B (continued 3)

1810.—"The bendy, called in the West Indies okree, is a pretty plant resembling a hollyhock; the fruit is about the length and thickness of one's finger ... when boiled it is soft and mucilaginous."—Maria Graham, 24.

1813.—"The banda (Hibiscus esculentus) is a nutritious oriental vegetable."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 32; [2nd ed. i. 22].

1880.—"I recollect the West Indian Ookroo ... being some years ago recommended for introduction in India. The seed was largely advertised, and sold at about 8s. the ounce to eager horticulturists, who ... found that it came up nothing other than the familiar bendy, the seed of which sells at Bombay for 1d. the ounce. Yet ... ookroo seed continued to be advertised and sold at 8s. the ounce...."—Note by Sir G. Birdwood.

BENDY-TREE, s. This, according to Sir G. Birdwood, is the Thespesia populnea, Lam. [Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. iv. 45 seqq.], and gives a name to the 'Bendy Bazar' in Bombay. (See PORTIA.)

BENGAL, n.p. The region of the Ganges Delta and the districts immediately above it; but often in English use with a wide application to the whole territory garrisoned by the Bengal army. This name does not appear, so far as we have been able to learn, in any Mahommedan or Western writing before the latter part of the 13th century. In the earlier part of that century the Mahommedan writers generally call the province Lakhnaotī, after the chief city, but we have also the old form Bang, from the indigenous Vaṅga. Already, however, in the 11th century we have it as Vaṅgālam on the Inscription of the great Tanjore Pagoda. This is the oldest occurrence that we can cite.

The alleged City of Bengala of the Portuguese which has greatly perplexed geographers, probably originated with the Arab custom of giving an important foreign city or seaport the name of the country in which it lay (compare the city of Solmandala, under COROMANDEL). It long kept a place in maps. The last occurrence that we know of is in a chart of 1743, in Dalrymple's Collection, which identifies it with Chittagong, and it may be considered certain that Chittagong was the place intended by the older writers (see Varthema and Ovington). The former, as regards his visiting Banghella, deals in fiction—a thing clear from internal evidence, and expressly alleged, by the judicious Garcia de Orta: "As to what you say of Ludovico Vartomano, I have spoken, both here and in Portugal, with men who knew him here in India, and they told me that he went about here in the garb of a Moor, and then reverted to us, doing penance for his sins; and that the man never went further than Calecut and Cochin."—Colloquios, f. 30.

c. 1250.—"Muhammad Bakhtiyár ... returned to Behár. Great fear of him prevailed in the minds of the infidels of the territories of Lakhnauti, Behar, Bang, and Kámrúp."—Tabakát-i-Násiri, in Elliot, ii. 307.

1298.—"Bangala is a Province towards the south, which up to the year 1290 ... had not yet been conquered...." (&c.).—Marco Polo, Bk. ii. ch. 55.

c. 1300.—"... then to Bijalár (but better reading Bangālā), which from of old is subject to Delhi...."—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 72.

c. 1345.—"... we were at sea 43 days and then arrived in the country of Banjāla, which is a vast region abounding in rice. I have seen no country in the world where provisions are cheaper than in this; but it is muggy, and those who come from Khorāsān call it 'a hell full of good things.'"—Ibn Batuta, iv. 211. (But the Emperor Aurungzebe is alleged to have "emphatically styled it the Paradise of Nations."—Note in Stavorinus, i. 291.)

c. 1350.—

i.e.,

1498.—"Bemgala: in this Kingdom are many Moors, and few Christians, and the King is a Moor ... in this land are many cotton cloths, and silk cloths, and much silver; it is 40 days with a fair wind from Calicut."—Roteiro de V. da Gama, 2nd ed. p. 110.

1506.—"A Banzelo, el suo Re è Moro, e li se fa el forzo de' panni de gotton...."—Leonardo do Ca' Masser, 28.

1510.—"We took the route towards the city of Banghella ... one of the best that I had hitherto seen."—Varthema, 210.

1516.—"... the Kingdom of Bengala, in which there are many towns.... Those of the interior are inhabited by Gentiles subject to the King of Bengala, who is a Moor; and the seaports are inhabited by Moors and Gentiles, amongst whom there is much trade and much shipping to many parts, because this sea is a gulf ... and at its inner extremity there is a very great city inhabited by Moors, which is called Bengala, with a very good harbour."—Barbosa, 178-9.

c. 1590.—"Bungaleh originally was called Bung; it derived the additional al from that being the name given to the mounds of earth which the ancient Rajahs caused to be raised in the low lands, at the foot of the hills."—Ayeen Akbery, tr. Gladwin, ii. 4 (ed. 1800); [tr. Jarrett, ii. 120].

1690.—"Arracan ... is bounded on the North-West by the Kingdom of Bengala, some Authors making Chatigam to be its first Frontier City; but Teixeira, and generally the Portuguese Writers, reckon that as a City of Bengala; and not only so, but place the City of Bengala it self ... more South than Chatigam. Tho' I confess a late French Geographer has put Bengala into his Catalogue of imaginary Cities...."—Ovington, 554.

BENGAL, s. This was also the designation of a kind of piece-goods exported from that country to England, in the 17th century. But long before, among the Moors of Spain, a fine muslin seems to have been known as al-bangala, surviving in Spanish albengala. (See Dozy and Eng. s.v. [What were called "Bengal Stripes" were striped ginghams brought first from Bengal and first made in Great Britain at Paisley. (Draper's Dict. s.v.). So a particular kind of silk was known as "Bengal wound," because it was "rolled in the rude and artless manner immemorially practised by the natives of that country." (Milburn, in Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. 3, 185.) See N.E.D. for examples of the use of the word as late as Lord Macaulay.]

1696.—"Tis granted that Bengals and stain'd Callicoes, and other East India Goods, do hinder the Consumption of Norwich stuffs...."—Davenant, An Essay on the East India Trade, 31.

BENGALA, s. This is or was also applied in Portuguese to a sort of cane carried in the army by sergeants, &c. (Bluteau).

BENGALEE, n.p. A native of Bengal [Baboo]. In the following early occurrence in Portuguese, Bengala is used:

1552.—"In the defence of the bridge died three of the King's captains and Tuam Bandam, to whose charge it was committed, a Bengali (Bengala) by nation, and a man sagacious and crafty in stratagems rather than a soldier (cavalheiro)."—Barros, II., vi. iii.

[1610.—"Bangasalys." See quotation from Teixeira under BANKSHALL.]

A note to the Seir Mutaqherin quotes a Hindustani proverb: Bangālī jangālī, Kashmīrī bepīrī, i.e. 'The Bengalee is ever an entangler, the Cashmeeree without religion.'

[In modern Anglo-Indian parlance the title is often applied in provinces other than Bengal to officers from N. India. The following from Madras is a curious early instance of the same use of the word:—

[1699.—"Two Bengalles here of Council."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxvii.]

BENIGHTED, THE, adj. An epithet applied by the denizens of the other Presidencies, in facetious disparagement to Madras. At Madras itself "all Carnatic fashion" is an habitual expression among older English-speaking natives, which appears to convey a similar idea. (See MADRAS, MULL.)

1860.—"... to ye Londe of St Thomé. It ys ane darke Londe, & ther dwellen ye Cimmerians whereof speketh Homerus Poeta in hys Odysseia & to thys Daye thei clepen Tenebrosi, or Ye Benyhted Folke."—Fragments of Sir J. Maundevile, from a MS. lately discovered.

BENJAMIN, BENZOIN, &c., s. A kind of incense, derived from the resin of the Styrax benzoin, Dryander, in Sumatra, and from an undetermined species in Siam. It got from the Arab traders the name lubān-Jāwī, i.e. 'Java Frankincense,' corrupted in the Middle Ages into such forms as we give. The first syllable of the Arabic term was doubtless taken as an article—lo bengioi, whence bengioi, benzoin, and so forth. This etymology is given correctly by De Orta, and by Valentijn, and suggested by Barbosa in the quotation below. Spanish forms are benjui, menjui; Modern Port. beijoim, beijuim; Ital. belzuino, &c. The terms Jāwā, Jāwī were applied by the Arabs to the Malay countries generally (especially Sumatra) and their products. (See Marco Polo, ii. 266; [Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 96] and the first quotation here.)

c. 1350.—"After a voyage of 25 days we arrived at the Island of Jāwa (here Sumatra) which gives its name to the Jāwī incense (al-lubān al-Jāwī)."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 228.

1461.—"Have these things that I have written to thee next thy heart, and God grant that we may be always at peace. The presents (herewith): Benzoi, rotoli 30. Legno Aloë, rotoli 20. Due paja di tapeti...."—Letter from the Soldan of Egypt to the Doge Pasquale Malipiero, in the Lives of the Doges, Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, xxii. col. 1170.

1498.—"Xarnauz ... is from Calecut 50 days' sail with a fair wind (see SARNAU) ... in this land there is much beijoim, which costs iii cruzados the farazalla, and much aloee which costs xxv cruzados the farazalla" (see FRAZALA).—Roteiro da Viagem de V. da Gama, 109-110.

1516.—"Benjuy, each farazola lx, and the very good lxx fanams."—Barbosa (Tariff of Prices at Calicut), 222.

" "Benjuy, which is a resin of trees which the Moors call luban javi."—Ibid. 188.

1539.—"Cinco quintais de beijoim de boninas."^[40]—Pinto, cap. xiii.

1563.—"And all these species of benjuy the inhabitants of the country call cominham,^[41] but the Moors call them louan jaoy, i.e. 'incense of Java' ... for the Arabs call incense louan."—Garcia, f. 29v.

1584.—"Belzuinum mandolalo^[40] from Sian and Baros. Belzuinum, burned, from Bonnia" (Borneo?).—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 413.

1612.—"Beniamin, the pund iiii li."—Rates and Valuatioun of Merchandize (Scotland), pub. by the Treasury, Edin. 1867, p. 298.

BENUA, n.p. This word, Malay banuwa, [in standard Malay, according to Mr. Skeat, benuwa or benua], properly means 'land, country,' and the Malays use orang-banuwa in the sense of aborigines, applying it to the wilder tribes of the Malay Peninsula. Hence "Benuas" has been used by Europeans as a proper name of those tribes.—See Crawfurd, Dict. Ind. Arch. sub voce.

1613.—"The natives of the interior of Viontana (Ujong-tana, q.v.) are properly those Banuas, black anthropophagi, and hairy, like satyrs."—Godinho de Eredia, 20.

BERBERYN, BARBERYN, n.p. Otherwise called Beruwala, a small port with an anchorage for ships and a considerable coasting trade, in Ceylon, about 35 m. south of Columbo.

c. 1350.—"Thus, led by the Divine mercy, on the morrow of the Invention of the Holy Cross, we found ourselves brought safely into port in a harbour of Seyllan, called Pervilis, over against Paradise."—Marignolli, in Cathay, ii. 357.

c. 1618.—"At the same time Barreto made an attack on Berbelim, killing the Moorish modeliar [Modelliar] and all his kinsfolk."—Bocarro, Decada, 713.

1780.—"Barbarien Island."—Dunn, New Directory, 5th ed. 77.

1836.—"Berberyn Island.... There is said to be an anchorage north of it, in 6 or 7 fathoms, and a small bay further in ... where small craft may anchor."—Horsburgh, 5th ed. 551.

[1859.—Tennent in his map (Ceylon, 3rd ed.) gives Barberyn, Barbery, Barberry.]

BERIBERI, s. An acute disease, obscure in its nature and pathology, generally but not always presenting dropsical symptoms, as well as paralytic weakness and numbness of the lower extremities, with oppressed breathing. In cases where debility, oppression, anxiety and dyspnœa are extremely severe, the patient sometimes dies in 6 to 30 hours. Though recent reports seem to refer to this disease as almost confined to natives, it is on record that in 1795, in Trincomalee, 200 Europeans died of it.

The word has been alleged to be Singhalese beri [the Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss. s.v. gives baribari], 'debility.' This kind of reduplication is really a common Singhalese practice. It is also sometimes alleged to be a W. Indian Negro term; and other worthless guesses have been made at its origin. The Singhalese origin is on the whole most probable [and is accepted by the N.E.D.]. In the quotations from Bontius and Bluteau, the disease described seems to be that formerly known as Barbiers. Some authorities have considered these diseases as quite distinct, but Sir Joseph Fayrer, who has paid attention to beriberi and written upon it (see The Practitioner, January 1877), regards Barbiers as "the dry form of beri-beri," and Dr. Lodewijks, quoted below, says briefly that "the Barbiers of some French writers is incontestably the same disease." (On this it is necessary to remark that the use of the term Barbiers is by no means confined to French writers, as a glance at the quotations under that word will show). The disease prevails endemically in Ceylon, and in Peninsular India in the coast-tracts, and up to 40 or 60 m. inland; also in Burma and the Malay region, including all the islands, at least so far as New Guinea, and also Japan, where it is known as kakké: [see Chamberlain, Things Japanese, 3rd ed. p. 238 seqq.]. It is very prevalent in certain Madras Jails. The name has become somewhat old-fashioned, but it has recurred of late years, especially in hospital reports from Madras and Burma. It is frequently epidemic, and some of the Dutch physicians regard it as infectious. See a pamphlet, Beri-Beri door J. A. Lodewijks, ondofficier van Gezondheit bij het Ned. Indische Leger, Harderwijk, 1882. In this pamphlet it is stated that in 1879 the total number of beri-beri patients in the military hospitals of Netherlands-India, amounted to 9873, and the deaths among these to 1682. In the great military hospitals at Achin there died of beri-beri between 1st November 1879, and 1st April 1880, 574 persons, of whom the great majority were dwangarbeiders, i.e. 'forced labourers.' These statistics show the extraordinary prevalence and fatality of the disease in the Archipelago. Dutch literature on the subject is considerable.

Sir George Birdwood tells us that during the Persian Expedition of 1857 he witnessed beri-beri of extraordinary virulence, especially among the East African stokers on board the steamers. The sufferers became dropsically distended to a vast extent, and died in a few hours.

In the second quotation scurvy is evidently meant. This seems much allied by causes to beriberi though different in character.

[1568.—"Our people sickened of a disease called berbere, the belly and legs swell, and in a few days they die, as there died many, ten or twelve a day."—Couto, viii. ch. 25.]

c. 1610.—"Ce ne fut pas tout, car i'eus encor ceste fascheuse maladie de louende que les Portugais appellent autrement berber et les Hollandais scurbut."—Mocquet, 221.

1613.—"And under the orders of the said General André Furtado de Mendoça, the discoverer departed to the court of Goa, being ill with the malady of the berebere, in order to get himself treated."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 58.

1631.—"... Constat frequenti illorum usu, praesertim liquoris saguier dicti, non solum diarrhaeas ... sed et paralysin Beriberi dictam hinc natam esse."—Jac. Bontii, Dial. iv. See also Lib. ii. cap. iii., and Lib. iii. p. 40.

1659.—"There is also another sickness which prevails in Banda and Ceylon, and is called Barberi; it does not vex the natives so much as foreigners."—Sarr, 37.

1682.—"The Indian and Portuguese women draw from the green flowers and cloves, by means of firing with a still, a water or spirit of marvellous sweet smell ... especially is it good against a certain kind of paralysis called Berebery."—Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize, ii. 33.

1685.—"The Portuguese in the Island suffer from another sickness which the natives call béri-béri."—Ribeiro, f. 55.

1720.—"Berebere (termo da India). Huma Paralysia bastarde, ou entorpecemento, com que fica o corpo como tolhido."—Bluteau, Dict. s.v.

1809.—"A complaint, as far as I have learnt, peculiar to the island (Ceylon), the berri-berri; it is in fact a dropsy that frequently destroys in a few days."—Ld. Valentia, i. 318.

1835.—(On the Maldives) "... the crew of the vessels during the survey ... suffered mostly from two diseases; the Beri-beri which attacked the Indians only, and generally proved fatal."—Young and Christopher, in Tr. Ro. Geog. Soc., vol. i.

1837.—"Empyreumatic oil called oleum nigrum, from the seeds of Celastrus nutans (Malkungnee) described in Mr. Malcolmson's able prize Essay on the Hist. and Treatment of Beriberi ... the most efficacious remedy in that intractable complaint."—Royle on Hindu Medicine, 46.

1880.—"A malady much dreaded by the Japanese, called Kakké.... It excites a most singular dread. It is considered to be the same disease as that which, under the name of Beriberi, makes such havoc at times on crowded jails and barracks."—Miss Bird's Japan, i. 288.

1882.—"Berbá, a disease which consists in great swelling of the abdomen."—Blumentritt, Vocabular, s.v.

1885.—"Dr. Wallace Taylor, of Osaka, Japan, reports important discoveries respecting the origin of the disease known as beri-beri. He has traced it to a microscopic spore largely developed in rice. He has finally detected the same organism in the earth of certain alluvial and damp localities."—St. James's Gazette, Aug. 9th.

Also see Report on Prison Admin. in Br. Burma, for 1878, p. 26.

BERYL, s. This word is perhaps a very ancient importation from India to the West, it having been supposed that its origin was the Skt. vaidūrya, Prak. velūriya, whence [Malay baiduri and biduri], P. billaur, and Greek βήρυλλος. Bochart points out the probable identity of the two last words by the transposition of l and r. Another transposition appears to have given Ptolemy his Ὀρούδια ὄρη (for the Western Ghats), representing probably the native Vaidūrya mountains. In Ezekiel xxvii. 13, the Sept. has Βηρύλλιον, where the Hebrew now has tarshīsh, [another word with probably the same meaning being shohsm (see Professor Ridgeway in Encycl. Bibl. s.v. Beryl)]. Professor Max Müller has treated of the possible relation between vaidūrya and vidāla, 'a cat,' and in connection with this observes that "we should, at all events, have learnt the useful lesson that the chapter of accidents is sometimes larger than we suppose."—(India, What can it Teach us?" p. 267). This is a lesson which many articles in our book suggest; and in dealing with the same words, it may be indicated that the resemblance between the Greek αἴλουρος, bilaur, a common H. word for a cat, and the P. billaur, 'beryl,' are at least additional illustrations of the remark quoted.

c. A.D. 70.—"Beryls ... from India they come as from their native place, for seldom are they to be found elsewhere.... Those are best accounted of which carrie a sea-water greene."—Pliny, Bk. XXXVII. cap. 20 (in P. Holland, ii. 613).

c. 150.—"Πυννάτα ἐν ᾗ βήρυλλος."—Ptolemy, l. vii.

BETEL, s. The leaf of the Piper betel, L., chewed with the dried areca-nut (which is thence improperly called betel-nut, a mistake as old as Fryer—1673,—see p. 40), chunam, etc., by the natives of India and the Indo-Chinese countries. The word is Malayāl. veṭṭila, i.e. veru + ila = 'simple or mere leaf,' and comes to us through the Port. betre and betle. Pawn (q.v.) is the term more generally used by modern Anglo-Indians. In former times the betel-leaf was in S. India the subject of a monopoly of the E. I. Co.

1298.—"All the people of this city (Cael) as well as of the rest of India, have a custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called Tembul ... the lords and gentlefolks and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor and other aromatic spices, and also mixt with quicklime...."—Marco Polo, ii. 358. See also Abdurrazzāk, in India in XV. Cent., p. 32.

1498.—In Vasco da Gama's Roteiro, p. 59, the word used is atombor, i.e. al-tambūl (Arab.) from the Skt. tāmbūla. See also Acosta, p. 139. [See TEMBOOL.]

1510.—"This betel resembles the leaves of the sour orange, and they are constantly eating it."—Varthema, p. 144.

1516.—"We call this betel Indian leaf."^[42]—Barbosa, 73.

[1521.—"Bettre (or vettele)." See under ARECA.]

1552.—"... at one side of the bed ... stood a man ... who held in his hand a gold plate with leaves of betelle...."—De Barros, Dec. I. liv. iv. cap. viii.

1563.—"We call it betre, because the first land known by the Portuguese was Malabar, and it comes to my remembrance that in Portugal they used to speak of their coming not to India, but to Calecut ... insomuch that in all the names that occur, which are not Portuguese, are Malabar, like betre."—Garcia, f. 37g.

1582.—The transl. of Castañeda by N. L. has betele (f. 35), and also vitele (f. 44).

1585.—A King's letter grants the revenue from betel (betre) to the bishop and clergy of Goa.—In Arch. Port. Or., fasc. 3, p. 38.

1615.—"He sent for Coco-Nuts to give the Company, himselfe chewing Bittle and lime of Oyster-shels, with a Kernell of Nut called Arracca, like an Akorne, it bites in the mouth, accords rheume, cooles the head, strengthens the teeth, & is all their Phisicke."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 537; [with some trifling variations in Foster's ed. (Hak. Soc.) i. 19].

1623.—"Celebratur in universo oriente radix quaedam vocata Betel, quam Indi et reliqui in ore habere et mandere consueverunt, atque ex eâ mansione mire recreantur, et ad labores tolerandos, et ad languores discutiendos ... videtur autem esse ex narcoticis, quia magnopere denigrat dentes."—Bacon, Historia Vitae et Mortis, ed. Amst. 1673, p. 97.

1672.—"They pass the greater part of the day in indolence, occupied only with talk, and chewing Betel and Areca, by which means their lips and teeth are always stained."—P. di Vincenzo Maria, 232.

1677.—The Court of the E. I. Co. in a letter to Ft. St. George, Dec. 12, disapprove of allowing "Valentine Nurse 20 Rupees a month for diet, 7 Rs. for house-rent, 2 for a cook, 1 for Beetle, and 2 for a Porter, which is a most extravagant rate, which we shall not allow him or any other."—Notes and Exts., No. i. p. 21.

1727.—"I presented the Officer that waited on me to the Sea-side (at Calicut) with 5 zequeens for a feast of bettle to him and his companions."—A. Hamilton, i. 306.

BETTEELA, BEATELLE, &c., s. The name of a kind of muslin constantly mentioned in old trading-lists and narratives. This seems to be a Sp. and Port. word beatilla or beatilha, for 'a veil,' derived, according to Cobarruvias, from "certain beatas, who invented or used the like." Beata is a religieuse. ["The Betilla is a certain kind of white E. I. chintz made at Masulipatam, and known under the name of Organdi."—Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss. p. 233.]

[1566.—"A score Byatilhas, which were worth 200 pardaos."—Correa, iii. 479.]

1572.—

1598.—"... this linnen is of divers sorts, and is called Serampuras, Cassas, Comsas, Beattillias, Satopassas, and a thousand such names."—Linschoten, 28; [Hak. Soc. i. 95; and cf. i. 56].

1685.—"To servants, 3 pieces beteelaes."—In Wheeler, i. 149.

1727.—"Before Aurangzeb conquered Visiapore, this country (Sundah) produced the finest Betteelas or Muslins in India."—A. Hamilton, i. 264.

[1788.—"There are various kinds of muslins brought from the East Indies, chiefly from Bengal: Betelles, &c."—Chambers' Cycl., quoted in 3 ser. Notes & Q. iv. 88.]

BEWAURIS, adj. P.—H. be-wāris, 'without heir.' Unclaimed, without heir or owner.

BEYPOOR, n.p. Properly Veppūr, or Bēppūr, [derived from Malayāl. veppu, 'deposit,' ur, 'village,' a place formed by the receding of the sea, which has been turned into the Skt. form Vāyupura, 'the town of the Wind-god']. The terminal town of the Madras Railway on the Malabar coast. It stands north of the river; whilst the railway station is on the S. of the river—(see CHALIA). Tippoo Sahib tried to make a great port of Beypoor, and to call it Sultanpatnam. [It is one of the many places which have been suggested as the site of Ophir (Logan, Malabar, i. 246), and is probably the Belliporto of Tavernier, "where there was a fort which the Dutch had made with palms" (ed. Ball, i. 235).]

1572.—

1727.—"About two Leagues to the Southward of Calecut, is a fine River called Baypore, capable to receive ships of 3 or 400 Tuns."—A. Hamilton, i. 322.

BEZOAR, s. This word belongs, not to the A.-Indian colloquial, but to the language of old oriental trade and materia medica. The word is a corruption of the P. name of the thing, pādzahr, 'pellens venenum,' or pāzahr. The first form is given by Meninski as the etymology of the word, and this is accepted by Littré [and the N.E.D.]. The quotations of Littré from Ambrose Paré show that the word was used generically for 'an antidote,' and in this sense it is used habitually by Avicenna. No doubt the term came to us, with so many others, from Arab medical writers, so much studied in the Middle Ages, and this accounts for the b, as Arabic has no p, and writes bāzahr. But its usual application was, and is, limited to certain hard concretions found in the bodies of animals, to which antidotal virtues were ascribed, and especially to one obtained from the stomach of a wild goat in the Persian province of Lar. Of this animal and the bezoar an account is given in Kaempfer's Amoenitates Exoticae, pp. 398 seqq. The Bezoar was sometimes called Snake-Stone, and erroneously supposed to be found in the head of a snake. It may have been called so really because, as Ibn Baithar states, such a stone was laid upon the bite of a venomous creature (and was believed) to extract the poison. Moodeen Sheriff, in his Suppt. to the Indian Pharmacopœia, says there are various bezoars in use (in native mat. med.), distinguished according to the animal producing them, as a goat-, camel-, fish-, and snake-bezoar; the last quite distinct from Snake-Stone (q.v.).

[A false Bezoar stone gave occasion for the establishment of one of the great distinctions in our Common Law, viz. between actions founded upon contract, and those founded upon wrongs: Chandelor v. Lopus was decided in 1604 (reported in 2. Croke, and in Smith's Leading Cases). The head-note runs—"The defendant sold to the plaintiff a stone, which he affirmed to be a Bezoar stone, but which proved not to be so. No action lies against him, unless he either knew that it was not a Bezoar stone, or warranted it to be a Bezoar stone" (quoted by Gray, Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 484).]

1516.—Barbosa writes pajar.

[1528.—"Near this city (Lara) in a small mountain are bred some animals of the size of a buck, in whose stomach grows a stone they call bazar."—Tenreiro, ch. iii. p. 14.]

[1554.—Castanheda (I. ch. 46) calls the animal whence bezoar comes bagoldaf, which he considers an Indian word.]

c. 1580.—"... adeo ut ex solis Bezahar nonnulla vasa conflata viderim, maxime apud eos qui a venenis sibi cavere student."—Prosper Alpinus, Pt. i. p. 56.

1599.—"Body o' me, a shrewd mischance. Why, had you no unicorn's horn, nor bezoar's stone about you, ha?"—B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, Act v. sc. 4.

[ " "Bezar sive bazar"; see quotation under MACE.]

1605.—The King of Bantam sends K. James I. "two beasar stones."—Sainsbury, i. 143.

1610.—"The Persian calls it, par excellence, Pazahar, which is as much as to say 'antidote' or more strictly 'remedy of poison or venom,' from Zahar, which is the general name of any poison, and pá, 'remedy'; and as the Arabic lacks the letter p, they replace it by b, or f, and so they say, instead of Pázahar, Bázahar, and we with a little additional corruption Bezar."—P. Teixeira, Relaciones, &c., p. 157.

1613.—"... elks, and great snakes, and apes of bazar stone, and every kind of game birds."—Godinho de Eredia, 10v.

1617.—"... late at night I drunke a little bezas stone, which gave me much paine most parte of night, as though 100 Wormes had byn knawing at my hart; yet it gave me ease afterward."—Cocks's Diary, i. 301; [in i. 154 he speaks of "beza stone"].

1634.—Bontius claims the etymology just quoted from Teixeira, erroneously, as his own.—Lib. iv. p. 47.

1673.—"The Persians then call this stone Pazahar, being a compound of Pa and Zahar, the first of which is against, and the other is Poyson."—Fryer, 238.

" "The Monkey Bezoars which are long, are the best...."—Ibid. 212.

1711.—"In this animal (Hog-deer of Sumatra, apparently a sort of chevrotain or Tragulus) is found the bitter Bezoar, called Pedra di Porco Siacca, valued at ten times its Weight in Gold."—Lockyer, 49.

1826.—"What is spikenard? what is mumiai? what is pahzer? compared even to a twinkle of a royal eye-lash?"—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 148.

BHAT, s. H. &c. bhāṭ (Skt. bhàṭṭa, a title of respect, probably connected with bhàrtṛi, 'a supporter or master'), a man of a tribe of mixed descent, whose members are professed genealogists and poets; a bard. These men in Rājputāna and Guzerat had also extraordinary privileges as the guarantors of travellers, whom they accompanied, against attack and robbery. See an account of them in Forbes's Rās Mālā, I. ix. &c., reprint 558 seqq.; [for Bengal, Risley, Tribes & Castes, i. 101 seqq.; for the N.W.P., Crooke, Tribes & Castes, ii. 20 seqq.

[1554.—"Bats," see quotation under RAJPUT.]

c. 1555.—"Among the infidel Bānyāns in this country (Guzerat) there is a class of literati known as Bāts. These undertake to be guides to traders and other travellers ... when the caravans are waylaid on the road by Rāshbūts, i.e. Indian horsemen, coming to pillage them, the Bāt takes out his dagger, points it at his own breast, and says: 'I have become surety! If aught befals the caravan I must kill myself!' On these words the Rāshbūts let the caravan pass unharmed."—Sidi 'Ali, 95.

[1623.—"Those who perform the office of Priests, whom they call Boti."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 80.]

1775.—"The Hindoo rajahs and Mahratta chieftains have generally a Bhaut in the family, who attends them on public occasions ... sounds their praise, and proclaims their titles in hyperbolical and figurative language ... many of them have another mode of living; they offer themselves as security to the different governments for payment of their revenue, and the good behaviour of the Zemindars, patels, and public farmers; they also become guarantees for treaties between native princes, and the performance of bonds by individuals."—Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 89; [2nd ed. i. 377; also see ii. 258]. See TRAGA.

1810.—"India, like the nations of Europe, had its minstrels and poets, concerning whom there is the following tradition: At the marriage of Siva and Parvatty, the immortals having exhausted all the amusements then known, wished for something new, when Siva, wiping the drops of sweat from his brow, shook them to earth, upon which the Bawts, or Bards, immediately sprang up."—Maria Graham, 169.

1828.—"A 'Bhat' or Bard came to ask a gratuity."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 53.

BHEEL, n.p. Skt. Bhilla; H. Bhīl. The name of a race inhabiting the hills and forests of the Vindhya, Malwa, and of the N.-Western Deccan, and believed to have been the aborigines of Rājputāna; some have supposed them to be the Φυλλῖται of Ptolemy. They are closely allied to the Coolies (q.v.) of Guzerat, and are believed to belong to the Kolarian division of Indian aborigines. But no distinct Bhīl language survives.

1785.—"A most infernal yell suddenly issued from the deep ravines. Our guides informed us that this was the noise always made by the Bheels previous to an attack."—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 480.

1825.—"All the Bheels whom we saw to-day were small, slender men, less broad-shouldered ... and with faces less Celtic than the Puharees of the Rajmahal.... Two of them had rude swords and shields, the remainder had all bows and arrows."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 75.

BHEEL, s. A word used in Bengal—bhīl: a marsh or lagoon; same as Jeel (q.v.)

[1860.—"The natives distinguish a lake so formed by a change in a river's course from one of usual origin or shape by calling the former a bowr—whilst the latter is termed a Bheel."—Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 35.]

1879.—"Below Shouy-doung there used to be a big bheel, wherein I have shot a few duck, teal, and snipe."—Pollok, Sport in B. Burmah, i. 26.

BHEESTY, s. The universal word in the Anglo-Indian households of N. India for the domestic (corresponding to the saḳḳā of Egypt) who supplies the family with water, carrying it in a mussuck, (q.v.), or goatskin, slung on his back. The word is P. bihishtī, a person of bihisht or paradise, though the application appears to be peculiar to Hindustan. We have not been able to trace the history of this term, which does not apparently occur in the Āīn, even in the curious account of the way in which water was cooled and supplied in the Court of Akbar (Blochmann, tr. i. 55 seqq.), or in the old travellers, and is not given in Meninski's lexicon. Vullers gives it only as from Shakespear's Hindustani Dict. [The trade must be of ancient origin in India, as the leather bag is mentioned in the Veda and Manu (Wilson, Rig Veda, ii. 28; Institutes, ii. 79.) Hence Col. Temple (Ind. Ant., xi. 117) suggests that the word is Indian, and connects it with the Skt. vish, 'to sprinkle.'] It is one of the fine titles which Indian servants rejoice to bestow on one another, like Mehtar, Khalīfa, &c. The title in this case has some justification. No class of men (as all Anglo-Indians will agree) is so diligent, so faithful, so unobtrusive, and uncomplaining as that of the bihishtīs. And often in battle they have shown their courage and fidelity in supplying water to the wounded in face of much personal danger.

[c. 1660.—"Even the menials and carriers of water belonging to that nation (the Pathāns) are high-spirited and war-like."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 207.]

1773.—"Bheestee, Waterman" (etc.)—Fergusson, Dict. of the Hindostan Language, &c.

1781.—"I have the happiness to inform you of the fall of Bijah Gurh on the 9th inst. with the loss of only 1 sepoy, 1 beasty, and a cossy (? Cossid) killed...."—Letter in India Gazette of Nov. 24th.

1782.—(Table of Wages in Calcutta),

Five Rupees continued to be the standard wage of a bihishtī for full 80 years after the date given.

1810.—"... If he carries the water himself in the skin of a goat, prepared for that purpose, he then receives the designation of Bheesty."—Williamson, V.M. i. 229.

1829.—"Dressing in a hurry, find the drunken bheesty ... has mistaken your boot for the goglet in which you carry your water on the line of march."—Camp Miseries, in John Shipp, ii. 149. N.B.—We never knew a drunken bheesty.

1878.—"Here comes a seal carrying a porpoise on its back. No! it is only our friend the bheesty."—In my Indian Garden, 79.

[1898.

BHIKTY, s. The usual Calcutta name for the fish Lates calcarifer. See COCKUP.

[BHOOSA, s. H. Mahr. bhus, bhusa; the husks and straw of various kinds of corn, beaten up into chaff by the feet of the oxen on the threshing-floor; used as the common food of cattle all over India.

[1829.—"Every commune is surrounded with a circumvallation of thorns ... and the stacks of bhoos, or 'chaff,' which are placed at intervals, give it the appearance of a respectable fortification. These bhoos stacks are erected to provide provender for the cattle in scanty rainy seasons."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, i. 737.]

[BHOOT, s. H. &c., bhūt, bhūta, Skt. bhūta, 'formed, existent,' the common term for the multitudinous ghosts and demons of various kinds by whom the Indian peasant is so constantly beset.]

[1623.—"All confessing that it was Buto, i.e. the Devil."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 341.]

[1826.—"The sepoys started up, and cried 'B,hooh, b,hooh, arry arry.' This cry of 'a ghost' reached the ears of the officer, who bid his men fire into the tree, and that would bring him down, if there."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 107.]

BHOUNSLA, n.p. Properly Bhoslah or Bhonslah, the surname of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta empire. It was also the surname of Parsoji and Raghuji, the founders of the Mahratta dynasty of Berar, though not of the same family as Sivaji.

1673.—"Seva Gi, derived from an Ancient Line of Rajahs, of the Cast of the Bounceloes, a Warlike and Active Offspring."—Fryer, 171.

c. 1730.—"At this time two parganas, named Púna and Súpa, became the jagír of Sáhú Bhoslah. Sívají became the manager.... He was distinguished in his tribe for courage and intelligence; and for craft and trickery he was reckoned a sharp son of the devil."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 257.

1780.—"It was at first a particular tribe governed by the family of Bhosselah, which has since lost the sovereignty."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 214.

1782.—"... le Bonzolo, les Marates, et les Mogols."—Sonnerat, i. 60.

BHYACHARRA, s. H. bhayāchārā. This is a term applied to settlements made with the village as a community, the several claims and liabilities being regulated by established customs, or special traditional rights. Wilson interprets it as "fraternal establishments." [This hardly explains the tenure, at least as found in the N.W.P., and it would be difficult to do so without much detail. In its perhaps most common form each man's holding is the measure of his interest in the estate, irrespective of the share to which he may be entitled by ancestral right.]

BICHÁNA, s. Bedding of any kind. H. bichhānā.

1689.—"The Heat of the Day is spent in Rest and Sleeping ... sometimes upon Cotts, and sometimes upon Bechanahs, which are thick Quilts."—Ovington, 313.

BIDREE, BIDRY, s. H. Bidrī; the name applied to a kind of ornamental metal-work, made in the Deccan, and deriving its name from the city of Bīdar (or Bedar), which was the chief place of manufacture. The work was, amongst natives, chiefly applied to hooka-bells, rose-water bottles and the like. The term has acquired vogue in England of late amongst amateurs of "art manufacture." The ground of the work is pewter alloyed with one-fourth copper: this is inlaid (or damascened) with patterns in silver; and then the pewter ground is blackened. A short description of the manufacture is given by Dr. G. Smith in the Madras Lit. Soc. Journ., N.S. i. 81-84; [by Sir G. Birdwood, Indust. Arts, 163 seqq.; Journ. Ind. Art, i. 41 seqq.] The ware was first descrbed by B. Heyne in 1813.

BILABUNDY, s. H. bilabandī. An account of the revenue settlement of a district, specifying the name of each mahal (estate), the farmer of it, and the amount of the rent (Wilson). In the N.W.P. it usually means an arrangement for securing the payment of revenue (Elliot). C. P. Brown says, quoting Raikes (p. 109), that the word is bila-bandī, 'hole-stopping,' viz. stopping those vents through which the coin of the proprietor might ooze out. This, however, looks very like a 'striving after meaning,' and Wilson's suggestion that it is a corruption of behrī-bandī, from behrī, 'a share,' 'a quota,' is probably right.

[1858.—"This transfer of responsibility, from the landholder to his tenants, is called 'Jumog Lagána,' or transfer of jumma. The assembly of the tenants, for the purpose of such adjustment, is called zunjeer bundee, or linking together. The adjustment thus made is called the bilabundee."—Sleeman, Journey through Oudh, i. 208.]

BILAYUT, BILLAÏT, &c. n.p. Europe. The word is properly Ar. Wilāyat, 'a kingdom, a province,' variously used with specific denotation, as the Afghans term their own country often by this name; and in India again it has come to be employed for distant Europe. In Sicily Il Regno is used for the interior of the island, as we use Mofussil in India. Wilāyat is the usual form in Bombay.

BILAYUTEE PAWNEE, BILÁTEE PANEE. The adject. bilāyatī or wilāyatī is applied specifically to a variety of exotic articles, e.g. bilāyatī baingan (see BRINJAUL), to the tomato, and most especially bilāyatī pānī, 'European water,' the usual name for soda-water in Anglo-India.

1885.—"'But look at us English,' I urged, 'we are ordered thousands of miles away from home, and we go without a murmur.' 'It is true, Khudawund,' said Gunga Pursad, 'but you sahebs drink English-water (soda-water), and the strength of it enables you to bear up under all fatigues and sorrows.' His idea (adds Mr. Knighton) was that the effervescing force of the soda-water, and the strength of it which drove out the cork so violently, gave strength to the drinker of it."—Times of India Mail, Aug. 11, 1885.

BILDÁR, s. H. from P. beldār, 'a spade-wielder,' an excavator or digging labourer. Term usual in the Public Works Department of Upper India for men employed in that way.

1847.—

BILOOCH, BELOOCH. n.p. The name (Balūch or Bilūch) applied to the race inhabiting the regions west of the Lower Indus, and S.E. of Persia, called from them Bilūchistān; they were dominant in Sind till the English conquest in 1843. [Prof. Max Müller (Lectures, i. 97, note) identified the name with Skt. mlechcha, used in the sense of the Greek βάρβαρος for a despised foreigner.]

A.D. 643.—"In the year 32 H. 'Abdulla bin 'A'mar bin Rabi' invaded Kirmán and took the capital Kuwáshír, so that the aid of 'the men of Kúj and Balúj' was solicited in vain by the Kirmánis."—In Elliot, i. 417.

c. 1200.—"He gave with him from Kandahār and Lār, mighty Balochis, servants ... with nobles of many castes, horses, elephants, men, carriages, charioteers, and chariots."—The Poem of Chand Bardāi, in Ind. Ant. i. 272.

c. 1211.—"In the desert of Khabis there was a body ... of Buluchís who robbed on the highway.... These people came out and carried off all the presents and rarities in his possession."—'Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 193.

1556.—"We proceeded to Gwādir, a trading town. The people here are called Balŭj; their prince was Malik Jalaluddīn, son of Malik Dīnār."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 73.

[c. 1590.—"This tract is inhabited by an important Baloch tribe called Kalmani."—Āīn, trans. Jarret, ii. 337.]

1613.—The Boloches are of Mahomet's Religion. They deale much in Camels, most of them robbers...."—N. Whittington, in Purchas, i. 485.

1648.—"Among the Machumatists next to the Pattans are the Blotias of great strength" [? Wilāyatī].—Van Twist, 58.

1727.—"They were lodged in a Caravanseray, when the Ballowches came with about 300 to attack them; but they had a brave warm Reception, and left four Score of their Number dead on the Spot, without the loss of one Dutch Man."—A. Hamilton, i. 107.

1813.—Milburn calls them Bloaches (Or. Com. i. 145).

1844.—"Officers must not shoot Peacocks: if they do the Belooches will shoot officers—at least so they have threatened, and M.-G. Napier has not the slightest doubt but that they will keep their word. There are no wild peacocks in Scinde,—they are all private property and sacred birds, and no man has any right whatever to shoot them."—Gen. Orders by Sir C. Napier.

BINKY-NABOB, s. This title occurs in documents regarding Hyder and Tippoo, e.g. in Gen. Stewart's desp. of 8th March 1799: "Mohammed Rezza, the Binky Nabob." [Also see Wilks, Mysoor, Madras reprint, ii. 346.] It is properly benkī-nawāb, from Canarese benkī, 'fire,' and means the Commandant of the Artillery.

BIRD OF PARADISE. The name given to various beautiful birds of the family Paradiseidae, of which many species are now known, inhabiting N. Guinea and the smaller islands adjoining it. The largest species was called by Linnæus Paradisaea apoda, in allusion to the fable that these birds had no feet (the dried skins brought for sale to the Moluccas having usually none attached to them). The name Manucode which Buffon adopted for these birds occurs in the form Manucodiata in some of the following quotations. It is a corruption of the Javanese name Manuk-devata, 'the Bird of the Gods,' which our popular term renders with sufficient accuracy. [The Siamese word for 'bird,' according to Mr. Skeat, is nok, perhaps from manok.]

c. 1430.—"In majori Java avis præcipua reperitur sine pedibus, instar palumbi, pluma levi, cauda oblonga, semper in arboribus quiescens: caro non editur, pellis et cauda habentur pretiosiores, quibus pro ornamento capitis utuntur."—N. Conti, in Poggius de Varietate Fortunae, lib. iv.

1552.—"The Kings of the said (Moluccas) began only a few years ago to believe in the immortality of souls, taught by no other argument than this, that they had seen a most beautiful little bird, which never alighted on the ground or on any other terrestrial object, but which they had sometimes seen to come from the sky, that is to say, when it was dead and fell to the ground. And the Machometan traders who traffic in those islands assured them that this little bird was a native of Paradise, and that Paradise was the place where the souls of the dead are; and on this account the princes attached themselves to the sect of the Machometans, because it promised them many marvellous things regarding this place of souls. This little bird they called by the name of Manucodiata...."—Letter of Maximilian of Transylvania, Sec. to the Emp. Charles V., in Ramusio, i. f. 351v; see also f. 352.

c. 1524.—"He also (the K. of Bachian) gave us for the King of Spain two most beautiful dead birds. These birds are as large as thrushes; they have small heads, long beaks, legs slender like a writing pen, and a span in length; they have no wings, but instead of them long feathers of different colours, like plumes; their tail is like that of the thrush. All the feathers, except those of the wings (?), are of a dark colour; they never fly except when the wind blows. They told us that these birds come from the terrestrial Paradise, and they call them 'bolon dinata,' [burung-dewata, same as Javanese Manuk-dewata, supra] that is, divine birds."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. 143.

1598.—"... in these Ilands (Moluccas) onlie is found the bird, which the Portingales call Passaros de Sol, that is Foule of the Sunne, the Italians call it Manu codiatas, and the Latinists Paradiseas, by us called Paradice birdes, for ye beauty of their feathers which passe al other birds: these birds are never seene alive, but being dead they are found vpon the Iland; they flie, as it is said, alwaies into the Sunne, and keepe themselues continually in the ayre ... for they haue neither feet nor wings, but onely head and bodie, and the most part tayle...."—Linschoten, 35; [Hak. Soc. i. 118].

1572.—

Englished by Burton:

1645.—"... the male and female Manucodiatae, the male having a hollow in the back, in which 'tis reported the female both layes and hatches her eggs."—Evelyn's Diary, 4th Feb.

1674.—

1591.—"As for the story of the Manucodiata or Bird of Paradise, which in the former Age was generally received and accepted for true, even by the Learned, it is now discovered to be a fable, and rejected and exploded by all men" (i.e. that it has no feet).—Ray, Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, ed. 1692, Pt. ii. 147.

1705.—"The Birds of Paradice are about the bigness of a Pidgeon. They are of varying Colours, and are never found or seen alive; neither is it known from whence they come...."—Funnel, in Dampier's Voyages, iii. 266-7.

1868.—"When seen in this attitude, the Bird of Paradise really deserves its name, and must be ranked as one of the most beautiful and wonderful of living things."—Wallace, Malay Archip., 7th ed., 464.

BIRDS' NESTS. The famous edible nests, formed with mucus, by certain swiftlets, Collocalia nidifica, and C. linchi. Both have long been known on the eastern coasts of the B. of Bengal, in the Malay Islands [and, according to Mr. Skeat in the islands of the Inland Sea (Tale Sap) at Singora]. The former is also now known to visit Darjeeling, the Assam Hills, the Western Ghats, &c., and to breed on the islets off Malabar and the Concan.

BISCOBRA, s. H. biskhoprā or biskhaprā. The name popularly applied to a large lizard alleged, and commonly believed, to be mortally venomous. It is very doubtful whether there is any real lizard to which this name applies, and it may be taken as certain that there is none in India with the qualities attributed. It is probable that the name does carry to many the terrific character which the ingenious author of Tribes on My Frontier alleges. But the name has nothing to do with either bis in the sense of 'twice,' or cobra in that of 'snake.' The first element is no doubt bish, (q.v.) 'poison,' and the second is probably khoprā, 'a shell or skull.' [See J. L. Kipling, Beast and Man in India (p. 317), who gives the scientific name as varanus dracaena, and says that the name biscobra is sometimes applied to the lizard generally known as the ghoṛpad, for which see GUANA.]

1883.—"But of all the things on earth that bite or sting, the palm belongs to the biscobra, a creature whose very name seems to indicate that it is twice as bad as the cobra. Though known by the terror of its name to natives and Europeans alike, it has never been described in the Proceedings of any learned Society, nor has it yet received a scientific name.... The awful deadliness of its bite admits of no question, being supported by countless authentic instances.... The points on which evidence is required are—first, whether there is any such animal; second, whether, if it does exist, it is a snake with legs, or a lizard without them."—Tribes on my Frontier, p. 205.

BISH, BIKH, &c., n. H. from Skt. visha, 'poison.' The word has several specific applications, as (a) to the poison of various species of aconite, particularly Aconitum ferox, otherwise more specifically called in Skt. vatsanābha, 'calf's navel,' corrupted into bachnābh or bachnāg, &c. But it is also applied (b) in the Himālaya to the effect of the rarefied atmosphere at great heights on the body, an effect which there and over Central Asia is attributed to poisonous emanations from the soil, or from plants; a doctrine somewhat naïvely accepted by Huc in his famous narrative. The Central Asiatic (Turki) expression for this is Esh, 'smell.'

a.—

1554.—"Entre les singularités que le consul de Florentins me monstra, me feist gouster vne racine que les Arabes nomment Bisch: laquelle me causa si grande chaleur en la bouche, qui me dura deux iours, qu'il me sembloit y auoir du feu.... Elle est bien petite comme vn petit naueau: les autres (auteurs?) l'ont nommée Napellus...."—Pierre Belon, Observations, &c., f. 97.

b.—

1624.—Antonio Andrada in his journey across the Himālaya, speaking of the sufferings of travellers from the poisonous emanations.—See Ritter, Asien., iii. 444.

1661-2.—"Est autem Langur mons omnium altissimus, ita ut in summitate ejus viatores vix respirare ob aëris subtilitatim queant: neque is ob virulentas nonnullarum herbarum exhalationes aestivo tempore, sine manifesto vitae periculo transire possit."—PP. Dorville and Grueber, in Kircher, China Illustrata, 65. It is curious to see these intelligent Jesuits recognise the true cause, but accept the fancy of their guides as an additional one!

(?) "La partie supérieure de cette montagne est remplie d'exhalaisons pestilentielles."—Chinese Itinerary to Hlassa, in Klaproth, Magasin Asiatique, ii. 112.

1812.—"Here begins the Esh—this is a Turkish word signifying Smell ... it implies something the odour of which induces indisposition; far from hence the breathing of horse and man, and especially of the former, becomes affected."—Mir Izzet Ullah, in J. R. As. Soc. i. 283.

1815.—"Many of the coolies, and several of the Mewattee and Ghoorkha sepoys and chuprasees now lagged, and every one complained of the bīs or poisoned wind. I now suspected that the supposed poison was nothing more than the effect of the rarefaction of the atmosphere from our great elevation."—Fraser, Journal of a Tour, &c., 1820, p. 442.

1819.—"The difficulty of breathing which at an earlier date Andrada, and more recently Moorcroft had experienced in this region, was confirmed by Webb; the Butias themselves felt it, and call it bis ki huwa, i.e. poisonous air; even horses and yaks ... suffer from it."—Webb's Narrative, quoted in Ritter, Asien., ii. 532, 649.

1845.—"Nous arrivâmes à neuf heures au pied du Bourhan-Bota. La caravane s'arrêta un instant ... on se montrait avec anxiété un gaz subtil et léger, qu'on nommait vapeur pestilentielle, et tout le monde paraissait abattu et découragé.... Bientot les chevaux se refusent à porter leurs cavaliers, et chacun avance à pied et à petits pas ... tous les visages blémissent, on sent le cœur s'affadir, et les jambes ne pouvent plus fonctionner.... Une partie de la troupe, par mesure de prudence s'arrêta ... le reste par prudence aussi épuisa tous les efforts pour arriver jusqu'au bout, et ne pas mourir asphyxié au milieu de cet air chargé d'acide carbonique," &c.,—Huc et Gabet, ii. 211: [E. T., ii. 114].

[BISMILLAH, intj., lit. "In the name of God"; a pious ejaculation used by Mahommedans at the commencement of any undertaking. The ordinary form runs—Bi-'smi 'llāhi 'r-raḥmāni 'r-raḥīm, i.e. "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," is of Jewish origin, and is used at the commencement of meals, putting on new clothes, beginning any new work, &c. In the second form, used at the time of going into battle or slaughtering animals, the allusion to the attribute of mercy is omitted.

[1535.—"As they were killed after the Portuguese manner without the bysmela, which they did not say over them."—Correa, iii. 746.]

BISNAGAR, BISNAGA, BEEJANUGGER, n.p. These and other forms stand for the name of the ancient city which was the capital of the most important Hindu kingdom that existed in the peninsula of India, during the later Middle Ages, ruled by the Rāya dynasty. The place is now known as Humpy (Hampī), and is entirely in ruins. [The modern name is corrupted from Pampa, that of the river near which it stood. (Rice, Mysore, ii. 487.)] It stands on the S. of the Tungabhadra R., 36 m. to the N.W. of Bellary. The name is a corruption of Vijayanagara (City of Victory), or Vidyanagara (City of learning), [the latter and earlier name being changed into the former (Rice, Ibid. i. 342, note).] Others believe that the latter name was applied only since the place, in the 13th century, became the seat of a great revival of Hinduism, under the famous Sayana Mādhava, who wrote commentaries on the Vedas, and much besides. Both the city and the kingdom were commonly called by the early Portuguese Narsinga (q.v.), from Narasimha (c. 1490-1508), who was king at the time of their first arrival. [Rice gives his dates as 1488-1508.]

c. 1420.—"Profectus hinc est procul a mari milliaribus trecentis, ad civitatem ingentem, nomine Bizenegaliam, ambitu milliarum sexaginta, circa praeruptos montes sitam."—Conti, in Poggius de Var. Fortunae, iv.

1442.—"... the chances of a maritime voyage had led Abd-er-razzak, the author of this work, to the city of Bidjanagar. He saw a place extremely large and thickly peopled, and a King possessing greatness and sovereignty to the highest degree, whose dominion extends from the frontier of Serendib to the extremity of the county of Kalbergah—from the frontiers of Bengal to the environs of Malabar."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in XV. Cent., 22.

c. 1470.—"The Hindu sultan Kadam is a very powerful prince. He possesses a numerous army, and resides on a mountain at Bichenegher."—Athan. Nikitin, in India in XV. Cent., 29.

1516.—"45 leagues from these mountains inland, there is a very great city, which is called Bijanagher...."—Barbosa, 85.

1611.—"Le Roy de Bisnagar, qu'on appelle aussi quelquefois le Roy de Narzinga, est puissant."—Wytfliet, H. des Indes, ii. 64.

BISON, s. The popular name, among Southern Anglo-Indian sportsmen, of the great wild-ox called in Bengal gaur and gaviāl (Gavaeus gaurus, Jerdon); [Bos gaurus, Blanford]. It inhabits sparsely all the large forests of India, from near Cape Comorin to the foot of the Himālayas (at least in their Eastern portion), and from Malabar to Tenasserim.

1881.—"Once an unfortunate native superintendent or mistari [Maistry] was pounded to death by a savage and solitary bison."—Saty. Review, Sept. 10, p. 335.

BLACAN-MATEE, n.p. This is the name of an island adjoining Singapore, which forms the beautiful 'New Harbour' of that port; Malay bĕlākang, or blakang-māti, lit. 'Dead-Back island,' [of which, writes Mr. Skeat, no satisfactory explanation has been given. According to Dennys (Discr. Dict., 51), "one explanation is that the Southern, or as regards Singapore, hinder, face was so unhealthy that the Malays gave it a designation signifying by onomatopoea that death was to be found behind its ridge"]. The island (Blacan-mati) appears in one of the charts of Godinho de Eredia (1613) published in his Malaca, &c. (Brussels, 1882), and though, from the excessive looseness of such old charts, the island seems too far from Singapore, we are satisfied after careful comparison with the modern charts that the island now so-called is intended.

BLACK, s. Adj. and substantive denoting natives of India. Old-fashioned, and heard, if still heard, only from the lower class of Europeans; even in the last generation its habitual use was chiefly confined to these, and to old officers of the Queen's Army.

[1614.—"The 5th ditto came in a ship from Mollacco with 28 Portugals and 36 Blacks."—Foster, Letters, ii. 31.]

1676.—"We do not approve of your sending any persons to St. Helena against their wills. One of them you sent there makes a great complaint, and we have ordered his liberty to return again if he desires it; for we know not what effect it may have if complaints should be made to the King that we send away the natives; besides that it is against our inclination to buy any blacks, and to transport them from their wives and children without their own consent."—Court's Letter to Ft. St. Geo., in Notes and Exts. No. i. p. 12.

1747.—"Vencatachlam, the Commanding Officer of the Black Military, having behaved very commendably on several occasions against the French; In consideration thereof Agreed that a Present be made him of Six hundred Rupees to buy a Horse, that it may encourage him to act in like manner."—Ft. St. David Cons., Feb. 6. (MS. Record, in India Office).

1750.—"Having received information that some Blacks residing in this town were dealing with the French for goods proper for the Europe market, we told them if we found any proof against any residing under your Honors' protection, that such should suffer our utmost displeasure."—Ft. Wm. Cons., Feb. 4, in Long, 24.

1753.—"John Wood, a free merchant, applies for a pass which, if refused him, he says 'it will reduce a free merchant to the condition of a foreigner, or indeed of the meanest black fellow.'"—Ft. Wm. Cons., in Long, p. 41.

1761.—"You will also receive several private letters from Hastings and Sykes, which must convince me as Circumstances did me at the time, that the Dutch forces were not sent with a View only of defending their own Settlements, but absolutely with a Design of disputing our Influence and Possessions; certain Ruin must have been the Consequence to the East India Company. They were raising black Forces at Patna, Cossimbazar, Chinsura, &c., and were working Night and day to compleat a Field Artillery ... all these preparations previous to the commencement of Hostilities plainly prove the Dutch meant to act offensively not defensively."—Holograph Letter from Clive (unpublished) in the India Office Records. Dated Berkeley Square, and indorsed "27th Decr. 1761."

1762.—"The Black inhabitants send in a petition setting forth the great hardship they labour under in being required to sit as arbitrators in the Court of Cutcherry."—Ft. Wm. Cons., in Long, 277.

1782.—See quotation under Sepoy, from Price.

" "... the 35th Regiment, commanded by Major Popham, which had lately behaved in a mutinous manner ... was broke with infamy.... The black officers with halters about their necks, and the sepoys stript of their coats and turbands were drummed out of the Cantonments."—India Gazette, March 30.

1787.—"As to yesterday's particular charge, the thing that has made me most inveterate and unrelenting in it is only that it related to cruelty or oppression inflicted on two black ladies...."—Lord Minto, in Life, &c., i. 128.

1789.—"I have just learned from a Friend at the India House, y^t the object of Treves' ambition at present is to be appointed to the Adaulet of Benares, w^h is now held by a Black named Alii Caun. Understanding that most of the Adaulets are now held by Europeans, and as I am informed y^t it is the intention y^t the Europeans are to be so placed in future, I s^hd be vastly happy if without committing any injustice you c^d place young Treves in y^t situation."—George P. of Wales, to Lord Cornwallis, in C.'s Corresp. ii. 29.

1832-3.—"And be it further enacted that ... in all captures which shall be made by H. M.'s Army, Royal Artillery, provincial, black, or other troops...."—Act 2 & 3 Will. IV., ch. 53, sec. 2.

The phrase is in use among natives, we know not whether originating with them, or adopted from the usage of the foreigner. But Kālā ādmī 'black man,' is often used by them in speaking to Europeans of other natives. A case in point is perhaps worth recording. A statue of Lord William Bentinck, on foot, and in bronze, stands in front of the Calcutta Town Hall. Many years ago a native officer, returning from duty at Calcutta to Barrackpore, where his regiment was, reported himself to his adjutant (from whom we had the story in later days). 'Anything new, Sūbadār, Sāhib?' said the Adjutant. 'Yes,' said the Sūbadār, 'there is a figure of the former Lord Sahib arrived.' 'And what do you think of it?' 'Sāhib,' said the Sūbadār, 'abhi hai kālā ādmī kā sā, jab potā ho jaegā jab achchhā hogā!' ('It is now just like a native—'a black man'; when the whitewash is applied it will be excellent.')

In some few phrases the term has become crystallised and semi-official. Thus the native dressers in a hospital were, and possibly still are, called Black Doctors.

1787.—"The Surgeon's assistant and Black Doctor take their station 100 paces in the rear, or in any place of security to which the Doolies may readily carry the wounded."—Regulations for the H. C.'s Troops on the Coast of Coromandel.

In the following the meaning is special:

1788.—"For Sale. That small upper-roomed Garden House, with about 5 biggahs (see BEEGAH) of ground, on the road leading from Cheringhee to the Burying Ground, which formerly belonged to the Moravians; it is very private, from the number of trees on the ground, and having lately received considerable additions and repairs, is well adapted for a Black Family. ☞ Apply to Mr. Camac."—In Seton-Karr, i. 282.

BLACK ACT. This was the name given in odium by the non-official Europeans in India to Act XI., 1836, of the Indian Legislature, which laid down that no person should by reason of his place of birth or of his descent be, in any civil proceeding, excepted from the jurisdiction of the Courts named, viz.: Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, Zillah and City Judge's Courts, Principal Sudder Ameens, Sudder Ameens, and Moonsiff's Court, or, in other words, it placed European subjects on a level with natives as to their subjection in civil causes to all the Company's Courts, including those under Native Judges. This Act was drafted by T. B. Macaulay, then Legislative Member of the Governor-General's Council, and brought great abuse on his head. Recent agitation caused by the "Ilbert Bill," proposing to make Europeans subject to native magistrates in regard to police and criminal charges, has been, by advocates of the latter measure, put on all fours with the agitation of 1836. But there is much that discriminates the two cases.

1876.—"The motive of the scurrility with which Macaulay was assailed by a handful of sorry scribblers was his advocacy of the Act, familiarly known as the Black Act, which withdrew from British subjects resident in the provinces their so called privilege of bringing civil appeals before the Supreme Court at Calcutta."—Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay, 2nd ed., i. 398.

[BLACK BEER, s. A beverage mentioned by early travellers in Japan. It was probably not a malt liquor. Dr. Aston suggests that it was kuro-hi, a dark-coloured saké used in the service of the Shinto gods.

[1616.—"One jar of black beer."—Foster, Letters, iv. 270.]

BLACK-BUCK, s. The ordinary name of the male antelope (Antilope bezoartica, Jerdon) [A. cervicapra, Blanford], from the dark hue of its back, by no means however literally black.

1690.—"The Indians remark, 'tis September's Sun which caused the black lines on the Antelopes' Backs."—Ovington, 139.

BLACK COTTON SOIL.—(See REGUR.)

[BLACK JEWS, a term applied to the Jews of S. India; see 2 ser. N. & Q., iv. 4. 429; viii. 232, 418, 521; Logan, Malabar, i. 246 seqq.]

BLACK LANGUAGE. An old-fashioned expression, for Hindustani and other vernaculars, which used to be common among officers and men of the Royal Army, but was almost confined to them.

BLACK PARTRIDGE, s. The popular Indian name of the common francolin of S.E. Europe and Western Asia (Francolinus vulgaris, Stephens), notable for its harsh quasi-articulate call, interpreted in various parts of the world into very different syllables. The rhythm of the call is fairly represented by two of the imitations which come nearest one another, viz. that given by Sultan Baber (Persian): 'Shīr dāram, shakrak' ('I've got milk and sugar'!) and (Hind.) one given by Jerdon: 'Lahsan piyāz adrak' ('Garlic, onion, and ginger'!) A more pious one is: Khudā terī ḳudrat, 'God is thy strength!' Another mentioned by Capt. Baldwin is very like the truth: 'Be quick, pay your debts!' But perhaps the Greek interpretation recorded by Athenaeus (ix. 39) is best of all: τρὶς τοῖς κακούργοις κακά 'Three-fold ills to the ill-doers!' see Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. xviii. and note 1; [Burton, Ar. Nights, iii. 234, iv. 17].

BLACK TOWN, n.p. Still the popular name of the native city of Madras, as distinguished from the Fort and southern suburbs occupied by the English residents, and the bazars which supply their wants. The term is also used at Bombay.

1673.—Fryer calls the native town of Madras "the Heathen Town," and "the Indian Town."

1727.—"The Black Town (of Madras) is inhabited by Gentows, Mahometans, and Indian Christians.... It was walled in towards the Land, when Governor Pit ruled it."—A. Hamilton, i. 367.

1780.—"Adjoining the glacis of Fort St. George, to the northward, is a large town commonly called the Black Town, and which is fortified sufficiently to prevent any surprise by a body of horse."—Hodges, p. 6.

1780.—"... Cadets upon their arrival in the country, many of whom ... are obliged to take up their residence in dirty punch-houses in the Black Town...."—Munro's Narrative, 22.

1782.—"When Mr. Hastings came to the government he added some new regulations ... divided the black and white town (Calcutta) into 35 wards, and purchased the consent of the natives to go a little further off."—Price, Some Observations, &c., p. 60. In Tracts, vol. i.

[1813.—"The large bazar, or the street in the Black Town, (Bombay) ... contained many good Asiatic houses."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., i. 96. Also see quotation (1809) under BOMBAY.]

1827.—"Hartley hastened from the Black Town, more satisfied than before that some deceit was about to be practised towards Menie Gray."—Walter Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xi.

BLACK WOOD. The popular name for what is in England termed 'rose-wood'; produced chiefly by several species of Dalbergia, and from which the celebrated carved furniture of Bombay is made. [The same name is applied to the Chinese ebony used in carving (Ball, Things Chinese, 3rd ed., 107).] (See SISSOO.)

[1615.—"Her lading is Black Wood, I think ebony."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 35.

[1813.—"Black wood furniture becomes like heated metal."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., i. 106.]

1879.—(In Babylonia). "In a mound to the south of the mass of city ruins called Jumjuma, Mr. Rassam discovered the remains of a rich hall or palace ... the cornices were of painted brick, and the roof of rich Indian blackwood."—Athenaeum, July 5, 22.

BLANKS, s. The word is used for 'whites' or 'Europeans' (Port. branco) in the following, but we know not if anywhere else in English:

1718.—"The Heathens ... too shy to venture into the Churches of the Blanks (so they call the Christians), since these were generally adorned with fine cloaths and all manner of proud apparel."—(Ziegenbalg and Plutscho), Propagation of the Gospel, &c. Pt. I., 3rd ed., p. 70.

[BLATTY, adj. A corr. of wilāyatī, 'foreign' (see BILAYUT). A name applied to two plants in S. India, the Sonneratia acida, and Hydrolea zeylanica (see Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss. s.v.). In the old records it is applied to a kind of cloth. Owen (Narrative, i. 349) uses Blat as a name for the land-wind in Arabia, of which the origin is perhaps the same.

[1610.—"Blatty, the corge Rs. 060."—Danvers, Letters, i. 72.]

BLIMBEE, s. Malayāl. vilimbi; H. belambū [or bilambū;] Malay. bălimbing or belimbing. The fruit of Averrhoa bilimbi, L. The genus was so called by Linnæus in honour of Averrhoes, the Arab commentator on Aristotle and Avicenna. It embraces two species cultivated in India for their fruits; neither known in a wild state. See for the other CARAMBOLA.

BLOOD-SUCKER, s. A harmless lizard (Lacerta cristata) is so called, because when excited it changes in colour (especially about the neck) from a dirty yellow or grey, to a dark red.

1810.—"On the morn, however, I discovered it to be a large lizard, termed a blood-sucker."—Morton's Life of Leyden, 110.

[1813.—"The large seroor, or lacerta, commonly called the bloodsucker."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 110 (2nd ed.).]

BOBACHEE, s. A cook (male). This is an Anglo-Indian vulgarisation of bāwarchī, a term originally brought, according to Hammer, by the hordes of Chingiz Khan into Western Asia. At the Mongol Court the Bāwarchī was a high dignitary, 'Lord Sewer' or the like (see Hammer's Golden Horde, 235, 461). The late Prof. A. Schiefner, however, stated to us that he could not trace a Mongol origin for the word, which appears to be Or. Turki. [Platts derives it from P. bāwar, 'confidence.']

c. 1333.—"Chaque émir a un bâwerdjy, et lorsque la table a éte dressée, cet officier s'assied devant son maître ... le bâwerdjy coupe la viande en petits morceaux. Ces gens-là possèdent une grande habileté pour dépecer la viande."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 407.

c. 1590.—Bāwarchī is the word used for cook in the original of the Āīn (Blochmann's Eng. Tr. i. 58).

1810.—"... the dripping ... is returned to the meat by a bunch of feathers ... tied to the end of a short stick. This little neat, cleanly, and cheap dripping-ladle, answers admirably; it being in the power of the babachy to baste any part with great precision."—Williamson, V. M. i. 238.

1866.—

BOBACHEE CONNAH, s. H. Bāwarchī-khāna, 'Cook-house,' i.e. Kitchen; generally in a cottage detached from the residence of a European household.

[1829.—"In defiance of all Bawurchee-khana rules and regulations."—Or. Sport Mag., i. 118.]

BOBBERY, s. For the origin see BOBBERY-BOB. A noise, a disturbance, a row.

[1710.—"And beat with their hand on the mouth, making a certain noise, which we Portuguese call babare. Babare is a word composed of baba, 'a child' and are, an adverb implying 'to call.'"—Oriente Conquistado, vol ii.; Conquista, i. div. i. sec. 8.]

1830.—"When the band struck up (my Arab) was much frightened, made bobbery, set his foot in a hole and nearly pitched me."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 2nd ed., 106.

1866.—"But what is the meaning of all this bobbery?"—The Dawk Bungalow, p. 387.

Bobbery is used in 'pigeon English,' and of course a Chinese origin is found for it, viz. pa-pi, Cantonese, 'a noise.' [The idea that there is a similar English word (see 7 ser. N. & Q., v. 205, 271, 338, 415, 513) is rejected by the N.E.D.]

BOBBERY-BOB! interj. The Anglo-Indian colloquial representation of a common exclamation of Hindus when in surprise or grief—'Bāp-rē! or Bap-rē Bāp,' 'O Father!' (we have known a friend from north of Tweed whose ordinary interjection was 'My great-grandmother!'). Blumenroth's Philippine Vocabulary gives Nacú! = Madre mia, as a vulgar exclamation of admiration.

1782.—"Captain Cowe being again examined ... if he had any opportunity to make any observations concerning the execution of Nundcomar? said, he had; that he saw the whole except the immediate act of execution ... there were 8 or 10,000 people assembled; who at the moment the Rajah was turned off, dispersed suddenly, crying 'Ah-bauparee!' leaving nobody about the gallows but the Sheriff and his attendants, and a few European spectators. He explains the term Ah-baup-aree, to be an exclamation of the black people, upon the appearance of anything very alarming, and when they are in great pain."—Price's 2nd Letter to E. Burke, p. 5. In Tracts, vol. ii.

" "If an Hindoo was to see a house on fire, to receive a smart slap on the face, break a china basin, cut his finger, see two Europeans boxing, or a sparrow shot, he would call out Ah-baup-aree!"—From Report of Select Committee of H. of C., Ibid. pp. 9-10.

1834.—"They both hastened to the spot, where the man lay senseless, and the syce by his side muttering Bāpre bāpre."—The Baboo, i. 48.

1863-64.—"My men soon became aware of the unwelcome visitor, and raised the cry, 'A bear, a bear!'

"'Ahi! bap-re-bap! Oh, my father! go and drive him away,' said a timorous voice from under a blanket close by."—Lt.-Col. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 142.

BOBBERY-PACK, s. A pack of hounds of different breeds, or (oftener) of no breed at all, wherewith young officers hunt jackals or the like; presumably so called from the noise and disturbance that such a pack are apt to raise. And hence a 'scratch pack' of any kind, as a 'scratch match' at cricket, &c. (See a quotation under BUNOW.)

1878.—"... on the mornings when the 'bobbera' pack went out, of which Macpherson was 'master,' and I 'whip,' we used to be up by 4 A.M."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 142.

The following occurs in a letter received from an old Indian by one of the authors, some years ago:

"What a Cabinet —— has put together!—a regular bobbery-pack."

BOCCA TIGRIS, n.p. The name applied to the estuary of the Canton River. It appears to be an inaccurate reproduction of the Portuguese Boca do Tigre, and that to be a rendering of the Chinese name Hu-mēn, "Tiger Gate." Hence in the second quotation Tigris is supposed to be the name of the river.

1747.—"At 8 o'clock we passed the Bog of Tygers, and at noon the Lyon's Tower."—A Voy. to the E. Indies in 1747 and 1748.

1770.—"The City of Canton is situated on the banks of the Tigris, a large river...."—Raynal (tr. 1771), ii. 258.

1782.—"... à sept lieues de la bouche du Tigre, on apperçoit la Tour du Lion."—Sonnerat, Voyage, ii. 234.

[1900.—"The launch was taken up the Canton River and abandoned near the Bocca Tigris (the Bogue)."—The Times, 29 Oct.]

BOCHA, s. H. bochā. A kind of chair-palankin formerly in use in Bengal, but now quite forgotten.

1810.—"Ladies are usually conveyed about Calcutta ... in a kind of palanquin called a bochah ... being a compound of our sedan chair with the body of a chariot.... I should have observed that most of the gentlemen residing at Calcutta ride in bochahs."—Williamson, V. M. i. 322.

BOGUE, n.p. This name is applied by seamen to the narrows at the mouth of the Canton River, and is a corruption of Boca. (See BOCCA TIGRIS.)

BOLIAH, BAULEAH, s. Beng. bāūlīa. A kind of light accommodation boat with a cabin, in use on the Bengal rivers. We do not find the word in any of the dictionaries. Ives, in the middle of the 18th century, describes it as a boat very long, but so narrow that only one man could sit in the breadth, though it carried a multitude of rowers. This is not the character of the boat so called now. [Buchanan Hamilton, writing about 1820, says: "The bhauliya is intended for the same purpose, [conveyance of passengers], and is about the same size as the Pansi (see PAUNCHWAY). It is sharp at both ends, rises at the ends less than the Pansi, and its tilt is placed in the middle, the rowers standing both before and behind the place of accommodation of passengers. On the Kosi, the Bhauliya is a large fishing-boat, carrying six or seven men." (Eastern India, iii. 345.) Grant (Rural Life, p. 5) gives a drawing and description of the modern boat.]

1757.—"To get two bolias, a Goordore, and 87 dandies from the Nazir."—Ives, 157.

1810.—"On one side the picturesque boats of the natives, with their floating huts; on the other the bolios and pleasure-boats of the English."—Maria Graham, 142.

1811.—"The extreme lightness of its construction gave it incredible ... speed. An example is cited of a Governor General who in his Bawaleea performed in 8 days the voyage from Lucknow to Calcutta, a distance of 400 marine leagues."—Solvyns, iii. The drawing represents a very light skiff, with only a small kiosque at the stern.

1824.—"We found two Bholiahs, or large row-boats, with convenient cabins...."—Heber, i. 26.

1834.—"Rivers's attention had been attracted by seeing a large beauliah in the act of swinging to the tide."—The Baboo, i. 14.

BOLTA, s. A turn of a rope; sea H. from Port. volta (Roebuck).

BOMBASA, n.p. The Island of Mombasa, off the E. African Coast, is so called in some old works. Bombāsī is used in Persia for a negro slave; see quotation.

1516.—"... another island, in which there is a city of the Moors called Bombaza, very large and beautiful."—Barbosa, 11. See also Colonial Papers under 1609, i. 188.

1883.—"... the Bombassi, or coal-black negro of the interior, being of much less price, and usually only used as a cook."—Wills, Modern Persia, 326.

BOMBAY, n.p. It has been alleged, often and positively (as in the quotations below from Fryer and Grose), that this name is an English corruption from the Portuguese Bombahia, 'good bay.' The grammar of the alleged etymon is bad, and the history is no better; for the name can be traced long before the Portuguese occupation, long before the arrival of the Portuguese in India. C. 1430, we find the islands of Mahim and Mumba-Devi, which united form the existing island of Bombay, held, along with Salsette, by a Hindu Rāī, who was tributary to the Mohammedan King of Guzerat. (See Rās Mālā, ii. 350); [ed. 1878, p. 270]. The same form reappears (1516) in Barbosa's Tana-Mayambu (p. 68), in the Estado da India under 1525, and (1563) in Garcia de Orta, who writes both Mombaim and Bombaim. The latter author, mentioning the excellence of the areca produced there, speaks of himself having had a grant of the island from the King of Portugal (see below). It is customarily called Bombaim on the earliest English Rupee coinage. (See under RUPEE.) The shrine of the goddess Mumba-Devī from whom the name is supposed to have been taken, stood on the Esplanade till the middle of the 17th century, when it was removed to its present site in the middle of what is now the most frequented part of the native town.

1507.—"Sultan Mahommed Bigarrah of Guzerat having carried an army against Chaiwal, in the year of the Hijra 913, in order to destroy the Europeans, he effected his designs against the towns of Bassai (see BASSEIN) and Manbai, and returned to his own capital...."—Mirat-i-Ahmedi (Bird's transl.), 214-15.

1508.—"The Viceroy quitted Dabul, passing by Chaul, where he did not care to go in, to avoid delay, and anchored at Bombaim, whence the people fled when they saw the fleet, and our men carried off many cows, and caught some blacks whom they found hiding in the woods, and of these they took away those that were good, and killed the rest."—Correa, i. 926.

1516.—"... a fortress of the before-named King (of Guzerat), called Tana-mayambu, and near it is a Moorish town, very pleasant, with many gardens ... a town of very great Moorish mosques, and temples of worship of the Gentiles ... it is likewise a sea port, but of little trade."—Barbosa, 69. The name here appears to combine, in a common oriental fashion, the name of the adjoining town of Thana (see TANA) and Bombay.

1525.—"E a Ilha de Mombayn, que no forall velho estaua em catorze mill e quatro cento fedeas ... j̃ xiiij. iiii.^c fedeas.

"E os anos otros estaua arrendada por mill trezentos setenta e cinque pardaos ... j̃ iii.^c lxxv. pardaos.

"Foy aforada a mestre Dioguo pelo dito governador, por mill quatro centos trinta dous pardaos méo ... j̃ iiij.^c xxxij. pardaos méo."—Tombo do Estada da India, 160-161.

1531.—"The Governor at the island of Bombaim awaited the junction of the whole expedition, of which he made a muster, taking a roll from each captain, of the Portuguese soldiers and sailors and of the captive slaves who could fight and help, and of the number of musketeers, and of other people, such as servants. And all taken together he found in the whole fleet some 3560 soldiers (homens d'armas), counting captains and gentlemen; and some 1450 Portuguese seamen, with the pilots and masters; and some 2000 soldiers who were Malabars and Goa Canarines; and 8000 slaves fit to fight; and among these he found more than 3000 musketeers (espingardeiros), and 4000 country seamen who could row (marinheiros de terra remeiros), besides the mariners of the junks who were more than 800; and with married and single women, and people taking goods and provisions to sell, and menial servants, the whole together was more than 30,000 souls...."—Correa, iii. 392.

1538.—"The Isle of Bombay has on the south the waters of the bay which is called after it, and the island of Chaul; on the N. the island of Salsete; on the east Salsete also; and on the west the Indian Ocean. The land of this island is very low, and covered with great and beautiful groves of trees. There is much game, and abundance of meat and rice, and there is no memory of any scarcity. Nowadays it is called the island of Boa-Vida; a name given to it by Hector da Silveira, because when his fleet was cruising on this coast his soldiers had great refreshment and enjoyment there."—J. de Castro, Primeiro Roteiro, p. 81.

1552.—"... a small stream called Bate which runs into the Bay of Bombain, and which is regarded as the demarcation between the Kingdom of Guzurate and the Kingdom of Decan."—Barros, I. ix. 1.

1552.—"The Governor advanced against Bombaym on the 6th February, which was moreover the very day on which Ash Wednesday fell."—Couto, IV., v. 5.

1554.—"Item of Mazaguao 8500 fedeas.

"Item of Monbaym, 17,000 fedeas.

"Rents of the land surrendered by the King of Canbaya in 1543, from 1535 to 1548."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 139.

1563.—"... and better still is (that the areca) of Mombaim, an estate and island which the King our Lord has graciously granted me on perpetual lease."^[43]—Garcia De Orta, f. 91v.

" "Servant. Sir, here is Simon Toscano, your tenant at Bombaim, who has brought this basket of mangoes for you to make a present to the Governor; and he says that when he has moored his vessel he will come here to put up."—Ibid. f. 134v.

1644.—"Description of the Port of Mombaym.... The Viceroy Conde de Linhares sent the 8 councillors to fortify this Bay, so that no European enemy should be able to enter. These Ministers visited the place, and were of opinion that the width (of the entrance) being so great, becoming even wider and more unobstructed further in, there was no place that you could fortify so as to defend the entrance...."—Bocarro, MS. f. 227.

1666.—"Ces Tchérons ... demeurent pour la plupart à Baroche, à Bambaye et à Amedabad."—Thevenot, v. 40.

" "De Bacaim à Bombaiim il y a six lieues."—Ibid. 248.

1673.—"December the Eighth we paid our Homage to the Union-flag flying on the Fort of Bombaim."—Fryer, 59.

" "Bombaim ... ventures furthest out into the Sea, making the Mouth of a spacious Bay, whence it has its Etymology; Bombaim, quasi Boon bay."—Ibid. 62.

1676.—"Since the present King of England married the Princess of Portugall, who had in Portion the famous Port of Bombeye ... they coin both Silver, Copper, and Tinn."—Tavernier, E. T., ii. 6.

1677.—"Quod dicta Insula de Bombaim, una cum dependentiis suis, nobis ab origine bonâ fide ex pacto (sicut oportuit) tradita non fuerit."—King Charles II. to the Viceroy L. de Mendoza Furtado, in Descn., &c. of the Port and Island of Bombay, 1724, p. 77.

1690.—"This Island has its Denomination from the Harbour, which ... was originally called Boon Bay, i.e. in the Portuguese Language, a Good Bay or Harbour."—Ovington, 129.

1711.—Lockyer declares it to be impossible, with all the Company's Strength and Art, to make Bombay "a Mart of great Business."—P. 83.

c. 1760.—"... one of the most commodious bays perhaps in the world, from which distinction it received the denomination of Bombay, by corruption from the Portuguese Buona-Bahia, though now usually written by them Bombaim."—Grose, i. 29.

1770.—"No man chose to settle in a country so unhealthy as to give rise to the proverb That at Bombay a man's life did not exceed two monsoons."—Raynal (E. T., 1777), i. 389.

1809.—"The largest pagoda in Bombay is in the Black Town.... It is dedicated to Momba Devee ... who by her images and attributes seems to be Parvati, the wife of Siva."—Maria Graham, 14.

BOMBAY BOX-WORK. This well-known manufacture, consisting in the decoration of boxes, desks, &c., with veneers of geometrical mosaic, somewhat after the fashion of Tunbridge ware, is said to have been introduced from Shiraz to Surat more than a century ago, and some 30 years later from Surat to Bombay. The veneers are formed by cementing together fine triangular prisms of ebony, ivory, green-stained ivory, stag's horn, and tin, so that the sections when sawn across form the required pattern, and such thin sections are then attached to the panels of the box with strong glue.

BOMBAY DUCK.—See BUMMELO.

BOMBAY MARINE. This was the title borne for many years by the meritorious but somewhat depressed service which in 1830 acquired the style of the "Indian Navy," and on 30th April, 1863, ceased to exist. The detachments of this force which took part in the China War (1841-42) were known to their brethren of the Royal Navy, under the temptation of alliteration, as the "Bombay Buccaneers." In their earliest employment against the pirates of Western India and the Persian Gulf, they had been known as "the Grab Service." But, no matter for these names, the history of this Navy is full of brilliant actions and services. We will quote two noble examples of public virtue:

(1) In July 1811, a squadron under Commodore John Hayes took two large junks issuing from Batavia, then under blockade. These were lawful prize, laden with Dutch property, valued at £600,000. But Hayes knew that such a capture would create great difficulties and embarrassments in the English trade at Canton, and he directed the release of this splendid prize.

(2) 30th June 1815, Lieut. Boyce in the brig 'Nautilus' (180 tons, carrying ten 18-pr. carronades, and four 9-prs.) encountered the U. S. sloop-of-war 'Peacock' (539 tons, carrying twenty 32-pr. carronades, and two long 18-prs.). After he had informed the American of the ratification of peace, Boyce was peremptorily ordered to haul down his colours, which he answered by a flat refusal. The 'Peacock' opened fire, and a short but brisk action followed, in which Boyce and his first lieutenant were shot down. The gallant Boyce had a special pension from the Company (£435 in all) and lived to his 93rd year to enjoy it.

We take the facts from the History of this Navy by one of its officers, Lieut. C. R. Low (i. 294), but he erroneously states the pension to have been granted by the U.S. Govt.

1780.—"The Hon. Company's schooner, Carinjar, with Lieut. Murry Commander, of the Bombay Marines, is going to Archin (sic, see ACHEEN) to meet the Ceres and the other Europe ships from Madrass, to put on board of them the St. Helena stores."—Hicky's Bengal Gazette, April 8th.

BONITO, s. A fish (Thynnus pelamys, Day) of the same family (Scombridae) as mackerel and tunny, very common in the Indian seas. The name is Port., and apparently is the adj. bonito, 'fine.'

c. 1610.—"On y pesche vne quantité admirable de gros poissons, de sept ou huit sortes, qui sont néantmoins quasi de mesme race et espece ... commes bonites, albachores, daurades, et autres."—Pyrard, i. 137.

1615.—"Bonitoes and albicores are in colour, shape, and taste much like to Mackerils, but grow to be very large."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1464.

c. 1620.—

c. 1760.—"The fish undoubtedly takes its name from relishing so well to the taste of the Portuguese ... that they call it Bonito, which answers in our tongue to delicious."—Grose, i. 5.

1764.—

1773.—"The Captain informed us he had named his ship the Bonnetta, out of gratitude to Providence; for once ... the ship in which he then sailed was becalmed for five weeks, and during all that time, numbers of the fish Bonnetta swam close to her, and were caught for food; he resolved therefore that the ship he should next get should be called the Bonnetta."—Boswell, Journal of a Tour, &c., under Oct. 16, 1773.

BONZE, s. A term long applied by Europeans in China to the Buddhist clergy, but originating with early visitors to Japan. Its origin is however not quite clear. The Chinese Fán-sēng, 'a religious person' is in Japanese bonzi or bonzô; but Köppen prefers fă-sze, 'Teacher of the Law,' pron. in Japanese bo-zi (Die Rel. des Buddha, i. 321, and also Schott's Zur Litt. des Chin. Buddhismus, 1873, p. 46). It will be seen that some of the old quotations favour one, and some the other, of these sources. On the other hand, Bandhya (for Skt. vandya, 'to whom worship or reverence is due, very reverend') seems to be applied in Nepal to the Buddhist clergy, and Hodgson considers the Japanese bonze (bonzô?) traceable to this. (Essays, 1874, p. 63.) The same word, as bandhe or bande, is in Tibetan similarly applied.—(See Jaeschke's Dict., p. 365.) The word first occurs in Jorge Alvarez's account of Japan, and next, a little later, in the letters of St. Francis Xavier. Cocks in his Diary uses forms approaching boze.

1549.—"I find the common secular people here less impure and more obedient to reason than their priests, whom they call bonzos."—Letter of St. F. Xavier, in Coleridge's Life, ii. 238.

1552.—"Erubescunt enim, et incredibiliter confunduntur Bonzii, ubi male cohaerere, ac pugnare inter sese ea, quae docent, palam ostenditur."—Scti. Fr. Xaverii Epistt. V. xvii., ed. 1667.

1572.—"... sacerdotes ... qui ipsorum linguâ Bonzii appellantur."—E. Acosta, 58.

1585.—"They have amongst them (in Japan) many priests of their idols whom they call Bonsos, of the which there be great convents."—Parkes's Tr. of Mendoza (1589), ii. 300.

1590.—"This doctrine doe all they embrace, which are in China called Cen, but with us at Iapon are named Bonzi."—An Exct. Treatise of the Kingd. of China, &c., Hakl. ii. 580.

c. 1606.—"Capt. Saris has Bonzees."—Purchas, i. 374.

1618.—"And their is 300 boze (or pagon pristes) have alowance and mentaynance for eaver to pray for his sole, in the same sorte as munkes and fryres use to doe amongst the Roman papistes."—Cocks's Diary, ii. 75; [in i. 117, bose]; bosses (i. 143).

[1676.—"It is estimated that there are in this country (Siam) more than 200,000 priests called Bonzes."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 293.]

1727.—"... or perhaps make him fadge in a China bonzee in his Calendar, under the name of a Christian Saint."—A. Hamilton, i. 253.

1794-7.—

c. 1814.—

[(1) BORA, BOORA, s. Beng. bhada, a kind of cargo-boat used in the rivers of Bengal.

[1675.—"About noone overtook the eight boraes."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxxvii.

[1680.—"The boora ... being a very floaty light boat, rowinge with 20 to 30 Owars, these carry Salt Peeter and other goods from Hugly downewards, and some trade to Dacca with salt; they also serve for tow boats for ye ships bound up or downe ye river."—Ibid. ii. 15.]

(2) BORA s. H. and Guz. bohrā and bohorā, which H. H. Wilson refers to the Skt. vyavahārī, 'a trader, or man of affairs,' from which are formed the ordinary H. words byoharā, byohariyā (and a Guzerati form which comes very near bohorā). This is confirmed by the quotation from Nurullah below, but it is not quite certain. Dr. John Wilson (see below) gives an Arabic derivation which we have been unable to verify. [There can be no reasonable doubt that this is incorrect.]

There are two classes of Bohrās belonging to different Mohammedan sects, and different in habit of life.

1. The Shī'a Bohrās, who are essentially townspeople, and especially congregate in Surat, Burhanpur, Ujjain, &c. They are those best known far and wide by the name, and are usually devoted to trading and money-lending. Their original seat was in Guzerat, and they are most numerous there, and in the Bombay territory generally, but are also to be found in various parts of Central India and the N.-W. Provinces, [where they are all Hindus]. The word in Bombay is often used as synonymous with pedlar or boxwallah. They are generally well-to-do people, keeping very cleanly and comfortable houses. [See an account of them in Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 470 seqq. 2nd ed.] These Bohras appear to form one of the numerous Shī'a sects, akin in character to, and apparently of the same origin as, the Ismāīlīyah (or Assassins of the Middle Ages), and claim as their original head and doctor in India one Ya'ḳūb, who emigrated from Egypt, and landed in Cambay A.D. 1137. But the chief seat of the doctrine is alleged to have been in Yemen, till that country was conquered by the Turks in 1538. A large exodus of the sect to India then took place. Like the Ismāīlīs they attach a divine character to their Mullah or chief Pontiff, who now resides at Surat. They are guided by him in all things, and they pay him a percentage on their profits. But there are several sectarian subdivisions: Dāūdi Bohrās, Sulaimāni Bohrās, &c. [See Forbes, Rās Mālā, ed. 1878, p. 264 seqq.]