commencement of its acquaintance with man. It does not wait to be hurt or even insulted before it attacks. With those corkscrew coils it will pursue at a pace that needs a good sprinter to keep his distance. I once met a man who had been so chased. There was one moment which he had no desire to live over again, and that was when he was in doubt as to whether he was gaining on the snake or the snake was gaining on him. If it had been the latter, it is unlikely that he would have lived to tell the story. The natives believe that if the bis-cobra is cut in two, a head will grow on the tail half and a tail will grow on the head half, so that there will be two snakes instead of one.
Thousands of people die in India every year from snake bite. The mark of the fangs upon the flesh is sufficient evidence to prove the cause of death. They are not difficult to make artificially. Poisoners are well aware of this, and the serpent bears the blame of much evil that might with justice be charged to man.
Visitors to India make no special study beforehand of the conditions of life in the Tropics. They are under a vague impression that the country abounds in tigers and snakes, and that both these terrors will haunt their footsteps at every turn. They look for a cobra sitting erect and combative upon the doorstep with its hood spread, and they expect to hear a tiger roaring in the distant jungle beyond the confines of the cantonment. I went through a quarter of a century in India without seeing one of the royal beasts at large; and the snakes I have encountered might be numbered on my fingers. Yet in a place like Trichinopoly the cobras are never far off and may be easily found.
A visitor who had been in the country for a few months expressed his disappointment at not having seen a snake. I undertook to gratify his curiosity at once. It was
