Chap. IX.] 
THE TALLA-GOYA. 
271 
CHAP. IX. 
EEPTILES. 
Lizaeds. Iguana. — One of the earliest, if not the 
first remarkable animal to startle a stranger on arriving 
in Ceylon, whilst wending his way from Point-de- 
Gralle to Colombo, is a huge lizard of from four to 
five feet in length, the Talla-goyd of the Singhalese, 
and Iguana 1 of the Europeans. It maybe seen at noon- 
day searching for ants and insects in the middle of the 
highway and along the fences ; when disturbed, but by 
no means alarmed, by the approach of man, it moves 
off to a safe distance ; and, the intrusion being at an 
end, it returns again to the occupation in which it had 
been interrupted. Eepulsive as it is in appearance, it 
is perfectly harmless, and is hunted down by dogs 
in the maritime provinces, and its delicate flesh, which 
is believed to be a specific in dysentery, is con- 
verted into curry, and its skin into shoes. When 
seized, it has the power of inflicting a smart blow with 
its tail. The Talla-goya lives in almost any convenient 
hollow, such as a hole in the ground, or a deserted 
nest of the termites ; and some small ones, which fre- 
quented my garden at Colombo, made their retreat in 
the heart of a decayed tree. 
1 Monitor dracaena,!^??. Among iguana, which they regard as a spe- 
the barbarous nostrums of the tin- cifie for consumption, if plucked 
educated natives, both Singhalese from the living animal and swal- 
and Tamil, is the tongue of the lowed whole. 
