AND THE MALAY STATES 
61 
kill them, as they think the cobra quite likely to possess the soul of 
some dead relative of theirs. The Tamils, however, have no such 
prejudice and are perfectly willing to slaughter them whenever they can. 
My informants acknowledged that the bite of the cobra was very venom- 
ous, but not necessarily fatal. They said that some years before there 
had lived in that district a man who was known as the cobra king, wlio 
not only cured snake bites in others, but was proof against poison him- 
self. He used to tease the snakes to make them bite him, and even rub 
their venom into cuts on his arms, and apparently without the least 
injury. But he was finally attacked by a sort of rheumatism, which 
made him a helpless cripple, and he went back to England to get cured. 
Close to Culloden is Arapolakanda, where I next visited, being 
entertained by the resident manager, Mr. H. V. Bagot. He has but 
fifteen acres of Hevea in bearing, and gets twenty pounds a day. In 
coagulating, Mr. Bagot did not follow exactly the process used by his 
neighbor, Mr. Harrison, the difference being this: he added no acid to 
hasten coagulation, and also smoked the rubber over a fire of sawdust 
and bark. The final drying was accomplished by spreading on wire 
screens, and not a pound was shipped until it was perfectly dry and 
transparent. By the way, he reported that he had one “dumb” tree 
that was big, thrifty, and apparently exactly like the others, but that 
it gave no milk. At the lower end of Arapolakanda are some acres of 
marsh land that have been drained and reclaimed and on which is 
standing some fine rubber. As this land is near the river, it is some- 
times inundated, the water standing four feet up on the trunks, but for 
a short time only. Mr. Bagot acknowledged that the trees were set 
back somewhat, but not very much. The general opinion in Ceylon, 
however, is that inundations are very apt to kill out the Hevea. 
The oldest rubber on this plantation is some fifteen to eighteen 
years old, planted quite closely together in a sheltered nook. In this 
lot the outside trees which get the sun are by far the largest, one that 
I measured roughly being two feet in diameter and sixty feet high. 
After having seen all of the rubber, I examined the tea, saw what sights 
there were, and spent a very pleasant evening with Mr. Bagot, at whose 
bungalow I slept. 
Very early the next morning, with a coolie carrying my luggage, I 
made my way to the river and climbing down its steep, clayey bank, 
found myself aboard the steamer Kaluganga. This craft was some 
sixty feet long and twelve feet wide, with a small wood-burning boiler 
and engine amidships. The forward deck was reserved for the whites, 
