1539.—"Vimos tãbẽ aquy grande soma de cobras de capello, da grossura da coxa de hũ homẽ, e tão peçonhentas em tanto estremo, que dizião os negros que se chegarão cõ a baba da boca a qualquer cousa viva, logo em proviso cahia morta em terra...."—Pinto, cap. xiv.
" "... Adders that were copped on the crowns of their heads, as big as a man's thigh, and so venomous, as the Negroes of the country informed us, that if any living thing came within the reach of their breath, it dyed presently...."—Cogan's Transl., p. 17.
1563.—"In the beautiful island of Ceylon ... there are yet many serpents of the kind which are vulgarly called Cobras de capello; and in Latin we may call them regulus serpens."—Garcia, f. 156.
1672.—"In Jafnapatam, in my time, there lay among others in garrison a certain High German who was commonly known as the Snake-Catcher; and this man was summoned by our Commander ... to lay hold of a Cobre Capel that was in his Chamber. And this the man did, merely holding his hat before his eyes, and seizing it with his hand, without any damage.... I had my suspicions that this was done by some devilry ... but he maintained that it was all by natural means...."—Baldaeus (Germ. ed.), 25.
Some forty-nine or fifty years ago a staff-sergeant at Delhi had a bull-dog that used to catch cobras in much the same way as this High-Dutchman did.
1710.—"The Brother Francisco Rodriguez persevered for the whole 40 days in these exercises, and as the house was of clay, and his cell adjoined the garden, it was invaded by cobra de capelo, and he made report of this inconvenience to the Father-Rector. But his answer was that these were not the snakes that did spiritual harm; and so left the Brother in the same cell. This and other admirable instances have always led me to doubt if S. Paul did not communicate to his Paulists in India the same virtue as of the tongues of S. Paul,[[70]] for the snakes in these parts are so numerous and so venomous, and though our Missionaries make such long journeys through wild uncultivated places, there is no account to this day that any Paulist was ever bitten."—F. de Souza, Oriente Conquistado, Conq. i. Div. i. cap. 73.
1711.—Bluteau, in his great Port. Dict., explains Cobra de Capello as a "reptile (bicho) of Brazil." But it is only a slip; what is further said shows that he meant to say India.
c. 1713.—"En secouant la peau de cerf sur laquelle nous avons coutume de nous asseoir, il en sortit un gros serpent de ceux qu'on appelle en Portugais Cobra-Capel."—Lettres Edif., ed. 1781, xi. 83.
1883.—"In my walks abroad I generally carry a strong, supple walking cane.... Armed with it, you may rout and slaughter the hottest-tempered cobra in Hindustan. Let it rear itself up and spread its spectacled head-gear and bluster as it will, but one rap on the side of its head will bring it to reason."—Tribes on my Frontier, 198-9.
COBRA LILY, s. The flower Arum campanulatum, which stands on its curving stem exactly like a cobra with a reared head.