G e d i P a r a -
g o o d a .
C obra de C a pello.
K a tu k a R e-
KULA PoDA.
Ho r a t t a Pam.
B ungeram
P amah.
. T h e r e are not among all the fnakes of the traCt my good
friend has examined, not any one that exceeds ten feet in
length, except the Pedda Poda, or rock fnakes, p. 30. tab. xxiv.
They are not venomous, nor are there any which may be called
fatal in the whole lift, five excepted. The Gedi Paragooda,
tab. i. a fmall fpecies o f Boa, only two feet five inches
long*. This is more terrific, as its bite fails not of being-
mortal. A dog ilightly bitten by one died in lefs than two
hours, paralytic.
D o g s bitten b y the Cobra de Capello, the variety Comboo Nugo,
tab. vi. died in fpaces from twenty-feven minutes to five hours,
paralytic, or convulfed, or both. One was obferved to die
raging mad. At p. 197 o f vol. i. are brought inftances o f other
horrible fymptoms o f the effecit o f its bite.
T h e Katuka Rekula Poda, t a b . v i i . is a Coluber, w h i c h w i l l
k i l l a c h i c k e n i n t h i r t y - f i x f e c o n d s ; a d o g in tw e n t y - f i x m i n
u t e s . T h e b i t e e q u a l ly f a t a l w i t h th a t o f t h e Cobra de Capello.
T h e f ym p t om s , p u r g in g , a f lu x o f b lo o d f r o m n o f e a n d m o u t h ,
a n d a f tu p o r .
Horatta Pam is another mortal fnake found at Ami.
A n o t h e r Coluber, the Bodroo Pam, tab. ix. a beautiful green
Inake, has a venom fatal only to dogs or animals.
As to the fixth and feventh inftances, in the fpecies Boa or
Bungeram, Pamah, tab. iii. which is faid by the natives to be
fatal, as was a Coluber, tab. iii. but DoCtor Buff el not having
opportunity o f making experiments, declines deciding on the
effeCt o f their bite.
* See vol. i. p. 200. o f the Ceylonefe Boa.
D o c t o r
D o c t o r RuJJel, in his appendix, hath given relations of the
various effects which the unhappy fufferers by the bites of fer-
pents have experienced; fome of which have recovered, and
others not. A violent pain and intenfe burning along the
bitten arm, was felt by a man bitten by a fmall brown fnake,
called Vijiyen Pambu. On application o f remedies, he was re-
ftored to his health.
A t Rajamundra two foldiers were bitten by a fmall fnake O thers.
fcarcely fix inches long, and not thicker than a large goofe quill,
o f a dark ftone color. ^Its very fmall eyes ihone like diamonds;
the trunk nearly of equal thicknefs from head to tail. It did
not creep, but fprung forward a foot at left at a time. The
effect o f the bite was lofs o f fight, a fleepinefs that nothing
could prevent, and a deep ftupor which ended in death. Putrefaction
fucceeded in four hours: Communicated by Captain
Gowdie.
Two inftances are adduced, at p. 81, of a fmall fnake. which.
killed with the rapidity o f the Jaculus o f Lucan. It is found
at Bombay, and alfo near Madras, where the Portuguefe call it
Cobra de Morte. It is only from fix to nine inches long- It C obra d®
M ortb. has on its head the marks o f a fcull, and two crofs bones, perhaps
imaginary. M. Bourchier, a gentleman refident at Bombay
and Madras, adduces the inftances. One was of his father’s porter,-
a ftout Arab, who could only fhriek, “ A fnake has bit me ! ”
The other of a Hindoo lad, who expired with a cry in the manner
of the preceding. In my firft volume, p. 101. 200. I have-
given two proofs of two fpecies o f fmall ferpents found near
Bombay^