Chapter POLIGAR to POLONGA of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

of all the principal inhabitants took place at Iskardo, on some occasion of ceremony or festivity. … I was thus fortunate enough to be a witness of the chaugan, which is derived from Persia, and has been described by Mr. Vigne as hocky on horseback. … Large quadrangular enclosed meadows for this game may be seen in all the larger villages of Balti, often surrounded by rows of beautiful willow and poplar trees.”—Dr. T. Thomson, Himalaya and Tibet, 260–261.

1875.—

“Polo, Tent-pegging, Hurlingham, the Rink,
I leave all these delights.”

Browning, Inn Album, 23.

POLLOCK-SAUG, s. Hind. palak, palak-sag; a poor vegetable, called also ‘country spinach’ (Beta vulgaris, or B. Bengalensis, Roxb.). [Riddell (Domest. Econ. 579) calls it ‘Bengal Beet.’]

POLONGA, TIC-POLONGA, s. A very poisonous snake, so called in Ceylon (Bungarus? or Daboia elegans?); Singh. poloñgara. [The Madras Gloss. identifies it with the Daboia elegans, and calls it ‘Chain viper, ‘Necklace snake,’ ‘Russell’s viper,’ or cobra manilla. The Singh. name is said to be titpolanga, tit, ‘spotted,’ polanga, ‘viper.’]

1681.—“There is another venomous snake called Polongo, the most venomous of all, that kills cattel. Two sorts of them I have seen, the one green, the other of reddish gray, full of white rings along the sides, and about five or six feet long.”—Knox 29.

1825.—“There are only four snakes ascertained to be poisonous; the cobra de capello is the most common, but its bite is not so certainly fatal as that of the tic polonga, which destroys life in a few minutes.”—Mrs. Heber, in H.’s Journal, ed. 1844, ii. 167.