horns and all; so that it happens sometimes the horns run thro' his belly and kill him. A stag was caught by one of these pimberahs, which seized him by the buttock, and held him so fast that he could not get away, but ran a few steps this way and that way. An Indian seeing the stag run thus, supposed him in a snare, and having a gun shot him; at which he gave so strong a jerk, that it pulled the serpent's head off, while his tail was encompassing a tree to hold the stag the better.

"Another venomous snake is called polonga, the most venomous of all that kill cattle. Two sorts of them I have seen, the one green, the other of a reddish grey, full of white rings along the sides, and about five or six feet long.

"Another poisonous snake is called noya, of a greyish colour, about four feet long. This will stand with half his body upright two or three hours together, and spread his head (hood) broad open, where there

appears like as it The Indians call

were a pair of spectacles painted on it. this noy-rogerati,, that is, a king's snake: it will do no harm. But if the polonga and noya meet together, they cease not fighting till one hath killed the other.

“The reason and original of this fatal enmity between these two serpents, is this, according to a fable among the Chingulays. These two chanced to meet in a dry season,

when water was scarce.

The polonga being almost famished

for thirst, asked the noya, where he might go to find a little water. The noya a little before had met with a bowl of water in which a child lay playing: as it is usual among this people to wash their children in a bowl of water, and leave them to tumble and play in it. Here the noya quenched his thirst, but as he was drinking, the child that lay in the bowl, out of his innocency and play, hit him on the head with his hand, which the noya made no matter of, but bore patiently, knowing it was not done out of any malice; and having drunk as much as sufficed him, went away without doing the child any harm. Being minded to direct the polonga to this bowl, but desirous withall to preserve the child, he told him that he knew of water, but that he was such a surly hasty creature, that he was fearful to let him know where it was, lest he might do some mischief. Making him therefore promise that he would not, he then told him, that at such a place there was a bowl of water with a child playing in it, and that probably the child might, as he was tumbling, give him a pat on the head, as he had done to him before, but charged him nevertheless not to hurt the child. Which the polonga having promised went his way towards the water, as the noya had directed him. The noya knowing his touchy disposition, went after him, fearing he might do the child a mischief, and that thereby he himself might be deprived of the like benefit afterwards. It fell out as he feared. For as the polonga

drank, the child patted him on the head, and he in his hasty humour bit him on the hand and killed him. The noya seeing this, was resolved to be revenged; and so reproaching him for his baseness, fought him till he killed him, and after that devoured him. And to this day they always fight when they meet, and the conquerour eats the body of the vanquished. Hence the proverb among the Chingulayes, when they see two men irreconcileable, they compare them to the polonga and noya, saying noya polonga waghe, that is, like a noya and polonga."

Frogs and toads of the common size abound everywhere, and often enter the houses. In all the swamps they make a prodigious noise, particularly before rain. Scorpions from four to eight inches long, and centipedes of the tribe of scolopendra, of the length of from five to seven inches, [are met with frequently in the country, and about the ramparts of the forts. The sting of both is dangerous, although not mortal: but the inhabitants escape their venom with as much good fortune as they do that of the poisonous snakes. All these reptiles seem aware of the abhorrence in which they are held by the human species; and whenever they light by accident on the dwellings of men, they retreat from the scene of danger with so much rapidity, and are generally so successful in finding a place of concealment, that they are rarely caught or destroyed. The diminutive leeches, which are so great an annoyance to travellers in some parts

of the country, are mentioned in an account of one of the excursions of the British troops into the Candian territories, in the second volume of this work. Land-tortoises are fre

ently met with.

Insects abound in the island in great variety. The beetle kind is numerous. Of the butterfly there are twenty species. The grasshoppers are extremely curious. Some resemble branches of a tree; some pieces of straw joined awkwardly together: of others the wings are so perfectly of the form of a leaf, that, when preserved, a person who has not seen them alive can hardly credit that they ever belonged to a living creature. Of spiders there are many of immense size. One with legs four inches long, and the body covered with thick black hair, is said to be poisonous in its bite, but fortunately is rare. Common flies, bees, moschettos, fireflies, cockroaches, bugs, ground-lice, and ticks, are numerous. Every species of the ant swarms in countless multitudes. The white ant, or termes, is the most destructive. Of the formica, according to Marsden, the following distinctions are the most obvious. The great red ant, about three fourths of an inch long: it bites severely, is found mostly on trees and bushes, and forms its nest by fastening together, with a glutinous matter, a collection of the leaves of a bough, as they grow. The common red ant, resembling our pismire. The minute red ant, much smaller than the former. There are also the large black ant: the

common black ant, and the minute black ant. The common red ant is the most abundant in houses; and many millions of that species inhabit every house in Ceylon. Tey lodge within the walls, and are seen in every corner where any species of food is to be procured. If a bit of sugar or any other eatable article is dropped on the floor, it is almost instantly covered with them. If the article can be divided, each one carries off as much as it is able; if not, they unite their exertions to move it away bodily. It is very common to see a swarm of them drawing along a dead cockroach upwards of an inch in length and half an inch in breadth, which is equal in bulk to several hundreds of them. They even attack this animal while alive; which being thrown on its back in struggling for its liberty is irrecoverably lost, and torn to pieces limb by limb. "Each species of ant," as Marsden correctly observes, " is a declared enemy of the other, and never suffers a divided empire. Where one party effects a settlement, the other is expelled; and in general they are powerful in proportion to their bulk; except the white ant, which is beaten from the field by others of inferior size; and for this reason it is a common expedient to strew sugar on the floor of a warehouse, in order to allure the formica to the spot, who do not fail to combat and overcome the ravaging but unwarlike termetes."

The common house ants always follow one another in a line, one by one. They generally descend perpendicularly

VOL. I.

3 L