to recover the halter of his camel if he happens to lose it while
mounted, and presenting altogether a parallel to a substantial yeoman
with his riding-whip, come to town to do a little justice business with
the Mayor. A stable-keeper came and said, that two snakes had made their
appearance in the stable; on which the Arab, being no more in the habit
of fearing such vermin than a European farmer of fearing rats, proceeded
towards the stable, and I followed him. Sure enough there were two
snakes in dalliance in the horse's stall; and my construction was, that
it was the poor animals' St. Valentine. The Arab, however, ruthlessly
smote them with his gib stick, in a way that showed an exact
comprehension of what would settle a snake; and brought them hanging by
the tails and still writhing with the remains of life, and laid them at
the threshold of the house. I looked at the snakes, and felt a strong
persuasion that they were of a harmless kind; but whether they were or
not, was of small moment as the Arab treated them.

I remember in India once driving one of the snake-jugglers to discovery.
He told the servants there were snakes in the stable; and offered to
produce one. He accordingly went, with piping and other ceremonies, and
soon demonstrated a goodly _cobra de capello_ struggling by the tail. He
secured this in his repertory of snakes, and said he thought there was
another; on which he went through the same operations again. Though he
had been too quick for me on both occasions, I offered him a rupee to
produce a third, which he agreed to; and this time I saw the snake's
head, struggling rather oddly in his nether garments. He ran into the
horse's stall, rushed forward with a shriek to distract attention, and
then I saw him jerk out a snake of some four feet long, and drag it
backwards by the tip of the tail as if desperately afraid of it. Knowing
his snakes must be an exhaustible quantity, I proffered a second rupee
for another, taking care to keep between him and the snake-basket; which