SOME ADVENTURES OF A NATURALIST IN THE CEYLON 



JUNGLE 



By Casey A. AVood 



[With six plates] 



The almost universal longing of the healthy adtilt to explore a 

 forest wilderness and to lead for a time a forest life is sometimes 

 referred to as a survival of boyhood, but the roots of this impelling 

 force lie nluch deeper. The call of the wild is probably a revival 

 of memories stamped, many thousands of years ago, on the cerebral 

 cells of our arboreal ancestors. It is a savage inheritance which we 

 may contemplate with pleasure and, unashamed, put to practical 

 use when opportunity occurs, if for no other reason that that given 

 by Charles Kingsley. " Some day, ere I grow too old to think, I 

 trust to be able to throw away all pursuits save natural history and 

 to die with my mind full of God's facts instead of men's lies." For 

 the carrying out of such a plan I offer the jungle of Ceylon. 



There are few large islands lying within the Tropics that offer 

 so many attractions to the biologist. This pear-shaped appendage 

 to the Indian peninsula extends its greatest length from 6° to 10° 

 north of the Equator. Its longest measurement is STlVo miles, its 

 greatest width 1371/^ miles, its area, with dependent islets, is about 

 one-sixth smaller than that of Ireland, or in the neighborhood of 

 2G,000 square miles. The island is quite mountainous, the southern 

 hill zone alone covering an area of 4,200 square miles, while there are 

 at least four peaks whose heights are over 7,000 feet. The climate — 

 a matter of considerable moment for the field Avorker — is one of the 

 most delightful in the East. Owing to the medium size of the island, 

 to its position in a large ocean of uniform temperature, to the influ- 

 ence of the trade winds that regularly blow over the Bay of Bengal 

 and the Indian Ocean, and to other causes, this terrestrial paradise 

 is free of the extremes of heat and cold that render many tropical 

 countries uncomfortable and unliealthy for natives and foreigners 



alike. 



Again, there is for the visitor generally a choice of altitude and 

 consequently of climate, flora, and fauna. If he objects to the com- 

 paratively hot temperature of Colombo, on the low-lying seacoast, he 



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