preserver.

I have treated dozens of cases in this way successfully, and only seen
two deaths. One was a young woman, my chowkeydar's daughter; the other
was an old man, who was already dead when they lifted him out of the
basket in which they had slung him. I do not wish to be misunderstood.
I believe that in all these cases of recovery it was pure fright
working on the imagination, and not snake-bite at all. My opinion is
shared by most planters, that there is no cure yet known for a cobra
bite, or for that of any other poisonous snake, where the poison has
once been fairly injected and allowed to mix with the blood[2].

There is another curious instance of the effects of fear on the native
mind in the common method taken by an Ojah or Brahmin to discover a
suspected thief. When a theft occurs, the Ojah is sent for, and the
suspected parties are brought together. After various _muntras_, i.e.
charms or incantations, have been muttered, the Ojah, who has meanwhile
narrowly scrutinized each countenance, gives each of the suspected
individuals a small quantity of dry rice to chew. If the thief be
present, his superstitious fears are at work, and his conscience
accuses him. He sees some terrible retribution for him in all these
_muntras_, and his heart becomes like water within him, his tongue gets
dry, his salivary glands refuse to act; the innocent munch away at
their rice contentedly, but the guilty wretch feels as if he had ashes
in his mouth. At a given signal all spit out their rice, and he whose
rice comes out, chewed indeed, but dry as summer dust, is adjudged the
thief. This ordeal is called _chowl chipao_, and is rarely
unsuccessful. I have known several cases in my own experience in which
a thief has been thus discovered.