Dr. Davy’s Ceylon. 20) 
subject to frequent showers ; and, consequently, it is unknown 
in those districts that have along dry season. It is most abun- 
dant among the mountains,—not on the highest ranges, where 
the temperature appears to be too low for it, but on those not 
exceeding two or three thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
Tt delights in shady damp places, and is to be seen on moist 
leaves and stones more frequently than in water. In dry weather 
it retires into the close damp jungle, and only in rainy weather 
quits its cover, and infests the pathways and roads and open 
parts of the country. 
«¢ Whether it is found in any other country than Ceylon is not 
quite certain; perhaps the leech of the mountainous parts of 
Sumatra, noticed in Mr. Marsden’s History of that island, is si- 
milar to it; and itis not unlikely that it occurs amongst the 
damp and wooded hills of the south of India. Those who have 
had no experience of these animals, of their immense numbers 
in their favourite haunts, of their activity, keen appetite, and 
love of blood, can have no idea of the kind and extent of annoy- 
ance they are to travellers in the interior, of which they may be 
truly said to be the plague. Jn rainy weather, it is almost shock- 
ing to see the legs of men on a long march, thickly beset with 
them gorged with blood, aud the blood trickling down in streams. 
It might be supposed that there would be little difficulty in keep- 
ing them off: this is a very mistaken notion, for they crowd to 
the attack, and fasten on, quicker than they can be removed. 
I do not exaggerate when [ say that I have occasionally seen at 
least fifty on a person atatime. Their bites, too, are much 
more troublesome than could be imagined, being very apt to fes- 
ter and become sores ; and, in persons of a bad habit of body, 
to degenerate into exteusive ulcers, that in too many instances 
have occasioned the loss of limb, and even of life.” 
In the sciences the Singalese have made scarcely any progress; 
but in the arts, particularly those of an ornamental kind, their 
attainments are considerable. Of these, Painting is the least 
advanced ; for they are still without any knowledge of perspec- 
tive. In Statuary they have been more successful. As in An- 
cient Greece, their religion offers a never-failing subject, and 
every temple affords employment. Boodhoo is the common sub- 
ject of their statuaries, and figures of him of all sizes are to be seen 
in their temples. In the art of Casting, too, the Singalese exhibit 
considerable skill. Their taste is however best displayed in their 
jewellery, which would be admired even in this country, and, 
Dr. D. thinks, not very easily imitated. 
It is generally remarked, that the ruder the method employed 
in any country for the reduction of iron, the better the quality of 
the metal is. The observation holds good in Ceylon ; their pro- 
cess 
