212 LEAVES FROM THE 



ing according to their pleasure, for they have only to 

 form a wish and they immediately have any article of 

 food they want ; only it always makes its appearance in 

 the form of a frog. 



They live under a monarchy, and, like the Cingalese, 

 are distributed into castes. Their king, Mahakilla-naga- 

 rajaya, is in every way superior to the rest. With his 

 powerful assistance the gods and Asooras churned the 

 milky sea. Mahakilla then wound himself round a rock, 

 and they, pulling at his two extremities, set the mass in 

 motion and accomplished their work. It is fortunate for 

 the human race that these snakes are naturally mild and 

 benevolent, and do harm only when provoked, for if they 

 were so disposed, they could annihilate the whole of the 

 inhabitants of earth by a single blast of their poisonous 

 breaths. 



The Cingalese have a legend touching the deadly 

 enmity which is said to exist between the noya (naia) 

 and the polonga, another most venomous snake, of which 

 the natives have the utmost horror. The late Sir Hud- 

 son Lowe graphically described to me the terror of the 

 natives when they beheld one, and the shrieking tone in 

 which they cried out its name. 



But the legend ? 



A noya and a polonga (nintipolonga, — or tic-polonga, as 

 it is generally termed) met, once upon a time, in a dry 

 season when water was very scarce. The polonga, almost 

 dying with thirst, asked the noya where he might find 

 water. Now the noya had a little before met with a 

 vessel of water, wherein an infant lay playing ; for it is 

 usual with the Cingalese to wash their children in a 

 vessel or large bowl of water, and then leave their babes 

 to tumble and flounce about. Well, at this vessel the 

 noya quenched his thirst, but, as he was drinking, the 

 child, as it lay sporting therein, hit the serpent on the 

 head with its hand. The good-natured noya, knowing 



