The word has also been introduced by the Portuguese into Africa in the forms maxilla, and machilla.
1810.—"... tangas, que elles chamão maxilas."—Annaes Maritimas, iii. 434.
1880.—"The Portuguese (in Quilliman) seldom even think of walking the length of their own street, and ... go from house to house in a sort of palanquin, called here a machilla (pronounced masheela). This usually consists of a pole placed upon the shoulders of the natives, from which is suspended a long plank of wood, and upon that is fixed an old-fashioned-looking chair, or sometimes two. Then there is an awning over the top, hung all round with curtains. Each machilla requires about 6 to 8 bearers, who are all dressed alike in a kind of livery."—A Journey in E. Africa, by M. A. Pringle, p. 89.
MUNGOOSE, s. This is the popular Anglo-Indian name of the Indian ichneumons, represented in the South by Mangusta Mungos (Elliot), or Herpestes griseus (Geoffroy) of naturalists, and in Bengal by Herpestes malaccensis. [Blanford (Mammalia, 119 seqq.) recognises eight species, the "Common Indian Mungoose" being described as Herpestes mungo.] The word is Telugu, mangīsu, or mungīsa. In Upper India the animal is called newal, neolā, or nyaul. Jerdon gives mangūs however as a Deccani and Mahr. word; [Platts gives it as dialectic, and very doubtfully derives it from Skt. makshu, 'moving quickly.' In Ar. it is bint-'arūs, 'daughter of the bridegroom,' in Egypt kitt or katt Farāūn, 'Pharaoh's cat' (Burton, Ar. Nights, ii. 369)].
1673.—"... a Mongoose is akin to a Ferret...."—Fryer, 116.
1681.—"The knowledge of these antidotal herbs they have learned from the Mounggutia, a kind of Ferret."—Knox, 115.
1685.—"They have what they call a Mangus, creatures something different from ferrets; these hold snakes in great antipathy, and if they once discover them never give up till they have killed them."—Ribeyro, f. 56v.
Bluteau gives the 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.