152 SPOLIA ZEYLATSriCA. 



up bodily. The movable cages of the single jakotuwas were in fact 

 raised in the early morning and aiDpeared like huge funnels or 

 chimneys ; at night a lamp is suspended inside these cages, on the 

 principle of the moth trap. 



Sometimes the shoreward coconut traces are made fast to a 

 " polkotuwa " for soaking coconut husks. A great quantity of 

 coir yarn is required in the making of the fences for binding the 

 horizontal slips to the upright poles. 



The jakotuwas are numerous, extending far up the river, being 

 very thick about the Gorakapola ferry, beyond the 16th milestone 

 from Colombo ; about the 14th milestone they become rarer, and are 

 usually only single, on account of the width of the river here. Not 

 many were visible from the Moratuwa bridge near the 12th mile- 

 stone in December, but when crossing the bridge again at the end 

 of May I saw a large one above the bridge close to the spot, where 

 there is a permanent wooden hut for fish watchers in the river. 



Tlie jakotuwa system is the chief method of fishery in the Panadure 

 river, and constitutes a remarkably brisk industry. Even the stretch- 

 ing of the " atoniya " across the central channel need not be objected 

 to, so long as men are in attendance ; but nothing should be allowed 

 to block this channel when fishermen are not standing by. The 

 Panadure river, together with the Bolgoda lake, is a great tidal 

 backwater, sometimes nearly fresh, sometimes brackish, without 

 any direct mountain source. It is connected by canals with the 

 Kelani-ganga to the north and the Kalu-ganga to the south. The 

 Lunawa lake, between Colombo and Panadure, which joins the sea 

 (during the north-east season) at Angulana, is a separate sheet of 

 water, and is also the seat of a jakotuwa fishery. 



Colombo Museum, A. WILLEY. 



July 20, 1908. 



8. A Cobra on the Threshing-floor. — On February 27 last while 

 watching the threshing of paddy in a field near Rayigama, not far 

 from Horana, a cobra of immense proportions formed one of the 

 party, gliding about near the threshing-floor quite calmly, in spite 

 of the presence of over a dozen persons and the usual clamour that 

 accompanies the operation of threshing in this country. As the 

 reptile moved about it passed between the legs of one of the men, 

 who stood his ground as unconcernedly as the Colossus at Rhodes. 

 I endeavoured to convince the company of the unwisdom of allowing 

 the reptile to go free, but no one was enthusiastic about a hunt and 

 slaughter. Their attitude was said to have arisen from a belief that 

 the snake was an incarnation of a deceased owner of, or claimant to. 

 the field, and that so far from doing it injury it was their duty to 

 welcome the visitor and take advantage of the opportunity offered 



