wanton of the two, and they illustrate this by a popular legend, that
once upon a time a child, in the absence of its mother, was playing
beside a tub of water, which a cobra, impelled by thirst during a
long-continued drought, approached to drink, the unconscious child all
the while striking it with its hands to prevent the intrusion. The
cobra, on returning, was met by a tic-polonga, which seeing its scales
dripping with delicious moisture, entreated to be told the way to the
well. The cobra, knowing the vicious habits of the other snake, and
anticipating that it would kill the innocent child which it had so
recently spared, at first refused, and only yielded on condition that
the infant was not to be molested. But the polonga, on reaching the tub,
was no sooner obstructed by the little one, than it stung him to death.]
[Footnote 2: In a return of 112 coroners' inquests, in cases of death
from wild animals, held in Ceylon in five years, from 1851 to 1855
inclusive, 68 are ascribed to the bites of serpents; and in almost every
instance the assault is set down as having taken place _at night_. The
majority of the sufferers were children and women.]
[Footnote 3: PLINY notices that the serpent has the sense of hearing
more acute than that of sight; and that it is more frequently put in
motion by the sound of footsteps than by the appearance of the intruder,
"excitatur pede sæpius."--Lib, viii. c. 36.]
_Cobra de Capello._--The cobra de capello is the only one exhibited by
the itinerant snake-charmers: and the truth of Davy's conjecture, that
they control it, not by extracting its fangs, but by courageously
availing themselves of its well-known timidity and extreme reluctance to
use its fatal weapons, received a painful confirmation during my
residence in Ceylon, by the death of one of these performers, whom his
audience had provoked to attempt some unaccustomed familiarity with the
cobra; it bit him on the wrist, and he expired the same evening. The
hill near Kandy, on which the official residences of the Governor and
Colonial Secretary are built, is covered in many places with the
deserted nests of the white ants (_termites_), and these are the
favourite retreats of the sluggish and spiritless cobra, which watches
from their apertures the toads and lizards on which it preys. Here, when
I have repeatedly come upon them, their only impulse was concealment;
and on one occasion, when a cobra of considerable length could not
escape, owing to the bank being nearly precipitous on both sides of the
road, a few blows from my whip were sufficient to deprive it of life.[1]
[Footnote 1: A Singhalese work, the _Sarpados[=a]_, enumerates four
castes of the cobra;--the _raja_, or king: the _bamunu_, or Brahman; the
_velanda_, or trader; and the _gori_, or agriculturist. Of these the
raja, or "king of the cobras," is said to have the head and the anterior
half of the body of so light a colour, that at a distance it seems like
a silvery white. The work is quoted, but not correctly, in the _Ceylon
Times_ for January, 1857. It is more than probable, as the division
represents the four castes of the Hindus, Chastriyas, Brahmans Vaisyas,
and Sudras; that the insertion of the _gori_ instead of the latter was a
pious fraud of some copyist to confer rank upon the Vellales, the
agricultural caste of Ceylon.]
A gentleman who held a civil appointment at Kornegalle, had a servant
who was bitten by a snake and he informed me that on enlarging a hole
near the foot of the tree under which the accident occurred, he
unearthed a cobra of upwards of three feet long, and so purely white as
to induce him to believe that it was an albino. With the exception of
the _rat-snake_[1], the cobra de capello is the only serpent which seems
from choice to frequent the vicinity of human dwellings, doubtless
attracted by the young of the domestic fowl and by the moisture of the
wells and drainage.
[Footnote 1: _Coryphodon Blumenbachii._ There is a belief in Ceylon that
the bite of the rat-snake, though harmless to man, is fatal to black
cattle. The Singhalese add that it would be equally so to man were the
wound to be touched by cow-dung. WOLF, in the interesting story of his
_Life and Adventures in Ceylon_, mentions that rat-snakes were often so
domesticated by the native as to feed at their table. He says: "I once
saw an example of this in the house of a native. It being meal time, he
called his snake, which immediately came forth from the roof under which
he and I were sitting. He gave it victuals from his own dish, which the
snake took of itself from off a fig-leaf that was laid for it, and ate
along with its host. When it had eaten its fill, he gave it a kiss, and
bade it go to its hole." Major SKINNER, writing to me 12th Dec., 1858,
mentions the still more remarkable case of the domestication of the
cobra de capello in Ceylon. "Did you ever hear," he says, "of tame
cobras being kept and domesticated about a house, going in and out at
pleasure, and in common with the rest of the inmates? In one family,
near Negombo, cobras are kept as protectors, in the place of dogs, by a
wealthy man who has always large sums of money in his house. But this is
not a solitary case of the kind. I heard of it only the other day, but
from undoubtedly good authority. The snakes glide about the house, a
terror to thieves, but never attempting to harm the inmates."]
The young cobras, it is said, in the _Sarpa-dosa_, are not venomous till
after the thirteenth day, when they shed their coat for the first time.
The Singhalese remark that if one cobra be destroyed near a house, its
companion is almost certain to be discovered immediately after,--a
popular belief which I had an opportunity of verifying on more than one
occasion. Once, when a snake of this description was killed in a bath of
the Government House at Colombo, its mate was found in the same spot the
day after; and again, at my own stables, a cobra of five feet long,
having fallen into the well, which was too deep to permit its escape,
its companion of the same size was found the same morning in an
adjoining drain.[1] On this occasion the snake, which had been several
hours in the well, swam with ease, raising its head and hood above
water; and instances have repeatedly occurred of the cobra de capello
voluntarily taking considerable excursions by sea. When the
"Wellington," a government vessel employed in the conservancy of the
pearl banks, was anchored about a quarter of a mile from the land, in
the bay of Koodremalé, a cobra was seen, about an hour before sunset,
swimming vigorously towards the ship. It came within twelve yards, when
the sailors assailed it with billets of wood and other missiles, and
forced it to return to land. The following morning they discovered the
track which it had left on the shore, and traced it along the sand till
it was lost in the jungle. On a later occasion, in the vicinity of the
same spot, when the "Wellington" was lying at some distance from the
shore, a cobra was found and killed on board, where it could only have
gained access by climbing up the cable. It was first discovered by a
sailor, who felt the chill as it glided over his foot.
[Footnote 1: PLINY notices the affection that subsists between the male
and female asp; and that if one of them happens to be killed, the other
seeks to avenge its death.--Lib. viii. c. 37.]
One curious tradition in Ceylon embodies the popular legend, that the
stomach of the cobra de capello occasionally contains a precious stone
of such unapproachable brilliancy as to surpass all known jewels. This
inestimable stone is called the _n[=a]ga-m[=a]nik-kya_; but not one
snake in thousands is supposed to possess such a treasure. The cobra,
before eating, is believed to cast it up and conceal it for the moment;
else its splendour, like a flambeau, would attract all beholders. The
tales of the peasantry, in relation to it, all turn upon the devices of
those in search of the gem, and the vigilance and cunning of the cobra
by which they are baffled; the reptile itself being more enamoured of
the priceless jewel than even its most ardent pursuers.
In BENNETT'S account of "_Ceylon and its Capabilities_," there is
another curious piece of Singhalese folk-lore, to the effect, that the
cobra de capello every time it expends its poison _loses a joint of its
tail_, and eventually acquires a head resembling that of a toad. A
recent addition to zoological knowledge has thrown light on the origin
of this popular fallacy. The family of "false snakes" (_pseudo
typhlops_, as Schlegel names the group) have till lately consisted of
but three species, of which only one was known to inhabit Ceylon. They
belong to a family intermediate between the serpents and that Saurian
group-commonly called _Slow-worms_ or _Glass-snakes_; they in fact
represent the slow-worms of the temperate regions in Ceylon. They have
the body of a snake, but the cleft of their mouth is very narrow, and
they are unable to detach the lateral parts of the lower jaw from each
other, as the true snakes do when devouring a prey. The most striking
character of the group, however, is the size and form of the tail; this
is very short, and according to the observations of Professor Peters of
Berlin[1], shorter in the female than in the male. It does not terminate
in a point as in other snakes, but is truncated obliquely, the abrupt
surface of its extremity being either entirely flat, or more or less
convex, and always covered with rough keels. The reptile assists its own
movements by pressing the rough end to the ground, and from this
peculiar form of the tail, the family has received the name of
_Uropeltidæ_, or "Shield-tails." Within a very recent period important
additions have been made to this family. which now consists of four
genera and eleven species. Those occurring in Ceylon are enumerated in
the List appended to this chapter. One of these, the _Uropeltis grandis_
of Kelaart[2], is distinguished by its dark brown colour, shot with a
bluish metallic lustre, closely approaching the ordinary shade of the
cobra; and the tail is abruptly and flatly compressed as though it had
been severed by a knife. The form of this singular reptile will be best
understood by a reference to the accompanying figure; and there can, I
think, be little doubt that to its strange and anomalous structure is to
be traced the fable of the transformation of the cobra de capello. The
colour alone would seem to identify the two reptiles, but the head and
mouth are no longer those of a serpent, and the disappearance of the
tail might readily suggest the mutilation which the tradition asserts.
[Illustration: THE UROPELTIS PHILIPPINUS.]
[Footnote 1: PETERS, _De Serpentum familia Uropeltaceorum_. Berol, 4.
1861.]
[Footnote 2: The _Uropeltis grandis_ of Kelaart, which was at first
supposed to be a new species, proves to be identical with _U.
Phillippinus_ of Cuvier. It is doubtful, however, whether this species
be found in the Phillippine Islands, as stated by Cuvier; and it is more
than, probable that the typical specimen came from Ceylon--a further
illustration of the affinity of the fauna of Ceylon to that of the
Eastern Archipelago. The characteristics of this reptile, as given by
Dr. GRAY, are as follows:--"Caudal disc subcircular, with large
scattered tubercles; snout subacute, slightly produced. Dark brown,
lighter below, with some of the scales dark brown in the centre near the
posterior edge. GRAY, _Proceed. Zool. Soc._ 1858, p. 262.]
The Singhalese Buddhists, in their religious abstinence from inflicting
death on any creature, are accustomed, after securing a venomous snake,
to enclose it in a basket woven of palm leaves, and to set it afloat on
a river.
_The Python._--The great python[1] (the "boa," as it is commonly
designated by Europeans, the "anaconda" of Eastern story), which is
supposed to crush the bones of an elephant, and to swallow the tiger, is
found, though not of such portentous dimensions, in the cinnamon gardens
within a mile of the fort of Colombo, where it feeds on hog-deer, and
other smaller animals.
[Footnote 1: Python reticulatus, _Gray_.]
The natives occasionally take it alive, and securing it to a pole expose
it for sale as a curiosity. One that was brought to me tied in this way
measured seventeen feet with a proportionate thickness: but one more
fully grown, which crossed my path on a coffee estate on the Peacock
Mountain at Pusilawa, considerably exceeded these dimensions. Another
which I watched in the garden at Elie House, near Colombo, surprised me
by the ease with which it erected itself almost perpendicularly in order
to scale a wall upwards of ten feet high.
The Singhalese assert that when it has swallowed a deer, or any animal
of similarly inconvenient bulk, the python draws itself through the
narrow aperture between two trees, in order to crush the bones and
assist in the process of deglutition.
It is a singular fact that the small and innocuous ground-snakes called
_Calamariæ_, which abound on the continent of India and in the islands
are not to be found in Ceylon; where they would appear to be replaced by
two singular genera, the _Aspidura_ and _Haplocercus_, These latter have
only one series of shields below the tail, whilst most other harmless
snakes (_Calamaria_ included) have a double series of sub-candals. The
_Aspidura_ has been known to naturalists for many years[1]; the
_Haplocercus_ of Ceylon has only recently been described by Dr. Günther,
and of it not more than three existing specimens are known: hence its
habits and the extent of its distribution over the island are still left
in uncertainty.[2]
[Footnote 1: Boie in Isis 1827 p. 517.]
[Footnote 2: GÜNTH. _Col. Snakes_, p. 14. In the hope that some inquirer
in Ceylon will be able to furnish such information as may fill up this
blank in the history of the haplocercus, the following particulars are
here appended. The largest of the specimens in the British Museum is
about twenty-five inches in length; the body thin, and much elongated;
the head narrow, and not distinct from the neck, the tail of moderate
length. Forehead covered by three shields, one anterior and two
posterior frontals; no loreal shield; one small shield before, two
behind the eye; seven shields along the upper lip, the eye being above
the fourth. The scales are disposed in seventeen longitudinal series;
they are lanceolate and strongly keeled. The upper parts are uniform
blackish or brown, with two dorsal rows of small indistinct black spots;
occiput with a whitish collar, edged with darker. The lower parts
uniform yellowish.]
Of ten species of snakes that ascend trees in Ceylon to search for
squirrels and lizards, and to rifle the nests of birds, one half,
including the green _carawala_, and the deadly _tic polonga_, are
believed by the natives to be venomous; but the truth of this is very
dubious. I have heard of the cobra being found on the crown of a
coco-nut palm, attracted, it was said, by the toddy which was flowing at
the time, it being the season for drawing it. Surrounding Elie House,
near Colombo, in which I resided, were a number of tall _casuarinas_ and
India-rubber trees, whose branches almost touched the lattices of the
window of the room in which I usually sat. These were a favourite resort
of the tree-snakes, and in the early morning the numbers which clung to
them were sometimes quite remarkable. I had thus an opportunity of
observing the action of these creatures, which seems to me one of
vigilance rather than of effort, the tongue being in perpetual activity,
as if it were an organ of feeling; and in those in which the nose is
elongated, a similar mobility and restlessness, especially when alarmed,
affords evidence of the same faculty.
The general characteristic of the Tree-snake is an exceedingly thin and
delicate body, often adorned with colours exquisite as those of the
foliage amongst which they live concealed. In some of the South American
species the tints vie in brilliancy with those of the humming-birds;
whilst their forms are so flexible and slender as to justify the name
conferred on them of "_whip-snakes_." The Siamese, to denote these
combinations of grace and splendour, call them "Sun-beams." A
naturalist[1], describing a bright green species in Brazil (_Philodryas
viridissimus_), writes: "I am always delighted when I find that another
tree-snake has settled in my garden. You look for a bird's nest, the
young ones have gone, but you find their bed occupied by one of these
beautiful creatures, which will coil up its body of two feet in length
within a space no larger than the hollow of your hand. They appear to be
always watchful; for at the instant you discover one, the quick playing
of the long, black, forked tongue will show you that you too are
observed. On perceiving the slightest sign of your intention to disturb
it, the snake will dart upwards through the branches and over the leaves
which scarcely appear to bend beneath the weight. A moment more, and you
have lost sight of it. Whenever I return to Europe, you may be sure that
in my hot-house those harmless, lovely creatures shall not be missing."
[Footnote 1: Dr. WUCHERER of Bahia.]
[Illustration: TREE SNAKE. Passerita fusca.]
Ceylon has several species of Tree-snakes, and one of the most common is
the green _Passerita_, easily recognized from its bright colour and from
the pointed moveable appendage, into which the snout is prolonged. The
snakes of this genus being active chiefly during the night, the pupil of
the eye is linear and horizontal. They never willingly descend from
trees, but prey there upon nocturnal Saurians, geckoes, small birds and
their young; and they are perfectly harmless, although they often try to
bite. It is strange that none of the numerous specimens which it has
been attempted to bring to Europe have ever fed in captivity; whilst in
South America they take their food freely in confinement, provided that
some green plants are placed in their cage.
In Ceylon I have never seen any specimen of a larger size than three
feet; whilst they are known to attain to more than five on the Indian
Continent.
The inference is obvious, that the green coloration of the majority of
tree-snakes has more or less connection with their habits and mode of
life. Indeed, whenever a green-coloured snake is observed, it may at
once be pronounced, if slender or provided with a prehensile tail, to be
of the kind which passes its life on trees; but if it be short-bodied
then it lives on the prairies. There are nevertheless tree-snakes which
have a very different coloration; and one of the most remarkable species
is the _Passerita fusca_ or _Dryinus fuscus_, of which a figure is
annexed. It closely resembles the green Passerita in form, so that
naturalists have considered it to be a mere variety. It is entirely of a
shining brown, shot with purple, and the yellow longitudinal stripe
which runs along the side of the belly of the green species, is absent
in this one. It is much more rare than the green one, and does not
appear to be found in Hindostan: no intermediate forms have been
observed in Ceylon.
_Water-Snakes._--The fresh-water snakes, of which several species[1]
inhabit the still waters and pools, are all harmless in Ceylon. A
gentleman, who found near a river an agglutinated cluster of the eggs of
one variety (_Tropidophis schistosus_), placed them under a glass shade
on his drawing-room table, where one by one the young reptiles emerged
from the shell to the number of twenty.
[Footnote 1: Chersydrus granulatus, _Merr_.; Cerberus cinereus. _Daud._;
Tropidophis schistosus, _Daud._]
The _sea-snakes_ of the Indian tropics did not escape the notice of the
early Greek mariners who navigated those seas; and amongst the facts
collected by them, Ælian has briefly recorded that the Indian Ocean
produces serpents _with flattened tails_[1], whose bite, he adds, is to
be dreaded less for its venom than the laceration of its teeth. The
first statement is accurate, but the latter is incorrect, as there is an
all but unanimous concurrence of opinion that every species of this
family of serpents is more or less poisonous. The compression of the
tail noticed by Ælian is one of the principal characteristics of these
reptiles, as their motion through the water is mainly effected by its
aid, coupled with the undulating movement of the rest of the body. Their
scales, instead of being imbricated like those of land-snakes, form
hexagons; and those on the belly, instead of being scutate and enlarged,
are nearly of the same size and form as on other parts of the body.
[Footnote 1: "[Greek: Plateis tas ouras]." ÆLIAN, L. xvi. c. 8.
Ælian speaks elsewhere of fresh-water snakes. His remark on the
compression of the tail shows that his informants were aware of this
speciality in those that inhabit the sea.]
Sea-snakes (_Hydrophis_) are found on all the coasts of Ceylon. I have
sailed through large shoals of them in the Gulf of Manaar, close to the
pearl-banks of Aripo. The fishermen of Calpentyn on the west live in
perpetual dread of them, and believe their bite to be fatal. In the
course of an attempt which was recently made to place a lighthouse on
the great rocks of the south-east coast, known by seamen as the
Basses[1], or _Baxos_, the workmen who first landed found the portion of
the surface liable to be covered by the tides, honeycombed, and hollowed
into deep holes filled with water, in which were abundance of fishes and
some molluscs. Some of these cavities also contained sea-snakes from
four to five feet long, which were described as having the head "hooded
like the cobra de capello, and of a light grey colour, slightly
speckled. They coiled themselves like serpents on land, and darted at
poles thrust in among them. The Singhalese who accompanied the party,
said that they not only bit venomously, but crushed the limb of any
intruder in their coils."[2]
[Footnote 1: The Basses are believed to be the remnants of the great
island of Giri, swallowed up by the sea.--_Mahawanso_, ch. i. p. 4. They
may possibly be the _Bassæ_ of Ptolemy's map of _Taprobane_.]
[Footnote 2: Official Report to the Governor of Ceylon.]