“As no deception could have been practised in this instance, I was most anxious to see the reptile killed; but the charmer said he would not have it destroyed; that if it were injured the power he had over snakes would be interfered with, and the next one would no doubt bite and kill him. He accounted for his easy capture by saying this was a great holiday for the snakes, and that they had been enjoying themselves. ‘This one,’ said he, ‘is not living in this house. He has come from his home visiting, and has lost his way. On this account he got down a wrong hole, and I was enabled to pull him out. Nasty neighbors, and abominable visitors, these cobras! I will take this snake home, and feed him and make him tame.’
“However, we insisted upon having the animal made harmless, or comparatively so, and directed the man to remove the fangs. This he agreed to do, and performed it in this manner—a piece of wood was cut an inch square, and held by the charmer to the head of the snake. The reptile seized it as he had done the fowl, and with a dexterous twist of the hand, the most primitive performance of dentistry was accomplished. The four fangs sticking into the wood were extracted by the roots and given to me. I have them now, and look upon them as more suicidally pleasant than a pint of prussic acid or a cask of white arsenic.
“Another fowl was brought and attacked by the snake as before, but without any effect; it shook itself, rustled its feathers, and walked away consequentially. It is alive still, unless some enterprising culinary agent has converted it into curry or devil. So it was proved beyond any doubt that an Indian snake charmer was not a humbug and a swindler, as many suppose, but a strong-minded, quick-eyed, active, courageous man. The cool determination and heroism of the charmer in the present instance was rewarded by the sum of two rupees (two shillings, sterling), and he left the compound with an extra snake in his basket, thankful to the preservers of his children, as he styled us, and to whom, he said, he owed his life and existence.”
The snakes used in performances at circus or “side shows” in this country are not poisonous, though their bite causes a painful wound, which it is very difficult to heal. The snakes are fed to satiety, and the only thing necessary to constitute a “snake charmer” of this kind is the overcoming of the natural repugnance to these reptiles. What was exhibited as a wonderful example of affection between a child and a snake some years ago, was a hideous humbug. The story told by the exhibitors of the little girl meeting the snake, sharing her bread and milk with it, and becoming violently attached to it (which attachment was claimed to be returned), before the child’s parents knew of it at all, and how these strong friends refused to be parted, was a tissue of lies. The snake had been caught and tamed, and the little girl then compelled by her unnatural parents to fondle the repulsive thing, from which she instinctively shrunk, and these stories were started in the papers about this wonderful “love.” When curiosity had been aroused, public exhibitions were given, but we believe the enterprises proved a deserved failure, as few persons could endure to witness this outrage on nature, though many, doubtless, believed the story told.
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