256 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

probably seized and held in a manner which prevents their
biting, and this knack, acquired by long practice, will ac-
count for the many wonderful stories related; but when
their readiness and presence of mind fail, they die as others,
from the deadly bite. Roberts mentions an Indian serpent-
charmer who came to a gentleman’s house to exhibit his
tame snakes: he was told that there was a cobra di capello
in a cage, and asked if he could charm it; “Ob, yes,” said
the charmer, and the serpent was accordingly released from
its cage ; the man began his incantations, but the reptile
fastened upon his arm, and he was dead before night. The
serpent “would not hearken to the voice of the charmer.”
What an interesting confirmation is this of the truth of the
text !

In the ‘ Missionary Magazine’ for March, 1837, it is stated
that some incredulous persons, after taking every precaution,
sent a serpent-charmer into their garden. ‘The man began
playing with his pipe, and proceeding from one part of the
garden to another, for some minutes: he stopped at one
part of the wall, much injured by age, and intimated that
there was a serpent within.” (This faculty of discovering
serpents is attributed by Mr. Lane to their peculiar smell.)
“He then played quicker, and his notes were louder, when