hey play a buzzing
music. On one occasion, three men appeared, dressed only in their
turbans and waist cloths, in which it was impossible they could have
concealed any snakes. My husband took them to some wild ground, where
they speedily caught a couple of large cobras, and returning with the
venomous creatures having placed them on the ground, made them rear up
their bodies, and raise and bow their heads, keeping exact time with the
music. After they had ceased, my husband speedily killed the snakes,
and on examining them the poison fangs were found to be perfect.
Generally, however, the snake-charmers either extract the fangs of the
snakes they carry about with them, or wisely employ those which are
harmless. They allow the creatures to crawl over their bodies, and
twist and twine themselves in the most horrible manner round their necks
and arms, and I have seen a snake putting its forked tongue into its
master's mouth.

"There are instances, however, of the venomous serpents biting the
snake-charmers, who have thus lost their lives.

"At one of the stations where my husband was quartered, snakes were very
numerous, and we used to keep a mongoose in the house to destroy them.
It is a pretty little animal, a species of ichneumon with catlike habits
and a very prying disposition. The common idea is, that if bitten by a
venomous serpent, it runs to find a particular herb, which prevents the
venom taking effect. This, however, is not really the case, the
mongoose depends upon its own vigilance and great agility for escaping
from the fangs of even the most active serpent, for if bitten, it would
die like any other animal.

"I should not like to see men allowing snakes to put their tongues in
their mouths, even though I knew that the fangs had been taken out,"
observed Fanny. "But I should like to see the jugglers you were
speaking of, mamma, who performed such wonderful tricks."

"I was mentioning the Indian gipsies or Nutts, as they are called, who
travel as those in England used to do, from one end of the country to
the other, and appear to have no settled home. A party arrived one day
at our station, and offered to exhibit their tricks, and your papa gave
them leave to do so.

"There were among them several persons of all ages. First an old man
took his seat on the ground and began violently beating a drum, shouting
out that we should soon see what we should see. Meantime a young man
and a boy had fixed