376 DRUMMOND CASTLE. 



the mountain hold of the real Three-fingered Jack. 

 Part of the road by which you ascend the Falls is 

 a subterranean passage ; and caverns are entered by 

 simple crevices which seem mere chinks in the irre- 

 gular surface of the rock, all which natural peculi- 

 arities account for the mysterious disappearances, 

 which the mountain Hero was enabled to enact from 

 his pursuers. In this neighbourhood are the Mount 

 Vernon Copper-mines. The whole district is inte- 

 resting to the naturalist. 



*' I should not wonder if the mysterious Crested 

 Snake prove to be an Jcontias ; a lizard without 

 limbs, and with truncated tail, a species allied to A. 

 meleagris of South Africa. The possession of what 

 may be called a voice, and the unserpent-like form, 

 strongly point this way." 



Soon after this communication I had the pleasure 

 myself of conversing with Dr. Palmer, who gave me 

 a few particulars in addition to those contained in the 

 above note. It was about the year 1829; he saw 

 the animal lying by the road-side near Drummond 

 Castle ; decomposition had commenced, but the body 

 was still entire and firm. Its thickness first struck 

 him, and he then discovered its crest ; he described 

 it to me as a sort of a pyramidal helmet, of a pale 

 red colour, somewhat entire at the edge, but with a 

 kind of lobe or knob at the summit. 



The suggestion of Mr. Hill, that the animal in 

 question may be a Saurian, is felicitous, and removes 

 much of the primd-facie improbability of the received 

 account. For though none of the limbless Lizards 

 known to us possess appendages to the head, but are 



