signs of either pain or fear, and we kept him with us full four hours,
without his applying any sort of remedy, or seeming inclined to do so.

"To make myself assured" (adds Bruce) "that the animal was in its
perfect state, I made the man hold him by the neck, so as to force him
to open his mouth and lacerate the thigh of a pelican, a bird I had
tamed, as big as a swan. The bird died in about thirteen minutes, though
it was apparently affected in fifty seconds; and we cannot think this
was a fair trial, because a very few minutes before it had bit the man,
and so discharged part of its virus, and it was made to scratch the
pelican by force, without any irritation or action of its own.

[Illustration: SNAKE-CHARMING.]

"I will not hesitate to aver," he adds, "that I have seen at Cairo (and
this may be seen daily without trouble or expense) a man, who came from
above the catacombs, where the pits of the mummy-birds are kept, who has
taken a Cerastes with his naked hand from a number of others lying at
the bottom of the tub, has put it upon his bare head, covered it with
the common red cap he wears, then taken it out, put it in his breast,
and tied it about his neck like a necklace, after which it has been
applied to a hen and bit it, which has died in a few minutes;. and, to
complete the experiment, the man has taken it by the neck, and beginning
at its tail, has ate it, as one would do a carrot or a stock of celery,
without any seeming repugnance."[192]

A few years earlier than Bruce, Hasselquist, an enthusiastic young
naturalist, and one of the pupils of Linnaeus, had visited the East. He
paid much attention to the subject, and records his judgment that there
is no delusion in serpent-charming, but that certain persons do really,
in whatever way they effect it, fascinate serpents. "They take the most
poisonous vipers with their bare hands, play with them, put them in
their bosoms, and use a great many more tricks with them, as I have
often seen. The person I saw on the above day had only a small viper,
but I have frequently seen them handle those that are three or four feet
long, and of the most horrid sort. I inquired _and examined_ whether
they cut out the viper's poisonous teeth: but _I have seen with my own
eyes they do not_: we may therefore conclude, that there are to this day
Psylli in Egypt; but what art they use is not generally known. Some
people are very superstitious; and the generality believe this to be