to the point. Here a bird is the mesmeric practitioner. "I once saw a
golden eagle which appeared entirely to fascinate a rabbit that was put
into the large cage in which the eagle was kept. As soon as the rabbit
was introduced, the eagle fixed his eye upon it, and the rabbit intently
returned the gaze, and began going round the eagle in circles,
approaching nearer each time, the eagle meanwhile turning on his axis
(as it were) on the block of wood upon which he was seated, and keeping
his eye fixed upon that of the rabbit.
"When the rabbit had approached very near to the bottom of the eagle's
perch, it stood up on its hind legs, and looked the eagle in the face;
the eagle then made his pounce, which appeared at once to break the
charm, and the rabbit ran for its life, but it was too late for it to
escape the clutch of the eagle, and the instant death which followed
that tremendous squeeze."[181]
I am not sure how far a parallelism exists between this animal
fascination by the eye, and that attraction which fire is well known to
possess for many creatures. Shelley sings of
"The desire of the moth for the star,"
as if it were a romantic passion for that which is bright and beautiful.
This is, of course, a poet's aspect; the insect-collector, who wants to
fill his cabinet--"my friend the weaver," who nightly pursues his
"untaxed and undisputed game"--well knows that the glare of his
bull's-eye lamp will attract the moths by thousands on a damp night in
June. The little flitting atoms pass and repass across the field of
light, suddenly flashing into full radiance, and in an instant relapsing
into the darkness, unless his gauze net is too rapid for them. I have
often sat reading late at night with a candle in the window, and
observed with interest how many insects of all orders will soon
congregate on the outside; now and then some large moth coming up with a
dull _thud_, or a great mailed beetle dashing against the glass with a
crash that makes one look sharply up to see whether he has not cracked
the pane. In Jamaica I have taken many valuable beetles and other
insects around the candle-shades at an open window, which were not met
with in any other way.
So in Alabama, where it is customary in balmy autumn evenings for the
family to sit in the yard under the broad sheltering trees, by the
flickering light of the yard-fire. This fire is lighted at dusk on an
iron tripod breast-high, and kept up till bed-time. It is the duty of a
negro urchin to keep it constantly bright with splints of pine, so as to
maintain a perpetual blaze, as the object is to illuminate the yard and
its contiguous offices. The little "nigger" nods, of course, but the
loud scolding voice of master, mistress, or overseer, or any one else,
rates him, and rouses him to duty, as soon as the flame falls. It is
pleasant to sit and watch the effect of the light, either transmitted
through or reflected from the quivering leaves of the surrounding trees,
the blaze now rising brightly and playing in tongue-like flickering
spires, now sinking and dying to a ruddy glow, then suddenly reviving
under the frightened watchfulness of the sable minister, who plays the
part of vestal virgin at this altar.
Large insects often play around this fire. Beetles "wheel their drony
flight" in buzzing circles round for a few turns, and are gone; and
moths come fluttering about, and often scorch their plumy wings. I have
taken some very fine Sphinges and other moths thus; and the only
specimen I ever saw of that very curious insect the Mole-cricket alive
(a species distinct from, but very closely allied to, our European
insect) was one that suddenly dashed into the ashes of the
light-stand--a curious and interesting circumstance, when connected with
the opinion that I have before alluded to, that the _Gryllotalpa
Europaea_ is one of the producers of the _Ignis fatuus_.
Birds also are attracted by light at night. I have read of a Titmouse
that was seen fluttering around a gas-lamp in the suburbs of London, and
would not be driven away; it at length made its entrance into the lamp
through the orifice at the bottom, and continued to flit around and
across the jet. In 1832, a Herring-gull struck one of the mullions of
the Bell Rock Light-house with such force, that two of the polished
plates of glass, measuring about two feet square, and a quarter of an
inch in thickness, were shivered to pieces, and scattered over the floor
in a thousand atoms, to the great alarm of the keeper on watch, and the
other inmates of the house, who rushed instantly to the light-room. The
gull was found to measure five feet between the tips of the wings. In
his gullet was a large herring, and in his throat a piece of plate-glass
of about one inch in length.
Dr Livingstone gives some curious examples of the attractive power of
fire over various creatures in South Africa, which he attributes to a
sort of fascination. "Fire," he says, "exercises a fascinating effect on
some kinds of toads. They may be seen rushing into it on the evenings
without ever starting back on feeling pain. Contact with the hot embers
rather increases the energy with which they strive to gain the hottest
parts, and they never cease their struggles for the centre, even when
their juices are coagulating and their limbs stiffening in the roasting
heat. Various insects also are thus fascinated; but the scorpions may be
seen coming away from the fire in fierce disgust, and they are so
irritated as to inflict at that time their most painful stings."[182]
[164] _Peter Pilgrim._
[165] _Hist. of Carolina._
[166] _Amaenit. Acad._
[167] _Hist. of Carolina._
[168] _Dahomey and the Dahomans._
[169] _Visits to Madagascar_, 231.
[170] _Zoology of South Africa_--Reptilia.
[171] _Oiseaux d'Afrique._
[172] _Times_ Newspaper, November 9, 1852.
[173] _Zoologist_, 7273.
[174] _Zoologist_, 7382.
[175] Quoted in the _Zoologist_, 2397.
[176] _Pict. Museum_, ii. 107.
[177] _Reptiles_, (Rel. Tr. Soc.,) 206.
[178] _Bengal Sporting Mag._ for Oct. 1836; cited in the _Zoologist_,
5070.
[179] _Zool._, 5214.
[180] _Zool._, 7273.
[181] _Zool._ 4049, 4050.
[182] _Travels_, 144.
IX.
SERPENT-CHARMING.
From the day when the solemn doom was pronounced,--"I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed," the
serpent-form has begotten revulsion and dread in the human breast. And
deservedly; for a venomous serpent is a terrible enemy: the direful
venom of sin injected by "that old serpent, the Devil," is well
symbolised by the most potent of all lethic agencies,--the poison of the
rattlesnake or the cobra.
And yet in all ages there have been persons in the countries where the
most venomous snakes abound, who have professed, and have been believed
to enjoy, an absolute immunity from their bites, and even to exercise
some inexplicable power over them, whereby their rage is soothed, and
they are rendered for the time gentle and harmless. The Holy Scriptures
repeatedly allude to this ancient art. The Magicians of Egypt, who
turned their rods into serpents, are supposed to have had recourse to a
secret known, it is said, to the modern conjurors of the same country,
who, by pressing the nape of the neck of the cobra with their fingers,
throw it into a sort of catalepsy, by which its whole body becomes rigid
like a rod, and from which it is relieved by suddenly throwing it on the
ground. Aaron's rod was a veritable rod before and after the
transaction, but changed into a serpent by Divine miraculous energy:
theirs were serpents made to assume the appearance of rods for the
moment by a cunning device.
Other and more direct allusions, however, occur to the art of
serpent-charming. Thus the obduracy of the wicked is compared to "the
deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of
charmers, charming never so wisely."[183] And the Aseverity of the
Chaldean invaders is depicted under this imagery:--"Behold, I will send
serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they
shall bite you, saith the LORD."[184]
Among the ancient Romans the Psylli, a people of Africa, and the Marsi,
a German tribe who had settled in Italy, were reputed to have the power
of charming serpents, and to be endowed with immunity from the results
of their venom. Celsus, however, maintains that this power consisted in
an acquaintance with the fact, now well known, that animal poisons are
hurtful only when mingled with the blood. They may therefore be taken
into the mouth with perfect impunity. With reference to so great an
authority, however, there is more in the art and mystery of
serpent-charming than this.
When Lucian describes the Babylonian magician as walking abroad, and
calling to him all the serpents that were near, with certain ceremonies,
such as the utterance of sacred words from an ancient book, lustrations
made with sulphur and a torch, and solemn marchings in a circle, and
when he asserts that the venomous reptiles, _nolentes volentes_,
presented themselves harmless at his feet,--he describes a scene which
is sufficiently familiar to European travellers in Egypt and India. And
so, when Silius Italicus speaks of Atyr, instructed how to disarm
serpents of their dire venom, and to lull to sleep the terrible
water-snakes with his magic touch, he refers, whether truly or falsely,
to something of a more potent character than the feat by which Queen
Philippa saved the life of her royal husband.
Immunity from the poison of serpents, and serpent-charming, are two
things. The former, so far as it depends on the natural law already
mentioned, scarcely comes within the province of this work. But is there
not an innate immunity residing in some persons, and even in some
peoples, by which, without the operation of any recognised natural law,
or even any effort, they are securely protected either against the bites
of venomous serpents, or, at least, against the fatality which is the
ordinary result of being bitten?
The Psylli, according to Pliny, were so characteristically endowed with
this immunity, that they made it a test of the legitimacy of their
children; for they were accustomed to expose their new-born babes (only
in doubtful cases, we may suppose) to the most venomous serpents they
could find; assured that if their paternity was pure Psyllic, they would
be quite unharmed. Of this tribe was the ambassador Hexagon, who,
boasting of his power before the Roman consuls, submitted to the
crucial test which they suggested, of being inclosed in a vessel
swarming with poisonous reptiles, which, says the legendary story, hurt
him not.
The same historian tells us that the Psylli, who formerly inhabited the
vicinity of the Greater Syrtis,--that is, the modern Tripoli and
Barca,--were conquered and almost exterminated by the Nasamones, who
possessed their land; but that a remnant fled to some distant region. It
is not improbable that the present inhabitants of Sennaar, on the south
of Egypt, may be the lineal descendants of these same Psylli; for, since
Egypt was densely peopled and highly cultivated, a barbarous tribe could
scarcely have made good their footing there; and as on the other side
was the Great Desert of the Sahra, and on the north the sea, there was
no resource open to them but to creep along the desert edge of Egypt
till they found a thinly-inhabited land sufficiently savage to enable
them to form a settlement. The first region of this character that they
could possibly find would be Nubia; and there it is most interesting to
know that there exists a people at the present time, pretending to the
same powers as the old Psylli. Bruce, whose testimony, at first much
impugned, has come to be received with confidence, avouches that all the
black people in the kingdom of Sennaar, whether Funge or Nuba, are
perfectly armed against the bite of either scorpion or viper. They take
the _Cerastes_--a little asp with two horns, of the most deadly
venom--into their hands at all times, put them into their bosoms, and
throw them at one another as children do balls, without ever irritating
them by this usage so much as to make them bite. One day when the
traveller was sitting with the brother of the prime minister of Sennaar,
a slave of his brought a _Cerastes_, which he had just taken out of a
hole, and was using with every sort of familiarity. Bruce expressed his
suspicion that the teeth had been drawn, but was assured that they were
not, both by the slave and by his master, who, taking the viper from
him, wound it round his arm, and at the traveller's desire, ordered the
servant to accompany him with it to his residence. Here Bruce, to test
the power of the serpent, took a chicken by the neck, and made it
flutter; the seeming indifference of the snake immediately gave place to
eagerness, and he bit the fowl with great signs of anger, which died
almost immediately. Bruce considers that the indifference was only
seeming towards the man,--that it was indeed powerlessness, for he
constantly observed that, however lively the snake was before, yet upon
being seized by any of the blacks, it seemed as if taken with sudden
sickness and feebleness, frequently shut its eyes, and never turned its
mouth towards the arm of the person who held it.
How exactly this account agrees with the words of Silius,
"---- _tactuque_ graves _sopire_ chelydros."
The Nubian traveller informs us that the Arabs--meaning apparently the
Moslem blacks--have not this secret naturally, but that from infancy
they acquire an exemption from the mortal consequences attending the
bites of all venomous reptiles by chewing a certain root, and washing
themselves (it is not _anointing_) with an infusion of certain plants in
water. This is by no means improbable; and it were much to be desired
that the root and the plants were obtained and identified, that their
preventive powers might be tested by competent men of science. In all
probability they would be found to belong to the Quassia tribe, the
natural order _Simarubaceae_, plants of the tropical regions of both
continents, whose juices are of an intense bitterness. An infusion of
the chips of _Quassia amara_ and of _Simaruba amara_ is found to be an
effectual poison to flies; and the Brazilian Indians use an infusion of
_Simaruba versicolor_ as a specific against the bite of serpents, and
use it with great effect in the pediculous diseases which are so common
among that people.
It was a plant of this order, _Simaba cedron_, on which experiments were
made a few years ago, at the Zoological Gardens, just before the
lamentable death, by the bite of the Cobra, of poor Gurling, who,
indeed, assisted in them. Mr Squire, the eminent chemist, was desirous
of testing the powers of this plant, which, dried and reduced to powder,
is in high repute among the Indians of South America as a serpentifuge.
Dr Quain and Mr Evans concurred in this desire; and, with the permission
of the Zoological Society of London, a series of experiments, of much
interest, if not very conclusive in their results, were performed at the
Gardens, on the 8th July 1852.
The trials were made only on small animals, but in each case the alleged
remedy proved inefficacious. The experimenters, however, think that it
would be unsafe to reject the _Simaba cedron_ as an antidote because it
here failed, inasmuch as death followed so rapidly that there was small
opportunity for its action. It is not until it shall have been tried and
have failed upon stronger animals, that, in the face of the experience
of the Indians in hot climates, it should be repudiated. The remedy was
applied in the form of an infusion poured down the throat of the bitten
animal as quickly as possible after the stroke, and of the moistened
powder applied to the wound. It seems to me worthy of consideration
whether, in the light of what Bruce says of the Nubians, a washing of
the body with the infusion, or an imbibition of it, or both, _before_
the serpent's attack, might not be more efficacious as a preventive
either of the bite or of its results, than its administration afterwards
as a cure. Whatever be the substance with which the Nubians wash
themselves, it seems to communicate to the body some quality, perhaps of
odour, which repels and sickens serpents. Now, this may reside in the
intense bitterness of the _Simarubaceae_; and it would be worth while to
try whether a rattlesnake or a puff-adder would strike a guinea-pig that
had just been bathed in an infusion of the _Simaba_, or to which a dose
of the same had just been administered, and if so, whether the bite then
would be fatal. Even if these experiments yielded no positive result, it
would still be open to consider whether the lapse of time, or a long
sea-voyage, or exposure to our moist climate, may not have deprived the
powdered root of the plant of antitoxic properties which it may have
possessed when freshly prepared in its native region.
Tschudi, whose researches into the natural history of Peru are replete
with interesting and valuable information, has some observations on the
native remedies for serpent-bites which I will cite, prefacing the
extract with a graphically terrible picture from his pen of the venomous
reptiles themselves:--
"The serpents are to be feared; and, on approaching them, it is not easy
to decide at the first view whether they belong to a poisonous or
innoxious species. In the forests, where the fallen leaves lie in
thick moist layers, the foot of the hunter sinks deep at every step.
Multitudes of venomous Amphibia are hatched in the half-putrescent
vegetable matter; and he who inadvertently steps on one of these
animals may consider himself uncommonly fortunate if he can effect
his retreat without being wounded. But it is not merely in these places,
which seem assigned by nature for their abode, that loathsome reptiles
are found: they creep between the roots of large trees, under the
thickly-interwoven brushwood, on the open grass-plats, and in the maize
and sugar-cane fields of the Indians; nay, they crawl even into their
huts, and most fortunate is it for the inhabitants of those districts
that the number of the venomous, compared with the innoxious reptiles,
is comparatively small. Of the poisonous serpents, only a few kinds are
known whose bite is attended with very dangerous consequences. The
minamaru or jergon (_Lachesis picta_, Tsch.) is, at most, three feet
long, with a broad, heart-shaped head, and a thick upper lip. It haunts
the higher forests, while in those lower down his place is filled by his
no less fearful relative, the flammon, (_Lachesis rhombeata_, Prince
Max.,) which is six or seven feet in length. These serpents are usually
seen coiled almost in a circle, the head thrust forward, and the fierce,
treacherous-looking eyes glaring around, watching for prey, upon which
they pounce with the swiftness of an arrow; then, coiling themselves up
again, they look tranquilly on the death-struggle of the victim. It
would appear that these Amphibia have a perfect consciousness of the
dreadful effect of their poisonous weapon, for they use it when they are
neither attacked nor threatened, and they wound not merely animals fit
for their food, but all that come within their reach. More formidable
than the two snakes just described, but happily much less common, is the
brown ten-inch-long viper (_Echidna ocellata_, Tsch.). It is brown, with
two rows of black circular spots. The effect of its bite is so rapid
that it kills a strong man in two or three minutes. So convinced are the
natives of its inevitably fatal result, that they never seek any remedy:
but immediately on receiving the wound lay themselves down to die. In
the montanas of Pangoa this viper abounds more than in any other
district: and never without apprehension do the cholos undertake their
annual journey for the coca harvest, as they fear to fall victims to the
bite of this viper. The warning sound of the rattlesnake is seldom
heard in the hot montanas, and never in the higher regions.
"Nature, who in almost all things has established an equilibrium,
supplies the natives with remedies against the bite of the serpent. One
of the cures most generally resorted to is the root of the amarucachu
(_Polianthes tuberosa_,[185] Linn.), cut into slips and laid upon the
wound. Another is the juice of the creeping plant called vijuco de huaco
(_Mikania huaco_,[186] Kunth), which is already very widely celebrated.
"This latter remedy was discovered by the negroes of the equatorial
province Choco. They remarked that a sparrow-hawk, called the _huaco_,
picked up snakes for his principal food, and when bitten by one it flew
to the vejuco and ate some of the leaves. At length the Indians thought
of making the experiment on themselves, and when bitten by serpents they
drank the expressed juice of the leaves of the vejuco, and constantly
found that the wound was thereby rendered harmless. The use of this
excellent plant soon became general, and in some places the belief of
the preservative power of the vejuco juice was carried so far that men
in good health were inoculated with it. In this process some spoonfuls
of the expressed fluid are drunk, and afterwards some drops are put into
incisions made in the hands, feet, and breast. The fluid is rubbed into
the wounds by fresh vejuco leaves. After this operation, according to
the testimony of persons worthy of credit, the bite of the poisonous
snake fails for a long time to have any evil effect. Beside the two
plants mentioned above, many others are used with more or less
favourable results. The inhabitants of the montana also resort to other
means, which are too absurd to be detailed here: yet these medicines are
often of benefit, for their operation is violently reactive. They
usually produce the effect of repeated emetics and cause great
perspiration. There is much difference in the modes of external
treatment of the wound, and burning is often employed. I saw an Indian
apply to his wife's foot, which had been bitten, a plaster consisting of
moist gunpowder, pulverised sulphur, and finely-chopped tobacco mixed up
together. He laid this over the wounded part, and set fire to it. This
application in connexion with one of the nausea-exciting remedies taken
inwardly had a successful result.
An English officer, engaged in the wars which freed the South American
republics from the Spanish dominion, thus speaks of a plant which is
probably the same _Mikania_. His account is curiously confirmatory of
the accuracy of Bruce:--
"Among the many medicinal and poisonous plants growing on the banks of
the Orinoco, one of the most singular is a species of _vejuco_, which,
when properly administered, proves a powerful preservative from the
effects of poisonous serpents. It even appears to deprive these reptiles
either of their power or inclination to use their fangs. Some of the
leaves and small branches are pounded, and applied in that state as a
cataplasm to both arms; the skin having been previously scarified freely
above the elbows. This species of inoculation is repeated, at stated
intervals; the juice of the bruised plant, diluted with water, being
also occasionally drunk. Several soldiers, belonging to General Tedeno's
division, had undergone this treatment, and frequently made the
advantage they had thus acquired useful on a march. They were thereby
enabled to take shelter in deserted huts, which we dared not enter on
account of the snakes always lurking in such places; although these men
could bring them out in their hands, without sustaining any injury. As
they had been for some time in our company, we could ascertain that they
had not any snakes in their possession concealed for the purpose of
deception. Besides, they could have little or no inducement to practice
an imposition upon us, as they neither asked for, nor expected, any
reward for exhibiting their skill in destroying these reptiles."[187]
According to Captain Forbes, the negroes of Dahomey employ a grass, or
grass-like herb, with success. One of his hammock-men had been bitten by
venomous snakes repeatedly, but, his father being a doctor, he had
escaped injury. Walking one day through some long grass, the captain,
pointing to the bare legs of his servant, asked if there was not danger.
"None," said he; "my father picks some grass, and if on the same day the
decoction is applied, the wound heals at once."[188]