Taking the Viper is apparently attended with great danger; yet the persons employed are so dexterous, that an accident rarely happens. Vipers crawl slowly, and are unable to turn their heads with any considerable agility, from the firm manner in which their spine is articulated. Some of the Viper-catchers make use of a forked stick, with which they fix the animal to the ground; and, while it is making ineffectual efforts to defend itself, with the mouth open, the fangs are cut away: others provoke the Viper to bite at a piece of red cloth, which, being snatched hastily away, drags out the poison-fangs: but the most certain method of rendering them harmless, is, when the catcher has the boldness to seize them suddenly by the neck, holding them in so firm a grasp, that they are unable to turn. He then leisurely takes out the poison-fangs, and deposits the Viper in a bag.
In all hot countries the
multiplicity of Serpents renders it necessary that the destroying of them
should be a sort of business. The
Serpent catchers do not fail to impose upon the credulity of the people, by
attributing their art to magical incantations. In India they certainly display
considerable skill in their art; for they ascertain, by smelling indifferent
burrows, in which of them the Snake is concealed! They pretend to charm the
reptile from its hole, by playing on an instrument not unlike a hautboy; but it
is a question whether the seeds of the dunneai, which they scatter on the
floor, are not the only attraction. These smell like coriander, and seem to be
irresistible to the Serpent, which speedily comes out, and is seized by the
catcher towards the neck with a firm grasp, while his assistant-musician throws
away his pipe, and robs the Serpent of its fangs. Thus not merely Vipers, but
even the formidable Cobra Capella is rendered an innocent animal by the
dexterity of its captor.
From the 1819 book: Foreign Field Sports, Fisheries, Sporting Anecdotes from Drawings by Messrs. Howitt, Atkinson, Clark, Manskirch, & C. With a supplement of New South Wales
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