162 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCLBTY. 
the Dutch Muncus. I give an extract from his writings only which 
refers of the subject. ‘“Primum antidotum......radix est plantas 
malaice Hampa du Tanah, id est, Fel terre, dicta a sapore amaris- 
simo ..,...Lusitanis ibidem Razz seu radix mungo appclata a mustela 
seu viverra, Indis Mungustia appellata quia radicem monstrasse, et 
ejus usum.” 
I could cite passages from other writers of the 17th and 18th cen- 
turies, such as Maillet, John Klein, Hasselquist, George Edwards, 
Linneus, Albert Seba, Vincent Maric, Buffon, &c., but ‘suffice it to 
say that they are unanimousin saying that the Ichncwmon or 
mangoose is serpenticida or serpent killer. From this one can 
easily identify the mangoose or Herpestes of the present day, 
and which was once called in Greek and Latin Ichnewmon, 
Mus Pharaonis, Donula, Donola Mustela and in French Mangéuste, 
&c., with the same animal described by Garcia de Orta as Bicho de 
Cobra. 
It may be asked, that even granting that the mangoose is the bis 
cobra, how can the idea of its being a poisonous lizard be 
explained ? When Vasco da Gama and his successors, imbued with 
the adventurous spirit of the age, set out to discover new countries, 
they fully made up their minds to conquer those countries, and chris- 
tianise them, and also to appropriate their commerce. This they did 
by the sword, and while they thrust the Catholic religion on the 
people, they also forced them to learn the Portuguese language ; for 
both the soldiers and the priests, by whom they were accompanied 
did not take the trouble to learn the language of the people, but spoke 
to them in theirown. A large number of the converts were kept by 
the Portuguese, as personal servants and military and other retainers, 
who had to learn the language whether they willed it or not; they 
picked it up as best they could, and as it was to be expected, contorted 
it very much in speaking it. The converts and the priests were the 
chief factors in disseminating extensively into the country the 
Portuguese language, and this was done so effectively, that even 
now, after a lapse of three centuries, the Portuguese language, or a 
jargon purporting to be that language, is spoken in several places 
which have long since ceased to belong to the Portuguese nation. 
The language and the religion are the two indelible traces which 
the Portuguese have left of their conquests in India. Moreover, a 
great many Portuguese words have been introduced into the several 
languages of tho country, such as in Marathi, Guzerati, Hindustani, 
