Batit—Ldentification of the Animals and Plants of India. 327 
as follows :—‘‘ The river Indus has no living creature in it except, 
they say, the Skolex, a kind of worm, which to appearance is very like 
the worms that are generated and nurtured in trees. It differs, how- 
ever, in size, being in general seven cubits in length, and of sucha 
thickness that a child of ten could scarcely clasp it round in his arms. 
It has a single tooth in each of its jaws quadrangular in shape, and 
above four feet long. These teeth are so strong that they tear in 
pieces with ease whatever they clutch, be it a stone or be it a beast, 
whether wild or tame. In the daytime these worms remain hidden 
at the bottom of the river, wallowing with delight in its mud and 
sediment, but by night they come ashore in search of prey, and what- 
ever animal they pounce upon, horse, cow, or ass, they drag down to 
the bottom of the river where they devour it limb by limb, all except 
the entrails. Should they be pressed by hunger they come ashore even 
in the daytime; and should a camel then, or a cow, come to the brink 
of the river to quench its thirst, they creep stealthly up to it, and with 
a violent spring, having secured their victim by fastening their fangs 
in its upper lip, they drag it by sheer force into the water, where they 
make a sumptuous repast of it. The hide of the Skolex is two finger- 
breadths thick. The natives have devised the following methods for 
catching it. Toa hook of great strength and thickness they attach 
an iron chain, which they bind with a rope made of a broad piece of 
cotton. Then they wrap wool round the hook and the rope, to pre- 
vent them being gnawed through by the worm, and having baited the 
hook with a kid, the line is thereupon lowered into the stream. As 
‘many as thirty men, each of whom is equipped with a sword, anda spear 
(harpoon), fitted with a thong, hold on to the rope, having also stout 
cudgels lying ready to hand, in case it should be necessary to kill 
the monster with blows. As soon as it is hooked and swallows 
the bait, it is hauled ashore, and dispatched by the fishermen, who 
suspend its carcass till it has been exposed to the heat of the sun for 
thirty days. An oil all this time oozes out from it, and falls by drops 
into earthen vessels. A single worm yields ten hotulai (about five 
pints). The vessels having been sealed up, the oil is despatched to 
the king of the Indians, for no one else is allowed to have so much as 
one drop of it. The rest of the carcass is useless. Now, this oil pos- 
sesses this singular virtue, that if you wish to burn to ashes a pile of 
any kind of wood, you have only to pour upon it half a pint of the oil, 
and it ignites without your applying a spark of fire to kindle it; while 
if it is a man or a beast you want to burn, you pour out the oil, and in 
an instant the victim is consumed. By means of this oil also the king 
of the Indians, it is said, captures hostile cities without the help of 
rams or testudos, or other siege apparatus, for he has merely to set 
them on fire with the oil and they fall into his hands. How he pro- 
ceeds is this: Having filled with the oil a certain number of earthen 
vessels, which hold each about half a pint, he closes up their mouths 
and aims them at the uppermost parts of the gates, and if they strike 
them and break, the oil runs down the woodwork, wrapping it in flames 
R.I.A. PROC., VOL. If., SER II.—POL. LIT. AND ANTIQ. 20 
