Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon Part 28

[Footnote 2: _Catal. Mal. Rept_. p. 136.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SEA SNAKE Hydrophis subloevis]

Those found near the coasts of Ceylon are generally small,--from one to three feet in length, and apparently immature; and it is certain that the largest specimens taken in the Pacific do not attain to greater length than eight feet. In colour they are generally of a greenish brown, in parts inclining to yellow, with occasionally cross bands of black. The species figured in the accompanying drawing is the _Hydrophis subloevis_ of Gray; or _Hydrus cyanocinctus_ of Boie.[1] The specimen from which the drawing is taken, was obtained by Dr. Templeton at Colombo.

[Footnote 1: Its technical characteristics are as follows,--Body rather slender; ground colour yellowish with irregular black rings. Scales nearly smooth; ventral plates broad, six-sided, smooth, some divided into two, by a slight central groove. Occipital shields large, triangular, and produced, with a small central shield behind them; a series of four large temporal shields; chin shields in two pairs; eyes very small, over the fourth and fifth l.a.b.i.als; one ante-and two post-oculars; the second upper l.a.b.i.al shield elongated.]

The use of the Pamboo-Kaloo, or snake-stone, as a remedy in cases of wounds by venomous serpents, has probably been communicated to the Singhalese by the itinerant snake-charmers who resort to the island from the coast of Coromandel; and more than one well-authenticated instance of its successful application has been told to me by persons who had been eye-witnesses to what they described. On one occasion, in March, 1854, a friend of mine was riding, with some other civil officers of the Government, along a jungle path in the vicinity of Bintenne, when he saw one of two Tamils, who were approaching the party, suddenly dart into the forest and return, holding in both hands a cobra de capello which he had seized by the head and tail. He called to his companion for a.s.sistance to place it in their covered basket, but, in doing this, he handled it so inexpertly that it seized him by the finger, and retained its hold for a few seconds, as if unable to retract its fangs. The blood flowed, and intense pain appeared to follow almost immediately; but, with all expedition, the friend of the sufferer undid his waistcloth, and took from it two snake-stones, each of the size of a small almond, intensely black and highly polished, though of an extremely light substance. These he applied, one to each wound inflicted by the teeth of the serpent, to which they attached themselves closely; the blood that oozed from the bites being rapidly imbibed by the porous texture of the article applied. The stones adhered tenaciously for three or four minutes, the wounded man's companion in the meanwhile rubbing his arm downwards from the shoulder towards the fingers. At length the snake-stones dropped off of their own accord; the suffering of the man appeared to subside; he twisted his fingers till the joints cracked, and went on his way without concern. Whilst this had been going on, another Indian of the party who had come up took from his bag a small piece of white wood, which resembled a root, and pa.s.sed it gently near the head of the cobra, which the latter immediately inclined close to the ground; he then lifted the snake without hesitation, and coiled it into a circle at the bottom of his basket. The root by which he professed to be enabled to perform this operation with safety he called the _Naya-thalic Kalanga_ (the root of the snake-plant), protected by which he professed his ability to approach any reptile with impunity.

In another instance, in 1853, Mr. Lavalliere, then District Judge of Kandy, informed me that he saw a snake-charmer in the jungle, close by the town, search for a cobra de capello, and, after disturbing one in its retreat, the man tried to secure it, but, in the attempt, he was bitten in the thigh till blood trickled from the wound. He instantly applied the _Pamboo-Kaloo_, which adhered closely for about ten minutes, during which time he pa.s.sed the root which he held in his hand backwards and forwards above the stone, till the latter dropped to the ground. He a.s.sured Mr. Lavalliere that all danger was then past. That gentleman obtained from him the snake-stone he had relied on, and saw him repeatedly afterwards in perfect health.

The substances used on both these occasions are now in my possession.

The roots employed by the several parties are not identical. One appears to be a bit of the stem of an Aristolochia; the other is so dried as to render its identification difficult, but it resembles the quadrangular stem of a jungle vine. Some species of Aristolochia, such as the _A.

serpentaria_ of North America, are supposed to act as specifics in the cure of snakebites; and the _A. indica_ is the plant to which the ichneumon is popularly believed to resort as an antidote when bitten[1]; but it is probable that the use of any particular plant by the snake-charmers is a pretence, or rather a delusion, the reptile being overpowered by the resolute action of the operator[2], and not by the influence of any secondary appliance. In other words, the confidence inspired by the supposed talisman enables its possessor to address himself fearlessly to his task, and thus to effect, by determination and will, what is popularly believed to be the result of charms and stupefaction. Still it is curious that, amongst the natives of Northern Africa, who lay hold of the _Cerastes_ without fear or hesitation, impunity is ascribed to the use of a plant with the juice of which they anoint themselves before touching the reptile[3]; and Bruce says of the people of Sennar, that they acquire exemption from the fatal consequences of the bite by chewing a particular root, and washing themselves with an infusion of certain plants. He adds that a portion of this root was given him, with a view to test its efficacy in his own person, but that he had not sufficient resolution to make the experiment.

[Footnote 1: For an account of the encounter between the ichneumon and the venomous snakes of Ceylon, see Ch. I. p. 39.]

[Footnote 2: The following narrative of the operations of a snake-charmer in Ceylon is contained in a note from Mr. Reyne, of the department of public works: "A snake-charmer came to my bungalow in 1851, requesting me to allow him to show me his snakes dancing. As I had frequently seen them, I told him I would give him a rupee if he would accompany me to the jungle, and catch a cobra, that I knew frequented the place. He was willing, and as I was anxious to test the truth of the charm, I counted his tame snakes, and put a watch over them until I returned with him. Before going I examined the man, and satisfied myself he had no snake about his person. When we arrived at the spot, he played on a small pipe, and after persevering for some time out came a large cobra from an ant hill, which I knew it occupied. On seeing the man it tried to escape, but he caught it by the tail and kept swinging it round until we reached the bungalow. He then made it dance, but before long it bit him above the knee. He immediately bandaged the leg above the bite, and applied a snake-stone to the wound to extract the poison. He was in great pain for a few minutes, but after that it gradually went away, the stone falling off just before he was relieved. When he recovered he held a cloth up which the snake flew at, and caught its fangs in it; while in that position, the man pa.s.sed his hand up its back, and having seized it by the throat, he extracted the fangs in my presence and gave them to me. He then squeezed out the poison on to a leaf. It was a clear oily substance, and when rubbed on the hand produced a fine lather. I carefully watched the whole operation, which was also witnessed by my clerk and two or three other persons. _Colombo, 13th January_ 1860.--H.E. REYNE."]

[Footnote 3: Ha.s.selquist.]

As to the snake-stone itself, I submitted one, the application of which I have been describing, to Mr. Faraday, who has communicated to me, as the result of his a.n.a.lysis, his belief that it is "a piece of charred bone which has been filled with blood perhaps several times, and then carefully charred again. Evidence of this is afforded, as well by the apertures of cells or tubes on its surface as by the fact that it yields and breaks, under pressure; and exhibits an organic structure within.

When heated slightly, water rises from it, and also a little ammonia; and, if heated still more highly in the air, carbon burns away, and a bulky white ash is left, retaining the shape and size of the stone."

This ash, as is evident from inspection, cannot have belonged toany vegetable substance, for it is almost entirely composed of phosphate of lime. Mr. Faraday adds that "if the piece of matter has ever been employed as a spongy absorbent, it seems hardly fit for that purpose in its present state: but who can say to what treatment it has been subjected since it was fit for use, or to what treatment the natives may submit it when expecting to have occasion to use it?"

The probability is, that the animal charcoal, when instantaneously applied, may be sufficiently porous and absorbent to extract the venom from the recent wound, together with a portion of the blood, before it has had time to be carried into the system; and that the blood which Mr.

Faraday detected in the specimen submitted to him was that of the Indian on whose person the effect was exhibited on the occasion to which my informant was an eye-witness. The snake-charmers from the coast who visit Ceylon profess to prepare the snake-stones for themselves, and to preserve the composition a secret. Dr. Davy[1], on the authority of Sir Alexander Johnston, says the manufacture of them is a lucrative trade, carried on by the monks of Manilla, who supply the merchants of India--and his a.n.a.lysis confirms that of Mr. Faraday. Of the three different kinds which he examined--one being of partially burnt bone, and another of chalk, the third, consisting chiefly of vegetable matter, resembled bezoar,--all of them (except the first, which possessed a slight absorbent power) were quite inert, and incapable of having any effect except on the imagination of the patient. Thunberg was shown the snake-stone used by the boers at the Cape in 1772, which was imported for them "from the Indies, especially from Malabar," at so high a price that few of the farmers could afford to possess themselves of it; he describes it as convex on one side, black and so porous that "when thrown into water, it caused bubbles to rise;" and hence, by its absorbent qualities, it served, if speedily applied, to extract the poison from the wound.[2]

[Footnote 1: _Account of the Interior of Ceylon_, ch. iii. p. 101.]

[Footnote 2: _Thunberg_, vol. i. p. 155. Since the foregoing account was published, I have received a note from Mr. HARDY, relative to the _piedra ponsona_, the snake-stone of Mexico, in which he gives the following account of the method of preparing and applying it: "Take a piece of hart's horn of any convenient size and shape; cover it well round with gra.s.s or hay, enclose both in a thin piece of sheet copper well wrapped round them, and place the parcel in a charcoal fire till the bone is sufficiently charred.

"When cold, remove the calcined horn from its envelope, when it will be ready for immediate use. In this state it will resemble a solid black fibrous substance, of the same shape and size as before it was subjected to this treatment.

"USE.--The wound being slightly punctured, apply the bone to the opening, to which it will adhere firmly for the s.p.a.ce of two minutes; and when it falls, it should be received into a basin of water. It should then be dried in a cloth, and again applied to the wound. But it will not adhere longer than about one minute. In like manner it may be applied a third time; but now it will fall almost immediately, and nothing will cause it to adhere any more.

"These effects I witnessed in the case of a bite of a rattle-snake at Oposura, a town in the province of Sonora, in Mexico, from whence I obtained my recipe; and I have given other particulars respecting it in my Travels in the Interior of Mexico, published in 1830. R.W.H. HARDY.

_Bath_, 30_th January_, 1860."]

_Coecilia_.--The rocky jungle, bordering the higher coffee estates, provides a safe retreat for a very singular animal, first introduced to the notice of European naturalists about a century ago by Linnaeus, who gave it the name _Coecilia glutinosa_, to indicate two peculiarities manifest to the ordinary observer--an apparent defect of vision, from the eyes being so small and embedded as to be scarcely distinguishable; and a power of secreting from minute pores in the skin a viscous fluid, resembling that of snails, eels, and some salamanders. Specimens are rare in Europe owing to the readiness with which it decomposes, breaking down into a flaky ma.s.s in the spirits in which it is attempted to preserve it.

The creature is about the length and thickness of an ordinary round desk ruler, a little flattened before and rounded behind. It is brownish, with a pale stripe along either side. The skin is furrowed into 350 circular folds, in which are imbedded minute scales. The head is tolerably distinct, with a double row of fine curved teeth for seizing the insects and worms on which it is supposed to live.

Naturalists are most desirous that the habits and metamorphoses of this creature should be carefully ascertained, for great doubts have been entertained as to the position it is ent.i.tled to occupy in the chain of creation.

_Batrachians._--In the numerous marshes formed by the overflowing of the rivers in the plains of the low country, there are many varieties of frogs, which, both by their colours and by their extraordinary size, are calculated to excite the surprise of a stranger. In the lakes around Colombo and the still water near Trincomalie, there are huge creatures of this family, from six to eight inches in length[1], of an olive hue, deepening into brown on the back and yellow on the under side. A Kandyan species, recently described, is of much smaller dimensions, but distinguished by its brilliant colouring, a beautiful gra.s.s green above and deep orange underneath[2].

[Footnote 1: A Singhalese variety of the _Rana cutipora?_ and the Malabar bull-frog, _Hylarana Malabarica_. A frog named by BLYTH _Rana robusta_ proves to be a Ceylon specimen of the _R. cutipora_.]

[Footnote 2: _R. Kandiana_, Kelaart.]

In the shrubberies around my house at Colombo the graceful little tree-frogs[1] were to be found in great numbers, sheltered under broad leaves to protect them from the scorching sun;--some of them utter a sharp metallic sound at night, similar to that produced by smacking the lips.

[Footnote 1: _Polypedates maculatus,_ Gray.]

In the gardens and grounds toads[1] crouch in the shade, and pursue the flies and minute coleoptera. In Ceylon, as in Europe, these creatures suffer from the bad renown of injecting a poison into the wound inflicted by their bite.[2] The main calumny is confuted by the fact that no toad has yet been discovered furnished with any teeth whatsoever; but the obnoxious repute still attaches to the milky exudation sometimes perceptible from glands situated on either side behind the head; nevertheless experiments have shown, that though acrid, the secretions of the toad are incapable of exciting more than a slight erythema on the most delicate skins. The smell is, however, fetid and offensive, and hence toads are less exposed to the attacks of carnivorous animals and of birds than frogs, in which such glands do not exist.

[Footnote 1: _Bufo melanostictus_, Schneid.]

[Footnote 2: In Ceylon this error is as old as the third century, B.C., when, as the _Mahawanso_ tells us, the wife of "King Asoka attempted to destroy the great bo-tree (at Magadha) _with, the poisoned fang of a toad._"--Ch. xx. p. 122.]

In the cla.s.s of Reptiles, those only are included in the order of Batrachians which undergo a metamorphosis before attaining maturity; and as they offer the only example amongst Vertebrate animals of this marvellous transformation, they are justly considered as the lowest in the scale, with the exception of fishes, which remain during life in that stage of development which is only the commencement of existence to a frog.

In undergoing this change, it is chiefly the organs of respiration that manifest alteration. In its earliest form the young batrachian, living in the water, breathes as a fish does by _gills_, either free and projecting as in the water-newt, or partially covered by integument as in the tadpole. But the gills disappear as the lungs gradually become developed: the duration of the process being on an average one hundred days from the time the eggs were first deposited. After this important change, the true batrachian is incapable any longer of living continuously in water, and either betakes itself altogether to the land, or seeks the surface from time to time to replenish its exhausted lungs.[1]

[Footnote 1: A few Batrachians, such as the _Siren_ of Carolina, the _Proteus_ of Illyria, the _Axolotl_ of Mexico, and the _Men.o.branchus_ of the North American Lakes, retain their gills during life; but although provided with lungs in mature age, they are not capable of living out of the water. Such batrachians form an intermediate link between reptiles and fishes.]

The change in the digestive functions during metamorphosis is scarcely less extraordinary; frogs, for example, which feed on animal substances at maturity, subsist entirely upon vegetable when in the condition of larvae, and the subsidiary organs undergo remarkable development, the intestinal ca.n.a.l in the earlier stage being five times its length in the later one.

Of the family of tailed batrachians, Ceylon does not furnish a single example; but of those without this appendage, the island, as above remarked, affords many varieties; seven distinguishable species pertaining to the genus _rana_, or true frogs with webs to the hind feet; two to the genus _bufo_, or true toads, and five to the _Polypedates_, or East Indian "tree-frogs;" besides a few others in allied genera. The "tree-frog," whose toes are terminated by rounded discs which a.s.sist it in climbing, possesses, in a high degree, the faculty of changing its hues; and one as green as a leaf to-day, will be found grey and spotted like the bark to-morrow. One of these beautiful little creatures, which had seated itself on the gilt pillar of a lamp on my dinner-table, became in a few minutes scarcely distinguishable in colour from the or-molu ornament to which it clung.

_List of Ceylon Reptiles._

I am indebted to Dr. Gray and Dr. Gunther, of the British Museum, for a list of the reptiles of Ceylon; but many of those new to Europeans have been carefully described by the late Dr. Kelaart in his _Prodromus Fauna Zeylanicae_ and its appendices, as well as in the 13th vol. _Magaz. Nat.

Hist._ (1854).

SAURA.

Hydrosaurus salvator, _Wagler._ Monitor dracaena, _Linn._ Riopa punctata, _Linn._ Hardwickii, _Gray._ Brachymeles Bonitae, _Dum. & Bib._ Tiliqua rufescens, _Shaw._ Eumeces Taprobanius, _Kel._ Nessia Burtoni, _Gray._ Acontias Layardi, _Kelaart._ Argyrophis bramicus, _Daud._ Lygosoma fallax, _Peters._ Rhinophis oxyrhynchus, _Schn._ punctatus, _J. Mull_ philippinus, _J. Mull_ h.o.m.olepis, _Hempr._ planiceps, _Peters._ Blythii, _Kelaart._ melanogaster, _Gray._ Uropeltis grandis, _Kelaart._ _saffragamus, Kelaart._ Silybura Ceylonica, _Cuv._ Hemidactylus frenatus, _Schleg._ Leschenaultii, _Dum. & Bib._ trihedrus, _Daud._ maculatus, _Dum. & Bib._ Piresii, _Kelaart._ Coctoei, _Dum. & Bib._ pustulatus, _Dum._ sublaevis, _Cantor._ Peripia Peronii, _Dum. & Bib._ Gymnodactylus Kandia.n.u.s, _Kelaart._ Sitana Ponticereana, _Cuv._ Lyriocephalus scutatus, _Linn._ Ceratophora Stoddartii, _Gray._ Tennentii, _Gunther._ Otocryptis bivittata, _Wiegm._ _Salea Jerdoni, Gray._ Calotes ophiomachus, _Merr._ nigrilabris, _Peters._ versicolor, _Daud._ Rouxii, _Dum. & Bib._ mystaceus, _Dum._ Chameleo vulgaris, _Daud._

OPHIDIA.

Megaera trigonocephala, _Latr._ Trigonocephalus hypnalis, _Merr._ Daboia elegans, _Daud._ _Pelamys_ _bicolor, Daud._ _Aturia_ _lapemoides, Gray._ Hydrophis sublaevis, _Gray._ cyanocinctus, _Daud._ Chersydrus granulatus, _Schneid_.

Cerberus cinereus, _Daud._ Tropidophis schistosus, _Daud._ Python reticulatus, _Gray._ Cylindrophis rufa, _Schneid._ maculata, _Linn._ Aspidura brachyorrhos, _Boie._ trachyprocta, _Cope._ Haplocercus Ceylonensis, _Gunth._ OliG.o.don subquadratus, _Dum. & Bib._ subgriseus, _Dum. & Bib._ sublineatus, _Dum. & Bib._ Simotes Russellii, _Daud._ purpurascens, _Schleg._ Ablabes collaris, _Gray._ Tropidonotus quincunciatus, _Schleg._ var. funebris.

var. carinatus.

stolatus, _Linn._ chrysargus, _Boie._ Cynophis Helena, _Daud._ Coryphodon Blumenbachii, _Merr._ Cyclophis calamaria, _Gunth._ Chrysopelea ornata, _Shaw._ Dendrophis picta, _Gm._ Pa.s.serita mycterizans, _Linn._ fusca.

Dipsadomorphus Ceylonensis, _Gunth._ Lycodon aulicus, _Linn._ Cercaspis carinata, _Kuhl._ Bungarus fasciatus, _Schneid._ var. Ceylonensis, _Gthr._ Naja tripudians, _Merr._

CHELONIA.

Testudo stellata, _Schweig._ Emys Sebae, _Gray._ trijuga, _Schweigg._ Caretta imbricata, _Linn._ Chelonia virgata, _Schweigg._