Chap. III.] WATER-SNAKES. 197 



sqiiiiTels and lizards, and to rifle the nests of birds, 

 one half, including the green caraioilla, and the deadly tic 

 polonga, are beheved by the natives to be venomous ; but 

 the fact is very dubious. I have heard of the cobra being 

 found on the crown of a coco-nut palm, attracted, it was 

 said, by the toddy which was flowing at the time, as it 

 was the season for drawing it. 



Water-Snakes. — The fresh- water snakes, of which four 

 species have been described as inhabiting the still water 

 and pools, are all harmless in Ceylon. A gentleman, who 

 found near a river an agglutinated cluster of the eggs of 

 onQY^iiiQiy [Tropidonotus umbratiis), placed them under a 

 glass shade on his drawing-room table, where one by one 

 the young serpents emerged from the shell to the number 

 of twenty. 



The use of the Pamboo-Kaloo, or snake-stone, as a 

 remedy in cases of wounds by venomous serpents, has 

 probably been communicated to the Singhalese by the 

 itinerant snake-charmers who resort to the island from 

 the coast of Coromandel; and more than one well- 

 authenticated instance of its successful apphcation has 

 been told to me by persons who had been eye-wit- 

 nesses to what they described. On one occasion, in 

 March, 1854, a friend of mine was riding, with some 

 other civil officers of the government, along a jungle 

 path in the vicinity of Bintenne, when they saw one of 

 two Tamils, who were approaching them, suddenly dart 

 into the forest and return, holding in both hands a 

 cobra de capello which he had seized by the head and 

 tail. He called to his companion for assistance to 

 place it in theu- covered basket, but, in doing this, he 

 handled it so inexpertly that it seized him by the 

 finger, and retained its hold for a few seconds, as if 

 unable to retract its fangs. The blood flowed, and 

 intense pain appeared to follow almost immediately ; 

 but, with all expedition, the friend of the sufferer undid 

 his waistcloth, and took from it two snake-stones, each 

 of the size of a small almond, intensely black and highly 



o 3 



