Hobson-Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive (part 4 of 11)

Hobson-Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive (part 4 of 11)

c. 1540.—"So after we had saluted one another after the manner of the Country, they went and anchored by the shore" (in orig. "despois de se fazerem as suas e as nossas salvas a CHARACHINA como entre este gente se custuma.")—In Cogan, p. 56; in orig. ch. xlvii.

1795.—"The two junior members of the Chinese deputation came at the appointed hour.... On entering the door of the marquee they both made an abrupt stop, and resisted all solicitation to advance to chairs that had been prepared for them, until I should first be seated; in this dilemma, Dr. Buchanan, who had visited China, advised me what was to be done; I immediately seized on the foremost, whilst the Doctor himself grappled with the second; thus we soon fixed them in their seats, both parties during the struggle, repeating Chin Chin, Chin Chin, the Chinese term of salutation."—Symes, Embassy to Ava, 295.

1829.—"One of the Chinese servants came to me and said, 'Mr. Talbot CHIN-CHIN you come down.'"—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 20.

1880.—"But far from thinking it any shame to deface our beautiful language, the English seem to glory in its distortion, and will often ask one another to come to 'chow-chow' instead of dinner; and send their 'CHIN-CHIN,' even in letters, rather than their compliments; most of them ignorant of the fact that 'chow-chow' is no more Chinese than it is Hebrew; that 'chin-chin,' though an expression used by the Chinese, does not in its true meaning come near to the 'good-bye, old fellow,' for which it is often used, or the compliments for which it is frequently substituted."—W. Gill, River of Golden Sand, i. 156; [ed. 1883, p. 41].

CHINSURA, n.p. A town on the Hoogly River, 26 miles above Calcutta, on the west bank, which was the seat of a Dutch settlement and factory down to 1824, when it was ceded to us by the Treaty of London, under which the Dutch gave up Malacca and their settlements in continental India, whilst we withdrew from Sumatra. [The place gave its name to a kind of cloth, Chinechuras (see PIECE-GOODS).]

1684.—"This day between 3 and 6 o'clock in the Afternoon, Capt. Richardson and his Sergeant, came to my house in ye CHINCHERA, and brought me this following message from ye President...."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 166.

1705.—"La Loge appellée Chamdernagor est une très-belle Maison située sur le bord d'un des bras du fleuve de Gange.... À une lieue de la Loge il y a une grande Ville appellée CHINCHURAT...."—Luillier, 64-65.

1726.—"The place where our Lodge (or Factory) is is properly called SINTERNU [i.e. Chinsura] and not Hoogli (which is the name of the village)."—Valentijn, v. 162.

1727.—"CHINCHURA, where the Dutch Emporium stands ... the Factors have a great many good Houses standing pleasantly on the River-Side; and all of them have pretty Gardens."—A. Hamilton, ii. 20; ed. 1744, ii. 18.

[1753.—"SHINSHURA." See quotation under CALCUTTA.]

CHINTS, CHINCH, s. A bug. This word is now quite obsolete both in India and in England. It is a corruption of the Portuguese chinche, which again is from cimex. Mrs. Trollope, in her once famous book on the Domestic Manners of the Americans, made much of a supposed instance of affected squeamishness in American ladies, who used the word chintses instead of bugs. But she was ignorant of the fact that chints was an old and proper name for the objectionable exotic insect, 'bug' being originally but a figurative (and perhaps a polite) term, 'an object of disgust and horror' (Wedgwood). Thus the case was exactly the opposite of what she chose to imagine; chints was the real name, bug the more or less affected euphonism.

1616.—"In the night we were likewise very much disquieted with another sort, called Musqueetoes, like our Gnats, but some-what less; and in that season we were very much troubled with CHINCHES, another sort of little troublesome and offensive creatures, like little Tikes: and these annoyed us two wayes; as first by their biting and stinging, and then by their stink."—Terry, ed. 1665, p. 372; [ed. 1777, p. 117].

1645.—"... for the most part the bedsteads in Italy are of forged iron gilded, since it is impossible to keepe the wooden ones from the CHIMICES."—Evelyn's Diary, Sept. 29.

1673.—"... Our Bodies broke out into small fiery Pimples ... augmented by Muskeetoe-Bites, and CHINCES raising Blisters on us."—Fryer, 35.

" "CHINTS are venomous, and if squeezed leave a most Poysonous Stench."—Ibid. 189.

CHINTZ, s. A printed or spotted cotton cloth; Port. chita; Mahr. chīt, and H. chīṇt. The word in this last form occurs (c. 1590) in the Āīn-i-Akbarī (i. 95). It comes apparently from the Skt. chitra, 'variegated, speckled.' The best chintzes were bought on the Madras coast, at Masulipatam and Sadras. The French form of the word is chite, which has suggested the possibility of our sheet being of the same origin. But chite is apparently of Indian origin, through the Portuguese, whilst sheet is much older than the Portuguese communication with India. Thus (1450) in Sir T. Cumberworth's will he directs his "wreched body to be beryd in a chitte with owte any kyste" (Academy, Sept. 27, 1879, p. 230). The resemblance to the Indian forms in this is very curious.

1614.—"... CHINTZ and chadors...."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.

[1616.—"3 per CHINT bramport."—Cocks's Diary, i. 171.

[1623.—"Linnen stamp'd with works of sundry colours (which they call CIT)."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 45.]

1653.—"CHITES en Indou signifie des toilles imprimeés."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1647, p. 536.

c. 1666.—"Le principal trafic des Hollandois à Amedabad, est de CHITES, qui sont de toiles peintes."—Thevenot, v. 35. In the English version (1687) this is written SCHITES (iv. ch. v.).

1676.—"CHITES or Painted Calicuts, which they call Calmendar, that is done with a pencil, are made in the Kingdom of Golconda, and particularly about Masulipatam."—Tavernier, E.T., p. 126; [ed. Ball, ii. 4].

1725.—"The returns that are injurious to our manufactures, or growth of our own country, are printed calicoes, CHINTZ, wrought silks, stuffs, of herba, and barks."—Defoe, New Voyage round the World. Works, Oxford, 1840, p. 161.

1726.—"The Warehouse Keeper reported to the Board, that the CHINTZES, being brought from painting, had been examined at the sorting godown, and that it was the general opinion that both the cloth and the paintings were worse than the musters."—In Wheeler, ii. 407.

c. 1733.—

"No, let a charming CHINTZ and Brussels lace Wrap my cold limbs, and shade my lifeless face." Pope, Moral Essays, i. 248.

"And, when she sees her friend in deep despair, Observes how much a CHINTZ exceeds Mohair...." Ibid. ii. 170.

1817.—"Blue cloths, and CHINTZES in particular, have always formed an extensive article of import from Western India."—Raffles, H. of Java, i. 86; [2nd ed. i. 95, and comp. i. 190].

In the earlier books about India some kind of chintz is often termed PINTADO (q.v.). See the phraseology in the quotation from Wheeler above.

This export from India to Europe has long ceased. When one of the present writers was Sub-Collector of the Madras District (1866-67), chintzes were still figured by an old man at Sadras, who had been taught by the Dutch, the cambric being furnished to him by a Madras CHETTY (q.v.). He is now dead, and the business has ceased; in fact the colours for the process are no longer to be had.[62] The former chintz manufactures of Pulicat are mentioned by Correa, Lendas, ii. 2, p. 567. Havart (1693) mentions the manufacture at Sadras (i. 92), and gives a good description of the process of painting these cloths, which he calls CHITSEN (iii. 13). There is also a very complete account in the Lettres Édifiantes, xiv. 116 seqq.

In Java and Sumatra chintzes of a very peculiar kind of marbled pattern are still manufactured by women, under the name of bātik.

CHIPE, s. In Portuguese use, from Tamil shippi, 'an oyster.' The pearl-oysters taken in the pearl-fisheries of Tuticorin and Manār.

[1602.—"And the fishers on that coast gave him as tribute one day's oysters (hum dia de CHIPO), that is the result of one day's pearl fishing."—Couto, Dec. 7, Bk. VIII. ch. ii.]

1685.—"The CHIPE, for so they call those oysters which their boats are wont to fish."—Ribeiro, f. 63.

1710.—"Some of these oysters or CHEPÎS, as the natives call them, produce pearls, but such are rare, the greater part producing only seed pearls (aljofres) [see ALJOFAR]."—Sousa, Oriente Conquist. ii. 243.

CHIRETTA, s. H. chirāītā, Mahr. kirāītā. A Himalayan herbaceous plant of the order Gentianaceae (Swertia Chirata, Ham.; Ophelia Chirata, Griesbach; Gentiana Chirayita, Roxb.; Agathetes chirayta, Don.), the dried twigs of which, infused, afford a pure bitter tonic and febrifuge. Its Skt. name kirāta-tikta, 'the bitter plant of the Kirātas,' refers its discovery to that people, an extensively-diffused forest tribe, east and north-east of Bengal, the Κιῤῥάδαι of the Periplus, and the people of the Κιῤῥάδια of Ptolemy. There is no indication of its having been known to G. de Orta.

[1773.—"Kol Meg in Bengal; CREAT in Bombay.... It is excessively bitter, and given as a stomachic and vermifuge."—Ives, 471.]

1820.—"They also give a bitter decoction of the neem (Melia azadirachta) and CHEREETA."—Acc. of the Township of Luny, in Trans. Lit. Soc. of Bombay, ii. 232.

1874.—"CHIRETTA has long been held in esteem by the Hindus.... In England it began to attract some attention about 1829; and in 1839 was introduced into the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. The plant was first described by Roxburgh in 1814."—Hanbury and Flückiger, 392.

CHIT, CHITTY, s. A letter or note; also a certificate given to a servant, or the like; a pass. H. chiṭṭhī; Mahr. chiṭṭī. [Skt. chitra, 'marked.'] The Indian Portuguese also use chito for escrito (Bluteau, Supplement). The Tamil people use shīt for a ticket, or for a playing-card.

1673.—"I sent one of our Guides, with his Master's CHITTY, or Pass, to the Governnor, who received it kindly."—Fryer, 126.

[1757.—"If Mr. Ives is not too busie to honour this CHITT which nothing but the greatest uneasiness could draw from me."—Ives, 134.]

1785.—".... Those Ladies and Gentlemen who wish to be taught that polite Art (drawing) by Mr. Hone, may know his terms by sending a CHIT...."—In Seton-Karr, i. 114.

1786.—"You are to sell rice, &c., to every merchant from Muscat who brings you a CHITTY from Meer Kâzim."—Tippoo's Letters, 284.

1787.—"Mrs. Arend ... will wait upon any Lady at her own house on the shortest notice, by addressing a CHIT to her in Chattawala Gully, opposite Mr. Motte's old house, Tiretta's bazar."—Advt. in Seton-Karr, i. 226.

1794.—"The petty but constant and universal manufacture of CHITS which prevails here."—Hugh Boyd, 147.

1829.—"He wanted a CHITHEE or note, for this is the most note-writing country under heaven; the very Drum-major writes me a note to tell me about the mails."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 2nd ed., 80.

1839.—"A thorough Madras lady ... receives a number of morning visitors, takes up a little worsted work; goes to tiffin with Mrs. C., unless Mrs. D. comes to tiffin with her, and writes some dozens of CHITS.... These incessant CHITS are an immense trouble and interruption, but the ladies seem to like them."—Letters from Madras, 284.

CHITCHKY, s. A curried vegetable mixture, often served and eaten with meat curry. Properly Beng. chhechkī.

1875.—"... CHHENCHKI, usually called tarkāri in the Vardhamāna District, a sort of hodge-podge consisting of potatoes, brinjals, and tender stalks...."—Govinda Samanta, i. 59.

CHITTAGONG, n.p. A town, port, and district of Eastern Bengal, properly written Chatgānw (see PORTO PIQUENO). Chittagong appears to be the City of Bengala of Varthema and some of the early Portuguese. (See BANDEL, BENGAL).

c. 1346.—"The first city of Bengal that we entered was SUDKĀWĀN, a great place situated on the shore of the great Sea."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 212.

1552.—"In the mouths of the two arms of the Ganges enter two notable rivers, one on the east, and one on the west side, both bounding this kingdom (of Bengal); the one of these our people call the River of CHATIGAM, because it enters the Eastern estuary of the Ganges at a city of that name, which is the most famous and wealthy of that Kingdom, by reason of its Port, at which meets the traffic of all that Eastern region."—De Barros, Dec. IV. liv. ix. cap. i.

[1586.—"SATAGAM." See quotation under HING.]

1591.—"So also they inform me that Antonio de Sousa Goudinho has served me well in Bemgualla, and that he has made tributary to this state the Isle of Sundiva, and has taken the fortress of CHATAGUÃO by force of arms."—King's Letter, in Archivio Port. Orient., fasc. iii. 257.

1598.—"From this River Eastward 50 miles lyeth the towne of CHATIGAN, which is the chief towne of Bengala."—Linschoten, ch. xvi.; [Hak. Soc. i. 94].[63]

c. 1610.—Pyrard de la Val has CHARTICAN, i. 234; [Hak. Soc. i. 326].

1727.—"CHITTAGOUNG, or, as the Portuguese call it, XATIGAM, about 50 Leagues below Dacca."—A. Hamilton, ii. 24; ed. 1744, ii. 22.

17—.—"CHITTIGAN" in Orme (reprint), ii. 14.

1786.—"The province of CHATIGAN (vulgarly CHITTAGONG) is a noble field for a naturalist. It is so called, I believe, from the chatag,[64] which is the most beautiful little bird I ever saw."—Sir W. Jones, ii. 101.

Elsewhere (p. 81) he calls it a "Montpelier." The derivation given by this illustrious scholar is more than questionable. The name seems to be really a form of the Sanskrit Chaturgrāma (= Tetrapolis), [or according to others of Saptagrāma, 'seven villages'], and it is curious that near this position Ptolemy has a Pentapolis, very probably the same place. Chaturgrāma is still the name of a town in Ceylon, lat. 6°, long. 81°.

CHITTLEDROOG, n.p. A fort S.W. of Bellary; properly Chitra Durgam, Red Hill (or Hill-Fort, or 'picturesque fort']) called by the Mahommedans Chītaldurg (C. P. B.).

CHITTORE, n.p. Chītor, or Chītorgaṛh, a very ancient and famous rock fortress in the Rajput State of Mewār. It is almost certainly the Τιάτουρα of Ptolemy (vii. 1).

1533.—"Badour (i.e. Bahādur Shāh) ... in Champanel ... sent to carry off a quantity of powder and shot and stores for the attack on CHITOR, which occasioned some delay because the distance was so great."—Correa, iii. 506.

1615.—"The two and twentieth (Dec.), Master Edwards met me, accompanied with Thomas Coryat, who had passed into India on foote, fiue course to CYTOR, an ancient Citie ruined on a hill, but so that it appeares a Tombe (Towne?) of wonderfull magnificence...."—Sir Thomas Roe, in Purchas, i. 540; [Hak. Soc. i. 102; "CETOR" in i. 111, "CHYTOR" in ii. 540].

[1813.—"... a tribute ... imposed by Muhadajee Seendhiya for the restitution of CHUETOHRGURH, which he had conquered from the Rana."—Broughton, Letters, ed. 1892, p. 175.]

CHOBDAR, s. H. from P. chobdār, 'a stick-bearer.' A frequent attendant of Indian nobles, and in former days of Anglo-Indian officials of rank. They are still a part of the state of the Viceroy, Governors, and Judges of the High Courts. The chobdārs carry a staff overlaid with silver.

1442.—"At the end of the hall stand TCHOBDARS ... drawn up in line."—Abdur-Razzāk, in India in the XV. Cent. 25.

1673.—"If he (the President) move out of his Chamber, the Silver Staves wait on him."—Fryer, 68.

1701.—"... Yesterday, of his own accord, he told our Linguists that he had sent four CHOBDARS and 25 men, as a safeguard."—In Wheeler, i. 371.

1788.—"CHUBDÁR.... Among the Nabobs he proclaims their praises aloud, as he runs before their palankeens."—Indian Vocabulary (Stockdale's).

1793.—"They said a CHUBDAR, with a silverstick, one of the Sultan's messengers of justice, had taken them from the place, where they were confined, to the public Bazar, where their hands were cut off."—Dirom, Narrative, 235.

1798.—"The chief's CHOBEDAR ... also endeavoured to impress me with an ill opinion of these messengers."—G. Forster's Travels, i. 222.

1810.—"While we were seated at breakfast, we were surprised by the entrance of a CHOABDAR, that is, a servant who attends on persons of consequence, runs before them with a silver stick, and keeps silence at the doors of their apartments, from which last office he derives his name."—Maria Graham, 57.

This usually accurate lady has been here misled, as if the word were chup-dār, 'silence-keeper,' a hardly possible hybrid.

CHOBWA, s. Burmese Tsaubwa, Siamese Chao, 'prince, king,' also Chaohpa (compounded with hpa, 'heaven'), and in Cushing's Shan Dicty. and cacography, sow, 'lord, master,' sowhpa, a 'hereditary prince.' The word chu-hu, for 'chief,' is found applied among tribes of Kwang-si, akin to the Shans, in A.D. 1150 (Prof. T. de la Couperie). The designation of the princes of the Shan States on the east of Burma, many of whom are (or were till lately) tributary to Ava.

1795.—"After them came the CHOBWAAS, or petty tributary princes: these are personages who, before the Birmans had extended their conquests over the vast territories which they now possess, had held small independent sovereignties which they were able to maintain so long as the balance of power continued doubtful between the Birmans, Peguers, and Siamese."—Symes, 366.

1819.—"All that tract of land ... is inhabited by a numerous nation called Sciam, who are the same as the Laos. Their kingdom is divided into small districts under different chiefs called ZABOÀ, or petty princes."—Sangermano, 34.

1855.—"The TSAUBWAS of all these principalities, even where most absolutely under Ava, retain all the forms and appurtenances of royalty."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 303.

[1890.—"The succession to the throne primarily depends upon the person chosen by the court and people being of princely descent—all such are called CHOW or prince."—Hallet, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, p. 32.]

CHOGA, s. Turki choghā. A long sleeved garment, like a dressing-gown (a purpose for which Europeans often make use of it). It is properly an Afghan form of dress, and is generally made of some soft woollen material, and embroidered on the sleeves and shoulders. In Bokhara the word is used for a furred robe. ["In Tibetan ch'uba; in Turki juba. It is variously pronounced chuba, juba or chogha in Asia, and shuba or shubka in Russia" (J.R.A.S., N.S. XXIII. 122)].

1883.—"We do not hear of 'shirt-sleeves' in connection with Henry (Lawrence), so often as in John's case; we believe his favourite dishabille was an Afghan CHOGA, which like charity covered a multitude of sins."—Qu. Review, No. 310, on Life of Lord Lawrence, p. 303.

CHOKIDAR, s. A watchman. Derivative in Persian form from CHOKY. The word is usually applied to a private watchman; in some parts of India he is generally of a thieving tribe, and his employment may be regarded as a sort of blackmail to ensure one's property. [In N. India the village Chaukīdār is the rural policeman, and he is also employed for watch and ward in the smaller towns.]

1689.—"And the Day following the CHOCADARS, or Souldiers were remov'd from before our Gates."—Ovington, 416.

1810.—"The CHOKEY-DAR attends during the day, often performing many little offices, ... at night parading about with his spear, shield, and sword, and assuming a most terrific aspect, until all the family are asleep; when HE GOES TO SLEEP TOO."—Williamson, V. M. i. 295.

c. 1817.—"The birds were scarcely beginning to move in the branches of the trees, and there was not a servant excepting the CHOCKEDAURS, stirring about any house in the neighbourhood, it was so early."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, &c. (ed. 1873), 243.

1837.—"Every village is under a potail, and there is a pursau or priest, and CHOUKEEDNOP (sic!) or watchman."—Phillips, Million of Facts, 320.

1864.—The church book at Peshawar records the death there of "The Revd. I—— L——l, who on the night of the —th ——, 1864, when walking in his veranda was shot by his own CHOKIDAR"—to which record the hand of an injudicious friend has added: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!" (The exact words will now be found in the late Mr. E. B. Eastwick's Panjáb Handbook, p. 279).

CHOKRA, s. Hind. chhokrā, 'a boy, a youngster'; and hence, more specifically, a boy employed about a household, or a regiment. Its chief use in S. India is with the latter. (See CHUCKAROO.)

[1875.—"He was dubbed 'the CHOKRA,' or simply 'boy.'"—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 136.]

CHOKY, s. H. chaukī, which in all its senses is probably connected with Skt. chatur, 'four'; whence chatushka, 'of four,' 'four-sided,' &c.

A. (Perhaps first a shed resting on four posts); a station of police; a lock-up; also a station of palankin bearers, horses, &c., when a post is laid; a customs or toll-station, and hence, as in the first quotation, the dues levied at such a place; the act of watching or guarding.

[1535.—"They only pay the CHOQUEIS coming in ships from the Moluccas to Malacca, which amounts to 3 parts in 10 for the owner of the ship for choque, which is freight; that which belongs to His Highness pays nothing when it comes in ships. This choque is as far as Malacca, from thence to India is another freight as arranged between the parties. Thus when cloves are brought in His Highness's ships, paying the third and the choquies, there goes from every 30 bahars 16 to the King, our Lord."—Arrangement made by Nuno da Cunha, quoted in Botelho, Tombo, p. 113. On this Mr. Whiteway remarks: "By this arrangement the King of Portugal did not ship any cloves of his own at the Moluccas, but he took one-third of every shipment free, and on the balance he took one-third as CHOKY, which is, I imagine, in lieu of customs."]

c. 1590.—"Mounting guard is called in Hindi CHAUKI."—Āīn, i. 257.

1608.—"The Kings Custome called CHUKEY, is eight bagges upon the hundred bagges."—Saris, in Purchas, i. 391.

1664.—"Near this Tent there is another great one, which is called TCHAUKYKANE, because it is the place where the Omrahs keep guard, every one in his turn, once a week twenty-four hours together."—Bernier, E.T., 117; [ed. Constable, 363].

1673.—"We went out of the Walls by Broach Gate ... where, as at every gate, stands a CHOCKY, or Watch to receive Toll for the Emperor...."—Fryer, 100.

" "And when they must rest, if they have no Tents, they must shelter themselves under Trees ... unless they happen on a CHOWKIE, i.e., a Shed where the Customer keeps a Watch to take Custom."—Ibid. 410.

1682.—"About 12 o'clock Noon we got to ye CHOWKEE, where after we had shown our Dustick and given our present, we were dismissed immediately."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 17; [Hak. Soc. i. 58].

1774.—"Il più difficile per viaggiare nell' Indostan sono certi posti di guardie chiamate CIOKI ... questi CIOKI sono insolentissimi."—Della Tomba, 33.

1810.—"... CHOKIES, or patrol stations."—Williamson, V. M., i. 297.

This word has passed into the English slang vocabulary in the sense of 'prison.'

B. A chair. This use is almost peculiar to the Bengal Presidency. Dr. John Muir [Orig. Skt. Texts, ii. 5] cites it in this sense, as a Hindi word which has no resemblance to any Skt. vocable. Mr. Growse, however, connects it with chatur, 'four' (Ind. Antiq., i. 105). See also beginning of this article. Chau is the common form of 'four' in composition, e.g. chaubandi, (i.e. 'four fastening') the complete shoeing of a horse; chaupahra ('four watches') all night long; chaupār, 'a quadruped'; chaukaṭ and chaukhaṭ ('four timber'), a frame (of a door, &c.). So chaukī seems to have been used for a square-framed stool, and thence a chair.

1772.—"Don't throw yourself back in your burra CHOKEY, and tell me it won't do...."—W. Hastings to G. Vansittart, in Gleig, i. 238.

c. 1782.—"As soon as morning appeared he (Haidar) sat down on his chair (CHAUKĪ) and washed his face."—H. of Hydur Naik, 505.

CHOLERA, and CHOLERA MORBUS, s. The Disease. The term 'cholera,' though employed by the old medical writers, no doubt came, as regards its familiar use, from India. Littré alleges that it is a mistake to suppose that the word cholera (χολέρα) is a derivative from χολή 'bile,' and that it really means 'a gutter,' the disease being so called from the symptoms. This should, however, rather be ἀπὸ τῶν χολάδων, the latter word being anciently used for the intestines (the etym. given by the medical writer, Alex. Trallianus). But there is a discussion on the subject in the modern ed. of Stephani Thesaurus, which indicates a conclusion that the derivation from χολὴ is probably right; it is that of Celsus (see below). [The N.E.D. takes the same view, but admits that there is some doubt.] For quotations and some particulars in reference to the history of this terrible disease, see under MORT-DE-CHIEN.

c. A.D. 20.—"Primoque facienda mentio est CHOLERAE; quia commune id stomachi atque intestinorum vitium videri potest ... intestina torquentur, bilis supra infraque erumpit, primum aquae similis: deinde ut in eâ recens caro tota esse videatur, interdum alba, nonnunquam nigra vel varia. Ergo eo nomine morbum hunc χολέραν Graeci nominârunt...." &c.—A. C. Celsi Med. Libri VIII. iv. xi.

c. A.D. 100.—"ΠΕΡῚ ΧΟΛΈΡΗΣ ... θάνατος ἐπῶδυνος καὶ οἴκτιστος σπασμῷ καὶ πνιγὶ καὶ ἐμέσῳ κενῷ."—Aretaeus, De Causis et signis acutorum morborum, ii. 5.

Also Θεραπεία Χολερῆς, in De Curatione Morb. Ac. ii. 4.

1563.—"R. Is this disease the one which kills so quickly, and from which so few recover? Tell me how it is called among us, and among them, and its symptoms, and the treatment of it in use?

"O. Among us it is called COLLERICA PASSIO...."—Garcia, f. 74_v_.

[1611.—"As those ill of COLERA."—Couto, Dialogo de Soldado Pratico, p. 5.]

1673.—"The Diseases reign according to the Seasons.... In the extreme Heats, CHOLERA MORBUS."—Fryer, 113-114.

1832.—"Le CHOLÉRA MORBUS, dont vous me parlez, n'est pas inconnu à Cachemire."—Jacquemont, Corresp. ii. 109.

CHOLERA HORN. See COLLERY.

CHOOLA, s. H. chūlhā, chūlhī, chūlā, fr. Skt. chulli. The extemporized cooking-place of clay which a native of India makes on the ground to prepare his own food; or to cook that of his master.

1814.—"A marble corridor filled up with CHOOLAS, or cooking-places, composed of mud, cowdung, and unburnt bricks."—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 120; [2nd ed. ii. 193].

CHOOLIA, s. Chūliā is a name given in Ceylon and in Malabar to a particular class of Mahommedans, and sometimes to Mahommedans generally. There is much obscurity about the origin and proper application of the term. [The word is by some derived from Skt. chūḍa, the top-knot which every Hindu must wear, and which is cut off on conversion to Islam. In the same way in the Punjab, choṭīkaṭ, 'he that has had his top-knot cut off,' is a common form of abuse used by Hindus to Musulman converts; see Ibbetson, Panjab Ethnog. p. 240.] According to Sonnerat (i. 109), the Chulias are of Arab descent and of Shīa profession. [The Madras Gloss. takes the word to be from the kingdom of Chola and to mean a person of S. India.]

c. 1345.—"... the city of Kaulam, which is one of the finest of Malibār. Its bazars are splendid, and its merchants are known by the name of ṢŪLIA (i.e. Chūlia)."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 99.

1754.—"CHOWLIES are esteemed learned men, and in general are merchants."—Ives, 25.

1782.—"We had found ... less of that foolish timidity, and much more disposition to intercourse in the CHOLIARS of the country, who are Mahommedans and quite distinct in their manners...."—Hugh Boyd, Journal of a Journey of an Embassy to Candy, in Misc. Works (1800), i. 155.

1783.—"During Mr. Saunders's government I have known CHULIA (Moors) vessels carry coco-nuts from the Nicobar Islands to Madras."—Forrest, Voyage to Mergui, p. v.

" "CHULIAS and Malabars (the appellations are I believe synonymous)."—Ibid. 24.

1836.—"Mr. Boyd ... describes the Moors under the name of CHOLIAS, and Sir Alexander Johnston designates them by the appellation Lubbies (see LUBBYE). These epithets are, however, not admissible, for the former is only confined to a particular sect among them, who are rather of an inferior grade; and the latter to the priests who officiate."—Casie Chitty, in J. R. A. Soc. iii. 338.

1879.—"There are over 15,000 Klings, CHULIAHS, and other natives of India."—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 254.

CHOP, s. Properly a seal-impression, stamp, or brand; H. chhāp; the verb (chhāpnā) being that which is now used in Hindustani to express the art of printing (books).

The word chhāp seems not to have been traced back with any accuracy beyond the modern vernaculars. It has been thought possible (at least till the history should be more accurately traced) that it might be of Portuguese origin. For there is a Port. word chapa, 'a thin plate of metal,' which is no doubt the original of the Old English chape for the metal plate on the sheath of a sword or dagger.[65] The word in this sense is not in the Portuguese Dictionaries; but we find 'homem chapado,' explained as 'a man of notable worth or excellence,' and Bluteau considers this a metaphor 'taken from the chapas or plates of metal on which the kings of India caused their letters patent to be engraven.' Thus he would seem to have regarded, though perhaps erroneously, the chhāpā and the Portuguese chapa as identical. On the other hand, Mr. Beames entertains no doubt that the word is genuine Hindi, and connects it with a variety of other words signifying striking, or pressing. And Thompson in his Hindi Dictionary says that chhāppā is a technical term used by the Vaishnavas to denote the sectarial marks (lotus, trident, &c.), which they delineate on their bodies. Fallon gives the same meaning, and quotes a Hindi verse, using it in this sense. We may add that while chhāpā is used all over the N.W.P. and Punjab for printed cloths, Drummond (1808) gives chhāpānīya, chhapārā, as words for 'Stampers or Printers of Cloth' in Guzerati, and that the passage quoted below from a Treaty made with an ambassador from Guzerat by the Portuguese in 1537, uses the word chapada for struck or coined, exactly as the modern Hindi verb chhāpnā might be used.[66] Chop, in writers prior to the last century, is often used for the seal itself. "Owen Cambridge says the Mohr was the great seal, but the small or privy seal was called a 'CHOP' or 'stamp.'" (C. P. Brown).

The word chop is hardly used now among Anglo-Indians in the sense of seal or stamp. But it got a permanent footing in the 'Pigeon English' of the Chinese ports, and thence has come back to England and India, in the phrase "first-CHOP," i.e. of the first brand or quality.

The word CHOP (chāp) is adopted in Malay [with the meanings of seal-impression, stamp, to seal or stamp, though there is, as Mr. Skeat points out, a pure native word tera or tra, which is used in all these senses;] and CHOP has acquired the specific sense of a passport or licence. The word has also obtained a variety of applications, including that just mentioned, in the lingua franca of foreigners in the China seas. Van Braam applies it to a tablet bearing the Emperor's name, to which he and his fellow envoys made KOTOW on their first landing in China (Voyage, &c., Paris, An vi., 1798, i. 20-21). Again, in the same jargon, a CHOP of tea means a certain number of chests of tea, all bearing the same brand. CHOP-houses are customs stations on the Canton River, so called from the chops, or seals, used there (Giles, Glossary). CHOP-dollar is a dollar chopped, or stamped with a private mark, as a guarantee of its genuineness (ibid.). (Dollars similarly marked had currency in England in the first quarter of last century, and one of the present writers can recollect their occasional occurrence in Scotland in his childhood). The grand CHOP is the port clearance granted by the Chinese customs when all dues have been paid (ibid.). All these have obviously the same origin; but there are other uses of the word in China not so easily explained, e.g. chop, for 'a hulk'; chop-boat for a lighter or cargo-boat.

In Captain Forrest's work, quoted below, a golden badge or decoration, conferred on him by the King of Achin, is called a CHAPP (p. 55). The portrait of Forrest, engraved by Sharp, shows this badge, and gives the inscription, translated: "Capt. Thomas Forrest, Orancayo [see ORANKAY] of the Golden Sword. This CHAPP was conferred as a mark of honour in the city of Atcheen, belonging to the Faithful, by the hands of the Shabander [see SHAHBUNDER] of Atcheen, on Capt. Thomas Forrest."

[1534.—"The Governor said that he would receive nothing save under his CHAPA." "Until he returned from Badur with his reply and the CHAPA required."—Correa, iii. 585.]

1537.—"And the said Nizamamede Zamom was present and then before me signed, and swore on his Koran (moçafo) to keep and maintain and fulfil this agreement entirely ... and he sealed it with his seal" (e o CHAPO de sua CHAPA).—Treaty above quoted, in S. Botelho, Tombo, 228.

1552.—"... ordered ... that they should allow no person to enter or to leave the island without taking away his CHAPA.... And this CHAPA was, as it were, a seal."—Castanheda, iii. 32.

1614.—"The King (of Achen) sent us his CHOP."—Milward, in Purchas, i. 526.

1615.—"Sailed to Acheen; the King sent his CHOPE for them to go ashore, without which it was unlawful for any one to do so."—Sainsbury, i. 445.

[ " "2 chistes plate ... with the rendadors CHAPE upon it."—Cocks's Diary, i. 219.]

1618.—"Signed with my CHOP, the 14th day of May (sic), in the Yeare of our Prophet Mahomet 1027."—Letter from Gov. of Mocha, in Purchas, i. 625.

1673.—"The Custom-house has a good Front, where the chief Customer appears certain Hours to CHOP, that is to mark Goods outward-bound."—Fryer, 98.

1678.—"... sending of our Vuckeel this day to Compare the Coppys with those sent, in order to y^e CHAUP, he refused it, alledging that they came without y^e Visiers CHAUP to him...."—Letter (in India Office) from Dacca Factory to Mr. Matthias Vincent (Ft. St. George?).

1682.—"To Rajemaul I sent ye old Duan ...'s Perwanna, CHOPT both by the Nabob and new Duan, for its confirmation."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 37.

1689.—"Upon their CHOPS as they call them in India, or Seals engraven, are only Characters, generally those of their Name."—Ovington, 251.

1711.—"This (Oath at Acheen) is administered by the Shabander ... lifting, very respectfully, a short Dagger in a Gold Case, like a Scepter, three times to their Heads; and it is called receiving the CHOP for Trade."—Lockyer, 35.

1715.—"It would be very proper also to put our CHOP on the said Books."—In Wheeler, ii. 224.

c. 1720.—"Here they demanded tax and toll; felt us all over, not excepting our mouths, and when they found nothing, stamped a CHOP upon our arms in red paint; which was to serve for a pass."—Zesteen Jaarige Reize ... door Jacob de Bucquoy, Haarlem, 1757.

1727.—"On my Arrival (at Acheen) I took the CHAP at the great River's Mouth, according to Custom. This Chap is a Piece of Silver about 8 ounces Weight, made in Form of a Cross, but the cross Part is very short, that we ... put to our Fore-head, and declare to the Officer that brings the Chap, that we come on an honest Design to trade."—A. Hamilton, ii. 103.

1771.—"... with TIAPP or passports."—Osbeck, i. 181.

1782.—"... le Pilote ... apporte avec lui leur CHAPPE, ensuite il adore et consulte son Poussa, puis il fait lever l'ancre."—Sonnerat, ii. 233.

1783.—"The bales (at Acheen) are immediately opened; 12 in the hundred are taken for the king's duty, and the remainder being marked with a certain mark (CHAPP) may be carried where the owner pleases."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 41.

1785.—"The only pretended original produced was a manifest forgery, for it had not the CHOP or smaller seal, on which is engraved the name of the Mogul."—Carraccioli's Clive, i. 214.

1817.—"... and so great reluctance did he (the Nabob) show to the ratification of the Treaty, that Mr. Pigot is said to have seized his CHOP, or seal, and applied it to the paper."—Mill's Hist. iii. 340.

1876.—"'First CHOP! tremendously pretty too,' said the elegant Grecian, who had been paying her assiduous attention."—Daniel Deronda, Bk. I. ch. x.

1882.—"On the edge of the river facing the 'Pow-shan' and the Creek Hongs, were CHOP houses, or branches of the Hoppo's department, whose duty it was to prevent smuggling, but whose interest it was to aid and facilitate the shipping of silks ... at a considerable reduction on the Imperial tariff."—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 25.

The writer last quoted, and others before him, have imagined a Chinese origin for CHOP, e.g., as "from chah, 'an official note from a superior,' or chah, 'a contract, a diploma, &c.,' both having at Canton the sound chăp, and between them covering most of the 'pigeon' uses of chop" (Note by Bishop Moule). But few of the words used by Europeans in Chinese trade are really Chinese, and we think it has been made clear that chop comes from India.

CHOP-CHOP. Pigeon-English (or -Chinese) for 'Make haste! look sharp!' This is supposed to be from the Cantonese, pron. kăp-kăp, of what is in the Mandarin dialect kip-kip. In the Northern dialects kwai-kwai, 'quick-quick' is more usual (Bishop Moule). [Mr. Skeat compares the Malay chepat-chepat, 'quick-quick.']

CHOPPER.

A. H. chhappar, 'a thatched roof.'

[1773.—"... from their not being provided with a sufficient number of boats, there was a necessity for crouding a large party of Sepoys into one, by which the CHUPPAR, or upper slight deck broke down."—Ives, 174.]

1780.—"About 20 Days ago a Villian was detected here setting fire to Houses by throwing the Tickeea[67] of his Hooka on the CHOPPERS, and was immediately committed to the Phouzdar's Prison.... On his tryal ... it appering that he had more than once before committed the same Nefarieus and abominable Crime, he was sentenced to have his left Hand, and right Foot cut off.... It is needless to expatiate on the Efficacy such exemplary Punishments would be of to the Publick in general, if adopted on all similar occasions...."—Letter from Moorshedabad, in Hicky's Bengal Gazette, May 6.

1782.—"With Mr. Francis came the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Laws of England, partial oppression, and licentious liberty. The common felons were cast loose, ... the merchants of the place told that they need not pay duties ... and the natives were made to know that they might erect their CHAPPOR huts in what part of the town they pleased."—Price, Some Observations, 61.

1810.—"CHUPPERS, or grass thatches."—Williamson, V. M. i. 510.

c. 1817.—"These cottages had neat CHOPPERS, and some of them wanted not small gardens, fitly fenced about."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, ed. 1873, 258.

[1832.—"The religious devotee sets up a CHUPHA-hut without expence."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, ii. 211.]

[B. In Persia, a corr. of P. chār-pā, 'on four feet, a quadruped' and thence a mounted post and posting.

1812.—"Eight of the horses belong to the East India Company, and are principally employed in carrying CHOPPERS or couriers to Shiraz."—Morier, Journey through Persia, &c., p. 64.

1883.—"By this time I had begun to pique myself on the rate I could get over the ground 'en CHUPPAR.'"—Wills, In the Land of the Lion and the Sun, ed. 1891, p. 259.]

CHOPPER-COT, a. Much as this looks like a European concoction, it is a genuine H. term, chhappar khāṭ, 'a bedstead with curtains.'

1778.—"Leito com armação. CHÂPÂR CÁTT."—Grammatica Indostana, 128.

c. 1809.—"Bedsteads are much more common than in Puraniya. The best are called Palang, or CHHAPAR KHAT ... they have curtains, mattrasses, pillows, and a sheet...."—Buchanan, Eastern India, ii. 92.

c. 1817.—"My husband chanced to light upon a very pretty CHOPPER-COT, with curtains and everything complete."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, ed. 1873, 161. (See COT.)

CHOPSTICKS, s. The sticks used in pairs by the Chinese in feeding themselves. The Chinese name of the article is 'kwai-tsz,' 'speedy-ones.' "Possibly the inventor of the present word, hearing that the Chinese name had this meaning, and accustomed to the phrase chop-chop for 'speedily,' used chop as a translation" (Bishop Moule). [Prof. Giles writes: "The N.E.D. gives incorrectly kwai-tze, i.e. 'nimble boys,' 'nimble ones.' Even Sir H. Yule is not without blemish. He leaves the aspirate out of kwai, of which the official orthography is now k'uai-k'uai-tzŭ, 'hasteners,' the termination -ers bringing out the value of tzŭ, an enclitic particle, better than 'ones.' Bishop Moule's suggestion is on the right track. I think, however, that CHOPSTICK came from a Chinaman, who of course knew the meaning of k'uai and applied it accordingly, using the 'pidgin' word CHOP as the, to him, natural equivalent."]

c. 1540.—"... his young daughters, with their brother, did nothing but laugh to see us feed ourselves with our hands, for that is contrary to the custome which is observed throughout the whole empire of China, where the Inhabitants at their meat carry it to their mouthes with two little sticks made like a pair of Cizers" (this is the translator's folly; it is really com duos paos feitos como fusos—"like spindles")."—Pinto, orig. cap. lxxxiii., in Cogan, p. 103.

[1598.—"Two little peeces of blacke woode made round ... these they use instead of forkes."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 144.]

c. 1610.—"... ont comme deux petites spatules de bois fort bien faites, qu'ils tiennent entre leurs doigts, et prennent avec cela ce qu'ils veulent manger, si dextrement, que rien plus."—Mocquet, 346.

1711.—"They take it very dexterously with a couple of small CHOPSTICKS, which serve them instead of Forks."—Lockyer, 174.

1876.—"Before each there will be found a pair of CHOPSTICKS, a wine-cup, a small saucer for soy ... and a pile of small pieces of paper for cleaning these articles as required."—Giles, Chinese Sketches, 153-4.

CHOTA-HAZRY, s. H. chhoṭī hāẓirī, vulg. hāẓrī, 'little breakfast'; refreshment taken in the early morning, before or after the morning exercise. The term (see HAZREE) was originally peculiar to the Bengal Presidency. In Madras the meal is called 'early tea.' Among the Dutch in Java, this meal consists (or did consist in 1860) of a large cup of tea, and a large piece of cheese, presented by the servant who calls one in the morning.

1853.—"After a bath, and hasty ante-breakfast (which is called in India 'a LITTLE BREAKFAST') at the Euston Hotel, he proceeded to the private residence of a man of law."—Oakfield, ii. 179.

1866.—"There is one small meal ... it is that commonly known in India by the Hindustani name of CHOTA-HĀZIRI, and in our English colonies as 'Early Tea.'..."—Waring, Tropical Resident, 172.

1875.—"We took EARLY TEA with him this morning."—The Dilemma, ch. iii.

CHOUL, CHAUL, n.p. A seaport of the Concan, famous for many centuries under various forms of this name, Cheṅwal properly, and pronounced in Konkani Tseṁwal (Sinclair, Ind. Ant. iv. 283). It may be regarded as almost certain that this was the Σίμυλλα of Ptolemy's Tables, called by the natives, as he says, Τίμουλα. It may be fairly conjectured that the true reading of this was Τιίμουλα, or Τιέμουλα. We find the sound ch of Indian names apparently represented in Ptolemy by τι (as it is in Dutch by tj). Thus Τιάτουρα = Chitor, Τιάστανης = Chashṭaṇa; here Τίμουλα = Cheṅwal; while Τιάγουρα and Τιαύσπα probably stand for names like Chagara and Chauspa. Still more confidently Cheṅwal may be identified with the Ṣaimur (Chaimur) or Jaimur of the old Arab. Geographers, a port at the extreme end of Lār or Guzerat. At Choul itself there is a tradition that its antiquity goes back beyond that of Suali (see SWALLY), Bassein, or Bombay. There were memorable sieges of Choul in 1570-71, and again in 1594, in which the Portuguese successfully resisted Mahommedan attempts to capture the place. Dr. Burgess identifies the ancient Σήμυλλα rather with a place called Chembur, on the island of Trombay, which lies immediately east of the island of Bombay; but till more evidence is adduced we see no reason to adopt this.[68] Choul seems now to be known as Revadaṇḍa. Even the name is not to be found in the Imperial Gazetteer. Rewadaṇḍa has a place in that work, but without a word to indicate its connection with this ancient and famous port. Mr. Gerson d'Acunha has published in the J. Bo. Br. As. Soc., vol. xii., Notes on the H. and Ant. of Chaul.

A.D. c. 80-90.—"Μετὰ δὲ Καλλιέναν ἄλλα ἐμπόρια τοπικὰ, Σήμυλλα, καὶ Μανδαγόρα...."—Periplus.

A.D. c. 150.—"Σίμυλλα ἐμπόριον (καλούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐγχωρίων Τίμουλα)."—Ptol. i. cap. 17.

A.D. 916. "The year 304 I found myself in the territory of Ṣaimūr (or CHAIMŪR), belonging to Hind and forming part of the province of Lār.... There were in the place about 10,000 Mussulmans, both of those called baiāsirah (half-breeds), and of natives of Sirāf, Omān, Basrah, Bagdad, &c."—Maṣ'ūdi, ii. 86.

[1020.—"JAIMÚR." See quotation under LAR.]

c. 1150.—"SAIMŪR, 5 days from Sindān, is a large, well-built town."—Edrisi, in Elliot, i. [85].

c. 1470.—"We sailed six weeks in the taca till we reached CHIVIL, and left Chivil on the seventh week after the great day. This is an Indian country."—Ath. Nikitin, 9, in India in XVth. Cent.

1510.—"Departing from the said city of Combeia, I travelled on until I arrived at another city named CEVUL (CHEVUL) which is distant from the above-mentioned city 12 days' journey, and the country between the one and the other of these cities is called Guzerati."—Varthema, 113.

1546.—Under this year D'Acunha quotes from Freire d'Andrada a story that when the Viceroy required 20,000 PARDAOS (q.v.) to send for the defence of Diu, offering in pledge a wisp of his mustachio, the women of CHOUL sent all their earrings and other jewellery, to be applied to this particular service.

1554.—"The ports of Mahaim and SHEÚL belong to the Deccan."—The Mohit, in J.A.S.B., v. 461.

1584.—"The 10th of November we arrived at CHAUL which standeth in the firme land. There be two townes, the one belonging to the Portugales, and the other to the Moores."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 384.

c. 1630.—"After long toil ... we got to CHOUL; then we came to Daman."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1665, p. 42.

1635.—"CHÍVAL, a seaport of Deccan."—Sádik Isfaháni, 88.

1727.—"CHAUL, in former Times, was a noted Place for Trade, particularly for fine embroidered Quilts; but now it is miserably poor."—A. Hamilton, i. 243.

1782.—"That St. Lubin had some of the Mahratta officers on board of his ship, at the port of CHOUL ... he will remember as long as he lives, for they got so far the ascendancy over the political Frenchman, as to induce him to come into the harbour, and to land his cargo of military stores ... not one piece of which he ever got back again, or was paid sixpence for."—Price's Observations on a Late Publication, &c., 14. In Price's Tracts, vol. i.

CHOULTRY, s. Peculiar to S. India, and of doubtful etymology; Malayāl. chāwaṭī, Tel. chāwaḍi, [tsāvaḍi, chau, Skt. chatur, 'four,' vāṭa, 'road,' a place where four roads meet]. In W. India the form used is chowry or chowree (Dakh. chāoṛī). A hall, a shed, or a simple loggia, used by travellers as a resting-place, and also intended for the transaction of public business. In the old Madras Archives there is frequent mention of the "Justices of the CHOULTRY." A building of this kind seems to have formed the early Court-house.

1673.—"Here (at Swally near Surat) we were welcomed by the Deputy President ... who took care for my Entertainment, which here was rude, the place admitting of little better Tenements than Booths stiled by the name of CHOULTRIES."—Fryer, 82.

" "Maderas ... enjoys some CHOULTRIES for Places of Justice."—Ibid. 39.

1683.—"... he shall pay for every slave so shipped ... 50 pagodas to be recovered of him in the CHOULTRY of Madraspattanam."—Order of Madras Council, in Wheeler, i. 136.

1689.—"Within less than half a Mile, from the Sea (near Surat) are three CHOULTRIES or Convenient Lodgings made of Timber."—Ovington, 164.

1711.—"Besides these, five Justices of the CHOULTRY, who are of the Council, or chief Citizens, are to decide Controversies, and punish offending Indians."—Lockyer, 7.

1714.—In the MS. List of Persons in the Service, &c. (India Office Records), we have:—

"Josiah Cooke ffactor Register of the CHOULTRY, £15."

1727.—"There are two or three little CHOULTERIES or Shades built for Patients to rest in."—A. Hamilton, ch. ix.; [i. 95].

[1773.—"A CHOLTRE is not much unlike a large summer-house, and in general is little more than a bare covering from the inclemency of the weather. Some few indeed are more spacious, and are also endowed with a salary to support a servant or two, whose business is to furnish all passengers with a certain quantity of rice and fresh water."—Ives, 67.]

1782.—"Les fortunes sont employées à bâtir des CHAUDERIES sur les chemins."—Sonnerat, i. 42.

1790.—"On ne rencontre dans ces voyages aucune auberge ou hôtellerie sur la route; mais elles sont remplacées par des lieux de repos appelées SCHULTRIS (chauderies), qui sont des bâtimens ouverts et inhabités, où les voyageurs ne trouvent, en général, qu'un toit...."—Haafner, ii. 11.

1809.—"He resides at present in an old CHOULTRY which has been fitted up for his use by the Resident."—Ld. Valentia, i. 356.

1817.—"Another fact of much importance is, that a Mahomedan Sovereign was the first who established CHOULTRIES."—Mill's Hist. ii. 181.

1820.—"The CHOWREE or town-hall where the public business of the township is transacted, is a building 30 feet square, with square gable-ends, and a roof of tile supported on a treble row of square wooden posts."—Acc. of Township of Loony, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bombay, ii. 181.

1833.—"Junar, 6th Jan. 1833.... We at first took up our abode in the CHAWADĪ, but Mr. Escombe of the C. S. kindly invited us to his house."—Smith's Life of Dr. John Wilson, 156.

1836.—"The roads are good, and well supplied with CHOULTRIES or taverns"(!)—Phillips, Million of Facts, 319.

1879.—"Let an organised watch ... be established in each village ... armed with good TULWARS. They should be stationed each night in the village CHOURI."—Overland Times of India, May 12, Suppl. 7_b_.

See also CHUTTRUM.

CHOULTRY PLAIN, n.p. This was the name given to the open country formerly existing to the S.W. of Madras. Choultry Plain was also the old designation of the Hd. Quarters of the Madras Army; equivalent to "Horse Guards" in Westminster (C. P. B. MS.).

1780.—"Every gentleman now possessing a house in the fort, was happy in accommodating the family of his friend, who before had resided in CHOULTRY PLAIN. Note. The country near Madras is a perfect flat, on which is built, at a small distance from the fort, a small choultry."—Hodges, Travels, 7.

CHOUSE, s. and v. This word is originally Turk. chāush, in former days a sergeant-at-arms, herald, or the like. [Vambéry (Sketches, 17) speaks of the Tchaush as the leader of a party of pilgrims.] Its meaning as 'a cheat,' or 'to swindle' is, apparently beyond doubt, derived from the anecdote thus related in a note of W. Gifford's upon the passage in Ben Jonson's Alchemist, which is quoted below. "In 1609 Sir Robert Shirley sent a messenger or chiaus (as our old writers call him) to this country, as his agent, from the Grand Signor and the Sophy, to transact some preparatory business. Sir Robert followed him, at his leisure, as ambassador from both these princes; but before he reached England, his agent had chiaused the Turkish and Persian merchants here of 4000_l._, and taken his flight, unconscious perhaps that he had enriched the language with a word of which the etymology would mislead Upton and puzzle Dr. Johnson."—Ed. of Ben Jonson, iv. 27. "In Kattywar, where the native chiefs employ Arab mercenaries, the CHAUS still flourishes as an officer of a company. When I joined the Political Agency in that Province, there was a company of Arabs attached to the Residency under a Chaus." (M.-Gen. Keatinge). [The N.E.D. thinks that "Gifford's note must be taken with reserve." The Stanf. Dict. adds that Gifford's note asserts that two other Chiauses arrived in 1618-1625. One of the above quotations proves his accuracy as to 1618. Perhaps, however, the particular fraud had little to do with the modern use of the word. As Jonson suggests, chiaus may have been used for 'Turk' in the sense of 'cheat'; just as Cataian stood for 'thief' or 'rogue.' For a further discussion of the word see N. & Q., 7 ser. vi. 387; 8 ser. iv. 129.]

1560.—"Cum vero me taederet inclusionis in eodem diversorio, ago cum meo CHIAUSO (genus id est, ut tibi scripsi alias, multiplicis apud Turcas officii, quod etiam ad oratorum custodiam extenditur) ut mihi liceat aere meo domum conducere...."—Busbeq. Epist. iii. p. 149.

1610.—"Dapper.... What do you think of me, that I am a chiaus?

Face. What's that?

Dapper. The Turk was here. As one would say, do you think I am a Turk?

* * * * *

Face. Come, noble doctor, pray thee let's prevail; This is the gentleman, and he's no CHIAUS." Ben. Jonson, The Alchemist, Act I. sc. i.

1638.—

"Fulgoso. Gulls or Moguls, Tag, rag, or other, hogen-mogen, vanden, Ship-jack or CHOUSES. Whoo! the brace are flinched. The pair of shavers are sneak'd from us, Don...." Ford, The Lady's Trial, Act II. sc. i.

1619.—"Con gli ambasciatori stranieri che seco conduceva, cioè l'Indiano, di Sciah Selim, un CIAUSC Turco ed i Moscoviti...."—P. della Valle, ii. 6.

1653.—"CHIAOUX en Turq est vn Sergent du Diuan, et dans la campagne la garde d'vne Karauane, qui fait le guet, se nomme aussi CHIAOUX, et cet employ n'est pas autrement honeste."—Le Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 536.

1659.—

"Conquest. We are In a fair way to be ridiculous. What think you? CHIAUS'D by a scholar." Shirley, Honoria & Mammon, Act II. sc. iii.

1663.—"The Portugals have CHOUSED us, it seems, in the Island of Bombay in the East Indys; for after a great charge of our fleets being sent thither with full commission from the King of Portugal to receive it, the Governour by some pretence or other will not deliver it to Sir Abraham Shipman."—Pepys, Diary, May 15; [ed. Wheatley iii. 125].

1674.—

"When geese and pullen are seduc'd And sows of sucking pigs are CHOWS'D." Hudibras, Pt. II. canto 3.

1674.—

"Transform'd to a Frenchman by my art; He stole your cloak, and pick'd your pocket, CHOWS'D and caldes'd ye like a blockhead." Ibid.

1754.—"900 CHIAUX: they carried in their hand a baton with a double silver crook on the end of it; ... these frequently chanted moral sentences and encomiums on the SHAH, occasionally proclaiming also his victories as he passed along."—Hanway, i. 170.

1762.—"Le 27^e d'Août 1762 nous entendîmes un coup de canon du chateau de Kâhira, c'étoit signe qu'un TSJAUS (courier) étoit arrivé de la grande caravane."—Niebuhr, Voyage, i. 171.

1826.—"We started at break of day from the northern suburb of Ispahan, led by the CHAOUSHES of the pilgrimage...."—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 6.

CHOW-CHOW, s. A common application of the Pigeon-English term in China is to mixed preserves; but, as the quotation shows, it has many uses; the idea of mixture seems to prevail. It is the name given to a book by Viscountess Falkland, whose husband was Governor of Bombay. There it seems to mean 'a medley of trifles.' CHOW is in 'pigeon' applied to food of any kind. ["From the erroneous impression that dogs form one of the principal items of a Chinaman's diet, the common variety has been dubbed the 'CHOW dog'" (Ball, Things Chinese, p. 179).] We find the word CHOW-CHOW in Blumentritt's Vocabular of Manilla terms: "Chau-chau, a Tagal dish so called."

1858.—"The word CHOW-CHOW is suggestive, especially to the Indian reader, of a mixture of things, 'good, bad, and indifferent,' of sweet little oranges and bits of bamboo stick, slices of sugar-cane and rinds of unripe fruit, all concocted together, and made upon the whole into a very tolerable confection....

"Lady Falkland, by her happy selection of a name, to a certain extent deprecates and disarms criticism. We cannot complain that her work is without plan, unconnected, and sometimes trashy, for these are exactly the conditions implied in the word CHOW-CHOW."—Bombay Quarterly Review, January, p. 100.

1882.—"The variety of uses to which the compound word 'CHOW-CHOW' is put is almost endless.... A 'No. 1 chow-chow' thing signifies utterly worthless, but when applied to a breakfast or dinner it means 'unexceptionably good.' A 'chow-chow' cargo is an assorted cargo; a 'general shop' is a 'chow-chow' shop ... one (factory) was called the 'chow-chow,' from its being inhabited by divers Parsees, Moormen, or other natives of India."—The Fankwae, p. 63.

CHOWDRY, s. H. chaudharī, lit. 'a holder of four'; the explanation of which is obscure: [rather Skt. chakra-dharin, 'the bearer of the discus as an ensign of authority']. The usual application of the term is to the headman of a craft in a town, and more particularly to the person who is selected by Government as the agent through whom supplies, workmen, &c., are supplied for public purposes. [Thus the Chaudharī of carters provides carriage, the Chaudharī of Kahārs bearers, and so on.] Formerly, in places, to the headman of a village; to certain holders of lands; and in Cuttack it was, under native rule, applied to a district Revenue officer. In a paper of 'Explanations of Terms' furnished to the Council at Fort William by Warren Hastings, then Resident at Moradbagh (1759), CHOWDREES are defined as "Landholders in the next rank to Zemindars." (In Long, p. 176.) [Comp. VENDU-MASTER.] It is also an honorific title given by servants to one of their number, usually, we believe, to the mālī [see MOLLY], or gardener—as khalīfa to the cook and tailor, jama'dār to the bhishtī, mehtar to the sweeper, sirdār to the bearer.

c. 1300.—"... The people were brought to such a state of obedience that one revenue officer would string twenty ... CHAUDHARIS together by the neck, and enforce payment by blows."—Ziā-ud-dīn Barnī, in Elliot, iii. 183.

c. 1343.—"The territories dependent on the capital (Delhi) are divided into hundreds, each of which has a JAUTHARĪ, who is the Sheikh or chief man of the Hindus."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 388.

[1772.—"CHOWDRAHS, land-holders, in the next rank to Zemeendars."—Verelst, View of Bengal, Gloss. s.v.]

1788.—"CHOWDRY.—A Landholder or Farmer. Properly he is above the Zemindar in rank; but, according to the present custom of Bengal, he is deemed the next to the Zemindar. Most commonly used as the principal purveyor of the markets in towns or camps."—Indian Vocabulary (Stockdale's).

CHOWK, s. H. chauk. An open place or wide street in the middle of a city where the market is held, [as, for example, the Chāndnī Chauk of Delhi]. It seems to be adopted in Persian, and there is an Arabic form Sūḳ, which, it is just possible, may have been borrowed and Arabized from the present word. The radical idea of chauk seems to be "four ways" [Skt. chatushka], the crossing of streets at the centre of business. Compare Carfax, and the Quattro Cantoni of Palermo. In the latter city there is a market place called Piazza Ballarò, which in the 16th century a chronicler calls Seggeballarath, or as Amari interprets, Sūḳ-Balharā.

[1833.—"The Chandy CHOKE, in Delhi ... is perhaps the broadest street in any city in the East."—Skinner, Excursions in India, i. 49.]

CHOWNEE, s. The usual native name, at least in the Bengal Presidency, for an Anglo-Indian CANTONMENT (q.v.). It is H. chhāonī, 'a thatched roof,' chhāonā, chhānā, v. 'to thatch.'

[1829.—"The Regent was at the CHAONI, his standing camp at Gagrown, when this event occurred."—Tod, Annals (Calcutta reprint), ii. 611.]

CHOWRINGHEE, n.p. The name of a road and quarter of Calcutta, in which most of the best European houses stand; Chaurangī.

1789.—"The houses ... at CHOWRINGEE also will be much more healthy."—Seton-Karr, ii. 205.

1790.—"To dig a large tank opposite to the CHERINGHEE Buildings."—Ibid. 13.

1791.—"Whereas a robbery was committed on Tuesday night, the first instant, on the CHOWRINGHY Road."—Ibid. 54.

1792.—"For Private Sale. A neat, compact and new built garden house, pleasantly situated at CHOURINGY, and from its contiguity to Fort William, peculiarly well calculated for an officer; it would likewise be a handsome provision for a native lady, or a child. The price is 1500 sicca rupees."—Ibid. ii. 541.

1803.—"CHOURINGHEE, an entire village of palaces, runs for a considerable length at right angles with it, and altogether forms the finest view I ever beheld in any city."—Ld. Valentia, i. 236.

1810.—"As I enjoyed Calcutta much less this time ... I left it with less regret. Still, when passing the CHOWRINGHEE road the last day, I—

'Looked on stream and sea and plain As what I ne'er might see again.'" Elphinstone, in Life, i. 231.

1848.—"He wished all Cheltenham, all CHOWRINGHEE, all Calcutta, could see him in that position, waving his hand to such a beauty, and in company with such a famous buck as Rawdon Crawley, of the Guards."—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, i. 237.

CHOWRY, s.

(A.) See CHOULTRY.

(B.) H. chaṅwar, chauṅrī; from Skt. chamara, chāmara. The bushy tail of the Tibetan YAK (q.v.), often set in a costly decorated handle to use as a fly-flapper, in which form it was one of the insignia of ancient Asiatic royalty. The tail was also often attached to the horse-trappings of native warriors; whilst it formed from remote times the standard of nations and nomad tribes of Central Asia. The Yak-tails and their uses are mentioned by Aelian, and by Cosmas (see under YAK). Allusions to the chāmara, as a sign of royalty, are frequent in Skt. books and inscriptions, e.g. in the Poet Kalidāsa (see transl. by Dr. Mill in J. As. Soc. Beng. i. 342; the Amarakosha, ii. 7, 31, &c.). The common Anglo-Indian expression in the 18th century appears to have been "COW-TAILS" (q.v.). And hence Bogle in his Journal, as published by Mr. Markham, calls Yaks by the absurd name of "cow-tailed cows" though "horse-tailed cows" would have been more germane!

c. A.D. 250.—"Βοῶν δε γένη δύο, δρομικούς τε καὶ ἄλλους ἀγρίους δεινῶς· ἐκ τουτῶν γε τῶν βοῶν καὶ τὰς μυιοσόβας ποιοῦνται, καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα παμμέλανες εῖσιν οἵδε· τὰς δὲ οὐρὰς ἔχουσι λευκὰς ἰσχυρῶς."—Aelian. de Nat. An. xv. 14.

A.D. 634-5.—"... with his armies which were darkened by the spotless CHĀMARAS that were waved over them."—Aihole Inscription.

c. 940.—"They export from this country the hair named al-zamar (or al-CHAMAR) of which those fly-flaps are made, with handles of silver or ivory, which attendants held over the heads of kings when giving audience."—Maṣ'ūdī, i. 385. The expressions of Maṣ'ūdī are aptly illustrated by the Assyrian and Persepolitan sculptures. (See also Marco Polo, bk. iii. ch. 18; Nic. Conti, p. 14, in India in the XVth Century).

1623.—"For adornment of their horses they carried, hung to the cantles of their saddles, great tufts of a certain white hair, long and fine, which they told me were the tails of certain wild oxen found in India."—P. della Valle, ii. 662; [Hak. Soc. ii. 260].

1809.—"He also presented me in trays, which were as usual laid at my feet, two beautiful CHOWRIES."—Lord Valentia, i. 428.

1810.—"Near Brahma are Indra and Indranee on their elephant, and below is a female figure holding a chamara or CHOWREE."—Maria Graham, 56.

1827.—"A black female slave, richly dressed, stood behind him with a CHOWRY, or cow's tail, having a silver handle, which she used to keep off the flies."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. x.

CHOWRYBURDAR, s. The servant who carries the CHOWRY. H. P. chauṅrī-bardār.

1774.—"The Deb-Rajah on horseback ... a CHOWRA-BURDAR on each side of him."—Bogle, in Markham's Tibet, 24.

[1838.—"... the old king was sitting in the garden with a CHOWRYBADAR waving the flies from him."—Miss Eden, Up the Country, i. 138.]

CHOWT, CHOUT, s. Mahr. chauth, 'one fourth part.' The blackmail levied by the Mahrattas from the provincial governors as compensation for leaving their districts in immunity from plunder. The term is also applied to some other exactions of like ratio (see Wilson).

[1559.—Mr. Whiteway refers to Couto (Dec. VII. bk. 6, ch. 6), where this word is used in reference to payments made in 1559 in the time of D. Constantine de Bragança, and in papers of the early part of the 17th century the King of the CHOUTEAS is frequently mentioned.]

1644.—"This King holds in our lands of Daman a certain payment which they call CHOUTO, which was paid him long before they belonged to the Portuguese, and so after they came under our power the payment continued to be made, and about these exactions and payments there have risen great disputes and contentions on one side and another."—Bocarro (MS.).

1674.—"Messengers were sent to Bassein demanding the CHOUT of all the Portuguese territory in these parts. The chout means the fourth part of the revenue, and this is the earliest mention we find of the claim."—Orme's Fragments, p. 45.

1763-78.—"They (the English) were ... not a little surprised to find in the letters now received from Balajerow and his agent to themselves, and in stronger terms to the Nabob, a peremptory demand of the CHOUT or tribute due to the King of the Morattoes from the Nabobship of Arcot."—Orme, ii. 228-9.

1803.—"The Peshwah ... cannot have a right to two CHOUTES, any more than to two revenues from any village in the same year."—Wellington Desp. (ed. 1837), ii. 175.

1858.—"... They (the Mahrattas) were accustomed to demand of the provinces they threatened with devastation a certain portion of the public revenue, generally the fourth part; and this, under the name of the CHOUT, became the recognized Mahratta tribute, the price of the absence of their plundering hordes."—Whitney, Oriental and Ling. Studies, ii. 20-21.

CHOYA, CHAYA, CHEY, s. A root, [generally known as CHAYROOT,] (Hedyotis umbellata, Lam., Oldenlandia umb., L.) of the Nat. Ord. Cinchonaceae, affording a red dye, sometimes called 'India Madder,' ['Dye Root,' 'Rameshwaram Root']; from Tam. shāyaver, Malayāl. chāyaver (chāya, 'colour,' ver, 'root'). It is exported from S. India, and was so also at one time from Ceylon. There is a figure of the plant in Lettres Edif. xiv. 164.

c. 1566.—"Also from S. Tome they layd great store of red yarne, of bombast died with a roote which they call SAIA, as aforesayd, which colour will never out."—Caesar Frederike, in Hakl. [ii. 354].

1583.—"Ne vien anchora di detta SAIA da un altro luogo detto Petopoli, e se ne tingono parimente in S. Thomè."—Balbi, f. 107.

1672.—"Here groweth very good ZAYE."—Baldaeus, Ceylon.

[1679.—"... if they would provide mustors of CHAE and White goods...."—Memoriall of S. Master, in Kistna Man., p. 131.]

1726.—"SAYA (a dye-root that is used on the Coast for painting chintzes)."—Valentijn, Chor. 45.

1727.—"The Islands of Diu (near Masulipatam) produce the famous Dye called SHAII. It is a Shrub growing in Grounds that are overflown with the Spring tides."—A. Hamilton, i. 370; [ed. 1744, i. 374].

1860.—"The other productions that constituted the exports of the Island were sapan-wood to Persia; and CHOYA-roots, a substitute for Madder, collected at Manaar ... for transmission to Surat."—Tennent's Ceylon, ii. 54-55. See also Chitty's Ceylon Gazetteer (1834), p. 40.

CHUCKAROO, s. English soldier's lingo for CHOKRA (q.v.)

CHUCKER. From H. chakar, chakkar, chakrā, Skt. chakra, 'a wheel or circle.'

(A.) s. A quoit for playing the English game; but more properly the sharp quoit or discus which constituted an ancient Hindu missile weapon, and is, or was till recently, carried by the Sikh fanatics called Akālī (see AKALEE), generally encircling their peaked turbans. The thing is described by Tavernier (E. T. ii. 41: [ed. Ball, i. 82]) as carried by a company of Mahommedan Fakīrs whom he met at Sherpūr in Guzerat. See also Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly, &c., p. 47: [Egerton, Handbook, Pl. 15, No. 64].

1516.—"In the Kingdom of Dely ... they have some steel wheels which they call CHACARANI, two fingers broad, sharp outside like knives, and without edge inside; and the surface of these is the size of a small plate. And they carry seven or eight of these each, put on the left arm; and they take one and put it on the finger of the right hand, and make it spin round many times, and so they hurl it at their enemies."—Barbosa, 100-101.

1630.—"In her right hand shee bare a CHUCKEREY, which is an instrument of a round forme, and sharp-edged in the superficies thereof ... and slung off, in the quickness of his motion, it is able to deliuer or conuey death to a farre remote enemy."—Lord, Disc. of the Banian Religion, 12.

(B.) v. and s. To lunge a horse. H. chakarnā or chakar karnā. Also 'the lunge.'

1829.—"It was truly tantalizing to see those fellows CHUCKERING their horses, not more than a quarter of a mile from our post."—John Shipp, i. 153.

[(C.) In Polo, a 'period.'

[1900.—"Two bouts were played to-day.... In the opening CHUKKER Capt. —— carried the ball in."—Overland Mail, Aug. 13.]

CHUCKERBUTTY, n.p. This vulgarized Bengal Brahman name is, as Wilson points out, a corruption of chakravarttī, the title assumed by the most exalted ancient Hindu sovereigns, an universal Emperor, whose chariot-wheels rolled over all (so it is explained by some).

c. 400.—"Then the Bikshuni Uthala began to think thus with herself, 'To-day the King, ministers, and people are all going to meet Buddha ... but I—a woman—how can I contrive to get the first sight of him?' Buddha immediately, by his divine power, changed her into a holy CHAKRAVARTTI Raja."—Travels of Fah-hian, tr. by Beale, p. 63.

c. 460.—"On a certain day (Asoka), having ... ascertained that the supernaturally gifted ... Nága King, whose age extended to a Kappo, had seen the four Buddhas ... he thus addressed him: 'Beloved, exhibit to me the person of the omniscient being of infinite wisdom, the CHAKKAWATTI of the doctrine.'"—The Mahawanso, p. 27.

1856.—"The importance attached to the possession of a white elephant is traceable to the Buddhist system. A white elephant of certain wonderful endowments is one of the seven precious things, the possession of which marks the Maha CHAKRAVARTTI Raja ... the holy and universal sovereign, a character which appears once in a cycle."—Mission to the Court of Ava (Major Phayre's), 1858, p. 154.

CHUCKLAH, s. H. chaklā, [Skt. chakra, 'a wheel']. A territorial subdivision under the Mahommedan government, thus defined by Warren Hastings, in the paper quoted under CHOWDRY:

1759.—"The jurisdiction of a Phojdar (see FOUJDAR), who receives the rents from the Zemindars, and accounts for them with the Government."

1760.—"In the treaty concluded with the Nawáb Meer Mohummud Cásim Khán, on the 27th Sept. 1760, it was agreed that ... the English army should be ready to assist him in the management of all affairs, and that the lands of the CHUKLAHS (districts) of Burdwan, Midnapore and Chittagong, should be assigned for all the charges of the company and the army...."—Harington's Analysis of the Laws and Regulations, vol. i. Calcutta, 1805-1809, p. 5.

CHUCKLER, s. Tam. and Malayāl. shakkili, the name of a very low caste, members of which are tanners or cobblers, like the Chamārs (see CHUMAR) of Upper India. But whilst the latter are reputed to be a very dark caste, the Chucklers are fair (see Elliot's Gloss. by Beames, i. 71, and Caldwell's Gram. 574). [On the other hand the Madras Gloss. (s.v.) says that as a rule they are of "a dark black hue."] Colloquially in S. India Chuckler is used for a native shoemaker.

c. 1580.—"All the Gentoos (Gentios) of those parts, especially those of Bisnaga, have many castes, which take precedence one of another. The lowest are the CHAQUIVILIS, who make shoes, and eat all unclean flesh...."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 95.

1759.—"SHACKELAYS are shoemakers, and held in the same despicable light on the Coromandel Coast as the Niaddes and Pullies on the Malabar."—Ives, 26.

c. 1790.—"Aussi n'est-ce que le rébut de la classe méprisée des parrias; savoir les TSCHAKELÍS ou cordonniers et les vettians ou fossoyeurs, qui s'occupent de l'enterrement et la combustion des morts."—Haafner, ii. 60.

[1844.—"... the CHOCKLY, who performs the degrading duty of executioner...."—Society, Manners, &c., of India, ii. 282.]

1869.—"The Komatis or mercantile caste of Madras by long established custom, are required to send an offering of betel to the CHUCKLERS, or shoemakers, before contracting their marriages."—Sir W. Elliot, in J. Ethn. Soc., N. S. vol. i. 102.

CHUCKMUCK, s. H. chakmak. 'Flint and steel.' One of the titles conferred on Haidar 'Ali before he rose to power was 'CHAKMAK Jang,' 'Firelock of War'? See H. of Hydur Naik, 112.

CHUCKRUM, s. An ancient coin once generally current in the S. of India, Malayāl. chakram, Tel. chakramu; from Skt. chakra (see under CHUCKER). It is not easy to say what was its value, as the statements are inconsistent: nor do they confirm Wilson's, that it was equal to one-tenth of a pagoda. [According to the Madras Gloss. (s.v.) it bore the same relation to the gold PAGODA that the ANNA does to the RUPEE, and under it again was the copper CASH, which was its sixteenth.] The denomination survives in Travancore, [where 28½ go to one rupee. (Ibid.)]

1554.—"And the fanoms of the place are called CHOCRÕES, which are coins of inferior gold; they are worth 12½ or 12¼ to the pardao of gold, reckoning the pardao at 360 reis."—A. Nunez, Livro dos Pesos, 36.

1711.—"The Enemy will not come to any agreement unless we consent to pay 30,000 CHUCKRUMS, which we take to be 16,600 and odd pagodas."—In Wheeler, ii. 165.

1813.—Milburn, under Tanjore, gives the CHUCKRUM as a coin equal to 20 Madras, or ten gold fanams. 20 Madras fanams would be 4/9 of a pagoda.

[From the difficulty of handling these coins, which are small and round, they are counted on a CHUCKRUM board as in the case of the FANAM (q.v.).]

CHUDDER, s. H. chādar, a sheet, or square piece of cloth of any kind; the ample sheet commonly worn as a mantle by women in N. India. It is also applied to the cloths spread over Mahommedan tombs. Barbosa (1516) and Linschoten (1598) have chautars, chautares, as a kind of cotton piece-goods, but it is certain that this is not the same word. Chowtars occur among Bengal piece-goods in Milburn, ii. 221. [The word is chautár, 'anything with four threads,' and it occurs in the list of cotton cloths in the Āīn (i. 94). In a letter of 1610 we have "Chautares are white and well requested" (Danvers, Letters, i. 75); "Chauters of Agra" (Foster, Letters, ii. 45); Cocks has "fine Casho or Chowter" (Diary, i. 86); and in 1615 they are called "Cowter" (Foster, iv. 51).]

1525.—"CHADER of Cambaya."—Lembrança, 56.

[c. 1610.—"From Bengal comes another sort of hanging, of fine linen painted and ornamented with colours in a very agreeable fashion; these they call IADER."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 222.]

1614.—"Pintados, chints and CHADORS."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.

1673.—"The habit of these water-nymphs was fine SHUDDERS of lawn embroidered on the neck, wrist, and skirt with a border of several coloured silks or threads of gold."—Herbert, 3rd ed. 191.

1832.—"CHUDDUR ... a large piece of cloth or sheet, of one and a half or two breadths, thrown over the head, so as to cover the whole body. Men usually sleep rolled up in it."—Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, xii.-xiii.

1878.—"Two or three women, who had been chattering away till we appeared, but who, on seeing us, drew their 'CHADDERS' ... round their faces, and retired to the further end of the boat."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 79.

The RAMPORE CHUDDER is a kind of shawl, of the Tibetan shawl-wool, of uniform colour without pattern, made originally at Rāmpur on the Sutlej; and of late years largely imported into England: [(see the Panjab Mono. on Wool, p. 9). Curiously enough a claim to the derivation of the title from Rāmpur, in Rohilkhand, N.W.P. is made in the Imperial Gazetteer, 1st ed. (s.v.).]

CHUL! CHULLO! v. in imperative; 'Go on! Be quick.' H. chalo! imper. of chalnā, to go, go speedily. [Another common use of the word in Anglo-Indian slang is—"It won't CHUL," 'it won't answer, succeed.']

c. 1790.—"Je montai de très-bonne heure dans mon palanquin.—TSCHOLLO (c'est-à-dire, marche), crièrent mes COULIS, et aussitôt le voyage commença."—Haafner, ii. 5.

[CHUMAR, s. H. Chamār, Skt. charma-kāra, 'one who works in leather,' and thus answering to the CHUCKLER of S. India; an important caste found all through N. India, whose primary occupation is tanning, but a large number are agriculturists and day labourers of various kinds.

[1823.—"From this abomination, beef-eating ... they [the Bheels] only rank above the CHOOMARS, or shoemakers, who feast on dead carcases, and are in Central India, as elsewhere, deemed so unclean that they are not allowed to dwell within the precincts of the village."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 179.]

CHUMPUK, s. A highly ornamental and sacred tree (Michelia champaca, L., also M. Rheedii), a kind of magnolia, whose odorous yellow blossoms are much prized by Hindus, offered at shrines, and rubbed on the body at marriages, &c. H. champak, Skt. champaka. Drury strangely says that the name is "derived from Ciampa, an island between Cambogia and Cochin China, where the tree grows." Champa is not an island, and certainly derives its Sanskrit name from India, and did not give a name to an Indian tree. The tree is found wild in the Himālaya from Nepāl, eastward; also in Pegu and Tenasserim, and along the Ghauts to Travancore. The use of the term champaka extends to the Philippine Islands. [Mr. Skeat notes that it is highly prized by Malay women, who put it in their hair.]

1623.—"Among others they showed me a flower, in size and form not unlike our lily, but of a yellowish white colour, with a sweet and powerful scent, and which they call CHAMPÀ [CIAMPÁ]."—P. della Valle, ii. 517; [Hak. Soc. i. 40].

1786.—"The walks are scented with blossoms of the CHAMPAC and nagisar, and the plantations of pepper and coffee are equally new and pleasing."—Sir W. Jones, in Mem., &c., ii. 81.

1810.—"Some of these (birds) build in the sweet-scented CHAMPAKA and the mango."—Maria Graham, 22.

1819.—

"The wandering airs they faint On the dark, the silent stream; And the CHUMPAK'S odours fail Like sweet thoughts in a dream." Shelley, Lines to an Indian Air.

1821.—

"Some CHUMPAK flowers proclaim it yet divine." Medwin, Sketches in Hindoostan, 73.

CHUNÁM, s. Prepared lime; also specially used for fine polished plaster. Forms of this word occur both in Dravidian languages and Hind. In the latter chūnā is from Skt. chūrṇa, 'powder'; in the former it is somewhat uncertain whether the word is, or is not, an old derivative from the Sanskrit. In the first of the following quotations the word used seems taken from the Malayāl. chuṇṇāmba, Tam. shuṇṇāmbu.

1510.—"And they also eat with the said leaves (betel) a certain lime made from oyster shells, which they call CIONAMA."—Varthema, 144.

1563.—"... so that all the names you meet with that are not Portuguese are Malabar; such as betre (betel), CHUNA, which is lime...."—Garcia, f. 37_g_.

c. 1610.—"... l'vn porte son éventail, l'autre la boëte d'argent pleine de betel, l'autre une boëte ou il y a du CHUNAN, qui est de la chaux."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 84; [Hak. Soc. ii. 135].

1614.—"Having burnt the great idol into CHUNAH, he mixed the powdered lime with pān leaves, and gave it to the Rājpūts that they might eat the objects of their worship."—Firishta, quoted by Quatremère, Not. et Ext., xiv. 510.

1673.—"The Natives chew it (Betel) with CHINAM (Lime of calcined Oyster Shells)."—Fryer, 40.

1687.—"That stores of Brick, Iron, Stones, and CHENAM be in readiness to make up any breach."—Madras Consultations, in Wheeler, i. 168.

1689.—"CHINAM is Lime made of Cockle-shells, or Lime-stone; and Pawn is the Leaf of a Tree."—Ovington, 123.

1750-60.—"The flooring is generally composed of a kind of loam or stucco, called CHUNAM, being a lime made of burnt shells."—Grose, i. 52.

1763.—"In the Chuckleh of Silet for the space of five years ... my phoasdar and the Company's gomastah shall jointly prepare CHUNAM, of which each shall defray all expenses, and half the CHUNAM so made shall be given to the Company, and the other half shall be for my use."—Treaty of Mir Jaffir with the Company, in Carraccioli's L. of Clive, i. 64.

1809.—"The row of CHUNAM pillars which supported each side ... were of a shining white."—Ld. Valentia, i. 61.

CHUNÁM, TO, v. To set in mortar; or, more frequently, to plaster over with chunam.

1687.—"... to get what great jars he can, to put wheat in, and CHENAM them up, and set them round the fort curtain."—In Wheeler, i. 168.

1809.—"... having one ... room ... beautifully CHUNAMMED."—Ld. Valentia, i. 386.

Both noun and verb are used also in the Anglo-Chinese settlements.

CHUNÁRGURH, n.p. A famous rock-fort on the Ganges, above Benares, and on the right bank. The name is believed to be a corr. of Charana-giri, 'Foot Hill,' a name probably given from the actual resemblance of the rock, seen in longitudinal profile, to a human foot. [There is a local legend that it represents the foot of Vishnu. A native folk etymology makes it a corr. of Chandālgaṛh, from some legendary connection with the Bhangi tribe (see CHANDAUL). (See Crooke, Tribes and Castes, i. 263.)]

[1768.—"Sensible of the vast importance of the fort of CHUNAR to Sujah al Dowlah ... we have directed Col. Barker to reinforce the garrison...."—Letter to Court of Directors, in Verelst, App. 78.

[1785.—"CHUNAR, called by the natives Chundalghur...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 442.]

CHUPATTY, s. H. chapātī, an unleavened cake of bread (generally of coarse wheaten meal), patted flat with the hand, and baked upon a griddle; the usual form of native bread, and the staple food of Upper India. (See HOPPER).

1615.—Parson Terry well describes the thing, but names it not: "The ordinary sort of people eat bread made of a coarse grain, but both toothsome and wholesome and hearty. They make it up in broad cakes, thick like our oaten cakes; and then bake it upon small round iron hearths which they carry with them."—In Purchas, ii. 1468.

1810.—"CHOW-PATTIES, or bannocks."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 348.

1857.—"From village to village brought by one messenger and sent forward by another passed a mysterious token in the shape of one of those flat cakes made from flour and water, and forming the common bread of the people, which in their language, are called CHUPATTIES."—Kaye's Sepoy War, i. 570. [The original account of this by the Correspondent of the 'Times,' dated "Bombay, March 3, 1857," is quoted in 2 ser. N. & Q. iii. 365.]

There is a tradition of a noble and gallant Governor-General who, when compelled to rough it for a day or two, acknowledged that "chuprassies and masaulchies were not such bad diet," meaning CHUPATTIES and MUSSALLA.

CHUPKUN, s. H. chapkan. The long frock (or cassock) which is the usual dress in Upper India of nearly all male natives who are not actual labourers or indigent persons. The word is probably of Turki or Mongol origin, and is perhaps identical with the chakman of the Āīn (i. 90), a word still used in Turkistan. [Vambéry, (Sketches, 121 seqq.) describes both the Tchapan or upper coat and the Tchekmen or gown.] Hence Beames's connection of chapkan with the idea of chap as meaning compressing or clinging [Platts chapaknā, 'to be pressed'], "a tightly-fitting coat or cassock," is a little fanciful. (Comp. Gram. i. 212 seq.) Still this idea may have shaped the corruption of a foreign word.

1883.—"He was, I was going to say, in his shirt-sleeves, only I am not sure that he wore a shirt in those days—I think he had a CHUPKUN, or native under-garment."—C. Raikes, in L. of Ld. Lawrence, i. 59.

CHUPRA, n.p. Chaprā, [or perhaps rather Chhaprā, 'a collection of straw huts,' (see CHOPPER),] a town and head-quarter station of the District Sāran in Bahār, on the north bank of the Ganges.

1665.—"The Holland Company have a House there (at Patna) by reason of their trade in Salt Peter, which they refine at a great Town called CHOUPAR ... 10 leagues above Patna."—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 53; [ed. Ball, i. 122].

1726.—"SJOPPERA (Chupra)."—Valentijn, Chorom., &c., 147.

CHUPRASSY, s. H. chaprāsī, the bearer of a chaprās, i.e. a badge-plate inscribed with the name of the office to which the bearer is attached. The chaprāsī is an office-messenger, or henchman, bearing such a badge on a cloth or leather belt. The term belongs to the Bengal Presidency. In Madras PEON is the usual term; in Bombay PUTTYWALLA, (H. paṭṭīwālā), or "man of the belt." The etymology of chaprās is obscure; [the popular account is that it is a corr. of P. chap-o-rāst, 'left and right']; but see Beames (Comp. Gram. i. 212), who gives buckle as the original meaning.

1865.—"I remember the days when every servant in my house was a CHUPRASSEE, with the exception of the Khansaumaun and a Portuguese Ayah."—The Dawk Bungalow, p. 389.

c. 1866.—

"The big Sahib's tent has gone from under the Peepul tree, With his horde of hungry CHUPRASSEES, and oily sons of the quill— I paid them the bribe they wanted, and Sheitan will settle the bill." Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree.

1877.—"One of my CHUPRASSIES or messengers ... was badly wounded."—Meadows Taylor, Life, i. 227.

1880.—"Through this refractory medium the people of India see their rulers. The CHUPRASSIE paints his master in colours drawn from his own black heart. Every lie he tells, every insinuation he throws out, every demand he makes, is endorsed with his master's name. He is the arch-slanderer of our name in India."—Ali Baba, 102-3.

CHURR, s. H. char, Skt. char, 'to move.' "A sand-bank or island in the current of a river, deposited by the water, claims to which were regulated by the Bengal Reg. xi. 1825" (Wilson). A char is new alluvial land deposited by the great rivers as the floods are sinking, and covered with grass, but not necessarily insulated. It is remarkable that Mr. Marsh mentions a very similar word as used for the same thing in Holland. "New sandbank land, covered with grasses, is called in Zeeland schor" (Man and Nature, p. 339). The etymologies are, however, probably quite apart.

1878.—"In the dry season all the various streams ... are merely silver threads winding among innumerable sandy islands, the soil of which is specially adapted for the growth of Indigo. They are called CHURS."—Life in the Mofussil, ii. 3 seq.

CHURRUCK, s. A wheel or any rotating machine; particularly applied to simple machines for cleaning cotton. Pers. charkh, 'the celestial sphere,' 'a wheel of any kind,' &c. Beng. charak is apparently a corruption of the Persian word, facilitated by the nearness of the Skt. chakra, &c.

—— POOJAH. Beng. charak-pūjā (see POOJA). The Swinging Festival of the Hindus, held on the sun's entrance into Aries. The performer is suspended from a long yard, traversing round on a mast, by hooks passed through the muscle over the blade-bones, and then whirled round so as to fly out centrifugally. The chief seat of this barbarous display is, or latterly was, in Bengal, but it was formerly prevalent in many parts of India. [It is the SHIRRY (Ca. and Tel. sidi, Tam. shedil, Tel. sidi, 'a hook') of S. India.] There is an old description in Purchas's Pilgrimage, p. 1000; also (in Malabar) in A. Hamilton, i. 270; [at Ikkeri, P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 259]; and (at Calcutta) in Heber's Journal, quoted below.

c. 1430.—"Alii ad ornandos currus perforato latere, fune per corpus immisso se ad currum suspendunt, pendentesque et ipsi exanimati idolum comitantur; id optimum sacrificium putant et acceptissimum deo."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fortunae, iv.

[1754.—See a long account of the Bengal rite in Ives, 27 seqq.].

1824.—"The Hindoo Festival of 'CHURRUCK POOJAH' commenced to-day, of which, as my wife has given an account in her journal, I shall only add a few particulars."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 57.

CHURRUS, s.

A. H. charas. A simple apparatus worked by oxen for drawing water from a well, and discharging it into irrigation channels by means of pulley ropes, and a large bag of hide (H. charsā, Skt. charma). [See the description in Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 153. Hence the area irrigated from a well.]

[1829.—"To each CHURRUS, chursa, or skin of land, there is attached twenty-five beeghas of irrigated land."—Tod, Annals (Calcutta repr.), ii. 688.]

B. H. charas, [said to be so called because the drug is collected by men who walk with leather aprons through the field]. The resinous exudation of the hemp-plant (Cannabis Indica), which is the basis of intoxicating preparations (see BANG, GUNJA).

[1842.—"The Moolah sometimes smoked the intoxicating drug called CHIRS."—Elphinstone, Caubul, i. 344.]

CHUTKARRY, CHATTAGAR, in S. India, a half-caste; Tam. shaṭṭi-kar, 'one who wears a waistcoat' (C. P. B).

CHUTNY, s. H. chatnī. A kind of strong relish, made of a number of condiments and fruits, &c., used in India, and more especially by Mahommedans, and the merits of which are now well known in England. For native chutny recipes, see Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, 2nd ed. xlvii. seqq.

1813.—"The CHATNA is sometimes made with cocoa-nut, lime-juice, garlic, and chillies, and with the pickles is placed in deep leaves round the large cover, to the number of 30 or 40."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 50 seq.; [2nd ed. i. 348].

1820.—"CHITNEE, CHATNEE, some of the hot spices made into a paste, by being bruised with water, the 'kitchen' of an Indian peasant."—Acc. of Township of Loony, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bombay, ii. 194.

CHUTT, s. H. chhat. The proper meaning of the vernacular word is 'a roof or platform.' But in modern Anglo-Indian its usual application is to the coarse cotton sheeting, stretched on a frame and whitewashed, which forms the usual ceiling of rooms in thatched or tiled houses; properly chādar-chhat, 'sheet-ceiling.'

CHUTTANUTTY, n.p. This was one of the three villages purchased for the East India Company in 1686, when the agents found their position in Hugli intolerable, to form the settlement which became the city of Calcutta. The other two villages were Calcutta and Govindpūr. Dr. Hunter spells it Sūtanatī, but the old Anglo-Indian orthography indicates Chatānatī as probable. In the letter-books of the Factory Council in the India Office the earlier letters from this establishment are lost, but down to 27th March, 1700, they are dated from "CHUTTANUTTE; on and after June 8th, from "Calcutta"; and from August 20th in the same year from "Fort William" in Calcutta. [See Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lix.] According to Major Ralph Smyth, Chatānatī occupied "the site of the present native town," i.e. the northern quarter of the city. Calcutta stood on what is now the European commercial part; and Govindpūr on the present site of Fort William.[69]

1753.—"The Hoogly Phousdar demanding the payment of the ground rent for 4 months from January, namely:—

R. A. P. SOOTALOOTA, Calcutta 325 0 0 Govindpoor, Picar 70 0 0 Govindpoor, Calcutta 33 0 0 Buxies 1 8 0

Agreed that the President do pay the same out of cash."—Consn. Ft. William, April 30, in Long, 43.

CHUTTRUM, s. Tam. shattiram, which is a corruption of Skt. sattra, 'abode.' In S. India a house where pilgrims and travelling members of the higher castes are entertained and fed gratuitously for a day or two. [See CHOULTRY, DHURMSALLA.]

1807.—"There are two distinct kinds of buildings confounded by Europeans under the name of Choultry. The first is that called by the natives CHATURAM, and built for the accommodation of travellers. These ... have in general pent roofs ... built in the form of a square enclosing a court.... The other kind are properly built for the reception of images, when these are carried in procession. These have flat roofs, and consist of one apartment only, and by the natives are called Mandapam.... Besides the CHATURAM and the Mandapam, there is another kind of building which by Europeans is called Choultry; in the Tamul language it is called Tany Pundal, or Water Shed ... small buildings where weary travellers may enjoy a temporary repose in the shade, and obtain a draught of water or milk."—F. Buchanan, Mysore, i. 11, 15.

CINDERELLA'S SLIPPER. A Hindu story on the like theme appears among the Hala Kanara MSS. of the Mackenzie Collection:—

"Suvarṇadevi having dropped her slipper in a reservoir, it was found by a fisherman of Kusumakesari, who sold it to a shopkeeper, by whom it was presented to the King Ugrabáhu. The Prince, on seeing the beauty of the slipper, fell in love with the wearer, and offered large rewards to any person who should find and bring her to him. An old woman undertook the task, and succeeded in tracing the shoe to its owner...."—Mackenzie Collection, by H. H. Wilson, ii. 52. [The tale is not uncommon in Indian folk-lore. See Miss Cox, Cinderella (Folk-lore Soc.), ii. 91, 183, 465, &c.]

CINTRA ORANGES. See ORANGE and SUNGTARA.

CIRCARS, n.p. The territory to the north of the Coromandel Coast, formerly held by the Nizam, and now forming the districts of Kistna, Godávari, Vizagapatam, Ganjám, and a part of Nellore, was long known by the title of "THE CIRCARS," or "NORTHERN CIRCARS" (i.e. Governments), now officially obsolete. The Circars of Chicacole (now Vizagapatam Dist.), Rajamandri and Ellore (these two embraced now in Godávari Dist.), with Condapilly (now embraced in Kistna Dist.), were the subject of a grant from the Great Mogul, obtained by Clive in 1765, confirmed by treaty with the Nizam in 1766. Gantūr (now also included in Kistna Dist.) devolved eventually by the same treaty (but did not come permanently under British rule till 1803). [For the history see Madras Admin. Man. i. 179.] C. P. Brown says the expression "The Circars" was first used by the French, in the time of Bussy. [Another name for the Northern Circars was the Carling or Carlingo country, apparently a corr. of Kalinga (see KLING), see Pringle, Diary, &c., of Ft. St. George, 1st ser. vol. 2, p. 125. (See SIRCAR.)]

1758.—"Il est à remarquer qu'après mon départ d'Ayder Abad, Salabet Zingue a nommé un Phosdar, ou Gouverneur, pour les quatres CERKARS."—Mémoire, by Bussy, in Lettres de MM. de Bussy, de Lally et autres, Paris, 1766, p. 24.

1767.—"Letter from the Chief and Council at Masulipatam ... that in consequence of orders from the President and Council of Fort St. George for securing and sending away all vagrant Europeans that might be met with in the CIRCARS, they have embarked there for this place...."—Fort William Consn., in Long, 476 seq.

1789.—"The most important public transaction ... is the surrender of the Guntoor CIRCAR to the Company, by which it becomes possessed of the whole Coast, from Jaggernaut to Cape Comorin. The Nizam made himself master of that province, soon after Hyder's invasion of the Carnatic, as an equivalent for the arrears of peshcush, due to him by the Company for the other CIRCARS."—Letter of T. Munro, in Life by Gleig, i. 70.

1823.—"Although the SIRKÁRS are our earliest possessions, there are none, perhaps, of which we have so little accurate knowledge in everything that regards the condition of the people."—Sir T. Munro, in Selections, &c., by Sir A. Arbuthnot, i. 204.

We know from the preceding quotation what Munro's spelling of the name was.

1836.—"The district called the CIRCARS, in India, is part of the coast which extends from the Carnatic to Bengal.... The domestic economy of the people is singular; they inhabit villages (!!), and all labour is performed by public servants paid from the public stock."—Phillips, Million of Facts, 320.

1878.—"General Sir J. C., C.B., K.C.S.I. He entered the Madras Army in 1820, and in 1834, according to official despatches, displayed 'active zeal, intrepidity, and judgment' in dealing with the savage tribes in Orissa known as the CIRCARS"(!!!).—Obituary Notice in Homeward Mail, April 27.

CIVILIAN, s. A term which came into use about 1750-1770, as a designation of the covenanted European servants of the E. I. Company, not in military employ. It is not used by Grose, c. 1760, who was himself of such service at Bombay. [The earliest quotation in the N.E.D. is of 1766 from Malcolm's L. of Clive, 54.] In Anglo-Indian parlance it is still appropriated to members of the covenanted Civil Service [see COVENANTED SERVANTS]. The Civil Service is mentioned in Carraccioli's L. of Clive, (c. 1785), iii. 164. From an early date in the Company's history up to 1833, the members of the Civil Service were classified during the first five years as WRITERS (q.v.), then to the 8th year as FACTORS (q.v.); in the 9th and 11th as Junior Merchants; and thenceforward as Senior Merchants. These names were relics of the original commercial character of the E. I. Company's transactions, and had long ceased to have any practical meaning at the time of their abolition in 1833, when the Charter Act (3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 85), removed the last traces of the Company's commercial existence.

1848.—(Lady O'Dowd's) "quarrel with Lady Smith, wife of Minos Smith the puisne Judge, is still remembered by some at Madras, when the Colonel's lady snapped her fingers in the Judge's lady's face, and said she'd never walk behind ever a beggarly CIVILIAN."—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, ii. 85.

1872.—"You bloated CIVILIANS are never satisfied, retorted the other."—A True Reformer, i. 4.

CLASSY, CLASHY, s. H. khalāṣī, usual etym. from Arab khalāṣ. A tent-pitcher; also (because usually taken from that class of servants) a man employed as chain-man or staff-man, &c., by a surveyor; a native sailor; or MATROSS (q.v.). Khalāṣ is constantly used in Hindustani in the sense of 'liberation'; thus, of a prisoner, a magistrate says 'khalāṣ karo,' 'let him go.' But it is not clear how khalāṣī got its ordinary Indian sense. It is also written khalāshī, and Vullers has an old Pers. word khalāsha for 'a ship's rudder.' A learned friend suggests that this may be the real origin of khalāṣī in its Indian use. [Khalāṣ also means the 'escape channel of a canal,' and khalāṣī may have been originally a person in charge of such a work.]

1785.—"A hundred CLASHIES have been sent to you from the presence."—Tippoo's Letters, 171.

1801.—"The sepoys in a body were to bring up the rear. Our left flank was to be covered by the sea, and our right by Gopie Nath's men. Then the CLASHIES and other armed followers."—Mt. Stewart Elphinstone, in Life, i. 27.

1824.—"If the tents got dry, the CLASHEES (tent-pitchers) allowed that we might proceed in the morning prosperously."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 194.

CLEARING NUT, WATER FILTER NUT, s. The seed of Strychnos potatorum, L.; a tree of S. India; [known in N. India as nirmalā, nirmalī, 'dirt-cleaner']. It is so called from its property of clearing muddy water, if well rubbed on the inside of the vessel which is to be filled.

CLOVE, s. The flower-bud of Caryophyllum aromaticum, L., a tree of the Moluccas. The modern English name of this spice is a kind of ellipsis from the French clous de girofles, 'Nails of Girofles,' i.e. of garofala, caryophylla, &c., the name by which this spice was known to the ancients; the full old English name was similar, 'clove gillofloure,' a name which, cut in two like a polypus, has formed two different creatures, the clove (or nail) being assigned to the spice, and the 'gillyflower' to a familiar clove-smelling flower. The comparison to nails runs through many languages. In Chinese the thing is called ting-hiang, or 'nail-spice'; in Persian mekhak, 'little nails,' or 'nailkins,' like the German Nelken, Nägelchen, and Gewürtz-nagel (spice nail).

[1602-3.—"Alsoe be carefull to gett together all the CLOUES you can."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 36.]

COAST, THE, n.p. This term in books of the 18th century means the 'Madras or Coromandel Coast,' and often 'the Madras Presidency.' It is curious to find Παραλία, "the Shore," applied in a similar specific way, in Ptolemy, to the coast near Cape Comorin. It will be seen that the term "Coast Army," for "Madras Army," occurs quite recently. The Persian rendering of Coast Army by Bandarī below is curious.

1781.—"Just imported from the COAST ... a very fine assortment of the following cloths."—India Gazette, Sept. 15.

1793.—"Unseduced by novelty, and uninfluenced by example, the belles of the COAST have courage enough to be unfashionable ... and we still see their charming tresses flow in luxuriant ringlets."—Hugh Boyd, 78.

1800.—"I have only 1892 COAST and 1200 Bombay sepoys."—Wellington, i. 227.

1802.—"From Hydurabád also, Colonels Roberts and Dalrymple, with 4000 of the Bunduri or COAST sipahees."—H. of Reign of Tipú Sultán, E. T. by Miles, p. 253.

1879.—"Is it any wonder then, that the COAST Army has lost its ancient renown, and that it is never employed, as an army should be, in fighting the battles of its country, or its employers?"—Pollok, Sport in Br. Burmah, &c., i. 26.

COBANG. See KOBANG.

COBILY MASH, s. This is the dried BONITO (q.v.), which has for ages been a staple of the Maldive Islands. It is still especially esteemed in Achin and other Malay countries. The name is explained below by Pyrard as 'black fish,' and he is generally to be depended on. But the first accurate elucidation has been given by Mr. H. C. P. Bell, of the Ceylon C. S., in the Indian Antiquary for Oct. 1882, p. 294; see also Mr. Bell's Report on Maldive Islands, Colombo, 1882, p. 93, where there is an account of the preparation. It is the Maldive kalu-bili-mās, 'black-bonito-fish.' The second word corresponds to the Singhalese balayā.

c. 1345.—"Its flesh is red, and without fat, but it smells like mutton. When caught each fish is cut in four, slightly boiled, and then placed in baskets of palm-leaf, and hung in the smoke. When perfectly dry it is eaten. From this country it is exported to India, China, and Yemen. It is called KOLB-AL-MĀS."—Ibn Batuta (on Maldives), iv. 112, also 311.

1578.—"... They eat it with a sort of dried fish, which comes from the Islands of Maledivia, and resembles jerked beef, and it is called COMALAMASA."—Acosta, 103.

c. 1610.—"Ce poisson qui se prend ainsi, s'apelle generalement en leur langue COBOLLY MASSE, c'est à dire du poisson noir.... Ils le font cuire en de l'eau de mer, et puis le font secher au feu sur des clayes, en sorte qu'estant sec il se garde fort long-temps."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 138; see also 141; [Hak. Soc. i. 190 (with Gray's note) and 194].

1727.—"The Bonetta is caught with Hook and Line, or with nets ... they cut the Fish from the Back-bone on each Side, and lay them in a Shade to dry, sprinkling them sometimes with Sea Water. When they are dry enough ... they wrap them up in Leaves of Cocoa-nut Trees, and put them a Foot or two under the Surface of the Sand, and with the Heat of the Sun, they become baked as hard as Stock-fish, and Ships come from Atcheen ... and purchase them with Gold-dust. I have seen COMELAMASH (for that is their name after they are dried) sell at Atcheen for 8L. Sterl. per 1000."—A. Hamilton, i. 347; [ed. 1744, i. 350].

1783.—"Many Maldivia boats come yearly to Atcheen, and bring chiefly dried bonnetta in small pieces about two or three ounces; this is a sort of staple article of commerce, many shops in the Bazar deal in it only, having large quantities piled up, put in matt bags. It is when properly cured, hard like horn in the middle; when kept long the worm gets to it."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 45.

1813.—"The fish called COMMEL MUTCH, so much esteemed in Malabar, is caught at Minicoy."—Milburn, i. 321, also 336.

1841.—"The Sultan of the Maldiva Islands sends an agent or minister every year to the government of Ceylon with presents consisting of ... a considerable quantity of dried fish, consisting of bonitos, albicores, and fish called by the inhabitants of the Maldivas the black fish, or COMBOLI MAS."—J. R. As. Soc. vi. 75.

The same article contains a Maldivian vocabulary, in which we have "Bonito or goomulmutch ... kannelimas" (p. 49). Thus we have in this one paper three corrupt forms of the same expression, viz. COMBOLI MAS, KANNELI MAS, and GOOMULMUTCH, all attempts at the true Maldivian term KALU-BILI-MĀS, 'black bonito fish.'

COBRA DE CAPELLO, or simply COBRA, s. The venomous snake Naja tripudians. Cobra [Lat. colubra] is Port. for 'snake'; cobra de capello, 'snake of (the) hood.' [In the following we have a curious translation of the name: "Another sort, which is called CHAPEL-SNAKES, because they keep in Chapels or Churches, and sometimes in Houses" (A Relation of Two Several Voyages made into the East Indies, by Christopher Fryke, Surg.... London, 1700, p. 291).]

1523.—"A few days before, COBRAS DE CAPELLO had been secretly introduced into the fort, which bit some black people who died thereof, both men and women; and when this news became known it was perceived that they must have been introduced by the hand of some one, for since the fort was made never had the like been heard of."—Correa, ii. 776.

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.

COBRA MANILLA, or MINELLE, s. Another popular name in S. India for a species of venomous snake, perhaps a little uncertain in its application. Dr. Russell says the Bungarus caeruleus was sent to him from Masulipatam, with the name Cobra Monil, whilst Günther says this name is given in S. India to the Daboia Russellii, or Tic-POLONGA (q.v.) (see Fayrer's Thanatophidia, pp. 11 and 15). [The Madras Gloss. calls it the chain-viper, Daboia elegans.] One explanation of the name is given in the quotation from Lockyer. But the name is really Mahr. maṇer, from Skt. maṇi, 'a jewel.' There are judicious remarks in a book lately quoted, regarding the popular names and popular stories of snakes, which apply, we suspect, to all the quotations under the following heading:

"There are names in plenty ... but they are applied promiscuously to any sort of snake, real or imaginary, and are therefore of no use. The fact is, that in real life, as distinguished from romance, snakes are so seldom seen, that no one who does not make a study of them can know one from the other."[71]—Tribes on my Frontier, 197.

1711.—"The COBRA MANILLA has its name from a way of Expression common among the Nears on the Malabar Coast, who speaking of a quick Motion ... say, in a Phrase peculiar to themselves, Before they can pull a Manilla from their Hands. A Person bit with this Snake, dies immediately; or before one can take a Manilla off. A MANILLA is a solid piece of Gold, of two or three ounces Weight, worn in a Ring round the Wrist."—Lockyer, 276.

[1773.—"The COVRA MANILLA, is a small bluish snake of the size of a man's little finger, and about a foot long, often seen about old walls."—Ives, 43.]

1780.—"The most dangerous of those reptiles are the COVERYMANIL and the green snake. The first is a beautiful little creature, very lively, and about 6 or 7 inches long. It creeps into all private corners of houses, and is often found coiled up betwixt the sheets, or perhaps under the pillow of one's bed. Its sting is said to inflict immediate death, though I must confess, for my own part, I never heard of any dangerous accident occasioned by it."—Munro's Narrative, 34.

1810.—"... Here, too, lurks the small bright speckled COBRA MANILLA, whose fangs convey instant death."—Maria Graham, 23.

1813.—"The COBRA MINELLE is the smallest and most dangerous; the bite occasions a speedy and painful death."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 42; [2nd ed. i. 27].

COCHIN, n.p. A famous city of Malabar, Malayāl. Kochchī, ['a small place'] which the nasalising, so usual with the Portuguese, converted into Cochim or Cochin. We say "the Portuguese" because we seem to owe so many nasal terminations of words in Indian use to them; but it is evident that the real origin of this nasal was in some cases anterior to their arrival, as in the present case (see the first quotations), and in that of ACHEEN (q.v.). Padre Paolino says the town was called after the small river "Cocci" (as he writes it). It will be seen that Conti in the 15th century makes the same statement.

c. 1430.—"Relictâ Coloënâ ad urbem COCYM, trium dierum itinere transiit, quinque millibus passuum ambitu supra ostium fluminis, a quo et nomen."—N. Conti in Poggius, de Variet. Fortunae, iv.

1503.—"Inde Franci ad urbem COCEN profecti, castrum ingens ibidem construxere, et trecentis praesidiariis viris bellicosis munivere...."—Letter of Nestorian Bishops from India, in Assemani, iii. 596.

1510.—"And truly he (the K. of Portugal) deserves every good, for in India and especially in CUCIN, every fête day ten and even twelve Pagans and Moors are baptised."—Varthema, 296.

[1562.—"COCHYM." See under BEADALA.]

1572.—

"Vereis a fortaleza sustentar-se De Cananor con pouca força e gente * * * * * E vereis em COCHIN assinalar-se Tanto hum peito soberbo, e insolente[72] Que cithara ja mais cantou victoria, Que assi mereça eterno nome e gloria." Camões, ii. 52.

By Burton:

"Thou shalt behold the Fortalice hold out of Cananor with scanty garrison * * * * * shalt in COCHIN see one approv'd so stout, who such an arr'gance of the sword hath shown, no harp of mortal sang a similar story, digne of e'erlasting name, eternal glory."

[1606.—"Att COWCHEEN which is a place neere Callicutt is stoare of pepper...."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 84.

[1610.—"COCHIM bow worth in Surat as sceala and kannikee."—Danvers, Letters, i. 74.]

1767.—"From this place the Nawaub marched to KOOCHI-BUNDUR, from the inhabitants of which he exacted a large sum of money."—H. of Hydur Naik, 186.

COCHIN-CHINA, n.p. This country was called by the Malays Kuchi, and apparently also, to distinguish it from Kuchi of India (or Cochin), KUCHI-CHINA, a term which the Portuguese adopted as CAUCHI-CHINA; the Dutch and English from them. Kuchi occurs in this sense in the Malay traditions called Sijara Malayu (see J. Ind. Archip., v. 729). In its origin this word Kuchi is no doubt a foreigner's form of the Annamite Kuu-chön (Chin. Kiu-Ching, South Chin. Kau-Chen), which was the ancient name of the province Thanh'-hoa, in which the city of Huë has been the capital since 1398.[73]

1516.—"And he (Fernão Peres) set sail from Malaca ... in August of the year 516, and got into the Gulf of CONCAM CHINA, which he entered in the night, escaping by miracle from being lost on the shoals...."—Correa, ii. 474.

[1524.—"I sent Duarte Coelho to discover CANCHIM CHINA."—Letter of Albuquerque to the King, India Office MSS., Corpo Chronologico, vol. i.]

c. 1535.—"This King of COCHINCHINA keeps always an ambassador at the court of the King of China; not that he does this of his own good will, or has any content therein, but because he is his vassal."—Sommario de' Regni, in Ramusio, i. 336_v_.

c. 1543.—"Now it was not without much labour, pain, and danger, that we passed these two Channels, as also the River of Ventinau, by reason of the Pyrats that usually are encountred there, nevertheless we at length arrived at the Town of Manaquilen, which is scituated at the foot of the Mountains of Chomay (Comhay in orig.), upon the Frontiers of the two Kingdoms of China, and CAUCHENCHINA (da China e do CAUCHIM in orig.), where the Ambassadors were well received by the Governor thereof."—Pinto, E. T., p. 166 (orig. cap. cxxix.).

c. 1543.—"CAPITULO CXXX. Do recebimento que este Rey da CAUCHENCHINA fez ao Embaixador da Tartaria na villa de Fanau grem."—Pinto, original.

1572.—

"Ves, CAUCHICHINA esta de oscura fama, E de Ainão vê a incognita enseada." Camões, x. 129.

By Burton:

"See CAUCHICHINA still of note obscure and of Ainam yon undiscovered Bight."

1598.—"This land of CAUCHINCHINA is devided into two or three Kingdomes, which are vnder the subiection of the King of China, it is a fruitfull countrie of all necessarie prouisiouns and Victuals."—Linschoten, ch. 22; [Hak. Soc. i. 124].

1606.—"Nel Regno di COCCINCINA, che ... è alle volte chiamato dal nome di Anan, vi sono quattordici Provincie piccole...."—Viaggi di Carletti, ii. 138.

[1614.—"The COCCHICHINNAS cut him all in pieces."—Foster, Letters, ii. 75.

[1616.—"27 pecull of lignum aloes of CUTCHEINCHENN."—Ibid. iv. 213.]

1652.—"CAUCHIN-CHINA is bounded on the West with the Kingdomes of Brama; on the East, with the Great Realm of China; on the North extending towards Tartary; and on the South, bordering on Camboia."—P. Heylin, Cosmographie, iii. 239.

1727.—"COUCHIN-CHINA has a large Sea-coast of about 700 Miles in Extent ... and it has the Conveniency of many good Harbours on it, tho' they are not frequented by Strangers."—A. Hamilton, ii. 208; [ed. 1744].

COCHIN-LEG. A name formerly given to elephantiasis, as it prevailed in Malabar. [The name appears to be still in use (Boswell, Man. of Nellore, 33). Linschoten (1598) describes it in Malabar (Hak. Soc. i. 288), and it was also called "St. Thomas's leg" (see an account with refs. in Gray, Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 392).]

1757.—"We could not but take notice at this place (Cochin) of the great number of the COCHIN, or Elephant LEGS."—Ives, 193.

1781.—"... my friend Jack Griskin, enclosed in a buckram Coat of the 1745, with a COCHIN LEG, hobbling the Allemand...."—Letter from an Old Country Captain, in India Gazette, Feb. 24.

1813.—"COCHIN-LEG, or elephantiasis."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 327; [2nd ed. i. 207].

COCKATOO, s. This word is taken from the Malay kākātūwa. According to Crawfurd the word means properly 'a vice,' or 'gripe,' but is applied to the bird. It seems probable, however, that the name, which is asserted to be the natural cry of the bird, may have come with the latter from some remoter region of the Archipelago, and the name of the tool may have been taken from the bird. This would be more in accordance with usual analogy. [Mr. Skeat writes: "There is no doubt that Sir H. Yule is right here and Crawfurd wrong. Kakak tuwa (or tua) means in Malay, if the words are thus separated, 'old sister,' or 'old lady.' I think it is possible that it may be a familiar Malay name for the bird, like our 'Polly.' The final k in kakak is a mere click, which would easily drop out."]

1638.—"Il y en a qui sont blancs ... et sont coeffés d'vne houpe incarnate ... l'on les appelle KAKATOU, à cause de ce mot qu'ils prononcent en leur chant assez distinctement."—Mandelslo (Paris, 1669), 144.

1654.—"Some rarities of naturall things, but nothing extraordinary save the skin of a jaccall, a rarely colour'd JACATOO or prodigious parrot...."—Evelyn's Diary, July 11.

1673.—"... COCKATOOAS and Newries (see LORY) from Bantem."—Fryer, 116.

1705.—"The CROCKADORE is a Bird of various Sizes, some being as big as a Hen, and others no bigger than a Pidgeon. They are in all Parts exactly of the shape of a Parrot.... When they fly wild up and down the Woods they will call CROCKADORE, CROCKADORE; for which reason they go by that name."—Funnel, in Dampier, iv. 265-6.

1719.—"Maccaws, COKATOES, plovers, and a great variety of other birds of curious colours."—Shelvocke's Voyage, 54-55.

1775.—"At Sooloo there are no Loories, but the COCATORES have yellow tufts."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 295.

[1843.—"... saucy KROCOTOAS, and gaudy-coloured Loris."—Belcher, Narr. of Voyage of Samarang, i. 15.]

COCKROACH, s. This objectionable insect (Blatta orientalis) is called by the Portuguese cacalacca, for the reason given by Bontius below; a name adopted by the Dutch as kakerlak, and by the French as cancrelat. The Dutch also apply their term as a slang name to half-castes. But our word seems to have come from the Spanish cucaracha. The original application of this Spanish name appears to have been to a common insect found under water-vessels standing on the ground, &c. (apparently Oniscus, or woodlouse); but as cucaracha de Indias it was applied to the insect now in question (see Dicc. de la Lengua Castellana, 1729).

1577.—"We were likewise annoyed not a little by the biting of an Indian fly called CACAROCH, a name agreeable to its bad condition; for living it vext our flesh; and being kill'd smelt as loathsomely as the French punaise, whose smell is odious."—Herbert's Travels, 3rd ed., 332-33.

[1598.—"There is a kind of beast that flyeth, twice as big as a Bee, and is called Baratta (Blatta)."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 304.]

1631.—"Scarabaeos autem hos Lusitani Caca-laccas vocant, quod ova quae excludunt, colorem et laevorem Laccae factitiae (i.e. of sealing-wax) referant."—Jac. Bontii, lib. v. cap 4.

1764.—

"... from their retreats COCKROACHES crawl displeasingly abroad." Grainger, Bk. i.

c. 1775.—"Most of my shirts, books, &c., were gnawed to dust by the blatta or COCKROACH, called cackerlakke in Surinam."—Stedman, i. 203.

COCKUP, s. An excellent table-fish, found in the mouths of tidal rivers in most parts of India. In Calcutta it is generally known by the Beng. name of begtī or bhiktī (see BHIKTY), and it forms the daily breakfast dish of half the European gentlemen in that city. The name may be a corruption, we know not of what; or it may be given from the erect sharp spines of the dorsal fin. [The word is a corr. of the Malay (ikan) kakap, which Klinkert defines as a palatable sea-fish, Lates nobilis, the more common form being siyakap.] It is Lates calcarifer (Günther) of the group Percina, family Percidae, and grows to an immense size, sometimes to eight feet in length.

COCO, COCOA, COCOA-NUT, and (vulg.) COKER-NUT, s. The tree and nut Cocos nucifera, L.; a palm found in all tropical countries, and the only one common to the Old and New Worlds.

The etymology of this name is very obscure. Some conjectural origins are given in the passages quoted below. Ritter supposes, from a passage in Pigafetta's Voyage of Magellan, which we cite, that the name may have been indigenous in the Ladrone Islands, to which that passage refers, and that it was first introduced into Europe by Magellan's crew. On the other hand, the late Mr. C. W. Goodwin found in ancient Egyptian the word kuku used as "the name of the fruit of a palm 60 cubits high, which fruit contained water." (Chabas, Mélanges Égyptologiques, ii. 239.) It is hard, however, to conceive how this name should have survived, to reappear in Europe in the later Middle Ages, without being known in any intermediate literature.[74]

The more common etymology is that which is given by Barros, Garcia de Orta, Linschoten, &c., as from a Spanish word coco applied to a monkey's or other grotesque face, with reference to the appearance of the base of the shell with its three holes. But after all may the term not have originated in the old Span. coca, 'a shell' (presumably Lat. concha), which we have also in French coque? properly an egg-shell, but used also for the shell of any nut. (See a remark under COPRAH.)

The Skt. narikila [nārikera, nārikela] has originated the Pers. nārgīl, which Cosmas grecizes into ἀργελλίον, [and H. nāriyal].

Medieval writers generally (such as Marco Polo, Fr. Jordanus, &c.) call the fruit the Indian Nut, the name by which it was known to the Arabs (al jauz-al-Hindī). There is no evidence of its having been known to classical writers, nor are we aware of any Greek or Latin mention of it before Cosmas. But Brugsch, describing from the Egyptian wall-paintings of c. B.C. 1600, on the temple of Queen Hashop, representing the expeditions by sea which she sent to the Incense Land of Punt, says: "Men never seen before, the inhabitants of this divine land, showed themselves on the coast, not less astonished than the Egyptians. They lived on pile-buildings, in little dome-shaped huts, the entrance to which was effected by a ladder, under the shade of cocoa-palms laden with fruit, and splendid incense-trees, on whose boughs strange fowls rocked themselves, and at whose feet herds of cattle peacefully reposed." (H. of Egypt, 2nd ed. i. 353; [Maspero, Struggle of the Nations, 248].)

c. A.D. 70.—"In ipsâ quidem Aethiopiâ fricatur haec, tanta est siccitas, et farinae modo spissatur in panem. Gignitur autem in frutice ramis cubitalibus, folio latiore, pomo rotundo majore quam mali amplitudine, COICAS vocant."—Pliny, xiii. § 9.

A.D. 545.—"Another tree is that which bears the Argell, i.e. the great Indian Nut."—Cosmas, in Cathay, &c., clxxvi.

1292.—"The Indian Nuts are as big as melons, and in colour green, like gourds. Their leaves and branches are like those of the date-tree."—John of Monte Corvino, in do., p. 213.

c. 1328.—"First of these is a certain tree called Nargil; which tree every month in the year sends out a beautiful frond like [that of] a [date-] palm tree, which frond or branch produces very large fruit, as big as a man's head.... And both flowers and fruit are produced at the same time, beginning with the first month, and going up gradually to the twelfth.... The fruit is that which we call nuts of India."—Friar Jordanus, 15 seq. The wonder of the coco-palm is so often noticed in this form by medieval writers, that doubtless in their minds they referred it to that "tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruit, and yielded her fruit every month" (Apocal. xxii. 2).

c. 1340.—"Le nargīl, appelé autrement noix d'Inde, auquel on ne peut comparer aucun autre fruit, est vert et rempli d'huile."—Shihābbuddīn Dimishḳī, in Not. et Exts. xiii. 175.

c. 1350.—"Wonderful fruits there are, which we never see in these parts, such as the Nargil. Now the Nargil is the Indian Nut."—John Marignolli, in Cathay, p. 352.

1498-99.—"And we who were nearest boarded the vessel, and found nothing in her but provisions and arms; and the provisions consisted of COQUOS and of four jars of certain cakes of palm-sugar, and there was nothing else but sand for ballast."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, 94.

1510.—Varthema gives an excellent account of the tree; but he uses only the Malayāl. name tenga. [Tam. tennai, ten, 'south' as it was supposed to have been brought from Ceylon.]

1516.—"These trees have clean smooth stems, without any branch, only a tuft of leaves at the top, amongst which grows a large fruit which they call tenga.... We call these fruits QUOQUOS."—Barbosa, 154 (collating Portuguese of Lisbon Academy, p. 346).

1519.—"COCAS (coche) are the fruits of palm-trees, and as we have bread, wine, oil, and vinegar, so in that country they extract all these things from this one tree."—Pigafetta, Viaggio intorno il Mondo, in Ramusio, i. f. 356.

1553.—"Our people have given it the name of COCO, a word applied by women to anything with which they try to frighten children; and this name has stuck, because nobody knew any other, though the proper name was, as the Malabars call it, tenga, or as the Canarins call it, narle."—Barros, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 7.

c. 1561.—Correa writes COQUOS.—I. i. 115.

1563.—"... We have given it the name of COCO, because it looks like the face of a monkey, or of some other animal."—Garcia, 66_b_.

"That which we call COCO, and the Malabars Temga."—Ibid. 67_b_.

1578.—"The Portuguese call it COCO (because of those three holes that it has)."—Acosta, 98.

1598.—"Another that bears the Indian nuts called COECOS, because they have within them a certain shell that is like an ape; and on this account they use in Spain to show their children a COECOTA when they would make them afraid."—English trans. of Pigafetta's Congo, in Harleian Coll. ii. 553.

The parallel passage in De Bry runs: "Illas quoque quae nuces Indicas COCEAS, id est Simias (intus enim simiae caput referunt) dictas palmas appellant."—i. 29.

Purchas has various forms in different narratives: COCŪS (i. 37); COKERS, a form which still holds its ground among London stall-keepers and costermongers (i. 461, 502); COQUER-nuts (Terry, in ii. 1466); COCO (ii. 1008); COQUO (Pilgrimage, 567), &c.

[c. 1610.—"None, however, is more useful than the COCO or Indian nut, which they (in the Maldives) call ROUL (Malē, rū)."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 113.]

c. 1690.—Rumphius, who has COCUS in Latin, and COCOS in Dutch, mentions the derivation already given as that of Linschoten and many others, but proceeds:—

"Meo vero judicio verior et certior vocis origo invenienda est, plures enim nationes, quibus hic fructus est notus, nucem appellant. Sic dicitur Arabicè Gauzos-Indi vel Geuzos-Indi, h. e. Nux Indica.... Turcis Cock-Indi eadem significatione, unde sine dubio Ætiopes, Africani, eorumque vicini Hispani ac Portugalli COQUO deflexerunt. Omnia vero ista nomina, originem suam debent Hebraicae voci Egoz quae nucem significat."—Herb. Amboin. i. p. 7.

" "... in India Occidentali KOKERNOOT vocatus...."—Ibid. p. 47.

One would like to know where Rumphius got the term Cock-Indi, of which we can find no trace.

1810.—

"What if he felt no wind? The air was still. That was the general will Of Nature.... Yon rows of rice erect and silent stand, The shadow of the COCOA'S lightest plume Is steady on the sand." Curse of Kehama, iv. 4.

1881.—"Among the popular French slang words for 'head' we may notice the term 'COCO,' given—like our own 'nut'—on account of the similarity in shape between a cocoa-nut and a human skull:—

"'Mais de ce franc picton de table Qui rend spirituel, aimable, Sans vous alourdir le COCO, Je m'en fourre à gogo.'—H. VALÈRE." Sat. Review, Sept. 10, p. 326.

The Dict. Hist. d'Argot of Lorédan Larchey, from which this seems taken, explains picton as 'vin supérieur.'

COCO-DE-MER, or DOUBLE COCO-NUT, s. The curious twin fruit so called, the produce of the Lodoicea Sechellarum, a palm growing only in the Seychelles Islands, is cast up on the shores of the Indian Ocean, most frequently on the Maldive Islands, but occasionally also on Ceylon and S. India, and on the coasts of Zanzibar, of Sumatra, and some others of the Malay Islands. Great virtues as medicine and antidote were supposed to reside in these fruits, and extravagant prices were paid for them. The story goes that a "country captain," expecting to make his fortune, took a cargo of these nuts from the Seychelles Islands to Calcutta, but the only result was to destroy their value for the future.

The old belief was that the fruit was produced on a palm growing below the sea, whose fronds, according to Malay seamen, were sometimes seen in quiet bights on the Sumatran coast, especially in the Lampong Bay. According to one form of the story among the Malays, which is told both by Pigafetta and by Rumphius, there was but one such tree, the fronds of which rose above an abyss of the Southern Ocean, and were the abode of the monstrous bird Garuda (or Rukh of the Arabs—see ROC).[75] The tree itself was called Pausengi, which Rumphius seems to interpret as a corruption of Buwa-zangi, "Fruit of Zang" or E. Africa. [Mr. Skeat writes: "Rumphius is evidently wrong.... The first part of the word is 'Pau,' or 'Pauh,' which is perfectly good Malay, and is the name given to various species of mango, especially the wild one, so that 'Pausengi' represents (not 'Buwa,' but) 'Pauh Janggi,' which is to this day the universal Malay name for the tree which grows, according to Malay fable, in the central whirlpool or Navel of the Seas. Some versions add that it grows upon a sunken bank (tĕbing runtoh), and is guarded by dragons. This tree figures largely in Malay romances, especially those which form the subject of Malay shadow-plays (vide infra, Pl. 23, for an illustration of the Pauh Janggi and the Crab). Rumphius' explanation of the second part of the name (i.e. Janggi) is, no doubt, quite correct."—Malay Magic, pp. 6 seqq.] They were cast up occasionally on the islands off the S.W. coast of Sumatra; and the wild people of the islands brought them for sale to the Sumatran marts, such as Padang and Priamang. One of the largest (say about 12 inches across) would sell for 150 rix dollars. But the Malay princes coveted them greatly, and would sometimes (it was alleged) give a laden junk for a single nut. In India the best known source of supply was from the Maldive Islands. [In India it is known as Daryāī nāriyal, or 'cocoa-nut of the sea,' and this term has been in Bombay corrupted into jaharī (zahrī) or 'poisonous,' so that the fruit is incorrectly regarded as dangerous to life. The hard shell is largely used to make Fakīrs' water-bowls.]

The medicinal virtues of the nut were not only famous among all the peoples of the East, including the Chinese, but are extolled by Piso and by Rumphius, with many details. The latter, learned and laborious student of nature as he was, believed in the submarine origin of the nut, though he discredited its growing on a great palm, as no traces of such a plant had ever been discovered on the coasts. The fame of the nut's virtues had extended to Europe, and the Emperor Rudolf II. in his later days offered in vain 4000 florins to purchase from the family of Wolfert Hermanszen, a Dutch Admiral, one that had been presented to that commander by the King of Bantam, on the Hollander's relieving his capital, attacked by the Portuguese, in 1602.

It will be seen that the Maldive name of this fruit was Tāva-kārhī. The latter word is 'coco-nut,' but the meaning of tāva does not appear from any Maldive vocabulary. [The term is properly Tāva'karhi, 'the hard-shelled nut,' (Gray, on Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 231).] Rumphius states that a book in 4to (totum opusculum) was published on this nut, at Amsterdam in 1634, by Augerius Clutius, M.D. [In more recent times the nut has become famous as the subject of curious speculations regarding it by the late Gen. Gordon.]

1522.—"They also related to us that beyond Java Major ... there is an enormous tree named Campanganghi, in which dwell certain birds named Garuda, so large that they take with their claws, and carry away flying, a buffalo and even an elephant, to the place of the tree.... The fruit of this tree is called Buapanganghi, and is larger than a water-melon ... it was understood that those fruits which are frequently found in the sea came from that place."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. p. 155.

1553.—"... it appears ... that in some places beneath the salt-water there grows another kind of these trees, which gives a fruit bigger than the coco-nut; and experience shows that the inner husk of this is much more efficacious against poison than the Bezoar stone."—Barros, III. iii. 7.

1563.—"The common story is that those islands were formerly part of the continent, but being low they were submerged, whilst these palm-trees continued in situ; and growing very old they produced such great and very hard coco-nuts, buried in the earth which is now covered by the sea.... When I learn anything in contradiction of this I will write to you in Portugal, and anything that I can discover here, if God grant me life; for I hope to learn all about the matter when, please God, I make my journey to Malabar. And you must know that these cocos come joined two in one, just like the hind quarters of an animal."—Garcia, f. 70-71.

1572.—

"Nas ilhas de Maldiva nasce a planta No profundo das aguas soberana, Cujo pomo contra o veneno urgente He tido por antidoto excellente." Camões, x. 136.

c. 1610.—"Il est ainsi d'vne certaine noix que la mer iette quelques fois à bord, qui est grosse comme la teste d'vn homme qu'on pourroit comparer à deux gros melons ioints ensemble. Ils la nom̃ent Tauarcarré, et ils tiennent que cela vient de quelques arbres qui sont sous la mer ... quand quelqu'vn deuient riche tout à coup et en peu de temps, on dit communement qu'il a trouué du Tauarcarré ou de l'ambre."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 163; [Hak. Soc. i. 230].

? 1650.—In Piso's Mantissa Aromatica, &c., there is a long dissertation, extending to 23 pp., De Tavarcare seu Nuce Medicâ Maldivensium.

1678.—"P.S. Pray remember y^e COQUER NUTT Shells (doubtless Coco-de-Mer) and long nulls (?) formerly desired for y^e Prince."—Letter from Dacca, quoted under CHOP.

c. 1680.—"Hic itaque CALAPPUS MARINUS[76] non est fructus terrestris qui casu in mare procidit ... uti Garcias ab Orta persuadere voluit, sed fructus est in ipso crescens mari, cujus arbor, quantum scio, hominum oculis ignota et occulta est."—Rumphius, Lib. xii. cap. 8.

1763.—"By Durbar charges paid for the following presents to the Nawab, as per Order of Consultation, the 14th October, 1762.

* * * * * 1 SEA COCOA NUT............Rs. 300 0 0." In Long, 308.

1777.—"Cocoa-nuts from the Maldives, or as they are called the ZEE CALAPPERS, are said to be annually brought hither (to Colombo) by certain messengers, and presented, among other things, to the Governor. The kernel of the fruit ... is looked upon here as a very efficacious antidote or a sovereign remedy against the Flux, the Epilepsy and Apoplexy. The inhabitants of the Maldives call it Tavarcare...."—Travels of Charles Peter Thunberg, M.D. (E.T.) iv. 209.

[1833.—"The most extraordinary and valuable production of these islands (Seychelles) is the COCO DO MAR, or Maldivia nut, a tree which, from its singular character, deserves particular mention...."—Owen, Narrative, ii. 166 seqq.]

1882.—"Two minor products obtained by the islanders from the sea require notice. These are ambergris (M. goma, mávaharu) and the so-called 'SEA-COCOANUT' (M. táva-kárhi) ... rated at so high a value in the estimation of the Maldive Sultans as to be retained as part of their royalties."—H. C. P. Bell (Ceylon C. S.), Report on the Maldive Islands, p. 87.

1883.—"... sailed straight into the COCO-DE-MER valley, my great object. Fancy a valley as big as old Hastings, quite full of the great yellow stars! It was almost too good to believe.... Dr. Hoad had a nut cut down for me. The outside husk is shaped like a mango.... It is the inner nut which is double. I ate some of the jelly from inside; there must have been enough to fill a soup-tureen—of the purest white, and not bad."—(Miss North) in Pall Mall Gazette, Jan. 21, 1884.

CODAVASCAM, n.p. A region with this puzzling name appears in the Map of Blaeu (c. 1650), and as Ryk van Codavascan in the Map of Bengal in Valentijn (vol. v.), to the E. of Chittagong. Wilford has some Wilfordian nonsense about it, connecting it with the Τοκοσάννα R. of Ptolemy, and with a Touascan which he says is mentioned by the "Portuguese writers" (in such case a criminal mode of expression). The name was really that of a Mahommedan chief, "hum Principe Mouro, grande Senhor," and "Vassalo del Rey de Bengála." It was probably "Khodābakhsh Khān." His territory must have been south of Chittagong, for one of his towns was Chacuriá, still known as Chakirīa on the Chittagong and Arakan Road, in lat. 21° 45′. (See Barros, IV. ii. 8. and IV. ix. 1; and Couto, IV. iv. 10; also Correa, iii. 264-266, and again as below):—

1533.—"But in the city there was the Rumi whose foist had been seized by Dimião Bernaldes; being a soldier (lascarym) of the King's, and seeing the present (offered by the Portuguese) he said: My lord, these are crafty robbers; they get into a country with their wares, and pretend to buy and sell, and make friendly gifts, whilst they go spying out the land and the people, and then come with an armed force to seize them, slaying and burning ... till they become masters of the land.... And this Captain-Major is the same that was made prisoner and ill-used by CODAVASCÃO in Chatigão, and he is come to take vengeance for the ill that was done him."—Correa, iii. 479.

COFFEE, s. Arab. ḳahwa, a word which appears to have been originally a term for wine.[77] [So in the Arab. Nights, ii. 158, where Burton gives the derivation as akhá, fastidire fecit, causing disinclination for food. In old days the scrupulous called coffee ḳihwah to distinguish it from ḳahwah, wine.] It is probable, therefore, that a somewhat similar word was twisted into this form by the usual propensity to strive after meaning. Indeed, the derivation of the name has been plausibly traced to Kaffa, one of those districts of the S. Abyssinian highlands (Enarea and Kaffa) which appear to have been the original habitat of the Coffee plant (Coffea arabica, L.); and if this is correct, then Coffee is nearer the original than Ḳahwa. On the other hand, Ḳahwa, or some form thereof, is in the earliest mentions appropriated to the drink, whilst some form of the word Bunn is that given to the plant, and Būn is the existing name of the plant in Shoa. This name is also that applied in Yemen to the coffee-berry. There is very fair evidence in Arabic literature that the use of coffee was introduced into Aden by a certain Sheikh Shihābuddīn Dhabḥānī, who had made acquaintance with it on the African coast, and who died in the year H. 875, i.e. A.D. 1470, so that the introduction may be put about the middle of the 15th century, a time consistent with the other negative and positive data.[78] From Yemen it spread to Mecca (where there arose after some years, in 1511, a crusade against its use as unlawful), to Cairo, to Damascus and Aleppo, and to Constantinople, where the first coffee-house was established in 1554. [It is said to have been introduced into S. India some two centuries ago by a Mahommedan pilgrim, named Bābā Būdan, who brought a few seeds with him from Mecca: see Grigg, Nilagiri Man. 483; Rice, Mysore, i. 162.] The first European mention of coffee seems to be by Rauwolff, who knew it in Aleppo in 1573. [See 1 ser. N. & Q. I. 25 seqq.] It is singular that in the Observations of Pierre Belon, who was in Egypt, 1546-49, full of intelligence and curious matter as they are, there is no indication of a knowledge of coffee.

1558.—Extrait du Livre intitulé: "Les Preuves le plus fortes en faveur de la legitimité de l'usage du Café (KAHWA); par le Scheikh Abd-Alkader Ansari Djézéri Hanbali, fils de Mohammed."—In De Sacy, Chrest. Arabe, 2nd ed. i. 412.

1573.—"Among the rest they have a very good Drink, by them called CHAUBE, that is almost black as Ink, and very good in Illness, chiefly that of the Stomach; of this they drink in the Morning early in open places before everybody, without any fear or regard, out of China cups, as hot as they can; they put it often to their Lips, but drink but little at a Time, and let it go round as they sit. In the same water they take a Fruit called Bunru, which in its Bigness, Shape, and Colour, is almost like unto a Bay-berry, with two thin Shells ... they agree in the Virtue, Figure, Looks, and Name with the Buncho of Avicen,[79] and Bancha of Rasis ad Almans. exactly; therefore I take them to be the same."—Rauwolff, 92.

c. 1580.—"Arborem vidi in viridario Halydei Turcae, cujus tu iconem nunc spectabis, ex qua semina illa ibi vulgatissima, Bon vel Ban appellata, producuntur; ex his tum Aegyptii tum Arabes parant decoctum vulgatissimum, quod vini loco ipsi potant, venditurque in publicis œnopoliis, non secus quod apud nos vinum: illique ipsum vocant CAOVA.... Avicenna de his seminibus meminit."[79]—Prosper Alpinus, ii. 36.

1598.—In a note on the use of tea in Japan, Dr. Paludanus says: "The Turkes holde almost the same mañer of drinking of their Chaona (read CHAOUA), which they make of a certaine fruit, which is like unto the Bakelaer,[80] and by the Egyptians called Bon or Ban; they take of this fruite one pound and a halfe, and roast them a little in the fire, and then sieth them in twentie poundes of water, till the half be consumed away; this drinke they take everie morning fasting in their chambers, out of an earthen pot, being verie hote, as we doe here drinke aqua composita in the morning; and they say that it strengtheneth them and maketh them warm, breaketh wind, and openeth any stopping."—In Linschoten, 46; [Hak. Soc. i. 157].

c. 1610.—"La boisson la plus commune c'est de l'eau, ou bien du vin de Cocos tiré le mesme iour. On en fait de deux autres sortes plus delicates; l'vne est chaude, composée de l'eau et de mièl de Cocos, avec quantité de poivre (dont ils vsent beaucoup en toutes leurs viandes, et ils le nomment Pasme) et d'vne autre graine appellée CAHOA...."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 128; [Hak. Soc. i. 172].

[1611.—"Buy some COHO pots and send me."—Danvers, Letters, i. 122; "COFFAO pots."—Ibid. i. 124.]

1615.—"They have in steed of it (wine) a certaine drinke called CAAHIETE as black as Inke, which they make with the barke of a tree(!) and drinke as hot as they can endure it."—Monfart, 28.

" "... passano tutto il resto della notte con mille feste e bagordi; e particolarmente in certi luoghi pubblici ... bevendo di quando in quando a sorsi (per chè è calda che cuoce) più d'uno scodellino di certa loro acqua nera, che chiamano CAHUE; la quale, nelle conversazioni serve a loro, appunto come a noi il giuoco dello sbaraglino" (i.e. backgammon).—P. della Valle (from Constant.), i. 51. See also pp. 74-76.

[ " "COHU, blake liquor taken as hotte as may be endured."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 32.]

1616.—"Many of the people there (in India), who are strict in their Religion, drink no Wine at all; but they use a Liquor more wholesome than pleasant, they call COFFEE; made by a black Seed boyld in water, which turnes it almost into the same colour, but doth very little alter the taste of the water (!): notwithstanding it is very good to help Digestion, to quicken the Spirits, and to cleanse the Blood."—Terry, ed. of 1665, p. 365.

1623.—"Turcae habent etiam in usu herbae genus quam vocant CAPHE ... quam dicunt haud parvum praestans illis vigorem, et in animas (sic) et in ingenio; quae tamen largius sumpta mentem movet et turbat...."—F. Bacon, Hist. Vitae et Mortis, 25.

c. 1628.—"They drink (in Persia) ... above all the rest, COHO or COPHA: by Turk and Arab called CAPHE and CAHUA: a drink imitating that in the Stigian lake, black, thick, and bitter: destrain'd from Bunchy, Bunnu, or Bay berries; wholsome they say, if hot, for it expels melancholy ... but not so much regarded for those good properties, as from a Romance that it was invented and brew'd by Gabriel ... to restore the decayed radical Moysture of kind hearted Mahomet...."—Sir T. Herbert, Travels, ed. 1638, p. 241.

[1631.—"CAVEAH." See quotation under TEA.]

c. 1637.—"There came in my time to the Coll. (Balliol) one Nathaniel Conopios out of Greece, from Cyril the Patriarch of Constantinople.... He was the first I ever saw drink COFFEE, which custom came not into England till 30 years after."—Evelyn's Diary, [May 10].

1673.—"Every one pays him their congratulations, and after a dish of COHO or Tea, mounting, accompany him to the Palace."—Fryer, 225.

" "Cependant on l'apporta le CAVÉ, le parfum, et le sorbet."—Journal d'Antoine Galland, ii. 124.

[1677.—"CAVE." See quotation under TEA.]

1690.—"For Tea and COFFEE which are judg'd the privileg'd Liquors of all the Mahometans, as well Turks, as those of Persia, India, and other parts of Arabia, are condemn'd by them (the Arabs of Muscatt) as unlawful Refreshments, and abominated as Bug-bear Liquors, as well as Wine."—Ovington, 427.

1726.—"A certain gentleman, M. Paschius, maintains in his Latin work published at Leipzig in 1700, that the parched corn (1 Sam. xxv. 18) which Abigail presented with other things to David, to appease his wrath, was nought else but COFFI-beans."—Valentijn, v. 192.

COIMBATORE, n.p. Name of a District and town in the Madras Presidency. Koyammutūru; [Kōni, the local goddess so called, muttu, 'pearl,' ūr, 'village'].

COIR, s. The fibre of the coco-nut husk, from which rope is made. But properly the word, which is Tam. kayiru, Malayāl. kāyar, from v. kāyāṛu, 'to be twisted,' means 'cord' itself (see the accurate Al-Birūnī below). The former use among Europeans is very early. And both the fibre and the rope made from it appear to have been exported to Europe in the middle of the 16th century. The word appears in early Arabic writers in the forms ḳānbar and ḳanbār, arising probably from some misreading of the diacritical points (for ḳāiyar, and ḳaiyār). The Portuguese adopted the word in the form cairo. The form coir seems to have been introduced by the English in the 18th century. [The N.E.D. gives coire in 1697; coir in 1779.] It was less likely to be used by the Portuguese because coiro in their language is 'leather.' And Barros (where quoted below) says allusively of the rope: "parece feito de coiro (leather) encolhendo e estendendo a vontade do mar," contracting and stretching with the movement of the sea.

c. 1030.—"The other islands are called Dīva Ḳanbār from the word ḲANBĀR signifying the cord plaited from the fibre of the coco-tree with which they stitch their ships together."—Al-Birūnī, in J. As., Ser. iv. tom. viii. 266.

c. 1346.—"They export ... cowries and KANBAR; the latter is the name which they give to the fibrous husk of the coco-nut.... They make of it twine to stitch together the planks of their ships, and the cordage is also exported to China, India, and Yemen. This ḳanbar is better than hemp."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 121.

1510.—"The Governor (Alboquerque) ... in Cananor devoted much care to the preparation of cables and rigging for the whole fleet, for what they had was all rotten from the rains in Goa River; ordering that all should be made of COIR (cairo), of which there was great abundance in Cananor; because a Moor called Mamalle, a chief trader there, held the whole trade of the Maldive islands by a contract with the kings of the isles ... so that this Moor came to be called the Lord of the Maldives, and that all the COIR that was used throughout India had to be bought from the hands of this Moor.... The Governor, learning this, sent for the said Moor, and ordered him to abandon this island trade and to recall his factors.... The Moor, not to lose such a profitable business, ... finally arranged with the Governor that the Isles should not be taken from him, and that he in return would furnish for the king 1000 bahars (barés) of coarse COIR, and 1000 more of fine COIR, each bahar weighing 4½ quintals; and this every year, and laid down at his own charges in Cananor and Cochym, gratis and free of all charge to the King (not being able to endure that the Portuguese should frequent the Isles at their pleasure)."—Correa, ii. 129-30.

1516.—"These islands make much cordage of palm-trees, which they call CAYRO."—Barbosa, 164.

c. 1530.—"They made ropes of COIR, which is a thread which the people of the country make of the husks which the coco-nuts have outside."—Correa, by Stanley, 133.

1553.—"They make much use of this CAIRO in place of nails; for as it has this quality of recovering its freshness and swelling in the sea-water, they stitch with it the planking of a ship's sides, and reckon them then very secure."—De Barros, Dec. III. liv. iii. cap. 7.

1563.—"The first rind is very tough, and from it is made CAIRO, so called by the Malabars and by us, from which is made the cord for the rigging of all kinds of vessels."—Garcia, f. 67_v_.

1582.—"The Dwellers therein are Moores; which trade to Sofala in great Ships that have no Decks, nor nailes, but are sowed with CAYRO."—Castañeda (by N. L.), f. 14_b_.

c. 1610.—"This revenue consists in ... CAIRO, which is the cord made of the coco-tree."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 172; [Hak. Soc. i. 250].

1673.—"They (the Surat people) have not only the CAIR-yarn made of the Cocoe for cordage, but good Flax and Hemp."—Fryer, 121.

c. 1690.—"Externus nucis cortex putamen ambiens, quum exsiccatus, et stupae similis ... dicitur ... Malabarice CAIRO, quod nomen ubique usurpatur ubi lingua Portugallica est in usu...."—Rumphius, i. 7.

1727.—"Of the Rind of the Nut they make CAYAR, which are the Fibres of the Cask that environs the Nut spun fit to make Cordage and Cables for Shipping."—A. Hamilton, i. 296; [ed. 1744, i. 298].

[1773.—"... these they call KIAR Yarns."—Ives, 457.]

COJA, s. P. khojah for khwājah, a respectful title applied to various classes: as in India especially to eunuchs; in Persia to wealthy merchants; in Turkistan to persons of sacred families.

c. 1343.—"The chief mosque (at Kaulam) is admirable; it was built by the merchant KHOJAH Muhaddhab."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 100.

[1590.—"HOGGIA." See quotation under TALISMAN.

[1615.—"The Governor of Suratt is displaced, and HOYJA Hassan in his room."—Foster, Letters, iv. 16.

[1708.—"This grave is made for HODGES Shaughsware, the chiefest servant to the King of Persia for twenty years...."—Inscription on the tomb of "Coya Shawsware, a Persin in St. Botolph's Churchyard, Bishopsgate," New View of London, p. 169.]

1786.—"I also beg to acquaint you I sent for Retafit Ali Khân, the COJAH who has the charge of (the women of Oudh Zenanah) who informs me it is well grounded that they have sold everything they had, even the clothes from their backs, and now have no means to subsist."—Capt. Jaques in Articles of Charge, &c., Burke, vii. 27.

1838.—"About a century back Khan KHOJAH, a Mohamedan ruler of Kashghar and Yarkand, eminent for his sanctity, having been driven from his dominions by the Chinese, took shelter in Badakhshan."—Wood's Oxus, ed. 1872, p. 161.

COLAO, s. Chin. koh-lao, 'Council Chamber Elders' (Bp. Moule). A title for a Chinese Minister of State, which frequently occurs in the Jesuit writers of the 17th century.

COLEROON, n.p. The chief mouth, or delta-branch, of the Kāveri River (see CAUVERY). It is a Portuguese corruption of the proper name Kŏḷḷiḍam, vulg. Kollaḍam. This name, from Tam. kŏl, 'to receive,' and 'iḍam,' 'place,' perhaps answers to the fact of this channel having been originally an escape formed at the construction of the great Tanjore irrigation works in the 11th century. In full flood the Coleroon is now, in places, nearly a mile wide, whilst the original stream of the Kāveri disappears before reaching the sea. Besides the etymology and the tradition, the absence of notice of the Coleroon in Ptolemy's Tables is (quantum valeat) an indication of its modern origin. As the sudden rise of floods in the rivers of the Coromandel coast often causes fatal accidents, there seems a curious popular tendency to connect the names of the rivers with this fact. Thus Kŏlliḍam, with the meaning that has been explained, has been commonly made into Kolliḍam, 'Killing-place.' [So the Madras Gloss. which connects the name with a tradition of the drowning of workmen when the Srirangam temple was built, but elsewhere (ii. 213) it is derived from Tam. koḷḷāyī, 'a breach in a bank.'] Thus also the two rivers Peṇṇar are popularly connected with piṇam, 'corpse.' Fra Paolino gives the name as properly Colárru, and as meaning 'the River of Wild Boars.' But his etymologies are often wild as the supposed Boars.

1553.—De Barros writes COLORAN, and speaks of it as a place (lugar) on the coast, not as a river.—Dec. I. liv. ix. cap. 1.

1672.—"From Trangebar one passes by Trinilivaas to COLDERON; here a Sandbank stretches into the sea which is very dangerous."—Baldaeus, 150. (He does not speak of it as a River either.)

c. 1713.—"Les deux Princes ... se liguèrent contre l'ennemi commun, à fin de le contraindre par la force des armes à rompre une digue si préjudiciable à leurs Etats. Ils faisoient déjà de grands préparatifs, lorsque le fleuve COLORAN vengea par lui-même (comme on s'exprimoit ici) l'affront que le Roi faisoit a ses eaux en les retenant captives."—Lettres Edifiantes, ed. 1781, xi. 180.

1753.—"... en doublant le Cap Callamedu, jusqu'à la branche du fleuve Caveri qui porte le nom de COLH-RAM, et dont l'embouchure est la plus septentrionale de celles du Caveri."—D'Anville, 115.

c. 1760.—"... the same river being written COLLARUM by M. la Croze, and Collodham by Mr. Ziegenbalg."—Grose, i. 281.

1761.—"Clive dislodged a strong body of the Nabob's troops, who had taken post at Sameavarem, a fort and temple situated on the river KALDERON."—Complete H. of the War in India, from 1749 to 1761 (Tract), p. 12.

1780.—"About 3 leagues north from the river Triminious [? Tirumullavāsel], is that of COLORAN. Mr. Michelson calls this river Danecotta."—Dunn, N. Directory, 138.

The same book has "COLORAN or COLDEROON."

1785.—"Sundah Saheb having thrown some of his wretched infantry into a temple, fortified according to the Indian method, upon the river KALDARON, Mr. Clive knew there was no danger in investing it."—Carraccioli's Life of Clive, i. 20.

COLLECTOR, s. The chief administrative official of an Indian Zillah or District. The special duty of the office is, as the name intimates, the Collection of Revenue; but in India generally, with the exception of Bengal Proper, the Collector, also holding controlling magisterial powers, has been a small pro-consul, or kind of préfet. This is, however, much modified of late years by the greater definition of powers, and subdivision of duties everywhere. The title was originally no doubt a translation of taḥṣīldār. It was introduced, with the office, under Warren Hastings, but the Collector's duties were not formally settled till 1793, when these appointments were reserved to members of the covenanted Civil Service.

1772.—"The Company having determined to stand forth as dewan, the Supervisors should now be designated COLLECTORS."—Reg. of 14th May, 1772.

1773.—"Do not laugh at the formality with which we have made a law to change their name from supervisors to COLLECTORS. You know full well how much the world's opinion is governed by names."—W. Hastings to Josias Dupre, in Gleig, i. 267.

1785.—"The numerous COLLECTORS with their assistants had hitherto enjoyed very moderate allowances from their employers."—Letter in Colebrooke's Life, p. 16.

1838.—"As soon as three or four of them get together they speak about nothing but 'employment' and 'promotion' ... and if left to themselves, they sit and conjugate the verb 'to collect': 'I am a COLLECTOR—He was a Collector—We shall be Collectors—You ought to be a Collector—They would have been Collectors.'"—Letters from Madras, 146.

1848.—"Yet she could not bring herself to suppose that the little grateful gentle governess would dare to look up to such a magnificent personage as the COLLECTOR of Boggleywallah."—Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. iv.

1871.—"There is no doubt a decay of discretionary administration throughout India ... it may be taken for granted that in earlier days COLLECTORS and Commissioners changed their rules far oftener than does the Legislature at present."—Maine, Village Communities, 214.

1876.—"These 'distinguished visitors' are becoming a frightful nuisance; they think that COLLECTORS and Judges have nothing to do but to act as their guides, and that Indian officials have so little work, and suffer so much from ennui, that even ordinary thanks for hospitality are unnecessary; they take it all as their right."—Ext. of a Letter from India.

COLLEGE-PHEASANT, s. An absurd enough corruption of kālij; the name in the Himālaya about Simla and Mussooree for the birds of the genus Gallophasis of Hodgson, intermediate between the pheasants and the Jungle-fowls. "The group is composed of at least three species, two being found in the Himalayas, and one in Assam, Chittagong and Arakan." (Jerdon).

[1880.—"These, with KALEGE pheasants, afforded me some very fair sport."—Ball, Jungle Life, 538.

[1882.—"Jungle-fowl were plentiful, as well as the black KHALEGE pheasant."—Sanderson, Thirteen Years among Wild Beasts, 147.]

COLLERY, CALLERY, &c. s. Properly Bengali khālāṛī, 'a salt-pan, or place for making salt.'

[1767.—"... rents of the COLLARIES, the fifteen Dees, and of Calcutta town, are none of them included in the estimation I have laid before you."—Verelst, View of Bengal, App. 223.]

1768.—"... the Collector-general be desired to obtain as exact an account as he possibly can, of the number of COLLERIES in the Calcutta purgunnehs."—In Carraccioli's L. of Clive, iv. 112.

COLLERY, n.p. The name given to a non-Aryan race inhabiting part of the country east of Madura. Tam. kallaṛ, 'thieves.' They are called in Nelson's Madura, [Pt. ii. 44 seqq.] Kallans; Kallan being the singular, Kallar plural.

1763.—"The Polygar Tondiman ... likewise sent 3000 COLLERIES; these are a people who, under several petty chiefs, inhabit the woods between Trichinopoly and Cape Comorin; their name in their own language signifies Thieves, and justly describes their general character."—Orme, i. 208.

c. 1785.—"COLLERIES, inhabitants of the woods under the Government of the Tondiman."—Carraccioli, Life of Clive, iv. 561.

1790.—"The country of the COLLERIES ... extends from the sea coast to the confines of Madura, in a range of sixty miles by fifty-five."—Cal. Monthly Register or India Repository, i. 7.

COLLERY-HORN, s. This is a long brass horn of hideous sound, which is often used at native funerals in the Peninsula, and has come to be called, absurdly enough, Cholera-horn!

[1832.—"Toorree or Toorrtooree, commonly designated by Europeans COLLERY HORN, consists of three pieces fixed into one another, of a semi-circular shape."—Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, ed. 1863, p. liv. App.]

1879.—"... an early start being necessary, a happy thought struck the Chief Commissioner, to have the Amildar's CHOLERA-HORN men out at that hour to sound the reveillé, making the round of the camp."—Madras Mail, Oct. 7.

COLLERY-STICK, s. This is a kind of throwing-stick or boomerang used by the COLLERIES.

1801.—"It was he first taught me to throw the spear, and hurl the COLLERY-STICK, a weapon scarcely known elsewhere, but in a skilful hand capable of being thrown to a certainty to any distance within 100 yards."—Welsh's Reminiscences, i. 130.

Nelson calls these weapons "Vallari Thadis or boomerangs."—Madura, Pt. ii. 44. [The proper form seems to be Tam. valai tādi, 'curved stick'; more usually Tam. kallardādi, tādi, 'stick.'] See also Sir Walter Elliot in J. Ethnol. Soc., N. S., i. 112, seq.

COLOMBO, n.p. Properly Kol̤umbu, the modern capital of Ceylon, but a place of considerable antiquity. The derivation is very uncertain; some suppose it to be connected with the adjoining river Kalani-gangi. The name Columbum, used in several medieval narratives, belongs not to this place but to Kaulam (see QUILON).

c. 1346.—"We started for the city of KALANBŪ, one of the finest and largest cities of the island of Serendīb. It is the residence of the Wazīr Lord of the Sea (Ḥākim-al-Bahr), Jālastī, who has with him about 500 Habshis."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 185.

1517.—"The next day was Thursday in Passion Week; and they, well remembering this, and inspired with valour, said to the King that in fighting the Moors they would be insensible to death, which they greatly desired rather than be slaves to the Moors.... There were not 40 men in all, whole and sound for battle. And one brave man made a cross on the tip of a cane, which he set in front for standard, saying that God was his Captain, and that was his Flag, under which they should march deliberately against COLUMBO, where the Moor was with his forces."—Correa, ii. 521.

1553.—"The King, Don Manuel, because ... he knew ... that the King of COLUMBO, who was the true Lord of the Cinnamon, desired to possess our peace and friendship, wrote to the said Affonso d'Alboquerque, who was in the island in person, that if he deemed it well, he should establish a fortress in the harbour of COLUMBO, so as to make sure the offers of the King."—Barros, Dec. III. liv. ii. cap. 2.

COLUMBO ROOT, CALUMBA ROOT, is stated by Milburn (1813) to be a staple export from Mozambique, being in great esteem as a remedy for dysentery, &c. It is Jateorhiza palmata, Miers; and the name Kalumb is of E. African origin (Hanbury and Flückiger, 23). [The N.E.D. takes it from COLOMBO, 'under a false impression that it was supplied from thence.'] The following quotation is in error as to the name:

c. 1779.—"RADIX COLOMBO ... derives its name from the town of Columbo, from whence it is sent with the ships to Europe (?); but it is well known that this root is neither found near Columba, nor upon the whole island of Ceylon...."—Thunberg, Travels, iv. 185.

1782.—"Any person having a quantity of fresh sound COLUMBIA ROOT to dispose of, will please direct a line...."—India Gazette, Aug. 24.

[1809.—"An Account of the Male Plant, which furnishes the Medicine generally called COLUMBO or COLOMBA Root."—Asiat. Res. x. 385 seqq.]

1850.—"Caoutchouc, or India-rubber, is found in abundance ... (near Tette) ... and CALUMBA-root is plentiful.... The India-rubber is made into balls for a game resembling 'fives,' and CALUMBA-root is said to be used as a mordant for certain colours, but not as a dye itself."—Livingstone, Expedition to the Zambezi, &c., p. 32.

COMAR, n.p. This name (Ar. al-Ḳumār), which appears often in the old Arab geographers, has been the subject of much confusion among modern commentators, and probably also among the Arabs themselves; some of the former (e.g. the late M. Reinaud) confounding it with C. Comorin, others with Kāmrūp (or Assam). The various indications, e.g. that it was on the continent, and facing the direction of Arabia, i.e. the west; that it produced most valuable aloes-wood; that it lay a day's voyage, or three days' voyage, west of Ṣanf or CHAMPA (q.v.), and from ten to twenty days' sail from Zābaj (or Java), together with the name, identify it with CAMBOJA, or Khmer, as the native name is (see Reinaud, Rel. des Arabes, i. 97, ii. 48, 49; Gildemeister, 156 seqq.; Ibn Batuta, iv. 240; Abulfeda, Cathay and the Way Thither, 519, 569). Even the sagacious De Orta is misled by the Arabs, and confounds alcomari with a product of Cape Comorin (see Colloquios, f. 120_v_.).

CÓMATY, s. Telug. and Canar. kōmati, 'a trader,' [said to be derived from Skt. go, 'eye,' mushṭi, 'fist,' from their vigilant habits]. This is a term used chiefly in the north of the Madras Presidency, and corresponding to CHETTY, [which the males assume as an affix].

1627.—"The next Tribe is there termed COMMITTY, and these are generally the Merchants of the Place who by themselves or their servants, travell into the Countrey, gathering up Callicoes from the weavers, and other commodities, which they sell againe in greater parcels."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 997.

[1679.—"There came to us the Factory this day a Dworfe an Indian of the COMITTE Cast, he was he said 30 years old ... we measured him by the rule 46 inches high, all his limbs and his body streight and equall proportioned, of comely face, his speech small equalling his stature...."—Streynsham Master, in Kistna Man. 142.

[1869.—"KOMATIS." See quotation under CHUCKLER.]

COMBACONUM, n.p., written Kumbakoṇam. Formerly the seat of the Chola dynasty. Col. Branfill gives, as the usual derivation, Skt. Kumbhakoṇa, 'brim of a water-pot'; [the Madras Gloss. Skt. kumbha, kona, 'lane'] and this form is given in Williams's Skt. Dict. as 'name of a town.' The fact that an idol in the Saiva temple at Combaconam is called Kumbheśvaram ('Lord of the water-pot') may possibly be a justification of this etymology. But see general remarks on S. Indian names in the Introduction.

COMBOY. A sort of skirt or kilt of white calico, worn by Singhalese of both sexes, much in the same way as the Malay SARONG. The derivation which Sir E. Tennent (Ceylon, i. 612, ii. 107) gives of the word is quite inadmissible. He finds that a Chinese author describes the people of Ceylon as wearing a cloth made of koo-pei, i.e. of cotton; and he assumes therefore that those people call their own dress by a Chinese name for cotton! The word, however, is not real Singhalese; and we can have no doubt that it is the proper name CAMBAY. Paños de Cãbaya are mentioned early as used in Ceylon (Castanheda, ii. 78), and Cambays by Forrest (Voyage to Mergui, 79). In the Government List of Native Words (Ceylon, 1869) the form used in the Island is actually Kambāya. A picture of the dress is given by Tennent (Ceylon, i. 612). It is now usually of white, but in mourning black is used.

1615.—"Tansho Samme, the Kinges kinsman, brought two pec. CAMBAIA cloth."—Cocks's Diary, i. 15.

[1674-5.—"CAMBAJA Brawles."—Invoice in Birdwood, Report on Old Recs., p. 42.]

1726.—In list of cloths purchased at Porto Novo are "CAMBAYEN."—Valentijn, Chorom. 10.

[1727.—"CAMBAYA Lungies." See quotation under LOONGHEE.]

COMMERCOLLY, n.p. A small but well-known town of Lower Bengal in the Nadiya District; properly Kumār-khālī ['Prince's Creek']. The name is familiar in connection with the feather trade (see ADJUTANT).

COMMISSIONER, s. In the Bengal and Bombay Presidencies this is a grade in the ordinary administrative hierarchy; it does not exist in Madras, but is found in the Punjab, Central Provinces, &c. The Commissioner is over a Division embracing several Districts or Zillahs, and stands between the Collectors and Magistrates of these Districts on the one side, and the Revenue Board (if there is one) and the Local Government on the other. In the Regulation Provinces he is always a member of the Covenanted Civil Service; in Non-Regulation Provinces he may be a military officer; and in these the District officers immediately under him are termed 'Deputy Commissioners.'

COMMISSIONER, CHIEF. A high official, governing a Province inferior to a Lieutenant-Governorship, in direct subordination to the Governor-General in Council. Thus the Punjab till 1859 was under a Chief Commissioner, as was Oudh till 1877 (and indeed, though the offices are united, the Lieut.-Governor of the N.W. Provinces holds also the title of Chief Commissioner of Oudh). The Central Provinces, Assam, and Burma are other examples of Provinces under Chief Commissioners.

COMORIN, CAPE, n.p. The extreme southern point of the Peninsula of India; a name of great antiquity. No doubt Wilson's explanation is perfectly correct; and the quotation from the Periplus corroborates it. He says: "Kumārī, ... a young girl, a princess; a name of the goddess Durgā, to whom a temple dedicated at the extremity of the Peninsula has long given to the adjacent cape and coast the name of Kumārī, corrupted to Comorin...." The Tamil pronunciation is Kumări.

c. 80-90.—"Another place follows called Κομὰρ, at which place is (* * *) and a port;[81] and here those who wish to consecrate the remainder of their life come and bathe, and there remain in celibacy. The same do women likewise. For it is related that the goddess there tarried a while and bathed."—Periplus, in Müller's Geog. Gr. Min. i. 300.

c. 150.—"Κομαρία ἄκρον καὶ πόλις."—Ptol. [viii. 1 § 9].

1298.—"COMARI is a country belonging to India, and there you may see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far."—Marco Polo, Bk. III. ch. 23.

c. 1330.—"The country called Ma'bar is said to commence at the Cape KUMHARI, a name applied both to a town and a mountain."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 185.

[1514.—"COMEDIS." See quotation under MALABAR.]

1572.—

"Ves corre a costa celebre Indiana Para o Sul até o cabo COMORI Ja chamado Cori, que Taprobana (Que ora he Ceilão) de fronte tem de si." Camões, v. 107.

Here Camões identifies the ancient Κῶρυ or Κῶλις with Comorin. These are in Ptolemy distinct, and his Kory appears to be the point of the Island of Rāmeśvaram from which the passage to Ceylon was shortest. This, as Kōlis, appears in various forms in other geographers as the extreme seaward point of India, and in the geographical poem of Dionysius it is described as towering to a stupendous height above the waves. Mela regards Colis as the turning point of the Indian coast, and even in Ptolemy's Tables his Kōry is further south than Komaria, and is the point of departure from which he discusses distances to the further East (see Ptolemy, Bk. I. capp. 13, 14; also see Bishop Caldwell's Comp. Grammar, Introd., p. 103). It is thus intelligible how comparative geographers of the 16th century identified Kōry with C. Comorin.

In 1864 the late venerated Bishop Cotton visited C. Comorin in company with two of his clergy (both now missionary bishops). He said that having bathed at Hardwār, one of the most northerly of Hindu sacred places, he should like to bathe at this, the most southerly. Each of the chaplains took one of the bishop's hands as they entered the surf, which was heavy; so heavy that his right-hand aid was torn from him, and had not the other been able to hold fast, Bishop Cotton could hardly have escaped.[82]

[1609.—"... very strong cloth and is called Cacha de COMOREE."—Danvers, Letters, i. 29.

[1767.—"The pagoda of the CUNNACOMARY belonging to Tinnevelly."—Treaty, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 117.]

1817.—

"... Lightly latticed in With odoriferous woods of COMORIN." Lalla Rookh, Mokanna.

This probably is derived from D'Herbelot, and involves a confusion often made between Comorin and COMAR—the land of aloes-wood.

COMOTAY, COMATY, n.p. This name appears prominently in some of the old maps of Bengal, e.g. that embraced in the Magni Mogolis Imperium of Blaeu's great Atlas (1645-50). It represents Kāmata, a State, and Kāmatapur, a city, of which most extensive remains exist in the territory of Koch Bihār in Eastern Bengal (see COOCH BEHAR). These are described by Dr. Francis Buchanan, in the book published by Montgomery Martin under the name of Eastern India (vol. iii. 426 seqq.). The city stood on the west bank of the River Darlā, which formed the defence on the east side, about 5 miles in extent. The whole circumference of the enclosure is estimated by Buchanan at 19 miles, the remainder being formed by a rampart which was (c. 1809) "in general about 130 feet in width at the base, and from 20 to 30 feet in perpendicular height."

1553.—"Within the limits in which we comprehend the kingdom of Bengala are those kingdoms subject to it ... lower down towards the sea the kingdom of COMOTAIJ."—Barros, IV. ix. 1.

[c. 1596.—"KAMTAH." See quotation under COOCH BEHAR.]

1873.—"During the 15th century, the tract north of Rangpúr was in the hands of the Rájahs of KÁMATA.... KÁMATA was invaded, about 1498 A.D., by Husain Sháh."—Blochmann, in J. As. Soc. Bengal, xiii. pt. i. 240.

COMPETITION-WALLAH, s. A hybrid of English and Hindustani, applied in modern Anglo-Indian colloquial to members of the Civil Service who have entered it by the competitive system first introduced in 1856. The phrase was probably the invention of one of the older or Haileybury members of the same service. These latter, whose nominations were due to interest, and who were bound together by the intimacies and esprit de corps of a common college, looked with some disfavour upon the children of Innovation. The name was readily taken up in India, but its familiarity in England is probably due in great part to the "Letters of a COMPETITION-WALA," written by one who had no real claim to the title, Sir G. O. Trevelyan, who was later on member for Hawick Burghs, Chief Secretary for Ireland, and author of the excellent Life of his uncle, Lord Macaulay.

The second portion of the word, wālā, is properly a Hindi adjectival affix, corresponding in a general way to the Latin -arius. Its usual employment as affix to a substantive makes it frequently denote "agent, doer, keeper, man, inhabitant, master, lord, possessor, owner," as Shakespear vainly tries to define it, and as in Anglo-Indian usage is popularly assumed to be its meaning. But this kind of denotation is incidental; there is no real limitation to such meaning. This is demonstrable from such phrases as Kābul-wālā ghoṛā, 'the Kabulian horse,' and from the common form of village nomenclature in the Panjāb, e.g. Mīr-Khān-wālā, Ganda-Singh-wālā, and so forth, implying the village established by Mir-Khan or Ganda-Singh. In the three immediately following quotations, the second and third exhibit a strictly idiomatic use of wālā, the first an incorrect English use of it.

1785.—

"Tho' then the Bostonians made such a fuss, Their example ought not to be followed by us, But I wish that a band of good Patriot-WALLAHS ..."—In Seton-Karr, i. 93.

" In this year Tippoo Sahib addresses a rude letter to the Nawāb of Shānūr (or Savanūr) as "The ShahnoorWÂLAH."—Select Letters of Tippoo, 184.

1814.—"Gungadhur Shastree is a person of great shrewdness and talent.... Though a very learned shastree, he affects to be quite an Englishman, walks fast, talks fast, interrupts and contradicts, and calls the Peshwa and his ministers 'old fools' and ... 'dam rascals.' He mixes English words with everything he says, and will say of some one (Holkar for instance): _Bhot tricks_WALLA tha, laiken barra akulkund, Kukhye tha, ('He was very tricky, but very sagacious; he was cock-eyed')."—Elphinstone, in Life, i. 276.

1853.—"'No, I'm a Suffolk-WALLA.'"—Oakfield, i. 66.

1864.—"The stories against the COMPETITION-WALLAHS, which are told and fondly believed by the Haileybury men, are all founded more or less on the want of savoir faire. A collection of these stories would be a curious proof of the credulity of the human mind on a question of class against class."—Trevelyan, p. 9.

1867.—"From a deficiency of civil servants ... it became necessary to seek reinforcements, not alone from Haileybury, ... but from new recruiting fields whence volunteers might be obtained ... under the pressure of necessity, such an exceptional measure was sanctioned by Parliament. Mr. Elliot, having been nominated as a candidate by Campbell Marjoribanks, was the first of the since celebrated list of the COMPETITION-WALLAHS."—Biog. Notice prefixed to vol. i. of Dowson's Ed. of Elliot's Historians of India, p. xxviii.

The exceptional arrangement alluded to in the preceding quotation was authorised by 7 Geo. IV. cap. 56. But it did not involve competition; it only authorised a system by which writerships could be given to young men who had not been at Haileybury College, on their passing certain test examinations, and they were ranked according to their merit in passing such examinations, but below the writers who had left Haileybury at the preceding half-yearly examination. The first examination under this system was held 29th March, 1827, and Sir H. M. Elliot headed the list. The system continued in force for five years, the last examination being held in April, 1832. In all 83 civilians were nominated in this way, and, among other well-known names, the list included H. Torrens, Sir H. B. Harington, Sir R. Montgomery, Sir J. Cracroft Wilson, Sir T. Pycroft, W. Tayler, the Hon. E. Drummond.

1878.—"The COMPETITION-WALLAH, at home on leave or retirement, dins perpetually into our ears the greatness of India.... We are asked to feel awestruck and humbled at the fact that Bengal alone has 66 millions of inhabitants. We are invited to experience an awful thrill of sublimity when we learn that the area of Madras far exceeds that of the United Kingdom."—Sat. Rev., June 15, p. 750.

COMPOUND, s. The enclosed ground, whether garden or waste, which surrounds an Anglo-Indian house. Various derivations have been suggested for this word, but its history is very obscure. The following are the principal suggestions that have been made:—[83]

(a.) That it is a corruption of some supposed Portuguese word.

(b.) That it is a corruption of the French campagne.

(c.) That it is a corruption of the Malay word kampung, as first (we believe) indicated by Mr. John Crawfurd.

(A.) The Portuguese origin is assumed by Bishop Heber in passages quoted below. In one he derives it from campaña (for which, in modern Portuguese at least, we should read campanha); but campanha is not used in such a sense. It seems to be used only for 'a campaign,' or for the Roman Campagna. In the other passage he derives it from campao (sic), but there is no such word.

It is also alleged by Sir Emerson Tennent (infra), who suggests campinho; but this, meaning 'a small plain,' is not used for compound. Neither is the latter word, nor any word suggestive of it, used among the Indo-Portuguese.

In the early Portuguese histories of India (e.g. Castanheda, iii. 436, 442; vi. 3) the words used for what we term compound, are jardim, patio, horta. An examination of all the passages of the Indo-Portuguese Bible, where the word might be expected to occur, affords only horta.

There is a use of campo by the Italian Capuchin P. Vincenzo Maria (Roma, 1672), which we thought at first to be analogous: "Gionti alla porta della città (Aleppo) ... arrivati al Campo de' Francesi; doue è la Dogana...." (p. 475). We find also in Rauwolff's Travels (c. 1573), as published in English by the famous John Ray: "Each of these nations (at Aleppo) have their peculiar Champ to themselves, commonly named after the Master that built it...."; and again: "When ... the Turks have washed and cleansed themselves, they go into their Chappells, which are in the Middle of their great Camps or Carvatschars...." (p. 84 and p. 259 of Ray's 2nd edition). This use of Campo, and Champ, has a curious kind of analogy to compound, but it is probably only a translation of Maidān or some such Oriental word.

(B.) As regards campagne, which once commended itself as probable, it must be observed that nothing like the required sense is found among the seven or eight classes of meaning assigned to the word in Littré.

The word campo again in the Portuguese of the 16th century seems to mean always, or nearly always, a camp. We have found only one instance in those writers of its use with a meaning in the least suggestive of compound, but in this its real meaning is 'site': "queymou a cidade toda ate não ficar mais que ho campo em que estevera." ("They burned the whole city till nothing remained but the site on which it stood"—Castanheda, vi. 130). There is a special use of campo by the Portuguese in the Further East, alluded to in the quotation from Pallegoix's Siam, but that we shall see to be only a representation of the Malay Kampung. We shall come back upon it. [See quotation from Correa, with note, under FACTORY.]

(C.) The objection raised to kampung as the origin of compound is chiefly that the former word is not so used in Java by either Dutch or natives, and the author of Max Havelaar expresses doubt if compound is a Malay or Javanese word at all (pp. 360-361). Erf is the usual word among the Dutch. In Java kampung seems to be used only for a native village, or for a particular ward or quarter of a town.

But it is impossible to doubt that among the English in our Malay settlements COMPOUND is used in this sense in speaking English, and kampung in speaking Malay. Kampung is also used by the Malays themselves, in our settlements, in this sense. All the modern dictionaries that we have consulted give this sense among others. The old Dictionarium Malaico-Latinum of David Haex (Romae, 1631) is a little vague:

"CAMPON, coniunctio, vel conuentus. Hinc viciniae et parua loca, campon etiam appellantur."

Crawfurd (1852): "KAMPUNG ... an enclosure, a space fenced in; a village; a quarter or subdivision of a town."

Favre (1875): "Maison avec un terrain qui l'entoure."

Pijnappel (1875), Maleisch-Hollandisch Woordenboek: "KAMPOENG—Omheind Erf, Wijk, Buurt, Kamp," i.e. "Ground hedged round, village, hamlet, camp."

And also, let it be noted, the Javanese Dict. of P. Jansz (Javaansch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek, Samarang, 1876): "KAMPOENG—Omheind erf van Woningen; wijk die onder een hoofd staat," i.e. "Enclosed ground of dwellings; village which is under one Headman."

Marre, in his Kata-Kata Malayou (Paris, 1875), gives the following expanded definition: "Village palissadé, ou, dans une ville, quartier séparé et généralement clos, occupé par des gens de même nation, Malays, Siamois, Chinois, Bouguis, &c. Ce mot signifie proprement un enclos, une enciente, et par extension quartier clos, faubourg, ou village palissadé. Le mot Kampong désigne parfois aussi une maison d'une certaine importance avec le terrain clos qui en dépend, et qui l'entoure" (p. 95).

We take Marsden last (Malay Dictionary, 1812) because he gives an illustration: "KAMPONG, an enclosure, a place surrounded with a paling; a fenced or fortified village; a quarter, district, or suburb of a city; a collection of buildings. Mem-bûat [to make] rumah [house] serta dañgan [together with] KAMPONG-nia [compound thereof], to erect a house with its enclosure ... Ber-Kampong, to assemble, come together; meñgampong, to collect, to bring together." The Reverse Dictionary gives: "YARD, alaman, KAMPONG." [See also many further references much to the same effect in Scott, Malayan Words, p. 123 seqq.]

In a Malay poem given in the Journal of the Ind. Archipelago, vol i. p. 44, we have these words:—

"Trúsláh ka KAMPONG s'orange Saudágar."

["Passed to the kampong of a Merchant."]

and

"Titáh bágindú rajá sultání KÁMPONG śiápá garángun íní."

["Thus said the Prince, the Raja Sultani, Whose kampong may this be?"]

These explanations and illustrations render it almost unnecessary to add in corroboration that a friend who held office in the Straits for twenty years assures us that the word KAMPUNG is habitually used, in the Malay there spoken, as the equivalent of the Indian COMPOUND. If this was the case 150 years ago in the English settlements at Bencoolen and elsewhere (and we know from Marsden that it was so 100 years ago), it does not matter whether such a use of kampung was correct or not, compound will have been a natural corruption of it. Mr. E. C. Baber, who lately spent some time in our Malay settlements on his way from China, tells me (H. Y.) that the frequency with which he heard kampung applied to the 'compound,' convinced him of this etymology, which he had before doubted greatly.

It is not difficult to suppose that the word, if its use originated in our Malay factories and settlements, should have spread to the continental Presidencies, and so over India.

Our factories in the Archipelago were older than any of our settlements in India Proper. The factors and writers were frequently moved about, and it is conceivable that a word so much wanted (for no English word now in use does express the idea satisfactorily) should have found ready acceptance. In fact the word, from like causes, has spread to the ports of China and to the missionary and mercantile stations in tropical Africa, East and West, and in Madagascar.

But it may be observed that it was possible that the word kampung was itself originally a corruption of the Port. campo, taking the meaning first of camp, and thence of an enclosed area, or rather that in some less definable way the two words reacted on each other. The Chinese quarter at Batavia—Kampong Tzina—is commonly called in Dutch 'het Chinesche Kamp' or 'het Kamp der Chinezen.' Kampung was used at Portuguese Malacca in this way at least 270 years ago, as the quotation from Godinho de Eredia shows. The earliest Anglo-Indian example of the word COMPOUND is that of 1679 (below). In a quotation from Dampier (1688) under COT, where compound would come in naturally, he says 'yard.'

1613.—(At Malacca). "And this settlement is divided into 2 parishes, S. Thomé and S. Stephen, and that part of S. Thomé called CAMPON Chelim extends from the shore of the Jaos bazar to N.W., terminating at the Stone Bastion; and in this dwell the Chelis of Coromandel.... And the other part of S. Stephen's, called CAMPON China, extends from the said shore of the Jaos Bazar, and mouth of the river to the N.E., ... and in this part, called CAMPON China, dwell the Chincheos ... and foreign traders, and native fishermen."—Godinho de Eredia, i. 6. In the plans given by this writer, we find different parts of the city marked accordingly, as CAMPON Chelim, CAMPON China, CAMPON Bendara (the quarter where the native magistrate, the BENDĀRA lived). [See also CHELING and CAMPOO.]

1679.—(At Pollicull near Madapollam), "There the Dutch have a Factory of a large COMPOUNDE, where they dye much blew cloth, having above 300 jars set in the ground for that work; also they make many of their best paintings there."—Fort St. Geo. Consns. (on Tour), April 14. In Notes and Extracts, Madras, 1871.

1696.—"The 27th we began to unlade, and come to their custom-houses, of which there are three, in a square COMPOUND of about 100 paces over each way.... The goods being brought and set in two Rows in the middle of the square are one by one opened before the Mandareens."—Mr. Bowyear's Journal at Cochin China, dated Foy-Foe, April 30. Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 79.

1772.—"YARD (before or behind a house), Aungâun. Commonly called a COMPOUND."—Vocabulary in Hadley's Grammar, 129. (See under MOORS.)

1781.—

"In common usage here a chit Serves for our business or our wit. Bankshal's a place to lodge our ropes, And Mango orchards all are Topes. Godown usurps the ware-house place, COMPOUND denotes each walled space. To Dufterkhanna, Ottor, Tanks, The English language owes no thanks; Since Office, Essence, Fish-pond shew We need not words so harsh and new. Much more I could such words expose, But Ghauts and Dawks the list shall close; Which in plain English is no more Than Wharf and Post expressed before." India Gazette, March 3.

" "... will be sold by Public Auction ... all that Brick Dwelling-house, Godowns, and COMPOUND."—Ibid., April 21.

1788.—"COMPOUND—The court-yard belonging to a house. A corrupt word."—The Indian Vocabulary, London, Stockdale.

1793.—"To be sold by Public Outcry ... the House, Out Houses, and COMPOUND," &c.—Bombay Courier, Nov. 2.

1810.—"The houses (at Madras) are usually surrounded by a field or COMPOUND, with a few trees or shrubs, but it is with incredible pains that flowers or fruit are raised."—Maria Graham, 124.

" "When I entered the great gates, and looked around for my palankeen ... and when I beheld the beauty and extent of the COMPOUND ... I thought that I was no longer in the world that I had left in the East."—An Account of Bengal, and of a Visit to Government House (at Calcutta) by Ibrahim the son of Candu the Merchant, ibid. p. 198. This is a Malay narrative translated by Dr. Leyden. Very probably the word translated COMPOUND was kampung, but that cannot be ascertained.

1811.—"Major Yule's attack was equally spirited, but after routing the enemy's force at CAMPONG Malayo, and killing many of them, he found the bridge on fire, and was unable to penetrate further."—Sir S. Auchmuty's Report of the Capture of Fort Cornelis.

c. 1817.—"When they got into the COMPOUND, they saw all the ladies and gentlemen in the verandah waiting."—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, ed. 1863, p. 6.

1824.—"He then proceeded to the rear COMPOUND of the house, returned, and said, 'It is a tiger, sir.'"—Seely, Wonders of Ellora, ch. i.

" "... The large and handsome edifices of Garden Reach, each standing by itself in a little woody lawn (a 'COMPOUND' they call it here, by an easy corruption from the Portuguese word campaña ...)."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 28.

1848.—"Lady O'Dowd, too, had gone to her bed in the nuptial chamber, on the ground floor, and had tucked her mosquito curtains round her fair form, when the guard at the gates of the commanding officer's COMPOUND beheld Major Dobbin, in the moonlight, rushing towards the house with a swift step."—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, ii. 93.

1860.—"Even amongst the English, the number of Portuguese terms in daily use is remarkable. The grounds attached to a house are its 'COMPOUND,' campinho."—Emerson Tennent, Ceylon, ii. 70.

[1869.—"I obtained the use of a good-sized house in the CAMPONG Sirani (or Christian village)."—Wallace, Malay Archip., ed. 1890, p. 256.]

We have found this word singularly transformed in a passage extracted from a modern novel:

1877.—"When the Rebellion broke out at other stations in India, I left our own COMPOST."—Sat. Review, Feb. 3, p. 148.

A little learning is a dangerous thing!

The following shows the adoption of the word in West Africa.

1880.—From West Afr. Mission, Port Lokkoh, Mr. A. Burchaell writes: "Every evening we go out visiting and preaching the Gospel to our Timneh friends in their COMPOUNDS."—Proceedings of C. M. Society for 1878-9, p. 14.

COMPRADORE, COMPODORE, &c., s. Port. comprador, 'purchaser,' from comprar, 'to purchase.' This word was formerly in use in Bengal, where it is now quite obsolete; but it is perhaps still remembered in Madras, and it is common in China. In Madras the compradore is (or was) a kind of house-steward, who keeps the household accounts, and purchases necessaries. In China he is much the same as a BUTLER (q.v.). A new building was to be erected on the Bund at Shanghai, and Sir T. Wade was asked his opinion as to what style of architecture should be adopted. He at once said that for Shanghai, a great Chinese commercial centre, it ought to be COMPRADORIC!

1533.—"Antonio da Silva kept his own counsel about the (threat of) war, because during the delay caused by the exchange of messages, he was all the time buying and selling by means of his COMPRADORES."—Correa, iii. 562.

1615.—"I understand that yesterday the Hollanders cut a slave of theirs a-peeces for theft, per order of justice, and thrust their COMPRADOR (or cats buyer) out of dores for a lecherous knave...."—Cocks's Diary, i. 19.

1711.—"Every Factory had formerly a COMPRADORE, whose Business it was to buy in Provisions and other Necessarys. But the Hoppos have made them all such Knaves...."—Lockyer, 108.

[1748.—"COMPRADORES." See quotation under BANKSHALL.]

1754.—"COMPIDORE. The office of this servant is to go to market and bring home small things, such as fruit, &c."—Ives, 50.

1760-1810.—"All river-pilots and ships' COMPRADORES must be registered at the office of the Tung-che at Macao."—'Eight Regulations,' from the Fankwae at Canton (1882), p. 28.

1782.—"Le COMPRADOR est celui qui fournit généralement tout ce dont on a besoin, excepté les objets de cargaison; il y en a un pour chaque Nation: il approvisionne la loge, et tient sous lui plusieurs commis chargés de la fourniture des vaisseaux."—Sonnerat (ed. 1782), ii. 236.

1785.—"COMPUDOUR ... Sicca Rs. 3."—In Seton-Karr, i. 107 (Table of Wages).

1810.—"The COMPADORE, or Kurz-burdar, or Butler-Konnah-Sircar, are all designations for the same individual, who acts as purveyor.... This servant may be considered as appertaining to the order of sircars, of which he should possess all the cunning."—Williamson, V. M. i. 270.

See SIRCAR. The obsolete term Kurz-burdar above represents Kharach-bardār "in charge of (daily) expenditure."

1840.—"About 10 days ago ... the Chinese, having kidnapped our COMPENDOR, Parties were sent out to endeavour to recover him."—Mem. Col. Mountain, 164.

1876.—"We speak chiefly of the educated classes, and not of 'boys' and COMPRADORES, who learn in a short time both to touch their caps, and wipe their noses in their masters' pocket-handkerchiefs."—Giles, Chinese Sketches, [p. 15].

1876.—

"An' Massa Coe feel velly sore An' go an' scold he COMPRADORE." Leland, Pidgin English Sing-Song, 26.

1882.—"The most important Chinese within the Factory was the COMPRADORE ... all Chinese employed in any factory, whether as his own 'pursers,' or in the capacity of servants, cooks, or coolies, were the COMPRADORE'S own people."—The Fankwae, p. 53.

CONBALINGUA, s. The common pumpkin, [cucurbita pepo. The word comes from the Malayāl., Tel. or Can. kumbalam; kumbalanu, the pumpkin].

1510.—"I saw another kind of fruit which resembled a pumpkin in colour, is two spans in length, and has more than three fingers of pulp ... and it is a very curious thing, and it is called COMOLANGA, and grows on the ground like melons."—Varthema, 161.

[1554.—"CONBALINGUAS." See quotation under BRINJAUL.]

[c. 1610.—Couto gives a tradition of the origin of the kingdom of Pegu, from a fisherman who was born of a certain flower; "they also say that his wife was born of a COMBALENGA, which is an apple (pomo) very common in India of which they make several kinds of preserve, so cold that it is used in place of sugar of roses; and they are of the size and fashion of large melons; and there are some so large that it would be as much as a lad could do to lift one by himself. This apple the Pegús call Sapua."—Dec. xii. liv. v. cap. iii.]

c. 1690.—"In Indiae insulis quaedam quoque Cucurbitae et Cucumeris reperiuntur species ab Europaeis diversae ... harumque nobilissima est COMOLINGA, quae maxima est species Indicarum cucurbitarum."—Rumphius, Herb. Amb. v. 395.

CONCAN, n.p. Skt. konkaṇa, [Tam. konkaṇam], the former in the Pauranic lists the name of a people; Hind. Konkan and Kokan. The low country of Western India between the Ghauts and the sea, extending, roughly speaking, from Goa northward to Guzerat. But the modern Commissionership, or Civil Division, embraces also North Canara (south of Goa). In medieval writings we find frequently, by a common Asiatic fashion of coupling names, Kokan- or Konkan-Tana; TANA having been a chief place and port of Konkan.

c. 70 A.D.—The COCONDAE of Pliny are perhaps the Konkaṇas.

404.—"In the south are Ceylon (Lankâ) ... KONKAN ..." &c.—Bṛhat Saṅhita, in J.R.A.S., N.S. v. 83.

c. 1300.—"Beyond Guzerat are KONKAN and Tána; beyond them the country of Malíbár."—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 68.

c. 1335.—"When he heard of the Sultan's death he fled to a Kafir prince called Burabra, who lived in the inaccessible mountains between Daulatabad and KŪKAN-Tāna."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 335.

c. 1350.—In the Portulano Mediceo in the Laurentian Library we have 'COCIN_tana_,' and in the Catalan Map of 1375 'COCIN_taya_.'

1553.—"And as from the Ghauts (Gate) to the Sea, on the west of the Decan, all that strip is called CONCAN, so also from the Ghauts to the Sea, on the West of Canara (leaving out those forty and six leagues just spoken of, which are also parts of this same Canara), that strip which extends to Cape Comorin ... is called Malabar...."—Barros, I. ix. 1.

[1563.—"CUNCAM." See quotation under GHAUT.]

1726.—"The kingdom of this Prince is commonly called Visiapoer, after its capital, ... but it is properly called CUNKAN."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte), 243; [also see under DECCAN].

c. 1732.—"Goa, in the Adel Sháhi KOKAN."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 211.

1804.—"I have received your letter of the 28th, upon the subject of the landing of 3 French officers in the KONKAN; and I have taken measures to have them arrested."—Wellington, iii. 33.

1813.—"... CONCAN or COKUN ..."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 189; [2nd ed. i. 102].

1819.—Mr. W. Erskine, in his Account of Elephanta, writes KOKAN.—Tr. Lit. Soc. Bomb., i. 249.

CONFIRMED, p. Applied to an officer whose hold of an appointment is made permanent. In the Bengal Presidency the popular term is PUCKA; (q.v.); (also see CUTCHA).

[1805.—"It appears not unlikely that the Government and the Company may CONFIRM Sir G. Barlow in the station to which he has succeeded...."—In L. of Colebrooke, 223.]

1886.—"... one Marsden, who has paid his addresses to my daughter—a young man in the Public Works, who (would you believe it, Mr. Cholmondeley?) has not even been CONFIRMED.

"Cholm. The young heathen!"—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, p. 220.

CONGEE, s. In use all over India for the water in which rice has been boiled. The article being used as one of invalid diet, the word is sometimes applied to such slops generally. Congee also forms the usual starch of Indian washermen. [A conjee-cap was a sort of starched night-cap, and Mr. Draper, the husband of Sterne's Eliza, had it put on by Mrs. Draper's rival when he took his afternoon nap. (Douglas, Glimpses of Old Bombay, pp. 86, 201.)] It is from the Tamil kanjī, 'boilings.' Congee is known to Horace, though reckoned, it would seem, so costly a remedy that the miser patient would as lief die as be plundered to the extent implied in its use:

"... Hunc medicus multum celer atque fidelis Excitat hoc pacto ... ... 'Agedum; sume hoc ptisanarium Oryzae.' 'Quanti emptae?' 'Parvo.' 'Quanti ergo.' 'Octussibus.' 'Eheu! Quid refert, morbo, an furtis pereamve rapinis?'" Sat. II. iii. 147 seqq.

c. A.D. 70.—(Indi) "maxime quidem ORYZA gaudent, ex qua TISANAM conficiunt quam reliqui mortales ex hordeo."—Pliny, xviii. § 13.

1563.—"They give him to drink the water squeezed out of rice with pepper and cummin (which they call CANJE)."—Garcia, f. 76_b_.

1578.—"... CANJU, which is the water from the boiling of rice, keeping it first for some hours till it becomes acid...."—Acosta, Tractado, 56.

1631.—"Potus quotidianus itaque sit decoctum oryzae quod CANDGIE Indi vocant."—Jac. Bontii, Lib. II. cap. iii.

1672.—"... la CANGIA, ordinaria colatione degl' Indiani ... quale colano del riso mal cotto."—P. Vinc. Maria, 3rd ed., 379.

1673.—"They have ... a great smooth Stone on which they beat their Cloaths till clean; and if for Family use, starch them with CONGEE."—Fryer, 200.

1680.—"Le dejeûné des noirs est ordinairement du CANGÉ, qui est une eau de ris epaisse."—Dellon, Inquisition at Goa, 136.

1796.—"CAGNI, boiled rice water, which the Europeans call CANGI, is given free of all expenses, in order that the traveller may quench his thirst with a cooling and wholesome beverage."—P. Paulinus, Voyage, p. 70.

"Can't drink as it is hot, and can't throw away as it is KANJI."—Ceylon Proverb, Ind. Ant. i. 59.

CONGEE-HOUSE, CONJEE-HOUSE, s. The 'cells' (or temporary lock-up) of a regiment in India; so called from the traditionary regimen of the inmates; [in N. India commonly applied to a cattle-pound].

1835.—"All men confined for drunkenness should, if possible, be confined by themselves in the CONGEE-HOUSE, till sober."—G. O., quoted in Mawson's Records of the Indian Command of Sir C. Napier, 101 note.

CONGEVERAM, n.p. An ancient and holy city of S. India, 46 m. S.W. of Madras. It is called Kachchi in Tamil literature, and Kachchipuram is probably represented by the modern name. [The Madras Gloss. gives the indigenous name as Cutchy (Kachchi), meaning 'the heart-leaved moon-seed plant,' tinospera cordifolia, from which the Skt. name Kanchipura, 'shining city,' is corrupted.]

c. 1030.—See KANCHI in Al-Birūnī, under MALABAR.

1531.—"Some of them said that the whole history of the Holy House (of St. Thomas) was written in the house of the Pagoda which is called CAMJEVERÃO, twenty leagues distant from the Holy House, of which I will tell you hereafter...."—Correa, iii. 424.

1680.—"Upon a report that Podela Lingapa had put a stop to all the Dutch business of Policat under his government, the agent sent Braminy spys to CONJEE VORAM and to Policat."—Ft. St. Geo. Cons. Aug. 30. In Notes and Exts. No. iii. 32.

CONGO-BUNDER, CONG, n.p. Kung bandar; a port formerly of some consequence and trade, on the north shore of the Persian Gulf, about 100 m. west of Gombroon. The Portuguese had a factory here for a good many years after their expulsion from Ormus, and under treaty with Persia, made in 1625, had a right of pearl-fishing at Bahrein and a claim to half of the customs of Cong. These claims seem to have been gradually disregarded, and to have had no effect after about 1670, though the Portuguese would appear to have still kept up some pretext of monopoly of rights there in 1677 (see Chardin, ed. 1735, i. 348, and Bruce's Annals of the E.I.C., iii. 393). Some confusion is created by the circumstance that there is another place on the same coast, called Kongūn, which possessed a good many vessels up to 1859, when it was destroyed by a neighbouring chief (see Stiffe's P. Gulf Pilot, 128). And this place is indicated by A. Hamilton (below) as the great mart for Bahrein pearls, which Fryer and others assign to what is evidently Cong.

1652.—"Near to the place where the Euphrates falls from Balsara [see BALSORA] into the Sea, there is a little Island, where the Barques generally come to an Anchor.... There we stay'd four days, whence to Bandar-CONGO it is 14 days Sail.... This place would be a far better habitation for the Merchants than Ormus, where it is very unwholsom and dangerous to live. But that which hinders the Trade from Bandar-CONGO is, because the Road to Lar is so bad.... The 30th, we hir'd a Vessel for Bander-Abassi, and after 3 or 4 hours Sailing we put into a Village ... in the Island of Keckmishe" (see KISHM).—Tavernier, E.T. i. 94.

1653.—"CONGUE est vne petite ville fort agreable sur le sein Persique à trois journées du Bandar Abbassi tirant à l'Ouest dominée par le Schah ... les Portugais y ont vn Feitour (see FACTOR) qui prend la moitié de la Doüane, et donne la permission aux barques de nauiger, en luy payant vn certain droit, parceque toutes ces mers sont tributaires de la generalité de Mascati, qui est à l'entrée du sein Persique.... Cette ville est peuplée d'Arabes, de Parsis et d'Indous qui ont leur Pagodes et leur Saincts hors la ville."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 284.

1677.—"A Voyage to CONGO for Pearl.—Two days after our Arrival at Gombroon, I went to CONGO.... At noon we came to Bassatu (see BASSADORE), an old ruined Town of the Portugals, fronting CONGO.... CONGO is something better built than Gombroon, and has some small Advantage of the Air" (Then goes off about pearls).—Fryer, 320.

1683.—"One Haggerston taken by ye said President into his Service, was run away with a considerable quantity of Gold and Pearle, to ye amount of 30,000 Rupees, intrusted to him at Bussera (see BALSORA) and CONG, to bring to Surrat, to save Freight and Custom."—Hedges, Diary, i. 96 seq.

1685.—"May 27.—This afternoon it pleased God to bring us in safety to CONG Road. I went ashore immediately to Mr. Brough's house (Supra Cargo of ye Siam Merchant), and lay there all night."—Ibid. i. 202.

1727.—"Congoun stands on the South side of a large River, and makes a pretty good figure in Trade; for most of the Pearl that are caught at Bareen, on the Arabian Side, are brought hither for a Market, and many fine Horses are sent thence to India, where they generally sell well.... The next maritim town, down the Gulf, is CONG, where the Portuguese lately had a Factory, but of no great Figure in Trade, tho' that Town has a small Trade with Banyans and Moors from India." (Here the first place is Kongun, the second one Kung).—A. Hamilton, i. 92 seq.; [ed. 1744].

CONICOPOLY, s. Literally 'Account-Man,' from Tam. kanakka, 'account' or 'writing,' and piḷḷai, 'child' or 'person.' ["The Kanakar are usually addressed as 'Pillay,' a title of respect common to them and the agricultural and shepherd castes" (Madras Man. ii. 229).] In Madras, a native clerk or writer, [in particular a shipping clerk. The corresponding Tel. term is CURNUM].

1544.—"Duc eò tecum ... domesticos tuos; pueros et aliquem CONACAPULAM qui norit scribere, cujus manu exaratas relinquere posses in quovis loco precationes a Pueris et aliis Catechumenis ediscendas."—Scti. Franc. Xavier, Epist., pp. 160 seq.

1584.—"So you must appoint in each village or station fitting teachers and CANACOPOLY, as we have already arranged, and these must assemble the children every day at a certain time and place, and teach and drive into them the elements of reading and religion."—Ditto, in Coleridge's L. of him, ii. 24.

1578.—"At Tanor in Malabar I was acquainted with a Nayre CANACOPOLA, a writer in the Camara del Rey at Tanor ... who every day used to eat to the weight of 5 drachms (of opium), which he would take in my presence."—Acosta, Tractado, 415.

c. 1580.—"One came who worked as a clerk, and said he was a poor CANAQUAPOLLE, who had nothing to give."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 94.

1672.—"Xaverius set everywhere teachers called CANACAPPELS."—Baldaeus, Ceylon, 377.

1680.—"The Governour, accompanyed with the Councell and severall Persons of the factory, attended by six files of Soldyers, the Company's Peons, 300 of the Washers, the Pedda Naigue, the CANCOPLY of the Towne and of the grounds, went the circuit of Madras ground, which was described by the CANCOPLY of the grounds, and lyes so intermixed with others (as is customary in these Countrys) that 'tis impossible to be knowne to any others, therefore every Village has a CANCOPLY and a Parryar, who are imployed in this office, which goes from Father to Son for ever."—Ft. St. Geo. Consn. Sept. 21. In Notes and Exts., No. iii. 34.

1718.—"Besides this we maintain seven KANAKAPPEL, or Malabarick writers."—Propagation of the Gospel in the East, Pt. ii. 55.

1726.—"The CONAKAPULES (commonly called KANNEKAPPELS) are writers."—Valentijn, Choro. 88.

[1749.—"CANACAPULA," in Logan, Malabar, iii. 52.

[1750.—"CONICOPLAS," ibid. iii. 150.

[1773.—"CONUCOPOLA. He keeps your accounts, pays the rest of the servants their wages, and assists the Dubash in buying and selling. At Bengal he is called secretary...."—Ives, 49.]

CONSOO-HOUSE, n.p. At Canton this was a range of buildings adjoining the foreign Factories, called also the 'Council Hall' of the foreign Factories. It was the property of the body of Hong merchants, and was the place of meeting of these merchants among themselves, or with the chiefs of the Foreign houses, when there was need for such conference (see Fankwae, p. 23). The name is probably a corruption of 'Council.' Bp. Moule, however, says: "The name is likely to have come from kung-su, the public hall, where a kung-sz', a 'public company,' or guild, meets."

CONSUMAH, KHANSAMA, s. P. Khānsāmān; 'a house-steward.' In Anglo-Indian households in the Bengal Presidency, this is the title of the chief table servant and provider, now always a Mahommedan. [See BUTLER.] The literal meaning of the word is 'Master of the household gear'; it is not connected with khwān, 'a tray,' as Wilson suggests. The analogous word Mīr-sāmān occurs in Elliot, vii. 153. The Anglo-Indian form CONSUMER seems to have been not uncommon in the 18th century, probably with a spice of intention. From tables quoted in Long, 182, and in Seton-Karr, i. 95, 107, we see that the wages of a "CONSUMAH, Christian, Moor, or Gentoo," were at Calcutta, in 1759, 5 rupees a month, and in 1785, 8 to 10 rupees.

[1609.—"Emersee Nooherdee being called by the CAUNCAMMA."—Danvers, Letters, i. 24.]

c. 1664.—"Some time after ... she chose for her KANE-SAMAN, that is, her Steward, a certain Persian called Nazerkan, who was a young Omrah, the handsomest and most accomplished of the whole Court."—Bernier, E.T., p. 4; [ed. Constable, p. 13].

1712.—"They were brought by a great circuit on the River to the CHANSAMMA or Steward (Dispenser) of the aforesaid Mahal."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte) 288.

1759.—"DUSTUCK or ORDER, under the CHAN SUMAUN, or Steward's Seal, for the Honourable Company's holding the King's [i.e. the Great Mogul's] fleet."

* * * * *

"At the back of this is the seal of Zecah al Doulat Tidaudin Caun Bahadour, who is CAUN SAMAUN, or Steward to his Majesty, whose prerogative it is to grant this Order."—R. Owen Cambridge, pp. 231 seq.

1788.—"After some deliberation I asked the KHANSAMAN, what quantity was remaining of the clothes that had been brought from Iran to camp for sale, who answered that there were 15,000 jackets, and 12,000 pairs of long drawers."—Mem. of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, tr. by Gladwin, 55.

1810.—"The KANSAMAH may be classed with the house-steward, and butler; both of which offices appear to unite in this servant."—Williamson, V. M., i. 199.

1831.—"I have taught my KHANSAMA to make very light iced punch."—Jacquemont, Letters, E.T., ii. 104.

COOCH AZO, or AZO simply, n.p. Koch Hājo, a Hindu kingdom on the banks of the Brahmaputra R., to the E. of Koch Bihār, annexed by Jahāngīr's troops in 1637. See Blochmann in J.A.S.B. xli. pt. i. 53, and xlii. pt. i. 235. In Valentijn's map of Bengal (made c. 1660) we have Cos Assam with Azo as capital, and T'Ryk van Asoe, a good way south and east of Silhet.

1753.—"Ceste rivière (Brahmapoutra), en remontant, conduit à Rangamati et à AZOO, qui font la frontière de l'état du Mogol. AZOO est une forteresse que l'Emir Jemla, sous le règne d'Aorengzèbe, reprit sur le roi d'Asham, comme une dependance de Bengale."—D'Anville, p. 62.

COOCH BEHAR, n.p. Koch Bihār, a native tributary State on the N.E. of Bengal, adjoining Bhotan and the Province of Assam. The first part of the name is taken from that of a tribe, the Koch, apparently a forest race who founded this State about the 15th century, and in the following century obtained dominion of considerable extent. They still form the majority of the population, but, as usual in such circumstances, give themselves a Hindu pedigree, under the name of Rājbansi. [See Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 491 seqq.] The site of the ancient monarchy of Kāmrūp is believed to have been in Koch Bihār, within the limits of which there are the remains of more than one ancient city. The second part of the name is no doubt due to the memory of some important VIHARA, or Buddhist Monastery, but we have not found information on the subject. [Possibly the ruins at Kamatapur, for which see Buchanan Hamilton, Eastern India, iii. 426 seqq.]

1585.—"I went from Bengala into the countrey of COUCHE, which lieth 25 dayes iourny Northwards from Tanda."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 397.

c. 1596.—"To the north of Bengal is the province of COACH, the Chief of which commands 1,000 horse, and 100,000 foot. Kamroop, which is also called Kamroo and Kamtah (see COMOTAY) makes a part of his dominions."—Ayeen (by Gladwin), ed. 1800, ii. 3; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 117].

1726.—"COS BHAAR is a Kingdom of itself, the King of which is sometimes subject to the Great Mogol, and sometimes throws his yoke off."—Valentijn, v. 159.

1774.—"The country about Bahar is low. Two kos beyond BAHAR we entered a thicket ... frogs, watery insects and dank air ... 2 miles farther on we crossed the river which separates the KUCH BAHAR country from that of the Deb Rajah, in sal canoes...."—Bogle, in Markham's Tibet, &c., 14 seq.

(But Mr. Markham spoils all the original spelling. We may be sure Bogle did not write kos, nor "Kuch Bahar," as Mr. M. makes him do.)

1791.—"The late Mr. George Bogle ... travelled by way of COOS-BEYHAR, Tassasudon, and Paridrong, to Chanmanning the then residence of the Lama."—Rennell (3rd ed.), 301.

COOJA, s. P. kūza; an earthenware water-vessel (not long-necked, like the ṣurāḥī—see SERAI). It is a word used at Bombay chiefly, [but is not uncommon among Mahommedans in N. India].

[1611.—"One sack of CUSHER to make coho."—Danvers, Letters, i. 128.

[1871.—"Many parts of India are celebrated for their COOJAHS or guglets, but the finest are brought from Bussorah, being light, thin, and porous, made from a whitish clay."—Riddell, Indian Domestic Economy, 7th ed., p. 362.]

1883.—"They (tree-frogs) would perch pleasantly on the edge of the water COOJA, or on the rim of a tumbler."—Tribes on my Frontier, 118.

COOK-ROOM, s. Kitchen; in Anglo-Indian establishments always detached from the house.

1758.—"We will not in future admit of any expenses being defrayed by the Company either under the head of COOK-ROOMS, gardens, or other expenses whatever."—The Court's Letter, March 3, in Long, 130.

1878.—"I was one day watching an old female monkey who had a young one by her side to whom she was giving small bits of a piece of bread which she had evidently just received from my COOK-ROOM."—Life in the Mofussil, ii. 44.

COOLCURNEE, s. This is the title of the village accountant and writer in some of the central and western parts of India. Mahr. kuḷkaraṇī, apparently from kuḷa, 'tribe,' and karaṇa, writer, &c., the patwārī of N. India (see under CRANNY, CURNUM). [Kula "in the revenue language of the S. appears to be applied especially to families, or individual heads of families, paying revenue" (Wilson).]

c. 1590.—"... in this Soobah (Berar) ... a chowdry they call Deysmuck; a Canoongou with them is Deyspandeh; a Mokuddem ... they style Putiel; and a Putwaree they name KULKURNEE."—Gladwin's Ayeen Akbery, ii. 57; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 228].

[1826.—"You potails, COOLCUNNIES, &c., will no doubt ... contrive to reap tolerable harvests."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, ii. 47.]

COOLICOY, s. A Malay term, properly kulit-kayu, 'skin-wood,' explained in the quotation:

1784.—"The COOLITCAYO or COOLICOY.... This is a bark procured from some particular trees. (It is used for matting the sides of houses, and by Europeans as dunnage in pepper cargoes.)"—Marsden's H. of Sumatra, 2nd ed. 51.

COOLIN, adj. A class of Brāhmans of Bengal Proper, who make extraordinary claims to purity of caste and exclusiveness. Beng. kulīnas, from Skt. kula, 'a caste or family,' kulīna, 'belonging to a noble family.' They are much sought in marriage for the daughters of Brāhmans of less exalted pretensions, and often take many brides for the sake of the presents they receive. The system is one of the greatest abuses in Bengali Hinduism. [Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 146 seqq.]

1820.—"Some inferior KOOLĒĒNŬS marry many wives; I have heard of persons having 120; many have 15 or 20, and others 40 and 50 each. Numbers procure a subsistence by this excessive polygamy...."—Ward, i. 81.

COOLUNG, COOLEN, and in W. India CULLUM, s. Properly the great grey crane (Grus cinerea), H. kulang (said by the dictionaries to be Persian, but Jerdon gives Mahr. kallam, and Tel. kulangi, kolangi, which seem against the Persian origin), [and Platts seems to connect it with Skt. kurankara, the Indian crane, Ardea Sibirica (Williams)]. Great companies of these are common in many parts of India, especially on the sands of the less frequented rivers; and their clanging, trumpet-like call is often heard as they pass high overhead at night.

"Ille gruum ... Clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri." (Lucr. iv. 182 seq.).

The name, in the form Coolen, is often misapplied to the Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo, L.), which is one of the best of Indian birds for the table (see Jerdon, ed. 1877, ii. 667, and last quotation below). The true Coolung, though inferior, is tolerably good eating. This bird, which is now quite unknown in Scotland, was in the 15th century not uncommon there, and was a favourite dish at great entertainments (see Accts. of L. H. Treasurer of Scotland, i. ccv.).

1698.—"Peculiarly Brand-geese, COLUM, and Serass, a species of the former."—Fryer, 117.

c. 1809.—"Large flocks of a crane called KOLONG, and of another called Saros (Ardea Antigone—see CYRUS), frequent this district in winter.... They come from the north in the beginning of the cold season, and retire when the heats commence."—Buchanan's Rungpoor, in Eastern India, iii. 579.

1813.—"Peacocks, partridges, quails, doves, and green-pigeons supplied our table, and with the addition of two stately birds, called the Sahras and CULLUM, added much to the animated beauty of the country."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 29; [2nd ed. i. 331].

1883.—"Not being so green as I was, I let the tempting herd of antelopes pass, but the KULLUM I cannot resist. They are feeding in thousands at the other end of a large field, and to reach them it will only be necessary to crawl round behind the hedge for a quarter of a mile or so. But what will one not do with roast KULLUM looming in the vista of the future?"—Tribes on my Frontier, p. 162.

"*** N.B.—I have applied the word KULLUM, as everybody does, to the demoiselle crane, which, however, is not properly the KULLUM but the Koonja."—Ibid. p. 171.

COOLY, s. A hired labourer, or burden-carrier; and, in modern days especially, a labourer induced to emigrate from India, or from China, to labour in the plantations of Mauritius, Réunion, or the West Indies, sometimes under circumstances, especially in French colonies, which have brought the cooly's condition very near to slavery. In Upper India the term has frequently a specific application to the lower class of labourer who carries earth, bricks, &c., as distinguished from the skilled workman, and even from the digger.

The original of the word appears to have been a nomen gentile, the name (KOLĪ) of a race or caste in Western India, who have long performed such offices as have been mentioned, and whose savagery, filth, and general degradation attracted much attention in former times, [see Hamilton, Descr. of Hindostan (1820), i. 609]. The application of the word would thus be analogous to that which has rendered the name of a Slav, captured and made a bondservant, the word for such a bondservant in many European tongues. According to Dr. H. V. Carter the Kolīs proper are a true hill-people, whose especial locality lies in the Western Ghāts, and in the northern extension of that range, between 18° and 24° N. lat. They exist in large numbers in Guzerat, and in the Konkan, and in the adjoining districts of the Deccan, but not beyond these limits (see Ind. Antiquary, ii. 154). [But they are possibly kinsfolk of the Kols, an important Dravidian race in Bengal and the N.W.P. (see Risley, T. and C. of Bengal, ii. 101; Crooke, T. C. of N.W.P. iii. 294).] In the Rās Mālā [ed. 1878, p. 78 seqq.] the Koolies are spoken of as a tribe who lived long near the Indus, but who were removed to the country of the Null (the Nal, a brackish lake some 40 m. S.W. of Ahmedabad) by the goddess Hinglāj.

Though this explanation of the general use of the term Cooly is the most probable, the matter is perplexed by other facts which it is difficult to trace to the same origin. Thus in S. India there is a Tamil and Can. word kūli in common use, signifying 'hire' or 'wages,' which Wilson indeed regards as the true origin of Cooly. [Oppert (Orig. Inhab. of Bharatavarsa, p. 131) adopts the same view, and disputing the connection of Cooly with Koli or Kol, regards the word as equivalent to 'hired servant' and originating in the English Factories on the E. coast.] Also in both Oriental and Osmanli Turkish kol is a word for a slave, whilst in the latter also kūleh means 'a male slave, a bondsman' (Redhouse). Khol is in Tibetan also a word for a servant or slave (Note from A. Schiefner; see also Jäschke's Tibetan Dict., 1881, p. 59). But with this the Indian term seems to have no connection. The familiar use of Cooly has extended to the Straits Settlements, Java, and China, as well as to all tropical and sub-tropical colonies, whether English or foreign.

In the quotations following, those in which the race is distinctly intended are marked with an *.

*1548.—"And for the duty from the COLÉS who fish at the sea-stakes and on the river of Bacaim...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 155.

*1553.—"Soltan Badur ... ordered those pagans to be seized, and if they would not become Moors, to be flayed alive, saying that was all the black-mail the COLLIJS should get from Champanel."—Barros, Dec. IV. liv. v. cap. 7.

*1563.—"These COLLES ... live by robbing and thieving at this day."—Garcia, f. 34.

*1584.—"I attacked and laid waste nearly fifty villages of the KOLÍS and Grassias, and I built forts in seven different places to keep these people in check."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarī, in Elliot, v. 447.

*1598.—"Others that yet dwell within the countrie called COLLES: which Colles ... doe yet live by robbing and stealing...."—Linschoten, ch. xxvii.; [Hak. Soc. i. 166].

*1616.—"Those who inhabit the country villages are called COOLEES; these till the ground and breed up cattle."—Terry, in Purchas; [ed. 1777, p. 180].

*"The people called COLLEES or QUILLEES."—In Purchas, i. 436.

1630.—"The husbandmen or inferior sort of people called the COULIES."—Lord's Display, &c., ch. xiii.

1638.—"He lent us horses to ride on, and COWLERS (which are Porters) to carry our goods."—W. Bruton, in Hakl. v. 49.

In this form there was perhaps an indefinite suggestion of the cowl-staff used in carrying heavy loads.

1644.—"In these lands of Damam the people who dwell there as His Majesty's Vassals are heathen, whom they call COLLIS, and all the Padres make great complaints that the owners of the aldeas do not look with favour on the conversion of these heathen COLLIS, nor do they consent to their being made Christians, lest there thus may be hindrance to the greater service which is rendered by them when they remain heathen."—Bocarro (Port. MS.).

*1659.—"To relate how I got away from those Robbers, the KOULLIS ... how we became good Friends by the means of my Profession of Physick ... I must not insist upon to describe."—Bernier, E.T., p. 30; [ed. Constable, 91].

*c. 1666.—"Nous rencontrâmes quantité de COLYS, qui sont gens d'une Caste ou tribut des Gentils, qui n'ont point d'habitation arrêtée, mais qui vont de village en village et portent avec eux tout leur ménage."—Thevenot, v. 21.

*1673.—"The Inhabitants of Ramnagur are the Salvages called COOLIES...."—Fryer, 161.

" "COOLIES, Frasses, and Holencores, are the Dregs of the People."—Ibid. 194.

1680.—"... It is therefore ordered forthwith that the drum be beat to call all COOLIES, carpenters...."—Official Memo. in Wheeler, i. 129.

*c. 1703.—"The Imperial officers ... sent ... ten or twelve sardārs, with 13,000 or 14,000 horse, and 7,000 or 8,000 trained KOLÍS of that country."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 375.

1711.—"The better sort of people travel in Palankeens, carry'd by six or eight COOLEYS, whose Hire, if they go not far from Town, is threepence a Day each."—Lockyer, 26.

1726.—"COELI'S. Bearers of all sorts of Burdens, goods, Andols (see ANDOR) and Palankins...."—Valentijn, vol. v., Names, &c., 2.

*1727.—"Goga ... has had some Mud Wall Fortifications, which still defend them from the Insults of their Neighbours the COULIES."—A. Hamilton, i. 141; [ed. 1744, i. 142].

1755.—"The Families of the COOLIES sent to the Negrais complain that Mr. Brook has paid to the Head COOLEY what money those who died there left behind them."—In Long, 54.

1785.—"... the officers were obliged to have their baggage transported upon men's heads over an extent of upwards of 800 miles, at the rate of 5_l._ per month for every COULEY or porter employed."—Carraccioli's L. of Clive, i. 243 seq.

1789.—"If you should ask a common COOLY or porter, what cast he is of, he will answer, the same as Master, pariar-cast."—Munro's Narrative, 29.

1791.—"... deux relais de vigoreux COULIS, ou porteurs, de quatre hommes chacun...."—B. de St. Pierre, La Chaumière Indienne, 15.

[1798.—"The Resident hopes all distinctions between the COOLEY and Portuguese inhabitants will be laid aside."—Procl. in Logan, Malabar, iii. 302.]

*1813.—"Gudgerah, a large populous town surrounded by a wall, to protect it from the depredations of the COOLEES, who are a very insolent set among the numerous and probably indigenous tribes of freebooters, and robbers in this part of India."—Forbes, Orient. Mem. iii. 63; [2nd ed. ii. 160; also see i. 146].

1817.—"These (Chinese) emigrants are usually employed as COOLEES or labourers on their first arrival (in Java)."—Raffles, H. of Java, i. 205.

*1820.—"In the profession of thieving the KOOLEES may be said to act con amore. A KOOLEE of this order, meeting a defenceless person in a lane about dusk, would no more think of allowing him to pass unplundered than a Frenchman would a woman without bowing to her; it may be considered a point of honour of the caste."—Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo. iii. 335.

*1825.—"The head man of the village said he was a Kholee, the name of a degenerate race of Rajpoots in Guzerat, who from the low occupations in which they are generally employed have (under the corrupt name of COOLIE) given a name, probably through the medium of the Portuguese, to bearers of burdens all over India."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 92.

1867.—"Bien que de race différente les COOLIES et les Chinois sont comportés à peu-près de même."—Quatrefages, Rapport sur le Progrès de l'Anthropologie, 219.

1871.—"I have hopes for the COOLIES in British Guiana, but it will be more sure and certain when the immigration system is based on better laws."—Jenkins, The Coolie.

1873.—"The appellant, the Hon. Julian Pauncefote, is the Attorney-General for the Colony (Hong Kong) and the respondent Hwoka-Sing is a COOLIE or labourer, and a native of China."—Report of Case before Jud. Com. of Privy Council.

" "A man (Col. Gordon) who had wrought such wonders with means so modest as a levy of COOLIES ... needed, we may be sure, only to be put to the highest test to show how just those were who had marked him out in his Crimean days as a youth whose extraordinary genius for war could not be surpassed in the army that lay before Sebastopol."—Sat. Review, Aug. 16, 203.

1875.—"A long row of cottages, evidently pattern-built ... announced the presence of COOLIES, Indian or Chinese."—Palgrave, Dutch Guiana, ch. i.

The word COOLY has passed into English thieves' jargon in the sense of 'a soldier' (v. Slang Dict.).

COOMKEE, adj., used as sub. This is a derivative from P. kumak, 'aid,' and must have been widely diffused in India, for we find it specialised in different senses in the extreme West and East, besides having in both the general sense of 'auxiliary.'

[(A) In the Moghul army the term is used for auxiliary troops.

[c. 1590.—"Some troops are levied occasionally to strengthen the munsubs, and they are called KUMMEKY (or auxiliaries)."—Gladwin, Ayeen Akbery, ed. 1800, i. 188; in Blochmann, i. 232, KUMAKIS.

[1858.—"The great landholders despise them (the ordinary levies) but respect the KOMUKEE corps...."—Sleeman, Journey through Oudh, i. 30.]

(B) KUMAKĪ, in N. and S. Canara, is applied to a defined portion of forest, from which the proprietor of the village or estate has the privilege of supplying himself with wood for house-building, &c. (except from the reserved kinds of wood), with leaves and twigs for manure, fodder, &c. (See COOMRY). [The system is described by Sturrock, Man. S. Canara, i. 16, 224 seqq.]

(C). KOOMKEE, in Bengal, is the technical name of the female elephant used as a decoy in capturing a male.

1807.—"When an elephant is in a proper state to be removed from the Keddah, he is conducted either by KOOMKIES (i.e. decoy females) or by tame males."—Williamson, Oriental Field Sports, folio ed., p. 30.

[1873.—"It was an interesting sight to see the captive led in between two KHOONKIES or tame elephants."—Cooper, Mishmee Hills, 88.

[1882.—"Attached to each elephant hunting party there must be a number of tame elephants, or KOONKIES, to deal with the wild elephants when captured."—Sanderson, Thirteen Years, 70.]

COOMRY, s. [Can. kumari, from Mahr. kumbarī, 'a hill slope of poor soil.'] Kumari cultivation is the S. Indian (especially in Canara), [Sturrock, S. Canara Man. i. 17], appellation of that system pursued by hill-people in many parts of India and its frontiers, in which a certain tract of forest is cut down and burnt, and the ground planted with crops for one or two seasons, after which a new site is similarly treated. This system has many names in different regions; in the east of Bengal it it known as jhūm (see JHOOM); in Burma as tounggyan; [in parts of the N.W.P. dahya, Skt. daha, 'burning'; ponam in Malabar; ponacaud in Salem]. We find kumried as a quasi-English participle in a document quoted by the High Court, Bombay, in a judgment dated 27th January, 1879, p. 227.

1883.—"Kumaki (COOMKEE) and KUMARI privileges stand on a very different platform. The former are perfectly reasonable, and worthy of a civilised country.... As for Kumari privileges, they cannot be defended before the tribunal of reason as being really good for the country, but old custom is old custom, and often commands the respect of a wise government even when it is indefensible."—Mr. Grant Duff's Reply to an Address at Mangalore, 15th October.

COONOOR, n.p. A hill-station in the Neilgherries. Kuṇṇur, 'Hill-Town.' [The Madras Gloss. gives Can. Kunnūru, Skt. kunna, 'small,' Can. ūru, 'village.']

COORG, n.p. A small hill State on the west of the table-land of Mysore, in which lies the source of the Cauvery, and which was annexed to the British Government, in consequence of cruel misgovernment in 1834. The name is a corruption of Kŏḍagu, of which Gundert says: "perhaps from koḍu, 'steep,' or Tamil kaḍaga, 'west.'" [For various other speculations on the derivation, see Oppert, Original Inhabit., 162 seqq. The Madras Gloss. seems to refer it to Skt. kroḍadeśa, 'hog-land,' from "the tradition that the inhabitants had nails on hands and feet like a boar."] Coorg is also used for a native of the country, in which case it stands for Kŏḍaga.

COORSY, s. H.—from Ar.—kursī [which is used for the stand on which the Koran is laid]. It is the word usually employed in Western India for 'a chair,' and is in the Bengal Presidency a more dignified term than chaukī (see CHOKY). Kursī is the Arabic form, borrowed from the Aramaic, in which the emphatic state is kursĕyā. But in Hebrew the word possesses a more original form with ss for rs (kisse, the usual word in the O. T. for 'a throne'). The original sense appears to be 'a covered seat.'

1781.—"It happened, at this time, that the Nawaub was seated on his KOORSI, or chair, in a garden, beneath a banyan tree."—Hist. of Hydur Naik, 452.

COOSUMBA, s. H. kusum, kusumbha, SAFFLOWER, q.v. But the name is applied in Rajputana and Guzerat to the tincture of opium, which is used freely by Rājputs and others in those territories; also (according to Shakespear) to an infusion of BANG (q.v.).

[1823.—"Several of the Rajpoot Princes West of the Chumbul seldom hold a Durbar without presenting a mixture of liquid opium, or, as it is termed, 'KUSOOMBAH,' to all present. The minister washes his hands in a vessel placed before the Rawul, after which some liquid opium is poured into the palm of his right hand. The first in rank who may be present then approaches and drinks the liquid."—Malcolm, Mem. of Central India, 2d ed. ii. 146, note.]

COOTUB, THE, n.p. The Ḳuṭb Minār, near Delhi, one of the most remarkable of Indian architectural antiquities, is commonly so called by Europeans. It forms the minaret of the Great Mosque, now long in ruins, which Ḳuṭb-uddīn Ībak founded A.D. 1191, immediately after the capture of Delhi, and which was built out of the materials of numerous Hindu temples, as is still manifest. According to the elaborate investigation of Gen. A. Cunningham [Arch. Rep. i. 189 seqq.], the magnificent Minār was begun by Ḳuṭb-uddīn Ībak about 1200, and completed by his successor Shamsuddīn Iyaltimish about 1220. The tower has undergone, in its upper part, various restorations. The height as it now stands is 238 feet 1 inch. The traditional name of the tower no doubt had reference to the name of its founder, but also there may have been a reference to the contemporary Saint, Ḳuṭb-uddīn Ūshī, whose tomb is close by; and perhaps also to the meaning of the name Ḳuṭb-uddīn, 'The Pole or Axle of the Faith,' as appropriate to such a structure.

c. 1330.—"Attached to the mosque (of Delhi) is a tower for the call to prayer which has no equal in the whole world. It is built of red stone, with about 360 steps. It is not square, but has a great number of angles, is very massive at the base, and very lofty, equalling the Pharos of Alexandria."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 190.

c. 1340.—"In the northern court of the mosque stands the minaret (al-ṣauma'a), which is without a parallel in all the countries of Islām.... It is of surpassing height; the pinnacle is of milk-white marble, and the globes which decorate it are of pure gold. The aperture of the staircase is so wide that elephants can ascend, and a person on whom I could rely told me that when the minaret was a-building, he saw an elephant ascend to the very top with a load of stones."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 151.

The latter half of the last quotation is fiction.

1663.—"At two Leagues off the City on Agra's side, in a place by the Mahumetans called Koja Kotubeddine, there is a very ancient Edifice which hath been a Temple of Idols...."—Bernier, E.T. 91.

It is evident from this that Bernier had not then visited the Ḳuṭb. [Constable in his tr. reads "Koia Kotub-eddine," by which he understands Koh-i-Ḳuṭab-uddīn, the hill or eminence of the Saint, p. 283.]

1825.—"I will only observe that the CUTTAB Minar ... is really the finest tower I have ever seen, and must, when its spire was complete, have been still more beautiful."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 308.

COPECK, s. This is a Russian coin, 1/100 of a ruble. The degeneration of coin denominations is often so great that we may suspect this name to preserve that of the dīnār Kopekī often mentioned in the histories of Timur and his family. Kopek is in Turki, 'dog,' and Charmoy explains the term as equivalent to Abū-kalb, 'Father of a dog,' formerly applied in Egypt to Dutch crowns (Löwenthaler) bearing a lion. There could not be Dutch coins in Timur's time, but some other Frank coin bearing a lion may have been so called, probably Venetian. A Polish coin with a lion on it was called by a like name (see Macarius, quoted below, p. 169). Another etymology of kopek suggested (in Chaudoir, Aperçu des Monnaies Russes) is from Russ. kopié, kopyé, a pike, many old Russian coins representing the Prince on horseback with a spear. [This is accepted by the N.E.D.] KOPEKS are mentioned in the reign of Vassili III., about the middle of the 15th century, but only because regularly established in the coinage c. 1536. [See TANGA.]

1390.—(Timour resolved) "to visit the venerated tomb of Sheikh Maslahat ... and with that intent proceeded to Tāshkand ... he there distributed as alms to worthy objects, 10,000 dīnārs KOPAKĪ...."—Sharīfuddīn, in Extracts by M. Charmoy, Mem. Acad. St. P., vi. S., tome iii. p. 363, also note, p. 135.

1535.—"It was on this that the Grand Duchess Helena, mother of Ivan Vassilievitch, and regent in his minority, ordered, in 1535, that these new Dengui should be melted down and new ones struck, at the rate of 300 dengui, or 3 Roubles of Moscow à la grivenka, in KOPEKS.... From that time accounts continued to be kept in Roubles, KOPEKS, and Dengui."—Chaudoir, Aperçu.

c. 1655.—"The pension in lieu of provisions was, for our Lord the Patriarch 25 COPECKS daily."—Travels of the Patriarch Macarius, Or. Tr. Fund, i. 281.

1783.—"The COPECK of Russia, a copper coin, in name and apparently in value, is the same which was current in Tartary during the reign of Timur."—Forster's Journey, ed. 1808, ii. 332.

COPPERSMITH, s. Popular name both in H. (tambayat) and English of the crimson-breasted barbet (Xantholaema indica, Latham). See the quotation from Jerdon.

1862.—"It has a remarkably loud note, which sounds like took-took-took, and this it generally utters when seated on the top of some tree, nodding its head at each call, first to one side and then to another.... This sound and the motion of its head, accompanying it, have given origin to the name of 'COPPERSMITH.'..."—Jerdon, ed. 1877, i. 316.

1879.—

"... In the mango-sprays The sun-birds flashed; alone at his green forge Toiled the loud COPPERSMITH...." The Light of Asia, p. 20.

1883.—"For the same reason mynas seek the tope, and the 'blue jay,' so-called, and the little green COPPERSMITH hooting ventriloquistically."—Tribes on my Frontier, 154.

COPRAH, s. The dried kernel of the coco-nut, much used for the expression of its oil, and exported largely from the Malabar ports. The Portuguese probably took the word from the Malayāl. koppara, which is, however, apparently borrowed from the H. khoprā, of the same meaning. The latter is connected by some with khapnā, 'to dry up.' Shakespear however, more probably, connects khoprā, as well as khoprī, 'a skull, a shell,' and khappar, 'a skull,' with Skt. kharpara, having also the meaning of 'skull.' Compare with this a derivation which we have suggested (s.v.) as possible of COCO from old Fr. and Span. coque, coco, 'a shell'; and with the slang use of coco there mentioned.

1563.—"And they also dry these cocos ... and these dried ones they call COPRA, and they carry them to Ormuz, and to the Balaghat."—Garcia, Colloq. f. 68_b_.

1578.—"The kernel of these cocos is dried in the sun, and is called COPRA.... From this same copra oil is made in presses, as we make it from olives."—Acosta, 104.

1584.—"CHOPRA, from Cochin and Malabar...."—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413.

1598.—"The other Oyle is prest out of the dried Cocus, which is called COPRA...."—Linschoten, 101. See also (1602), Couto, Dec. I. liv. iv. cap. 8; (1606) Gouvea, f. 62_b_; [(1610) Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 384 (reading kuppara for suppara);] (c. 1690) Rumphius, Herb. Amb. i. 7.

1727.—"That tree (coco-nut) produceth ... COPERA, or the Kernels of the Nut dried, and out of these Kernels there is a very clear Oil exprest."—A. Hamilton, i. 307; [ed. 1744, i. 308].

1860.—"The ordinary estimate is that one thousand full-grown nuts of Jaffna will yield 525 pounds of COPRA when dried, which in turn will produce 25 gallons of cocoa-nut oil."—Tennent, Ceylon, ii. 531.

1878.—It appears from Lady Brassey's Voyage in the Sunbeam (5th ed. 248) that this word is naturalised in Tahiti.

1883.—"I suppose there are but few English people outside the trade who know what COPRA is; I will therefore explain:—it is the white pith of the ripe cocoa-nut cut into strips and dried in the sun. This is brought to the trader (at New Britain) in baskets varying from 3 to 20 lbs. in weight; the payment ... was a thimbleful of beads for each pound of copra.... The nut is full of oil, and on reaching Europe the copra is crushed in mills, and the oil pressed from it ... half the oil sold as 'olive-oil' is really from the cocoa-nut."—Wilfred Powell, Wanderings in a Wild Country, p. 37.

CORAL-TREE, s. Erythrina indica, Lam., so called from the rich scarlet colour of its flowers.

[1860.—"There are ... two or three species of the genus Erythrina or CORAL TREE. A small species of Erythrina, with reddish flowers, is famous in Buddhist mythology as the tree around which the Devas dance till they are intoxicated in Sudra's (? Indra's) heaven." Mason's Burmah, p. 531.—McMahon, Karens of the Golden Chersonese, p. 11.]

CORCOPALI, s. This is the name of a fruit described by Varthema, Acosta, and other old writers, the identity of which has been the subject of much conjecture. It is in reality the Garcinia indica, Choisy (N. O. Guttiferae), a tree of the Concan and Canara, which belongs to the same genus as the mangosteen, and as the tree affording the gamboge (see CAMBOJA) of commerce. It produces an agreeable, acid, purple fruit, which the Portuguese call brindões. From the seeds a fatty oil is drawn, known as kokun butter. The name in Malayāl. is koḍukka, and this possibly, with the addition of puli, 'acid,' gave rise to the name before us. It is stated in the English Cyclopaedia (Nat. Hist. s.v. Garcinia) that in Travancore the fruit is called by the natives gharka pulli, and in Ceylon goraka. Forbes Watson's 'List of Indian Productions' gives as synonyms of the Garcinia cambogia tree 'karka-puliemaram?' Tam.; 'kurka-pulie,' Mal.; and 'goraka-gass,' Ceyl. [The Madras Gloss. calls it Mate mangosteen, a ship term meaning 'cook-room mangosteen'; Can. murginahuli, 'twisted tamarind'; Mal. punampuli, 'stiff tamarind.'] The Cyclopædia also contains some interesting particulars regarding the uses in Ceylon of the goraka. But this Ceylon tree is a different species (G. Gambogia, Desrous). Notwithstanding its name it does not produce gamboge; its gum being insoluble in water. A figure of G. indica is given in Beddome's Flora Sylvatica, pl. lxxxv. [A full account of Kokam butter will be found in Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 467 seqq.]

1510.—"Another fruit is found here fashioned like a melon, and it has divisions after that manner, and when it is cut, three or four grains which look like grapes, or birdcherries, are found inside. The tree which bears this fruit is of the height of a quince tree, and forms its leaves in the same manner. This fruit is called CORCOPAL; it is extremely good for eating, and excellent as a medicine."—Varthema (transl. modified from), Hak. Soc. 167.

1578.—"CARCAPULI is a great tree, both lofty and thick; its fruit is in size and aspect like an orange without a rind, all divided in lobes...."—Acosta, Tractado, 357.

(This author gives a tolerable cut of the fruit; there is an inferior plate in Debry, iv. No. xvii.).

1672.—"The plant CARCAPULI is peculiar to Malabar.... The ripe fruit is used as ordinary food; the unripe is cut in pieces and dried in the sun, and is then used all the year round to mix in dishes, along with tamarind, having an excellent flavour, of a tempered acidity, and of a very agreeable and refreshing odour. The form is nearly round, of the size of an apple, divided into eight equal lobes of a yellow colour, fragrant and beautiful, and with another little fruitlet attached to the extremity, which is perfectly round," &c., &c.—P. Vincenzo Maria, 356.

CORGE, COORGE, &c., s. A mercantile term for 'a score.' The word is in use among the trading Arabs and others, as well as in India. It is established in Portuguese use apparently, but the Portuguese word is almost certainly of Indian origin, and this is expressly asserted in some Portuguese Dictionaries (e.g. Lacerda's, Lisbon, 1871). Koṛī is used exactly in the same way by natives all over Upper India. Indeed, the vulgar there in numeration habitually say do koṛī, tīn koṛī, for 40, 60, and so forth. The first of our quotations shows the word in a form very closely allied to this, and explaining the transition. Wilson gives Telugu khorjam, "a bale or lot of 20 pieces, commonly called a corge." [The Madras Gloss. gives Can. korji, Tel. khorjam, as meaning either a measure of capacity, about 44 maunds, or a Madras town cloth measure of 20 pieces.] But, unless a root can be traced, this may easily be a corruption of the trade-word. Littré explains corge or courge as "Paquet de toile de coton des Indes"; and Marcel Devic says: "C'est vraisemblablement l'Arabe khordj"—which means a saddlebag, a portmanteau. Both the definition and the etymology seem to miss the essential meaning of corge, which is that of a score, and not that of a packet or bundle, unless by accident.

1510.—"If they be stuffs, they deal by CURIA, and in like manner if they be jewels. By a CURIA is understood twenty."—Varthema, 170.

1525.—"A CORJÁ dos quotonyas grandes vale (250) tamgas."—Lembrança, das Cousas da India, 48.

1554.—"The nut and mace when gathered were bartered by the natives for common kinds of cloth, and for each KORJA of these ... they gave a bahar of mace ... and seven bahars of the nut."—Castanheda, vi. 8.

[1605-6.—"Note the CODY or CORGE is a bondell or set nomber of 20 pieces."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 80.]

1612.—"White callicos from twentie to fortie Royals the CORGE (a CORGE being twentie pieces), a great quantitie."—Capt. Saris, in Purchas, i. 347.

1612-13.—"They returning brought doune the Mustraes of everie sort, and the prices demanded for them per CORGE."—Dounton, in Purchas, i. 299.

1615.—

"6 pec. whit baftas of 16 and 17 Rs. CORG. 6 pec. blew byrams, of 15 Rs. CORG. 6 pec. red zelas, of 12 Rs. CORG." Cocks's Diary, i. 75.

1622.—Adam Denton ... admits that he made "90 CORGE of Pintadoes" in their house at Patani, but not at their charge.—Sainsbury, iii. 42.

1644.—"To the Friars of St. Francis for their regular yearly allowance, a cow every week, 24 candies of wheat, 15 sacks of rice girasol, 2 sacks of sugar, half a candy of sero (qu. sevo, 'tallow,' 'grease,'?) ½ candy of coco-nut oil, 6 maunds of butter, 4 CORJAS of cotton stuffs, and 25,920 rés for dispensary medicines (mezinhas de bottica)."—Bocarro, MS. f. 217.

c. 1670.—"The Chites ... which are made at Lahor ... are sold by CORGES, every Corge consisting of twenty pieces...."—Tavernier, On the Commodities of the Domns. of the Great Mogul, &c., E.T. p. 58; [ed. Ball, ii. 5].

1747.—"Another Sett of Madrass Painters ... being examined regarding what Goods were Remaining in their hands upon the Loss of Madrass, they acknowledge to have had 15 CORGE of Chints then under their Performance, and which they acquaint us is all safe ... but as they have lost all their Wax and Colours, they request an Advance of 300 Pagodas for the Purchase of more...."—Consns. Fort St. David, Aug. 13. MS. Records in India Office.

c. 1760.—"At Madras ... 1 GORGE is 22 pieces."—Grose, i. 284.

" "No washerman to demand for 1 CORGE of pieces more than 7 pun of cowries."—In Long, 239.

1784.—In a Calcutta Lottery-list of prizes we find "55 CORGE of Pearls."—In Seton-Karr, i. 33.

[c. 1809.—"To one KORJ or 20 pieces of Tunzebs ... 50 rs."—Buchanan Hamilton, Eastern India, i. 398.]

1810.—"I recollect about 29 years back, when marching from Berhampore to Cawnpore with a detachment of European recruits, seeing several COARGES (of sheep) bought for their use, at 3 and 3½ rupees! at the latter rate 6 sheep were purchased for a rupee ... five pence each."—Williamson, V. M. i. 293.

1813.—"CORGE is 22 at Judda."—Milburn, i. 93.

CORINGA, n.p. Koringa; probably a corruption of Kalinga [see KLING]. [The Madras Gloss. gives the Tel. korangi, 'small cardamoms.'] The name of a seaport in Godāvari Dist. on the northern side of the Delta. ["The only place between Calcutta and Trincomalee where large vessels used to be docked."—Morris, Godavery Man., p. 40.]

CORLE, s. Singh. kōrale, a district.

1726.—"A Coraal is an overseer of a CORLE or District...."—Valentijn, Names of Native Officers in the Villages of Ceylon, 1.

CORNAC, s. This word is used, by French writers especially, as an Indian word, and as the equivalent of MAHOUT (q.v.), or driver of the elephant. Littré defines: "Nom qu'on donne dans les Indes au conducteur d'un éléphant," &c., &c., adding: "Etym. Sanskrit karnikin, éléphant." "Dans les Indes" is happily vague, and the etymology worthless. Bluteau gives CORNÂCA, but no etymology. In Singhalese Kūrawa = 'Elephant Stud.' (It is not in the Singhalese Dict., but it is in the official Glossary of Terms, &c.), and our friend Dr. Rost suggests Kūrawa-nāyaka, 'Chief of the Kūrawa' as a probable origin. This is confirmed by the form Cournakea in Valentijn, and by another title which he gives as used for the head of the Elephant Stable at Matura, viz. Gaginaicke (Names, &c., p. 11), i.e. Gaji-nāyaka, from Gaja, 'an elephant.' [The N.E.D. remarks that some authorities give for the first part of the word Skt. kari, 'elephant.']

1672.—"There is a certain season of the year when the old elephant discharges an oil at the two sides of the head, and at that season they become like mad creatures, and often break the neck of their CARNAC or driver."—Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 422. (See MUST.)

1685.—"O CORNACA q̃ estava de baixo delle tinha hum laço que metia em hũa das mãos ao bravo."—Ribeiro, f. 49_b_.

1712.—"The aforesaid author (P. Fr. Gaspar de S. Bernardino in his Itinerary), relates that in the said city (Goa), he saw three Elephants adorned with jewels, adoring the most Holy Sacrament at the Sè Gate on the Octave of Easter, on which day in India they make the procession of Corpus Domini, because of the calm weather. I doubt not that the CORNACAS of these animals had taught them to perform these acts of apparent adoration. But at the same time there appears to be Religion and Piety innate in the Elephant."[84]—In Bluteau, s.v. Elephante.

1726.—"After that (at Mongeer) one goes over a great walled area, and again through a gate, which is adorned on either side with a great stone elephant with a CARNAK on it."—Valentijn, v. 167.

" "COURNAKEAS, who stable the new-caught elephants, and tend them."—Valentijn, Names, &c., 5 (in vol. v.).

1727.—"As he was one Morning going to the River to be washed, with his CARNACK or Rider on his Back, he chanced to put his Trunk in at the Taylor's Window."—A. Hamilton, ii. 110; [ed. 1744, ii. 109]. This is the only instance of English use that we know (except Mr. Carl Bock's; and he is not an Englishman, though his book is in English). It is the famous story of the Elephant's revenge on the Tailor.

[1831.—"With the same judgment an elephant will task his strength, without human direction. 'I have seen,' says M. D'Obsonville, 'two occupied in beating down a wall which their CORNACS (keepers) had desired them to do....'"—Library of Entertaining Knowledge, Quadrupeds, ii. 157.]

1884.—"The CARNAC, or driver, was quite unable to control the beast, which roared and trumpeted with indignation."—C. Bock, Temples and Elephants, p. 22.

COROMANDEL, n.p. A name which has been long applied by Europeans to the Northern Tamil Country, or (more comprehensively) to the eastern coast of the Peninsula of India from Pt. Calimere northward to the mouth of the Kistna, sometimes to Orissa. It corresponds pretty nearly to the Maabar of Marco Polo and the Mahommedan writers of his age, though that is defined more accurately as from C. Comorin to Nellore.

Much that is fanciful has been written on the origin of this name. Tod makes it Kūrū-mandala, the Realm of the Kūrūs (Trans. R. As. Soc. iii. 157). Bp. Caldwell, in the first edition of his Dravidian Grammar, suggested that European traders might have taken this familiar name from that of Karumaṇal ('black sand'), the name of a small village on the coast north of Madras, which is habitually pronounced and written Coromandel by European residents at Madras. [The same suggestion was made earlier (see Wilks, Hist. Sketches, ed. 1869, i. 5, note)]. The learned author, in his second edition, has given up this suggestion, and has accepted that to which we adhere. But Mr. C. P. Brown, the eminent Telugu scholar, in repeating the former suggestion, ventures positively to assert: "The earliest Portuguese sailors pronounced this Coromandel, and called the whole coast by this name, which was unknown to the Hindus";[85] a passage containing in three lines several errors. Again, a writer in the Ind. Antiquary (i. 380) speaks of this supposed origin of the name as "pretty generally accepted," and proceeds to give an imaginative explanation of how it was propagated. These etymologies are founded on a corrupted form of the name, and the same remark would apply to Khara-maṇḍalam, the 'hot country,' which Bp. Caldwell mentions as one of the names given, in Telugu, to the eastern coast. Padre Paolino gives the name more accurately as Ciola (i.e. Chola) maṇḍalam, but his explanation of it as meaning the Country of Cholam (or juwārī—Sorghum vulgare, Pers.) is erroneous. An absurd etymology is given by Teixeira (Relacion de Harmuz, 28; 1610). He writes: "Choromãdel or Choro Bãdel, i.e. Rice Port, because of the great export of rice from thence." He apparently compounds H. chaul, chāwal, 'cooked rice' (!) and BANDEL, i.e. BANDAR (q.v.) 'harbour.' This is a very good type of the way etymologies are made by some people, and then confidently repeated.

The name is in fact CHÔṚAMAṆḌALA, the Realm of Chôṛa; this being the Tamil form of the very ancient title of the Tamil Kings who reigned at Tanjore. This correct explanation of the name was already given by D'Anville (see Éclaircissemens, p. 117), and by W. Hamilton in 1820 (ii. 405), by Ritter, quoting him in 1836 (Erdkunde, vi. 296); by the late M. Reinaud in 1845 (Relation, &c., i. lxxxvi.); and by Sir Walter Elliot in 1869 (J. Ethnol. Soc. N.S. i. 117). And the name occurs in the forms CHOLAMAṆḌALAM or SOLAMAṆḌALAM on the great Temple inscription of Tanjore (11th century), and in an inscription of A.D. 1101 at a temple dedicated to Varāhasvāmi near the Seven Pagodas. We have other quite analogous names in early inscriptions, e.g. Īlamaṇḍalam (Ceylon), Cheramaṇḍalam, Tondaimaṇḍalam, &c.

CHOLA, as the name of a Tamil people and of their royal dynasty appears as Choḍa in one of Asoka's inscriptions, and in the Telugu inscriptions of the Chālukya dynasty. Nor can we doubt that the same name is represented by Σῶρα of Ptolemy who reigned at Ἀρκατοῦ (Arcot), Σώρ-ναξ who reigned at Ὄρθουρα (Wariūr), and the Σῶραι νομάδες who dwelt inland from the site of Madras.[86]

The word Soli, as applied to the Tanjore country, occurs in Marco Polo (Bk. iii. ch. 20), showing that Chola in some form was used in his day. Indeed Soli is used in Ceylon.[87] And although the Choromandel of Baldaeus and other Dutch writers is, as pronounced in their language, ambiguous or erroneous, Valentijn (1726) calls the country Sjola, and defines it as extending from Negapatam to Orissa, saying that it derived its name from a certain kingdom, and adding that mandalam is 'kingdom.'[88] So that this respectable writer had already distinctly indicated the true etymology of Coromandel.

Some old documents in Valentijn speak of the 'old city of Coromandel.' It is not absolutely clear what place was so called (probably by the Arabs in their fashion of calling a chief town by the name of the country), but the indications point almost certainly to Negapatam.[89]

The oldest European mention of the name is, we believe, in the Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, where it appears as CHOMANDARLA. The short Italian narrative of Hieronymo da Sto. Stefano is, however, perhaps earlier still, and he curiously enough gives the name in exactly the modern form "Coromandel," though perhaps his C had originally a cedilla (Ramusio, i. f. 345_v_.). These instances suffice to show that the name was not given by the Portuguese. Da Gama and his companions knew the east coast only by hearsay, and no doubt derived their information chiefly from Mahommedan traders, through their "Moorish" interpreter. That the name was in familiar Mahommedan use at a later date may be seen from Rowlandson's Translation of the Tohfat-ul-Mujāhidīn, where we find it stated that the Franks had built fortresses "at Meelapoor (i.e. Mailapur or San Tomé) and Nagapatam, and other ports of SOLMUNDUL," showing that the name was used by them just as we use it (p. 153). Again (p. 154) this writer says that the Mahommedans of Malabar were cut off from extra-Indian trade, and limited "to the ports of Guzerat, the Concan, Solmondul, and the countries about Kaeel." At page 160 of the same work we have mention of "COROMANDEL and other parts," but we do not know how this is written in the original Arabic. Varthema (1510) has CIORMANDEL, i.e. Chormandel, but which Eden in his translation (1577, which probably affords the earliest English occurrence of the name) deforms into CYROMANDEL (f. 396b). [Albuquerque in his Cartas (see p. 135 for a letter of 1513) has CHOROMANDELL passim.] Barbosa has in the Portuguese edition of the Lisbon Academy, CHARAMANDEL; in the Span. MS. translated by Lord Stanley of Alderley, CHOLMENDEL and Cholmender. D'Alboquerque's Commentaries (1557), Mendez Pinto (c. 1550) and Barros (1553) have CHOROMANDEL, and Garcia De Orta (1563) CHARAMANDEL. The ambiguity of the ch, soft in Portuguese and Spanish, but hard in Italian, seems to have led early to the corrupt form Coromandel, which we find in Parkes's Mendoza (1589), and COROMANDYLL, among other spellings, in the English version of Castanheda (1582). Cesare Federici has in the Italian (1587) CHIARAMANDEL (probably pronounced soft in the Venetian manner), and the translation of 1599 has COROMANDEL. This form thenceforward generally prevails in English books, but not without exceptions. A Madras document of 1672 in Wheeler has CORMANDELL, and so have the early Bengal records in the India Office; Dampier (1689) has COROMONDEL (i. 509); Lockyer (1711) has "the Coast of CORMANDEL"; A. Hamilton (1727) CHORMONDEL (i. 349); ed. 1744, i. 351; and a paper of about 1759, published by Dalrymple, has "CHOROMANDEL Coast" (Orient. Repert. i. 120-121). The poet Thomson has CORMANDEL:

"all that from the tract Of woody mountains stretch'd through gorgeous Ind Fall on Cormandel's Coast or Malabar." Summer.

The Portuguese appear to have adhered in the main to the correcter form CHOROMANDEL: e.g. Archivio Port. Oriental, fasc. 3, p. 480, and passim. A Protestant Missionary Catechism, printed at Tranquebar in 1713 for the use of Portuguese schools in India has: "na costa dos Malabaros que se chama CORMANDEL." Bernier has "la côte de KOROMANDEL" (Amst. ed. ii. 322). W. Hamilton says it is written Choramandel in the Madras Records until 1779, which is substantially correct. In the MS. "List of Persons in the Service of the Rt. Honble. E. I. Company in Fort St. George and other places on the Coast of CHOROMANDELL," preserved in the Indian Office, that spelling continues down to 1778. In that year it is changed to COROMANDEL. In the French translation of Ibn Batuta (iv. 142) we find Coromandel, but this is only the perverse and misleading manner of Frenchmen, who make Julius Caesar cross from "France" to "England." The word is Ma'bar in the original. [Alboquerque (Comm. Hak. Soc. i. 41) speaks of a violent squall under the name of vara de Coromandel.]

CORPORAL FORBES, s. A soldier's grimly jesting name for Cholera Morbus.

1829.—"We are all pretty well, only the regiment is sickly, and a great quantity are in hospital with the CORPORAL FORBES, which carries them away before they have time to die, or say who comes there."—In Shipp's Memoirs, ii. 218.

CORRAL, s. An enclosure as used in Ceylon for the capture of wild elephants, corresponding to the KEDDAH of Bengal. The word is Sp. corral, 'a court,' &c., Port. curral, 'a cattle-pen, a paddock.' The Americans have the same word, direct from the Spanish, in common use for a cattle-pen; and they have formed a verb 'to corral,' i.e. to enclose in a pen, to pen. The word kraal applied to native camps and villages at the Cape of Good Hope appears to be the same word introduced there by the Dutch. The word corral is explained by Bluteau: "A receptacle for any kind of cattle, with railings round it and no roof, in which respect it differs from Corte, which is a building with a roof." Also he states that the word is used especially in churches for septum nobilium feminarum, a pen for ladies.

c. 1270.—"When morning came, and I rose and had heard mass, I proclaimed a council to be held in the open space (CORRAL) between my house and that of Montaragon."—Chron. of James of Aragon, tr. by Foster, i. 65.

1404.—"And this mosque and these chapels were very rich, and very finely wrought with gold and azure, and enamelled tiles (azulejos); and within there was a great CORRAL, with trees and tanks of water."—Clavijo, § cv. Comp. Markham, 123.

1672.—"About Mature they catch the Elephants with CORAALS" (Coralen, but sing. Coraal).—Baldaeus, Ceylon, 168.

1860.—In Emerson Tennent's Ceylon, Bk. VIII. ch. iv. the CORRAL is fully described.

1880.—"A few hundred pounds expended in houses, and the erection of CORALLS in the neighbourhood of a permanent stream will form a basis of operations." (In Colorado.)—Fortnightly Rev., Jan., 125.

CORUNDUM, s. This is described by Dana under the species Sapphire, as including the grey and darker coloured opaque crystallised specimens. The word appears to be Indian. Shakespear gives Hind. kuranḍ, Dakh. kurund. Littré attributes the origin to Skt. kuruvinda, which Williams gives as the name of several plants, but also as 'a ruby.' In Telugu we have kuruvindam, and in Tamil kurundam for the substance in present question; the last is probably the direct origin of the term.

c. 1666.—"Cet emeri blanc se trouve par pierres dans un lieu particulier du Roiaume, et s'apelle CORIND en langue Telengui."—Thevenot, v. 297.

COSMIN, n.p. This name is given by many travellers in the 16th and 17th centuries to a port on the western side of the Irawadi Delta, which must have been near BASSEIN, if not identical with it. Till quite recently this was all that could be said on the subject, but Prof. Forchhammer of Rangoon has now identified the name as a corruption of the classical name formerly borne by Bassein, viz. Kusima or Kusumanagara, a city founded about the beginning of the 5th century. Kusima-maṇḍala was the western province of the Delta Kingdom which we know as Pegu. The Burmese corrupted the name of Kusuma into Kusmein and Kothein, and Alompra after his conquest of Pegu in the middle of the 18th century, changed it to Bathein. So the facts are stated substantially by Forchhammer (see Notes on Early Hist. and Geog. of Br. Burma, No. 2, p. 12); though familiar and constant use of the word Persaim, which appears to be a form of Bassein, in the English writings of 1750-60, published by Dalrymple (Or. Repertory, passim), seems hardly consistent with this statement of the origin of Bassein. [Col. Temple (Ind. Ant. xxii. 19 seqq.; J. R. A. S. 1893, p. 885) disputes the above explanation. According to him the account of the change of name by Alompra is false history; the change from initial p to k is not isolated, and the word Bassein itself does not date beyond 1780.]

The last publication in which Cosmin appears is the "Draught of the River Irrawaddy or Irabatty," made in 1796, by Ensign T. Wood of the Bengal Engineers, which accompanies Symes's Account (London, 1800). This shows both Cosmin, and Persaim or Bassein, some 30 or 40 miles apart. But the former was probably taken from an older chart, and from no actual knowledge.

c. 1165.—"Two ships arrived at the harbour KUSUMA in Aramana, and took in battle and laid waste country from the port Sapattota, over which Kurttipurapam was governor."—J.A.S. Bengal, vol. xli. pt. i. p. 198.

1516.—"Anrique Leme set sail right well equipped, with 60 Portuguese. And pursuing his voyage he captured a junk belonging to Pegu merchants, which he carried off towards Martaban, in order to send it with a cargo of rice to Malaca, and so make a great profit. But on reaching the coast he could not make the port of Martaban, and had to make the mouth of the River of Pegu.... Twenty leagues from the bar there is another city called COSMIM, in which merchants buy and sell and do business...."—Correa, ii. 474.

1545.—"... and 17 persons only out of 83 who were on board, being saved in the boat, made their way for 5 days along the coast; intending to put into the river of COSMIM, in the kingdom of Pegu, there to embark for India (i.e. Goa) in the king's lacker ship...."—F. M. Pinto, ch. cxlvii.

1554.—"COSMYM ... the currency is the same in this port that is used in Peguu, for this is a seaport by which one goes to Peguu."—A. Nunez, 38.

1566.—"In a few days they put into COSMI, a port of Pegu, where presently they gave out the news, and then all the Talapoins came in haste, and the people who were dwelling there."—Couto, Dec. viii. cap. 13.

c. 1570.—"They go it vp the riuer in foure daies ... with the flood, to a City called COSMIN ... whither the Customer of Pegu comes to take the note or markes of euery man.... Nowe from COSMIN to the citie Pegu ... it is all plaine and a goodly Country, and in 8 dayes you may make your voyage."—Cæsar Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 366-7.

1585.—"So the 5th October we came to COSMI, the territory of which, from side to side is full of woods, frequented by parrots, tigers, boars, apes, and other like creatures."—G. Balbi, f. 94.

1587.—"We entered the barre of Negrais, which is a braue barre, and hath 4 fadomes water where it hath least. Three dayes after we came to COSMIN, which is a very pretie towne, and standeth very pleasantly, very well furnished with all things ... the houses are all high built, set vpon great high postes ... for feare of the Tygers, which be very many."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 390.

1613.—"The Portuguese proceeded without putting down their arms to attack the Banha Dela's (position), and destroyed it entirely, burning his factory and compelling him to flee to the kingdom of Prom, so that there now remained in the whole realm of Pegu only the Banho of COSMIM (a place adjoining Negrais) calling himself vassal of the King of Arracan."—Bocarro, 132.

COSPETIR, n.p. This is a name which used greatly to perplex us on the 16th and 17th century maps of India, e.g. in Blaeu's Atlas (c. 1650), appearing generally to the west of the Ganges Delta. Considering how the geographical names of different ages and different regions sometimes get mixed up in old maps, we at one time tried to trace it to the Κασπάτυρος of Herodotus, which was certainly going far afield! The difficulty was solved by the sagacity of the deeply-lamented Prof. Blochmann, who has pointed out (J. As. Soc. Beng., xlii. pt. i. 224) that Cospetir represents the Bengali genitive of GAJPATI, 'Lord of Elephants,' the traditional title of the Kings of Orissa. The title Gajpati was that one of the Four Great Kings who, according to Buddhist legend, divided the earth among them in times when there was no Chakravartti, or Universal Monarch (see CHUCKERBUTTY). Gajapati rules the South; Aśvapati (Lord of Horses) the North; Chhatrapati (Lord of the Umbrella) the West; Narapati (Lord of Men) the East. In later days these titles were variously appropriated (see Lassen, ii. 27 seq.). And Akbar, as will be seen below, adopted these names, with others of his own devising, for the suits of his pack of cards. There is a Raja Gajpati, a chief Zamindar of the country north of Patna, who is often mentioned in the wars of Akbar (see Elliot, v. 399 and passim, vi. 55, &c.) who is of course not to be confounded with the Orissa Prince.

c. 700 (?).—"In times when there was no Chakravartti King ... Chen-pu (Samba-dvīpa) was divided among four lords. The southern was the Lord of Elephants (GAJAPATI), &c...."—Introd. to Si-yu-ki (in Pèlerins Bouddh.), ii. lxxv.

1553.—"On the other or western side, over against the Kingdom of Orixa, the Bengalis (os Bengalos) hold the Kingdom of COSPETIR, whose plains at the time of the risings of the Ganges are flooded after the fashion of those of the River Nile."—Barros, Dec. IV. ix. cap. I.

This and the next passage compared show that Barros was not aware that Cospetir and Gajpati were the same.

" "Of this realm of Bengala, and of other four realms its neighbours, the Gentoos and Moors of those parts say that God has given to each its peculiar gift: to Bengala infantry numberless; to the Kingdom of Orixa elephants; to that of Bisnaga men most skilful in the use of sword and shield; to the Kingdom of Dely multitudes of cities and towns; and to Cou a vast number of horses. And so naming them in this order they give them these other names, viz.: Espaty, GASPATY, Noropaty, Buapaty, and Coapaty."—Barros, ibid. [These titles appear to be Aśvapati, "Lord of Horses"; GAJAPATI; Narapati, "Lord of Men"; Bhūpati, "Lord of Earth"; Gopati, "Lord of Cattle."]

c. 1590.—"His Majesty (Akbar) plays with the following suits of cards. 1st. Ashwapati, the lord of horses. The highest card represents a King on horseback, resembling the King of Dihli.... 2nd. GAJPATI, the King whose power lies in the number of his elephants, as the ruler of Oṛisah.... 3rd. Narpati, a King whose power lies in his infantry, as is the case with the rulers of Bijápúr," &c.—Āīn, i. 306.

c. 1590.—"Orissa contains one hundred and twenty-nine brick forts, subject to the command of GUJEPUTTY."—Ayeen (by Gladwin), ed. 1800, ii. 11; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 126].

1753.—"Herodote fait aussi mention d'une ville de Caspatyrus située vers le haut du fleuve Indus, ce que Mercator a cru correspondre à une denomination qui existe dans la Géographie moderne, sans altération marquée, savoir COSPETIR. La notion qu'on a de COSPETIR se tire de l'historien Portugais Jean de Barros ... la situation n'est plus celle qui convient à Caspatyrus."—D'Anville, 4 seq.

COSS, s. The most usual popular measure of distance in India, but like the mile in Europe, and indeed like the mile within the British Islands up to a recent date, varying much in different localities.

The Skt. word is krośa, which also is a measure of distance, but originally signified 'a call,' hence the distance at which a man's call can be heard.[90]

In the Pali vocabulary called Abhidhānappadīpīkā, which is of the 12th century, the word appears in the form koss; and nearly this, kos, is the ordinary Hindi. Kuroh is a Persian form of the word, which is often found in Mahommedan authors and in early travellers. These latter (English) often write COURSE. It is a notable circumstance that, according to Wrangell, the Yakuts of N. Siberia reckon distance by kiosses (a word which, considering the Russian way of writing Turkish and Persian words, must be identical with kos). With them this measure is "indicated by the time necessary to cook a piece of meat." Kioss is = to about 5 versts, or 1⅔ miles, in hilly or marshy country, but on plain ground to 7 versts, or 2⅓ miles.[91] The Yakuts are a Turk people, and their language is a Turki dialect. The suggestion arises whether the form kos may not have come with the Mongols into India, and modified the previous krośa? But this is met by the existence of the word kos in Pali, as mentioned above.

In ancient Indian measurement, or estimation, 4 krośas went to the yojana. Sir H. M. Elliot deduced from distances in the route of the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hian that the yojana of his age was as nearly as possible 7 miles. Cunningham makes it 7½ or 8, Fergusson 6; but taking Elliot's estimate as a mean, the ancient kos would be 1¾ miles.

The kos as laid down in the Āīn [ed. Jarrett, iii. 414] was of 5000 gaz [see GUDGE]. The official decision of the British Government has assigned the length of Akbar's Ilāhī gaz as 33 inches, and this would make Akbar's kos = 2 m. 4 f. 183⅓ yards. Actual measurement of road distances between 5 pair of Akbar's kos-minārs,[92] near Delhi, gave a mean of 2 m. 4 f. 158 yards.

In the greater part of the Bengal Presidency the estimated kos is about 2 miles, but it is much less as you approach the N.W. In the upper part of the Doab, it is, with fair accuracy, 1¼ miles. In Bundelkhand again it is nearly 3 m. (Carnegy), or, according to Beames, even 4 m. [In Madras it is 2¼ m., and in Mysore the Sultānī kos is about 4 m.] Reference may be made on this subject to Mr. Thomas's ed. of Prinsep's Essays, ii. 129; and to Mr. Beames's ed. of Elliot's Glossary ("The Races of the N.-W. Provinces," ii. 194). The latter editor remarks that in several parts of the country there are two kinds of kos, a pakkā and a kachchā kos, a double system which pervades all the weights and measures of India; and which has prevailed also in many other parts of the world [see PUCKA].

c. 500.—"A gavyūtih (or league—see GOW) is two KROSAS."—Amarakosha, ii. 2, 18.

c. 600.—"The descendant of Kukulstha (i.e. Rāma) having gone half a KROŚA...."—Raghuvamsā, xiii. 79.

c. 1340.—"As for the mile it is called among the Indians al-KURŪH."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 95.

" "The Sultan gave orders to assign me a certain number of villages.... They were at a distance of 16 KURŪHS from Dihli."—Ibn Batuta, 388.

c. 1470.—"The Sultan sent ten viziers to encounter him at a distance of ten KORS (a kor is equal to 10 versts)...."—Ath. Nikitin, 26, in India in the XVth Cent.

" "From Chivil to Jooneer it is 20 KORS; from Jooneer to Beder 40; from Beder to Kulongher, 9 KORS; from Beder to Koluberg, 9."—Ibid. p. 12.

1528.—"I directed Chikmâk Beg, by a writing under the royal hand and seal, to measure the distance from Agra to Kâbul; that at every nine KOS he should raise a minâr or turret, twelve gez in height, on the top of which he was to construct a pavilion...."—Baber, 393.

1537.—"... that the King of Portugal should hold for himself and all his descendants, from this day forth for aye, the Port of the City of Mangualor (in Guzerat) with all its privileges, revenues, and jurisdiction, with 2½ COUCEES round about...."—Treaty in S. Botelho, Tombo, 225.

c. 1550.—"Being all unmanned by their love of Raghoba, they had gone but two KOS by the close of day, then scanning land and water they halted."—Rāmāyana of Tulsī Dās, by Growse, 1878, p. 119.

[1604.—"At the rate of four coss (COCES) the league by the calculation of the Moors."—Couto, Dec. XII., Bk. I. cap. 4.]

1616.—"The three and twentieth arrived at Adsmeere, 219 COURSES from Brampoore, 418 English miles, the COURSES being longer than towards the Sea."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 541; [Hak. Soc. i. 105].

" "The length of these forenamed Provinces is North-West to South-East, at the least 1000 COURSES, every Indian COURSE being two English miles."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1468.

1623.—"The distance by road to the said city they called seven COS, or CORŪ, which is all one; and every cos or corū is half a ferseng or league of Persia, so that it will answer to a little less than two Italian [English] miles."—P. della Valle, ii. 504; [Hak. Soc. i. 23].

1648.—"... which two COSS are equivalent to a Dutch mile."—Van Twist, Gen. Beschrijv. 2.

1666.—"... une COSSE qui est la mesure des Indes pour l'espace des lieux, est environ d'une demi-lieue."—Thevenot, v. 12.

COSSACK, s. It is most probable that this Russian term for the military tribes of various descent on what was the S. frontier of the Empire has come originally from ḳazzāḳ, a word of obscure origin, but which from its adoption in Central Asia we may venture to call Turki. [Schuyler, Turkistan, i. 8.] It appears in Pavet de Courteille's Dict. Turk-Oriental as "vagabond; aventurier ...; onagre que ses compagnons chassent loin d'eux." But in India it became common in the sense of 'a predatory horseman' and freebooter.

1366.—"On receipt of this bad news I was much dispirited, and formed to myself three plans; 1st. That I should turn COSSACK, and never pass 24 hours in one place, and plunder all that came to hand."—Mem. of Timūr, tr. by Stewart, p. 111.

[1609.—In a Letter from the Company to the factors at Bantam mention is made of one "Sophony COSUKE," or as he is also styled in the Court Minutes "the Russe."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 288.]

1618.—"COSSACKS (Cosacchi) ... you should know, is not the name of a nation, but of a collection of people of various countries and sects (though most of them Christians) who without wives or children, and without horses, acknowledge obedience to no prince; but dwelling far from cities in fastnesses among the woods or mountains, or rivers ... live by the booty of their swords ... employ themselves in perpetual inroads and cruisings by land and sea to the detriment of their nearest enemies, i.e. of the Turks and other Mahometans.... As I have heard from them, they promise themselves one day the capture of Constantinople, saying that Fate has reserved for them the liberation of that country, and that they have clear prophecies to that effect."—P. della Valle, i. 614 seq.

c. 1752.—"His KUZZAKS ... were likewise appointed to surround and plunder the camp of the French...."—Hist. of Hydur Naik, tr. by Miles, p. 36.

1813.—"By the bye, how do Clarke's friends the COSSACKS, who seem to be a band of Circassians and other Sarmatians, come to be called by a name which seems to belong to a great Toorkee tribe on the banks of the Jaxartes? KUZZAUK is used about Delhi for a highwayman. Can it be (as I have heard) an Arabic Mobaligh (exaggeration) from kizk (plunder) applied to all predatory tribes?"—Elphinstone, in Life, i. 264.

1819.—"Some dashing leader may ... gather a predatory band round his standard, which, composed as it would be of desperate adventurers, and commanded by a professional KUZZAUK, might still give us an infinite deal of trouble."—Ibid. ii. 68.

c. 1823.—"The term COSSACK is used because it is the one by which the Mahrattas describe their own species of warfare. In their language the word COSSÂKEE (borrowed like many more of their terms from the Moghuls) means predatory."—Malcolm, Central India, 3d ed. i. 69.

COSSID, s. A courier or running messenger; Arab. ḳāṣid.

1682.—"I received letters by a COSSID from Mr. Johnson and Mr. Catchpoole, dated ye 18th instant from Muxoodavad, Bulchund's residence."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 20th; [Hak. Soc. i. 58].

[1687.—"Haveing detained the COSSETTS 4 or 5 Daies."—Ibid. ii. lxix.]

1690.—"Therefore December the 2d. in the evening, word was brought by the Broker to our President, of a COSSET'S Arrival with Letters from Court to the Vacinavish, injoyning our immediate Release."—Ovington, 416.

1748.—"The Tappies [ḍâk runners] on the road to Ganjam being grown so exceedingly indolent that he has called them in, being convinced that our packets may be forwarded much faster by CASSIDS [mounted postmen[93]]."—In Long, p. 3.

c. 1759.—"For the performance of this arduous ... duty, which required so much care and caution, intelligencers of talent, and KASIDS or messengers, who from head to foot were eyes and ears ... were stationed in every quarter of the country."—H. of Hydur Naik, 126.

1803.—"I wish that you would open a communication by means of COSSIDS with the officer commanding a detachment of British troops in the fort of Songhur."—Wellington, ii. 159.

COSSIMBAZAR, n.p. Properly Kāsimbāzār. A town no longer existing, which closely adjoined the city of Murshīdābād, but preceded the latter. It was the site of one of the most important factories of the East India Company in their mercantile days, and was indeed a chief centre of all foreign trade in Bengal during the 17th century. ["In 1658 the Company established a factory at Cossimbazaar, 'CASTLE BAZAAR.'"—(Birdwood Rep. on Old Rec. 219.)] Fryer (1673) calls it CASTLE BUZZAR (p. 38).

1665.—"That evening I arrived at CASEN-BASAR, where I was welcom'd by Menheir Arnold van Wachtendonk, Director of all Holland-Factories in Bengal."—Tavernier, E.T., ii. 56; [ed. Ball, i. 131. Bernier (E.T. p. 141; ed. Constable, 440) has Kassem-Bazar; in the map, p. 454, Kasembazar.]

1676.—"KASSEMBASAR, a Village in the Kingdom of Bengala, sends abroad every year two and twenty thousand Bales of Silk; every Bale weighing a hunder'd pound."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 126; [Ball, ed. ii. 2].

[1678.—"CASSUMBAZAR." See quotation under DADNY.]

COSSYA, n.p. More properly Kāsia, but now officially Khāsi; in the language of the people themselves kī-Kāsī, the first syllable being a prefix denoting the plural. The name of a hill people of Mongoloïd character, occupying the mountains immediately north of Silhet in Eastern Bengal. Many circumstances in relation to this people are of high interest, such as their practice, down to our own day, of erecting rude stone monuments of the menhir and dolmen kind, their law of succession in the female line, &c. Shillong, the modern seat of administration of the Province of Assam, and lying midway between the proper valley of Assam and the plain of Silhet, both of which are comprehended in that government, is in the Kāsia country, at a height of 4,900 feet above the sea. The Kāsias seem to be the people encountered near Silhet by Ibn Batuta as mentioned in the quotation:

c. 1346.—"The people of these mountains resemble Turks (i.e. Tartars), and are very strong labourers, so that a slave of their race is worth several of another nation."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 216. [See KHASYA.]

1780.—"The first thing that struck my observation on entering the arena was the similarity of the dresses worn by the different tribes of CUSSEAHS or native Tartars, all dressed and armed agreeable to the custom of the country or mountain from whence they came."—Hon. R. Lindsay, in Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 182.

1789.—"We understand the COSSYAHS who inhabit the hills to the north-westward of Sylhet, have committed some very daring acts of violence."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 218.

1790.—"Agreed and ordered, that the Trade of Sylhet ... be declared entirely free to all the natives ... under the following Regulations:—1st. That they shall not supply the COSSYAHS or other Hill-people with Arms, Ammunition or other articles of Military store...."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 31.

COSTUS. (See PUTCHOCK.)

COT, s. A light bedstead. There is a little difficulty about the true origin of this word. It is universal as a sea-term, and in the South of India. In Northern India its place has been very generally taken by CHARPOY (q.v.), and cot, though well understood, is not in such prevalent European use as it formerly was, except as applied to barrack furniture, and among soldiers and their families. Words with this last characteristic have very frequently been introduced from the south. There are, however, both in north and south, vernacular words which may have led to the adoption of the term cot in their respective localities. In the north we have H. khāṭ and khaṭwā, both used in this sense, the latter also in Sanskrit; in the south, Tam. and Malayāl. kaṭṭil, a form adopted by the Portuguese. The quotations show, however, no Anglo-Indian use of the word in any form but cot.

The question of origin is perhaps further perplexed by the use of quatre as a Spanish term in the West Indies (see Tom Cringle below). A Spanish lady tells us that catre, or catre de tigera ("scissors-cot") is applied to a bedstead with X-trestles. Catre is also common Portuguese for a wooden bedstead, and is found as such in a dictionary of 1611. These forms, however, we shall hold to be of Indian origin; unless it can be shown that they are older in Spain and Portugal than the 16th century. The form quatre has a curious analogy (probably accidental) to chārpāī.

1553.—"The Camarij (Zamorin) who was at the end of a house, placed on a bedstead, which they call CATLE...."—De Barros, Dec. I. liv. iv. cap. viii.

1557.—"The king commanded his men to furnish a tent on that spot, where the interview was to take place, all carpeted inside with very rich tapestries, and fitted with a sofa (CATLE) covered over with a silken cloth."—Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. ii. 204.

1566.—"The king was set on a CATEL (the name of a kind of field bedstead) covered with a cloth of white silk and gold...."—Damian de Goës, Chron. del R. Dom Emanuel, 48.

1600.—"He retired to the hospital of the sick and poor, and there had his cell, the walls of which were of coarse palm-mats. Inside there was a little table, and on it a crucifix of the wood of St. Thomé, covered with a cloth, and a breviary. There was also a CATRE of coir, with a stone for pillow; and this completes the inventory of the furniture of that house."—Lucena, V. do P. F. Xavier, 199.

[1613.—"Here hired a CATELE and 4 men to have carried me to Agra."—Danvers, Letters, i. 277.

[1634.—"The better sort sleepe upon COTS, or Beds two foot high, matted or done with girth-web."—Sir T. Herbert, Trav. 149. N.E.D.]

1648.—"Indian bedsteads or CADELS."—Van Twist, 64.

1673.—"... where did sit the King in State on a COTT or Bed."—Fryer, 18.

1678.—"Upon being thus abused the said Serjeant Waterhouse commanded the corporal Edward Short, to tie Savage down on his COT."—In Wheeler, i. 106.

1685.—"I hired 12 stout fellows ... to carry me as far as Lar in my COTT (Palankeen fashion)...."—Hedges, Diary, July 29; [Hak. Soc. i. 203].

1688.—"In the East Indies, at Fort St. George, also Men take their COTTS or little Field-Beds and put them into the Yards, and go to sleep in the Air."—Dampier's Voyages, ii. Pt. iii.

1690.—"... the COT or Bed that was by ...."—Ovington, 211.

1711.—In Canton Price Current: "Bamboo COTTS for Servants each ... 1 mace."—Lockyer, 150.

1768-71.—"We here found the body of the deceased, lying upon a KADEL, or couch."—Stavorinus, E.T., i. 442.

1794.—"Notice is hereby given that sealed proposals will be received ... for supplying ... the different General Hospitals with clothing, COTTS, and bedding."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 115.

1824.—"I found three of the party insisted upon accompanying me the first stage, and had despatched their camp-COTS."—Seely, Ellora, ch. iii.

c. 1830.—"After being ... furnished with food and raiment, we retired to our QUATRES, a most primitive sort of couch, with a piece of canvas stretched over it."—Tom Cringle's Log, ed. 1863, p. 100.

1872.—"As Badan was too poor to have a KHĀT, that is, a wooden bedstead with tester frames and mosquito curtains."—Govinda Samanta, i. 140.

COTAMALUCO, n.p. The title by which the Portuguese called the kings of the Golconda Dynasty, founded, like the other Mahommedan kingdoms of S. India, on the breaking up of the Bāhmani kingdom of the Deccan. It was a corruption of Ḳuṭb-ul-Mulk, the designation of the founder, retained as the style of the dynasty by Mahommedans as well as Portuguese (see extract from Akbar-nāma under IDALCAN).

1543.—"When IDALCAN heard this reply he was in great fear ... and by night made his escape with some in whom he trusted (very few they were), and fled in secret, leaving his family and his wives, and went to the territories of the Izam Maluco (see NIZAMALUCO), his neighbour and friend ... and made matrimonial ties with the Izam Maluco, marrying his daughter, on which they arranged together; and there also came into this concert the MADREMALUCO, and COTAMALUCO, and the VERIDO, who are other great princes, marching with Izam Maluco, and connected with him by marriage."—Correa, iv. 313 seq.

1553.—"The Captains of the Kingdom of the Decan added to their proper names other honorary ones which they affected more, one calling himself Iniza Malmulco, which is as much as to say 'Spear of the State,' Cota Malmulco, i.e. 'Fortress of the State,' Adelchan, 'Lord of Justice'; and we, corrupting these names, call them NIZAMALUCO, COTAMALUCO, and HIDALCHAN."—Barros, IV. iv. 16; [and see Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 172]. These same explanations are given by Garcia de Orta (Colloquios, f. 36_v_), but of course the two first are quite wrong. Iniza Malmulco, as Barros here writes it, is Ar. An-Niẓām ul Mulk, "The Administrator of the State," not from P. neza, "a spear." COTAMALUCO is Ḳuṭb-ul-Mulk, Ar. "the Pivot (or Pole-star) of the State," not from H. koṭā, "a fort."

COTIA, s. A fast-sailing vessel, with two masts and lateen sails, employed on the Malabar coast. Koṭṭiya is used in Malayāl.; [the Madras Gloss. writes the word kotyeh, and says that it comes from Ceylon;] yet the word hardly appears to be Indian. Bluteau however appears to give it as such (iii. 590).

1552.—"Among the little islands of Goa he embarked on board his fleet, which consisted of about a dozen COTIAS, taking with him a good company of soldiers."—Castanheda, iii. 25. See also pp. 47, 48, 228, &c.

c. 1580.—"In the gulf of Naguná ... I saw some CUTIÁS."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 73.

1602.—"... embarking his property on certain COTIAS, which he kept for that purpose."—Couto, Dec. IV. liv. i. cap. viii.

COTTA, s. H. kaṭṭhā. A small land-measure in use in Bengal and Bahar, being the twentieth part of a Bengal bīghā (see BEEGAH), and containing eighty square yards.

[1767.—"The measurement of land in Bengal is thus estimated: 16 Gundas make 1 COTTA; 20 COTTAS, 1 Bega, or about 16,000 square feet."—Verelst, View of Bengal, 221, note.]

1784.—"... An upper roomed House standing upon about 5 COTTAHS of ground...."—Seton-Karr, i. 34.

COTTON, s. We do not seem to be able to carry this familiar word further back than the Ar. ḳuṭn, ḳuṭun, or ḳuṭunn, having the same meaning, whence Prov. coton, Port. cotão, It. cotone, Germ. Kattun. The Sp. keeps the Ar. article, algodon, whence old Fr. auqueton and hoqueton, a coat quilted with cotton. It is only by an odd coincidence that Pliny adduces a like-sounding word in his account of the arbores lanigerae: "ferunt mali cotonei amplitudine cucurbitas, quae maturitate ruptae ostendunt lanuginis pilas, ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt"—xii. 10 (21). [On the use and cultivation of cotton in the ancient world, see the authorities collected by Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 470, seqq.]

[1830.—"The dress of the great is on the Persian model; it consists of a shirt of KUTTAUN (a kind of linen of a wide texture, the best of which is imported from Aleppo, and the common sort from Persia)...."—Elphinstone's Caubul, i. 351.]

COTTON-TREE, SILK. (See SEEMUL.)

COTWAL, CUTWAUL, s. A police-officer; superintendent of police; native town magistrate. P. kotwāl, 'a seneschal, a commandant of a castle or fort.' This looks as if it had been first taken from an Indian word, koṭwālā; [Skt. koṭha- or koshṭha pālā 'castle-porter']; but some doubt arises whether it may not have been a Turki term. In Turki it is written kotāul, kotāwal, and seems to be regarded by both Vambéry and Pavet de Courteille as a genuine Turki word. V. defines it as: "Ketaul, garde de forteresse, chef de la garnison; nom d'un tribu d'Ozbegs;" P. "kotāwal, kotāwāl, gardien d'une citadelle." There are many Turki words of analogous form, as ḳarāwal, 'a vidette,' baḳāwal, 'a table-steward,' yasāwal, 'a chamberlain,' tangāwal, 'a patrol,' &c. In modern Bokhara Kataul is a title conferred on a person who superintends the Amir's buildings (Khanikoff, 241). On the whole it seems probable that the title was originally Turki, but was shaped by Indian associations.

[The duties of the Kotwāl, as head of the police, are exhaustively laid down in the Āīn (Jarrett, ii. 41). Amongst other rules: "He shall amputate the hand of any who is the pot-companion of an executioner, and the finger of such as converse with his family."] The office of Kotwāl in Western and Southern India, technically speaking, ceased about 1862, when the new police system (under Act, India, V. of 1861, and corresponding local Acts) was introduced. In Bengal the term has been long obsolete. [It is still in use in the N.W.P. to designate the chief police officer of one of the larger cities or cantonments.]

c. 1040.—"Bu-Ali KOTWAL (of Ghazni) returned from the Khilj expedition, having adjusted matters."—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 151.

1406-7.—"They fortified the city of Astarābād, where Abul Leïth was placed with the rank of KOTWAL."—Abdurrazāk, in Not. et Extr. xiv. 123.

1553.—"The message of the Camorij arriving, Vasco da Gama landed with a dozen followers, and was received by a noble person whom they called CATUAL...."—Barros, Dec. I. liv. iv. ch. viii.

1572.—

"Na praya hum regedor do Regno estava Que na sua lingua CATUAL se chama." Camões, vii. 44.

By Burton:

"There stood a Regent of the Realm ashore, a chief, in native parlance 'CAT'UAL' hight."

also the plural:

"Mas aquelles avaros CATUAIS Que o Gentilico povo governavam." Ibid. viii. 56.

1616.—Roe has CUTWALL passim; [e.g. Hak. Soc. i. 90. &c.].

1727.—"Mr. Boucher being bred a Druggist in his youth, presently knew the Poison, and carried it to the CAUTWAUL or Sheriff, and showed it."—A. Hamilton, ii. 199. [In ed. 1744, ii. 199, CAUTWAL].

1763.—"The CATWAL is the judge and executor of justice in criminal cases."—Orme (ed. 1803), i. 26.

1812.—"... an officer retained from the former system, denominated CUTWAL, to whom the general police of the city and regulation of the market was entrusted."—Fifth Report, 44.

1847.—"The KUTWAL ... seems to have done his duty resolutely and to the best of his judgment."—G. O. by Sir C. Napier, 121.

[1880.—"The son of the Raja's KOTWAL was the prince's great friend."—Miss Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales, 209.]

COUNSILLEE, s. This is the title by which the natives in Calcutta generally designate English barristers. It is the same use as the Irish one of Counsellor, and a corruption of that word.

COUNTRY, adj. This term is used colloquially, and in trade, as an adjective to distinguish articles produced in India (generally with a sub-indication of disparagement), from such as are imported, and especially imported from Europe. Indeed EUROPE (q.v.) was, and still occasionally is, used as the contrary adjective. Thus, 'COUNTRY harness' is opposed to 'EUROPE harness'; 'country-born' people are persons of European descent, but born in India; 'country horses' are Indian-bred in distinction from ARABS, WALERS (q.v.), English horses, and even from 'stud-breds,' which are horses reared in India, but from foreign sires; 'country ships' are those which are owned in Indian ports, though often officered by Europeans; country bottled beer is beer imported from England in cask and bottled in India; ['country-wound' silk is that reeled in the crude native fashion]. The term, as well as the H. desī, of which country is a translation, is also especially used for things grown or made in India as substitutes for certain foreign articles. Thus the Cicca disticha in Bombay gardens is called 'Country gooseberry'; Convolvulus batatas, or sweet potato, is sometimes called the 'country potato.' It was, equally with our quotidian root which has stolen its name, a foreigner in India, but was introduced and familiarised at a much earlier date. Thus again desī bādām, or 'country almond,' is applied in Bengal to the nut of the Terminalia Catappa. On desī, which is applied, among other things, to silk, the great Ritter (dormitans Homerus) makes the odd remark that desī is just Seide reversed! But it would be equally apposite to remark that Trigon-ometry is just Country-ometry reversed!

Possibly the idiom may have been taken up from the Portuguese, who also use it, e.g. 'açafrao da terra,' 'country saffron,' i.e. SAFFLOWER, otherwise called bastard saffron, the term being sometimes applied to turmeric. But the source of the idiom is general, as the use of desī shows. Moreover the Arabic baladī, having the same literal meaning, is applied in a manner strictly analogous, including the note of disparagement, insomuch that it has been naturalised in Spanish as indicating 'of little or no value.' Illustrations of the mercantile use of beledi (i.e. baladī) will be found in a note to Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 370. For the Spanish use we may quote the Dict. of Cobarruvias (1611): "Baladi, the thing which is produced at less cost, and is of small duration and profit." (See also Dozy and Engelmann, 232 seq.)

1516.—"Beledyn ginger grows at a distance of two or three leagues all round the city of Calicut.... In Bengal there is also much ginger of the COUNTRY (Gengivre Beledi)."—Barbosa, 221 seq.

[1530.—"I at once sent some of these COUNTRY men (homeens valadis) to the Thanas."—Alboquerque, Cartas, p. 148.]

1582.—"The Nayres maye not take anye COUNTRIE women, and they also doe not marrie."—Castañeda, (by N. L.), f. 36.

[1608.—"The COUNTRY here are at dissension among themselves."—Danvers, Letters, i. 20.]

1619.—"The twelfth in the morning Master Methwold came from Messalipatam in one of the COUNTREY Boats."—Pring, in Purchas, i. 638.

1685.—"The inhabitants of the Gentoo Town, all in arms, bringing with them also elephants, kettle-drums, and all the COUNTRY music."—Wheeler, i. 140.

1747.—"It is resolved and ordered that a Serjeant with two Troopers and a Party of COUNTRY Horse, to be sent to Markisnah Puram to patroll...."—Ft. St. David Council of War, Dec. 25. MS. Records in India Office.

1752.—"Captain Clive did not despair ... and at ten at night sent one Shawlum, a serjeant who spoke the COUNTRY languages, with a few sepoys to reconnoitre."—Orme, i. 211 (ed. 1803).

1769.—"I supped last night at a COUNTRY Captain's; where I saw for the first time a specimen of the Indian taste."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 15.

1775.—"The Moors in what is called COUNTRY ships in East India, have also their chearing songs; at work in hoisting, or in their boats a rowing."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 305.

1793.—"The jolting springs of COUNTRY-made carriages, or the grunts of COUNTRY-made carriers, commonly called palankeen-boys."—Hugh Boyd, 146.

1809.—"The Rajah had a drawing of it made for me, on a scale, by a COUNTRY Draftsman of great merit."—Ld. Valentia, i. 356.

" "... split COUNTRY peas...."—Maria Graham, 25.

1817.—"Since the conquest (of Java) a very extensive trade has been carried on by the English in COUNTRY ships."—Raffles, H. of Java, i. 210.

[1882.—"There was a COUNTRY-born European living in a room in the bungalow."—Sanderson, Thirteen Years, 256.]

COUNTRY-CAPTAIN, s. This is in Bengal the name of a peculiar dry kind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish. We can only conjecture that it was a favourite dish at the table of the skippers of 'country ships,' who were themselves called 'country captains,' as in our first quotation. In Madras the term is applied to a spatchcock dressed with onions and curry stuff, which is probably the original form. [Riddell says: "COUNTRY-CAPTAIN.—Cut a fowl in pieces; shred an onion small and fry it brown in butter; sprinkle the fowl with fine salt and curry powder and fry it brown; then put it into a stewpan with a pint of soup; stew it slowly down to a half and serve it with rice" (Ind. Dom. Econ. 176).]

1792.—"But now, Sir, a COUNTRY CAPTAIN is not to be known from an ordinary man, or a Christian, by any certain mark whatever."—Madras Courier, April 26.

c. 1825.—"The local name for their business was the 'Country Trade,' the ships were 'COUNTRY Ships,' and the masters of them 'COUNTRY CAPTAINS.' Some of my readers may recall a dish which was often placed before us when dining on board these vessels at Whampoa, viz. 'COUNTRY CAPTAIN.'—The Fankwae at Canton (1882), p. 33.

COURSE, s. The drive usually frequented by European gentlemen and ladies at an Indian station.

1853.—"It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore COURSE, after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had happened in these six months!"—Oakfield, ii. 124.

COURTALLUM, n.p. The name of a town in Tinnevelly [used as an European sanatorium (Stuart, Man. of Tinnevelly, 96)]; written in vernacular Kuttālam. We do not know its etymology. [The Madras Gloss. gives Trikūtāchala, Skt., the 'Three-peaked Mountain.']

COVENANTED SERVANTS. This term is specially applied to the regular Civil Service of India, whose members used to enter into a formal covenant with the East India Company, and do now with the Secretary of State for India. Many other classes of servants now go out to India under a variety of contracts and covenants, but the term in question continues to be appropriated as before. [See CIVILIAN.]

1757.—"There being a great scarcity of COVENANTED SERVANTS in Calcutta, we have entertained Mr. Hewitt as a monthly writer ... and beg to recommend him to be covenanted upon this Establishment."—Letter in Long, 112.

COVID, s. Formerly in use as the name of a measure, varying much locally in value, in European settlements not only in India but in China, &c. The word is a corruption, probably an Indo-Portuguese form, of the Port. covado, a cubit or ell.

[1612.—"A long COVAD within 1 inch of our English yard, wherewith they measure cloth, the short COVAD is for silks, and containeth just as the Portuguese COVAD."—Danvers, Letters, i. 241.

[1616.—"Clothes of gould: ... were worth 100 rupies a COBDE."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 203.

[1617.—Cloth "here affoorded at a rupie and two in a COBDEE vnder ours."—Ibid. ii. 409.]

1672.—"Measures of Surat are only two; the Lesser and the Greater COVELD [probably misprint for Coveed], the former of 27 inches English, the latter of 36 inches English."—Fryer, 206.

1720.—"Item. I leave 200 pagodas for a tomb to be erected in the burial place in form as follows. Four large pillars, each to be six COVIDS high, and six covids distance one from the other; the top to be arched, and on each pillar a cherubim; and on the top of the arch the effigy of Justice."—Testament of Charles Davers, Merchant, in Wheeler, ii. 338.

[1726.—"COBIDOS." See quotation under LOONGHEE.]

c. 1760.—According to Grose the COVID at Surat was 1 yard English [the greater coveed of Fryer], at Madras ½ a yard; but he says also: "At Bengal the same as at Surat and Madras."

1794.—"To be sold, on very reasonable terms, About 3000 COVITS of 2-inch Calicut Planks."—Bombay Courier, July 19.

The measure has long been forgotten under this name in Bengal, though used under the native name hāth. From Milburn (i. 334, 341, &c.) it seems to have survived on the West Coast in the early part of last century, and possibly may still linger.

[1612.—"½ corge of pintados of 4 HASTAS the piece."—Danvers, Letters, i. 232.]

COVIL, s. Tam. kō-v-il, 'God-house,' a Hindu temple; and also (in Malabar) a palace, [also in the form Colghum, for Kovilagam]. In colloquial use in S. India and Ceylon. In S. India it is used, especially among the French, for 'a church'; also among the uneducated English.

[1796.—"I promise to use my utmost endeavours to procure for this Raja the COLGHUM of Pychi for his residence...."—Treaty, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 254.]

COWCOLLY, n.p. The name of a well-known lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of the Hoogly, in Midnapur District. Properly, according to Hunter, Geonkhālī. In Thornton's English Pilot (pt. iii. p. 7, of 1711) this place is called COCKOLY.

COW-ITCH, s. The irritating hairs on the pod of the common Indian climbing herb Mucuna pruriens, D.C., N. O. Leguminosae, and the plant itself. Both pods and roots are used in native practice. The name is doubtless the Hind. kewānch (Skt. kapi-kachchhu), modified in Hobson-Jobson fashion, by the 'striving after meaning.'

[1773.—"COW-ITCH. This is the down found on the outside of a pod, which is about the size and thickness of a man's little finger, and of the shape of an Italian S."—Ives, 494.]

COWLE, s. A lease, or grant in writing; a safe-conduct, amnesty, or in fact any written engagement. The Emperor Sigismund gave Cowle to John Huss—and broke it. The word is Ar. ḳaul, 'word, promise, agreement,' and it has become technical in the Indian vernaculars, owing to the prevalence of Mahommedan Law.

[1611.—"We desired to have a COWL of the Shahbunder to send some persons aland."—Danvers, Letters, i. 133.

[1613.—"Procured a COWL for such ships as should come."—Foster, Letters, ii. 17.]

1680.—"A COWLE granted by the Right Worshipful Streynsham Master, Esq., Agent and Governour for affairs of the Honorable East India Company in ffort St. George at Chinapatnam, by and with the advice of his Councell to all the Pegu Ruby Marchants...."—Fort St. George Cons. Feb. 23, in Notes and Extracts, No. iii. p. 10.

1688.—"The President has by private correspondence procured a COWLE for renting the Town and customs of S. Thomé."—Wheeler, i. 176.

1758.—"The Nawaub ... having mounted some large guns on that hill ... sent to the Killadar a KOWL-NAMA, or a summons and terms for his surrender."—H. of Hydur Naik, 123.

1780.—"This CAOUL was confirmed by another King of Gingy ... of the Bramin Caste."—Dunn, New Directory, 140.

Sir A. Wellesley often uses the word in his Indian letters. Thus:

1800.—"One tandah of brinjarries ... has sent to me for COWLE...."—Wellington Desp. (ed. 1837), i. 59.

1804.—"On my arrival in the neighbourhood of the pettah I offered COWLE to the inhabitants."—Ibid. ii. 193.

COWRY, s. Hind. kauṛī (kauḍī), Mahr. kavaḍī, Skt. kaparda, kapardika. The small white shell, Cypraea moneta, current as money extensively in parts of S. Asia and of Africa.

By far the most ancient mention of shell currency comes from Chinese literature. It is mentioned in the famous "Tribute of Yü" (or Yü-Kung); in the Shu-King (about the 14th cent. B.C.); and in the "Book of Poetry" (Shi-King), in an ode of the 10th cent. B.C. The Chinese seem to have adopted the use from the aborigines in the East and South; and they extended the system to tortoise-shell, and to other shells, the cowry remaining the unit. In 338 B.C., the King of Tsin, the supply of shells failing, suppressed the cowry currency, and issued copper coin, already adopted in other States of China. The usurper Wang Mang, who ruled A.D. 9-23, tried to revive the old systems, and issued rules instituting, in addition to the metallic money, ten classes of tortoise-shell and five of smaller shells, the value of all based on the cowry, which was worth 3 cash.[94] [Cowries were part of the tribute paid by the aborigines of Puanit to Metesouphis I. (Maspero, Dawn of Civ., p. 427).]

The currency of cowries in India does not seem to be alluded to by any Greek or Latin author. It is mentioned by Maṣ'ūdī (c. 943), and their use for small change in the Indo-Chinese countries is repeatedly spoken of by Marco Polo, who calls them pourcelaines, the name by which this kind of shell was known in Italy (porcellane) and France. When the Mahommedans conquered Bengal, early in the 13th century, they found the ordinary currency composed exclusively of cowries, and in some remote districts this continued to the beginning of the last century. Thus, up to 1801, the whole revenue of the Silhet District, amounting then to Rs. 250,000, was collected in these shells, but by 1813 the whole was realised in specie. Interesting details in connection with this subject are given by the Hon. Robert Lindsay, who was one of the early Collectors of Silhet (Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 170).

The Sanskrit vocabulary called Trikāṇḍaśesha (iii. 3, 206) makes 20 kapardika (or kauṛīs) = ¼ paṇa; and this value seems to have been pretty constant. The cowry table given by Mr. Lindsay at Silhet, circa 1778, exactly agrees with that given by Milburn as in Calcutta use in the beginning of last century, and up to 1854 or thereabouts it continued to be the same:

4 kauṛis = 1 ganda 20 gandas = 1 paṇ 4 paṇ = 1 āna 4 ānas = 1 kāhan, or about ¼ rupee.

This gives about 5120 cowries to the Rupee. We have not met with any denomination of currency in actual use below the cowry, but it will be seen that, in a quotation from Mrs. Parkes, two such are indicated. It is, however, Hindu idiosyncracy to indulge in imaginary submultiples as well as imaginary multiples. (See a parallel under LACK).

In Bastar, a secluded inland State between Orissa and the Godavery, in 1870, the following was the prevailing table of cowry currency, according to Sir W. Hunter's Gazetteer:

28 kauṛis = 1 borī 12 boris = 1 dugānī 12 dugānīs = 1 Rupee, i.e. 2880 cowries.

Here we may remark that both the paṇ in Bengal, and the dugānī in this secluded Bastar, were originally the names of pieces of money, though now in the respective localities they represent only certain quantities of cowries. (For paṇ, see under FANAM; and as regards dugānī, see Thomas's Patan Kings of Delhī, pp. 218 seq.). ["Up to 1865 bee-a or cowries were in use in Siam; the value of these was so small that from 800 to 1500 went to a fuang (7½ cents.)."—Hallett, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant, p. 164. Mr. Gray has an interesting note on cowries in his ed. of Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 236 seqq.]

Cowries were at one time imported into England in considerable quantities for use in the African slave-trade. "For this purpose," says Milburn, "they should be small, clean, and white, with a beautiful gloss" (i. 273). The duty on this importation was £53, 16_s._ 3_d._ per cent. on the sale value, with ⅓ added for war-tax. In 1803, 1418 cwt. were sold at the E. I. auctions, fetching £3,626; but after that few were sold at all. In the height of slave-trade, the great mart for cowries was at Amsterdam, where there were spacious warehouses for them (see the Voyage, &c., quoted 1747).

c. A.D. 943.—"Trading affairs are carried on with cowries (al-wada'), which are the money of the country."—Maṣ'ūdī, i. 385.

c. 1020.—"These isles are divided into two classes, according to the nature of their chief products. The one are called Dewa-Kauḍha, 'the Isles of the COWRIES,' because of the COWRIES that they collect on the branches of coco-trees planted in the sea."—Albirūnī, in J. As., Ser. IV. tom. iv. 266.

c. 1240.—"It has been narrated on this wise that as in that country (Bengal), the KAUṚI [shell] is current in place of silver, the least gift he used to bestow was a lak of KAUṚIS. The Almighty mitigate his punishment [in hell]!"—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣiri, by Raverty, 555 seq.

c. 1350.—"The money of the Islanders (of the Maldives) consists of cowries (al-wada'). They so style creatures which they collect in the sea, and bury in holes dug on the shore. The flesh wastes away, and only a white shell remains. 100 of these shells are called siyāh, and 700 fāl; 12,000 they call kutta; and 100,000 bustū. Bargains are made with these cowries at the rate of 4 bustū for a gold dīnār. [This would be about 40,000 for a rupee.] Sometimes the rate falls, and 12 bustū are exchanged for a gold dīnār. The islanders barter them to the people of Bengal for rice, for they also form the currency in use in that country.... These cowries serve also for barter with the negroes in their own land. I have seen them sold at Mālī and Gūgū [on the Niger] at the rate of 1150 for a gold dīnār."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 122.

c. 1420.—"A man on whom I could rely assured me that he saw the people of one of the chief towns of the Said employ as currency, in the purchase of low-priced articles of provision, KAUDAS, which in Egypt are known as wada, just as people in Egypt use fals."—Makrizi, S. de Sacy, Chrest. Arabe, 2nd ed. i. 252.

[1510.—Mr. Whiteway writes: "In an abstract of an unpublished letter of Alboquerque which was written about 1510, and abstracted in the following year, occurs this sentence:—'The merchandize which they carry from Cairo consists of snails (caracoes) of the Twelve Thousand Islands.' He is speaking of the internal caravan-trade of Africa, and these snails must be COWRIES."]

1554.—At the Maldives: "COWRIES 12,000 make one cota; and 4½ cotas of average size weigh one quintal; the big ones something more."—A. Nunes, 35.

" "In these isles ... are certain white little shells which they call CAURIS."—Castanheda, iv. 7.

1561.—"Which vessels (Gundras, or palm-wood boats from the Maldives) come loaded with coir and CAURY, which are certain little white shells found among the Islands in such abundance that whole vessels are laden with them, and which make a great trade in Bengala, where they are current as money."—Correa, I. i. 341.

1586.—"In Bengal are current those little shells that are found in the islands of Maldiva, called here COURIM, and in Portugal Buzio."—Sassetti, in De Gubernatis, 205.

[c. 1590.—"Four kos from this is a well, into which if the bone of any animal be thrown it petrifies, like a COWRIE shell, only smaller."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 229.]

c. 1610.—"Les marchandises qu'ils portent le plus souvent sont ces petites coquilles des Maldives, dont ils chargent tous les ans grand nombre de nauires. Ceux des Maldives les appellent Boly, et les autres Indiens CAURY."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 517; see also p. 165; [Hak. Soc. i. 438; also comp. i. 78, 157, 228, 236, 240, 250, 299; Boly is Singh. bella, a cowry].

c. 1664.—"... lastly, it (Indostan) wants those little Sea-cockles of the Maldives, which serve for common Coyne in Bengale, and in some other places...."—Bernier, E.T. 63; [ed. Constable, 204].

[c. 1665.—"The other small money consists of shells called COWRIES, which have the edges inverted, and they are not found in any other part of the world save only the Maldive Islands.... Close to the sea they give up to 80 for the paisa, and that diminishes as you leave the sea, on account of carriage; so that at Agra you receive but 50 or 55 for the paisa."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 27 seq.]

1672.—"COWREYS, like sea-shells, come from Siam, and the Philippine Islands."—Fryer, 86.

1683.—"The Ship Britannia—from the Maldiva Islands, arrived before the Factory ... at their first going ashore, their first salutation from the natives was a shower of Stones and Arrows, whereby 6 of their Men were wounded, which made them immediately return on board, and by ye mouths of their Guns forced them to a complyance, and permission to load what COWRIES they would at Markett Price; so that in a few days time they sett sayle from thence for Surrat with above 60 Tunn of COWRYES."—Hedges, Diary, July 1; [Hak. Soc. i. 96].

1705.—"... CORIS, qui sont des petits coquillages."—Luillier, 245.

1727.—"The COURIES are caught by putting Branches of Cocoa-nut trees with their Leaves on, into the Sea, and in five or six Months the little Shell-fish stick to those leaves in Clusters, which they take off, and digging Pits in the Sand, put them in and cover them up, and leave them two or three Years in the Pit, that the Fish may putrefy, and then they take them out of the Pit, and barter them for Rice, Butter, and Cloth, which Shipping bring from Ballasore in Orisa near Bengal, in which Countries COURIES pass for Money from 2500 to 3000 for a Rupee, or half a Crown English."—A. Hamilton [ed. 1744], i. 349.

1747.—"Formerly 12,000 weight of these COWRIES would purchase a cargo of five or six hundred Negroes: but those lucrative times are now no more; and the Negroes now set such a value on their countrymen, that there is no such thing as having a cargo under 12 or 14 tuns of cowries.

"As payments of this kind of specie are attended with some intricacy, the Negroes, though so simple as to sell one another for shells, have contrived a kind of copper vessel, holding exactly 108 pounds, which is a great dispatch to business."—A Voyage to the Id. of Ceylon on board a Dutch Indiaman in the year 1747, &c. &c. Written by a Dutch Gentleman. Transl. &c. London, 1754, pp. 21 seq.

1749.—"The only Trade they deal in is COWRIES (or Blackamoor's Teeth as they call them in England), the King's sole Property, which the sea throws up in great abundance."—The Boscawen's Voyage to Bombay, by Philalethes (1750), p. 52.

1753.—"Our Hon'ble Masters having expressly directed ten tons of COURIES to be laden in each of their ships homeward bound, we ordered the Secretary to prepare a protest against Captain Cooke for refusing to take any on board the Admiral Vernon."—In Long, 41.

1762.—"The trade of the salt and butty wood in the Chucla of Sillett, has for a long time been granted to me, in consideration of which I pay a yearly rent of 40,000 caouns[95] of COWRIES...."—Native Letter to Nabob, in Van Sittart, i. 203.

1770.—"... millions of millions of lires, pounds, rupees, and COWRIES."—H. Walpole's Letters, v. 421.

1780.—"We are informed that a Copper Coinage is now on the Carpet ... it will be of the greatest utility to the Public, and will totally abolish the trade of COWRIES, which for a long time has formed so extensive a field for deception and fraud. A greviance (sic) the poor has long groan'd under."—Hicky's Bengal Gazette, April 29.

1786.—In a Calcutta Gazette the rates of payment at Pultah Ferry are stated in Rupees, Annas, Puns, and Gundas (i.e. of Cowries, see above).—In Seton-Karr, i. 140.

1791.—"Notice is hereby given, that on or before the 1st November next, sealed proposals of Contract for the remittance in Dacca of the cowries received on account of the Revenues of Sylhet ... will be received at the Office of the Secretary to the Board of Revenue.... All persons who may deliver in proposals, are desired to specify the rates per cowan or cowans of COWRIES (see kāhan above) at which they will engage to make the remittance proposed."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 53.

1803.—"I will continue to pay, without demur, to the said Government, as my annual peshkush or tribute, 12,000 kahuns of COWRIES in three instalments, as specified herein below."—Treaty Engagement by the Rajah of Kitta Keonghur, a Tributary subordinate to Cuttack, 16th December, 1803.

1833.—"May 1st. Notice was given in the Supreme Court that Messrs. Gould and Campbell would pay a dividend at the rate of nine gundahs, one COWRIE, one cawg, and eighteen teel, in every sicca rupee, on and after the 1st of June. A curious dividend, not quite a farthing in the rupee!"[96]—The Pilgrim (by Fanny Parkes), i. 273.

c. 1865.—"Strip him stark naked, and cast him upon a desert island, and he would manage to play heads and tails for COWRIES with the sea-gulls, if land-gulls were not to be found."—Zelda's Fortune, ch. iv.

1883.—"Johnnie found a lovely COWRIE two inches long, like mottled tortoise-shell, walking on a rock, with its red fleshy body covering half its shell, like a jacket trimmed with chenille fringe."—Letter (of Miss North's) from Seychelle Islands, in Pall Mall Gazette, Jan. 21, 1884.

COWRY, s. Used in S. India for the yoke to carry burdens, the BANGY (q.v.) of N. India. In Tamil, &c., kāvaḍi, [kāvu, 'to carry on the shoulder,' tadi, 'pole'].

[1853.—"COWRIE baskets ... a circular ratan basket, with a conical top, covered with green oil-cloth, and secured by a brass padlock."—Campbell, Old Forest Ranger, 3rd ed. 178.]

COWTAILS, s. The name formerly in ordinary use for what we now more euphoniously call CHOWRIES (q.v.).

c. 1664.—"These Elephants have then also ... certain COW-TAILS of the great Tibet, white and very dear, hanging at their Ears like great Mustachoes...."—Bernier, E.T., 84; [ed. Constable, 261].

1665.—"Now that this King of the Great Tibet knows, that Aureng-Zebe is at Kachemire, and threatens him with War, he hath sent to him an Ambassador, with Presents of the Countrey, as Chrystal, and those dear White COW-TAILS...."—Ibid. 135; [ed. Constable, 422].

1774.—"To send one or more pair of the cattle which bear what are called COWTAILS."—Warren Hastings, Instruction to Bogle, in Markham's Tibet, 8.

" "There are plenty of COWTAILED cows (!), but the weather is too hot for them to go to Bengal."—Bogle, ibid. 52. 'Cowtailed cows' seem analogous to the 'dismounted mounted infantry' of whom we have recently heard in the Suakin campaign.

1784.—In a 'List of Imports probable from Tibet,' we find "COW TAILS."—In Seton-Karr, i. 4.

" "From the northern mountains are imported a number of articles of commerce.... The principal ... are ... musk, COWTAILS, honey...."—Gladwin's Ayeen Akbery (ed. 1800) ii. 17; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 172].

CRAN, s. Pers. krān. A modern Persian silver coin, worth about a franc, being the tenth part of a TOMAUN.

1880.—"A couple of mules came clattering into the courtyard, driven by one muleteer. Each mule carried 2 heavy sacks ... which jingled pleasantly as they were placed on the ground. The sacks were afterwards opened in my presence, and contained no less than 35,000 silver KRANS. The one muleteer without guard had brought them across the mountains, 170 miles or so, from Tehran."—MS. Letter from Col. Bateman-Champain, R.E.

[1891.—"I on my arrival took my servants' accounts in tomauns and KERANS, afterwards in kerans and shaies, and at last in kerans and puls."—Wills, Land of the Lion, 63.]

CRANCHEE, s. Beng. H. karānchī. This appears peculiar to Calcutta, [but the word is also used in N. India]. A kind of ricketty and sordid carriage resembling, as Bp. Heber says below, the skeleton of an old English hackney-coach of 1800-35 (which no doubt was the model), drawn by wretched ponies, harnessed with rope, and standing for native hire in various parts of the city.

1823.—"... a considerable number of 'CARANCHIES,' or native carriages, each drawn by two horses, and looking like the skeletons of hackney coaches in our own country."—Heber, i. 28 (ed. 1844).

1834.—"As Lady Wroughton guided her horse through the crowd to the right, a KURANCHY, or hackney-coach, suddenly passed her at full speed."—The Baboo, i. 228.

CRANGANORE, n.p. Properly (according to Dr. Gundert), Koḍuṅrīlūr, more generally Koduṅgalūr; [the Madras Gloss. gives Mal. Kotannallūr, kota, 'west,' kovil, 'palace,' ūr, 'village']. An ancient city and port of Malabar, identical with the Mūyiri-kkoḍu of an ancient copper-plate inscription,[97] with the Μουζιρὶς of Ptolemy's Tables and the Periplus, and with the Muziris primum emporium Indiae of Pliny (Bk. vi. cap. 23 or 26) [see Logan, Malabar, i. 80]. "The traditions of Jews, Christians, Brahmans, and of the Kérala Ulpatti (legendary History of Malabar) agree in making Kodungalūr the residence of the Perumāls (ancient sovereigns of Malabar), and the first resort of Western shipping" (Dr. Gundert in Madras Journal, vol. xiii. p. 120). It was apparently the earliest settlement of Jew and Christian immigrants. It is prominent in all the earlier narratives of the 16th century, especially in connection with the Malabar Christians; and it was the site of one of the seven churches alleged in the legends of the latter to have been founded by St. Thomas.[98] Cranganor was already in decay when the Portuguese arrived. They eventually established themselves there with a strong fort (1523), which the Dutch took from them in 1662. This fort was dismantled by Tippoo's troops in 1790, and there is now hardly a trace left of it. In Baldaeus (Malabar und Coromandel, p. 109, Germ. ed.) there are several good views of Cranganore as it stood in the 17th century. [See SHINKALI.]

c. 774. A.D.—"We have given as eternal possession to Iravi Corttan, the lord of the town, the brokerage and due customs ... namely within the river-mouth of CODANGALUR."—Copper Charter, see Madr. Journ. xiii. And for the date of the inscription, Burnell, in Ind. Antiq. iii. 315.

(Before 1500, see as in above quotation, p. 334.).—"I Erveh Barmen ... sitting this day in CANGANÚR...." (Madras Journal, xiii. pt. ii. p. 12). This is from an old Hebrew translation of the 8th century copper-grant to the Jews, in which the Tamil has "The king ... Sri Bhaskara Ravi Varman ... on the day when he was pleased to sit in Muyiri-kódu...."—thus identifying Muyiri or Muziris with Cranganore, an identification afterwards verified by tradition ascertained on the spot by Dr. Burnell.

1498.—"QUORONGOLIZ belongs to the Christians, and the king is a Christian; it is 3 days distant from Calecut by sea with fair wind; this king could muster 4,000 fighting men; here is much pepper...."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, 108.

1503.—"Nostra autem regio in qua Christiani commorantur Malabar appellatur, habetque xx circiter urbes, quarum tres celebres sunt et firmæ, CARONGOLY, Palor, et Colom, et aliæ illis proximæ sunt."—Letter of Nestorian Bishops on mission to India, in Assemani, iii. 594.

1516.—"... a place called CRONGOLOR, belonging to the King of Calicut ... there live in it Gentiles, Moors, Indians, and Jews, and Christians of the doctrine of St. Thomas."—Barbosa, 154.

c. 1535.—"CRANCANOR fu antichamente honorata, e buon porto, tien molte genti ... la città e grande, ed honorata con grã traffico, auãti che si facesse Cochin, cõ la venuta di Portoghesi, nobile."—Sommario de' Regni, &c. Ramusio, i. f. 332_v_.

1554.—"Item ... paid for the maintenance of the boys in the College, which is kept in CRANGUANOR, by charter of the King our Lord, annually 100 000 reis...."—S. Botelho, Tombo, &c., 27.

c. 1570.—"... prior to the introduction of Islamism into this country, a party of Jews and Christians had found their way to a city of Malabar called CADUNGALOOR."—Tohfat-ul-Mujahideen, 47.

1572.—

"A hum Cochin, e a outro Cananor, A qual Chale, a qual a ilha da pimenta, A qual Coulão, a qual dá CRANGANOR, E os mais, a quem o mais serve e contenta...." Camões, vii. 35.

1614.—"The Great Samorine's Deputy came aboord ... and ... earnestly persuaded vs to stay a day or two, till he might send to the Samorine, then at CRANGELOR, besieging a Castle of the Portugals."—Peyton, in Purchas, i. 531.

c. 1806.—"In like manner the Jews of KRANGHÍR (Cranganore), observing the weakness of the Sámuri ... made a great many Mahomedans drink the cup of martyrdom...."—Muhabbat Khán (writing of events in 16th century), in Elliot, viii. 388.

CRANNY, s. In Bengal commonly used for a clerk writing English, and thence vulgarly applied generically to the East Indians, or half-caste class, from among whom English copyists are chiefly recruited. The original is Hind. karānī, kirānī, which Wilson derives from Skt. karan, 'a doer.' Karaṇa is also the name of one of the (so-called) mixt castes of the Hindus, sprung from a Sudra mother and Vaisya father, or (according to some) from a pure Kshatriya mother by a father of degraded Kshatriya origin. The occupation of the members of this mixt caste is that of writers and accountants; [see Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal, i. 424 seqq.].

The word was probably at one time applied by natives to the junior members of the Covenanted Civil Service—"Writers," as they were designated. See the quotations from the "Seir Mutaqherin" and from Hugh Boyd. And in our own remembrance the "Writers' Buildings" in Calcutta, where those young gentlemen were at one time quartered (a range of apartments which has now been transfigured into a splendid series of public offices, but, wisely, has been kept to its old name), was known to the natives as Karānī kī Bārik.

c. 1350.—"They have the custom that when a ship arrives from India or elsewhere, the slaves of the Sultan ... carry with them complete suits ... for the Rabban or skipper, and for the KIRĀNĪ, who is the ship's clerk."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 198.

" "The second day after our arrival at the port of Kailūkari, the princess escorted the nakhodāh (or skipper), the KIRĀNĪ, or clerk...."—Ibid. iv. 250.

c. 1590.—"The KARRÁNÍ is a writer who keeps the accounts of the ship, and serves out the water to the passengers."—Āīn (Blochmann), i. 280.

c. 1610.—"Le Secretaire s'apelle CARANS...."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 152; [Hak. Soc. i. 214].

[1611.—"Doubt you not but it is too true, howsoever the CRANNY flatters you with better hopes."—Danvers, Letters, i. 117, and see also i. 190.

[1684.—"Ye Noceda and CRANEE."—Pringle, Diary of Ft. St. George, iii. 111.]

c. 1781.—"The gentlemen likewise, other than the Military, who are in high offices and employments, have amongst themselves degrees of service and work, which have not come minutely to my knowledge; but the whole of them collectively are called CARRANIS."—Seir Mutaqherin, ii. 543.

1793.—"But, as Gay has it, example gains where precept fails. As an encouragement therefore to my brother CRANNIES, I will offer an instance or two, which are remembered as good Company's jokes."—Hugh Boyd, The Indian Observer, 42.

1810.—"The CRANNY, or clerk, may be either a native Armenian, a native Portuguese, or a Bengallee."—Williamson, V. M. i. 209.

1834.—"Nazir, see bail taken for 2000 rupees. The CRANY will write your evidence, Captain Forrester."—The Baboo, i. 311.

It is curious to find this word explained by an old French writer, in almost the modern application to East Indians. This shows that the word was used at Goa in something of its Hindu sense of one of mixt blood.

1653.—"Les KARANES sont engendrez d'vn Mestis, et d'vne Indienne, lesquels sont oliaustres. Ce mot de KARANES vient a mon advis de Kara, qui signifie en Turq la terre, ou bien la couleur noire, comme si l'on vouloit dire par KARANES les enfans du païs, ou bien les noirs: ils ont les mesmes aduantages dans leur professions que les autres Mestis."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 226. Compare in M. Polo, Bk. I., ch. 18, his statement about the CARAONAS, and note thereon.

CRAPE, s. This is no Oriental word, though crape comes from China. It is the French crêpe, i.e. crespe, Lat. crispus, meaning frizzed or minutely curled. As the word is given in a 16th century quotation by Littré, it is probable that the name was first applied to a European texture. [Its use in English dates from 1633, according to the N.E.D.]

"I own perhaps I might desire Some shawls of true Cashmere— Some narrowy CRAPES of China silk, Like wrinkled skins, or scalded milk." O. W. Holmes, 'Contentment.'

CREASE, CRIS, &c., s. A kind of dagger, which is the characteristic weapon of the Malay nations; from the Javanese name of the weapon, adopted in Malay, krīs, kirīs, or kres (see Favre, Dict. Javanais-Français, 137_b_, Crawfurd's Malay Dict. s.v., Jansz, Javaansch-Nederl. Woordenboek, 202). The word has been generalised, and is often applied to analogous weapons of other nations, as 'an Arab crease,' &c. It seems probable that the H. word kirich, applied to a straight sword, and now almost specifically to a sword of European make, is identical with the Malay word krīs. See the form of the latter word in Barbosa, almost exactly kirich. Perhaps Turki kīlīch is the original. [Platts gives Skt. kṛiti, 'a sort of knife or dagger.'] If Reinaud is right in his translation of the Arab Relations of the 9th and 10th centuries, in correcting a reading, otherwise unintelligible, to khrī, we shall have a very early adoption of this word by Western travellers. It occurs, however, in a passage relating to Ceylon.

c. 910.—"Formerly it was common enough to see in this island a man of the country walk into the market grasping in his hand a KHRĪ, i.e. a dagger peculiar to the country, of admirable make, and sharpened to the finest edge. The man would lay hands on the wealthiest of the merchants that he found, take him by the throat, brandish his dagger before his eyes, and finally drag him outside of the town...."—Relation, &c., par Reinaud, p. 156; and see Arabic text, p. 120, near bottom.

It is curious to find the CRIS adopted by Alboquerque as a piece of state costume. When he received the ambassadors of Sheikh Ismael, i.e. the Shāh of Persia, Ismael Sūfī, at Ormuz, we read:

1515.—"For their reception there was prepared a dais of three steps ... which was covered with carpets, and the Governor seated thereon in a decorated chair, arrayed in a tunic and surcoat of black damask, with his collar, and his golden CRIS, as I described before, and with his big, long snow-white beard; and at the back of the dais the captains and gentlemen, handsomely attired, with their swords girt, and behind them their pages with lances and targets, and all uncovered."—Correa, ii. 423.

The portrait of Alboquerque in the 1st vol. of Mr. Birch's Translation of the Commentaries, realises the snow-white beard, tunic, and black surcoat, but the cris is missing. [The Malay CREESE is referred to in iii. 85.]

1516.—"They are girt with belts, and carry daggers in their waists, wrought with rich inlaid work, these they call QUERIX."—Barbosa, 193.

1552.—"And the quartermaster ran up to the top, and thence beheld the son of Timuta raja to be standing over the Captain Major with a cris half drawn."—Castanheda, ii. 363.

1572.—

"... assentada Lá no gremio da Aurora, onde nasceste, Opulenta Malaca nomeada! As settas venenosas que fizeste! Os CRISES, com que já te vejo armáda...." Camões, x. 44.

By Burton:

"... so strong thy site there on Aurora's bosom, whence they rise, thou Home of Opulence, Malacca hight! The poysoned arrows which thine art supplies, the krises thirsting, as I see, for fight...."

1580.—A vocabulary of "Wordes of the naturall language of Iaua" in the voyage of Sir Fr. Drake, has CRICKE, 'a dagger.'—Hakl. iv. 246.

[1584.—"CRISE." See quotation under A MUCK.]

1586-88.—"The custom is that whenever the King (of Java) doth die ... the wives of the said King ... every one with a dagger in her hand (which dagger they call a CRESE, and is as sharp as a razor) stab themselves to the heart."—Cavendish, in Hakl. iv. 337.

1591.—"Furthermore I enjoin and order in the name of our said Lord ... that no servant go armed whether it be with staves or daggers, or CRISSES."—Procl. of Viceroy Mathias d'Alboquerque in Archiv. Port. Oriental, fasc. 3, p. 325.

1598.—"In the Western part of the Island (Sumatra) is Manancabo where they make Poinyards, which in India are called CRYSES, which are very well accounted and esteemed of."—Linschoten, 33; [with some slight differences of reading, Hak. Soc. i. 110].

1602.—"... Chinesische Dolchen, so sie CRIS nennen."—Hulsius, i. 33.

c. 1610.—"Ceux-là ont d'ordinaire à leur costé vn poignard ondé qui s'apelle CRIS, et qui vient d'Achen en Sumatra, de Iaua, et de la Chine."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 121; [Hak. Soc. i. 164]; also see ii. 101; [ii. 162, 170].

1634.—"Malayos CRISES, Arabes alfanges."—Malaca Conquistada, ix. 32.

1686.—"The CRESSET is a small thing like a Baggonet which they always wear in War or Peace, at Work or Play, from the greatest of them to the poorest or meanest person."—Dampier, i. 337.

1690.—"And as the Japanners ... rip up their Bowels with a CRIC...."—Ovington, 173.

1727.—"A Page of twelve Years of Age ... (said) that he would shew him the Way to die, and with that he took a CRESS, and ran himself through the body."—A. Hamilton, ii. 99; [ed. 1744, ii. 98].

1770.—"The people never go without a poniard which they call CRIS."—Raynal (tr. 1777), i. 97.

c. 1850-60.—"They (the English) chew hashish, cut themselves with poisoned CREASES ... taste every poison, buy every secret."—Emerson, English Traits [ed. 1866, ii. 59].

The Portuguese also formed a word CRISADA, a blow with a CRIS (see Castanheda, iii. 379). And in English we find a verb to 'crease'; see in Purchas, i. 532, and this:

1604.—"This Boyhog we tortured not, because of his confession, but CRYSED him."—Scot's Discourse of Iava, in Purchas, i. 175.

[1704.—"At which our people ... were most of them CREEZED."—Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cccxxxvii.]

Also in Braddel's Abstract of the Sijara Malayu:

"He was in consequence CREASED at the shop of a sweetmeat seller, his blood flowed on the ground, but his body disappeared miraculously."—Sijara Malayu, in J. Ind. Arch. v. 318.

CREDERE, DEL. An old mercantile term.

1813.—"DEL CREDERE, or guaranteeing the responsibility of persons to whom goods were sold—commission ¾ per cent."—Milburn, i. 235.

CREOLE, s. This word is never used by the English in India, though the mistake is sometimes made in England of supposing it to be an Anglo-Indian term. The original, so far as we can learn, is Span. criollo, a word of uncertain etymology, whence the French créole, a person of European blood but colonial birth. See Skeat, who concludes that criollo is a negro corruption of criadillo, dim. of criado, and is = 'little nursling.' Criados, criadas, according to Pyrard de Laval, [Hak. Soc. ii. 89 seq.] were used at Goa for male and female servants. And see the passage quoted under NEELAM from Correa, where the words 'apparel and servants' are in the original 'todo o fato e criados.'

1782.—"Mr. Macintosh being the son of a Scotch Planter by a French CREOLE, of one of the West India Islands, is as swarthy and ill-looking a man as is to be seen on the Portugueze Walk on the Royal Exchange."—Price's Observations, &c. in Price's Tracts, i. 9.

CROCODILE, s. This word is seldom used in India; ALLIGATOR (q.v.) being the term almost invariably employed.

c. 1328.—"There be also COQUODRILES, which are vulgarly called calcatix [Lat. calcatrix, 'a cockatrice'].... These animals be like lizards, and have a tail stretched over all like unto a lizard's," &c.—Friar Jordanus, p. 19.

1590.—"One CROCODILE was so huge and greedy that he devoured an Alibamba, that is a chained company of eight or nine slaves; but the indigestible Iron paid him his wages, and murthered the murtherer."—Andrew Battel (West Africa), in Purchas, ii. 985.

[1870.—"... I have been compelled to amputate the limbs of persons seized by CROCODILES (Mugger).... The Alligator (gharial) sometimes devours children...."—Chevers, Med. Jurispr. in India, 366 seq.].

CRORE, s. One hundred lakhs, i.e. 10,000,000. Thus a crore of rupees was for many years almost the exact equivalent of a million sterling. It had once been a good deal more, and has now been for some years a good deal less. The H. is karoṛ, Skt. koṭi.

c. 1315.—"Kales Dewar, the ruler of Ma'bar, enjoyed a highly prosperous life.... His coffers were replete with wealth, insomuch that in the city of Mardī (Madura) there were 1200 CRORES of gold deposited, every crore being equal to a thousand laks, and every lak to one hundred thousand dinārs."—Wassāf, in Elliot, iii. 52. N.B.—The reading of the word crore is however doubtful here (see note by Elliot in loco). In any case the value of crore is misstated by Wassāf.

c. 1343.—"They told me that a certain Hindu farmed the revenue of the city and its territories (Daulatābād) for 17 KARŌR ... as for the KARŌR it is equivalent to 100 laks, and the lak to 100,000 dīnārs."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 49.

c. 1350.—"In the course of three years he had misappropriated about a KROR of tankas from the revenue."—Ziā-uddīn-Barnī, in Elliot, iii. 247.

c. 1590.—"Zealous and upright men were put in charge of the revenues, each over one KRŌR of dams." (These, it appears, were called KRŌRIS.)—Āīn-i-Akbari, i. 13.

1609.—"The King's yeerely Income of his Crowne Land is fiftie CROU of Rupias, every CROU is an hundred Leckes, and every Lecke is an hundred thousand Rupias."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 216.

1628.—"The revenue of all the territories under the Emperors of Delhi amounts, according to the Royal registers, to six arbs and thirty KRORS of dāms. One arb is equal to a hundred KRORS (a kror being ten millions) and a hundred Krors of dāms are equivalent to two krors and fifty lacs of rupees."—Muhammad Sharīf Hanafi, in Elliot, vii. 138.

1690.—"The Nabob or Governour of Bengal was reputed to have left behind him at his Death, twenty COUROUS of Roupies: A KOUROU is an hundred thousand lacks."—Ovington, 189.

1757.—"In consideration of the losses which the English Company have sustained ... I will give them one CRORE of rupees."—Orme, ii. 162 (ed. 1803).

c. 1785.—"The revenues of the city of Decca, once the capital of Bengal, at a low estimation amount annually to two KHERORE."—Carraccioli's Life of Clive, i. 172.

1797.—"An Englishman, for H. E.'s amusement, introduced the elegant European diversion of a race in sacks by old women: the Nabob was delighted beyond measure, and declared that though he had spent a CRORE of rupees ... in procuring amusement, he had never found one so pleasing to him."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 407.

1879.—

"'Tell me what lies beyond our brazen gates.' Then one replied, 'The city first, fair Prince! * * * * * * And next King Bimbasâra's realm, and then The vast flat world with CRORES on CRORES of folk.'" Sir E. Arnold, The Light of Asia, iii.

[CRORI, s. "The possessor or collector of a KROR, or ten millions, of any given kind of money; it was especially applied as an official designation, under the Mohammedan government, to a collector of revenue to the extent of a KROR of dāms, or 250,000 rupees, who was also at various times invested with the general superintendence of the lands in his district, and the charge of the police." (Wilson.)

[c. 1590.—See quotation under CRORE.

[1675.—"Nor does this exempt them from pishcashing the Nabob's CREWRY or Governour."—Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxxix.]

[CROTCHEY, KURACHEE,> properly Karāchi, the sea-port and chief town of the province of Sind, which is a creation of the British rule, no town appearing to have existed on the site before 1725. In As Suyūti's History of the Caliphs (E.T. p. 229) the capture of Kīrakh or Kīraj is mentioned. Sir H. M. Elliot thinks that this place was probably situated in if not named from Kachh. Jarrett (Āīn, ii. 344, note) supposes this to be Karāchi, which Elliot identified with the Krokala of Arrian. Here, according to Curtius, dwelt the Arabioi or Arabitai. The harbour of Karāchi was possibly the Porus Alexandri, where Nearchus was detained by the monsoon for twenty-four days (see McCrindle, Ancient India, 167, 262).

[1812.—"From CROTCHEY to Cape Monze the people call themselves Balouches."—Morier, Journey through Persia, p. 5.

[1839.—"... spices of all kinds, which are carried from Bombay ... to KORATCHEE or other ports in Sind."—Elphinstone's Caubul, i. 384.]

CROW-PHEASANT, s. The popular Anglo-Indian name of a somewhat ignoble bird (Fam. Cuculidae), common all over the plains of India, in Burma, and the Islands, viz. Centropus rufipennis, Illiger. It is held in India to give omens.

1878.—"The CROW-PHEASANT stalks past with his chestnut wings drooping by his side."—Phil. Robinson, In My Indian Garden, 7.

1883.—"There is that ungainly object the coucal, CROW-PHEASANT, jungle-crow, or whatever else you like to call the miscellaneous thing, as it clambers through a creeper-laden bush or spreads its reddish-bay wings and makes a slow voyage to the next tree. To judge by its appearance only it might be a crow developing for a peacock, but its voice seems to have been borrowed from a black-faced monkey."—Tribes on my Frontier, 155.

CUBEB, s. The fruit of the Piper Cubeba, a climbing shrub of the Malay region. [Its Hind. name kabāb chīnī marks its importation from the East by Chinese merchants.] The word and the articles were well known in Europe in the Middle Ages, the former being taken directly from the Arab. kabābah. It was used as a spice like other peppers, though less common. The importation into Europe had become infinitesimal, when it revived in last century, owing to the medicinal power of the article having become known to our medical officers during the British occupation of Java (1811-15). Several particulars of interest will be found in Hanbury and Flückiger's Pharmacog. 526, and in the notes to Marco Polo, ii. 380.

c. 943.—"The territories of this Prince (the Maharaja of the Isles) produce all sorts of spices and aromatics.... The exports are camphor, lign-aloes, clove, sandal-wood, betel-nut, nutmeg, cardamom, CUBEB (al-kabābah)...."—Maṣ'ūdi, i. 341 seq.

13th cent.—

"Theo canel and the licoris And swete savoury meynte I wis, Theo gilofre, QUYBIBE and mace...." King Alesaunder, in Weber's Metr. Rom., i. 279.

1298.—"This Island (Java) is of surpassing wealth, producing black pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, CUBEBS, cloves...."—Marco Polo, ii. 254.

c. 1328.—"There too (in Jaua) are produced CUBEBS, and nutmegs, and mace, and all the other finest spices except pepper."—Friar Jordanus, 31.

c. 1340.—"The following are sold by the pound. Raw silk; saffron; clove-stalks and cloves; CUBEBS; lign-aloes...."—Pegolotti, in Cathay, &c., p. 305.

" "CUBEBS are of two kinds, i.e. domestic and wild, and both should be entire and light, and of good smell; and the domestic are known from the wild in this way, that the former are a little more brown than the wild; also the domestic are round, whilst the wild have the lower part a little flattened underneath like flattened buttons."—Pegolotti, in Cathay, &c.; in orig. 374 seq.

c. 1390.—"Take fresh pork, seethe it, chop it small, and grind it well; put to it hard yolks of eggs, well mixed together, with dried currants, powder of cinnamon, and maces, CUBEBS, and cloves whole."—Recipe in Wright's Domestic Manners, 350.

1563.—"R. Let us talk of CUBEBS; although, according to Sepulveda, we seldom use them alone, and only in compounds.

"O. 'Tis not so in India; on the contrary they are much used by the Moors soaked in wine ... and in their native region, which is Java, they are habitually used for coldness of stomach; you may believe me they hold them for a very great medicine."—Garcia, f. 80-80_v_.

1572.—"The Indian physicians use CUBEBS as cordials for the stomach...."—Acosta, p. 138.

1612.—"CUBEBS, the pound ... xvi. s."—Rates and Valuatioun (Scotland).

1874.—"In a list of drugs to be sold in the ... city of Ulm, A.D. 1596, CUBEBS are mentioned ... the price for half an ounce being 8 kreuzers."—Hanb. & Flück. 527.

CUBEER BURR, n.p. This was a famous banyan-tree on an island of the Nerbudda, some 12 m. N.E. of Baroch, and a favourite resort of the English there in the 18th century. It is described by Forbes in his Or. Mem. i. 28; [2nd ed. i. 16, and in Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, ii. 137 seqq.]. Forbes says that it was thus called by the Hindus in memory of a favourite saint (no doubt Kabīr). Possibly, however, the name was merely the Ar. kabīr, 'great,' given by some Mahommedan, and misinterpreted into an allusion to the sectarian leader.

[1623.—"On an other side of the city, but out of the circuit of the houses, in an open place, is seen a great and fair tree, of that kind which I saw in the sea coasts of Persia, near Ormuz, called there Lul, but here Ber."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 35. Mr. Grey identifies this with the CUBEER BURR.]

1818.—"The popular tradition among the Hindus is that a man of great sanctity named KUBEER, having cleaned his teeth, as is practised in India, with a piece of stick, stuck it into the ground, that it took root, and became what it now is."—Copland, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo. i. 290.

CUCUYA, CUCUYADA, s. A cry of alarm or warning; Malayāl. kūkkuya, 'to cry out'; not used by English, but found among Portuguese writers, who formed cucuyada from the native word, as they did Crisada from kris (see CREASE). See Correa, Lendas, ii. 2. 926. See also quotation from Tennent, under COSS, and compare Australian cooey.

1525.—"On this immediately some of his Nairs who accompanied him, desired to smite the Portuguese who were going through the streets; but the Regedor would not permit it; and the CAIMAL approaching the King's palace, without entering to speak to the King, ordered those cries of theirs to be made which they call CUCUYADAS, and in a few minutes there gathered together more than 2000 Nairs with their arms...."—Correa, ii. 926.

1543.—"At the house of the pagod there was a high enclosure-wall of stone, where the Governor collected all his people, and those of the country came trooping with bows and arrows and a few matchlocks, raising great cries and CUCUYADAS, such as they employ to call each other to war, just like cranes when they are going to take wing."—Ibid. iv. 327.

CUDDALORE, n.p. A place on the marine backwater 16 m. S. of Pondicherry, famous in the early Anglo-Indian history of Coromandel. It was settled by the Company in 1682-3, and Fort St. David's was erected there soon after. Probably the correct name is Kaḍal-ūr, 'Sea-Town.' [The Madras Gloss. gives Tam. kūḍal, 'junction,' ūr, 'village,' because it stands on the confluence of the Kadilam and Paravanar Rivers.]

[1773.—"Fort St. David is ... built on a rising ground, about a mile from the Black-Town, which is called CUDDALORE."—Ives, p. 18.]

CUDDAPAH, n.p. Tel. kaḍapa, ['threshold,' said to take its name from the fact that it is situated at the opening of the pass which leads to the holy town of Tripatty (Gribble, Man. of Cuddapah, p. 3); others connect it with Skt. kṛipa, 'pity,' and the Skt. name is Kripanagara]. A chief town and district of the Madras Presidency. It is always written Kurpah in Kirkpatrick's Translation of Tippoo's Letters, [and see Wilks, Mysore, ed. 1869, i. 303]. It has been suggested as possible that it is the ΚΑΡΙΓΗ (for ΚΑΡΙΠΗ) of Ptolemy's Tables. [KURPAH indigo is quoted on the London market.]

1768.—"The chiefs of Shanoor and KIRPA also followed the same path."—H. of Hydur Naik, 189.

CUDDOO, s. A generic name for pumpkins, [but usually applied to the musk-melon, cucurbita moschata (Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 640)]. Hind. Kaddū.

[1870.—"Pumpkin, Red and White—Hind. KUDDOO. This vegetable grows in great abundance in all parts of the Deccan."—Riddell, Ind. Dom. Econ. 568.]

CUDDY, s. The public or captain's cabin of an Indiaman or other passenger ship. We have not been able to trace the origin satisfactorily. It must, however, be the same with the Dutch and Germ. kajute, which has the same signification. This is also the Scandinavian languages, Sw. in kajuta, Dan. kahyt, and Grimm quotes kajute, "Casteria," from a vocabulary of Saxon words used in the first half of 15th century. It is perhaps originally the same with the Fr. cahute, 'a hovel,' which Littré quotes from 12th century as quahute. Ducange has L. Latin cahua, 'casa, tugurium,' but a little doubtfully. [Burton (Ar. Nights, xi. 169) gives P. kadah, 'a room,' and compares CUMRA. The N.E.D. leaves the question doubtful.]

1726.—"Neither will they go into any ship's CAYUYT so long as they see any one in the Skipper's cabin or on the half-deck."—Valentijn, Chorom. (and Pegu), 134.

1769.—"It was his (the Captain's) invariable practice on Sunday to let down a canvas curtain at one end of the CUDDY ... and to read the church service,—a duty which he considered a complete clearance of the sins of the preceding week."—Life of Lord Teignmouth, i. 12.

1848.—"The youngsters among the passengers, young Chaffers of the 150th, and poor little Ricketts, coming home after his third fever, used to draw out Sedley at the CUDDY-table, and make him tell prodigious stories about himself and his exploits against tigers and Napoleon."—Vanity Fair, ed. 1867, ii. 255.

CULGEE, s. A jewelled plume surmounting the sirpesh or aigrette upon the turban. Shakespear gives kalghī as a Turki word. [Platts gives kalghā, kalghī, and refers it to Skt. kalaśa, 'a spire.']

c. 1514.—"In this manner the people of Bârân catch great numbers of herons. The KILKI-saj ['Plumes worn on the cap or turban on great occasions.' Also see Punjab Trade Report, App., p. ccxv.] are of the heron's feathers."—Baber, 154.

1715.—"John Surman received a vest and CULGEE set with precious stones."—Wheeler, ii. 246.

1759.—"To present to Omed Roy, viz.:—

1 CULGAH 1200 0 0 1 Surpage (sirpesh, or aigrette) 600 0 0 1 Killot (see KILLUT) 250 0 0"

—Expenses of Nabob's Entertainment. In Long, 193.

1786.—"Three KULGIES, three Surpaishes (see SIRPECH), and three Puduks (?) [padak, H. 'a badge, a flat piece of gold, a neck ornament'] of the value of 36,320 rupees have been despatched to you in a casket."—Tippoo's Letters, 263.

[1892.—Of a Banjara ox—"Over the beast's forehead is a shaped frontlet of cotton cloth bordered with patterns in colour with pieces of mirror sewn in, and crowned by a KALGI or aigrette of peacock feather tips."—L. Kipling, Beast and Man in India, 147.

[The word was also applied to a rich silk cloth imported from India.

[1714.—In a list of goods belonging to sub-governors of the South Sea C.—"A pair of CULGEE window curtains."—2 ser. Notes & Q. VI. 244.]

CULMUREEA, KOORMUREEA, s. Nautical H. kalmarīya, 'a calm,' taken direct from Port. calmaria (Roebuck).

CULSEY, s. According to the quotation a weight of about a CANDY (q.v.). We have traced the word, which is rare, also in Prinsep's Tables (ed. Thomas, p. 115), as a measure in Bhūj, kalsī. And we find R. Drummond gives it: "Kulsee or Culsy (Guz.). A weight of sixteen maunds" (the Guzerat maunds are about 40 lbs., therefore kalsi = about 640 lbs.). [The word is probably Skt. kalaśi, 'a water jar,' and hence a grain measure. The Madras Gloss. gives Can. kalasi as a measure of capacity holding 14 SEERS.]

1813.—"So plentiful are mangos ... that during my residence in Guzerat they were sold in the public markets for one rupee the CULSEY; or 600 pounds in English weight."—Forbes, Orient. Mem. i. 30; [2d. ed. i. 20].

CUMBLY, CUMLY, CUMMUL, s. A blanket; a coarse woollen cloth. Skt. kambala, appearing in the vernaculars in slightly varying forms, e.g. H. kamlī. Our first quotation shows a curious attempt to connect this word with the Arab. ḥammāl, 'a porter' (see HUMMAUL), and with the camel's hair of John Baptist's raiment. The word is introduced into Portuguese as cambolim, 'a cloak.'

c. 1350.—"It is customary to make of those fibres wet-weather mantles for those rustics whom they call camalls,[99] whose business it is to carry burdens, and also to carry men and women on their shoulders in palankins (lecticis).... A garment, such as I mean, of this CAMALL cloth (and not camel cloth) I wore till I got to Florence.... No doubt the raiment of John the Baptist was of that kind. For, as regards camel's hair, it is, next to silk, the softest stuff in the world, and never could have been meant...."—John Marignolli, in Cathay, 366.

1606.—"We wear nothing more frequently than those CAMBOLINS."—Gouvea, f. 132.

[c. 1610.—"Of it they make also good store of cloaks and capes, called by the Indians Mansaus, and by the Portuguese 'Ormus CAMBALIS.'"—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 240.]

1673.—"Leaving off to wonder at the natives quivering and quaking after Sunset wrapping themselves in a COMBLY or Hair-Cloth."—Fryer, 54.

1690.—"CAMLEES, which are a sort of Hair Coat made in Persia...."—Ovington, 455.

1718.—"But as a body called the CAMMUL-poshes, or blanket wearers, were going to join Qhandaoran, their commander, they fell in with a body of troops of Mahratta horse, who forbade their going further."—Seir Mutaqherin, i. 143.

1781.—"One COMLEY as a covering ... 4 fanams, 6 dubs, 0 cash."—Prison Expenses of Hon. J. Lindsay, Lives of Lindsays, iii.

1798.—"... a large black KUMMUL, or blanket."—G. Forster, Travels, i. 194.

1800.—"One of the old gentlemen, observing that I looked very hard at his CUMLY, was alarmed lest I should think he possessed numerous flocks of sheep."—Letter of Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 281.

1813.—Forbes has CAMELEENS.—Or. Mem. i. 195; [2d. ed. i. 108].

CUMMERBUND, s. A girdle. H. from P. kamar-band, i.e. 'loin-band.' Such an article of dress is habitually worn by domestic servants, peons, and irregular troops; but any waist-belt is so termed.

[1534.—"And tying on a CUMMERBUND (camarabando) of yellow silk."—Correa, iii. 588. Camarabandes in Dalboquerque, Comm., Hak. Soc. iv. 104.]

1552.—"The Governor arriving at Goa received there a present of a rich cloth of Persia which is called COMARBÃDOS, being of gold and silk."—Castanheda, iii. 396.

1616.—"The nobleman of Xaxma sent to have a sample of gallie pottes, jugges, podingers, lookinglasses, table bookes, chint bramport, and COMBARBANDS, with the prices."—Cocks's Diary, i. 147.

1638.—"Ils serrent la veste d'vne ceinture, qu'ils appellent COMMERBANT."—Mandelslo, 223.

1648.—"In the middle they have a well adjusted girdle, called a COMMERBANT."—Van Twist, 55.

1727.—"They have also a fine Turband, embroidered Shoes, and a Dagger of Value, stuck into a fine CUMMERBAND, or Sash."—A. Hamilton, i. 229; [ed. 1744, ii. 233].

1810.—"They generally have the turbans and CUMMER-BUNDS of the same colour, by way of livery."—Williamson, V. M. i. 274.

[1826.—"My white coat was loose, for want of a KUMBERBUND."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 275.]

1880.—"... The Punjab seems to have found out Manchester. A meeting of native merchants at Umritsur ... describes the effects of a shower of rain on the English-made turbans and KUMMERBUNDS as if their heads and loins were enveloped by layers of starch."—Pioneer Mail, June 17.

CUMQUOT, s. The fruit of Citrus japonica, a miniature orange, often sent in jars of preserved fruits, from China. Kumkwat is the Canton pronunciation of kin-kü, 'gold orange,' the Chinese name of the fruit.

CUMRA, s. H. kamrā, from Port. camara; a chamber, a cabin. [In Upper India the drawing-room is the gol kamrā, so called because one end of it is usually semi-circular.]

CUMRUNGA, s. See CARAMBOLA.

CUMSHAW, s. Chin. Pigeon-English for BUCKSHEESH (q.v.), or a present of any kind. According to Giles it is the Amoy pron. (kam-siā) of two characters signifying 'grateful thanks.' Bp. Moule suggests kan-siu (or Cantonese) kăm-sau, 'thank-gift.'

1879.—"... they pressed upon us, blocking out the light, uttering discordant cries, and clamouring with one voice, KUM-SHA, i.e. backsheesh, looking more like demons than living men."—Miss Bird's Golden Chersonese, 70.

1882.—"As the ship got under weigh, the Compradore's CUMSHAS, according to 'olo custom,' were brought on board ... dried lychee, Nankin dates ... baskets of oranges, and preserved ginger."—The Fankwae, 103.

CUNCHUNEE, s. H. kanchanī. A dancing-girl. According to Shakespear, this is the feminine of a caste, Kanchan, whose women are dancers. But there is doubt as to this: [see Crooke, Tribes and Castes, N.W.P. iv. 364, for the Kanchan caste.] Kanchan is 'gold'; also a yellow pigment, which the women may have used; see quot. from Bernier. [See DANCING-GIRL.]

[c. 1590.—"The Kanjari; the men of this class play the Pakhāwaj, the Rabāb, and the Tāla, while the women sing and dance. His Majesty calls them KANCHANIS."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, iii. 257.]

c. 1660.—"But there is one thing which seems to me a little too extravagant ... the publick Women, I mean not those of the Bazar, but those more retired and considerable ones that go to the great marriages at the houses of the Omrahs and Mansebdars to sing and dance, those that are called KENCHEN, as if you should say the guilded the blossoming ones...."—Bernier, E.T. 88; [ed. Constable, 273 seq.].

c. 1661.—"On regala dans le Serrail, toutes ces Dames Etrangères, de festins et des dances des QUENCHENIES, qui sont des femmes et des filles d'une Caste de ce nom, qui n'ont point d'autre profession que celle de la danse."—Thevenot, v. 151.

1689.—"And here the Dancing Wenches, or QUENCHENIES, entertain you, if you please."—Ovington, 257.

1799.—"In the evening the CANCHANIS ... have exhibited before the Prince and court."—Diary in Life of Colebrooke, 153.

1810.—"The dancing-women are of different kinds ... the Meeraseens never perform before assemblies of men.... The KUNCHENEE are of an opposite stamp; they dance and sing for the amusement of the male sex."—Williamson, V. M. i. 386.

CURIA MURIA, n.p. The name of a group of islands off the S.E. coast of Arabia (Kharyān Maryān, of Edrisi).

1527.—"Thus as they sailed, the ship got lost upon the shore of Fartaque in (the region of) CURIA MURIA; and having swum ashore they got along in company of the Moors by land to Calayata, and thence on to Ormuz."—Correa, iii. 562; see also i. 366.

c. 1535.—"Dopo Adem è Fartaque, e le isole CURIA, MURIA...."—Sommario de' Regni, in Ramusio, f. 325.

1540.—"We letted not to discover the Isles of CURIA, MURIA, and Avedalcuria (in orig. Abedalcuria)."—Mendez Pinto, E.T. p. 4.

[1553.—See quotation under ROSALGAT.]

1554.—"... it is necessary to come forth between Súkara and the islands KHÚR or MÚRIA (Khōr Mōriyā)."—The Mohit, in Jour. As. Soc. Beng. v. 459.

[1833.—"The next place to Saugra is KOORYA MOORYA BAY, which is extensive, and has good soundings throughout; the islands are named Jibly, Hallanny, Soda, and Haskee."—Owen, Narr. i. 348.]

1834.—"The next place to Saugra is KOORYA MOORYA Bay."—J. R. Geog. Soc. ii. 208.

CURNUM, s. Tel. karaṇamu; a village accountant, a town-clerk. Acc. to Wilson from Skt. karaṇa; (see CRANNY). [It corresponds to the Tam. kanakan (see CONICOPOLY).]

1827.—"Very little care has been taken to preserve the survey accounts. Those of several villages are not to be found. Of the remainder only a small share is in the Collector's cutcherry, and the rest is in the hands of CURNUMS, written on CADJANS."—Minute by Sir T. Munro, in Arbuthnot, i. 285.

CUROUNDA, s. H. karaundā. A small plum-like fruit, which makes good jelly and tarts, and which the natives pickle. It is borne by Carissa carandas, L., a shrub common in many parts of India (N.O. Apocynaceae).

[1870.—Riddell gives a receipt for KURUNDER jelly, Ind. Dom. Econ. 338.]

[CURRIG JEMA, adj. A corr. of H. khārij jama, "separated or detached from the rental of the State, as lands exempt from rent, or of which the revenue has been assigned to individuals or institutions" (Wilson).

[1687.—"... that whenever they have a mind to build Factorys, satisfying for the land where it was CURRIG JEMA, that is over measure, not entred in the King's books, or paying the usuall and accustomed Rent, no Government should molest them."—Yule, Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lxiii.]

CURRUMSHAW HILLS, n.p. This name appears in Rennell's Bengal Atlas, applied to hills in the Gaya district. It is ingeniously supposed by F. Buchanan to have been a mistake of the geographer's, in taking Karna-Chaupār ('Karna's place of meeting or teaching'), the name of an ancient ruin on the hills in question, for Karnachau Pahār (Pahār = Hill).—(Eastern India, i. 4).

CURRY, s. In the East the staple food consists of some cereal, either (as in N. India) in the form of flour baked into unleavened cakes, or boiled in the grain, as rice is. Such food having little taste, some small quantity of a much more savoury preparation is added as a relish, or 'kitchen,' to use the phrase of our forefathers. And this is in fact the proper office of curry in native diet. It consists of meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables, cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric [see MUSSALLA]; and a little of this gives a flavour to a large mess of rice. The word is Tam. kari, i.e. 'sauce'; [kari, v. 'to eat by biting']. The Canarese form karil was that adopted by the Portuguese, and is still in use at Goa. It is remarkable in how many countries a similar dish is habitual; pilāo [see PILLAU] is the analogous mess in Persia, and kuskussu in Algeria; in Egypt a dish well known as ruzz mufalfal [Lane, Mod. Egypt., ed. 1871, i. 185], or "peppered rice." In England the proportions of rice and "kitchen" are usually reversed, so that the latter is made to constitute the bulk of the dish.

The oldest indication of the Indian cuisine in this kind, though not a very precise one, is cited by Athenaeus from Megasthenes: "Among the Indians, at a banquet, a table is set before each individual ... and on the table is placed a golden dish on which they throw, first of all, boiled rice ... and then they add many sorts of meat dressed after the Indian fashion" (Athen., by Yonge, iv. 39). The earliest precise mention of curry is in the Mahavanso (c. A.D. 477), where it is said of Kassapo that "he partook of rice dressed in butter, with its full accompaniment of curries." This is Turnour's translation, the original Pali being sūpa.

It is possible, however, that the kind of curry used by Europeans and Mahommedans is not of purely Indian origin, but has come down from the spiced cookery of medieval Europe and Western Asia. The medieval spiced dishes in question were even coloured like curry. Turmeric, indeed, called by Garcia de Orta, Indian saffron, was yet unknown in Europe, but it was represented by saffron and sandalwood. A notable incident occurs in the old English poem of King Richard, wherein the Lion-heart feasts on the head of a Saracen—

"soden full hastily With powder and with spysory, And with saffron of good colour."

Moreover, there is hardly room for doubt that capsicum or red pepper (see CHILLY) was introduced into India by the Portuguese (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 407); and this spice constitutes the most important ingredient in modern curries. The Sanskrit books of cookery, which cannot be of any considerable antiquity, contain many recipes for curry without this ingredient. A recipe for curry (caril) is given, according to Bluteau, in the Portuguese Arte de Cozinha, p. 101. This must be of the 17th century.

It should be added that kari was, among the people of S. India, the name of only one form of 'kitchen' for rice, viz. of that in consistency resembling broth, as several of the earlier quotations indicate. Europeans have applied it to all the savoury concoctions of analogous spicy character eaten with rice. These may be divided into three classes—viz. (1), that just noticed; (2), that in the form of a stew of meat, fish or vegetables; (3), that called by Europeans 'dry curry.' These form the successive courses of a Hindu meal in S. India, and have in the vernaculars several discriminating names.

In Java the Dutch, in their employment of curry, keep much nearer to the original Hindu practice. At a breakfast, it is common to hand round with the rice a dish divided into many sectoral spaces, each of which contains a different kind of curry, more or less liquid.

According to the Fankwae at Canton (1882), the word is used at the Chinese ports (we presume in talking with Chinese servants) in the form KĀĀRLE (p. 62).

1502.—"Then the Captain-major commanded them to cut off the hands and ears of all the crews, and put all that into one of the small vessels, into which he ordered them to put the friar, also without ears or nose or hands, which he ordered to be strung round his neck with a palm-leaf for the King, on which he told him to have a curry (CARIL) made to eat of what his friar brought him."—Correa, Three Voyages, Hak. Soc. 331. The "Friar" was a Brahman, in the dress of a friar, to whom the odious ruffian Vasco da Gama had given a safe-conduct.

1563.—"They made dishes of fowl and flesh, which they call CARIL."—Garcia, f. 68.

c. 1580.—"The victual of these (renegade soldiers) is like that of the barbarous people; that of Moors all bringe [birinj, 'rice']; that of Gentoos rice-CARRIL."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 9_v_.

1598.—"Most of their fish is eaten with rice, which they seeth in broth, which they put upon the rice, and is somewhat soure, as if it were sodden in gooseberries, or unripe grapes, but it tasteth well, and is called CARRIEL [v.l. CARRIIL], which is their daily meat."—Linschoten, 88; [Hak. Soc. ii. 11]. This is a good description of the ordinary tamarind curry of S. India.

1606.—"Their ordinary food is boiled rice with many varieties of certain soups which they pour upon it, and which in those parts are commonly called CARIL."—Gouvea, 61_b_.

1608-1610.—"... me disoit qu'il y auoit plus de 40 ans, qu'il estoit esclaue, et auoit gagné bon argent à celuy qui le possedoit; et toute fois qu'il ne luy donnoit pour tout viure qu'vne mesure de riz cru par iour sans autre chose ... et quelquefois deux baseruques, qui sont quelque deux deniers (see BUDGROOK), pour auoir du CARIL à mettre auec le riz."—Mocquet, Voyages, 337.

1623.—"In India they give the name of CARIL to certain messes made with butter, with the kernel of the coco-nut (in place of which might be used in our part of the world milk of almonds) ... with spiceries of every kind, among the rest cardamom and ginger ... with vegetables, fruits, and a thousand other condiments of sorts; ... and the Christians, who eat everything, put in also flesh or fish of every kind, and sometimes eggs ... with all which things they make a kind of broth in the fashion of our guazzetti (or hotch-potches) ... and this broth with all the said condiments in it they pour over a good quantity of rice boiled simply with water and salt, and the whole makes a most savoury and substantial mess."—P. della Valle, ii. 709; [Hak. Soc. ii. 328.]

1681.—"Most sorts of these delicious Fruits they gather before they be ripe, and boyl them to make CARREES, to use the Portuguese word, that is somewhat to eat with and relish their Rice."—Knox, p. 12. This perhaps indicates that the English curry is formed from the Port. caris, plural of caril.

c. 1690.—"Curcuma in Indiâ tam ad cibum quam ad medecinam adhibetur, Indi enim ... adeo ipsi adsueti sunt ut cum cunctis admiscent condimentis et piscibus, praesertim autem isti quod KARRI ipsis vocatur."—Rumphius, Pars Vta. p. 166.

c. 1759-60.—"The CURREES are infinitely various, being a sort of fricacees to eat with rice, made of any animals or vegetables."—Grose, i. 150.

1781.—"To-day have CURRY and rice for my dinner, and plenty of it as C——, my messmate, has got the gripes, and cannot eat his share."—Hon. J. Lindsay's Imprisonment, in Lives of Lindsays, iii. 296.

1794-97.—

"The Bengal squad he fed so wondrous nice, Baring his CURRIE took, and Scott his rice." Pursuits of Literature, 5th ed., p. 287.

This shows that CURRY was not a domesticated dish in England at the date of publication. It also is a sample of what the wit was that ran through so many editions!

c. 1830.—"J'ai substitué le lait à l'eau pour boisson ... c'est une sorte de contre-poison pour l'essence de feu que forme la sauce enragée de mon sempiternel CARI."—Jacquemont, Correspondance, i. 196.

1848.—"Now we have seen how Mrs. Sedley had prepared a fine CURRY for her son."—Vanity Fair, ch. iv.

1860.—"... Vegetables, and especially farinaceous food, are especially to be commended. The latter is indeed rendered attractive by the unrivalled excellence of the Singhalese in the preparation of innumerable CURRIES, each tempered by the delicate creamy juice expressed from the flesh of the cocoa-nut, after it has been reduced to a pulp."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 77. N.B. Tennent is misled in supposing (i. 437) that chillies are mentioned in the Mahavanso. The word is maricha, which simply means "pepper," and which Turnour has translated erroneously (p. 158).

1874.—"The craving of the day is for quasi-intellectual food, not less highly peppered than the CURRIES which gratify the faded stomach of a returned Nabob."—Blackwood's Magazine, Oct. 434.

The Dutch use the word as KERRIE or KARRIE; and KARI à l'Indienne has a place in French cartes.

CURRY-STUFF, s. Onions, chillies, &c.; the usual material for preparing curry, otherwise MUSSALLA (q.v.), represented in England by the preparations called curry-powder and curry-paste.

1860.—"... with plots of esculents and CURRY-STUFFS of every variety, onions, chillies, yams, cassavas, and sweet potatoes."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 463.

CUSBAH, s. Ar.—H. ḳaṣba, ḳaṣaba; the chief place of a PERGUNNAH (q.v.).

1548.—"And the CAÇABE of Tanaa is rented at 4450 pardaos."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 150.

[c. 1590.—"In the fortieth year of his Majesty's reign, his dominions consisted of one hundred and five Sircars, sub-divided into two thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven KUSBAHS."—Ayeen, tr. Gladwin, ii. 1; Jarrett, ii. 115.]

1644.—"On the land side are the houses of the Vazador (?) or Possessor of the CASABE, which is as much as to say the town or aldea of Mombaym (BOMBAY). This town of Mombaym is a small and scattered affair."—Bocarro, MS. fol. 227.

c. 1844-45.—"In the centre of the large CUSBAH of Streevygoontum exists an old mud fort, or rather wall of about 20 feet high, surrounding some 120 houses of a body of people calling themselves Kotie Vellalas,—that is 'Fort Vellalas.' Within this wall no police officer, warrant or Peon ever enters.... The females are said to be kept in a state of great degradation and ignorance. They never pass without the walls alive; when dead they are carried out by night in sacks."—Report by Mr. E. B. Thomas, Collector of Tinnevelly, quoted in Lord Stanhope's Miscellanies, 2nd Series, 1872, p. 132.

CUSCUSS, CUSS, s. Pers.—H. k̲h̲ask̲h̲as. The roots of a grass [called in N. India senṭhā or tīn,] which abounds in the drier parts of India, Anatherum muricatum (Beauv.), Andropogon muricatus (Retz), used in India during the hot dry winds to make screens, which are kept constantly wet, in the window openings, and the fragrant evaporation from which greatly cools the house (see TATTY). This device seems to be ascribed by Abul Faẓl to the invention of Akbar. These roots are well known in France by the name vetyver, which is the Tam. name veṭṭivēru, 'the root which is dug up.' In some of the N. Indian vernaculars khaskhas is 'a poppy-head'; [but this is a different word, Skt. khaskhasa, and compare P. k̲h̲ashk̲h̲ash].

c. 1590.—"But they (the Hindus) were notorious for the want of cold water, the intolerable heat of their climate.... His Majesty remedied all these evils and defects. He taught them how to cool water by the help of saltpetre.... He ordered mats to be woven of a cold odoriferous root called KHUSS ... and when wetted with water on the outside, those within enjoy a pleasant cool air in the height of summer."—Ayeen (Gladwin, 1800), ii. 196; [ed. Jarrett, iii. 9].

1663.—"KAS kanays." See quotation under TATTY.

1810.—"The KUSS-KUSS ... when fresh, is rather fragrant, though the scent is somewhat terraceous."—Williamson, V. M. i. 235.

1824.—"We have tried to keep our rooms cool with 'tatties,' which are mats formed of the KUSKOS, a peculiar sweet-scented grass...."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 59.

It is curious that the coarse grass which covers the more naked parts of the Islands of the Indian Archipelago appears to be called kusu-kusu (Wallace, 2nd ed. ii. 74). But we know not if there is any community of origin in these names.

[1832.—"The sirrakee (sirkī) and sainturh (senṭhā) are two specimens of one genus of jungle grass, the roots of which are called secundah (sirkanda) or KHUS-KHUS."—Mrs. Meer Hasan Ali, Observations, &c., ii. 208.]

In the sense of poppy-seed or poppy-head, this word is P.; De Orta says Ar.; [see above.]

1563.—"... at Cambaiete, seeing in the market that they were selling poppy-heads big enough to fill a canada, and also some no bigger than ours, and asking the name, I was told that it was caxcax (CASHCASH)—and that in fact is the name in Arabic—and they told me that of these poppies was made opium (amfião), cuts being made in the poppy-head, so that the opium exudes."—Garcia De Orta, f. 155.

1621.—"The 24th of April public proclamation was made in Ispahan by the King's order ... that on pain of death, no one should drink cocnur, which is a liquor made from the husk of the capsule of opium, called by them KHASH-KHASH."—P. della Valle, ii. 209; [cocnur is P. koknār].

CUSPADORE, s. An old term for a spittoon. Port. cuspadeira, from cuspir, [Lat. conspuere], to spit. Cuspidor would be properly qui multum spuit.

[1554.—Speaking of the greatness of the Sultan of Bengal, he says to illustrate it—"From the camphor which goes with his spittle when he spits into his gold spittoon (COSPIDOR) his chamberlain has an income of 2000 cruzados."—Castanheda, Bk. iv. ch. 83.]

1672.—"Here maintain themselves three of the most powerful lords and Naiks of this kingdom, who are subject to the Crown of Velour, and pay it tribute of many hundred Pagodas ... viz. Vitipa-naik of Madura, the King's CUSPIDOOR-bearer, 200 Pagodas, Cristapa-naik of Chengier, the King's Betel-server, 200 pagodas, the Naik of Tanjouwer, the King's Warder and Umbrella carrier, 400 Pagodas...."—Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 153.

1735.—In a list of silver plate we have "5 CUSPADORES."—Wheeler, iii. 139.

1775.—"Before each person was placed a large brass salver, a black earthen pot of water, and a brass CUSPADORE."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, &c. (at Magindanao), 235.

[1900.—"The royal CUSPADORE" is mentioned among the regalia at Selangor, and a "CUSPADORE" (ketor) is part of the marriage appliances.—Skeat, Malay Magic, 26, 374.]

CUSTARD-APPLE, s. The name in India of a fruit (Anona squamosa, L.) originally introduced from S. America, but which spread over India during the 16th century. Its commonest name in Hindustan is sharīfa, i.e. 'noble'; but it is also called Sītap'hal, i.e. 'the Fruit of Sītā,' whilst another Anona ('bullock's heart,' A. reticulata, L., the custard-apple of the W. Indies, where both names are applied to it) is called in the south by the name of her husband Rāma. And the Sītap'hal and Rāmp'hal have become the subject of Hindu legends (see Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 410). The fruit is called in Chinese Fan-li-chi, i.e. foreign LEECHEE.

A curious controversy has arisen from time to time as to whether this fruit and its congeners were really imported from the New World, or were indigenous in India. They are not mentioned among Indian fruits by Baber (c. A.D. 1530), but the translation of the Āīn (c. 1590) by Prof. Blochmann contains among the "Sweet Fruits of Hindustan," Custard-apple (p. 66). On referring to the original, however, the word is sadāp'hal (fructus perennis), a Hind. term for which Shakespear gives many applications, not one of them the anona. The bel is one (Aegle marmelos), and seems as probable as any (see BAEL). The custard-apple is not mentioned by Garcia de Orta (1563), Linschoten (1597), or even by P. della Valle (1624). It is not in Bontius (1631), nor in Piso's commentary on Bontius (1658), but is described as an American product in the West Indian part of Piso's book, under the Brazilian name Araticu. Two species are described as common by P. Vincenzo Maria, whose book was published in 1672. Both the custard-apple and the sweet-sop are fruits now generally diffused in India; but of their having been imported from the New World, the name Anona, which we find in Oviedo to have been the native West Indian name of one of the species, and which in various corrupted shapes is applied to them over different parts of the East, is an indication. Crawfurd, it is true, in his Malay Dictionary explains nona or buah- ("fruit") nona in its application to the custard-apple as fructus virginalis, from nona, the term applied in the Malay countries (like missy in India) to an unmarried European lady. But in the face of the American word this becomes out of the question.

It is, however, a fact that among the Bharhut sculptures, among the carvings dug up at Muttra by General Cunningham, and among the copies from wall-paintings at Ajanta (as pointed out by Sir G. Birdwood in 1874, (see Athenaeum, 26th October), [Bombay Gazetteer, xii. 490]) there is a fruit represented which is certainly very like a custard-apple (though an abnormally big one), and not very like anything else yet pointed out. General Cunningham is convinced that it is a custard-apple, and urges in corroboration of his view that the Portuguese in introducing the fruit (which he does not deny) were merely bringing coals to Newcastle; that he has found extensive tracts in various parts of India covered with the wild custard-apple; and also that this fruit bears an indigenous Hindi name, ātā or āt, from the Sanskrit ātṛipya.

It seems hard to pronounce about this ātṛipya. A very high authority, Prof. Max Müller, to whom we once referred, doubted whether the word (meaning 'delightful') ever existed in real Sanskrit. It was probably an artificial name given to the fruit, and he compared it aptly to the factitious Latin of aureum malum for "orange," though the latter word really comes from the Sanskrit nāranga. On the other hand, ātṛipya is quoted by Rāja Rādhakant Deb, in his Sanskrit dictionary, from a medieval work, the Dravyaguna. And the question would have to be considered how far the MSS. of such a work are likely to have been subject to modern interpolation. Sanskrit names have certainly been invented for many objects which were unknown till recent centuries. Thus, for example, Williams gives more than one word for cactus, or prickly pear, a class of plants which was certainly introduced from America (see Vidara and Viśvasaraka, in his Skt. Dictionary).

A new difficulty, moreover, arises as to the indigenous claims of ātā, which is the name for the fruit in Malabar as well as in Upper India. For, on turning for light to the splendid works of the Dutch ancients, Rheede and Rumphius, we find in the former (Hortus Malabaricus, part iv.) a reference to a certain author, 'Recchus de Plantis Mexicanis,' as giving a drawing of a custard-apple tree, the name of which in Mexico was ahaté or até, "fructu apud Mexicanos praecellenti arbor nobilis" (the expressions are noteworthy, for the popular Hindustani name of the fruit is sharīfa = "nobilis"). We also find in a Manilla Vocabulary that ate or atte is the name of this fruit in the Philippines. And from Rheede we learn that in Malabar the ātā was sometimes called by a native name meaning "the Manilla jack-fruit"; whilst the Anona reticulata, or sweet-sop, was called by the Malabars "the Parangi (i.e. Firingi or Portuguese) jack-fruit."

These facts seem to indicate that probably the ātā and its name came to India from Mexico viâ the Philippines, whilst the anona and its name came to India from Hispaniola viâ the Cape. In the face of these probabilities the argument of General Cunningham from the existence of the tree in a wild state loses force. The fact is undoubted and may be corroborated by the following passage from "Observations on the nature of the Food of the Inhabitants of South India," 1864, p. 12:—"I have seen it stated in a botanical work that this plant (Anona sq.) is not indigenous, but introduced from America, or the W. Indies. If so, it has taken most kindly to the soil of the Deccan, for the jungles are full of it": [also see Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 259 seq., who supports the foreign origin of the plant]. The author adds that the wild custard-apples saved the lives of many during famine in the Hyderabad country. But on the other hand, the Argemone Mexicana, a plant of unquestioned American origin, is now one of the most familiar weeds all over India. The cashew (Anacardium occidentale), also of American origin, and carrying its American name with it to India, not only forms tracts of jungle now (as Sir G. Birdwood has stated) in Canara and the Concan (and, as we may add from personal knowledge, in Tanjore), but was described by P. Vincenzo Maria, more than two hundred and twenty years ago, as then abounding in the wilder tracts of the western coast.

The question raised by General Cunningham is an old one, for it is alluded to by Rumphius, who ends by leaving it in doubt. We cannot say that we have seen any satisfactory suggestion of another (Indian) plant as that represented in the ancient sculpture of Bharhut. [Dr. Watt says: "They may prove to be conventional representations of the jack-fruit tree or some other allied plant; they are not unlike the flower-heads of the sacred kadamba or Anthocephalus," (loc. cit. i. 260)]. But it is well to get rid of fallacious arguments on either side.

In the "Materia Medica of the Hindus by Udoy Chand Dutt, with a Glossary by G. King, M.B., Calc. 1877," we find the following synonyms given:—

"Anona squamosa: Skt. Ganḍagatra; Beng. Ātā; Hind. Sharīfa, and Sītāphal."

"Anona reticulata: Skt. Lavali; Beng. Lonā."[100]

1672.—"The plant of the Atta in 4 or 5 years comes to its greatest size ... the fruit ... under the rind is divided into so many wedges, corresponding to the external compartments.... The pulp is very white, tender, delicate, and so delicious that it unites to agreeable sweetness a most delightful fragrance like rose-water ... and if presented to one unacquainted with it he would certainly take it for a blamange.... The Anona," &c., &c.—P. Vincenzo Maria, pp. 346-7.

1690.—"They (Hindus) feed likewise upon Pine-Apples, CUSTARD-APPLES, so called because they resemble a Custard in Colour and Taste...."—Ovington, 303.

c. 1830.—"... the CUSTARD-APPLE, like russet bags of cold pudding."—Tom Cringle's Log, ed. 1863, p. 140.

1878.—"The gushing CUSTARD-APPLE with its crust of stones and luscious pulp."—Ph. Robinson, In my Indian Garden, [49].

CUSTOM, s. Used in Madras as the equivalent of DUSTOOR, DUSTOORY, of which it is a translation. Both words illustrate the origin of Customs in the solemn revenue sense.

1683.—"Threder and Barker positively denied ye overweight, ye Merchants proved it by their books; but ye skeyne out of every draught was confest, and claimed as their due, having been always the CUSTOM."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 83.

1768-71.—"Banyans, who ... serve in this capacity without any fixed pay, but they know how much more they may charge upon every rupee, than they have in reality paid, and this is called COSTUMADO."—Stavorinus, E.T., i. 522.

CUSTOMER, s. Used in old books of Indian trade for the native official who exacted duties. [The word was in common use in England from 1448 to 1748; see N.E.D.]

[1609.—"His houses ... are seized on by the CUSTOMER."—Danvers, Letters, i. 25; and comp. Foster, ibid. ii. 225.

[1615.—"The CUSTOMER should come and visitt them."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 44.]

1682.—"The several affronts, insolences, and abuses dayly put upon us by Boolchund, our chief CUSTOMER."—Hedges, Diary, [Hak. Soc. i. 33].

CUTCH, s. See CATECHU.

CUTCH, n.p. Properly Kachchh, a native State in the West of India, immediately adjoining Sind, the Rājput ruler of which is called the Rāo. The name does not occur, as far as we have found, in any of the earlier Portuguese writers, nor in Linschoten, [but the latter mentions the gulf under the name of Jaqueta (Hak. Soc. i. 56 seq.)]. The Skt. word kachchha seems to mean a morass or low, flat land.

c. 1030.—"At this place (Mansura) the river (Indus) divides into two streams, one empties itself into the sea in the neighbourhood of the city of Lúháráni, and the other branches off to the east to the borders of KACH."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 49.

Again, "KACH, the country producing gum" (i.e. mukal or bdellium), p. 66.

The port mentioned in the next three extracts was probably Mandavi (this name is said to signify "Custom-House"); [manḍwī, 'a temporary hut,' is a term commonly applied to a bazaar in N. India].

1611.—"CUTS-nagore, a place not far from the River of Zinde."—Nic. Dounton, in Purchas, i. 307.

[1612.—"The other ship which proved of CUTS-nagana."—Danvers, Letters, i. 179.]

c. 1615.—"Francisco Sodre ... who was serving as captain-major of the fortress of Dio, went to CACHE, with twelve ships and a sanguicel, to inflict chastisement for the arrogance and insolence of these blacks ("... pela soberbia e desaforos d'estes negros...."—"Of these niggers!"), thinking that he might do it as easily as Gaspar de Mello had punished those of Por."—Bocarro, 257.

[c. 1661.—"Dara ... traversing with speed the territories of the Raja KATCHE soon reached the province of Guzarate...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 73.]

1727.—"The first town on the south side of the Indus is CUTCH-naggen."—A. Hamilton, i. 131; [ed. 1744].

CUTCH GUNDAVA, n.p. Kachchh Gandāva or Kachchī, a province of Biluchistan, under the Khan of Kela't, adjoining our province of Sind; a level plain, subject to inordinate heat in summer, and to the visitation of the simūm. Across the northern part of this plain runs the railway from Sukkur to Sibi. Gandāva, the chief place, has been shown by Sir H. Elliot to be the Kandābīl or Kandhābel of the Arab geographers of the 9th and 10th centuries. The name in its modern shape, or what seems intended for the same, occurs in the Persian version of the Chachnāmah, or H. of the Conquest of Sind, made in A.D. 1216 (see Elliot, i. 166).

CUTCHA, KUTCHA, adj. Hind. kachchā, 'raw, crude, unripe, uncooked.' This word is with its opposite pakkā (see PUCKA) among the most constantly recurring Anglo-Indian colloquial terms, owing to the great variety of metaphorical applications of which both are susceptible. The following are a few examples only, but they will indicate the manner of use better than any attempt at comprehensive definition:—

A CUTCHA Brick is a sun-dried A PUCKA Brick is a properly kiln- brick. burnt brick.

" House is built of mud, " House is of burnt brick or generally with a terraced plaster roof.

" Road is earthwork only. " Road is a Macadamised one.

" Appointment is acting or " Appointment is permanent. temporary.

" Settlement is one where the " Settlement is one fixed for land is held without lease. a term of years.

" Account or Estimate, is " Account, or Estimate, is one which is rough, carefully made, and claiming superficial, and to be relied on. untrustworthy.

" Maund, or Seer, is the " Maund, or Seer, is the smaller, where two weights larger of two in use. are in use, as often happens.

" Major is a brevet or local " Major, is a regimental Major. Major.

" Colour is one that won't " Colour, is one that will wash. wash.

" Fever is a simple ague or a " Fever, is a dangerous light attack. remittent or the like (what the Italians call pernizziosa).

" Pice generally means one of " Pice; a double copper coin those amorphous coppers, formerly in use; also a current in up-country bazars proper pice (= ¼ anna) from at varying rates of value. the Govt. mints.

" Coss—see analogy under " Coss—see under Maund Maund above. above.

" Roof. A roof of mud laid on " Roof; a terraced roof made beams; or of thatch, &c. with cement.

" Scoundrel, a limp and " Scoundrel, one whose motto is fatuous knave. "Thorough."

" Seam (silāī) is the " Seam is the definite stitch tailor's tack for trying on. of the garment.

1763.—"Il parait que les CATCHA cosses sont plus en usage que les autres cosses dans le gouvernement du Decan."—Lettres Edifiantes, xv. 190.

1863.—"In short, in America, where they cannot get a pucka railway they take a KUTCHA one instead. This, I think, is what we must do in India."—Lord Elgin, in Letters and Journals, 432.

Captain Burton, in a letter dated Aug. 26, 1879, and printed in the "Academy" (p. 177), explains the gypsy word gorgio, for a Gentile or non-Rommany, as being KACHHĀ or CUTCHA. This may be, but it does not carry conviction.

CUTCHA-PUCKA, adj. This term is applied in Bengal to a mixt kind of building in which burnt brick is used, but which is cemented with mud instead of lime-mortar.

CUTCHÉRRY, and in Madras CUT′CHERY, s. An office of administration, a court-house. Hind. kachahrī; used also in Ceylon. The word is not usually now, in Bengal, applied to a merchant's counting-house, which is called DUFTER, but it is applied to the office of an Indigo-Planter or a Zemindar, the business in which is more like that of a Magistrate's or Collector's Office. In the service of Tippoo Sahib CUTCHERRY was used in peculiar senses besides the ordinary one. In the civil administration it seems to have been used for something like what we should now call Department (see e.g. Tippoo's Letters, 292); and in the army for a division or large brigade (e.g. ibid. 332; and see under JYSHE and quotation from Wilks below).

1610.—"Over against this seat is the CICHERY or Court of Rolls, where the King's Viseer sits every morning some three houres, by whose hands passe all matters of Rents, Grants, Lands, Firmans, Debts, &c."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 439.

1673.—"At the lower End the Royal Exchange or QUESHERY ... opens its folding doors."—Fryer, 261.

[1702.—"But not makeing an early escape themselves were carried into the CACHERRA or publick Gaol."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cvi.]

1763.—"The Secretary acquaints the Board that agreeably to their orders of the 9th May, he last Saturday attended the Court of CUTCHERRY, and acquainted the Members with the charge the President of the Court had laid against them for non-attendance."—In Long, 316.

" "The protection of our Gomastahs and servants from the oppression and jurisdiction of the Zemindars and their CUTCHERRIES has been ever found to be a liberty highly essential both to the honour and interest of our nation."—From the Chief and Council at Dacca, in Van Sittart, i. 247.

c. 1765.—"We can truly aver that during almost five years that we presided in the CUTCHERY Court of Calcutta, never any murder or atrocious crime came before us but it was proved in the end a Bramin was at the bottom of it."—Holwell, Interesting Historical Events, Pt. II. 152.

1783.—"The moment they find it true that the English Government shall remain as it is, they will divide sugar and sweetmeats among all the people in the CUTCHEREE; then every body will speak sweet words."—Native Letter, in Forbes, Or. Mem. iv. 227.

1786.—"You must not suffer any one to come to your house; and whatever business you may have to do, let it be transacted in our KUCHURRY."—Tippoo's Letters, 303.

1791.—"At Seringapatam General Matthews was in confinement. James Skurry was sent for one day to the KUTCHERRY there, and some pewter plates with marks on them were shown to him to explain; he saw on them words to this purport, 'I am indebted to the Malabar Christians on account of the Public Service 40,000 Rs.; the Company owes me (about) 30,000 Rs.; I have taken Poison and am now within a short time of Death; whoever communicates this to the Bombay Govt. or to my wife will be amply rewarded. (Signed) Richard Matthews.'"—Narrative of Mr. William Drake, and other Prisoners (in Mysore), in Madras Courier, 17th Nov.

c. 1796.—"... the other Asof Mirán Hussein, was a low fellow and a debauchee, ... who in different ... towns was carried in his pálkí on the shoulders of dancing girls as ugly as demons to his KUTCHERI or hall of audience."—H. of Tipú Sultán, E.T. by Miles, 246.

" "... the favour of the Sultan towards that worthy man (Dundia Wágh) still continued to increase ... but although, after a time, a KUTCHERI, or brigade, was named after him, and orders were issued for his release, it was to no purpose."—Ibid. 248.

[c. 1810.—"Four appears to have been the fortunate number with Tippoo; four companies (yeuz), one battalion (teep), four teeps, one cushoon (see KOSHOON): ... four cushoons, one CUTCHERRY. The establishment ... of a cutcherry ... 5,688, but these numbers fluctuated with the Sultaun's caprices, and at one time a cushoon, with its cavalry attached, was a legion of about 3,000."—Wilks, Mysore, ed. 1869, ii. 132.]

1834.—"I mean, my dear Lady Wroughton, that the man to whom Sir Charles is most heavily indebted, is an officer of his own KUCHEREE, the very sircar who cringes to you every morning for orders."—The Baboo, ii. 126.

1860.—"I was told that many years ago, what remained of the Dutch records were removed from the record-room of the Colonial Office to the CUTCHERRY of the Government Agent."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. xxviii.

1873.—"I'd rather be out here in a tent any time ... than be stewing all day in a stuffy KUTCHERRY listening to Ram Buksh and Co. perjuring themselves till they are nearly white in the face."—The True Reformer, i. 4.

1883.—"Surrounded by what seemed to me a mob of natives, with two or three dogs at his feet, talking, writing, dictating,—in short doing CUTCHERRY."—C. Raikes, in Bosworth Smith's Lord Lawrence, i. 59.

CUTCHNAR, s. Hind. kachnār, Skt. kānchanāra (kānchana, 'gold') the beautiful flowering tree Bauhinia variegata, L., and some other species of the same genus (N. O. Leguminosae).

1855.—"Very good fireworks were exhibited ... among the best was a sort of maypole hung round with minor fireworks which went off in a blaze and roll of smoke, leaving disclosed a tree hung with quivering flowers of purple flame, evidently intended to represent the KACHNAR of the Burmese forests."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 95.

CUTTACK, n.p. The chief city of Orissa, and district immediately attached. From Skt. kaṭaka, 'an army, a camp, a royal city.' This name Al-kataka is applied by Ibn Batuta in the 14th century to Deogīr in the Deccan (iv. 46), or at least to a part of the town adjoining that ancient fortress.

c. 1567.—"Citta di CATHECA."—Cesare Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 392. [CATECHA, in Hakl. ii. 358].

[c. 1590.—"Attock on the Indus is called Atak Benares in contra distinction to Katak Benares in Orissa at the opposite extremity of the Empire."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 311.]

1633.—"The 30 of April we set forward in the Morning for the City of COTEKA (it is a city of seven miles in compasse, and it standeth a mile from Malcandy where the Court is kept."—Bruton, in Hakl. v. 49.

1726.—"CATTEK."—Valentijn, v. 158.

CUTTANEE, s. Some kind of piece-goods, apparently either of silk or mixed silk and cotton. Kuttān, Pers., is flax or linen cloth. This is perhaps the word. [Kattan is now used in India for the waste selvage in silk weaving, which is sold to Patwas, and used for stringing ornaments, such as joshans (armlets of gold or silver beads), bāzūbands (armlets with folding bands), &c. (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk Fabrics, 66).] CUTANEES appear in Milburn's list of Calcutta piece-goods.

[1598.—"COTONIAS, which are like canvas."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 60.]

[1648.—"CONTENIJS." See under ALCATIF.

[1673.—"CUTTANEE breeches." See under ATLAS.

[1690.—"... rich Silks, such as Atlasses, CUTTANEES...."—See under ALLEJA.

[1734.—"They manufacture ... in cotton and silk called CUTTENEES."—A. Hamilton, i. 126; ed. 1744.]

CUTTRY. See KHUTTRY.

CYRUS, SYRAS, SARUS, &c. A common corruption of Hind. sāras, [Skt. sarasa, the 'lake bird,'] or (corruptly) sārhans, the name of the great gray crane, Grus Antigone, L., generally found in pairs, held almost sacred in some parts of India, and whose "fine trumpet-like call, uttered when alarmed or on the wing, can be heard a couple of miles off" (Jerdon). [The British soldier calls the bird a "Serious," and is fond of shooting him for the pot.]

1672.—"... peculiarly Brand-geese, Colum [see COOLUNG], and SERASS, a species of the former."—Fryer, 117.

1807.—"The argeelah as well as the CYRUS, and all the aquatic tribe are extremely fond of snakes, which they ... swallow down their long throats with great despatch."—Williamson, Or. Field Sports, 27.

[1809.—"SAROS." See under COOLUNG.]

1813.—In Forbes's Or. Mem. (ii. 277 seqq.; [2nd ed. i. 502 seqq.]), there is a curious story of a CYRUS or SAHRAS (as he writes it) which Forbes had tamed in India, and which nine years afterwards recognised its master when he visited General Conway's menagerie at Park Place near Henley.

1840.—"Bands of gobbling pelicans" (see this word, probably ADJUTANTS are meant) "and groups of tall CYRUSES in their half-Quaker, half-lancer plumage, consulted and conferred together, in seeming perplexity as to the nature of our intentions."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Storms and Sunshine of a Soldier's Life, i. 108.

D

DABUL, n.p. Dābhol. In the later Middle Ages a famous port of the Konkan, often coupled with CHOUL (q.v.), carrying on extensive trade with the West of Asia. It lies in the modern dist. of Ratnagiri, in lat. 17° 34′, on the north bank of the Anjanwel or Vashishti R. In some maps (e.g. A. Arrowsmith's of 1816, long the standard map of India), and in W. Hamilton's Gazetteer, it is confounded with Dāpoli, 12 m. north, and not a seaport.

c. 1475.—"DABYL is also a very extensive seaport, where many horses are brought from Mysore,[101] Rabast [Arabistan? i.e. Arabia], Khorassan, Turkistan, Neghostan."—Nikitin, p. 20. "It is a very large town, the great meeting-place for all nations living along the coast of India and of Ethiopia."—Ibid. 30.

1502.—"The gale abated, and the caravels reached land at DABUL, where they rigged their lateen sails, and mounted their artillery."—Correa, Three Voyages of V. da Gama, Hak. Soc. 308.

1510.—"Having seen Cevel and its customs, I went to another city, distant from it two days journey, which is called DABULI.... There are Moorish merchants here in very great numbers."—Varthema, 114.

1516.—"This DABUL has a very good harbour, where there always congregate many Moorish ships from various ports, and especially from Mekkah, Aden, and Ormuz with horses, and from Cambay, Diu, and the Malabar country."—Barbosa, 72.

1554.—"23d Voyage, from DĀBUL to Aden."—The Mohit, in J. As. Soc. Beng., v. 464.

1572.—See Camões, x. 72.

[c. 1665.—"The King of Bijapur has three good ports in this kingdom: these are Rajapur, DABHOL, and Kareputtun."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 181 seq.]

DACCA, n.p. Properly Dhākā, ['the wood of ḍhāk (see DHAWK) trees'; the Imp. Gaz. suggests Ḍhakeswarī, 'the concealed goddess']. A city in the east of Bengal, once of great importance, especially in the later Mahommedan history; famous also for the "Dacca muslins" woven there, the annual advances for which, prior to 1801, are said to have amounted to £250,000. [Taylor, Descr. and Hist. Account of the Cotton Manufacture of Dacca in Bengal]. DĀKA is throughout Central Asia applied to all muslins imported through Kabul.

c. 1612.—"... liberos Osmanis assecutus vivos cepit, eosque cum elephantis et omnibus thesauris defuncti, post quam DAECK Bengalae metropolim est reversus, misit ad regem."—De Laet, quoted by Blochmann, Āīn, i. 521.

[c. 1617.—"DEKAKA" in Sir T. Roe's List, Hak. Soc. ii. 538.]

c. 1660.—"The same Robbers took Sultan-Sujah at DAKA, to carry him away in their Galeasses to Rakan...."—Bernier, E.T. 55; [ed. Constable, 109].

1665.—"DACA is a great Town, that extends itself only in length; every one coveting to have an House by the Ganges side. The length ... is above two leagues.... These Houses are properly no more than paltry Huts built up with Bambouc's, and daub'd over with fat Earth."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 55; [ed. Ball, i. 128].

1682.—"The only expedient left was for the Agent to go himself in person to the Nabob and Duan at DECCA."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 9; [Hak. Soc. i. 33].

DACOIT, DACOO, s. Hind. ḍakait, ḍākāyat, ḍākū; a robber belonging to an armed gang. The term, being current in Bengal, got into the Penal Code. By law, to constitute dacoity, there must be five or more in the gang committing the crime. Beames derives the word from ḍāknā, 'to shout,' a sense not in Shakespear's Dict. [It is to be found in Platts, and Fallon gives it as used in E. H. It appears to be connected with Skt. dashṭa, 'pressed together.']

1810.—"DECOITS, or water-robbers."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 396.

1812.—"DACOITS, a species of depredators who infest the country in gangs."—Fifth Report, p. 9.

1817.—"The crime of DACOITY" (that is, robbery by gangs), says Sir Henry Strachey, "... has, I believe, increased greatly since the British administration of justice."—Mill, H. of B. I., v. 466.

1834.—"It is a conspiracy! a false warrant!—they are DAKOOS! DAKOOS!!"—The Baboo, ii. 202.

1872.—"Daroga! Why, what has he come here for? I have not heard of any DACOITY or murder in the Village."—Govinda Samanta, i. 264.

DADNY, s. H. dādnī, [P. dādan, 'to give']; an advance made to a craftsman, a weaver, or the like, by one who trades in the goods produced.

1678.—"Wee met with Some trouble About y^e Investment of Taffaties w^{ch} hath Continued ever Since, Soe y^t wee had not been able to give out any DAUDNE on Muxadavad Side many weauours absenting themselves...."—MS. Letter of 3d June, from Cassumbazar Factory, in India Office.

1683.—"Chuttermull and Deepchund, two Cassumbazar merchants this day assured me Mr. Charnock gives out all his new Sicca Rupees for DADNY at 2 per cent., and never gives the Company credit for more than 1¼ rupee—by which he gains and putts in his own pocket Rupees ¾ per cent. of all the money he pays, which amounts to a great Summe in ye Yeare: at least £1,000 sterling."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 121, also see i. 83].

1748.—"The Sets being all present at the Board inform us that last year they dissented to the employment of Fillick Chund, Gosserain, Occore, and Otteram, they being of a different caste, and consequently they could not do business with them, upon which they refused DADNEY, and having the same objection to make this year, they propose taking their shares of the DADNEY."—Ft. William Cons., May 23. In Long, p. 9.

1772.—"I observe that the Court of Directors have ordered the gomastahs to be withdrawn, and the investment to be provided by DADNEY merchants."—Warren Hastings to J. Purling, in Gleig, i. 227.

DAGBAIL, s. Hind. from Pers. dāgh-i-bel, 'spade-mark.' The line dug to trace out on the ground a camp, or a road or other construction. As the central line of a road, canal, or railroad it is the equivalent of English 'lockspit.'

DAGOBA, s. Singhalese dāgaba, from Pali dhātugabbha, and Sansk. dhātu-garbha, 'Relic-receptacle'; applied to any dome-like Buddhist shrine (see TOPE, PAGODA). Gen. Cunningham alleges that the Chaitya was usually an empty tope dedicated to the Adi-Buddha (or Supreme, of the quasi-Theistic Buddhists), whilst the term Dhātu-garbha, or Dhagoba, was properly applied only to a tope which was an actual relic-shrine, or repository of ashes of the dead (Bhilsa Topes, 9). ["The Shan word 'Htat,' or 'Tat,' and the Siamese 'Sat-oop,' for a pagoda placed over portions of Gaudama's body, such as his flesh, teeth, and hair, is derived from the Sanskrit 'Dhātu-garba,' a relic shrine" (Hallett, A Thousand Miles, 308).]

We are unable to say who first introduced the word into European use. It was well known to William von Humboldt, and to Ritter; but it has become more familiar through its frequent occurrence in Fergusson's Hist. of Architecture. The only surviving example of the native use of this term on the Continent of India, so far as we know, is in the neighbourhood of the remains of the great Buddhist establishments at Nalanda in Behar. See quotation below.

1806.—"In this irregular excavation are left two DHAGOPES, or solid masses of stone, bearing the form of a cupola."—Salt, Caves of Salsette, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo. i. 47, pub. 1819.

1823.—"... from the centre of the screens or walls, projects a DAGHOPE."—Des. of Caves near Nasick, by Lt.-Col. Delamaine in As. Journal, N.S. 1830, vol. iii. 276.

1834.—"... Mihindu-Kumara ... preached in that island (Ceylon) the Religion of Buddha, converted the aforesaid King, built DAGOBAS (Dagops, i.e. sanctuaries under which the relics or images of Buddha are deposited) in various places."—Ritter, Asien, Bd. iii. 1162.

1835.—"The Temple (cave at Nāsik) ... has no interior support, but a rock-ceiling richly adorned with wheel-ornaments and lions, and in the end-niche a DAGOP ..."—Ibid. iv. 683.

1836.—"Although the DAGOPS, both from varying size and from the circumstance of their being in some cases independent erections and in others only elements of the internal structure of a temple, have very different aspects, yet their character is universally recognised as that of closed masses devoted to the preservation or concealment of sacred objects."—W. v. Humboldt, Kawi-Sprache, i. 144.

1840.—"We performed pradakshina round the DHAGOBS, reclined on the living couches of the devotees of Nirwan."—Letter of Dr. John Wilson, in Life, 282.

1853.—"At the same time he (Sakya) foresaw that a DÁGOBA would be erected to Kantaka on the spot...."—Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, 160.

1855.—"All kinds and forms are to be found ... the bell-shaped pyramid of dead brickwork in all its varieties ... the bluff knob-like dome of the Ceylon DAGOBAS...."—Yule, Mission to Ava, 35.

1872.—"It is a remarkable fact that the line of mounds (at Nalanda in Bihar) still bears the name of 'DAGOP' by the country people. Is not this the DÁGOBA of the Pálí annals?"—Broadley, Buddh. Remains of Bíhár, in J.A.S.B. xli., Pt. i. 305.

DAGON, n.p. A name often given by old European travellers to the place now called Rangoon, from the great Relic-shrine or DAGOBA there, called Shwé (Golden) Dagôn. Some have suggested that it is a corruption of dagoba, but this is merely guesswork. In the Talaing language tă'kkūn signifies 'athwart,' and, after the usual fashion, a legend had grown up connecting the name with the story of a tree lying 'athwart the hill-top,' which supernaturally indicated where the sacred relics of one of the Buddhas had been deposited (see J.A.S.B. xxviii. 477). Prof. Forchhammer recently (see Notes on Early Hist. and Geog. of B. Burma, No. 1) explained the true origin of the name. Towns lying near the sacred site had been known by the successive names of Asitañña-nagara and Ukkalanagara. In the 12th century the last name disappears and is replaced by Trikumbha-nagara, or in Pali form Tikumbha-nagara, signifying '3-Hill-city.'[102] The Kalyāni inscription near Pegu contains both forms. Tikumbha gradually in popular utterance became Tikum, Tăkum, and Tăkun, whence DAGÔN. The classical name of the great Dagoba is Tikumbha-cheti, and this is still in daily Burman use. When the original meaning of the word Tăkum had been effaced from the memory of the Talaings, they invented the fable alluded to above in connection with the word tă'kkūn. [This view has been disputed by Col. Temple (Ind. Ant., Jan. 1893, p. 27). He gives the reading of the Kalyāni inscription as Tigumpanagara and goes on to say: "There is more in favour of this derivation (from dagoba) than of any other yet produced. Thus we have dāgaba, Singhalese, admittedly from dhātugabbha, and as far back as the 16th century we have a persistent word tigumpa or digumpa (dagon, digon) in Burma with the same meaning. Until a clear derivation is made out, it is, therefore, not unsafe to say that dagon represents some medieval Indian current form of dhātugabbha. This view is supported by a word gompa, used in the Himālayas about Sikkim for a Buddhist shrine, which looks primâ facie like the remains of some such word as gabbha, the latter half of the compound dhātugabbha.... Neither Trikumbha-nagara in Skt. nor Tikumbha-nagara in Pali would mean 'Three-hill-city,' kumbha being in no sense a 'hill' which is kūta, and there are not three hills on the site of the Shwe-Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon."]

c. 1546.—"He hath very certaine intelligence, how the Zemindoo hath raised an army, with an intent to fall upon the Towns of COSMIN and Dalaa (DALA), and to gain all along the rivers of DIGON and Meidoo, the whole Province of Danapluu, even to Ansedaa (hod. Donabyu and Henzada)."—F. M. Pinto, tr. by H. C. 1653, p. 288.

c. 1585.—"After landing we began to walk, on the right side, by a street some 50 paces wide, all along which we saw houses of wood, all gilt, and set off with beautiful gardens in their fashion, in which dwell all the Talapoins, which are their Friars, and the rulers of the Pagode or VARELLA of DOGON."—Gasparo Balbi, f. 96.

c. 1587.—"About two dayes iourney from Pegu there is a Varelle (see VARELLA) or Pagode, which is the pilgrimage of the Pegues: it is called DOGONNE, and is of a wonderfulle bignesse and all gilded from the foot to the toppe."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 398, [393].

c. 1755.—DAGON and DAGOON occur in a paper of this period in Dalrymple's Oriental Repertory, i. 141, 177; [Col. Temple adds: "The word is always DIGON in Flouest's account of his travels in 1786 (T'aung Pao, vol. i. Les Francais en Birmanie au xviiie Siècle, passim). It is always DIGON (except once: "DIGONE capitale del Pegù," p. 149) in Quirini's Vita di Monsignor G. M. Percoto, 1781; and it is DIGON in a map by Antonio Zultae e figli Venezia, 1785. Symes, Embassy to Ava, 1803 (pp. 18, 23) has DAGON. Crawfurd, 1829, Embassy to Ava (pp. 346-7), calls it DAGONG. There is further a curious word, "Too DEGON," in one of Mortier's maps, 1740."]

DAIBUL, n.p. See DIULSIND.

DAIMIO, s. A feudal prince in Japan. The word appears to be approximately the Jap. pronunciation of Chin. taiming, 'great name.' ["The Daimyōs were the territorial lords and barons of feudal Japan. The word means literally 'great name.' Accordingly, during the Middle Ages, warrior chiefs of less degree, corresponding, as one might say, to our knights or baronets, were known by the correlative title of Shōmyō, that is, 'small name.' But this latter fell into disuse. Perhaps it did not sound grand enough to be welcome to those who bore it" (Chamberlain, Things Japanese, 101 seq.).]

DAISEYE, s. This word, representing Desai, repeatedly occurs in Kirkpatrick's Letters of Tippoo (e.g. p. 196) for a local chief of some class. See DESSAYE.

DALA, n.p. This is now a town on the (west) side of the river of Rangoon, opposite to that city. But the name formerly applied to a large province in the Delta, stretching from the Rangoon River westward.

1546.—See Pinto, under DAGON.

1585.—"The 2d November we came to the city of DALA, where among other things there are 10 halls full of elephants, which are here for the King of Pegu, in charge of various attendants and officials."—Gasp. Balbi, f. 95.

DALAWAY, s. In S. India the Commander-in-chief of an army; [Tam. talavāy, Skt. dala, 'army,' vah, 'to lead']; Can. and Mal. dhaḷavāy and daḷavāyi. Old Can. dhaḷa, H. dal, 'an army.'

1615.—"Caeterum DELEUAIUS ... vehementer à rege contendit, ne com̃itteret vt vllum condenda nova hac urbe Arcomaganensis portus antiquissimus detrimentum caperet."—Jarric, Thesaurus, i. p. 179.

1700.—"Le TALAVAI, c'est le nom qu'on donne au Prince, qui gouverne aujourd'hui le Royaume sous l'autorité de la Reine."—Lettres Edif. x. 162. See also p. 173 and xi. 90.

c. 1747.—"A few days after this, the DULWAI sent for Hydur, and seating him on a musnud with himself, he consulted with him on the re-establishment of his own affairs, complaining bitterly of his own distress for want of money."—H. of Hydur Naik, 44. (See also under DHURNA.)

1754.—"You are imposed on, I never wrote to the Maissore King or DALLOWAY any such thing, nor they to me; nor had I a knowledge of any agreement between the Nabob and the DALLAWAY."—Letter from Gov. Saunders of Madras to French Deputies in Cambridge's Acct. of the War, App. p. 29.

1763-78.—"He (Haidar) has lately taken the King (Mysore) out of the hands of his Uncle, the DALAWAY."—Orme, iii. 636.

[1810.—"Two manuscripts ... preserved in different branches of the family of the ancient DULWOYS of Mysoor."—Wilks, Mysore, Pref. ed. 1869, p. xi.]

DALOYET, DELOYET, s. An armed attendant and messenger, the same as a PEON. H. ḍhalait, ḍhalāyat, from ḍhāl, 'a shield.' The word is never now used in Bengal and Upper India.

1772.—"Suppose every farmer in the province was enjoined to maintain a number of good serviceable bullocks ... obliged to furnish the Government with them on a requisition made to him by the Collector in writing (not by sepoys, DELECTS (sic), or hercarras)" (see HURCARRA).—W. Hastings, to G. Vansittart, in Gleig, i. 237.

1809.—"As it was very hot, I immediately employed my DELOGETS to keep off the crowd."—Ld. Valentia, i. 339. The word here and elsewhere in that book is a misprint for deloyets.

DAM, s. H. dām. Originally an actual copper coin, regarding which we find the following in the Āīn, i. 31, ed. Blochmann:—"1. The Dám weighs 5 tánks, i.e. 1 tolah, 8 māshas, and 7 surkhs; it is the fortieth part of a rupee. At first this coin was called Paisah, and also Bahloli; now it is known under this name (dám). On one side the place is given where it was struck, on the other the date. For the purpose of calculation, the dám is divided into 25 parts, each of which is called a jétal. This imaginary division is only used by accountants.

"2. The adhelah is half of a dám. 3. The Páulah is a quarter of a dám. 4. The damrí is an eighth of a dám."

It is curious that Akbar's revenues were registered in this small currency, viz. in laks of dáms. We may compare the Portuguese use of reis [see REAS].

The tendency of denominations of coins is always to sink in value. The jetal [see JEETUL], which had become an imaginary money of account in Akbar's time, was, in the 14th century, a real coin, which Mr. E. Thomas, chief of Indian numismatologists, has unearthed [see Chron. Pathan Kings, 231]. And now the dām itself is imaginary. According to Elliot the people of the N.W.P. not long ago calculated 25 dāms to the paisā, which would be 1600 to a rupee. Carnegy gives the Oudh popular currency table as:

26 kauris = 1 damrī 1 damrī = 3 dām 20 " = 1 ānā 25 dām = 1 pice.

But the Calcutta Glossary says the dām is in Bengal reckoned 1/20 of an ānā, i.e. 320 to the rupee. ["Most things of little value, here as well as in Bhagalpur (writing of Behar) are sold by an imaginary money called Takā, which is here reckoned equal to two Paysas. There are also imaginary monies called Chadām and Damrī; the former is equal to 1 Paysa or 25 cowries, the latter is equal to one-eighth of a Paysa" (Buchanan, Eastern Ind. i. 382 seq.)]. We have not in our own experience met with any reckoning of dāms. In the case of the damrī the denomination has increased instead of sinking in relation to the dām. For above we have the damrī = 3 dāms, or according to Elliot (Beames, ii. 296) = 3¼ dāms, instead of ⅛ of a dām as in Akbar's time. But in reality the damrī's absolute value has remained the same. For by Carnegy's table 1 rupee or 16 anas would be equal to 320 damrīs, and by the Āīn, 1 rupee = 40 × 8 damrīs = 320 damrīs. Damrī is a common enough expression for the infinitesimal in coin, and one has often heard a Briton in India say: "No, I won't give a dumree!" with but a vague notion what a damrī meant, as in Scotland we have heard, "I won't give a plack," though certainly the speaker could not have stated the value of that ancient coin. And this leads to the suggestion that a like expression, often heard from coarse talkers in England as well as in India, originated in the latter country, and that whatever profanity there may be in the animus, there is none in the etymology, when such an one blurts out "I don't care a dām!" i.e. in other words, "I don't care a brass farthing!"

If the Gentle Reader deems this a far-fetched suggestion, let us back it by a second. We find in Chaucer (The Miller's Tale):

"——ne raught he not a kers,"

which means, "he recked not a cress" (ne flocci quidem); an expression which is also found in Piers Plowman:

"Wisdom and witte is nowe not worthe a kerse."

And this we doubt not has given rise to that other vulgar expression, "I don't care a curse";—curiously parallel in its corruption to that in illustration of which we quote it.

[This suggestion about dām was made by a writer in Asiat. Res., ed. 1803, vii. 461: "This word was perhaps in use even among our forefathers, and may innocently account for the expression 'not worth a fig,' or a dam, especially if we recollect that ba-dam, an almond, is to-day current in some parts of India as small money. Might not dried figs have been employed anciently in the same way, since the Arabic word fooloos, a halfpenny, also denotes a cassia bean, and the root fuls means the scale of a fish. Mankind are so apt, from a natural depravity, that 'flesh is heir to,' in their use of words, to pervert them from their original sense, that it is not a convincing argument against the present conjecture our using the word curse in vulgar language in lieu of dam." The N.E.D. disposes of the matter: "The suggestion is ingenious, but has no basis in fact." In a letter to Mr. Ellis, Macaulay writes: "How they settle the matter I care not, as the Duke says, one twopenny damn"; and Sir G. Trevelyan notes: "It was the Duke of Wellington who invented this oath, so disproportioned to the greatness of its author." (Life, ed. 1878, ii. 257.)]

1628.—"The revenue of all the territories under the Emperors of Delhi amounts, according to the Royal registers, to 6 arbs and 30 krors of DÁMS. One arb is equal to 100 krors (a kror being 10,000,000), and a hundred krors of DAMS are equal to 2 krors and 50 lacs of rupees."—Muhammad Sharīf Hanifī, in Elliot, vii. 138.

c. 1840.—"Charles Greville saw the Duke soon after, and expressing the pleasure he had felt in reading his speech (commending the conduct of Capt. Charles Elliot in China), added that, however, many of the party were angry with it; to which the Duke replied,—'I know they are, and I don't care a DAMN. I have no time to do what is right.'

"A twopenny damn was, I believe, the form usually employed by the Duke, as an expression of value: but on the present occasion he seems to have been less precise."—Autobiography of Sir Henry Taylor, i. 296. The term referred to seems curiously to preserve an unconscious tradition of the pecuniary, or what the idiotical jargon of our time calls the 'monetary,' estimation contained in the expression.

1881.—"A Bavarian printer, jealous of the influence of capital, said that 'Cladstone baid millions of money to the beeble to fote for him, and Beegonsfeel would not bay them a TAM, so they fote for Cladstone.'"—A Socialistic Picnic, in St. James's Gazette, July 6.

[1900.—"There is not, I dare wager, a single bishop who cares one 'twopenny-halfpenny DIME' for any of that plenteousness for himself."—H. Bell, Vicar of Muncaster, in Times, Aug. 31.]

DAMAN, n.p. Damān, one of the old settlements of the Portuguese which they still retain, on the coast of Guzerat, about 100 miles north of Bombay; written by them Damão.

1554.—"... the pilots said: 'We are here between Diu and DAMAN; if the ship sinks here, not a soul will escape; we must make sail for the shore."—Sidi 'Ali, 80.

[1607-8.—"Then that by no means or ships or men can goe saffelie to Suratt, or theare expect any quiett trade for the many dangers likelie to happen vnto them by the Portugals Cheef Comanders of Diu and DEMON and places there aboute...."—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 247.]

1623.—"Il capitano ... sperava che potessimo esser vicini alla città di DAMAN; laqual esta dentro il golfo di Cambaia a man destra...."—P. della Valle, ii. 499 [Hak. Soc. i. 15].

DAMANI, s. Applied to a kind of squall. (See ELEPHANTA.)

DAMMER, s. This word is applied to various resins in different parts of India, chiefly as substitutes for pitch. The word appears to be Malayo-Javanese damar, used generically for resins, a class of substances the origin of which is probably often uncertain. [Mr. Skeat notes that the Malay damar means rosin and a torch made of rosin, the latter consisting of a regular cylindrical case, made of bamboo or other suitable material, filled to the top with rosin and ignited.] To one of the dammer-producing trees in the Archipelago the name Dammara alba, Rumph. (N. O. Coniferae), has been given, and this furnishes the 'East India Dammer' of English varnish-makers. In Burma the dammer used is derived from at least three different genera of the N. O. Dipterocarpeae; in Bengal it is derived from the sāl tree (see SAUL-WOOD) (Shorea robusta) and other Shoreae, as well as by importation from transmarine sources. In S. India "white dammer," "Dammer Pitch," or Piney resin, is the produce of Vateria indica, and "black dammer" of Canarium strictum; in Cutch the dammer used is stated by Lieut. Leech (Bombay Selections, No. xv. p. 215-216) to be made from chandrūz (or chandras = copal) boiled with an equal quantity of oil. This is probably Fryer's 'rosin taken out of the sea' (infra). [On the other hand Mr. Pringle (Diary, &c., Fort St. George, 1st ser. iv. 178) quotes Crawfurd (Malay Archip. i. 455): (Dammer) "exudes through the bark, and is either found adhering to the trunk and branches in large lumps, or in masses on the ground, under the trees. As these often grow near the sea-side or on banks of rivers, the damar is frequently floated away and collected at different places as drift"; and adds: "The dammer used for caulking the masula boats at Madras when Fryer was there, may have been, and probably was, imported from the Archipelago, and the fact that the resin was largely collected as drift may have been mentioned in answer to his enquiries."] Some of the Malay dammer also seems, from Major M‘Nair's statement, to be, like copal, fossil. [On this Mr. Skeat says: "It is true that it is sometimes dug up out of the ground, possibly because it may form on the roots of certain trees, or because a great mass of it will fall and partially bury itself in the ground by its own weight, but I have never heard of its being found actually fossilised, and I should question the fact seriously."]

The word is sometimes used in India [and by the Malays, see above] for 'a torch,' because torches are formed of rags dipped in it. This is perhaps the use which accounts for Haex's explanation below.

1584.—"Demnar (for DEMMAR) from Siacca and Blinton" (i.e. Siak and Billiton).—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 43.

1631.—In Haex's Malay Vocabulary: "DAMAR, Lumen quod accenditur."

1673.—"The Boat is not strengthened with Knee-Timbers as ours are, the bended Planks are sowed together with Rope-yarn of the Cocoe, and calked with DAMMAR (a sort of Rosin taken out of the sea)."—Fryer, 37.

" "The long continued Current from the Inland Parts (at Surat) through the vast Wildernesses of huge Woods and Forests, wafts great Rafts of Timber for Shipping and Building: and DAMAR for Pitch, the finest sented Bitumen (if it be not a gum or Rosin) I ever met with."—Ibid. 121.

1727.—"DAMAR, a gum that is used for making Pitch and Tar for the use of Shipping."—A. Hamilton, ii. 73; [ed. 1744, ii. 72].

c. 1755.—"A DEMAR-Boy (Torch-boy)."—Ives, 50.

1878.—"This DAMMAR, which is the general Malayan name for resin, is dug out of the forests by the Malays, and seems to be the fossilised juices of former growth of jungle."—McNair, Perak, &c., 188.

1885.—"The other great industry of the place (in Sumatra) is DAMMAR collecting. This substance, as is well known, is the resin which exudes from notches made in various species of coniferous and dipterocarpous trees ... out of whose stem ... the native cuts large notches up to a height of 40 or 50 feet from the ground. The tree is then left for 3 or 4 months when, if it be a very healthy one, sufficient DAMMAR will have exuded to make it worth while collecting; the yield may then be as much as 94 Amsterdam pounds."—H. O. Forbes, A Naturalist's Wanderings, p. 135.

DANA, s. H. dāna, literally 'grain,' and therefore the exact translation of GRAM in its original sense (q.v.). It is often used in Bengal as synonymous with gram, thus: "Give the horse his dāna." We find it also in this specific way by an old traveller:

1616.—"A kind of graine called DONNA, somewhat like our Pease, which they boyle, and when it is cold give them mingled with course Sugar, and twise or thrise in the Weeke, Butter to scoure their Bodies."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1471.

DANCING-GIRL, s. This, or among the older Anglo-Indians, Dancing-Wench, was the representative of the (Portuguese Bailadeira) BAYADÈRE, or NAUTCH-girl (q.v.), also CUNCHUNEE. In S. India dancing-girls are all Hindus, [and known as Devadāsī or Bhogam-dāsī;] in N. India they are both Hindu, called Rāmjanī (see RUM-JOHNNY), and Mussulman, called Kanchanī (see CUNCHUNEE). In Dutch the phrase takes a very plain-spoken form, see quotation from Valentijn; [others are equally explicit, e.g. Sir T. Roe (Hak. Soc. i. 145) and P. della Valle, ii. 282.]

1606.—See description by Gouvea, f. 39.

1673.—"After supper they treated us with the DANCING WENCHES, and good soops of Brandy and Delf Beer, till it was late enough."—Fryer, 152.

1701.—"The Governor conducted the Nabob into the Consultation Room ... after dinner they were diverted with the DANCING WENCHES."—In Wheeler, i. 377.

1726.—"Wat de DANS-HOEREN (anders Dewataschi (Deva-dāsī) ... genaamd, en an de Goden hunner Pagoden als getrouwd) belangd."—Valentijn, Chor. 54.

1763-78.—"Mandelslow tells a story of a Nabob who cut off the heads of a set of DANCING GIRLS ... because they did not come to his palace on the first summons."—Orme, i. 28 (ed. 1803).

1789.—"... DANCING GIRLS who display amazing agility and grace in all their motions."—Munro, Narrative, 73.

c. 1812.—"I often sat by the open window, and there, night after night, I used to hear the songs of the unhappy DANCING GIRLS, accompanied by the sweet yet melancholy music of the cithára."—Mrs. Sherwood's Autobiog. 423.

[1813.—Forbes gives an account of the two classes of DANCING GIRLS, those who sing and dance in private houses, and those attached to temples.—Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 61.]

1815.—"DANCING GIRLS were once numerous in Persia; and the first poets of that country have celebrated the beauty of their persons and the melody of their voices."—Malcolm, H. of Persia, ii. 587.

1838.—"The Maharajah sent us in the evening a new set of DANCING GIRLS, as they were called, though they turned out to be twelve of the ugliest old women I ever saw."—Osborne, Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh, 154.

1843.—"We decorated the Temples of the false gods. We provided the DANCING GIRLS. We gilded and painted the images to which our ignorant subjects bowed down."—Macaulay's Speech on the Somnauth Proclamation.

DANDY, s.

(A). A boatman. The term is peculiar to the Gangetic rivers. H. and Beng. ḍānḍi, from ḍānḍ or ḍanḍ, 'a staff, an oar.'

1685.—"Our DANDEES (or boatmen) boyled their rice, and we supped here."—Hedges, Diary, Jan. 6; [Hak. Soc. i. 175].

1763.—"The oppressions of your officers were carried to such a length that they put a stop to all business, and plundered and seized the DANDIES and Mangies' [see MANJEE] vessel."—W. Hastings to the Nawab, in Long, 347.

1809.—"Two naked DANDYS paddling at the head of the vessel."—Ld. Valentia, i. 67.

1824.—"I am indeed often surprised to observe the difference between my DANDEES (who are nearly the colour of a black teapot) and the generality of the peasants whom we meet."—Bp. Heber, i. 149 (ed. 1844).

—— (B). A kind of ascetic who carries a staff. Same etymology. See Solvyns, who gives a plate of such an one.

[1828.—"... the DANDI is distinguished by carrying a small Dand, or wand, with several processes or projections from it, and a piece of cloth dyed with red ochre, in which the Brahmanical cord is supposed to be enshrined, attached to it."—H. H. Wilson, Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus, ed. 1861, i. 193.]

—— (C). H. same spelling, and same etymology. A kind of vehicle used in the Himālaya, consisting of a strong cloth slung like a hammock to a bamboo staff, and carried by two (or more) men. The traveller can either sit sideways, or lie on his back. It is much the same as the Malabar MUNCHEEL (q.v.), [and P. della Valle describes a similar vehicle which he says the Portuguese call Rete (Hak. Soc. i. 183)].

[1875.—"The nearest approach to travelling in a DANDI I can think of, is sitting in a half-reefed top-sail in a storm, with the head and shoulders above the yard."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 103.]

1876.—"In the lower hills when she did not walk she travelled in a DANDY."—Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Thibet, 2nd S., p. vii.

DANGUR, n.p. H. Ḍhāngar, the name by which members of various tribes of Chūtiā Nāgpūr, but especially of the Orāons, are generally known when they go out to distant provinces to seek employment as labourers ("coolies"). A very large proportion of those who emigrate to the tea-plantations of E. India, and also to Mauritius and other colonies, belong to the Orāon tribe. The etymology of the term Ḍhāngar is doubtful. The late Gen. Dalton says: "It is a word that from its apparent derivation (dāng or dhāng, 'a hill') may mean any hill-man; but amongst several tribes of the Southern tributary Maháls, the terms Dhángar and Dhángarin mean the youth of the two sexes, both in highland and lowland villages, and it cannot be considered the national designation of any particular tribe" (Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, 245) [and see Risley, Tribes and Castes, i. 219].

DARCHEENEE, s. P. dār-chīnī, 'China-stick,' i.e. cinnamon.

1563.—"... The people of Ormuz, because this bark was brought for sale there by those who had come from China, called it DAR-CHINI, which in Persian means 'wood of China,' and so they sold it in Alexandria...."—Garcia, f. 59-60.

1621.—"As for cinnamon which you wrote was called by the Arabs DARTZENI, I assure you that the dar-síni, as the Arabs say, or DAR-CHINI as the Persians and Turks call it, is nothing but our ordinary canella."—P. della Valle, ii. 206-7.

DARJEELING, DĀRJĪLING, n.p. A famous sanitarium in the Eastern Himālaya, the cession of which was purchased from the Raja of Sikkim in 1835; a tract largely added to by annexation in 1849, following on an outrage committed by the Sikkim Minister in imprisoning Dr. (afterwards Sir) Joseph Hooker and the late Dr. A. Campbell, Superintendent of Darjeeling. The sanitarium stands at 6500 to 7500 feet above the sea. The popular Tibetan spelling of the name is, according to Jaeshcke, rDor-rje-glin, 'Land of the Dorje,' i.e. 'of the Adamant or thunderbolt,' the ritual sceptre of the Lamas. But 'according to several titles of books in the Petersburg list of MSS. it ought properly to be spelt Dar-rgyas-glin' (Tib. Eng. Dict. p. 287).

DARÓGA, s. P. and H. dāroghā. This word seems to be originally Mongol (see Kovalevsky's Dict. No. 1672). In any case it is one of those terms brought by the Mongol hosts from the far East. In their nomenclature it was applied to a Governor of a province or city, and in this sense it continued to be used under Timur and his immediate successors. But it is the tendency of official titles, as of denominations of coin, to descend in value; and that of dāroghā has in later days been bestowed on a variety of humbler persons. Wilson defines the word thus: "The chief native officer in various departments under the native government, a superintendent, a manager: but in later times he is especially the head of a police, customs, or excise station." Under the British Police system, from 1793 to 1862-63, the Darogha was a local Chief of Police, or Head Constable, [and this is still the popular title in the N.W.P. for the officer in charge of a Police Station.] The word occurs in the sense of a Governor in a Mongol inscription, of the year 1314, found in the Chinese Province of Shensi, which is given by Pauthier in his Marc. Pol., p. 773. The Mongol Governor of Moscow, during a part of the Tartar domination in Russia, is called in the old Russian Chronicles Doroga (see Hammer, Golden Horde, 384). And according to the same writer the word appears in a Byzantine writer (unnamed) as Δάρηγας (ibid. 238-9). The Byzantine form and the passages below of 1404 and 1665 seem to imply some former variation in pronunciation. But Clavijo has also DERROGA in § clii.

c. 1220.—"Tuli Khan named as DARUGHA at Merv one called Barmas, and himself marched upon Nishapur."—Abulghāzi, by Desmaisons, 135.

1404.—"And in this city (Tauris) there was a kinsman of the Emperor as Magistrate thereof, whom they call DERREGA, and he treated the said Ambassadors with much respect."—Clavijo, § lxxxii. Comp. Markham, 90.

1441.—"... I reached the city of Kerman.... The DEROGHAH (governor) the Emir Hadji Mohamed Kaiaschirin, being then absent...."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in the XVth Cent., p. 5.

c. 1590.—"The officers and servants attached to the Imperial Stables. 1. The Atbegi.... 2. The DĀROGHAH. There is one appointed for each stable...."—Āīn, tr. Blochmann, i. 137.

1621.—"The 10th of October, the DAROGĀ, or Governor of Ispahan, Mir Abdulaazim, the King's son-in-law, who, as was afterwards seen in that charge of his, was a downright madman...."—P. della Valle, ii. 166.

1665.—"There stands a DEREGA, upon each side of the River, who will not suffer any person to pass without leave."—Tavernier, E.T., ii. 52; [ed. Ball, i. 117].

1673.—"The DROGER, or Mayor of the City, or Captain of the Watch, or the Rounds; It is his duty to preside with the Main Guard a-nights before the Palace-gates."—Fryer, 339.

1673.—"The DROGER being Master of his Science, persists; what comfort can I reap from your Disturbance?"—Fryer, 389.

1682.—"I received a letter from Mr. Hill at Rajemaul advising ye DROGA of ye Mint would not obey a Copy, but required at least a sight of ye Originall."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 14; [Hak. Soc. i. 57].

c. 1781.—"About this time, however, one day being very angry, the DAROGHA, or master of the mint, presented himself, and asked the Nawaub what device he would have struck on his new copper coinage. Hydur, in a violent passion, told him to stamp an obscene figure on it."—Hydur Naik, tr. by Miles, 488.

1812.—"Each division is guarded by a DAROGHA, with an establishment of armed men."—Fifth Report, 44.

DATCHIN, s. This word is used in old books of Travel and Trade for a steelyard employed in China and the Archipelago. It is given by Leyden as a Malay word for 'balance,' in his Comp. Vocab. of Barma, Malay and Thai, Serampore, 1810. It is also given by Crawfurd as ḍachin, a Malay word from the Javanese. There seems to be no doubt that in Peking dialect ch'eng is 'to weigh,' and also 'steelyard'; that in Amoy a small steelyard is called ch'in; and that in Canton dialect the steelyard is called t'okch'ing. Some of the Dictionaries also give ta 'chêng, 'large steelyard.' Datchin or dotchin may therefore possibly be a Chinese term; but considering how seldom traders' words are really Chinese, and how easily the Chinese monosyllables lend themselves to plausible combinations, it remains probable that the Canton word was adopted from foreigners. It has sometimes occurred to us that it might have been adopted from Achin (d'Achin); see the first quotation. [The N.E.D., following Prof. Giles, gives it as a corruption of the Cantonese name toh-ch'ing (in Court dialect to-ch'êng) from toh 'to measure,' ch'ing, 'to weigh.' Mr. Skeat notes: "The standard Malay is daching, the Javanese dachin (v. Klinkert, s.v.). He gives the word as of Chinese origin, and the probability is that the English word is from the Malay, which in its turn was borrowed from the Chinese. The final suggestion, d'Achin, seems out of the question.] Favre's Malay Dict. gives (in French) "DAXING (Ch. pa-tchen), steelyard, balance," also "ber-DAXING, to weigh," and Javan. "DAXIN, a weight of 100 kātis." Gericke's Javan. Dict. also gives "DATSIN-Picol," with a reference to Chinese. [With reference to Crawfurd's statement quoted above, Mr. Pringle (Diary, Ft. St. George, 1st ser. iv. 179) notes that Crawfurd had elsewhere adopted the view that the yard and the designation of it originated in China and passed from thence to the Archipelago (Malay Archip. i. 275). On the whole, the Chinese origin seems most probable.]

1554.—At Malacca. "The baar of the great DACHEM contains 200 cates, each cate weighing two arratels, 4 ounces, 5 eighths, 15 grains, 3 tenths.... The Baar of the little DACHEM contains 200 cates; each cate weighing two arratels."—A. Nunes, 39.

[1684-5.—"... he replyed That he was now Content yt ye Honble Company should solely enjoy ye Customes of ye Place on condition yt ye People of ye Place be free from all dutys & Customes and yt ye Profitt of ye DUTCHIN be his...."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iv. 12.]

1696.—"For their DOTCHIN and Ballance they use that of Japan."—Bowyear's Journal at Cochin-China, in Dalrymple, O. R. i. 88.

1711.—"Never weigh your Silver by their DOTCHINS, for they have usually two Pair, one to receive, the other to pay by."—Lockyer, 113.

" "In the DOTCHIN, an expert Weigher will cheat two or three per cent. by placing or shaking the Weight, and minding the Motion of the Pole only."—Ibid. 115.

" "... every one has a Chopchin and DOTCHIN to cut and weigh silver."—Ibid. 141.

1748.—"These scales are made after the manner of the Roman balance, or our English Stilliards, called by the Chinese Litang, and by us DOT-CHIN."—A Voyage to the E. Indies in 1747 and 1748, &c., London, 1762, p. 324. The same book has, in a short vocabulary, at p. 265, "English scales or DODGEONS ... Chinese Litang."

DATURA, s. This Latin-like name is really Skt. dhattūra, and so has passed into the derived vernaculars. The widely-spread Datura Stramonium, or Thorn-apple, is well known over Europe, but is not regarded as indigenous to India; though it appears to be wild in the Himālaya from Kashmīr to Sikkim. The Indian species, from which our generic name has been borrowed, is Datura alba, Nees (see Hanbury and Flückiger, 415) (D. fastuosa, L.). Garcia de Orta mentions the common use of this by thieves in India. Its effect on the victim was to produce temporary alienation of mind, and violent laughter, permitting the thief to act unopposed. He describes his own practice in dealing with such cases, which he had always found successful. Datura was also often given as a practical joke, whence the Portuguese called it Burladora ('Joker'). De Orta strongly disapproves of such pranks. The criminal use of datura by a class of Thugs is rife in our own time. One of the present writers has judicially convicted many. Coolies returning with fortunes from the colonies often become the victims of such crimes. [See details in Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 179 seqq.]

1563.—"Maidservant. A black woman of the house has been giving DATURA to my mistress; she stole the keys, and the jewels that my mistress had on her neck and in her jewel box, and has made off with a black man. It would be a kindness to come to her help."—Garcia, Colloquios, f. 83.

1578.—"They call this plant in the Malabar tongue unmata caya [ummata-kāya] ... in Canarese DATYRO...."—Acosta, 87.

c. 1580.—"Nascitur et ... DATURA Indorum, quarum ex seminibus Latrones bellaria parant, quae in caravanis mercatoribus exhibentes largumque somnum, profundumque inducentes aurum gemmasque surripiunt et abeunt."—Prosper Alpinus, Pt. I. 190-1.

1598.—"They name [have] likewise an hearbe called DEUTROA, which beareth a seede, whereof bruising out the sap, they put it into a cup, or other vessell, and give it to their husbands, eyther in meate or drinke, and presently therewith the Man is as though hee were half out of his wits."—Linschoten, 60; [Hak. Soc. i. 209].

1608-10.—"Mais ainsi de mesme les femmes quand elles sçauent que leurs maris en entretiennent quelqu'autre, elles s'en desfont par poison ou autrement, et se seruent fort à cela de la semence de DATURA, qui est d'vne estrange vertu. Ce Datura ou DUROA, espece de Stramonium, est vne plante grande et haute qui porte des fleurs blanches en Campane, comme le Cisampelo, mais plus grande."—Mocquet, Voyages, 312.

[1610.—"In other parts of the Indies it is called DUTROA."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 114.

[1621.—"Garcias ab Horto ... makes mention of an hearb called DATURA, which, if it be eaten, for 24 hours following, takes away all sense of grief, makes them incline to laughter and mirth."—Burton, Anatomy of Mel., Pt. 2, Sec. 5 Mem. I. Subs. 5.]

1673.—"DUTRY, the deadliest sort of Solarium (Solanum) or Nightshade."—Fryer, 32.

1676.—

"Make lechers and their punks with DEWTRY Commit fantastical advowtry." Hudibras, Pt. iii. Canto 1.

1690.—"And many of them (the Moors) take the liberty of mixing DUTRA and Water together to drink ... which will intoxicate almost to Madness."—Ovington, 235.

1810.—"The DATURA that grows in every part of India."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 135.

1874.—"DATURA. This plant, a native of the East Indies, and of Abyssinia, more than a century ago had spread as a naturalized plant through every country in Europe except Sweden, Lapland, and Norway, through the aid of gipsy quacks, who used the seed as anti-spasmodics, or for more questionable purposes."—R. Brown in Geog. Magazine, i. 371. Note.—The statements derived from Hanbury and Flückiger in the beginning of this article disagree with this view, both as to the origin of the European Datura and the identity of the Indian plant. The doubts about the birthplace of the various species of the genus remain in fact undetermined. [See the discussion in Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 29 seqq.]

DATURA, YELLOW, and YELLOW THISTLE. These are Bombay names for the Argemone mexicana, fico del inferno of Spaniards, introduced accidentally from America, and now an abundant and pestilent weed all over India.

DAWK, s. H. and Mahr. ḍāk, 'Post,' i.e. properly transport by relays of men and horses, and thence 'the mail' or letter-post, as well as any arrangement for travelling, or for transmitting articles by such relays. The institution was no doubt imitated from the barīd, or post, established throughout the empire of the Caliphs by Mo'āwia. The barīd is itself connected with the Latin verēdus, and verēdius.

1310.—"It was the practice of the Sultan (Alá-uddín) when he sent an army on an expedition to establish posts on the road, wherever posts could be maintained.... At every half or quarter kos runners were posted ... the securing of accurate intelligence from the court on one side and the army on the other was a great public benefit."—Ziā-uddīn Barnī, in Elliot, iii. 203.

c. 1340.—"The foot-post (in India) is thus arranged: every mile is divided into three equal intervals which are called DĀWAH, which is as much as to say 'the third part of a mile' (the mile itself being called in India Koruh). At every third of a mile there is a village well inhabited, outside of which are three tents where men are seated ready to start...."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 95.

c. 1340.—"So he wrote to the Sultan to announce our arrival, and sent his letter by the DĀWAH, which is the foot post, as we have told you...."—Ibid. 145.

" "At every mile (i.e. Korūh or coss) from Delhi to Daulatabād there are three DĀWAH or posts."—Ibid. 191-2. It seems probable that this DĀWAH is some misunderstanding of ḌĀK.

" "There are established, between the capital and the chief cities of the different territories, posts placed at certain distances from each other, which are like the post-relays in Egypt and Syria ... but the distance between them is not more than four bowshots or even less. At each of these posts ten swift runners are stationed ... as soon as one of these men receives a letter he runs off as rapidly as possible.... At each of these post stations there are mosques, where prayers are said, and where the traveller can find shelter, reservoirs full of good water, and markets ... so that there is very little necessity for carrying water, or food, or tents."—Shahābuddīn Dimishkī, in Elliot, iii. 581.

1528.—"... that every ten kos he should erect a yam, or post-house, which they call a DÂK-CHOKI, for six horses...."—Baber, 393.

c. 1612.—"He (Akbar) established posts throughout his dominions, having two horses and a set of footmen stationed at every five coss. The Indians call this establishment 'DAK chowky.'"—Firishta, by Briggs, ii. 280-1.

1657.—"But when the intelligence of his (Dara-Shekoh's) officious meddling had spread abroad through the provinces by the DÁK chauki...."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 214.

1727.—"The Post in the Mogul's Dominions goes very swift, for at every Caravanseray, which are built on the High-roads, about ten miles distant from one another, Men, very swift of Foot, are kept ready.... And these Curriers are called DOG Chouckies."—A. Hamilton, i. 149; [ed. 1744, i. 150].

1771.—"I wrote to the Governor for permission to visit Calcutta by the DAWKS...."—Letter in the Intrigues of a Nabob, &c., 76.

1781.—"I mean the absurd, unfair, irregular and dangerous Mode, of suffering People to paw over their Neighbours' Letters at the DOCK...."—Letter in Hicky's Bengal Gazette, Mar. 24.

1796.—"The Honble. the Governor-General in Council has been pleased to order the re-establishment of DAWK Bearers upon the new road from Calcutta to Benares and Patna.... The following are the rates fixed....

"From Calcutta to Benares.... Sicca Rupees 500."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 185.

1809.—"He advised me to proceed immediately by DAWK...."—Ld. Valentia, i. 62.

1824.—"The DĀK or post carrier having passed me on the preceding day, I dropped a letter into his leathern bag, requesting a friend to send his horse on for me."—Seely, Wonders of Ellora, ch. iv. A letter so sent by the post-runner, in the absence of any receiving office, was said to go "by outside DAWK."

1843.—"JAM: You have received the money of the British for taking charge of the DAWK; you have betrayed your trust, and stopped the DAWKS.... If you come in and make your salám, and promise fidelity to the British Government, I will restore to you your lands ... and the superintendence of the DAWKS. If you refuse I will wait till the hot weather has gone past, and then I will carry fire and sword into your territory ... and if I catch you, I will hang you as a rebel."—Sir C. Napier to the Jam of the Jokees (in Life of Dr. J. Wilson, p. 440).

1873.—"... the true reason being, Mr. Barton declared, that he was too stingy to pay her DAWK."—The True Reformer, i. 63.

DAWK, s. Name of a tree. See DHAWK.

DAWK, TO LAY A, v. To cause relays of bearers, or horses, to be posted on a road. As regards palankin bearers this used to be done either through the post-office, or through local CHOWDRIES (q.v.) of bearers. During the mutiny of 1857-58, when several young surgeons had arrived in India, whose services were urgently wanted at the front, it is said that the Head of the Department to which they had reported themselves, directed them immediately to 'LAY A DAWK.' One of them turned back from the door, saying: 'Would you explain, Sir; for you might just as well tell me to lay an egg!'

DAWK BUNGALOW. See under BUNGALOW.

DAYE, DHYE, s. A wet-nurse; used in Bengal and N. India, where this is the sense now attached to the word. Hind. dāī, Skt. dātrikā; conf. Pers. dāyah, a nurse, a midwife. The word also in the earlier English Regulations is applied, Wilson states, to "a female commissioner employed to interrogate and swear native women of condition, who could not appear to give evidence in a Court."

[1568.—"No Christian shall call an infidel DAYA at the time of her labour."—Archiv. Port. Orient. fasc. iv. p. 25.]

1578.—"The whole plant is commonly known and used by the DAYAS, or as we call them comadres" ("gossips," midwives).—Acosta, Tractado, 282.

1613.—"The medicines of the Malays ... ordinarily are roots of plants ... horns and claws and stones, which are used by their leeches, and for the most part by DAYAS, which are women physicians, excellent herbalists, apprentices of the schools of Java Major."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 37.

1782.—In a Table of monthly Wages at Calcutta, we have:—

"DY (Wet-nurse) 10 Rs."—India Gazette, Oct. 12.-

1808.—"If the bearer hath not strength what can the DAEE (midwife) do?"—Guzerati Proverb, in Drummond's Illustrations, 1803.

1810.—"The DHYE is more generally an attendant upon native ladies."—Williamson, V.M. i. 341.

1883.—"... the 'DYAH' or wet-nurse is looked on as a second mother, and usually provided for for life."—Wills, Modern Persia, 326.

[1887.—"I was much interested in the DHAIS ('midwives') class."—Lady Dufferin, Viceregal Life in India, 337.]

DEANER, s. This is not Anglo-Indian, but it is a curious word of English Thieves' cant, signifying 'a shilling.' It seems doubtful whether it comes from the Italian danaro or the Arabic DĪNĀR (q.v.); both eventually derived from the Latin denarius.

DEBAL, n.p. See DIUL-SIND.

DECCAN, n.p. and adj. Hind. Dakhin, Dakkhin, Dakhan, Dakkhan; dakkhiṇa, the Prakr. form of Skt. dakshiṇa, 'the South'; originally 'on the right hand'; compare dexter, δεξίος. The Southern part of India, the Peninsula, and especially the Tableland between the Eastern and Western Ghauts. It has been often applied also, politically, to specific States in that part of India, e.g. by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the Mahommedan Kingdom of Bījapur, and in more recent times by ourselves to the State of Hyderabad. In Western India the DECCAN stands opposed to the CONCAN (q.v.), i.e. the table-land of the interior to the maritime plain; in Upper India the DECCAN stands opposed to HINDŪSTĀN, i.e. roundly speaking, the country south of the Nerbudda to that north of it. The term frequently occurs in the Skt. books in the form dakshiṇāpatha ('Southern region,' whence the Greek form in our first quotation), and dakshīṇātya ('Southern'—qualifying some word for 'country'). So, in the Paṅchatantra: "There is in the Southern region (dakshīṇātya janapada) a town called Mihilāropya."

c. A.D. 80-90.—"But immediately after Barygaza the adjoining continent extends from the North to the South, wherefore the region is called DACHINABADĒS (Δαχιναβάδης), for the South is called in their tongue DACHANOS (Δάχανος)."—Periplus M.E., Geog. Gr. Min. i. 254.

1510.—"In the said city of DECAN there reigns a King, who is a Mahommedan."—Varthema, 117. (Here the term is applied to the city and kingdom of Bījapur).

1517.—"On coming out of this Kingdom of Guzarat and Cambay towards the South, and the inner parts of India, is the Kingdom of DACANI, which the Indians call DECAN."—Barbosa, 69.

1552.—"Of DECANI or DAQUẼ as we now call it."—Castanheda, ii. 50.

" "He (Mahmūd Shāh) was so powerful that he now presumed to style himself King of Canara, giving it the name of DECAN. And the name is said to have been given to it from the combination of different nations contained in it, because DECANIJ in their language signifies 'mongrel.'"—De Barros, Dec. II. liv. v. cap. 2. (It is difficult to discover what has led astray here the usually well-informed De Barros).

1608.—"For the Portugals of Daman had wrought with an ancient friend of theirs a Raga, who was absolute Lord of a Prouince (betweene Daman, Guzerat, and DECAN) called Cruly, to be readie with 200 Horsemen to stay my passage."—Capt. W. Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 209.

[1612.—"The DESANINS, a people bordering on them (Portuguese) have besieged six of their port towns."—Danvers, Letters, i. 258.]

1616.—"... his son Sultan Coron, who he designed, should command in DECCAN."—Sir T. Roe.

[ " "There is a resolution taken that Sultan Caronne shall go to the DECAN Warres."—Ibid. Hak. Soc. i. 192.

[1623.—"A Moor of DACÀN."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 225.]

1667.—

"But such as at this day, to Indians known, In Malabar or DECAN spreads her arms." Paradise Lost, ix. [1102-3].

1726.—"DECAN [as a division] includes DECAN, Cunkam, and Balagatta."—Valentijn, v. 1.

c. 1750.—"... alors le Nababe d'Arcate, tout petit Seigneur qu'il étoit, comparé au Souba du DEKAM dont il n'étoit que le Fermier traiter (sic) avec nous comme un Souverain avec ses sujets."—Letter of M. Bussy, in Cambridge's War in India, p. xxix.

1870.—"In the DECCAN and in Ceylon trees and bushes near springs, may often be seen covered with votive flowers."—Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, 200. N.B.—This is a questionable statement as regards the Deccan.

DECCANY, adj., also used as subst. Properly dakhinī, dakkhinī, dakhnī. Coming from the DECCAN. A (Mahommedan) inhabitant of the Deccan. Also the very peculiar dialect of Hindustani spoken by such people.

1516.—"The DECANI language, which is the natural language of the country."—Barbosa, 77.

1572.—

"... DECANYS, Orias, que e esperança Tem de sua salvação nas resonantes Aguas do Gange...."—Camões, vii. 20.

1578.—"The DECANINS (call the Betel-leaf) Pan."—Acosta, 139.

c. 1590.—"Hence DAK'HINĪS are notorious in Hindústán for stupidity...."—Author quoted by Blochmann, Āīn, i. 443.

[1813.—"... and the DECANNE-bean (butea superba) are very conspicuous."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd. ed. i. 195.]

1861.—

"Ah, I rode a DECCANEE charger, with a saddle-cloth gold laced, And a Persian sword, and a twelve-foot spear, and a pistol at my waist." Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree.

DECK, s. A look, a peep. Imp. of Hind. dekh-nā, 'to look.'

[1830.—"When on a sudden, coming to a check, Thompson's mahout called out, 'DEKH! Sahib, DEKH!'"—Or. Sporting Mag., ed. 1873, i. 350.]

1854.—"... these formed the whole assemblage, with the occasional exception of some officer, stopping as he passed by, returning from his morning ride 'just to have a DEKH at the steamer.'..."--W. Arnold, Oakfield, i. 85.

DEEN, s. Ar. Hind. dīn, 'the faith.' The cry of excited Mahommedans, Dīn, Dīn!

c. 1580.—"... crying, as is their way, DIM, DIM, Mafamede, so that they filled earth and air with terror and confusion."—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 19.

[c. 1760.—"The sound of DING Mahomed."—Orme, Military Trans. Madras reprint, ii. 339.

[1764.—"When our seapoys observed the enemy they gave them a DING or huzza."—Carraccioli, Life of Clive i. 57.]

DELHI, n.p. The famous capital of the great Moghuls, in the latter years of that family; and the seat under various names of many preceding dynasties, going back into ages of which we have no distinct record. Dillī is, according to Cunningham, the old Hindu form of the name; Dihlī is that used by Mahommedans. According to Panjab Notes and Queries (ii. 117 seq.), Dilpat is traditionally the name of the Dillī of Prithvī Rāj. Dil is an old Hindi word for an eminence; and this is probably the etymology of Dilpat and Dilli. The second quotation from Correa curiously illustrates the looseness of his geography. [The name has become unpleasantly familiar in connection with the so-called 'Delhi boil,' a form of Oriental sore, similar to Biskra Button, Aleppo Evil, Lahore or Multan Sore (see Delhi Gazetteer, 15, note).]

1205.—(Muhammad Ghori marched) "towards DEHLI (may God preserve its prosperity, and perpetuate its splendour!), which is among the chief (mother) cities of Hind."—Hasan Nizāmi, in Elliot, ii. 216.

c. 1321.—"Hanc terram (Tana, near Bombay) regunt Sarraceni, nunc subjacentes dal DILI.... Audiens ipse imperator dol DALI ... misit et ordinavit ut ipse Lomelic penitus caperetur...."—Fr. Odoric. See Cathay, &c., App., pp. v. and x.

c. 1330.—"DILLĪ ... a certain traveller relates that the brick-built walls of this great city are loftier than the walls of Hamath; it stands in a plain on a soil of mingled stones and sand. At the distance of a parasang runs a great river, not so big, however, as Euphrates."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 189 seq.

c. 1334.—"The wall that surrounds DIHLĪ has no equal.... The city of DIHLĪ has 28 gates ..." &c.—Ibn Batuta, iii. 147 seqq.

c. 1375.—The Carta Catalana of the French Library shows ciutat de DILLI and also Lo Rey Dilli, with this rubric below it: "Aci esta un soldã gran e podaros molt rich. Aquest soldã ha DCC orifans e C millia homens à cavall sot lo seu imperi. Ha encora paons sens nombre...."

1459.—Fra Mauro's great map at Venice shows DELI cittade grandissima, and the rubrick Questa cittade nobilissima zà dominava tuto el paese del DELI over India Prima.

1516.—"This king of DELY confines with Tatars, and has taken many lands from the King of Cambay; and from the King of Dacan, his servants and captains with many of his people, took much, and afterwards in time they revolted, and set themselves up as kings."—Barbosa, p. 100.

1533.—"And this kingdom to which the Badur proceeded was called the DELY; it was very great, but it was all disturbed by wars and the risings of one party against another, because the King was dead, and the sons were fighting with each other for the sovereignty."—Correa, iii. 506.

" "This Kingdom of DELY is the greatest that is to be seen in those parts, for one point that it holds is in Persia, and the other is in contact with the Loochoos (os Lequios) beyond China."—Ibid. iii. 572.

c. 1568.—"About sixteen yeeres past this King (of Cuttack), with his Kingdome, were destroyed by the King of Pattane, which was also King of the greatest part of Bengala ... but this tyrant enioyed his Kingdome but a small time, but was conquered by another tyrant, which was the great Mogol King of Agra, DELLY, and of all Cambaia."—Caesar Frederike in Hakl. ii. 358.

1611.—"On the left hand is seene the carkasse of old DELY, called the nine castles and fiftie-two gates, now inhabited onely by Googers.... The city is 2^c betweene Gate and Gate, begirt with a strong wall, but much ruinate...."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 430.

DELING, s. This was a kind of hammock conveyance, suspended from a pole, mentioned by the old travellers in Pegu. The word is not known to Burmese scholars, and is perhaps a Persian word. Meninski gives "deleng, adj. pendulus, suspensus." The thing seems to be the Malayālam Manchīl. (See MUNCHEEL and DANDY).

1569.—"Carried in a closet which they call DELING, in the which a man shall be very well accommodated, with cushions under his head."—Caesar Frederike, in Hakl. ii. 367.

1585.—"This DELINGO is a strong cotton cloth doubled, ... as big as an ordinary rug, and having an iron at each end to attach it by, so that in the middle it hangs like a pouch or purse. These irons are attached to a very thick cane, and this is borne by four men.... When you go on a journey, a cushion is put at the head of this DELINGO, and you get in, and lay your head on the cushion," &c.—Gasparo Balbi, f. 99_b_.

1587.—"From Cirion we went to Macao, which is a pretie towne, where we left our boats and Paroes, and in the morning taking DELINGEGES, which are a kind of Coches made of cords and cloth quilted, and carried vpon a stang betweene 3 and 4 men: we came to Pegu the same day."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 391.

DELLY, MOUNT, n.p. Port. Monte D'Eli. A mountain on the Malabar coast which forms a remarkable object from seaward, and the name of which occurs sometimes as applied to a State or City adjoining the mountain. It is prominently mentioned in all the old books on India, though strange to say the Map of India in Keith Johnstone's Royal Atlas has neither name nor indication of this famous hill. [It is shown in Constable's Hand Atlas.] It was, according to Correa, the first Indian land seen by Vasco da Gama. The name is Malayāl. Eli mala, 'High Mountain.' Several erroneous explanations have however been given. A common one is that it means 'Seven Hills.' This arose with the compiler of the local Skt. Mahātmya or legend, who rendered the name Saptaṣaila, 'Seven Hills,' confounding ēli with ēl̤u, 'seven,' which has no application. Again we shall find it explained as 'Rat-hill'; but here ĕli is substituted for ēl̤i. [The Madras Gloss. gives the word as Mal. ezhimala, and explains it as 'Rat-hill,' "because infested by rats."] The position of the town and port of Ely or Hili mentioned by the older travellers is a little doubtful, but see Marco Polo, notes to Bk. III. ch. xxiv. The Ely-Maide of the Peutingerian Tables is not unlikely to be an indication of Ely.

1298.—"ELI is a Kingdom towards the west, about 300 miles from Comari.... There is no proper harbour in the country, but there are many rivers with good estuaries, wide and deep."—Marco Polo, Bk. III. ch. 24.

c. 1330.—"Three days journey beyond this city (Manjarūr, i.e. Mangalore) there is a great hill which projects into the sea, and is descried by travellers from afar, the promontory called HĪLĪ."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 185.

c. 1343.—"At the end of that time we set off for HĪLĪ, where we arrived two days later. It is a large well-built town on a great bay (or estuary) which big ships enter."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 81.

c. 1440.—"Proceeding onwards he ... arrived at two cities situated on the sea shore, one named Pacamuria, and the other HELLY."—Nicolo Conti, in India in the XVth Cent. p. 6.

1516.—"After passing this place along the coast is the Mountain DELY, on the edge of the sea; it is a round mountain, very lofty, in the midst of low land; all the ships of the Moors and the Gentiles ... sight this mountain ... and make their reckoning by it."—Barbosa, 149.

c. 1562.—"In twenty days they got sight of land, which the pilots foretold before that they saw it, this was a great mountain which is on the coast of India, in the Kingdom of Cananor, which the people of the country in their language call the mountain DELY, elly meaning 'the rat,'[103] and they call it Mount DELY, because in this mountain there are so many rats that they could never make a village there."—Correa, Three Voyages, &c., Hak. Soc. 145.

1579.—"... Malik Ben Habeeb ... proceeded first to Quilon ... and after erecting a mosque in that town and settling his wife there, he himself journeyed on to [HĪLĪ Marāwī]...."—Rowlandson's Tr. of Tohfut-ul-Mujahideen, p. 54. (Here and elsewhere in this ill-edited book Hīlī Marāwī is read and printed Hubaee Murawee).

[1623.—"... a high Hill, inland near the seashore, call'd Monte DELI."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 355].

1638.—"Sur le midy nous passames à la veüe de MONTE-LEONE, qui est vne haute montagne dont les Malabares descouurent de loin les vaisseaux, qu'ils peuuent attaquer avec aduantage."—Mandelslo, 275.

1727.—"And three leagues south from MOUNT DELLY is a spacious deep River called Balliapatam, where the English Company had once a Factory for Pepper."—A. Hamilton, i. 291; [ed. 1744, ii. 293].

1759.—"We are further to remark that the late troubles at Tellicherry, which proved almost fatal to that settlement, took rise from a dispute with our linguist and the Prince of that Country, relative to lands he, the linguist, held at MOUNT DILLY."—Court's Letter of March 23. In Long, 198.

DELOLL, s. A broker; H. from Ar. dallāl; the literal meaning being one who directs (the buyer and seller to their bargain). In Egypt the word is now also used in particular for a broker of old clothes and the like, as described by Lane below. (See also under NEELÁM.)

[c. 1665.—"He spared also the house of a deceased DELALE or Gentile broker, of the Dutch."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 188. In the first English trans. this passage runs: "He has also regard to the House of the Deceased De Lale."]

1684.—"Five DELOLLS, or Brokers, of Decca, after they had been with me went to Mr. Beard's chamber...."—Hedges, Diary, July 25; [Hak. Soc. i. 152].

1754.—"Mr. Baillie at Jugdea, accused by these villains, our DULOLS, who carried on for a long time their most flagrant rascality. The DULOLS at Jugdea found to charge the Company 15 per cent. beyond the price of the goods."—Fort Wm. Cons. In Long, p. 50.

1824.—"I was about to answer in great wrath, when a DALAL, or broker, went by, loaded with all sorts of second-hand clothes, which he was hawking about for sale."—Hajji Baba, 2d ed. i. 183; [ed. 1851, p. 81].

1835.—"In many of the sooks in Cairo, auctions are held ... once or twice a week. They are conducted by 'DELLÁLS' (or brokers).... The 'DELLÁLS' carry the goods up and down, announcing the sums bidden by the cries of 'ḥarág.'"—Lane, Mod. Egyptians, ed. 1860, p. 317; [5th ed. ii. 13].

DEMIJOHN, s. A large glass bottle holding 20 or 30 quarts, or more. The word is not Anglo-Indian, but it is introduced here because it has been supposed to be the corruption of an Oriental word, and suggested to have been taken from the name of Damaghān in Persia. This looks plausible (compare the Persian origin of CARBOY, which is another name for just the same thing), but no historical proof has yet been adduced, and it is doubted by Mr. Marsh in his Notes on Wedgwood's Dictionary, and by Dozy (Sup. aux Dict. Arabes). It may be noticed, as worthy of further enquiry, that Sir T. Herbert (192) speaks of the abundance and cheapness of wine at Damaghān. Niebuhr, however, in a passage quoted below, uses the word as an Oriental one, and in a note on the 5th ed. of Lane's Mod. Egyptians, 1860, p. 149, there is a remark quoted from Hammer-Purgstall as to the omission from the detail of domestic vessels of two whose names have been adopted in European languages, viz. the garra or jarra, a water 'jar,' and the demigān or demijān, 'la dame-jeanne.' The word is undoubtedly known in modern Arabic. The Moḥīt of B. Bistānī, the chief modern native lexicon, explains Dāmijāna as 'a great glass vessel, big-bellied and narrow-necked, and covered with wicker-work; a Persian word.'[104] The vulgar use the forms damajāna and damanjāna. Dame-jeanne appears in P. Richelet, Dict. de la Langue Franc. (1759), with this definition: "[Lagena amplior] Nom que les matelots donnent à une grande bouteille couverte de natte." It is not in the great Castilian Dict. of 1729, but it is in those of the last century, e.g. Dict. of the Span. Academy, ed. 1869. "DAMAJUANA, f. Prov(incia de) And(alucia), CASTAÑA ..."—and castaña is explained as a "great vessel of glass or terra cotta, of the figure of a chestnut, and used to hold liquor." [See N.E.D. which believes the word adopted from dame-jeanne, on the analogy of 'Bellarmine' and 'Greybeard.']

1762.—"Notre vin étoit dans de grands flacons de verre (DAMASJANES) dont chacun tenoit près de 20 bouteilles."—Niebuhr, Voyage, i. 171.

DENGUE, s. The name applied to a kind of fever. The term is of West Indian, not East Indian, origin, and has only become known and familiar in India within the last 30 years or more. The origin of the name which seems to be generally accepted is, that owing to the stiff unbending carriage which the fever induced in those who suffered from it, the negroes in the W. Indies gave it the name of 'dandy fever'; and this name, taken up by the Spaniards, was converted into dengy or dengue. [But according to the N.E.D. both 'dandy' and 'dengue' are corruptions of the Swahili term, ka dinga pepo, 'sudden cramp-like seizure by an evil spirit.'] Some of its usual characteristics are the great suddenness of attack; often a red eruption; pain amounting sometimes to anguish in head and back, and shifting pains in the joints; excessive and sudden prostration; afterpains of rheumatic character. Its epidemic occurrences are generally at long intervals.

Omitting such occurrences in America and in Egypt, symptoms attach to an epidemic on the Coromandel coast about 1780 which point to this disease; and in 1824 an epidemic of the kind caused much alarm and suffering in Calcutta, Berhampore, and other places in India. This had no repetition of equal severity in that quarter till 1871-72, though there had been a minor visitation in 1853, and a succession of cases in 1868-69. In 1872 it was so prevalent in Calcutta that among those in the service of the E. I. Railway Company, European and native, prior to August in that year, 70 per cent. had suffered from the disease; and whole households were sometimes attacked at once. It became endemic in Lower Bengal for several seasons. When the present writer (H. Y.) left India (in 1862) the name DENGUE may have been known to medical men, but it was quite unknown to the lay European public.

1885.—THE CONTAGION OF DENGUE FEVER. "In a recent issue (March 14th, p. 551) under the heading 'DENGUE Fever in New Caledonia,' you remark that, although there had been upwards of nine hundred cases, yet, 'curiously enough,' there had not been one death. May I venture to say that the 'curiosity' would have been much greater had there been a death? For, although this disease is one of the most infectious, and as I can testify from unpleasant personal experience, one of the most painful that there is, yet death is a very rare occurrence. In an epidemic at Bermuda in 1882, in which about five hundred cases came under my observation, not one death was recorded. In that epidemic, which attacked both whites and blacks impartially, inflammation of the cellular tissue, affecting chiefly the face, neck, and scrotum, was especially prevalent as a sequela, none but the lightest cases escaping. I am not aware that this is noted in the text-books as a characteristic of the disease; in fact, the descriptions in the books then available to me, differed greatly from the disease as I then found it, and I believe that was the experience of other medical officers at the time.... During the epidemic of DENGUE above mentioned, an officer who was confined to his quarters, convalescing from the disease, wrote a letter home to his father in England. About three days after the receipt of the letter, that gentleman complained of being ill, and eventually, from his description, had a rather severe attack of what, had he been in Bermuda, would have been called dengue fever. As it was, his medical attendant was puzzled to give a name to it. The disease did not spread to the other members of the family, and the patient made a good recovery.—Henry J. Barnes, Surgeon, Medical Staff, Fort Pitt, Chatham." From British Medical Journal, April 25.

DEODAR, s. The Cedrus deodara, Loud., of the Himālaya, now known as an ornamental tree in England for some seventy-five years past. The finest specimens in the Himālaya are often found in clumps shadowing a small temple. The DEODAR is now regarded by botanists as a variety of Cedrus Libani. It is confined to the W. Himālaya from Nepāl to Afghanistan; it reappears as the Cedar of Lebanon in Syria, and on through Cyprus and Asia Minor; and emerges once more in Algeria, and thence westwards to the Riff Mountains in Morocco, under the name of C. Atlantica. The word occurs in Avicenna, who speaks of the Deiudar as yielding a kind of turpentine (see below). We may note that an article called Deodarwood Oil appears in Dr. Forbes Watson's "List of Indian Products" (No. 2941) [and see Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 235].

Deodar is by no means the universal name of the great Cedar in the Himālay. It is called so (Dewdār, Diār, or Dyār [Drew, Jummoo, 100]) in Kashmīr, where the deodār pillars of the great mosque of Srinagar date from A.D. 1401. The name, indeed (deva-dāru, 'timber of the gods'), is applied in different parts of India to different trees, and even in the Himālaya to more than one. The list just referred to (which however has not been revised critically) gives this name in different modifications as applied also to the pencil Cedar (Juniperus excelsa), to Guatteria (or Uvaria) longifolia, to Sethia Indica, to Erythroxylon areolatum, and (on the Rāvī and Sutlej) to Cupressus torulosa.

The DEODĀR first became known to Europeans in the beginning of the last century, when specimens were sent to Dr. Roxburgh, who called it a Pinus. Seeds were sent to Europe by Capt. Gerard in 1819; but the first that grew were those sent by the Hon. W. Leslie Melville in 1822.

c. 1030.—"DEIUDAR (or rather DIUDAR) est ex genere abhel (i.e. juniper) quae dicitur pinus Inda, et Syr deiudar (Milk of Deodar) est ejus lac (turpentine)."—Avicenna, Lat. Transl. p. 297.

c. 1220.—"He sent for two trees, one of which was a ... white poplar, and the other a DEODÁR, that is a fir. He planted them both on the boundary of Kashmīr."—Chach Námah in Elliot, i. 144.

DERRISHACST, adj. This extraordinary word is given by C. B. P. (MS.) as a corruption of P. daryā-shikast, 'destroyed by the river.'

DERVISH, s. P. darvesh; a member of a Mahommedan religious order. The word is hardly used now among Anglo-Indians, fakīr [see FAKEER] having taken its place. On the Mahommedan confraternities of this class, see Herklots, 179 seqq.; Lane, Mod. Egyptians, Brown's Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism; Capt. E. de Neven, Les Khouan, Ordres Religieux chez les Musulmans (Paris, 1846).

c. 1540.—"The dog Coia Acem ... crying out with a loud voyce, that every one might hear him.... To them, To them, for as we are assured by the Book of Flowers, wherein the Prophet Noby doth promise eternal delights to the DAROEZES of the House of Mecqua, that he will keep his word both with you and me, provided that we bathe ourselves in the blood of these dogs without Law!"—Pinto (cap. lix.), in Cogan, 72.

1554.—"Hic multa didicimus à monachis Turcicis, quos DERVIS vocant."—Busbeq. Epist. I. p. 93.

1616.—"Among the Mahometans are many called DERVISES, which relinquish the World, and spend their days in Solitude."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1477.

[c. 1630.—"DERUISSI." See TALISMAN.]

1653.—"Il estoit DERVISCHE ou Fakir et menoit une vie solitaire dans les bois."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 182.

1670.—"Aureng-Zebe ... was reserved, crafty, and exceedingly versed in dissembling, insomuch that for a long time he made profession to be a Fakire, that is, Poor, DERVICH, or Devout, renouncing the World."—Bernier, E.T. 3; [ed. Constable, 10].

1673.—"The DERVISES professing Poverty, assume this Garb here (i.e. in Persia), but not with that state they ramble up and down in India."—Fryer, 392.

DESSAYE, s. Mahr. deśāī; in W. and S. India a native official in charge of a district, often held hereditarily; a petty chief. (See DISSAVE.)

1590-91.—"... the DESAYES, Mukaddams, and inhabitants of several parganahs made a complaint at Court."—Order in Mirat-i-Ahmadi (Bird's Tr.), 408.

[1811.—"DAISEYE."—Kirkpatrick, Letters of Tippoo, p. 196.]

1883.—"The DESAI of Sawantwari has arrived at Delhi on a visit. He is accompanied by a European Assistant Political Officer and a large following. From Delhi His Highness goes to Agra, and visits Calcutta before returning to his territory, viâ Madras."—Pioneer Mail, Jan. 24.

The regular title of this chief appears to be Sar-Deśāī.

DESTOOR, s. A Parsee priest; P. dastūr, from the Pahlavi dastôbar, 'a prime minister, councillor of State ... a high priest, a bishop of the Parsees; a custom, mode, manner' (Haug, Old Pahlaví and Pazand Glossary). [See DUSTOOR.]

1630.—"... their DISTOREE or high priest...."—Lord's Display, &c., ch. viii.

1689.—"The highest Priest of the Persies is called DESTOOR, their ordinary Priests Dároos, or Hurboods [HERBED]."—Ovington, 376.

1809.—"The DUSTOOR is the chief priest of his sect in Bombay."—Maria Graham, 36.

1877.—"... le DESTOUR de nos jours, pas plus que le Mage d'autrefois, ne soupconne les phases successives que sa religion a traversées."—Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, 4.

DEUTI, DUTY, s. H. diuṭī, dewṭī, deoṭi, Skt. dīpa, 'a lamp'; a lamp-stand, but also a link-bearer.

c. 1526.—(In Hindustan) "instead of a candle or torch, you have a gang of dirty fellows whom they call DEÛTIS, who hold in their hand a kind of small tripod, to the side of one leg of which ... they fasten a pliant wick.... In their right hand they hold a gourd ... and whenever the wick requires oil, they supply it from this gourd.... If their emperors or chief nobility at any time have occasion for a light by night, these filthy DEÛTIS bring in their lamp ... and there stand holding it close by his side."—Baber, 333.

1681.—"Six men for DUTYS, Rundell (see ROUNDEL), and Kittysole (see KITTYSOLL)."—List of Servants allowed at Madapollam Factory. Ft. St. George Cons., Jan. 8. In Notes and Exts. No. ii. p. 72.

DEVA-DĀSĪ, s. H. 'Slave-girl of the gods'; the official name of the poor girls who are devoted to dancing and prostitution in the idol-temples, of Southern India especially. "The like existed at ancient Corinth under the name of ἱερόδουλοι, which is nearly a translation of the Hindi name ... (see Strabo, viii. 6)."—Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 338. These appendages of Aphrodite worship, borrowed from Phœnicia, were the same thing as the ḳĕdēshōth repeatedly mentioned in the Old Testament, e.g. Deut. xxiii. 18: "Thou shalt not bring the wages of a kĕdēsha ... into the House of Jehovah." [See Cheyne, in Encycl. Bibl. ii. 1964 seq.] Both male and female ἱερόδουλοι are mentioned in the famous inscription of Citium in Cyprus (Corp. Inscr. Semit. No. 86); the latter under the name of 'alma, curiously near that of the modern Egyptian 'ālima. (See DANCING-GIRL.)

1702.—"Peu de temps après je baptisai une DEVA-DACHI, ou Esclave Divine, c'est ainsi qu'on appelle les femmes dont les Prêtres des idoles abusent, sous prétexte que leurs dieux les demandent."—Lettres Edifiantes, x. 245.

c. 1790.—"La principale occupation des DEVEDASCHIES, est de danser devant l'image de la divinité qu'elles servent, et de chanter ses louanges, soit dans son temple, soit dans les rues, lorsqu'on porte l'idole dans des processions...."—Haafner ii. 105.

1868.—"The DÂSIS, the dancing girls attached to Pagodas. They are each of them married to an idol when quite young. Their male children ... have no difficulty in acquiring a decent position in society. The female children are generally brought up to the trade of their mothers.... It is customary with a few castes to present their superfluous daughters to the Pagodas...."—Nelson's Madura, Pt. 2, p. 79.

DEVIL, s. A petty whirlwind, or circular storm, is often so called. (See PISACHEE, SHAITAN, TYPHOON.)

[1608-10.—"Often you see coming from afar great whirlwinds which the sailors call DRAGONS."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 11.

[1813.—"... we were often surrounded by the little whirlwinds called bugulas, or DEVILS."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 118.]

DEVIL-BIRD, s. This is a name used in Ceylon for a bird believed to be a kind of owl—according to Haeckel, quoted below, the Syrnium Indrani of Sykes, or Brown Wood Owl of Jerdon. Mr. Mitford, quoted below, however, believes it to be a Podargus, or Night-hawk.

c. 1328.—"Quid dicam? DIABOLUS ibi etiam loquitur, saepe et saepius, hominibus, nocturnis temporibus, sicut ego audivi."—Jordani Mirabilia, in Rec. de Voyages, iv. 53.

1681.—"This for certain I can affirm, That oftentimes the DEVIL doth cry with an audible Voice in the Night; 'tis very shrill, almost like the barking of a Dog. This I have often heard myself; but never heard that he did anybody any harm.... To believe that this is the Voice of the Devil these reasons urge, because there is no Creature known to the Inhabitants, that cry like it, and because it will on a sudden depart from one place, and make a noise in another, quicker than any fowl could fly; and because the very Dogs will tremble and shake when they hear it."—Knox's Ceylon, 78.

1849.—"DEVIL'S BIRD (Strix Gaulama or Ulama, Singh.). A species of owl. The wild and wailing cry of this bird is considered a sure presage of death and misfortune, unless measures be taken to avert its infernal threats, and refuse its warning. Though often heard even on the tops of their houses, the natives maintain that it has never been caught or distinctly seen, and they consider it to be one of the most annoying of the evil spirits which haunt their country."—Pridham's Ceylon, p. 737-8.

1860.—"The DEVIL-BIRD, is not an owl ... its ordinary note is a magnificent clear shout like that of a human being, and which can be heard at a great distance. It has another cry like that of a hen just caught, but the sounds which have earned for it its bad name ... are indescribable, the most appalling that can be imagined, and scarcely to be heard without shuddering; I can only compare it to a boy in torture, whose screams are being stopped by being strangled."—Mr. Mitford's Note in Tennent's Ceylon, i. 167.

1881.—"The uncanny cry of the DEVIL-BIRD, Syrnium Indrani...."—Haeckel's Visit to Ceylon, 235.

DEVIL'S REACH, n.p. This was the old name of a reach on the Hoogly R. a little above Pulta (and about 15 miles above Calcutta). On that reach are several groups of DEWALS, or idol-temples, which probably gave the name.

1684.—"August 28.—I borrowed the late Dutch Fiscall's Budgero (see BUDGEROW), and went in Company with Mr. Beard, Mr. Littleton" (etc.) "as far as y^e DEVILL'S REACH, where I caused y^e tents to be pitched in expectation of y^e President's arrivall and lay here all night."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 156.

1711.—"From the lower Point of DEVIL'S REACH you must keep mid-channel, or nearest the Starboard Shore, for the Larboard is shoal until you come into the beginning of Pulta or Poutto Reach, and there abreast of a single great Tree, you must edge over to the East Shore below Pulta."—The English Pilot, 54.

DEVIL WORSHIP. This phrase is a literal translation of bhūta-pūjā, i.e. worship of bhūtas [see BHOOT], a word which appears in slightly differing forms in various languages of India, including the Tamil country. A bhūta, or as in Tamil more usually, pēy, is a malignant being which is conceived to arise from the person of anyone who has come to a violent death. This superstition, in one form or another, seems to have formed the religion of the Dravidian tribes of S. India before the introduction of Brahmanism, and is still the real religion of nearly all the low castes in that region, whilst it is often patronized also by the higher castes. These superstitions, and especially the demonolatrous rites called 'devil-dancing,' are identical in character with those commonly known as Shamanism [see SHAMAN], and which are spread all over Northern Asia, among the red races of America, and among a vast variety of tribes in Ceylon and in Indo-China, not excluding the Burmese. A full account of the demon-worship of Tinnevelly was given by Bp. Caldwell in a small pamphlet on the "Tinnevelly Shanars" (Madras, 1849), and interesting evidence of its identity with the Shamanism of other regions will be found in his Comparative Grammar (2nd ed. 579 seqq.); see also Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 79 seq.; [Oppert, Orig. Inhabit. of Bharatavarśa, 554 seqq.]

DÉWAL, DÉWÁLÉ, s. H. dewal, Skt. deva-ālaya; a Temple or pagoda. This, or Dewalgarh, is the phrase commonly used in the Bombay territory for a Christian church. In Ceylon DÉWÁLÉ is a temple dedicated to a Hindu god.

1681.—"The second order of Priests are those called Koppuhs, who are the Priests that belong to the Temples of the other Gods (i.e. other than Boddou, or Buddha). Their Temples are called DEWALS."—Knox, Ceylon, 79.

[1797.—"The Company will settle ... the DEWAL or temple charge."—Treaty, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 285.

[1813.—"They plant it (the nayna tree) near the DEWALS or Hindoo temples, improperly called Pagodas."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 15].

DEWALEEA, s. H. diwāliyā, 'a bankrupt,' from diwālā, 'bankruptcy,' and that, though the etymology is disputed, is alleged to be connected with dīpa, 'a lamp'; because "it is the custom ... when a merchant finds himself failing, or failed, to set up a blazing lamp in his house, shop, or office, and abscond therefrom for some time until his creditors are satisfied by a disclosure of his accounts or dividend of assets."—Drummond's Illustrations (s.v.).

DEWALLY, s. H. diwālī, from Skt. dīpa-ālikā, 'a row of lamps,' i.e. an illumination. An autumnal feast attributed to the celebration of various divinities, as of Lakshmī and of Bhavānī, and also in honour of Krishna's slaying of the demon Naraka, and the release of 16,000 maidens, his prisoners. It is held on the last two days of the dark half of the month Aśvina or Aśan, and on the new moon and four following days of Karttika, i.e. usually some time in October. But there are variations of Calendar in different parts of India, and feasts will not always coincide, e.g. at the three Presidency towns, nor will any curt expression define the dates. In Bengal the name Diwālī is not used; it is Kālī Pūjā, the feast of that grim goddess, a midnight festival on the most moonless nights of the month, celebrated by illuminations and fireworks, on land and river, by feasting, carousing, gambling, and sacrifice of goats, sheep, and buffaloes.

1613.—"... no equinoctio da entrada de libra, dià chamado DIVÂLY, tem tal privilegio e vertude que obriga falar as arvores, plantas e ervas...."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 38_v_.

[1623.—"October the four and twentieth was the DAVÀLI, or Feast of the Indian Gentiles."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 206.]

1651.—"In the month of October, eight days after the full moon, there is a feast held in honour of Vistnou, which is called DIPÁWALI."—A. Rogerius, De Open-Deure.

[1671.—"In October they begin their yeare with great feasting, Jollity, Sending Presents to all they have any busynes with, which time is called DUALLY."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cccxiv.]

1673.—"The first New Moon in October is the Banyan's DUALLY."—Fryer, 110.

1690.—"... their Grand Festival Season, called the DUALLY Time."—Ovington, 401.

1820.—"The DEWALEE, DEEPAULLEE, or Time of Lights, takes place 20 days after the DUSSERA, and lasts three days; during which there is feasting, illumination, and fireworks."—T. Coats, in Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo., ii. 211.

1843.—"Nov. 5. The DĪWĀLĪ, happening to fall on this day, the whole river was bright with lamps.... Ever and anon some votary would offer up his prayers to Lakshmi the Fortuna, and launch a tiny raft bearing a cluster of lamps into the water,—then watch it with fixed and anxious gaze. If it floats on till the far distance hides it, thrice happy he ... but if, caught in some wild eddy of the stream, it disappears at once, so will the bark of his fortunes be engulphed in the whirlpool of adversity."—Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, 84.

1883.—"The DĪVĀLĪ is celebrated with splendid effect at Benares.... At the approach of night small earthen lamps, fed with oil, are prepared by millions, and placed quite close together, so as to mark out every line of mansion, palace, temple, minaret, and dome in streaks of fire."—Monier Williams, Religious Thought and Life in India, 432.

DEWAUN, s. The chief meanings of this word in Anglo-Indian usage are:

(1) Under the Mahommedan Governments which preceded us, "the head financial minister, whether of the state or a province ... charged, in the latter, with the collection of the revenue, the remittance of it to the imperial treasury, and invested with extensive judicial powers in all civil and financial causes" (Wilson). It was in this sense that the grant of the DEWAUNY (q.v.) to the E. I. Company in 1765 became the foundation of the British Empire in India. (2) The prime minister of a native State. (3) The chief native officer of certain Government establishments, such as the Mint; or the native manager of a Zemindary. (4) (In Bengal) a native servant in confidential charge of the dealings of a house of business with natives, or of the affairs of a large domestic establishment. These meanings are perhaps all reducible to one conception, of which 'Steward' would be an appropriate expression. But the word has had many other ramifications of meaning, and has travelled far.

The Arabian dīwān is, according to Lane, an Arabicized word of Persian origin (though some hold it for pure Arabic), and is in original meaning nearly equivalent to Persian daftar (see DUFTER), i.e. a collection of written leaves or sheets (forming a book for registration); hence 'a register of accounts'; a 'register of soldiers or pensioners'; a 'register of the rights or dues of the State, or relating to the acts of government, the finances and the administration'; also any book, and especially a collection of the poems of some particular poet. It was also applied to signify 'an account'; then a 'writer of accounts'; a 'place of such writers of accounts'; also a 'council, court, or tribunal'; and in the present day, a 'long seat formed of a mattress laid along the wall of a room, with cushions, raised or on the floor'; or 'two or more of such seats.' Thus far (in this paragraph) we abstract from Lane.

The Arabian historian Bilāḍurī (c. 860) relates as to the first introduction of the dīwān that, when 'Omar was discussing with the people how to divide the enormous wealth derived from the conquests in his time, Walīd bin Hishām bin Moghaira said to the caliph, 'I have been in Syria, and saw that its kings make a DĪWĀN; do thou the like.' So 'Omar accepted his advice, and sent for two men of the Persian tongue, and said to them: 'Write down the people according to their rank' (and corresponding pensions).[105]

We must observe that in the Mahommedan States of the Mediterranean the word dīwān became especially applied to the Custom-house, and thus passed into the Romance languages as aduana, douane, dogana, &c. Littré indeed avoids any decision as to the etymology of douane, &c. And Hyde (Note on Abr. Peritsol, in Syntagma Dissertt. i. 101) derives dogana from docân (i.e. P. dukān, 'officina, a shop'). But such passages as that below from Ibn Jubair, and the fact that, in the medieval Florentine treaties with the Mahommedan powers of Barbary and Egypt, the word dīwān in the Arabic texts constantly represents the dogana of the Italian, seem sufficient to settle the question (see Amari, Diplomi Arabi del Real Archivio, &c.; e.g. p. 104, and (Latin) p. 305, and in many other places).[106] The Spanish Dict. of Cobarruvias (1611) quotes Urrea as saying that "from the Arabic noun DIUANUM, which signifies the house where the duties are collected, we form diuana, and thence adiuana, and lastly aduana."

At a later date the word was re-imported into Europe in the sense of a hall furnished with Turkish couches and cushions, as well as of a couch of this kind. Hence we get cigar-DIVANS, et hoc genus omne. The application to certain collections of poems is noticed above. It seems to be especially applied to assemblages of short poems of homogeneous character. Thus the Odes of Horace, the Sonnets of Petrarch, the In Memoriam of Tennyson, answer to the character of DĪWĀN so used. Hence also Goethe took the title of his West-Östliche Diwan.

c. A.D. 636.—"... in the Caliphate of Omar the spoil of Syria and Persia began in ever-increasing volume to pour into the treasury of Medina, where it was distributed almost as soon as received. What was easy in small beginnings by equal sharing or discretionary preference, became now a heavy task.... At length, in the 2nd or 3rd year of his Caliphate, Omar determined that the distribution should be regulated on a fixed and systematic scale.... To carry out this vast design, a Register had to be drawn and kept up of every man, woman, and child, entitled to a stipend from the State.... The Register itself, as well as the office for its maintenance and for pensionary account, was called the DEWÂN or Department of the Exchequer."—Muir's Annals, &c., pp. 225-9.

As Minister, &c.

[1610.—"We propose to send you the copy hereof by the old scrivano of the ADUANO."—Danvers, Letters, i. 51.

[1616.—"Sheak Isuph DYVON of Amadavaz."—Foster, Letters, iv. 311.]

1690.—"Fearing miscarriage of y^e Originall ffarcuttee [fārigh-khaṭṭī, Ar. 'a deed of release,' variously corrupted in Indian technical use] we have herewi^{th} Sent you a Coppy Attested by Hugly Cazee, hoping y^e DUAN may be Sattisfied therewi^{th}."—MS. Letter in India Office, from Job Charnock and others at Chuttanutte to Mr. Ch. Eyre at Ballasore.

c. 1718.—"Even the DIVAN of the Qhalissah Office, who is, properly speaking, the Minister of the finances, or at least the accomptant general, was become a mere cypher, or a body without a soul."—Seir Mutaqherin, i. 110.

1762.—"A letter from Dacca states that the Hon'ble Company's DEWAN (Manikchand) died on the morning of this letter.... As they apprehend he has died worth a large sum of money which the Government's people (i.e. of the Nawāb) may be desirous to possess to the injury of his lawful heirs, they request the protection of the flag ... to the family of a man who has served the Company for upwards of 30 years with care and fidelity."—Ft. Wm. Cons., Nov. 29. In Long, 283.

1766.—"There then resided at his Court a Gentoo named Allum Chund, who had been many years DEWAN to Soujah Khan, by whom he was much revered for his great age, wisdom, and faithful services."—Holwell, Hist. Events, i. 74.

1771.—"By our general address you will be informed that we have to be dissatisfied with the administration of Mahomet Reza Cawn, and will perceive the expediency of our divesting him of the rank and influence he holds as Naib DUAN of the Kingdom of Bengal."—Court of Directors to W. Hastings, in Gleig, i. 121.

1783.—"The Committee, with the best intentions, best abilities, and steadiest of application, must after all be a tool in the hands of their DUAN."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 74.

1834.—"His (Raja of Ulwar's) DEWANJEE, Balmochun, who chanced to be in the neighbourhood, with 6 Risalas of horse ... was further ordered to go out and meet me."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 132.

[1861.—See quotation under AMEEN.]

In the following quotations the identity of dīwān and douane or dogana is shown more or less clearly.

A.D. 1178.—"The Moslem were ordered to disembark their goods (at Alexandria), and what remained of their stock of provisions; and on the shore were officers who took them in charge, and carried all that was landed to the DĪWĀN. They were called forward one by one; the property of each was brought out, and the DĪWĀN was straitened with the crowd. The search fell on every article, small or great; one thing got mixt up with another, and hands were thrust into the midst of the packages to discover if anything were concealed in them. Then, after this, an oath was administered to the owners that they had nothing more than had been found. Amid all this, in the confusion of hands and the greatness of the crowd many things went amissing. At length the passengers were dismissed after a scene of humiliation and great ignominy, for which we pray God to grant an ample recompense. But this, past doubt, is one of the things kept hidden from the great Sultan Salāh-ud-dīn, whose well-known justice and benevolence are such that, if he knew it, he would certainly abolish the practice" [viz. as regards Mecca pilgrims].[107]—Ibn Jubair, orig. in Wright's ed., p. 36.

c. 1340.—"DOANA in all the cities of the Saracens, in Sicily, in Naples, and throughout the Kingdom of Apulia ... Dazio at Venice; Gabella throughout Tuscany; ... Costuma throughout the Island of England.... All these names mean duties which have to be paid for goods and wares and other things, imported to, or exported from, or passed through the countries and places detailed."—Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, see Cathay, &c., ii. 285-6.

c. 1348.—"They then order the skipper to state in detail all the goods that the vessel contains.... Then everybody lands, and the keepers of the custom-house (al-DĪWĀN) sit and pass in review whatever one has."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 265.

The following medieval passage in one of our note-books remains a fragment without date or source:

(?).—"Multi quoque Saracenorum, qui vel in apothecis suis mercibus vendendis praeerunt, vel in DUANIS fiscales...."

1440.—The Handbook of Giovanni da Uzzano, published along with Pegolotti by Pagnini (1765-66) has for custom-house DOVANA, which corroborates the identity of Dogana with Dīwān.

A Council Hall:

1367.—"Hussyn, fearing for his life, came down and hid himself under the tower, but his enemies ... surrounded the mosque, and having found him, brought him to the (DYVAN-Khane) Council Chamber."—Mem. of Timūr, tr. by Stewart, p. 130.

1554.—"Utcunque sit, cum mane in DIVANUM (is concilii vt alias dixi locus est) imprudens omnium venisset...."—Busbequii Epistolae, ii. p. 138.

A place, fitted with mattresses, &c., to sit in:

1676.—"On the side that looks towards the River, there is a DIVAN, or a kind of out-jutting Balcony, where the King sits."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 49; [ed. Ball, i. 108].

[1785.—"It seems to have been intended for a DUAN KONNA, or eating room."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 393.]

A Collection of Poems:

1783.—"One (writer) died a few years ago at Benares, of the name of Souda, who composed a DEWAN in Moors."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 105.

DEWAUNY, DEWANNY, &c., s. Properly, dīwānī; popularly, dewānī. The office of dīwān (DEWAUN); and especially the right of receiving as dīwān the revenue of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, conferred upon the E. I. Company by the Great Mogul Shāh 'Ālam in 1765. Also used sometimes for the territory which was the subject of that grant.

1765.—(Lord Clive) "visited the Vezir, and having exchanged with him some sumptuous entertainments and curious and magnificent presents, he explained the project he had in his mind, and asked that the Company should be invested with the Divanship (no doubt in orig. DĪWĀNĪ) of the three provinces...."—Seir Mutaqherin, ii. 384.

1783.—(The opium monopoly) "is stated to have begun at Patna so early as the year 1761, but it received no considerable degree of strength until the year 1765; when the acquisition of the DUANNE opened a wide field for all projects of this nature."—Report of a Committee on Affairs of India, in Burke's Life and Works, vi. 447.

DEWAUNY, DEWANNY, adj. Civil, as distinguished from Criminal; e.g. Dīwānī 'Adālat as opposite to Faujdāri Adālat. (See ADAWLUT). The use of Diwāni for civil as opposed to criminal is probably modern and Indian. For Kaempfer in his account of the Persian administration at the end of the 17th century, has: "DIWAEN begì, id est, Supremus criminalis Judicii Dominus ... de latrociniis et homicidiis non modo in hâc Regiâ metropoli, verùm etiam in toto Regno disponendi facultatem habet."—Amoenit. Exot. 80.

DHALL, DOLL, s. Hind. dāl, a kind of pulse much used in India, both by natives as a kind of porridge, and by Europeans as an ingredient in KEDGEREE (q.v.), or to mix with rice as a breakfast dish. It is best represented in England by what are called 'split pease.' The proper dāl, which Wilson derives from the Skt. root dal, 'to divide' (and which thus corresponds in meaning also to 'split pease'), is, according to the same authority, Phaseolus aureus: but, be that as it may, the dāls most commonly in use are varieties of the shrubby plant Cajanus Indicus, Spreng., called in Hind. arhar, rahar, &c. It is not known where this is indigenous; [De Candolle thinks it probably a native of tropical Africa, introduced perhaps 3,000 years ago into India;] it is cultivated throughout India. The term is also applied occasionally to other pulses, such as mūng, urd, &c. (See MOONG, OORD.) It should also be noted that in its original sense dāl is not the name of a particular pea, but the generic name of pulses prepared for use by being broken in a hand-mill; though the peas named are those commonly used in Upper India in this way.

1673.—"At their coming up out of the Water they bestow the largess of Rice or DOLL (an Indian Bean)."—Fryer, 101.

1690.—"Kitcheree ... made of DOL, that is, a small round Pea, and Rice boiled together, and is very strengthening, tho' not very savoury."—Ovington, 310.

1727.—"They have several species of Legumen, but those of DOLL are most in use, for some DOLL and Rice being mingled together and boiled, make Kitcheree."—A. Hamilton, i. 162; [ed. 1744].

1776.—"If a person hath bought the seeds of ... DOLL ... or such kinds of Grain, without Inspection, and in ten Days discovers any Defect in that Grain, he may return such Grain."—Halhed, Code, 178.

1778.—"... the essential articles of a Sepoy's diet, rice, DOLL (a species of pea), ghee (an indifferent kind of butter), &c., were not to be purchased."—Acc. of the Gallant Defence made at Mangalore.

1809.—"... DOL, split country peas."—Maria Graham, 25.

[1813.—"Tuar (cytisus cajan, Lin.) ... is called DOHLL...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 35.]

DHAWK, s. Hind. dhāk; also called palās. A small bushy tree, Butea frondosa (N. O. Leguminosae), which forms large tracts of jungle in the Punjab, and in many dry parts of India. Its deep orange flowers give a brilliant aspect to the jungle in the early part of the hot weather, and have suggested the occasional name of 'Flame of the Forest.' They are used for dyeing basanto, basantī, a fleeting yellow; and in preparing Holī (see HOOLY) powder. The second of the two Hindī words for this tree gave a name to the famous village of Plassy (Palāśī), and also to ancient Magadha or Behār as Palāśa or Parāśa, whence Parāśiya, a man of that region, which, if Gen. Cunningham's suggestion be accepted, was the name represented by the Prasii of Strabo, Pliny, and Arrian, and the Pharrasii of Curtius (Anc. Geog. of India, p. 454). [The derivation of the word from Skt. Prāchyās 'Inhabitants of the east country,' is supported by McCrindle, Ancient India, 365 seq. So the dhāk tree possibly gave its name to DACCA].

1761.—"The pioneers, agreeably to orders, dug a ditch according to custom, and placed along the brink of it an abattis of DHÁK trees, or whatever else they could find."—Saiyid Ghulām 'Ali, in Elliot, viii. 400.

DHOBY, DOBIE, s. A washerman; H. dhobī, [from dhonā, Skt. dhāv, 'to wash.'] In colloquial Anglo-Indian use all over India. A common H. proverb runs: Dhobī kā kuttā kā sā, na ghar kā na ghāṭ kā, i.e. "Like a DHOBY'S dog belonging neither to the house nor to the river side." [DHOBY'S itch is a troublesome cutaneous disease supposed to be communicated by clothes from the wash, and DHOBY'S earth is a whitish-grey sandy efflorescence, found in many places, from which by boiling and the addition of quicklime an alkali of considerable strength is obtained.

[c. 1804.—"DOBES." See under DIRZEE].

DHOOLY, DOOLIE, s. A covered litter; Hind. ḍolī. It consists of a cot or frame, suspended by the four corners from a bamboo pole, and is carried by two or four men (see figure in Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, pl. vii. fig. 4). Ḍoli is from ḍolnā, 'to swing.' The word is also applied to the meat- (or milk-) safe, which is usually slung to a tree, or to a hook in the verandah. As it is lighter and cheaper than a palankin it costs less both to buy or hire and to carry, and is used by the poorer classes. It also forms the usual ambulance of the Indian army. Hence the familiar story of the orator in Parliament who, in celebrating a battle in India, spoke of the "ferocious Doolies rushing down from the mountain and carrying off the wounded"; a story which, to our regret, we have not been able to verify. [According to one account the words were used by Burke: "After a sanguinary engagement, the said Warren Hastings had actually ordered ferocious Doolys to seize upon the wounded" (2nd ser. Notes & Queries, iv. 367).

[But Burke knew too much of India to make this mistake. In the Calcutta Review (Dec. 1846, p. 286, footnote) Herbert Edwardes, writing on the first Sikh War, says: "It is not long since a member of the British Legislature, recounting the incidents of one of our Indian fights, informed his countrymen that 'the ferocious Dūlī' rushed from the hills and carried off the wounded soldiers."] Dūla occurs in Ibn Batuta, but the translators render 'palankin,' and do not notice the word.

c. 1343.—"The principal vehicle of the people (of Malabar) is a DŪLA, carried on the shoulders of slaves and hired men. Those who do not ride in a dūla, whoever they may be, go on foot."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 73.

c. 1590.—"The Kahárs or Pálkí-bearers. They form a class of foot servants peculiar to India. With their pálkís ... and DÚLÍS, they walk so evenly that the man inside is not inconvenienced by any jolting."—Āīn, i. 254; [and see the account of the sukhāsan, ibid. ii. 122].

1609.—"He turned Moore, and bereaved his elder Brother of this holde by this stratageme. He invited him and his women to a Banket, which his Brother requiting with like inuitation of him and his, in steed of women he sends choice Souldiers well appointed, and close couered, two and two in a DOWLE."—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 435.

1662.—"The Rájah and the Phúkans travel in singhásans, and chiefs and rich people in DÚLÍS, made in a most ridiculous way."—Mir Jumlah's Invasion of Asam, tr. by Blochmann, in J. As. Soc. Ben., xli., pt. I. 80.

1702.—"... un DOULI, c'est une voiture moins honorable que le palanquin."—Lettres Edif. xi. 143.

c. 1760.—"DOOLIES are much of the same material as the andolas [see ANDOR]; but made of the meanest materials."—Grose, i. 155.

c. 1768.—"... leaving all his wounded ... on the field of battle, telling them to be of good cheer, for that he would send DOOLIES for them from Astara...."—H. of Hydur Naik, 226.

1774.—"If by a DOOLEY, chairs, or any other contrivance they can be secured from the fatigues and hazards of the way, the expense is to be no objection."—Letter of W. Hastings, in Markham's Tibet, 18.

1785.—"You must despatch DOOLIES to Dhârwâr to bring back the wounded men."—Letters of Tippoo, 133.

1789.—"... DOOLIES, or sick beds, which are a mean representation of a palanquin: the number attached to a corps is in the proportion of one to every ten men, with four bearers to each."—Munro, Narrative, 184.

1845.—"Head Qrs., Kurrachee, 27 Decr., 1845.

"The Governor desires that it may be made known to the DOOLEE-wallas and Camel-men, that no increase of wages shall be given to them. They are very highly paid. If any man deserts, the Governor will have him pursued by the police, and if caught he shall be hanged."—G. O. by Sir Charles Napier, 113.

1872.—"At last ... a woman arrived from Dargánagar with a DÚLÍ and two bearers, for carrying Máláti."—Govinda Samanta, ii. 7.

1880.—"The consequence of holding that this would be a Trust enforceable in a Court of Law would be so monstrous that persons would be probably startled ... if it be a Trust, then every one of those persons in England or in India—from persons of the highest rank down to the lowest DHOOLIE-bearer, might file a bill for the administration of the Trust."—Ld. Justice James, Judgment on the Kirwee and Banda Prize Appeal, 13th April.

1883.—"I have great pleasure here in bearing my testimony to the courage and devotion of the Indian DHOOLY-bearers. I ... never knew them shrink from the dangers of the battle-field, or neglect or forsake a wounded European. I have several times seen one of these bearers killed and many of them disabled while carrying a wounded soldier out of action."—Surgeon-General Munro, C.B., Reminiscences of Mil. Service with the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, p. 193.

DHOON, s. Hind. dūn. A word in N. India specially applied to the flat valleys, parallel to the base of the Himālaya, and lying between the rise of that mountain mass and the low tertiary ranges known as the sub-Himālayan or SIWĀLIK Hills (q.v.), or rather between the interior and exterior of these ranges. The best known of these valleys is the Dūn of Dehra, below Mussooree, often known as "the DHOON"; a form of expression which we see by the second quotation to be old.

1526.—"In the language of Hindustân they call a Jûlga (or dale) DÛN. The finest running water in Hindustân is that in this DÛN."—Baber, 299.

1654-55.—"Khalilu-lla Khan ... having reached the DÚN, which is a strip of country lying outside of Srínagar, 20 kos long and 5 broad, one extremity of its length being bounded by the river Jumna, and the other by the Ganges."—Sháh-Jahán-Náma, in Elliot, vii. 106.

1814.—"Me voici in the far-famed DHOON, the Tempe of Asia.... The fort stands on the summit of an almost inaccessible mountain ... it will be a tough job to take it; but by the 1st proximo I think I shall have it, auspice Deo."—In Asiatic Journal, ii. 151; ext. of letter from Sir Rollo Gillespie before Kalanga, dated 29th Oct. He fell next day.

1879.—"The Sub-Himalayan Hills ... as a general rule ... consist of two ranges, separated by a broad flat valley, for which the name 'dūn' (DOON) has been adopted.... When the outer of these ranges is wanting, as is the case below Naini Tal and Darjiling, the whole geographical feature might escape notice, the inner range being confounded with the spurs of the mountains."—Manual of the Geology of India, 521.

DHOTY, s. Hind. dhotī. The loin-cloth worn by all the respectable Hindu castes of Upper India, wrapt round the body, the end being then passed between the legs and tucked in at the waist, so that a festoon of calico hangs down to either knee. [It is mentioned, not by name, by Arrian (Indika, 16) as "an under garment of cotton which reaches below the knee, half way to the ankle"; and the Orissa dhotī of 1200 years ago, as shown on the monuments, does not differ from the mode of the present time, save that men of rank wore a jewelled girdle with a pendant in front. (Rajendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans, i. 187).] The word duttee in old trade lists of cotton goods is possibly the same; [but at the present time a coarse cotton cloth woven by Dhers in Surat is known as Doti.]

[1609.—"Here is also a strong sort of cloth called DHOOTIE."—Danvers, Letters, i. 29.

[1614.—"20 corge of strong DUTTIES, such as may be fit for making and mending sails."—Forster, Letters, ii. 219.

[1615.—"200 peeces DUTTS."—Cocks's Diary, i. 83.]

1622.—"Price of calicoes, DUTTEES fixed."

* * * * *

"List of goods sold, including diamonds, pepper, bastas, (read baftas), DUTTEES, and silks from Persia."—Court Minutes, &c., in Sainsbury, iii. 24.

1810.—"... a DOTEE or waist-cloth."—Williamson, V. M. i. 247.

1872.—"The human figure which was moving with rapid strides had no other clothing than a DHUTI wrapped round the waist, and descending to the knee-joints."—Govinda Samanta, i. 8.

DHOW, DOW, s. The last seems the more correct, though not perhaps the more common. The term is common in Western India, and on various shores of the Arabian sea, and is used on the E. African coast for craft in general (see Burton, in J.R.G.S. xxix. 239); but in the mouths of Englishmen on the western seas of India it is applied specially to the old-fashioned vessel of Arab build, with a long GRAB stem, i.e. rising at a long slope from the water, and about as long as the keel, usually with one mast and lateen-rig. There are the lines of a dow, and a technical description, by Mr. Edie, in J. R. As. Soc., vol. i. p. 11. The slaving dow is described and illustrated in Capt. Colomb's Slave-catching in the Indian Ocean; see also Capt. W. F. Owen's Narrative (1833), p. 385, [i. 384 seq.]. Most people suppose the word to be Arabic, and it is in (Johnson's) Richardson (dāo) as an Arabic word. But no Arabic scholar whom we have consulted admits it to be genuine Arabic. Can it possibly have been taken from Pers. dav, 'running'? [The N.E.D. remarks that if Tava (in Ath. Nikitin, below) be the same, it would tend to localise the word at Ormus in the Persian Gulf.] Capt. Burton identifies it with the word zabra applied in the Roteiro of Vasco's Voyage (p. 37) to a native vessel at Mombasa. But zabra or zavra was apparently a Basque name for a kind of craft in Biscay (see s.v. Bluteau, and the Dicc. de la Lingua Castel., vol. vi. 1739). Dāo or Dāva is indeed in Molesworth's Mahr. Dict. as a word in that language, but this gives no assurance of origin. Anglo-Indians on the west coast usually employ dhow and buggalow interchangeably. The word is used on Lake V. Nyanza.

c. 1470.—"I shipped my horses in a TAVA, and sailed across the Indian Sea in ten days to Moshkat."—Ath. Nikitin, p. 8, in India in XVth Cent.

" "So I imbarked in a TAVA, and settled to pay for my passage to Hormuz two pieces of gold."—Ibid. 30.

1785.—"A DOW, the property of Rutn Jee and Jeewun Doss, merchants of Muscat, having in these days been dismasted in a storm, came into Byte Koal (see BATCUL), a seaport belonging to the Sircar...."—Tippoo's Letters, 181.

1786.—"We want 10 shipwrights acquainted with the construction of DOWS. Get them together and despatch them hither."—Tippoo to his Agent at Muskat, ibid. 234.

1810.—"Close to Calcutta, it is the busiest scene we can imagine; crowded with ships and boats of every form,—here a fine English East Indiaman, there a grab or a DOW from Arabia."—Maria Graham, 142.

1814.—"The different names given to these ships (at Jedda), as Say, Seume, Merkeb, Sambouk [see SAMBOOK], DOW, denote their size; the latter only, being the largest, perform the voyage to India."—Burckhardt, Tr. in Arabia, 1829, 4to, p. 22.

1837.—"Two young princes ... nephews of the King of Hinzuan or Joanna ... came in their own DHOW on a visit to the Government."—Smith, Life of Dr. J. Wilson, 253.

1844.—"I left the hospitable village of Takaungu in a small boat, called a 'DAW' by the Suahilis ... the smallest sea-going vessel."—Krapf, p. 117.

1865.—"The goods from Zanzibar (to the Seychelles) were shipped in a DHOW, which ran across in the month of May; and this was, I believe, the first native craft that had ever made the passage."—Pelly, in J.R.G.S. xxxv. 234.

1873.—"If a pear be sharpened at the thin end, and then cut in half longitudinally, two models will have been made, resembling in all essential respects the ordinary slave DHOW."—Colomb, 35.

" "DHOW Chasing in Zanzibar Waters and on the Eastern Coast of Africa ... by Capt. G. L. Sulivan, R.N.," 1873.

1880.—"The third division are the Mozambiques or African slaves, who have been brought into the country from time immemorial by the Arab slave-trading DHOWS."—Sibree's Great African Island, 182.

1883.—"DHAU is a large vessel which is falling into disuse.... Their origin is in the Red Sea. The word is used vaguely, and is applied to baghlas (see BUGGALOW)."—Bombay Gazetteer, xiii. 717 seq.

DHURMSALLA, s. H. and Mahr. dharm-śālā, 'pious edifice'; a rest-house for wayfarers, corresponding to the S. Indian CHOULTRY or CHUTTRUM (q.v.).

1826.—"We alighted at a DURHMSALLAH where several horsemen were assembled."—Pandurang Hari, 254; [ed. 1873, ii. 66].

DHURNA, TO SIT, v. In H. dharnā denā or baiṭhnā, Skt. dhṛi, 'to hold.' A mode of extorting payment or compliance with a demand, effected by the complainant or creditor sitting at the debtor's door, and there remaining without tasting food till his demand shall be complied with, or (sometimes) by threatening to do himself some mortal violence if it be not complied with. Traces of this custom in some form are found in many parts of the world, and Sir H. Maine (see below) has quoted a remarkable example from the Irish Brehon Laws. There was a curious variety of the practice, in arrest for debt, current in S. India, which is described by Marco Polo and many later travellers (see M. P., 2nd ed., ii. 327, 335, [and for N. India, Crooke, Pop. Rel. and Folklore, ii. 42, seq.]). The practice of dharnā is made an offence under the Indian Penal Code. There is a systematic kind of dharnā practised by classes of beggars, e.g. in the Punjab by a class called Tasmīwālās, or 'strap-riggers,' who twist a leather strap round the neck, and throw themselves on the ground before a shop, until alms are given; [Dorīwālās, who threaten to hang themselves; Dandīwālās, who rattle sticks, and stand cursing till they get alms; Urimārs, who simply stand before a shop all day, and Gurzmārs and Chharimārs, who cut themselves with knives and spiked clubs] (see Ind. Antiq. i. 162, [Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, ed. 1863, p. 193 seq.]). It appears from Elphinstone (below) that the custom sometimes received the Ar. Pers. name of takāẓa, 'dunning' or 'importunity.'

c. 1747.—"While Nundi Raj, the Dulwai (see DALAWAY), was encamped at Sutti Mangul, his troops, for want of pay, placed him in DHURNA.... Hurree Singh, forgetting the ties of salt or gratitude to his master, in order to obtain his arrears of pay, forbade the sleeping and eating of the Dulwai, by placing him in DHURNA ... and that in so great a degree as even to stop the water used in his kitchen. The Dulwai, losing heart from this rigour, with his clothes and the vessels of silver and gold used in travelling, and a small sum of money, paid him off and discharged him."—H. of Hydur Naik, 41 seq.

c. 1794.—"The practice called DHARNA, which may be translated caption, or arrest."—Sir J. Shore, in As. Res. iv. 144.

1808.—"A remarkable circumstance took place yesterday. Some Sirdars put the Maharaja (Sindia) in DHURNA. He was angry, and threatened to put them to death. Bhugwunt Ras Byse, their head, said, 'Sit still; put us to death.' Sindia was enraged, and ordered him to be paid and driven from camp. He refused to go.... The bazaars were shut the whole day; troops were posted to guard them and defend the tents.... At last the mutineers marched off, and all was settled."—Elphinstone's Diary, in Life, i. 179 seq.

1809.—"Seendhiya (i.e. Sindia), who has been lately plagued by repeated D'HURNAS, seems now resolved to partake also in the active part of the amusement: he had permitted this same Patunkur, as a signal mark of favour, to borrow 50,000 rupees from the Khasgee, or private treasury.... The time elapsed without the agreement having been fulfilled; and Seendhiya immediately dispatched the treasurer to sit D'HURNA on his behalf at Patunkur's tents."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, 169 seq.; [ed. 1892, 127].

[1812.—Morier (Journey through Persia, 32) describes similar proceedings by a Dervish at Bushire.]

1819.—"It is this which is called tukaza[108] by the Mahrattas.... If a man have demand from (? upon) his inferior or equal, he places him under restraint, prevents his leaving his house or eating, and even compels him to sit in the sun until he comes to some accommodation. If the debtor were a superior, the creditor had first recourse to supplications and appeals to the honour and sense of shame of the other party; he laid himself on his threshold, threw himself in his road, clamoured before his door, or he employed others to do this for him; he would even sit down and fast before the debtor's door, during which time the other was compelled to fast also; or he would appeal to the gods, and invoke their curses upon the person by whom he was injured."—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 87.

1837.[109]—"Whoever voluntarily causes or attempts to cause any person to do anything which that person is not legally bound to do ... by inducing ... that person to believe that he ... will become ... by some act of the offender, an object of the divine displeasure if he does not do the thing ... shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Illustrations.

"(a) A. sits DHURNA at Z.'s door with the intention of causing it to be believed that by so sitting he renders Z. an object of divine displeasure. A. has committed the offence defined in this section.

"(b) A. threatens Z. that unless Z. performs a certain act A. will kill one of A.'s own children, under such circumstances that the killing would be believed to render Z. an object of the divine displeasure. A. has committed the offence described in this section."—Indian Penal Code, 508, in Chap. XXII., Criminal Intimidation, Insult, and Annoyance.

1875.—"If you have a legal claim against a man of a certain rank and you are desirous of compelling him to discharge it, the Senchus Mor tells you 'to fast upon him.'... The institution is unquestionably identical with one widely diffused throughout the East, which is called by the Hindoos 'sitting DHARNA.' It consists in sitting at the debtor's door and starving yourself till he pays. From the English point of view the practice has always been considered barbarous and immoral, and the Indian Penal Code expressly forbids it. It suggests, however, the question—what would follow if the debtor simply allowed the creditor to starve? Undoubtedly the Hindoo supposes that some supernatural penalty would follow; indeed, he generally gives definiteness to it by retaining a Brahmin to starve himself vicariously, and no Hindoo doubts what would come of causing a Brahmin's death."—Maine, Hist. of Early Institutions, 40. See also 297-304.

1885.—"One of the most curious practices in India is that still followed in the native states by a Brahman creditor to compel payment of his debt, and called in Hindi DHARNÁ, and in Sanskrit ācharita, 'customary proceeding,' or Prāyopaveçana, 'sitting down to die by hunger.' This procedure has long since been identified with the practice of 'fasting upon' (troscud for) a debtor to God or man, which is so frequently mentioned in the Irish so-called Brehon Laws.... In a MS. in the Bodleian ... there is a Middle-Irish legend which tells how St. Patrick 'fasted upon' Loegaire, the unbelieving over-king of Ireland. Loegaire's pious queen declares that she will not eat anything while Patrick is fasting. Her son Enna seeks for food. 'It is not fitting for thee,' says his mother, 'to eat food while Patrick is fasting upon you.'... It would seem from this story that in Ireland the wife and children of the debtor, and, a fortiori, the debtor himself, had to fast so long as the creditor fasted."—Letter from Mr. Whitley Stokes, in Academy, Sept. 12th.

A striking story is told in Forbes's Rās Māla (ii. 393 seq.; [ed. 1878, p. 657]) of a farther proceeding following upon an unsuccessful DHARNĀ, put in practice by a company of Chārans, or bards, in Kathiawāṛ, to enforce payment of a debt by a chief of Jailā to one of their number. After fasting three days in vain, they proceeded from DHARNĀ to the further rite of trāgā (q.v.). Some hacked their own arms; others decapitated three old women of their party, and hung their heads up as a garland at the gate. Certain of the women cut off their own breasts. The bards also pierced the throats of four of the older men with spikes, and took two young girls and dashed their brains out against the town-gate. Finally the Chāran creditor soaked his quilted clothes in oil, and set fire to himself. As he burned to death he cried out, 'I am now dying, but I will become a headless ghost (Kavīs) in the Palace, and will take the chief's life, and cut off his posterity!'

DIAMOND HARBOUR, n.p. An anchorage in the Hoogly below Calcutta, 30 m. by road, and 41 by river. It was the usual anchorage of the old Indiamen in the mercantile days of the E. I. Company. In the oldest charts we find the "Diamond Sand," on the western side of what is now called Diamond Harbour, and on some later charts, Diamond Point.

1683.—"We anchored this night on ye head of ye DIAMOND Sand.

"Jan. 26. This morning early we weighed anchor ... but got no further than the Point of Kegaria Island" (see KEDGEREE).—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 64. (See also ROGUE'S RIVER.)

DIDWAN, s. P. dīdbān, dīdwān, 'a look-out,' 'watchman,' 'guard,' 'messenger.'

[1679.—See under AUMILDAR, TRIPLICANE.

[1680.—See under JUNCAMEER.

[1683-4.—"... three yards of Ordinary Broadcloth and five Pagodas to the DITHWAN that brought the Phirmaund...."—Pringle, Diary of Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. iii. 4.]

DIGGORY, DIGRĪ, DEGREE, s. Anglo-Hindustani of law-court jargon for 'decree.'

[1866.—"This is grand, thought bold Bhuwanee Singh, DIGGREE to pāh, lekin roopyea to morpāss bah, 'He has got his decree, but I have the money.'"—Confessions of an Orderly, 138.]

DIKK, s. Worry, trouble, botheration; what the Italians call seccatura. This is the Anglo-Indian use. But the word is more properly adjective, Ar.-P.-H. diḳ, diḳḳ, 'vexed, worried,' and so diḳḳ honā, 'to be worried.' [The noun diḳḳ-dārī, 'worry,' in vulgar usage, has become an adjective.]

1873.—

"And Beaufort learned in the law, And Atkinson the Sage, And if his locks are white as snow, 'Tis more from DIKK than age!" Wilfrid Heeley, A Lay of Modern Darjeeling.

[1889.—"Were the Company's pumps to be beaten by the vagaries of that DIKHDARI, Tarachunda nuddee?"—R. Kipling, In Black and White, 52.]

DINAPORE, n.p. A well-known cantonment on the right bank of the Ganges, being the station of the great city of Patna. The name is properly Dānāpur. Ives (1755) writes Dunapoor (p. 167). The cantonment was established under the government of Warren Hastings about 1772, but we have failed to ascertain the exact date. [Cruso, writing in 1785, speaks of the cantonments having cost the Company 25 lakhs of rupees. (Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 445). There were troops there in 1773 (Gleig, Life of Warren Hastings, i. 297).]

DĪNĀR, s. This word is not now in any Indian use. But it is remarkable as a word introduced into Skt. at a comparatively early date. "The names of the Arabic pieces of money ... are all taken from the coins of the Lower Roman Empire. Thus, the copper piece was called fals from follis; the silver dirham from drachma, and the gold DĪNĀR, from denarius, which, though properly a silver coin, was used generally to denote coins of other metals, as the denarius aeris, and the denarius auri, or aureus" (James Prinsep, in Essays, &c., ed. by Thomas, i. 19). But it was long before the rise of Islām that the knowledge and name of the denarius as applied to a gold coin had reached India. The inscription on the east gate of the great tope at Sanchi is probably the oldest instance preserved, though the date of that is a matter greatly disputed. But in the Amarakosha (c. A.D. 500) we have 'DĪNĀRE 'pi cha nishkah,' i.e. 'a nishkah (or gold coin) is the same as DĪNĀRA.' And in the Kalpasūtra of Bhadrabāhu (of about the same age) § 36, we have 'dīnāra mālaya,' 'a necklace of DĪNĀRS,' mentioned (see Max Müller below). The dīnār in modern Persia is a very small imaginary coin, of which 10,000 make a TOMAUN (q.v.). In the Middle Ages we find Arabic writers applying the term dīnār both to the staple gold coin (corresponding to the gold mohr of more modern times) and to the staple silver coin (corresponding to what has been called since the 16th century the rupee). [Also see Yule, Cathay, ii. 439 seqq. See DEANER.]

A.D. (?) "The son of Amuka ... having made salutation to the eternal gods and goddesses, has given a piece of ground purchased at the legal rate; also five temples, and twenty-five (thousand?) DÍNÁRS ... as an act of grace and benevolence of the great emperor Chandragupta."—Inscription on Gateway at Sanchi (Prinsep's Essays, i. 246).

A.D. (?) "Quelque temps après, à Pataliputra, un autre homme devoué aux Brahmanes renversa une statue de Bouddha aux pieds d'un mendiant, qui la mit en pièces. Le roi (Açoka) ... fit proclamer cet ordre: Celui qui m'apportera la tête d'un mendiant brahmanique, recevra de moi un DÎNÂRA."—Tr. of Divya avadâna, in Burnouf, Int. à l'Hist. du Bouddhisme Indien, p. 422.

c. 1333.—"The lak is a sum of 100,000 DĪNĀRS (i.e. of silver); this sum is equivalent to 10,000 DĪNĀRS of gold, Indian money; and the Indian (gold) DĪNĀR is worth 2½ DĪNĀRS in money of the West (Maghrab)."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 106.

1859.—"Cosmas Indicopleustes remarked that the Roman denarius was received all over the world;[110] and how the denarius came to mean in India a gold ornament we may learn from a passage in the 'Life of Mahâvîra.' There it is said that a lady had around her neck a string of grains and golden DINARS, and Stevenson adds that the custom of stringing coins together, and adorning with them children especially, is still very common in India."—Max Müller, Hist. of Sanskrit Literature, 247.

DINGY, DINGHY, s. Beng. diṇgī; [H. dingī, dengī, another form of dongī, Skt. droṇa, 'a trough.'] A small boat or skiff; sometimes also 'a canoe,' i.e. dug out of a single trunk. This word is not merely Anglo-Indian; it has become legitimately incorporated in the vocabulary of the British navy, as the name of the smallest ship's boat; [in this sense, according to the N.E.D., first in Midshipman Easy (1836)]. Dingā occurs as the name of some kind of war-boat used by the Portuguese in the defence of Hugli in 1631 ("Sixty-four large DÍNGAS"; Elliot, vii. 34). The word dingī is also used for vessels of size in the quotation from Tippoo. Sir J. Campbell, in the Bombay Gazetteer, says that dhangī is a large vessel belonging to the Mekrān coast; the word is said to mean 'a log' in Bilūchī. In Guzerat the larger vessel seems to be called dangā; and besides this there is dhangī, like a canoe, but built, not dug out.

[1610.—"I have brought with me the pinnace and her GINGE for better performance."—Danvers, Letters, i. 61.]

1705.—"... pour aller à terre on est obligé de se servir d'un petit Bateau dont les bords sont très hauts, qu'on appelle DINGUES...."—Luiller, 39.

1785.—"Propose to the merchants of Muscat ... to bring hither, on the DINGIES, such horses as they may have for sale; which, being sold to us, the owner can carry back the produce in rice."—Letters of Tippoo, 6.

1810.—"On these larger pieces of water there are usually canoes, or DINGIES."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 59.

[1813.—"The Indian pomegranates ... are by no means equal to those brought from Arabia by the Muscat DINGEYS."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 468.]

1878.—"I observed among a crowd of DINGHIES, one contained a number of native commercial agents."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 18.

DIRZEE, s. P. darzī, H. darzī and vulgarly darjī; [darz, 'a rent, seam.'] A tailor.

[1623.—"The street, which they call TERZI Caravanserai, that is the Tayler's Inn."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 95.]

c. 1804.—"In his place we took other servants, DIRGES and Dobes, and a Sais for Mr. Sherwood, who now got a pony."—Mrs. Sherwood, Autobiog. 283.

1810.—"The DIRDJEES, or taylors, in Bombay, are Hindoos of respectable caste."—Maria Graham, 30.

DISPATCHADORE, s. This curious word was apparently a name given by the Portuguese to certain officials in Cochin-China. We know it only in the document quoted:

1696.—"The 23 I was sent to the Under-DISPATCHADORE, who I found with my Scrutore before him. I having the key, he desired me to open it."—Bowyear's Journal at Cochin China, in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 77; also "was made Under-Customer or DESPATCHADORE" (ibid. 81); and again: "The Chief DISPATCHADORE of the Strangers" (84).

DISSAVE, DISSAVA, &c., s. Singh. disāva (Skt. deśa, 'a country,' &c.), 'Governor of a Province,' under the Candyan Government. Disave, as used by the English in the gen. case, adopted from the native expression disave mahatmya, 'Lord of the Province.' It is now applied by the natives to the Collector or "Government Agent." (See DESSAYE.)

1681.—"Next under the Adigars are the DISSAUVA'S who are Governours over provinces and counties of the land."—Knox, p. 50.

1685.—"... un DISSAVA qui est comme un General Chingulais, ou Gouverneur des armées d'une province."—Ribeyro (Fr. tr.), 102.

1803.—"... the DISSAUVAS ... are governors of the corles or districts, and are besides the principal military commanders."—Percival's Ceylon, 258.

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