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-thalic 

 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, but, in the attempt, 

 he was bitten in the thigh till blood trickled from 

 the wound. He instantly applied the Pamboo-Kaloo, 

 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 



