Chapter MUGGUR to MUNGOOSE of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

following as a quotation from a History of Ceylon, tr. from Portuguese into French, published at Paris in 1701, p. 153. It is in fact the gist of an anecdote in Ribeyro.

“There are persons who cherish this animal and have it to sleep with them, although it is ill-tempered, for they prefer to be bitten by a mangus to being killed by a snake.”

1774.—“He (the Dharma Raja of Bhootan) has got a little lap-dog and a Mungoos, which he is very fond of.”—Bogle’s Diary, in Markham’s Tibet, 27.

1790.—“His (Mr. Glan’s) experiments have also established a very curious fact, that the ichneumon, or mungoose, which is very common in this country, and kills snakes without danger to itself, does not use antidotes…but that the poison of snakes is, to this animal, innocent.”—Letter in Colebrooke’s Life, p. 40.

1829.—“Il Mongùse animale simile ad una donnola.”—Papi, in de Gubernatis, St. dei Viagg. Ital., p. 279.