everything which opposes him. In this state he is called a “rogue” elephant by the English, and saun by the natives. Now, furious and dangerous as is the saun, he is always a splendid animal, scarcely inferior indeed to the master elephant of the herd. The elephant hunters, therefore, are always glad to hear of a saun, and take measures to capture so valuable a prize.