228 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



country, yet the land-leeches which beset the traveller in the 

 rising grounds are a still more detested plague. ' They are 

 not frequent in the plains,' says Sir E. Tennent, ' which are too 

 hot and dry for them ; but amongst the rank vegetation in the 

 lower ranges of the hill-country, which is kept damp by 

 frequent showers, they are found in tormenting profusion. 

 They are terrestrial, never visiting ponds or streams. In size 

 they are about an inch in length, and as fine as a common 

 knitting needle, but capable of distention till they equal a 

 quill in thickness and attain a length of nearly two inches. 

 Their structure is so flexible that they can insinuate themselves 

 through the meshes of the finest stocking, not only seizing on 

 the feet and ankles, but ascending to the back and throat, and 

 fastening on the tenderest parts of the body. The coffee 

 planters who live amongst these pests are obliged in order to 

 exclude them, to envelope their legs in " leech gaiters," made of 

 closely woven cloth. 



' In moving, the land-leeches have the power of planting one 

 extremity on the earth and raising the other perpendicularly to 

 watch for their victim. Such is their vigilance and instinct 

 that, on the approach of a passer-by to a spot which they in- 

 fest, they may be seen amongst the grass and fallen leaves, on 

 the edge of a native path, poised erect, and preparing for their 

 attack on man and horse. On descrying their prey they 

 advance rapidly by semicircular' strides, fixing one end firmly 

 and arching the other forwards, till by successive advances 

 they can lay hold of the traveller's foot, when they disen- 

 gage themselves from the ground and ascend his dress in 

 search of an aperture to enter. In these encounters the indi- 

 viduals in the rear of a party of travellers in the jungle in- 

 variably fare worst, as the leeches once warned of their approach 

 congregate with singular celerity. Their size is so insigni- 

 ficant, and the wound they make so skilfully punctured, that 

 the first intimation of their onslaught is the trickling of the 

 blood, or a chill feeling of the leech when it begins to hang- 

 heavily on the skin from being distended by its repast. Horses 

 are driven wild by them, and stamp the ground in fury to shake 

 them from their fetlocks, to which they hang in bloody tassels. 

 The bare legs of the palankin-bearers and coolies are a 

 favourite resort, and their hands being too much engaged to 



