274 



REPTILES. 



[Chap. IX. 



the compliment of a betel-leaf, which it would be rude- 

 ness to refuse, facilities are thus afforded for present- 

 ing the concealed drug. It is curious that to this 

 latent suspicion has been traced the origin of a custom 

 universal amongst the natives, of nipping off with the 

 thumb nail the thick end of the stem before chewing 

 the betel. 



In the preparation of this mysterious compound, the 

 unfortunate Kabara-goya is forced to take a painfully 

 prominent part. The receipt, as written down by a 

 Kandyan, was sent to me from Kornegalle, by Mr. 

 Morris, the civil officer of that district ; and in 

 dramatic arrangement it far outdoes the cauldron of 

 Macbeth's witches. The ingredients are extracted from 

 venomous snakes, the cobra de capello, the Carawilla, 

 and the Tic-polonga, by making incisions in the head 

 of these reptiles and suspending them over a chattie to 

 collect the poison as it flows. To this, arsenic and other 

 drugs are added, and the whole is " boiled in a human 

 skull, with the aid of the three Kabara-goyas, which are 

 tied on three sides of the fire, with their heads directed 

 towards it, and tormented by whips to make them hiss, 

 so that the fire may blaze. The froth from their lips is 

 then added to the boiling mixture, and so soon as 

 an oily scum rises to the surface, the kabara-tel is 

 complete." 



It is obvious that arsenic is the main ingredient in the 

 poison, and Mr. Morris reported to me that the mode 

 of preparing it, described above, was actually practised 

 in his district. This account was transmitted by him 

 apropos to the murder of a Mohatal 1 and his wife, 

 which had been committed with the kabara-tel, and 



1 A native head-man of low rank. 



