THE ART OF THE SNAKECHARMER.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12292, 20 July 1914, Page 3

THE ART OF THE SNAKECHARMER.

.SERPENT HUNTING ON THE NILE. (By "Pilgrim.") "Etna"- - Abid - Akbar - Solimau - Has&an," the strange, mysterious words ot Moussa-el-Hawv broke the silence, and we followed him quietly, almost stealthilv, as ho walked chanting solemnly. Suddcnlv the chant ceased, ho stopped, as immediately wc too stood still and waited, watching eagerly, expectantly, for we wero hunting, hunting lor serpents in the sacred precincts of Karnak itself. Comparatively few people today are interested in the ancient art ot snake-charming, and yet it is one of the oldest arts that exist, known long.before the clays of the Ptolemies, and used even now when snakes become too numerous aaid a- trouble to the people of Alth'ou zli many Indians and Egyptians profess to have the power to fascinate" serpents, there are but two or three" men at-present who are really expert, :.jj that we were exceptionally fortunate that at the time of our visit to Luxor xMoussa-el-Hawy, the most famous of them, should be there.also, and that ivc were able to arrange a hunting expedition with him. Mounted on sturdy donkeys we had ridden out from the great hotel on the wistern bank of the Nile, out past the gardens filled with palms and Lebbak 1 trees, past the great avenue of sacred sphinxes placed there 3.000 years ago bv Rameses the Second. Then, just before we reached tho Grand. Pylon itself, we turned abruptly to the right, and galloping across the sand, drew up at the entrance to a grove of date palms surrounded by a high mud wall. —Tho Secret of the Charm. — '' Awad-El-Haila- Mohammed - HamdiAllah," Again tho weird chanting be-gan.-words that to us meant nothing; they sounded but a series of names, but in them lay the secret of the charm.

The meaning Moussa- told us when we ashed him later was this: "Oh, sacred is the power I hold over seventy-eight varieties of reptiles.- descended to me I from the Prophet. Oh! come you snakes to me, and I will not harm you., for .should I kill you I would lose my charm." Moussa. shook his head and started forward again, walking cautiously, motioning us to follow, and this time as he stopped- he smiled, showing his per-fect-white teeth. "One snake," he said, and -plunging his arm into the vegetation "at the foot of a tree, he •drew out a long, thin reptile, wriggling violently and showing its thin, pointed tongue. Moussa dropped it for an instant and then as the snake was about to escape he seized it just above the head and holding it close to his face, spoke to it softlv while he made several passes with his'free hand. "One littlesnake, that nothing," he said to us, as at last he put the now quiet creature into a basket ho had brought. "Moussa now find one big cobra, but not in this garden/' and' so off--wo went across tho

desert. As we mounted our donkeys Aloussa-el-Hawy had pointed to the temple- of KuJnak, but as wc rode toward one of the eastern gates it suddenly occurred to us that it would bo well to test his powers, and, choosing a spot wherethere was only an old tumbled wall, we called to him to sec what ho could find' here where he must be entirely unprepared. Willingly the siiako charmer jumped down, and, walking di-

rectlv to the wall, picked from the top a large scorpion which crawled and clung to his hand. "Without even stopping to put the horrible thing into his basket he started on again, walking swiftly this time, as though on the track'of something worth while, chantin"- softlv as though oblivious of our disturbing presence. Then. deftly changing" the scorpion into his other hand. Moussa plunged his arm into a crevice in the wall and with an exclamation of delight pulled out a thick serpent covered with red spots, which foudit and clung to the protecting stones. "One verv bad cobra,' be shouted with glee. "atanda!" and the cobra that he had thrown upon the ground lav motionless as though dead 7 Another wave and it came to life ana in. wriggling backwards and forwards, twisting and turning. alto : nether reuulsivc and loathsome, ami then as Molina mads another, pais ii

disappeared into a hole which ho had made with his stick in the sand. In horror wo all protested. Had lie allowed this dangerous creatu.ro to escape!-' Oh, no! Twice ho struck tho ground, and out came the flat head, to be seized and thrust together with the scorpion into the basket. "Enough here; we go to Karnak." Moussa had stood tho tost, and wo followed him now with respect. —Splendid Sport.— Through the gate of Rameses the Great, among the fallen columns and colonnades, past the greatest obelisk in Egypt which still stands in its original position, and at last into the famous Ilypostyle Hall, with its gigantic lotus pillars. "What a scene it was just at sunset, when tho glorious light from the west across the Nile touched tho beautiful temple with gold, as it has done each day for more than W centuries. The tourists wero all gone by now, and everything 1 was silent but for the chanting of Moussa-el-Hawy, which seemed to carry us back into the past. It was all so natural, so fn keeping with the surroundings of the old world that for a time we all forgot the object of our expedition, and it seemed but a moment when from behind one of the huge columns glided a great cobra, and, raising itself to its full • height, it spread its hood and hissed at us. It was as though the royal cobra of the Pharaohs had come down out of tho paintings and) come to life, ■ defying us, hating us for disturbing the peace of centuries, daring to cross tho sacred threshold of the temple. Two more serpents Moussa-el-Hawy found that afternoon before ,wo tired of our hunt and started homewards, each deadly audi horrible of its kind, and at last, before wo departed, he threw theni. all together upon the ground, a disgusting mass, crawling and hissing at each other. To us they were repellent and revolting, but to the snake charmer they were wonderful and we left him comparing their beauties and describing to an admiring group of ragged urchins what splendid sport we had had.