Again swept back the tide of years, And ever cherish'd by his side, With him in knightly tourney rode, Then in the mourning father's soul, And, for the dear sake of the dead, MRS. SIGOURNEY. SNAKES AND SNAKE CHARMERS. To new-comers in Hindostan, and particularly those of nervous temperament, snakes of various kinds constitute a source of perpetual alarm. Their numbers are immense, and no place is sacred from their visitations. Just fancy the agreeable surprise resulting from such little occurrences as the following, which are far from being rare. You get up in a morning, after a feverish night perhaps; languidly you reach for your boots, and upon pulling on one, feel something soft before your toes, and on turning it upside down, and giving it a shake, out pops a small snake of the carpet tribe-as they are called, probably from their domestic propensitics-wondering what can be the cause of his being thus rudely ejected from his night's quarters, Or suppose, at any time during the day, you should be musically inclined, you take your flute from its resting place, and proceed to screw it together, but find, on making an attempt to play, that something is the matter, and on peeping into it discover that a little serpentine gentleman has there sought and found a snug lodgment. Perhaps your endeavor to give it breath with your mouth, makes Mr Snake feel his habitation in the instrument uncomfortably cold, and, ere you are awarè of his presence, he is out, and wriggling among your fingers. 190 SNAKES AND SNAKE CHARMERS. Such incidents as these cause rather unpleasant starts to those who are new to Hindostanic matters, though the natives of the land, or persons who have been long resident in it, might only smile at the new comer's uneasiness, and tell him that these little intruders were perfectly harmless. But even with the assurance of this fact, it is long ere most Europeans can tolerate the sight and presence of these snakes, much less feel comfortable under their cold touch. Besides, it is but too well known that all these creatures are not innoxious. Well do I remember the fright that one poor fellow got in the barracks at Madras. He had possibly been indulging too freely overnight; at least, when he rose in the morning in question, he felt thirsty in the extreme. Yawning most volcanically, he made up to one of the room windows, were stood a large water-bottle or jar, one of those long-necked clay things in which they usually keep fluids in the East. Upon taking this inviting vessel into his hands, he observed that there seemed to be but little water in it, yet enough, as he thought, to cool his parched throat; and he had just applied it to his lips, when something touched them-certainly not water, whatever else it might be. He hastily withdrew the vessel from his mouth, though still re taining it in his hands, when, to his amazement and horror, a regular cobra, the most deadly and dangerous of all the common serpents of India, reared its hideously distended and spectacled head from the jar, not a foot from its disturber's nose. murder!" cried the poor fellow, who was a son of Erin; and as he uttered the exclamation, he dashed bottle, snake, and all to the ground, and took to his heels, nor stopped until he was a full hundred yards from the spot. Here he told his story in safety, and the intruder was in good time got rid of by the cautious use of fire-arms. "0 The Hindoos, or at least the serpent-charmers among them. pretend, as is well known, to handle all sorts of snakes with impunity, to make them come and go at a call, and. in short, to have a cabalistic authority over the whole race. nese pretensions are necessary to the exercise of their profession, which consists, in part, in ridding private houses of troublesome visitants of this description. Or of these serpent-charmers will assert to a householder that there are snakes about his premises, and, partly from motives of fear, and partly from curiosity, the householder promises the man a reward, if he succeed in showing and removing them. The juggler goes to work, and soon snakes are seen to issue from some corner or another, obedient to his call. The performer takes them up fearlessly, and they meet like old friends. In fact, the opinion of the more enlightened residents in India is, that the snakes and their charmers are old friends; that he hid them there, and of course knew where to find them; and, moreover, that having long ago extracted the poisonous fangs, he may well handle them without alarm. Still, a large portion of the community, European as well as natives, believe that these charmers have strange powers over the snake tribe. Snake-charming is not confined to India. There are some of the natives of Africa and America, who possess the power of what is called " charming," or producing a benumbing or stupifying effect on poisonous serpents and scorpions, by handling them. This power is, in some, natural and hereditary, while in others it is acquired by chewing the roots or other parts of certain plants, rubbing them in their hands, or bathing their bodies in water containing an infusion of them. In that part of Africa which lies northward of the great desert of Sahara, there was formerly a tribe called the Psylli, who seem to have possessed this power, either from nature or art, in a degree that occasioned the name of Psylli to be given to all persons capable of producing similar effects. Plutarch informs us that Cato, in his march through the desert, took with him a number of these Psylli, to suck out the poisons from the wounds of such of his soldiers as might be bitten by the numerous serpents which infested that region. It was then ignorantly believed that this power of subduing the poison was the effect of magic, and the Psylli, to confirm this belief, always, when in the exercise of this fascination, muttered spells or chanted verses over the person whom they were in the act of curing. Many have ventured to doubt the existence of this power being possessed by any class of people, but the concurrent testimony of the best accredited travellers seems to confirm the fact. Mr. Bruce distinctly states, from minute personal observation, that all the blacks in the kingdom of Sennaar are perfectly armed by nature against the bite of either scorpion or viper. They take the horned snake-there the most common, and one of the most fatal of the viper tribe- in their hands at all times, put them in their bosoms, and throw them at each other, as children 192 THOU DIDST, O MIGHTY GOD, EXIST. do apples and balls, during which sport the serpents are seldom irritated to bite, and if they do, ne mischief ensues from the wound. The Arabs of the same country. he also observes, have not by nature this protective power, but generally acquire it by the use of certain plants. The artificial means of rendering the person invulnerable to the bite of snakes seems also to be practised in South America. It is said that the cobra is fond of milk, and that a knowledge of this fact has sometimes saved the lives of persons who were on the point of being bitten. An anecdote is related of a party of gentlemen sitting at table in India, when one of them felt a cobra coiling itself round his leg. Appalled at his situation, he desired his companions, in a whisper, not to speak or make any noise, if they would save his life. All were immediately silent. He next, in a low tone, requested a servant to bring a jug of milk, and pour it cautiously on the floor, near his foot. This being done, the cobra, in a short time, uncoiled itself, and descended to partake of the milk, when, as may be supposed, little ceremony was used in despatching it. An exemption from reptiles of this deadly class is surely one of England's greatest blessings. -CHAMBERS. I THOU DIDS'T, O MIGHTY GOD, EXIST. THOU didst, O mighty God, exist Ere time begun its race; Before the ample elements Fill'd up the voids of space. Before the pond'rous earthly globe Ere through the gloom of ancient nigh On starry poles was rear'd. Before the loud, melodious spheres Ere through the empyrean courts Or to their harps the sons of light Or prais'd Thy wondrous name; And when the pillars of the world And all this vast and goodly frame, When from her orb the moon shall start, And all the trembling starry lamps Their ancient course forsake; For ever permanent and fix'd, Unchanged in everlasting years Shall Thy existence be. THE EVENING WIND. SPIRIT that breathest through my lattice-thou -MRS. Roughening their crests, and scattering high their spra Nor I alone: a thousand bosoms round And languid forms rise up, and pulses bound Curl the still waters, bright with stars, and rouse Summoning from the innumerable boughs The strange, deep harmonies that haunt his breast; And 'twixt the o'ershadowing branches and the grass. The faint old man shall lean his silver head To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep, And dry the moisten'd curls that overspread His temples, while his breathing grows more deep; And softly part his curtains to allow |