342 
CEYLON 
forthwith green. Unfortunately, however, it was too active for me 
and got away. A much less active, less timid, and indeed almost 
domesticated reptile is the Gecko; a pale, anaemic, uncanny-looking 
creature which clings to walls by the suckers on its feet. The Gecko 
is wont to take up its position behind a picture hanging near a lamp, 
issuing forth as soon as the house is lighted up to make its late 
dinner off the unsuspecting visitors to the light. In our hotel at 
Kandy the head of a Gecko might be seen nightly just projecting 
from behind a time-table that was pinned upon the wall. The only 
insect that I actually ever saw one of these animals eat was a small 
Homopteron, but I would not like to trust a rare moth to their 
powers of self-restraint. 1 
This reminds me that one night crowds of winged Termites came 
to the lights, and I noticed the hotel dog devouring them eagerly. 
A resident told me that both dogs and cats are extremely fond of 
Termites. 
Once only did I see a Chamaeleon in Ceylon, a large one which 
surprised me by its activity. 
The exterior of the Temple of the Tooth is undoubtedly very 
picturesque; it would be hard to say the same of the interior, which 
is disappointing. The so-called Tooth would defy the classificatory 
powers of a Cuvier or an Owen, and it would be a full size for the 
biggest effigy of Buddha at Dambulla. As for the yellow-robed 
priests, they, like their temple, are unquestionably picturesque, and 
many of the younger men are distinctly good-looking, but the older 
men—with one or two notable exceptions—have a most sinister cast 
of countenance. The Buddhism of the “ Light of Asia,” and 
Buddhism as actually practised in Ceylon are two very different 
things; it is strange to be told that Mrs. Besant, Colonel Olcott, and 
the other Esoteric Buddhists, whose message has fallen upon deaf 
ears in the West, have caused quite a revival of Buddhism in Ceylon. 
If this had had a purifying or ennobling influence it might have 
been well, but the most obvious result is an increased bitter 
opposition to Christianity on the part of the priests. 
Some of the Kandyan Chiefs, as the native landed gentry are 
1 An interesting British parallel to this appeared recently:—“ Two enthusiastic 
entomological friends, Messrs. A. Graveson and T. Smith . . . one night (in August, 
1910) reported seeing quite a number of toads sitting boldly on the heather-tops, 
obviously waiting for the supper which the winged visitors should provide—no 
wonder some species are becoming scarcer.” This would appear to have been 
in the Kendal district, and is recorded by Mr. Frank Littlewood in the Ento¬ 
mologist, 1911, p. 73. 
