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.