( 132 ) 



situated in the heart of a forest about seven miles due west from 

 here. Our course lay through a dense jungle of Inga xijlocarpa, 

 Schleichera trijuga, Blackwellia tomentosa, Nauclea, teak (limited and 

 stunted), Dipterocarpus, Erythrma, and an undergrowth of Calamus, 

 plantain, Daphne, Jasminum, Phyllanthus, and Zingiber aceoz. 



228. I found, besides the principal spring, there were two others, 

 all situated in the bed of the same water-course that drain the 

 neigbouring undulations, and is overgrown on either side by a 

 Licuala peltata. Bound the pools I collected the following dead 

 animals : three rats (perfect), nine butterflies, three sparrows 

 (decomposed), a parrot (comparatively fresh), and the bones of 

 various animals I could not distinguish. 



229. Nearing the principal place, our guide told us that if we 

 ap'proached it quietly, we would find the water perfectly calm, 

 and that it would continue to foam in proportion to the echo 

 raised in the forest. This was an exaggeration of a truth. 

 The water certainly became more agitated as we neared the 

 spot, but this can be accounted for by the nature of the sur- 

 rounding soil which consisted of moist red sand, from which the 

 water continues to exude by pressure. Tradition, however, traces 

 the origin of this place to a wrathful nat, who was wrecked here in 

 his golden craft, and cursed the place ! The cause of the death of 

 the animals is sufficiently accounted for in the subjoined extract of 

 a letter from the Chemical Examiner to Government : — 



" I have the honour to forward the result of the analysis of 

 water forwarded with your letter No. 2825, of the 24th July 

 1874. The water is supersaturated with carbonic acid gas, like 

 ordinary " soda water." If such a water found its way to the sur- 

 face of the earth, under such circumstances as would allow this 

 gas to accumulate, as in the poisonous hollows in the Solfatena 

 near Naples, any animal going to drink, or sleeping near the place, 

 might be poisoned by breathing this gas. All the solid matters 

 were separated from the water and carefully tested for poison ; but 

 no poisonous substance existed in them. The total amount of 

 solid matter was so unusually small, viz., one hundred and twenty 

 parts per million/' * * * * 



230. A few hundred yards beyond the springs, are some fine 

 specimens of Ficus glomerata, known to the people, as the horde bain, 

 or Ficus elastica, and said to have been planted by the Poongyees as 

 votive offerings at the wreck of the craft. The trees bore marks of 

 excessive and recent tapping. The coagulated juice of this tree, has 

 no elasticity, but rather attains the consistency of gutta-percha when 

 quite dry. Continuing a westerly course, in the direction of the 



