1 inasmuch as lie lmd often been bitten by serpents without having
2 sustained any injury. The serpent which wounded him on
3 this occasion was a viper, which he had caught and retained
4 in his possession, anti he offered to allow lr.mself to he bitten
5 on the tongue, if I would consent to witness it. At that lime,
6 .Dr. W. Jameson (now superin Undent of the botanical garden
7 at S.hanmpore) was on a visit to Lahore, and the maharajah
8 showed him great attention, which induced me to inform the
9 maharajah of the offer made by the faqueer, and I requested
10 him to relate the case to Dr. Jameson, as ' felt sure he would be
11 interested in it.
12 As for myself, I doubted the truth of the faqueers assertion,
13 and was persuaded that no European physician would believe
14 it. Accordingly, I was directed to present the faqueer to the'
15 doctor, who was at that time stopping at Anarkullee. To test
16 the experiment, I took a fowl with me.- The doctor smiled, when
17 I related to him the particulars, and, as I expected, expressed
18 bis disbelief of the faqtieer’s statement. However, the faqueer
19 put his hand over the pot in which the viper was contained, and
20 he was immediately bitten; he afterwards hold the fowl near the
21 pot, which was also bitter; but the doctor still appeared to
22 think there was some deception in the matter. I took the fowl
23 home, and placed it beneath a basket, where 1 found it dead on
24 the following morning; although the faqueer, who was bitten
25 lirst, was quite well. I then took: him, and also the dead fowl,
26 with me, to present them to the maharajah; and having given
27 him i full account of wluit had been done, informed him that
28 both the faqueer and the fowl had since been under my surveil¬
29 lance. At hi. request, the faqueer was presented to him. Ho
30 was accompanied by a mezur (workman), who had just caught
31 a viper, which the faqueer had put into the same pot in which
32 the former had been, and presented it for the inspection of the
33 assembly. Maharajah Sheer Sing asked him whether he would
34 really allow himself to he bitten by venomous serpents, and
35 whether it was true that lie would not thereby sustain injury?
36 •The faqueer answered in the affirmative, and offered to give