126 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



stone dead ; but upon pulling him by the tail, to stretch 

 him out at full length, he wreathed himself in con- 

 vulsive coils, and lashing himself out in full length, he 

 mowed down the high grass in all directions. This 

 obliged me to stand clear, as his blows were terrific, 

 and the thickest part of his body was as large as a 

 inan's thigh. I at length thought of an expedient for 

 securing him. Cutting some sharp-pointed stakes, I 

 waited till he was again quiet, when I suddenly pinned 

 his tail to the ground with my hunting-knife, and 

 thrusting the pointed stake into the hole, I drove it 

 deeply into the ground with the butt of my rifle. 

 The boa made some objection to this, and again he 

 commenced his former muscular contortions. I waited 

 till they were over, and having provided myself with 

 some tough jungle rope (a species of creeper), I once 

 more approached him, and pinning his throat to the 

 ground with a stake, I tied the rope through the in- 

 cision, and the united exertions of myself and three 

 men hauled him out perfectly straight. I then drove a 

 stake firmly through his throat and pinned him out. 

 He was fifteen feet in length, and it required our united 

 strength to tear off his skin, which shone with a variety 

 of passing colors. On losing his hide he tore away 

 from the stakes ; and although his head was shivered 

 to atoms, and he had lost three feet of his length of 

 neck by the ball having cut through this part, which 

 separated in tearing ofFthe skin, still he lashed out and 

 writhed in frightful convulsions, which continued 

 until I left him, bearing as my trophy his scaly hide. 

 These boas will kill deer, and by crushing them into a 

 sort of sausage they are enabled by degrees to swallow 

 them. There are many of these vermin in Ceylon ; 



