JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. 7 



an essence, and many are the pet its verres that an 

 uncontrollable indulgence of these little irresistibili- 

 ties compel their suicidal victim to undergo before 

 breakfast. 



Having arrived (after more perils by water than 

 by land, for there being few or no bridges, the tor- 

 rents must be forded as best they can, which feat is 

 generally performed on the back of one of the coolies, 

 whilst the horses are being swum across in some 

 deeper and smoother part) at the base of Kamouna- 

 kooli, whose summit stands 10,000 feet above the 

 sea's level, we pitch our tent, or rather take posses- 

 sion of a dilapidated habitation at the foot of the 

 mountain, every room of which presents umnistakeable 

 symptoms that the right to its occupation will, ere 

 long, be contested by disputants, winged, quadruped, 

 biped, and reptile. With this latter enemy a pitched 

 battle ensues on the spot, a long and undisputed 

 residence in the thatch of the house having given it 

 a " prior claim." 



These nuisances, the ratsnakes, which generally 

 average from six to twelve feet long, are perfectly 

 innocuous, and live in the thatched roofs of almost 

 every Ceylon bungalow, which they keep clear of 

 rats by living on them ; but whether the remedy is 

 not worse than the disease is entirely a matter of 

 opinion or antipathy, for in pursuit of their game the 

 snakes not unfrequently miss their hold ; and, there 

 being no ceilings, they come down on one's head or 



