Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon Part 5

[Footnote 2: Axis maculata, _H. Smith_.]

[Footnote 3: Stylocerus muntjac, _Horss_.]

VII. PACHYDERMATA.--_The Elephant_.--The elephant, and the wild boar, the Singhalese "waloora,"[1] are the only representatives of the _pachydermatous_ order. The latter, which differs somewhat from the wild boar of India, is found in droves in all parts of the island where vegetation and water are abundant.

[Footnote 1: Mr. BLYTH of Calcutta has distinguished, from the hog, common in India, a specimen sent to him from Ceylon, the skull of which approaches in form, that of a species from Borneo, the _susbarbatus_ of S. Muller.]

The elephant, the lord paramount of the Ceylon forests, is to be met with in every district, on the confines of the woods, in the depths of which he finds concealment and shade during the hours when the sun is high, and from which he emerges only at twilight to wend his way towards the rivers and tanks, where he luxuriates till dawn, when he again seeks the retirement of the deep forests. This n.o.ble animal fills so dignified a place both in the zoology and oeconomy of Ceylon, and his habits in a state of nature have been so much misunderstood, that I shall devote a separate section to his defence from misrepresentation, and to an exposition of what, from observation and experience, I believe to be his genuine character when free in his native domains. But this seems the proper place to allude to a recent discovery in connexion with the elephant, which strikingly confirms a conjecture which I ventured to make elsewhere[1], relative to the isolation of Ceylon and its distinctness, in many remarkable particulars, from the great continent of India. Every writer who previously treated of the island, including the accomplished Dr. Davy and the erudite La.s.sen, was contented, by a glance at its outline and a reference to its position on the map, to a.s.sume that Ceylon was a fragment, which in a very remote age had been torn from the adjacent mainland, by some convulsion of nature. Hence it was taken for granted that the vegetation which covers and the races of animals which inhabit it, must be identical with those of Hindustan; to which Ceylon was alleged to bear the same relation as Sicily presents to the peninsula of Italy. MALTE BRUN[2] and the geographers generally, declared the larger animals of either to be common to both. I was led to question the soundness of this dictum;--and from a closer examination of its geological conformation and of its botanical and zoological characteristics I came to the conclusion that not only is there an absence of sameness between the formations of the two localities; but that plants and animals, mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects exist in Ceylon, which are not to be found in the flora and fauna of the Dekkan; but which present a striking affinity, and occasionally an actual ident.i.ty, with those of the Malayan countries and some of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Startling as this conclusion appeared to be, it was strangely in unison with the legends of the Singhalese themselves, that at an infinitely remote period Ceylon formed an integral portion of a vast continent, known in the mythical epics of the Brahmans by the designation of "_Lanka_;" so immense that its southern extremity fell below the equator, whilst in breadth it was prolonged till its western and eastern boundaries touch at once upon the sh.o.r.es of Africa and China.

[Footnote 1: _Ceylon, &c._, by Sir J. EMERSON TENNENT, vol. i. pp. 7, 13, 85, 160, 183, n., 205, 270, &c.]

[Footnote 2: MALTE BRUN, _Geogr. Univ._, l. xlix.]

Dim as is this ancient tradition, it is in consistency with the conclusions of modern geology, that at the commencement of the tertiary period northern Asia and a considerable part of India were in all probability covered by the sea but that south of India land extended eastward and westward connecting Malacca with Arabia. PROFESSOR ANSTED has propounded this view. His opinion is, that the Himalayas then existed only as a chain of islands, and did not till a much later age become elevated into mountain ranges,--a change which took place during the same revolution that raised the great plains of Siberia and Tartary and many parts of north-western Europe. At the same time the great continent whose position between the tropics has been alluded to, and whose previous existence is still indicated by the Coral islands, the Laccadives, the Maldives, and the Chagos group, underwent simultaneous depression by a counteracting movement.[1]

[Footnote 1: _The Ancient World_, by D.T. ANSTED, M.A., &c., pp.

322-324.]

But divested of oriental mystery and geologic conjecture, and brought to the test of "geographical distribution," this once prodigious continent would appear to have connected the distant Islands of Ceylon and Sumatra and possibly to have united both to the Malay peninsula, from which the latter is now severed by the Straits of Malacca. The proofs of physical affinity between these scattered localities are exceedingly curious.

A striking dissimilarity presents itself between some of the Mammalia of Ceylon and those of the continent of India. In its general outline and feature, this branch of the island fauna, no doubt, exhibits a general resemblance to that of the mainland, although many of the larger animals of the latter are unknown in Ceylon: but, on the other hand, some species discovered there are peculiar to the island. A deer[1] as large as the Axis, but differing from it in the number and arrangement of its spots, has been described by Dr. Kelaart, to whose vigilance the natural history of Ceylon is indebted, amongst others, for the identification of two new species of monkeys[2], a number of curious shrews[3], and an orange-coloured ichneumon[4], before unknown. There are also two squirrels[5] that have not as yet been discovered elsewhere, (one of them belonging to those equipped with a parachute[6],) as well as some local varieties of the palm squirrel (Sciurus penicillatus, _Leach_).[7]

[Footnote 1: Cervus orizus, KELAART, _Prod. F. Zeyl.,_ p. 83.]

[Footnote 2: Presbytes ursinus, _Blyth_, and P. Thersites, _Elliot_.]

[Footnote 3: Sorex monta.n.u.s, S. ferrugineus, and Feroculus macropus.]

[Footnote 4: Herpestes fulvescens, KELAART, _Prod. Faun. Zeylan_.. App.

p. 42.]

[Footnote 5: Sciurus Tennentii, _Layard_.]

[Footnote 6: Sciuropterus Layardi, _Kelaart_.]

[Footnote 7: There is a rat found only in the Cinnamon Gardens at Colombo, Mus Ceylonus, _Kelaart_; and a mouse which Dr. Kelaart discovered at Trincomalie, M. fulvidiventris, _Blyth_, both peculiar to Ceylon. Dr. TEMPLETON has noticed a little shrew (Corsira purpurascens, _Mag. Nat. Hist_. 1855, p. 238) at Neuera-ellia, not as yet observed elsewhere.]

But the Ceylon Mammalia, besides wanting a number of minor animals found in the Indian peninsula, cannot boast such a ruminant as the majestic Gaur[1], which inhabits the great forests from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya; and, providentially, the island is equally free of the formidable tiger and the ferocious wolf of Hindustan. The Hyena and Cheetah[2], common in Southern India, are unknown in Ceylon; and, though abundant in deer, the island possesses no example of the Antelope or the Gazelle.

[Footnote 1: Bos cavifrons, _Hodgs_.; B. frontalis, _Lamb_.]

[Footnote 2: Felis jubata, _Schreb_.]

Amongst the Birds of Ceylon, the same abnormity is apparent. About thirty-eight species will be presently particularised[1], which, although some of them may hereafter be discovered to have a wider geographical range, are at present believed to be unknown in continental India. I might further extend this enumeration, by including the Cheela eagle of Ceylon, which, although I have placed it in my list as identical with the _Hematornis cheela_ of the Dekkan, is, I have since been a.s.sured, a different bird, and is most probably the _Falco bido_ of Horsfield, known to us by specimens obtained from Java and Sumatra.

[Footnote 1: See Chapter on the Birds of Ceylon.]

As to the Fishes of Ceylon, they are of course less distinct; and besides they have hitherto been very imperfectly compared. But the Insects afford a remarkable confirmation of the view I have ventured to propound; so much so that Mr. Walker, by whom the elaborate lists appended to this work have been prepared, a.s.serts that some of the families have a less affinity to the entomology of India than to that of Australia.[1]

[Footnote 1: See Chapter on the Insects of Ceylon.]

But more conclusive than all, is the discovery to which I have alluded, in relation to the elephant of Ceylon. Down to a very recent period it was universally believed that only two species of the elephant are now in existence, the African and the Asiatic; distinguished by certain peculiarities in the shape of the cranium, the size of the ears, the ridges of the teeth, the number of vertebrae, and, according to Cuvier, in the number of nails on the hind feet. The elephant of Ceylon was believed to be identical with the elephant of India. But some few years back, TEMMINCK, in his survey of the Dutch possessions in the Indian Archipelago[1], announced the fact that the elephant which abounds in Sumatra (although unknown in the adjacent island of Java), and which had theretofore been regarded as the same species with the Indian one, has been recently found to possess peculiarities, in which it differs as much from the elephant of India, as the latter from its African congener. On this new species of elephant, to which the natives give the name of _gadjah_, TEMMINCK has conferred the scientific designation of the _Elephas Sumatra.n.u.s_.

[Footnote 1: _Coup d'Oeil General sur les Possessions Neerlandaises dans l'Inde Archipelagique_.]

The points which ent.i.tle it to this distinction he enumerated minutely in the work[1] before alluded to, but they have been summarized as follows by Prince Lucien Bonaparte.

[Footnote 1: TEMMINCK, _Coup-d'oeil, &c_., t. i. c. iv. p. 328.; t. ii.

c. iii. p. 91.]

"This species is perfectly intermediate between the Indian and African, especially in the shape of the skull, and will certainly put an end to the distinction between _Elephas_ and _Loxodon_, with those who admit that anatomical genus; since although the crowns of the teeth of _E.

Sumatra.n.u.s_ are more like the Asiatic animal, still the less numerous undulated ribbons of enamel are nearly quite as wide as those forming the lozenges of the African. The number of pairs of false ribs (which alone vary, the true ones being always six) is fourteen, one less than in the _Africa.n.u.s_, _one_ more than in the _Indicus_; and so it is with the dorsal vertebrae, which are twenty in the _Sumatra.n.u.s_ (_twenty-one_ and _nineteen_, in the others), whilst the new species agrees with _Africa.n.u.s_ in the number of sacral vertebrae (_four_), and with _Indicus_ in that of the caudal ones, which are _thirty-four_."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Proceed. Zool. Soc. London_, 1849. p. 144, _note_. The original description of TEMMINCK is as follows:

"Elephas Sumatra.n.u.s, _n.o.b_. ressemble, par la forme generale du crane a l'elephant du continent de l'Asie; mais la partie libre des intermaxillaires est beaucoup plus courte et plus etroite; les cavites nasales sont beaucoup moins larges; l'es.p.a.ce entre les...o...b..tes des yeux est plus etroit; la partie posterieur du crane au contraire est plus large que dans l'espece du continent.

"Les machelieres se rapprochent, par la forme de leur couronne, plutt de l'espece Asiatique que do celle qui est propre a l'Afrique; c'est-a-dire que leur couronne offre la forme de rubans ondoyes et non pas en losange; mais ces rubans sont de la largeur de ceux qu'on voit a la couronne des dents de l'elephant d'Afrique; ils sont consequemment moins nombreux que dans celui du continent de l'Asie. Les dimensions de ces rubans, dans la direction d'avant en arriere, comparees a celle prises dans la direction transversale et laterale, sont en raison de 3 ou 4 a 1; tandis que dans l'elephant du continent elles sont comme 4 ou 6 a 1. La longueur totale de six de ces rubans, dans l'espece nouvelle de Sumatra, ainsi que dans celle d'Afrique, est d'environ 12 centimetres, tandis que cette longueur n'est que de 8 a 10 centimetres dans l'espece du continent de l'Asie.

"Les autres formes osteologiques sont a peu pres les memes dans les trois especes; mais il y a difference dans le nombre des os dont le squelette se compose, ainsi que le tableau comparatif ci-joint l'eprouve.

"_L'elephas Africa.n.u.s_ a 7 vertebres du cou, 21 vert. dorsales, 3 lombaires, 4 sacrees, et 26 caudales; 21 paires de cotes, dont 6 vraies, et 15 fausses. _L'elephas Indicus_ a 7 vertebres du cou, 19 dorsales, 3 lombaires, 5 sacrees, et 34 caudales, 19 paires de cotes, dont 6 vraies, et 3 fausses. _L'elephas Sumatra.n.u.s_ a 7 vertebres du cou, 20 dorsales, 3 lombaires, 4 sacrees, et 34 caudales; 20 paires du cotes, dont 6 vraies, et 14 fausses.

"Ces caracteres ont ete constates sur trois squelettes de l'espece nouvelle, un male et une femelle adultes et un jeune male. Nous n'avons pas encore ete a meme de nous procurer la depouille de cette espece."]

PROFESSOR SCHLEGEL of Leyden, in a paper lately submitted by him to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Holland, (the substance of which he has obligingly communicated to me, through Baron Bentinck the Netherlands Minister at this Court), has confirmed the ident.i.ty of the Ceylon elephant with that found in the Lampongs of Sumatra. The osteological comparison of which TEMMINCK has given the results was, he says, conducted by himself with access to four skeletons of the latter. And the more recent opportunity of comparing a living Sumatran elephant with one from Bengal, has served to establish other though minor points of divergence. The Indian species is more robust and powerful: the proboscis longer and more slender; and the extremity, (a point, in which the elephant of Sumatra resembles that of Africa,) is more flattened and provided with coa.r.s.er and longer hair than that of India.

PROFESSOR SCHLEGEL, adverting to the large export of elephants from Ceylon to the Indian continent, which has been carried on from time immemorial, suggests the caution with which naturalists, in investigating this question, should first satisfy themselves whether the elephants they examine are really natives of the mainland, or whether they have been brought to it from the islands.[1] "The extraordinary fact," he observes in his letter to me, "of the ident.i.ty thus established between the elephants of Ceylon and Sumatra; and the points in which they are found to differ from that of Bengal, leads to the question whether all the elephants of the Asiatic continent belong to one single species; or whether these vast regions may not produce in some quarter as yet unexplored the one hitherto found only in the two islands referred to? It is highly desirable that naturalists who have the means and opportunity, should exert themselves to discover, whether any traces are to be found of the Ceylon elephant in the Dekkan; or of that of Sumatra in Cochin China or Siam."

[Footnote 1: A further inquiry suggests itself, how far the intermixture of the breed may have served to confound specific differences, in the case of elephants bred on the continent of India, from stock partially imported from Ceylon?]

To me the establishment of a fact so conclusively confirmatory of the theory I had ventured to broach, is productive of great satisfaction.

But it is not a little remarkable that the distinction should not long before have been discovered between the elephant of India and that of Ceylon. Nor can it be regarded otherwise than as a singular ill.u.s.tration of "geographical distribution" that two remote islands should be thus shown to possess in common a species unknown in any other quarter of the globe. As bearing on the ancient myth which represents both countries as forming parts of a submerged continent, the discovery is curious--and it is equally interesting in connection with the circ.u.mstance alluded to by Gibbon, that amongst the early geographers and even down to a comparatively modern date, Sumatra and Ceylon were confounded; and grave doubts were entertained as to which of the two was the "Taprobane" of antiquity. GEMMA FRISIUS, SEBASTIAN MUNSTER, JULIUS SCALIGER, ORTELIUS and MERCATOR contended for the former; SALMASIUS, BOCHART, CLUVERIUS, and VOSSIUS for Ceylon: and the controversy did not cease till it was terminated by DELISLE about the beginning of the last century.

VIII. CETACEA.--Whales are so frequently seen that they have been captured within sight of Colombo, and more than once their carcases, after having been flinched by the whalers, have floated on sh.o.r.e near the lighthouse, tainting the atmosphere within the fort by their rapid decomposition.

Of this family, one of the most remarkable animals on the coast is the dugong[1], a phytophagous cetacean, numbers of which are attracted to the inlets, from the bay of Calpentyn to Adam's Bridge, by the still water and the abundance of marine algae in these parts of the gulf. One which was killed at Manaar and sent to me to Colombo[2] in 1847, measured upwards of seven feet in length; but specimens considerably larger have been taken at Calpentyn, and their flesh is represented as closely resembling veal.

[Footnote 1: _Halicore dugung_, F. Cuv.]

[Footnote 2: The skeleton is now in the Museum of the Natural History Society of Belfast.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE DUGONG.]

The rude approach to the human outline, observed in the shape of the head of this creature, and the att.i.tude of the mother when suckling her young, clasping it to her breast with one flipper, while swimming with the other, holding the heads of both above water; and when disturbed, suddenly diving and displaying her fish-like tail,--these, together with her habitual demonstrations of strong maternal affection, probably gave rise to the fable of the "mermaid;" and thus that earliest invention of mythical physiology may be traced to the Arab seamen and the Greeks, who had watched the movements of the dugong in the waters of Manaar.

Megasthenes records the existence of a creature in the ocean, near Taprobane, with the aspect of a woman[1]; and aelian, adopting and enlarging on his information, peoples the seas of Ceylon with fishes having the heads of lions, panthers, and rams, and, stranger still, _cetaceans in the form of satyrs_. Statements such as these must have had their origin in the hairs, which are set round the mouth of the dugong, somewhat resembling a beard, which aelian and Megasthenes both particularise, from their resemblance to the hair of a woman: "[Greek: kai gynaikon opsin echousin aisper anti plokamon akanthai prosertentai"][2]

[Footnote 1: MEGASTHENES, _Indica_, fragm. lix. 34,]