Ball — On the Colloquies of Garcia De Orta — II. 657 
The three kinds are obtained in Ceylon ; the most esteemed is 
called there rannetul ( Cocculus sp.) It is a shrub which grows to two or 
three palmos, &c. : a full description of the plant is given. It is the 
root which is used both in cordial and applied externally to snake 
bites. The second is a thorny tree resembling the pomegranate, but 
climbs on other trees. Of it the wood, bark, and root, constitute the 
drug. This is probably the Hemidesmus or Indian sarsaparilla. Of 
the third kind, Strychnos^ the leaves are said to be not green but are 
thin and long, and speckled white and grey, with white and black 
spots, and the branches are thin and spread over much ground. The 
roots were black, and both roots and wood were esteemed as affording 
an antidote to poison. 
The virtues of these plants were first discovered, according to 
Uarcia, by observing that a small animal, the quil or quirpele (for the 
Tamil Jciri or Urrippillei, i.e. mongoose), was in the habit of eating 
them and anointing itself with the juice whenever it fought with the 
cobra. The Colloquy contains an account of such a contest. As is 
well known, a belief in the mongoose obtaining immunity from snake 
bites by eating some plant is still prevalent. 
Garcia says the wood was used for worms, smallpox, measles, and 
cholera (mordexi) ; also to eradicate severe fevers. 
He suggests the possibility of the poison for darts used in Malacca 
(i.e. Borneo ?) being prepared from the Fao da Cobra. 
[Eeferences. — Clusius (Acosta), p. 50; Zinschoten, ii., p. 104; 
FlucMger and Sanhury, p. 379 n. ; Khory, pp. 139, 397, and 399.] 
COLLOQUY XLIII. 
(1) Da pedea diamo, (2) da pedea Aemenia, (3) eda pedea 
Cevae. 
(1) The Diamond— 
Thames Adamans (for Adamas) in Latin ; Diamanfes in Spanish ; 
Diamas in Portuguese ; Alma% (i.e. Almas) by Arabs and Moors ; 
Ira (i.e. Eira) in the places in India where it is found ; Bam (i.e. 
Itan, Malay, from Hintern, Javanese) in Malaia (which here stands for 
Borneo). 
Euano quotes Pliny, in support of the view that the diamond is 
superior to all other precious stones, after which follow the pearl, 
emerald, and ruby. Garcia, however, says that the emerald and then 
the ruby, bulk for bulk, rank before the diamond in India, and he points 
