The recent birth of anacondas at the Dehiwela Zoo has produced many comments on the possible Sinhala derivation of the name. There has even been a witty one: "Maybe anacondas have something to do with Sri Lanka they say, and in a glamorous sort of way at that . . . the day the main star of Anaconda, John Voight’s daughter Angelina Jolie had twins, a Sri Lankan anaconda had 20 babies in captivity."

If you thought the Hollywood movies Anaconda, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid and Anaconda the Offspring (and if you are an Anaconda fan you’ll be glad to hear there’s an upcoming sequel No. 3, Anaconda: Trail of Blood), told the first drama stories concerning such a snake, or that if there were any earlier ones, they would be set in South America, you’d be mistaken.

The first, contained in a lengthy letter, is set on the outskirts of Colombo as long ago as the 1760s. Though this appears to strengthen the local derivation hypothesis, remember that to join this anaconda club, fiction is essential. The Colombo-based incident recounted is a figment of the imagination, full of the popular misconceptions regarding constrictors in an age of limited scientific knowledge of snakes. It is thought to have been lifted from a Dutchman’s account of a Reticulated Python of the Dutch East Indies.

Nevertheless, the letter, which spawned the myth of the Anaconda of Ceylon, is of importance as part of a large canvas, which, when viewed as a whole, greatly supports the local derivation hypothesis. In addition, the letter is an etymologist’s cornerstone as it contains the first-known reference to the name anaconda in the English language.

In 1768, R. Edwin (probably a pseudonym) sent his letter to the Scots magazine concerning his supposed encounter with a tiger-devouring serpent in Ceylon. This was published in the 1768 issue of the magazine under the discursive heading, "Description of the ANACONDA, a monstrous species of serpent. In a letter from an English gentleman, many years resident in the island of Ceylon."

Below is a shortened version of Edwin’s letter. The complete version, and an explanation of the complex etymology of the name anaconda, can be found in a chapter of my book, Sindbad in Serendib (2008).

The letter begins: "Some years since, the commands of my directors carrying me to Ceylon, I had an apartment prepared on the skirts of the principal town, facing the woods. At some distance from my window stood three or four large palm-trees. One morning, I saw, as I thought, a branch in strange commotion, even though there was no wind. I was gazing at this, when a Ceylonese coming up, I begged him to look with me. He conjured me to bar up my doors; then told me, that what appeared a branch was a serpent of monstrous size. Looking more nearly, I saw it seize an animal and take it up into the tree. The Ceylonese told me it was a serpent well-known in the island: but that it usually kept in the inland parts, where it often dropt down from a large tree, and devoured a traveller alive.

"The monster continued diverting itself till we assembled twelve of us to go on horseback to destroy him. When we arrived there, we found him so much larger than we had conceived, that we all wished ourselves safe at home. All the descriptions of monsters of this kind hitherto given are trifles to the truth of what we saw. The Ceylonese agreed he was much larger than any they had ever seen. The creature was more than as thick as a man’s waist, and very long in proportion, often hanging himself by the tail from the highest boughs of the tree. He was surprisingly agile, and was now diverting himself with a thousand gambols round the branches of the tree.

"He was covered all over with scales; his head was green, with a black spot in the middle; and yellow streaks around the jaws; he had a yellow circle round his neck, and behind that another spot of black. His sides were an olive colour, and his back more beautiful than can be imagined: down the middle a chain of black; round this there ran a narrow one of flesh colour, and on the outside of that one of yellow. His head was very flat, but extremely broad; and his eyes monstrously large, and very bright and terrible.

"We now aimed our pieces at him as he lay, and fired at his head at the same instant; but we either missed him, or never hurt him. In short, he took no notice of it; and, after a council of war, we all agreed to make no further attempt upon it at that time, but to go home, and return with a stronger party next day.

"The Ceylonese seemed to know the creature well; they call it ANACONDA, and talked of eating its flesh when they caught it. I detained my company of Ceylonese to dine with me, and the afternoon was spent in relating the amazing things which they had seen of this monster; in short, they told a thousand things that far outwent my credulity.

"The next morning, we assembled to a number of more than 100 at the thicket, where we had the pleasure to find our enemy. He seemed very fierce and very hungry, and we soon saw the amazing effects of it. There are plenty of tygers in this country: one, of a monstrous size, came under our serpent’s tree. We heard a rustling, and the serpent dropped upon him, seizing him across the back with his mouth. The creature roared with agony, and, to our terror, ran towards us. His course, however, was soon stopped; for the adversary winding his body round the body of his prey, girt him so violently that he fell down in agony. The moment the serpent had fixed his folds, he let go the back of the creature and seized the face. The tyger reared up again, and words are too poor to paint his agony: he writhed and tossed about; and his hollow roaring from within the destroyer’s mouth was dreadful beyond expression.

"Several of us spent the whole day in observing this strange fight; and the agonies of the tyger were beyond all that can be conceived, and his death more horrid than a thousand other deaths. After some hours, he seemed much spent, and lay as if dead; and the serpent, attempting to break his bones, but in vain, now let go; twisting his tail round the tyger’s neck, he made towards the tree, dragging the victim after him. Now appeared the double use of the tree to the creature: Nature, it seems, informs this animal, that though it can conquer such large creatures, it can by no means devour them as they are, since their bodies are too thick, and he must therefore break their bones, and reduce them to a soft mass, before he can manage them. This he usually does by girting his body firmly round them, by this means crushing them; but when this method will not take place, he has recourse to the tree. He dragged the tyger to the tree; and he seized him a second time by the back, and set him on his legs against the tree; then winding his body round the tyger and the tree several times, he girted both with all his violence, till the ribs began to give way, each giving a loud crack. When he had managed all the ribs, he next attempted the legs. This took up many hours, and the poor creature all this while was living, and, at every loud crack of the bones, gave a howl, piteous enough to pierce the cruelest heart. After the legs, the snake attacked the skull; but this proved so difficult a task, that the monster left him for the night at the foot of the tree, and retired.

"In the morning I returned with others to the thicket: but as we rode up we saw a change in the face of things; the body of the tyger looked like a lump of shapeless matter and shone all over as if covered with jelly. The monster had laid the tyger’s legs close to the body, and was now placing the head straight before, and licking the body, rendering it fit for swallowing. At length the serpent drew himself up, and seized the head, and began to suck that, and afterwards the body, down into his throat.

"The morning following we all assembled for the last time, and the very women and children followed. The serpent had so loaded his belly that he could neither fight nor run away. He attempted to climb the tree; but in vain; and was soon knocked on the head with clubs. We measured him, and his length was thirty-three feet four inches. He was cut up; and afforded a flesh whiter than veal, and as they said that ate of it, finer tasted than any flesh whatever.

"I hope the curious nature of this account will plead pardon for its length, and am, worthy Sir, your very humble servant.