Snake-worship. — Modes of Travel. ^^^ 



wealthy man, who keeps large sums of specie in his house, 

 bethought him of the singular precaution of having several 

 deadly cobras to watch the treasure in lieu of dogs. Day and 

 night they glide about, a terror to thieves, while they are 

 quite harmless to the inmates who feed them and attend to 

 them I 



In former times snake worship (Nagas) was universal 

 throughout Ceylon, and, as in India, the cobra received 

 divine honours from the natives, because it was supposed to 

 be a metamorphosed king. This serpent, however, is so 

 singularly and wonderfully endowed by nature^ its appear- 

 ance and motions are so peculiar, that an imaginative people 

 like the Cingalese may well be excused for associating the 

 idea of metempsychosis with its aspect of mystery. 



From Galle, an excellent road, following the coast-line the 

 entire distance, leads to Colombo, the seat of government, 

 75 English miles distant. Every morning there starts from 

 Galle for that destination, the " Royal Mail " coach, an 

 uncomfortable, somewhat dangerous, mode of conveyance, in 

 which this distance is traversed in from 8 to 10 hours. In 

 order to travel more at our ease, we engaged an extra 

 waggon. In Ceylon people usually employ, on long excur- 

 sions, but one horse, which is changed at distances varying 

 from 6 to 10 miles. We had some difficulty in reconciling 

 this custom with our predilection for travelling at our 

 leisure. The first few hours of our journey passed 

 away very pleasantly ; the road was excellent, and the 



