210 LEAVES FROM THE 



For the cure of the otherwise mortal bite the natives 

 allege that the root of the Ophiorrhiza niungos, the 

 herb pointed out by the ichneumon, is a specific. Dr. 

 Davy saw and has recorded the effects of the bite. A 

 cobra, about five feet long and about six inches in 

 circumference in the broadest part, bit a hen in his 

 presence, fixing its fangs in the skin covering the lower 

 part of the pectoral muscle, and keeping its hold for two 

 or three seconds, when the doctor succeeded in shaking 

 it off. The hen seemed to be but little affected. She 

 died, however, eight hours after the infliction of the bite. 



Another cobra fastened on the thigh of a young cock, 

 inflicting a rather severe wound, from which the blood 

 flowed. Instantly the bird became lame ; in less than a 

 minute it could no longer stand. Respiration became 

 hurried and rather laborious in about five minutes, and 

 some alvine dejections took place. In about ten minutes 

 the cock had all the symptoms of being in a comatose 

 state, in which he continued for about five minutes, his 

 respiration becoming gradually more feeble and laboured. 

 In seventeen minutes his breathing was hardly percep- 

 tible, when he was seized with a convulsive fit which 

 recurred four or five times in the course of the next 

 minute, each fit being less violent than the former. The 

 last of these proved fatal. 



Terrible as these reptiles are, the Cingalese venerate 

 them rather than dread them, looking on them as be- 

 longing to another world, and appearing here merely as 

 visitors. They regard the cobra as greatly superior to 

 man and akin to the gods, believing it to be possessed of 

 great power. Impressed with this belief, they refrain 

 from killing it if they can possibly avoid it, and even 

 when they find one in the house they will not slay it, 

 but putting it into a bag, throw bag and all into the 

 water ; for they think that it has a good and generous 

 disposition, and that, unless it be provoked, it will do no 



