would account for the statistical fact that the men largely outnumber
the women in Ceylon. It is difficult to believe, however, that this
practice prevails in our day. With some barbaric tribes, religious
significance is attached to the habit of tattooing the human body.
This is the case in New Zealand, and in the islands generally of the
South Pacific. Among the former, professional tattooers go about from
tribe to tribe with rude but effective instruments, and operate upon
the Maoris, male and female, with great adroitness and considerable
artistic skill.

There is perhaps no other such universal practice as that of tattooing
which prevails among semi-savage races in various parts of the globe,
but especially among the South Sea Islanders. Many tribes, never
brought in contact with each other, seem to have originated the idea
among themselves.

CHAPTER VII.

Experiences between Colombo and Point de Galle.--Dangers of
Encountering Reptiles.--Marvelous Ant Houses.--Insect
Architects.--Curious Bird's Nests.--Flamingoes at
Rest.--Variety of the Crane Family.--Wild
Pea-Fowls.--Buddha's Prohibition.--Peculiar
Wood-Notes.--Mingling of Fruit and Timber Trees.--Fatal
Parasitic Vines.--Stillness of the Forest.--Superstitions of
the Natives.--Snake Bites.--Railway Facilities.

Amid all the charms of this interesting, palm-embowered route between
Colombo and Galle, there are some serious drawbacks to be encountered,
which as a faithful chronicler the author must not forget to mention.
All mundane enjoyments are qualified. One meets inevitably with an
aggressive army of beetles, ants, land leeches, dragon-flies,
cock-chafers, locusts, wasps, ticks, and vicious spiders, these last
endowed with an immense superfluity of hairy legs, while the
omnipresent and persistent mosquito exhibits unwonted activity.
Indeed, ants, mosquitoes, and sand-flies literally feast upon the
wayfarer, until the entire surface of his face and limbs becomes
excoriated. How the natives with their exposed bodies exist under such
circumstances is a mystery. The redundancy of insect and reptile life
is wonderful in equatorial regions, but as regards the mosquito, where
is this pest not encountered? The author has met and suffered from
them at the far north on the very glaciers of Alaska during the short
summer months, and in the extreme south near the Antarctic Circle, in
the East and in the West, on sea a