s" made of closely
woven cloth. The natives smear their bodies with oil, tobacco ashes, or
lemon juice;[2] the latter serving not only to stop the flow of blood,
but to expedite the healing of the wounds. In moving, the land leeches
have the power of planting one extremity on the earth and raising the
other perpendicularly to watch for their victim. Such is their vigilance
and instinct, that on the approach of a passer-by to a spot which they
infest, they may be seen amongst the grass and fallen leaves on the edge
of a native path, poised erect, and preparing for their attack on man
and horse. On descrying their prey they advance rapidly by semicircular
strides, fixing one end firmly and arching the other forwards, till by
successive advances they can lay hold of the traveller's foot, when they
disengage themselves from the ground and ascend his dress in search of
an aperture to enter. In these encounters the individuals in the rear of
a party of travellers in the jungle invariably fare worst, as the
leeches, once warned of their approach, congregate with singular
celerity. Their size is so insignificant, and the wound they make is so
skilfully punctured, that both are generally imperceptible, and the
first intimation of their onslaught is the trickling of the blood or a
chill feeling of the leech when it begins to hang heavily on the skin
from being distended by its repast. Horses are driven wild by them, and
stamp the ground in fury to shake them from their fetlocks, to which
they hang in bloody tassels. The bare legs of the palankin bearers and
coolies are a favourite resort; and, their hands being too much engaged
to be spared to pull them off, the leeches hang like bunches of grapes
round their ankles; and I have seen the blood literally flowing over the
edge of a European's shoe from their innumerable bites. In healthy
constitutions the wounds, if not irritated, generally heal, occasioning
no other inconvenience than a slight inflammation and itching; but in
those with a bad state of body, the punctures, if rubbed, are liable to
degenerate into ulcers, which may lead to the loss of limb or of life.
Both Marshall and Davy mention, that during the marches of troops in the
mountains, when the Kandyans were in rebellion, in 1818, the soldiers,
and especially the Madras sepoys, with the pioneers and coolies,
suffered so severely from this cause that numbers of them perished.[3]

[Footnote 1:

[Illustration: EYES AND T