Travels in India (Tavernier) 106.11

106.11

If the part bitten is not punctured it is necessary to make an incision so that the blood may flow ; and when the stone has been applied to it, it does not fall off till it has extracted all the venom which is drawn to it. In order to clean it it is steeped in woman’s milk, or, in default of it, in that of a cow ; and after having been steeped for ten or twelve hours, the milk, which has absorbed all the venom, assumes the colour of matter. One day, when I dined with the Archbishop of Goa, he took me into his museum, where he had many curiosities. Among other things he showed me one of these stones, and in telling me of its properties assured me that it was but three days since he had made trial of it, after which he presented it to me. As he traversed a marsh on the island of Salsette, upon which Goa is situated, on his way to a house in the country, one of his pallankeen bearers, who was almost naked, was bitten by a serpent and was at once cured by this stone. I have bought many of them; it is only the Brahmins who sell them, and it is that which makes me think that they make them. You employ two methods to ascertain if the snake-stone is good, and that there is no fraud. The first is by placing the stone in the mouth, for then, if good, it leaps and attaches itself immediately to the palate.