No. 39. — 1889.] account op cbylon. 



The Hollanders sell fifteen to twenty elephants every year 

 to the Moors who come from Persia or Mecca. They are first 

 measured with a long stick like a measuring rod. From a 

 man's elbow to the hand (that is in our measure as much 

 as three-fourths of an ell) is called a gobdel* and the price 

 for one is three to four hundred thalers. I have often seen 

 elephants that were seven, eight, nine, or ten gobdels high ; 

 the biggest that came to my notice was even eleven gobdeU 

 in height. 



As I have said, that, when out to catch elephants, we had 

 to protect ourselves with large fires, which they are afraid of, 

 I will now also describe an adventure I had on such an 

 occasion with a big snake. There are many of them in the 

 island of Ceilon. Some are very poisonous, and he who gets 

 bitten must die, unless he applies remedies immediately. 

 They are called Gupre Gapelle .-f some of them have a stone 

 in the head, and he who has such a stone is in no danger even 

 though bitten ; for if the stone be held to the wound, it 

 sticks to it, and draws the poison out, and when taken off, 

 and put into water, the water turns a bluish colour. The 

 stone gives up all the poison, and one can safely use it again 

 as before.f 



which is supposed to have had charge and care of the elephant in its 

 wild state. 



After the ceremony of sprinkling water has been gone through, and the 

 elephant named, or " christened," it is removed to the hilingniva. This is 

 a sort of narrow enclosure constructed in the stable, wherein the elephant 

 is confined to enable the tamer to approach and fondle it in the process 

 of taming. 



The dancing may have formed part of the ceremony peculiar to the 

 Matara District (where the writer probably witnessed it), but is not now 

 resorted to in the Kandyan districts. 



* Cubit (Port, covado). "An elephant is sold according to his height. 

 The largest elephant is about 9 cubits (eodos) high from the point of the 

 foot to the shoulder, and being sold at the rate of 1,000 pardaos the cubit, 

 he fetches about 8,000 pardaos ; but a very large one, which has good dis- 

 tinguishing marks, fetches 12,000 or even 15,000 pard aos." (Lee, Ribeiro, 

 p. 67.) 



\Kobra de liabelo (Dutch ed.) ; Port. Cobra do capello ; Sin. naya ; 

 Naja tripudians (Merv.). 

 t See Tennent, Nat. Hist., pp. 312, 313. 



