52 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
sacred shrine — though the general traveller is allowed 
to resort to them — so that where choultries are nu- 
merous, it may be taken for granted that devotees 
abound. We were overtaken by several very heavy 
storms after we left Tanjore, and these buildings 
afforded us, on more occasions than one, a wel- 
come shelter. In one of them, my servant, in draw- 
ing a loose stone out of a hole in the floor, was 
bitten by some reptile, which I at first feared was 
a snake. I heard him cry out, and upon turn- 
ing my head perceived him to be much agitated, 
staring wildly at the fore-finger of his left hand, 
which he held firmly grasped in the right, with the 
tip only exposed to view. When I asked him what 
had happened, he was so alarmed that he could 
scarcely articulate ; he, however, pointed towards the 
hole whence he had withdrawn the stone, when, 
upon examination, I discovered a large scorpion at 
the bottom of it. On perceiving this, the man regained 
his self-possession, for he also fancied that a snake 
had bitten him, killed the reptile, and placing a 
portion of its inside upon a rag, applied it to the 
wound. After this he merely complained of a slight 
pain in the hand and wrist for a few hours. It had 
entirely subsided by the next morning, and he felt no 
further inconvenience. 
After a very agreeable journey from Pettacotta, we 
reached the coast at Cottapatam, and proceeded with 
the sea in view as far as Tondy. Here the country 
is very barren, and a thick thorny jungle overspreads 
the prospect. The cocoa-nut tree is indeed abundant 
upon the coast ; though the inland aspect is anything 
