Ceylon; an Account of the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History Part 26

In another instance, in 1853, Mr. Lavalliere, the District Judge of Kandy, informed me that he saw a snake-charmer in the jungle, close by the town, search for a cobra de capello, and, after disturbing it in its retreat, the man tried to secure it, but, in the attempt, he was bitten in the thigh till blood trickled from the wound. He instantly applied the _Pamboo-Kaloo_, which adhered closely for about ten minutes, during which time he pa.s.sed the root which he held in his hand backwards and forwards above the stone, till the latter dropped to the ground. He a.s.sured Mr. Lavalliere that all danger was then past. That gentleman obtained from him the snake-stone he had relied on, and saw him repeatedly afterwards in perfect health.

The substances which were used on both these occasions are now in my possession. The roots employed by the several parties are not identical.

One appears to be a bit of the stem of an Aristolochia; the other is so dried as to render it difficult to identify it, but it resembles the quadrangular stem of a jungle vine. Some species of Aristolochia, such as the _A. serpentaria_ of North America, are supposed to act as a specific in the cure of snake-bites; and the _A. indica_ is the plant to which the ichneumon is popularly believed to resort as an antidote when bitten[1]; but it is probable that the use of any particular plant by the snake-charmers is a pretence, or rather a delusion, the reptile being overpowered by the resolute action of the operator, and not by the influence of any secondary appliance, the confidence inspired by the supposed talisman enabling its possessor to address himself fearlessly to his task, and thus to effect, by determination and will, what is popularly believed to be the result of charms and stupefaction. Still it is curious that, amongst the natives of Northern Africa, who lay hold of the _Cerastes_ without fear or hesitation, their impunity is ascribed to the use of a plant with which they anoint themselves before touching the reptile[2]; and Bruce says of the people of Sennar that they acquire exemption from the fatal consequences of the bite by chewing a particular root and was.h.i.+ng themselves with an infusion of certain plants. He adds that a portion of this root was given him, with a view to test its efficacy in his own person, but that he had not sufficient resolution to undergo the experiment.

[Footnote 1: For an account of the encounter between the ichneumon and the venomous snakes of Ceylon, see Pt. II. ch. i. p. 149.]

[Footnote 2: Ha.s.sellquist.]

As to the snake-stone itself, I submitted one, the application of which I have been describing, to Mr. Faraday, and he has communicated to me, as the result of his a.n.a.lysis, his belief that it is "a piece of charred bone which has been filled with blood perhaps several times, and then carefully charred again. Evidence of this is afforded, as well by the apertures of cells or tubes on its surface as by the fact that it yields and breaks under pressure, and exhibits an organic structure within.

When heated slightly, water rises from it, and also a little ammonia; and, if heated still more highly in the air, carbon burns away, and a bulky white ash is left, retaining the shape and size of the stone."

This ash, as is evident from inspection, cannot have belonged to any vegetable substance, for it is almost entirely composed of phosphate of lime. Mr. Faraday adds that "if the piece of matter has ever been employed as a spongy absorbent, it seems hardly fit for that purpose in its present state; but who can say to what treatment it has been subjected since it was fit for use, or to what treatment the natives may submit it when expecting to have occasion to use it?"

The probability is, that the animal charcoal, when instantaneously applied, may be sufficiently porous and absorbent to extract the venom from the recent wound, together with a portion of the blood, before it has had time to be carried into the system; and that the blood which Mr.

Faraday detected in the specimen submitted to him was that of the Indian on whose person the effect was exhibited on the occasion to which my informant was an eye-witness. The snake-charmers from the coast who visit Ceylon profess to prepare the snake-stones for themselves, and preserve the composition as a secret. Dr. Davy[1], on the authority of Sir Alexander Johnston, says the manufacture of them is a lucrative trade, carried on by the monks of Manilla, who supply the merchants of India--and his a.n.a.lysis confirms that of Mr. Faraday. Of the three different kinds which he examined--one being of partially burnt bone, and another of chalk, the third, consisting chiefly of vegetable matter, resembled a bezoar,--all of them (except the first, which possessed a slight absorbent power) were quite inert, and incapable of having any effect exclusive of that on the imagination of the patient. Thunberg was shown the snake-stone used by the boers at the Cape in 1772, which was imported for them "from the Indies, especially from Malabar," at so high a price that few of the farmers could afford to possess themselves of it; he describes it as convex on one side black, and so porous that "when thrown into water, it caused bubbles to rise;" and hence, by its absorption, it served, if speedily applied, to extract the poison from the wound.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Account of the Interior of Ceylon_, ch. iii. p. 101.]

[Footnote 2: _Thunberg_, vol. 1. p. 155.]

_Caecilia_.--The rocky jungle, bordering the higher coffee estates, provides a safe retreat for a very singular animal, first introduced to the notice of European naturalists about a century ago by Linnaeus, who gave it the name _Caecilia glutinosa_, to indicate two peculiarities manifest to the ordinary observer--an apparent defect of vision, from the eyes being so small and imbedded as to be scarcely distinguishable; and a power of secreting from minute pores in the skin a viscous fluid, resembling that of snails, eels, and some salamanders. Specimens are rare in Europe from the readiness with which it decomposes, breaking down into a flaky ma.s.s in the spirits in which it is attempted to be preserved.

The creature is about the length and thickness of an ordinary round desk ruler, a little flattened before and rounded behind. It is brownish, with a pale stripe along either side. The skin is furrowed into 350 circular folds, in which are imbedded minute scales. The head is tolerably distinct, with a double row of fine curved teeth for seizing the insects and worms on which it is supposed to live.

Naturalists are most desirous that the habits and metamorphoses of this creature should be carefully ascertained, for great doubts have been entertained as to the position it is ent.i.tled to occupy in the chain of creation.

_Frogs_.--In the numerous marshes formed by the overflowing of the rivers in the vast plains of the low country, there are many varieties of frogs, which, both by their colours and by their extraordinary size, are calculated to excite the surprise of strangers.[1] In the lakes around Colombo and the still water near Trincomalie, there are huge creatures of this family, from six to eight inches in length[2], of an olive hue, deepening into brown on the back and yellow on the under side. The Kandian species, recently described, is much less in dimensions, but distinguished by its brilliant colouring, a beautiful gra.s.s green above and deep orange underneath.[3]

[Footnote 1: The Indian toad (Bufo melanostictus, _Schneid_) is found In Ceylon, and the belief in its venomous nature is as old as the third century B.C., when the _Mahawanso_ mentions that the wife of "King Asoca attempted to destroy the great bo-tree (at Magadha) _with the poisoned fang of a toad_."--Ch. xx. p. 122.]

[Footnote 2: Rana eutipora, and the Malabar bull-frog, R. Malabarica.]

[Footnote 3: R. Kandiana, _Kelaart_.]

In the shrubberies around my house at Colombo the graceful little hylas[1] were to be found in great numbers, crouching under broad leaves to protect them from the scorching sun; some of them utter a sharp metallic sound at night, similar to that produced by smacking the lips.

They possess in a high degree the power of changing their colour; and one which had seated itself on the gilt pillar of a dinner lamp was scarcely to be distinguished from the or-molu to which it clung. They are enabled to ascend gla.s.s by means of the suckers at the extremity of their toes. Their food consists of flies and minute coleoptera.

[Footnote 1: The tree-frog, Hyla leucomystax, _Gracer_.]

_List of Ceylon Reptiles_.

I am indebted to Dr. Gray of the British Museum for a more complete enumeration of the reptiles of Ceylon than is to be found in Dr.

Kelaart's published lists; but many of those new to Europeans have been carefully described by the latter gentleman in his _Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae_ and its appendices, as well as in the 13th vol. _Magaz. Nat.

Hist._ (1854).

Saura.

Monitor dracaena, _Linn._ _Hydrosaurus salvator, Wagl._ _Mabouya elegans, Gray_.

_Riopa punctata, Linn._ _Hardwichii, Gray_.

_Tiliqua rufescens, Shaw_.

_Eumeces_ Taprobanius, _Kel._ Nessia Burtoni, _Gray_.

_Acontias_ Layardi, _Kelaart_.

Argyrophis bramieus, _Daud._ Rhinophis Blythii, _Kelaart_.

Mytilia Gerrardii, _Gray_.

Templetonii, _Gray_.

animaculata, _Gray_.

melanogaster, _Gray_.

Siluboura Ceylonica, _Cuv._ Uropeltis Saffragamus, _Kelaart_.

grandis, _Kelaart_.

pardalis, _Kelaart_.

Dapatnaya Laukadivana, _Kel._ Trevelyanii, _Kelaart_.

Hemidactylus frenatus, _Schleg._ Leschenaultii, _Dum & Bib._ _trihedrus, Less._ maculatus, _Dum & Bib._ Piresii, _Kelaart_.

Coctoei, _Dum & Bib._ Peripia Peronii, _Dum & Bib._ Gymnodactylus Kandia.n.u.s, _Kel._ Sitana Ponticercana, _Cuv._ Lyriocephalus scutatus, _Wagl._ Ceratophora Stoddartii, _Gray_.

Salea Jerdoni, _Gray_.

Calotes ophiomachus, _Gray_.

versicolor, _Dum. & Bib._ Rouxii, _Dum. & Bib._ mystaceus, _Dum. & Bib._ Chamelo vuelgaris, _Daud._

Ophidia.

Trimesuras viridis, _Lucep._ Ceylonensis, _Gray_.

nigro-marginatus, _Gthr._ Megaera trigonoerphalux, _Latr._ Trigonocephalus hypnalis, _Wagl._ Dabois elegans, _Gray_.

Pelamys bicolor, _Doud._ Aturia lapemoides, _Gray_.

Hydrophis sublaevis, _Gray_.

Chersydrus granulatus, _Merr._ Cerberus cinereus, _Gray_.

Tropidophis schistosus, _Daud._ Python reticulatus, _Gray_.

Cylindrophis rufa, _Gray_.

maculata, _Linn._ Aspidura brachyorrhos, _Boie._ Haplocercus Ceylonensis, _Gthr._ OhG.o.don subquadratus, _Dum. & Bib._ subgriseus, _Dum. & Bib._ sublineatus, _Dum. & Bib._ Simotes Russellii, _Daud_.

purpurascens, _Schleg._ Ablabes collaris, _Gray_.

Tropidonotus quincunciatus, _Schleg._ var. funebris.

var. carinatus.

stolatus, _Linn_.

chrysargus, _Boie_.

Cynophis Helena, _Daud_.

Coryphodon Blumenbachii, _Merr._ Cyclophis calamaria, _Gunther_.

Chrysopelea ornata, _Shaw_.

Dendrophis picta, _Gm._ punctulata, _Gray_.

Dryiophis _prasina, Reinw._ Pa.s.serita, myeterizans, _Linn_.

var. fusca.

Dipsas _multimaculata Reinw._ Dipsadomorphus Ceylonensis, _Gray_.

Lycodon aulicus, _Dum. & Bib._ Cercaspis carinata, _Kuhl._ Bungarus fascinatus, _Schneid._ Naja tripudians, _Merr._

Chelonia.

Testudo stellata, _Schweig._ Emys Sebae, _Gray_.

Emyda Ceylonensis, _Gray_.

_Caretta imbrieuta, Limm._ _Chelonia virgata, Schweig._

Emydosauri.

Crocodyius biporderes, _Cuv._ palastris, _Less._