Chap. VI.] GMIPOLA. 225 



tiquities remain to mark the site of ancient edifices, 

 and the city, hke the generahty of those in the East, 

 where domestic buildings were formed of such humble 

 materials as wood and earth, has long since crumbled 

 into dust. 



But Gampola has a higher modern interest, inasmuch 

 as it was one of the first places in Ceylon at wliich the 

 systematic culture of coffee was attempted^; and it is at 

 the present day one of the most important locahties in 

 the district, as the point at which the great roads converge 

 which connect the rich districts of Pusilawa, Dimboohi, 

 Kotmahe, and Ambogammoa vnth Kandy and Colombo. 



The rest-house of Gampola is one of the most fre- 

 quented m Ceylon ; and whilst halting here a servant 

 showed me liis hand swollen and intiamed with the 

 appearance of a puncture between the thumb and fore- 

 finger, caused, as he stated, by a "tarantula," as the huge 

 spider Mygale fasciata is vulgarly and erroneously called 

 in Ceylon. It bit him, he said, in the wine cellar, when 

 Hfting a bottle in the dark ; but it is more than probable 

 that he liad mistaken the bite of a centipede or the nip 

 from the chel^ of a scorpion for that of a spider ; for 

 although it is certain that the mandibles of the latter are 

 furnished with a poisonous venom, I have never heard of 

 any well-authenticated instance of mjmy resulting from 

 its attacks. In fact, from the position and dkection of 

 the jaws the creature would most hkely have to tmii 

 over in some awkward way in order to inflict a wound, 

 and even then its jaws could scarcely embrace an object 

 of such size as the finger or hand of a man. 



The largest specimens I have seen of the mygale were 

 at Gampola and its \dciiiity, and one taken in the go down 

 of this rest-house nearly covered with its legs an ordinarj^- 

 sized breakfast plate. 



This hideous creature does not weave a broad web or 

 net hke other spiders, but nevertheless it forms a comfort- 



' The first plantatiou was opened at G.ampola by !Mr. George Birch. 

 VOL. IT. Q 



