CATCHING COBRAS

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 73

CATCHING COBRAS

There can be hardly anyone amongst the many thousands of people that have visited Luxor who has not witnessed the astonishing performance of Sheikh Musa, the gifted and fearless master of reptiles (says- Gerald Dene in the Spectator). There are some, I believe, who think that there is an element of imposture in it. I shall not contend against this assumption; suffice it to say that I have many times disproved it to my own complete satisfaction. We sallied forth after lunch, the three of us, Jeremy and Musa and I, to the ancient, massive mud-brick ruins south of the great temple of Karnak. This is a hunting ground beloved of Musa, for it is also beloved of snakes. There we dismounted from our carriage and were immediately joined by the diminutive six-year-old boy who carries Musa’s little basket for the captured dealers of deatn. He appeared to materialise from nowhere, but in reality he had ridden on the back axle of the arabiyeh which brought us from the village. Musa immediately commenced his incantations :— Bifadl Bismalla we bi’lla. Aksamtu alek ya dabib. His voice rises and falls on the still air as he advances with long deliberate strides, now halting, now turning his head to this side or that, now smiting the ground with his stout staff. A group of frightened urchins stand at a respectful distance from the magician and his quarry. The doom of one beast is already, written on the face of the charmer. In two strides he is beside the wall and has dislodged a lump of clay at the base; he stoops and picks up a scorpion. The invocation ceases while he holds it up for our inspection. Releasing the venemous upcurled tail, he holds the creature by its body. Instantly it strikes his thumb with its long sting. Musa, upbraids it for its presumption, calls it the son of a dog, and invokes a curse upon its father. Then he places the scorpion on the wall-face and draws round it an. imaginary circle with his finger commanding it to remain there till called for. Bi izn sheikhi Ahmed er Rifaia We saad u Din we Nur u Din We araba el mudarakin. The dusty ruins send back the echo oi the chant. We have rounded the south-east corner of the walls, and Musa s tone is a shade higher, his glance more intent, his nostrils more visibly distended as he peers into the depths of a cleft. He has nosed out a snake. Our pulses quicken. He says it is a cobra. I mount a convenient boulder est the brute should fall from Musa’s hand in my direction. Musa probes the depths of the cavern with his staff, some times darting back as the terrified snake at bay spits venom atjiis face, or strikes at the bared arm prepared to seize him. Presently his arm is deep in the cleft, ins left ear pressing against the wall as he strains to take hold of his victim by the tail. Then he straightens himself and draws out a great big cobra. The snake is stiff and rigid like a stout ash plant. With a mutter Musa throws the cobra at his feet. Now begins the struggle for dominion. The snake rears up its head, expanding its hood and striking at its enemy. Sprays of poison fall on Musa’s stick; all the while he keeps up a stream of invocation. At last the fight is ended and the victory won. The snake meets its conqueror s eyes in sullen fury. Still chanting his weird song, Musa lays his right hand palm uppermost on the' ground under the cobra’s very head. Will it strike? . No, the unrelenting eve of - ts master is on it, and like a faithful hound it lays its head on Musa’s open hand On e more cobra, but a small one; two harmless long thin snakes; a fearsomelooking mahogany-coloured short snake, three or four more scorpions, and a horned viper were added to the basket before we finished the day’s work. The horned viper was captured in the temple of Karnak, under a fallen block o f i x . I Th - is snake also rears its head, but folds its body tightly together in a series of S bends, and retreats backwards, making a loud noise like an escape of steam by friction between its scales.

The mahogany-coloured snake was picked up from the deep dry dust of sun-baked Nile mud on the path outside the temple. Musa’s fingers suddenly penetrated the dust exactly over the reptile’s head, aqd grasped it with forefinger and thumb safely behind the nape and withdrew it under our astonished gaze. After half an hour’s roam about the ruins of Karnak we returned to our arabiyeh, not forgetting to call and collect our first victim of the afternoon, which w e found still clinging-to the wall inside the magic circle traced by Sheikh Musa to enclose it.