Note 414 — Chapter XIII · CHARACTER.

I think it proper to remark here, that I have good reason for believing Burckhardt to have been misinformed when stating (see his “Arabic Proverbs,” No. 393) that children in the East (in Egypt, etc.) torture serpents by putting them into a leather bag, then throwing unslaked lime upon them, and pouring water on it. I find no one who has heard of such cruelty; and it is not likely that boys in this country would dare to put a serpent in a bag (for they are excessively afraid of this reptile), or would give several piasters for a bag to destroy in this manner. The proverb upon which this statement is founded perhaps alludes to a mode of destroying serpents; but not for sport.