The Snake Oil Salesman

 "Snake Oil Salesman" is a term I've heard a lot but never given much thought.  It conjures up the mental image of Professor Marvel selling bogus remedies from his caravan at the beginning of the Wizard of Oz. 

The island of Hainan is far from Kansas, but the photos here show that they have their own local version of Professor Marvel...an honest to goodness snake oil salesman.  His sales pitch was all in Chinese, and I'm told it went something like this.... 

First he brought out the snakes and talked about how deadly they were.   Then he talked about how local folks carefully extracted the venom and how potent that venom was in pure form.  He showed how it would dissolve plastic and burn through cloth.

Then he whipped out a bottle of the snake oil and described how that special preparation of the venom had healing powers.   He made a "tea" by mixing a few drops with hot water.   Good for digestion and weight loss.  (The people who sampled this tea - certainly not me - said it tasted pretty bad.)  Then he got a couple of volunteers with sore necks and applied it as an ointment.  Good for the aching muscles and bones. (Though the people who tried this - again not me - said it burned.)   Theresa and I left the sales pitch before he finished.   For me, I was afraid that it might also turn out to be a treatment for baldness.

Right outside the snake tent was a vendor selling the snake oil.  Ahhh, Capitalism......