Even More on the Venom Trade

On the heels of yesterday's post about the snake-catching monopoly enjoyed by India's Irula people, we thought we'd turn our gaze slightly east and see who runs the reptile round-ups in neighboring Bangladesh. Though the erstwhile East Pakistan has no formal caste system, its society does tend to frown on a semi-nomadic people known as the Bede, who traditionally spend several months a year living on ramshackle houseboats. The Bede steer those boats into far corners of Bangladesh's...