Chap. IX.] 
SNAKE-STONES. 
313 
hered tenaciously for three or four minutes, the wounded 
man's companion in the meanwhile rubbing his arm 
downwards from the shoulder towards the fingers. At 
length the snake-stones dropped off of their own ac- 
cord ; the suffering of the man appeared to subside ; he 
twisted his fingers till the joints cracked, and went on 
his way without concern. Whilst this had been going 
on, another Indian of the party who had come up took 
from his bag a small piece of white wood, which re- 
sembled a root, and passed it gently near the head of 
the cobra, which the latter immediately inclined close to 
the ground ; he then lifted the snake without hesitation, 
and coiled it into a circle at the bottom of his basket. 
The root by which he professed to be enabled to perform 
this operation with safety he called the Naya-ihalic 
Kalanga (the root of the snake-plant), protected by 
which he professed his ability to approach any reptile 
with impunity. 
In another instance, in 1853, Mr. Lavalliere, then 
District Judge of Kandy, informed me that he saw a 
snake-charmer in the jungle, close by the town, search 
for a cobra de capello, and, after disturbing one in its 
retreat, the man tried to secure it 3 but, in the attempt, 
he was bitten in the thigh till blood trickled from 
the wound. He instantly applied the Pamboo-Kalop, 
which adhered closely for about ten minutes, during 
which time he passed the root which he held in his 
hand backwards and forwards above the stone, till the 
latter dropped to the ground. He assured Mr. Laval- 
liere that all danger was then past. That gentleman 
obtained from him the snake-stone he had relied on, 
and saw him repeatedly afterwards in perfect health. 
The substances used on both these occasions are now 
