A NATURALIST IN CEYLON WOOD 529 



ous animals are the buffalo (both wild and domesticated) and the 

 " rogue " elephant. 



There are other Sinhalese animals one encounters in the jungle 

 that the naturalist had better not associate with too intimately (the 

 crocodile, for instance) but considered as dangerous to health or 

 life they are negligible. 



During a residence of more than two years in Ceylon, when I made 

 many excursions over the island, I never saw but one wild cobra, and 

 yet there is no doubt but that Na'^a naja is not an uncommon reptile 

 in all parts of the colony. Wherever I went I was continually on 

 the lookout for this interesting ophidian, but I saw him in numbers 

 only as caged specimens. 



I knew that none of the so-called "king cobras " infests the coun- 

 try; the Hamadryad Naja hannah is not found in Ceylon. That 

 fierce and dangerous serpent is a purely Indian species of quite an- 

 other variety, whose distinguishing character is that he is not only 

 unafraid of man but, unlike the hooded cobra, will chase and attack 

 human beings on the slightest provocation. 



I met in Colombo an engineer just returned from a tour of inspec- 

 tion in the interior of Burma. One daj^, while driving through a 

 lonely jungle, he stopped to turn his small car and saw ahead of him 

 a snake in the middle of the road, coiled and hissing. He recognized 

 a large king cobra with whose evil disposition he was well acquaint- 

 ed, so without further ado he proceeded to turn tail and run, but 

 not before the venomous reptile was upon him, striking at the mov- 

 ing car and trying to board it. However, he was finally able to get 

 away in time and escaped, leaving the cobra well behind. Similar 

 tales by reliable observers I have heard first hand from several other 

 people. On the other hand, the Ceylon cobra is practically harmless 

 and unless actually trodden upon or otherwise badly frightened will 

 not attack man, and will almost always try to escape. 



During one of my jungle excursions I was taking a midday siesta 

 when my servant came in breathless, " Master, master, a snake." I 

 followed him through the little village near which we were camped 

 and accompanied by, it seemed to me, all the inhabitants, male and 

 female, babies and ancients, we reached a spot a hundred yards or 

 so in the deep jungle and there, in a tamarind tree (a most ususual 

 resort for a terrestrial snake) was a cobra of unusual length — per- 

 haps 6 feet. My entourage, including my servant, kept a safe dis- 

 tance, but as I knew the snake's attitude toward humanity I got fair- 

 ly close and with my glasses studied him to some purpose. Soon he 

 tired of us, and, slowly crawling through the foliage, disappeared. 

 As all my native friends were Buddhists, Naja was safe from them; 

 as for me, why should I shoot an animal practically innocuous that 

 was doing its duty in regulating the balance of amphibian life? 



