226 GA^IPOL.\ AXD THE COFFEE KEGIOXS. [Part VII. 



able mansion in the wall of a neglected building, the 

 hollow of a tree, or the eaves of an overhanging stone. 

 This it hnes throughout with a tapestry of silk of a 

 tubular form ; and a textm^e so exquisitely fine and 

 closely woven, that no moistm^e can penetrate it. 

 The extremity of the tube is carried out to the entrance, 

 where it expands into a httle platform, stayed by braces 

 to the nearest objects that afford a firm hold. In par- 

 ticidar situations, where the entrance is exposed to the 

 w^ind, the mygale, on the approach of the monsoon, ex- 

 tends the strong tissue above it so as to serve as an 

 awning to prevent the access of rain. 



The construction of this silken dweUing is exclusively 

 designed for the domestic luxury of the spider ; it serves 

 no purpose in trapping or seciu-ing prey, and no ex- 

 ternal distm'bance of the web tempts the creatm^e to sally 

 out to surprise an intruder, as the epemi and its con- 

 geners would. 



As to the stories told of the mygale catching and 

 kiUing birds, I am satisfied, both from mquiry and ob- 

 servation, that at least in Ceylon they are destitute of 

 truth, and that (unless in the possible case of acute 

 sufiering from hunger) this creature shuns all descriptions 

 of food except soft insects and annehdes. A lady at 

 Marandan, near Colombo, told me that she had, on one 

 occasion, seen a little house-lizard {gecko) seized and de- 

 voured by one of these ugly spiders. 



The soil and situation of Gampola have proved un- 

 favourable for the growth of coffee ; but there is hardly 

 one of the mafmificent hills seen from it that has not 

 been taken possession of by European settlers within a 

 very recent period. Although the coffee plant, the 

 kdwdh of the Arabs, wliich is a native of Africa, was 

 knowm in Yemen at an early period, it is doulDtfiil 

 Avhether there, or in any other country in the world, 

 its use as a stimulant had been discovered before the 

 beginning of the fifteenth centmy. The Arabs intro- 

 duced it early into India, and before the arrival of the 

 Portuguese or Dutch, the tree had been grown in 



