The action of the snake-charmer is as follows: he takes in his hand a root, the virtue of which is supposed to preserve him from the Venemous effects of the bite of the Cobra. Drawing the reptile from the cage in which he keeps it confined, he irritates it by presenting a stick to it; the animal immediately erects the fore part of its body, swells its neck, opens its jaws, extends its forked tongue, its eyes glitter, and it begins to hiss. Then a sort of battle commences between the Serpent and the charmer; the latter, striking up a monotonous sort of song, opposes his closed fist to his enemy, sometimes using his right hand and sometimes his left. The animal fixes its eyes upon the fist which threatens it, follows all its movements, balances its head and body, and thus simulates a kind of dance. Other charmers obtain from the Cobra an alternating and cadenced movement of the neck by the help of sounds which are drawn from a whistle or small flute. It is said that these mysterious jugglers are able, by some sympathetic action they possess, to plunge these dangerous enemies into a sort of lethargy and death-like rigidity, and to bring them at will out of this momentary torpor. It is certain, at any rate, that they handle these animals, whose bite is extremely dangerous, with considerable impunity, and without having in any way neutralized or intercepted the venom. It is supposed by some that these charmers take the precaution of exhausting the venom of the Cobra every day by forcing it to bite something several times before exhibiting it. It is also certain that they more frequently draw the poison fangs--a wound from which can kill in the course of two or three hours. The Asp (_Naja haje_) has a less dilatable neck; it is of a greenish colour, and marked with brownish spots. It is smaller than the former; is found in the west and south of Africa; and is especially common in Egypt. It was said to have been this Reptile which caused the death of Cleopatra.