There is among them a short serpent, found in the neighbourhood of Tranquebar, and called by us, the _Split-snake_, (_die Spalt-schlange_). It is black, with a white streak down its back, dividing the body longitudinally. Its bite is extremely venomous; and being slender, it can insinuate itself into a very small hole or cranny, and will enter rooms and closets, in quest of food. There was a door in a dark part of my work-room, with a large clumsy lock to it; and one evening, as I was attempting to open it, having to pass that way, I felt a sudden prick in my finger, and at the same time a violent electrical shock, as if I were split asunder. Not thinking of a serpent, I first imagined, that my Malabar boys had, in their play, wound some wire about the handle, by which I had been hurt, and asked them sharply, what mischief they had done to the door. They denied, that they had meddled with it, and I made a second attempt, when I was attacked still more violently, and perceived the blood trickling down my finger. I then returned into my room, sucking the wound, till I could draw no more blood. I applied some spirits of turpentine to it, put on a bandage, and being much hurried that evening with other business, made no farther inquiry about it. However, in the night it swelled, and was very painful. In the morning, I went again into the work-room, when I thought I perceived an unpleasant, musky smell. On approaching the before-mentioned door, the stench was intolerable. I again asked the boys, what nasty thing they had brought into the room, for they were always at play; but they again denied any knowledge of the cause of the nuisance. A candle was brought, and I now beheld the origin of all the mischief. About six inches length of the head and body of a young split-snake hung out of the key-hole, quite dead; and on taking off the lock, I found the creature twisted into it, and so much wounded by the turn of the bolt, in attempting to open the door, that it had died in consequence. It had intended to enter the room through the key-hole, when I thus accidentally stopped its progress, and got bitten; and considering the deadly poison this serpent always infuses into the wound inflicted, I felt very thankful to God, my Preserver, that, by sucking the infected blood out of my finger in time, and applying a proper remedy, though ignorant of the cause of the wound, my life was not endangered. I have heard and believe, that the bite of every serpent is accompanied, more or less, by a sensation similar to an electrical shock, as the poison seems almost instantaneously to affect the whole mass of blood. We considered also the name of split-snake given to this animal, not so much as descriptive of its split appearance, as of the singular sensation its bite occasions, and which I then experienced.