REVIEWS— NATURAL HISTORY OF CEYLON. 357 



or streams. In size they are about an inch in length, and as fine as a common 

 knitting needle ; but they are capable of distension 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. In order to exclude 

 them, the coffee planters, who live amongst these pests, are obliged to envelope 

 their legs in ' leech-gaiters ' made of closely woven cloth. The natives smear 

 their bodies with oil, tobacco ashes, or lemon juice ; the latter serving not only 

 to stop the flow of blood, but to expedite the healing of the wounds. 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 

 infest, 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 semi-circular 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 disengage themselves from the ground 

 and ascend his dress in search of an aperture to enter. In these encounters the 

 individuals in the rear of a party of travellers in the jungle invariably fare 

 worst, as the leeches, once warned of their approach, congregate with singular 

 celerity. Their size is so insignificant, and the wound they make is so skilfully 

 punctured, that both are generally imperceptible, and 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, as their hands are too 

 much engaged to be spared to pull them off, the leeches hang like bunches of 

 grapes round their ankles ; and I have seen the blood literally flowing over the 

 edge of a European's shoe from their innumerable bites. In healthy constitutions 

 the wounds, if not irritated, generally heal, occasioning no other inconveience 

 than a slight inflamation and itching ; but in those with a bad state of body, 

 the punctures, if rubbed, are liable to degenerate into ulcers, which may lead to 

 the loss of limb or even of life. Both Marshall and Davy mention, that during 

 the march of troops in the mountains, when the Kandyans were in rebellion, in 

 1818, the soldiers, and especially the Madras sepoys, with the pioneers and 

 coolies, sufi'ered so severely from this cause that numbers perished. 



" One circumstance regarding these land leeches is remarkable and unex- 

 plained ; they are helpless without moisture, and in the hills where they abound 

 at all other times, they entirely disappear during long droughts ; — yet re-appear 

 instantaneously on the very first fall of rain ; and in spots previously parched, 

 where not one was visible an hour before, a single shower is suflScient to repro- 

 duce them in thousands, lurking beneath the decaying leaves, or striding with 

 rapid movements across the gravel. Whence do they re-appear? Do they, too. 



