NOTES. 153 



of propitiating it. The more reasonable, if unromantic, explanation 

 would seem to be that the cobra was after field rats which frequent 

 the neighbourhood of threshing-floors. 



March 7, 1908. C. DRIEBERG. 



9. The. Moorman's Dagger (see SpoUa Zeylanica, Vol. III., 

 p. 213). — The dagger or " kathar " is undoubtedly the same as is used 

 by Charans and Bhats in Gujarat, Kathiawad, and Rajputana. 

 By them it is commonly used for purposes of suicide, to which they 

 resort when they have stood surety for a chief and the chief breaks 

 his word. It also always accompanies their signature on documents 

 as a mark, usually drawn as under : — 



A note on it will be found in Forbes' s Rasmala. There is a very 

 well-known Gujarat (Kathiawad) tradition of voyages to Ceylon, 

 especially from Saurashtra, i.e., the modern Junagahd, &c. Java 

 is definitely stated by all Gujarat tradition to have been colonized 

 from there by a cadet of one of the Rajput houses. Query : — 

 Can this dagger have thus been acclimatized in Ceylon, and is it 

 known in Java ? 



December, 1907. OTTO ROTHFELD, I.C.S. 



7(8)08 



