They will believe any thing. The snake has been a common deity, because it is a manageable one, and that in a more extraordinary manner than any other animal. A Malabar Bramin once played off a curious trick upon his flock. He raised money enough among then to make a golden snake and twelve golden eggs, which he carried to the pagoda in solenin procession, and there deposited, telling the people that in six weeks time. the snake would be vivified, hatch the eggs, and disappear with its young to become the tutelary divinities of their country. They disappeared accordingly at the time appointed, to the infinite joy of the believers.: a In those parts of Malabar where snakes are worshipped, convenience overcomes prejudice. The natives are by no means displeased when a Moor or Christian rids them of one of these venomous gods; perhaps they enjoy a double satis VOL. II. faction in having the reptile destroyed, and in believing the infidel will be damned for destroying it. In one of the volumes of the Asiatic Annual Register, there is a remarkable account of the manner in which monkies destroy snakes. The monkies in question inhabit a prodigious Banyan tree, on the banks of the Nerbudda, having three hundred and fifty large trunks, and above three thousand smaller columns;.. but the monkey colonies are annoyed by having snakes for their neighbours, and being perfectly aware of the danger to be apprehended from these enemies, and where it lies, they watch the snakes till they perceive them asleep, then creep towards them, seize them fast by the neck, haul them to the nearest flat stone, and then begin to grind down the head by dint of violent friction, every now and then stopping to breathe a little, and to take a proper grin at the progress of their work. When the relentless operator has demolished the head so far as to be well assured that the venomous fangs are utterly destroyed, he tosses the writhing body to the young pugs for a plaything, and their exultation is conspicuous in all their motions, as they toss the unarmed reptile from one to another." 245. Judas. It was believed in Pier della Valle's time, that the descendants of Judas Iscariot still existed at Corfu, though the persons who suffered this imputation stoutly denied the truth of the genealogy. When the ceremony of washing the feet is performed in the Greek Church at Smyrna, the bishop represents Christ, and the twelve apostles are acted by as many priests. He who personates Judas must be paid for it, and such is the feeling of the people, that whoever ac cepts this odious part, commonly retains the name of Judas for life*. Judas serves in Brazil for a Guy Faux to be carried about by the boys, and made the subject of an auto-da-fe. The Spanish sailors hang him at the yard arm. It is not long since a Spaniard lost his life at Portsmouth, during the performance of this ceremony, by jump. ing overboard after the figure. The Armenians, who believe hell and limbo to be the same place, say that Judas, after having betrayed our lord, resolved to hang himself, because he knew Christ was to go to limbo, and deliver all the souls which he found there, and therefore he thought to get there in time. But the Devil was cunninger than he, and knowing his intent, held him over limbo till the Lord had past through, and then let him fall plum into hellt. * Hasselquist, p. 43. + Thevenot. Vincenzo Monti has written three Sonnets upon the death of Judas, in his own peculiar strain of faucy. Sulla morte di Giuda. I. Gittò l'infame prezzo, e disperato Dentro la strozza in tuon rabbioso e tristo, Aller Giustizia l'afferro, e sul monte II. Piombò quell' alma a l'infernal riviera, |