Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

The African cobra is regarded somewhat reverently by the natives of that country, who once a year kill a cobra de Capello and hang its skin to the branch of a tree, tail downward. Then all the children born during the last year are brought out and made to touch the skin. This the parents think puts them under the serpent’s protection. The cobra de Capello divides with the horned viper of Africa the questionable honor of being the “worm of the Nile,” to whose venom Cleopatra’s death was due.
The Kaffirs use the venom of this snake’s cousin, the puff adder, to poison their arrows, and when they have any small quantity left they swallow it, having a theory that it will protect them from the bad effects of future bites. The snake’s tribe of the Punjab say that the bites of snakes do not hurt them, and if they find a dead serpent, they dress it in clothes and give it a superb funeral.