These Boas Will Kill Deer, And By Crushing Them
Into A Sort Of Sausage They Are Enabled By Degrees To Swallow Them.
There Are Many Of These Reptiles In Ceylon; But They Are Seldom Seen, As
They Generally Wander Forth At Night.
There are marvellous stories of
their size, and my men assured me that they had seen much larger than
the snake now mentioned; to me he appeared a horrible monster.
I do not know anything so disgusting as a snake. There is an instinctive
feeling that the arch enemy is personified when these wretches glide by
you, and the blood chills with horror. I took the dried skin of this
fellow to England; it measures twelve feet in its dry state, minus the
piece that was broken from his neck, making him the length before
mentioned of fifteen feet.
I have often been astonished that comparatively so few accidents happen
in Ceylon from snake-bites; their immense number and the close nature of
the country making it a dangerous risk to the naked feet of the natives.
I was once lying upon a sofa in a rest-house at Kandellai, when I saw a
snake about four feet long glide in at the open door, and, as though
accustomed to a particular spot for his lodging, he at once climbed upon
another sofa and coiled himself under the pillow. My brother had only
just risen from this sofa, and was sitting at the table watching the
movements of his uninvited bedfellow. I soon poked him out with a stick,
and cut off his head with a hunting-knife. This snake was of a very
poisonous description, and was evidently accustomed to lodge behind the
pillow, upon which the unwary sleeper might have received a fatal bite.
Upon taking possession of an unfrequented rest-house, the cushions of
the sofas and bedsteads should always be examined, as they are great
attractions to snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and all manner of
reptiles.
CHAPTER VII
Capabilities of Ceylon--Deer at Illepecadewe--Sagacity of a Pariah
Dog--Two Deer at One Shot--Deer-stalking--Hambantotte Country--Kattregam
Festival--Sitrawelle--Ruins of Ancient Mahagam-- Wiharewelle--A Night
Attack upon Elephants--Shooting by Moonlight--Yalle River--Another
Rogue--A Stroll before Breakfast-- A Curious Shot--A Good Day's Sport.
There are few countries which present a more lovely appearance than
Ceylon. There is a diversity in the scenery which refreshes the eye; and
although the evergreen appearance might appear monotonous to some
persons, still, were they residents, they would observe that the colour
of the foliage is undergoing a constant change by the varying tints of
the leaves in the different stages of their growth. These tints are far
more lovely than the autumnal shades of England, and their brilliancy is
enhanced by the idea that it is the bursting of the young leaf into
life, the freshness of youth instead of the sere leaf of a past summer,
which, after gilding for a few days the beauty of the woods, drops from
frozen branches and deserts them.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 73 of 177
Words from 37187 to 37699
of 91283
