.[1] Both the Singhalese and the Tamils regard it as a talisman, and
believe that its fortunate possessor can command by its instrumentality
the realisation of every wish, and that if stolen or lost by him, it
will invariably return of its own accord. Those who have jewels to
conceal rest in perfect security if along with them they can deposit a
narri-comboo, fully convinced that its presence is an effectual
safeguard against robbers.

[Footnote 1: In the Museum of the College of Surgeons, London (No.
4362 A), there is a cranium of a jackal which exhibits this strange
osseous process on the super-occipital; and I have placed along with
it a specimen of the horny sheath, which was presented to me by Mr.
Lavalliere, the late district judge of Kandy.]

One fabulous virtue ascribed to the _narrie-comboo_ by the Singhalese is
absurdly characteristic of their passion for litigation, as well as of
their perceptions of the "glorious uncertainty of the law." It is the
popular belief that the fortunate discoverer of a jackal's horn becomes
thereby invincible in every lawsuit, and must irresistibly triumph over
every opponent. A gentleman connected "with the Supreme Court of Colombo
has repeated to me a circumstance, within his own knowledge, of a
plaintiff who, after numerous defeats, eventually succeeded against his
opponent by the timely acquisition of this invaluable charm. Before the
final hearing of the cause, the mysterious horn was duly exhibited to
his friends; and the consequence was, that the adverse witnesses,
appalled by the belief that no one could possibly give judgment against
a person so endowed, suddenly modified their previous evidence, and
secured an unforeseen victory for the happy owner of the
_narrie-comboo!_

_The Mongoos_.--Of the Mongoos or Ichneumon four species have been
described; and one, that frequents the hills near Neuera-ellia[1], is so
remarkable from its bushy fur, that the invalid soldiers in the
sanatarium there, to whom it is familiar, have given it the name of the
"Ceylon Badger."

[Footnote 1: _Herpestes vitticollis_. Mr. W. ELLIOTT, in his _Catalogue
of Mammalia found in the Southern Maharata Country_, Madras, 1840, says,
that "One specimen of this Herpestes was procured by accident in the
Ghat forests in 1829, and is now deposited in the British Museum; it is
very rare, inhabiting only the thickest woods, and its habits are very
little known," p. 9. In Ceylon it is comparatively commo