ed, and, to our
great astonishment, asked for it only two rupees. This talisman became
my own property and I still keep it. The buni asserts, and our Hindu
friends confirm the story, that it is not a stone but an excrescence. It
is found in the mouth of one cobra in a hundred, between the bone of the
upper jaw and the skin of the palate. This "stone" is not fastened to
the skull, but hangs, wrapped in skin, from the palate, and so is very
easily cut off; but after this operation the cobra is said to die. If
we are to believe Bishu Nath, for that was our sorcerer's name, this
excrescence confers upon the cobra who possesses it the rank of king
over the rest of his kind.

"Such a cobra," said the buni, "is like a Brahman, a Dwija Brahman
amongst Shudras, they all obey him. There exists, moreover, a poisonous
toad that also, sometimes, possesses this stone, but its effect is much
weaker. To destroy the effect of a cobra's poison you must apply the
toad's stone not later than two minutes after the infliction of the
wound; but the stone of a cobra is effectual to the last. Its healing
power is certain as long as the heart of the wounded man has not ceased
to beat."

Bidding us good-bye, the buni advised us to keep the stone in a dry
place and never to leave it near a dead body, also, to hide it during
the sun and moon eclipses, "otherwise," said he, "it will lose all its
power." In case we were bitten by a mad dog, he said, we were to put the
stone into a glass of water and leave it there during the night, next
morning the sufferer was to drink the water and then forget all danger.

"He is a regular devil and not a man!" exclaimed our colonel, as soon
as the buni had disappeared on his way to a Shiva temple, where, by the
way, we were not admitted.

"As simple a mortal as you or I," remarked the Rajput with a smile,
"and, what is more, he is very ignorant. The truth is, he has been
brought up in a Shivaite pagoda, like all the real snake-charmers. Shiva
is the patron god of snakes, and the Brahmans teach the bunis to produce
all kinds of mesmeric tricks by empirical methods, never explaining to
them the theoretical principles, but assuring them that Shiva is behind
every phenomenon. So that the bunis sincerely ascribe to their god the
honor of their 'miracles."'

"The Government of India offers a reward for an antidote to the poison
of the cobra. Why then do the bunis not claim it, rather than let
thousands of people d