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John, It would appear to come from a book Kuloskap the Master and other Algonkin poems, by Leland & Prince (Funk Wagnalls & Co, New York & London, 1902). See http://www.scribd.com/doc/13143805/Leland-Charles-Kuloskap-the-Master for a copy of the title page and search for 'tosis' in http://www.archive.org/stream/kulboskapmaster00lelarich/kulboskapmaster00lelarich_djvu.txt for its appearances in the text and glossary where A tosis is given as 'snake' in Algonkin/Algonquin dialect. Yours, Roger ----- Original Message ----- From: John Radcliffe To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 8:07 PM Subject: A'tosi We are currently annotating Kipling's splendid series of articles, Brazilian Sketches (1927) , which includes an account of his visit to a snake farm in San Paulo. In it he refers to snakes as 'A'tosis', which Harbord thought to be from the Greek. Can someone more scholarly than I help with the meaning and derivation of the word ? Most grateful for any help ! All good wishes, John R