t enters the blood. If the bite pierces a large
artery, death follows surely and rapidly. Otherwise the victim does not
die for several hours, and may be saved by suitable remedies applied
immediately. A dog when bitten begins to bark and howl, vomits, and
jumps about in the greatest uneasiness and despair. In a short time he
becomes weak and helpless and dies. If the same cobra bites several
victims one after the other within a couple of hours, the first dies,
the second becomes violently ill, while the third is less affected. This
is, of course, due to the fact that the contents of the poison glands
become gradually exhausted; but they soon collect again.

When a man is bitten, his body becomes deadly cold, and every sign of
life disappears. His breathing and pulse cannot be perceived at all. He
loses consciousness and feeling and cannot even swallow. With judicious
treatment the small spark of life still left may be preserved. For about
ten days, however, the invalid remains very feeble, and then a slow
improvement sets in. But as a rule the man dies, for in the Indian
jungle help is seldom at hand, and the end soon comes. If the victim
lies for two whole days as though dead, and yet does not actually die,
it may be hoped that his body is throwing off the effect of the poison.

There are many extraordinary men in India. In Benares especially, but
also in any other town, the shrivelled self-torturers called "fakirs"
may be seen in the streets. They are stark naked save for a small
loin-cloth. They are miserable and thin as skeletons, and their whole
bodies are smeared with ashes. They sit motionless at the street corners
of Benares, always in the same posture. One sits cross-legged with his
arms stretched up. Try to hold your arms straight up only for five
minutes, and you will feel that they gradually grow numb. But this man
always sits thus. His arms seem to become fixed in this unnatural
position. As he never uses them they wither away in time. Compared with
his large head they might belong to a child. Another purposely
extinguishes the light of his eyes by staring day after day straight at
the sun with wide-open eyes.

Among the curiosities of India are also the snake-charmers. There are
several varieties of them, and it seems difficult to distinguish exactly
between them. Some appear to be themselves afraid of the snakes they
exhibit, while others handle them with a remarkable contempt of danger.
Some pull out