P (continued 3)

c. 1550.—"His soul quivered like a pipal leaf."—Rāmāyana of Tulsi Dás, by Growse (1878), ii. 25.

[c. 1590.—"In this place an arrow struck Sri Kishn and buried itself in a pipal tree on the banks of the Sarsuti."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 246.]

1806.—"Au sortir du village un pipal élève sa tête majestueuse.... Sa nombreuse posterité l'entoure au loin sur la plaine, telle qu'une armée de géans qui entrelacent fraternellement leurs bras informes."—Haafner, i. 149. This writer seems to mean a banyan. The peepul does not drop roots in that fashion.

1817.—"In the second ordeal, an excavation in the ground ... is filled with a fire of pippal wood, into which the party must walk barefoot, proving his guilt if he is burned; his innocence, if he escapes unhurt."—Mill (quoting from Halhed), ed. 1830, i. 280.

1826.—"A little while after this he arose, and went to a Peepul-tree, a short way off, where he appeared busy about something, I could not well make out what."—Pandurang Hari, 26; [ed. 1873, i. 36, reading Peepal].

1836.—"It is not proper to allow the English, after they have made made war, and peace has been settled, to remain in the city. They are accustomed to act like the Peepul tree. Let not Younger Brother therefore allow the English to remain in his country."—Letter from Court of China to Court of Ava. See Yule, Mission to Ava, p. 265.

1854.—"Je ne puis passer sous silence deux beaux arbres ... ce sont le peuplier d'Inde à larges feuilles, arbre réputé sacré...."—Pallegoix, Siam, i. 140.

1861.—

PEER, s. Pers. pīr, a Mahommedan Saint or Beatus. But the word is used elliptically for the tombs of such personages, the circumstance pertaining to them which chiefly creates notoriety or fame of sanctity; and it may be remarked that wali (or Wely as it is often written), Imāmzāda, Shaikh, and Marabout (see ADJUTANT), are often used in the same elliptical way in Syria, Persia, Egypt, and Barbary respectively. We may add that Nabī (Prophet) is used in the same fashion.

[1609.—See under NUGGURCOTE.

[1623.—"Within the Mesquita (see MOSQUE) ... is a kind of little Pyramid of Marble, and this they call Pir, that is Old, which they say is equivalent to Holy; I imagine it the Sepulchre of some one of their Sect accounted such."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 69.]

1665.—"On the other side was the Garden and the chambers of the Mullahs, who with great conveniency and delight spend their lives there under the shadow of the miraculous Sanctity of this Pire, which they are not wanting to celebrate: But as I am always very unhappy on such occasions, he did no Miracle that day upon any of the sick."—Bernier, 133; [ed. Constable, 415].

1673.—"Hard by this is a Peor, or Burying place of one of the Prophets, being a goodly monument."—Fryer, 240.

1869.—"Certains pirs sont tellement renommés, qu'ainsi qu'on le verra plus loin, le peuple a donné leurs noms aux mois lunaires où se trouvent placées les fêtes qu'on celèbre en leur honneur."—Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Musulm. p. 18.

The following are examples of the parallel use of the words named:

Wali:

1841.—"The highest part (of Hermon) crowned by the Wely, is towards the western end."—Robinson, Biblical Researches, iii. 173.

" "In many of the villages of Syria the Traveller will observe small dome-covered buildings, with grated windows and surmounted by the crescent. These are the so-called Welis, mausolea of saints, or tombs of sheikhs."—Baedeker's Egypt, Eng. ed. Pt. i. 150.

Imamzada:

1864.—"We rode on for three farsakhs, or fourteen miles, more to another Imámzádah, called Kafsh-gírí...."—Eastwick, Three Years' Residence in Persia, ii. 46.

1883.—"The few villages ... have numerous walled gardens, with rows of poplar and willow-trees and stunted mulberries, and the inevitable Imamzadehs."—Col. Beresford Lovett's Itinerary Notes of Route Surveys in N. Persia in 1881 and 1882, Proc. R.G.S. (N.S.) v. 73.

Shaikh:

1817.—"Near the ford (on Jordan), half a mile to the south, is a tomb called 'Sheikh Daoud,' standing on an apparent round hill like a barrow."—Irby and Mangles, Travels in Egypt, &c., 304.

Nabi:

1856.—"Of all the points of interest about Jerusalem, none perhaps gains so much from an actual visit to Palestine as the lofty-peaked eminence which fills up the north-west corner of the table-land.... At present it bears the name of Nebi-Samuel, which is derived from the Mussulman tradition—now perpetuated by a mosque and tomb—that here lies buried the prophet Samuel."—Stanley's Palestine, 165.

So also Nabi-Yūnus at Nineveh; and see Nebi-Mousa in De Saulcy, ii. 73.

PEGU, n.p. The name which we give to the Kingdom which formerly existed in the Delta of the Irawadi, to the city which was its capital, and to the British province which occupies its place. The Burmese name is Bagó. This name belongs to the Talaing language, and is popularly alleged to mean 'conquered by stratagem,' to explain which a legend is given; but no doubt this is mere fancy. The form Pegu, as in many other cases of our geographical nomenclature, appears to come through the Malays, who call it Paigū. The first European mention that we know of is in Conti's narrative (c. 1440) where Poggio has Latinized it as Pauco-nia; but Fra Mauro, who probably derived this name, with much other new knowledge, from Conti, has in his great map (c. 1459) the exact Malay form Paigu. Nikitin (c. 1475) has, if we may depend on his translator into English, Pegu, as has Hieronimo di S. Stefano (1499). The Roteiro of Vasco da Gama (1498) has Pegúo, and describes the land as Christian, a mistake arising no doubt from the use of the ambiguous term Kāfir by his Mahommedan informants (see under CAFFER). Varthema (1510) has Pego, and Giov. da Empoli (1514) Pecù; Barbosa (1516) again Paygu; but Pegu is the usual Portuguese form, as in Barros, and so passed to us.

1498.—"Pegúo is a land of Christians, and the King is a Christian; and they are all white like us. This King can assemble 20,000 fighting men, i.e. 10,000 horsemen, as many footmen, and 400 war elephants; here is all the musk in the world ... and on the main land he has many rubies and much gold, so that for 10 cruzados you can buy as much gold as will fetch 25 in Calecut, and there is much lac (lacra) and benzoin...."—Roteiro, 112.

1505.—"Two merchants of Cochin took on them to save two of the ships; one from Pegú with a rich cargo of lac (lacre), benzoin, and musk, and another with a cargo of drugs from Banda, nutmeg, mace, clove, and sandalwood; and they embarked on the ships with their people, leaving to chance their own vessels, which had cargoes of rice, for the value of which the owners of the ships bound themselves."—Correa, i. 611.

1514.—"Then there is Pecù, which is a populous and noble city, abounding in men and in horses, where are the true mines of linoni (? 'di linoni e perfetti rubini,' perhaps should be 'di buoni e perfetti') and perfect rubies, and these in great plenty; and they are fine men, tall and well limbed and stout; as of a race of giants...."—Empoli, 80.

[1516.—"Peigu." (See under BURMA).]

1541.—"Bagou." (See under PEKING.)

1542.—"... and for all the goods which came from any other ports and places, viz. from Peguu to the said Port of Malaqua, from the Island of Çamatra and from within the Straits...."—Titolo of the Fortress and City of Malaqua, in Tombo, p. 105 in Subsidios.

1568.—"Concludo che non è in terra Re di possãza maggiore del Re di Pegù, per ciòche ha sotto di se venti Re di corona."—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 394.

1572.—

By Burton:

1597.—"... I recommend you to be very watchful not to allow the Turks to export any timber from the Kingdom of Pegú nor yet from that of Achin (do Dachem); and with this view you should give orders that this be the subject of treatment with the King of Dachem since he shows so great a desire for our friendship, and is treating in that sense."—Despatch from the King to Goa, 5th Feb. In Archiv. Port. Orient. Fasc. iii.

PEGU PONIES. These are in Madras sometimes termed elliptically Pegus, as Arab horses are universally termed Arabs. The ponies were much valued, and before the annexation of Pegu commonly imported into India; less commonly since, for the local demand absorbs them.

1880.—"For sale ... also Bubble and Squeak, bay Pegues."—Madras Mail, Feb. 19.

[1890.—"Ponies, sometimes very good ones, were reared in a few districts in Upper Burma, but, even in Burmese times, the supply was from the Shan States. The so-called Pegu Pony, of which a good deal is heard, is, in fact, not a Pegu pony at all, for the justly celebrated animals called by that name were imported from the Shan States."—Report of Capt. Evans, in Times, Oct. 17.]

PEKING, n.p. This name means 'North-Court,' and in its present application dates from the early reigns of the Ming Dynasty in China. When they dethroned the Mongol descendants of Chinghiz and Kublai (1368) they removed the capital from Taitu or Khānbāligh (Cambaluc of Polo) to the great city on the Yangtsze which has since been known as Nan-King or 'South-Court.' But before many years the Mongol capital was rehabilitated as the imperial residence, and became Pe-King accordingly. Its preparation for reoccupation began in 1409. The first English mention that we have met with is that quoted by Sainsbury, in which we have the subjects of more than one allusion in Milton.

1520.—"Thomé Pires, quitting this pass, arrived at the Province of Nanquij, at its chief city called by the same name, where the King dwelt, and spent in coming thither always travelling north, four months; by which you may take note how vast a matter is the empire of this gentile prince. He sent word to Thomé Pires that he was to wait for him at Pequij, where he would despatch his affair. This city is in another province so called, much further north, in which the King used to dwell for the most part, because it was on the frontier of the Tartars...."—Barros, III. vi. 1.

1541.—"This City of Pequin ... is so prodigious, and the things therein so remarkable, as I do almost repent me for undertaking to discourse of it.... For one must not imagine it to be, either as the City of Rome, or Constantinople, or Venice, or Paris, or London, or Sevill, or Lisbon.... Nay I will say further, that one must not think it to be like to Grand Cairo in Egypt, Tauris in Persia, Amadaba (Amadabad, Avadavat) in Cambaya, Bisnaga(r) in Narsingaa, Goura (Gouro) in Bengala, Ava in Chalen, Timplan in Calaminham, Martaban (Martavão) and Bagou in Pegu, Guimpel and Tinlau in Siammon, Odia in the Kingdom of Sornau, Passavan and Dema in the Island of Java, Pangor in the Country of the Lequiens (no Lequio), Usangea (Uzãgnè) in the Grand Cauchin, Lancama (Laçame) in Tartary, and Meaco (Mioco) in Jappun ... for I dare well affirm that all those same are not to be compared to the least part of the wonderful City of Pequin...."—Pinto (in Cogan), p. 136 (orig. cap. cvii.).

[c. 1586.—"The King maketh alwayes his abode in the great city Pachin, as much as to say in our language ... the towne of the kingdome."—Reports of China, in Hakl. ii. 546.]

1614.—"Richard Cocks writing from Ferando understands there are great cities in the country of Corea, and between that and the sea mighty bogs, so that no man can travel there; but great waggons have been invented to go upon broad flat wheels, under sail as ships do, in which they transport their goods ... the deceased Emperor of Japan did pretend to have conveyed a great army in these sailing waggons, to assail the Emperor of China in his City of Paquin."—In Sainsbury, i. 343.

166*.—

PELICAN, s. This word, in its proper application to the Pelicanus onocrotalus, L., is in no respect peculiar to Anglo-India, though we may here observe that the bird is called in Hindi by the poetical name gagan-bheṛ, i.e. 'Sheep of the Sky,' which we have heard natives with their strong propensity to metathesis convert into the equally appropriate Gangā-bheṛī or 'Sheep of the Ganges.' The name may be illustrated by the old term 'Cape-sheep' applied to the albatross.^[222] But Pelican is habitually misapplied by the British soldier in India to the bird usually called Adjutant (q.v.). We may remember how Prof. Max Müller, in his Lectures on Language, tells us that the Tahitians show respect to their sovereign by ceasing to employ in common language those words which form part or the whole of his name, and invent new terms to supply their place. "The object was clearly to guard against the name of the sovereign being ever used, even by accident, in ordinary conversation," 2nd ser. 1864, p. 35, [Frazer, Golden Bough, 2nd ed. i. 421 seqq.]. Now, by an analogous process, it is possible that some martinet, holding the office of adjutant, at an early date in the Anglo-Indian history, may have resented the ludicrously appropriate employment of the usual name of the bird, and so may have introduced the entirely inappropriate name of pelican in its place. It is in the recollection of one of the present writers that a worthy northern matron, who with her husband had risen from the ranks in the —th Light Dragoons, on being challenged for speaking of "the pelicans in the barrack-yard," maintained her correctness, conceding only that "some ca'd them paylicans, some ca'd them audjutants."

1829.—"This officer ... on going round the yard (of the military prison) ... discovered a large beef-bone recently dropped. The sergeant was called to account for this ominous appearance. This sergeant was a shrewd fellow, and he immediately said,—'Oh Sir, the pelicans have dropped it.' This was very plausible, for these birds will carry enormous bones; and frequently when fighting for them they drop them, so that this might very probably have been the case. The moment the dinner-trumpet sounds, whole flocks of these birds are in attendance at the barrack-doors, waiting for bones, or anything that the soldiers may be pleased to throw to them."—Mem. of John Shipp, ii. 25.

PENANG, n.p. This is the proper name of the Island adjoining the Peninsula of Malacca (Pulo, properly Pulau, Pinang), which on its cession to the English (1786) was named 'Prince of Wales's Island.' But this official style has again given way to the old name. Pinang in Malay signifies an areca-nut or areca-tree, and, according to Crawfurd, the name was given on account of the island's resemblance in form to the fruit of the tree (vulgo, 'the betel-nut').

1592.—"Now the winter coming vpon vs with much contagious weather, we directed our course from hence with the Ilands of Pulo Pinaou (where by the way is to be noted that Pulo in the Malaian tongue signifieth an Iland) ... where we came to an anker in a very good harborough betweene three Ilands.... This place is in 6 degrees and a halfe to the Northward, and some fiue leagues from the maine betweene Malacca and Pegu."—Barker, in Hakl. ii. 589-590.

PENANG LAWYER, s. The popular name of a handsome and hard (but sometimes brittle) walking-stick, exported from Penang and Singapore. It is the stem of a miniature palm (Licuala acutifida, Griffith). The sticks are prepared by scraping the young stem with glass, so as to remove the epidermis and no more. The sticks are then straightened by fire and polished (Balfour). The name is popularly thought to have originated in a jocular supposition that law-suits in Penang were decided by the lex baculina. But there can be little doubt that it is a corruption of some native term, and pinang liyar, 'wild areca' [or pinang lāyor, "fire-dried areca," which is suggested in N.E.D.], may almost be assumed to be the real name. [Dennys (Descr. Dict. s.v.) says from "Layor, a species of cane furnishing the sticks so named." But this is almost certainly wrong.]

1883.—(But the book—an excellent one—is without date—more shame to the Religious Tract Society which publishes it). "Next morning, taking my 'Penang lawyer' to defend myself from dogs...." The following note is added: "A Penang lawyer is a heavy walking-stick, supposed to be so called from its usefulness in settling disputes in Penang."—Gilmour, Among the Mongols, 14.

PENGUIN, s. Popular name of several species of birds belonging to the genera Aptenodytes and Spheniscus. We have not been able to ascertain the etymology of this name. It may be from the Port. pingue, 'fat.' See Littré. He quotes Clausius as picturing it, who says they were called a pinguedine. It is surely not that given by Sir Thomas Herbert in proof of the truth of the legend of Madoc's settlement in America; and which is indeed implied 60 years before by the narrator of Drake's voyage; though probably borrowed by Herbert direct from Selden.

1578.—"In these Islands we found greate relief and plenty of good victuals, for infinite were the number of fowle which the Welsh men named Penguin, and Magilanus tearmed them geese...."—Drake's Voyage, by F. Fletcher, Hak. Soc. p. 72.

1593.—"The pengwin described."—Hawkins, V. to S. Sea, p. 111, Hak. Soc.

1606.—"The Pengwines bee as bigge as our greatest Capons we have in England, they have no winges nor cannot flye ... they bee exceeding fatte, but their flesh is verie ranke...."—Middleton, f. B. 4.

1609.—"Nous trouvâmes beaucoup de Chiẽs de Mer, et Oyseaux qu'on appelle Penguyns, dont l'Escueil en estait quasi couvert."—Houtman, p. 4.

c. 1610.—"... le reste est tout couvert ... d'vne quantité d'Oyseaux nommez pinguy, qui font là leurs oeufs et leurs petits, et il y en a une quantité si prodigieuse qu'on ne sçauroit mettre ... le pied en quelque endroit que ce soit sans toucher."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 73; [Hak. Soc. i. 97, also see i. 16].

1612.—"About the year CIↃ. C.LXX. Madoc brother to David ap Owen, prince of Wales, made this sea voyage (to Florida); and by probability these names of Capo de Briton in Norumbeg, and Pengwin in part of the Northern America, for a white rock, and a white-headed bird, according to the British, were relicks of this discovery."—Selden, Notes on Drayton's Polyolbion, in Works (ed. 1726), iii. col. 1802.

1616.—"The Island called Pen-guin Island, probably so named by some Welshman, in whose Language Pen-guin signifies a white head; and there are many great lazy fowls upon, and about, this Island, with great cole-black bodies, and very white heads, called Penguins."—Terry, ed. 1665, p. 334.

1638.—"... that this people (of the Mexican traditions) were Welsh rather than Spaniards or others, the Records of this Voyage writ by many Bardhs and Genealogists confirme it ... made more orthodoxall by Welsh names given there to birds, rivers, rocks, beasts, &c., as ... Pengwyn, refer'd by them to a bird that has a white head...."—Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, &c., p. 360.

Unfortunately for this etymology the head is precisely that part which seems in all species of the bird to be black! But M. Roulin, quoted by Littré, maintains the Welsh (or Breton) etymology, thinking the name was first given to some short-winged sea-bird with a white head, and then transferred to the penguin. And Terry, if to be depended on, supports this view. [So Prof. Skeat (Concise Dict., s.v.): "In that case, it must first have been given to another bird, such as the auk (the puffin is common in Anglesey), since the penguin's head is black."]

1674.—

[1869.—In Lombock ducks "are very cheap and are largely consumed by the crews of the rice ships, by whom they are called Baly-soldiers, but are more generally known elsewhere as penguin-ducks."—Wallace, Malay Archip. ed. 1890, p. 135.]

PEON, s. This is a Portuguese word peão (Span. peon); from pé, 'foot,' and meaning a 'footman' (also a pawn at chess), and is not therefore a corruption, as has been alleged, of Hind. piyāda, meaning the same; though the words are, of course ultimately akin in root. It was originally used in the sense of 'a foot-soldier'; thence as 'orderly' or messenger. The word Sepoy was used within our recollection, and perhaps is still, in the same sense in the city of Bombay. The transition of meaning comes out plainly in the quotation from Ives. In the sense of 'orderly,' peon is the word usual in S. India, whilst chuprassy (q.v.) is more common in N. India, though peon is also used there. The word is likewise very generally employed for men on police service (see BURKUNDAUZE). [Mr. Skeat notes that Piyun is used in the Malay States, and Tambi or Tanby at Singapore]. The word had probably become unusual in Portugal by 1600; for Manoel Correa, an early commentator on the Lusiads (d. 1613), thinks it necessary to explain piões by 'gente de pé.'

1503.—"The Çamorym ordered the soldier (pião) to take the letter away, and strictly forbade him to say anything about his having seen it."—Correa, Lendas, I. i. 421.

1510.—"So the Sabayo, putting much trust in this (Rumi), made him captain within the city (Goa), and outside of it put under him a captain of his with two thousand soldiers (piães) from the Balagate...."—Ibid. II. i. 51.

1563.—"The pawn (pião) they call Piada, which is as much as to say a man who travels on foot."—Garcia, f. 37.

1575.—

By Burton:

1609.—"The first of February the Capitaine departed with fiftie Peons...."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 421.

c. 1610.—"Les Pions marchent après le prisonnier, lié avec des cordes qu'ils tiennent."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 11; [Hak. Soc. ii. 17; also i. 428, 440; ii. 16].

[1616.—"This Shawbunder (see SHABUNDER) imperiously by a couple of Pyons commanded him from me."—Foster, Letters, iv. 351.]

c. 1630.—"The first of December, with some Pe-unes (or black Foot-boyes, who can pratle some English) we rode (from Swally) to Surat."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1638, p. 35. [For "black" the ed. of 1677 reads "olive-coloured," p. 42.]

1666.—"... siete cientos y treinta y tres mil peones."—Faria y Sousa, i. 195.

1673.—"The Town is walled with Mud, and Bulwarks for Watch-Places for the English peons."—Fryer, 29.

" "... Peons or servants to wait on us."—Ibid. 26.

1687.—"Ordered that ten peons be sent along the coast to Pulicat ... and enquire all the way for goods driven ashore."—In Wheeler, i. 179.

1689.—"At this Moors Town, they got a Peun to be their guide to the Mogul's nearest Camp.... These Peuns are some of the Gentous or Rashbouts (see RAJPOOT), who in all places along the Coast, especially in Seaport Towns, make it their business to hire themselves to wait upon Strangers."—Dampier, i. 508.

" "A Peon of mine, named Gemal, walking abroad in the Grass after the Rains, was unfortunately bit on a sudden by one of them" (a snake).—Ovington, 260.

1705.—"... pions qui sont ce que nous appellons ici des Gardes...."—Luillier, 218.

1745.—"Dès le lendemain je fis assembler dans la Forteresse où je demeurois en qualité d'Aumonier, le Chef des Pions, chez qui s'étaient fait les deux mariages."—Norbert, Mém. iii. 129.

1746.—"As the Nabob's behaviour when Madras was attacked by De la Bourdonnais, had caused the English to suspect his assurances of assistance, they had 2,000 Peons in the defence of Cuddalore...."—Orme, i. 81.

c. 1760.—"Peon. One who waits about the house to run on messages; and he commonly carries under his arm a sword, or in his sash a krese, and in his hand a ratan, to keep the rest of the servants in subjection. He also walks before your palanquin, carries chits (q.v.) or notes, and is your bodyguard."—Ives, 50.

1763.—"Europeans distinguish these undisciplined troops by the general name of Peons."—Orme, ed. 1803, i. 80.

1772.—Hadley, writing in Bengal, spells the word pune; but this is evidently phonetic.

c. 1785.—"... Peons, a name for the infantry of the Deckan."—Carraccioli's Life of Clive, iv. 563.

1780-90.—"I sent off annually from Sylhet from 150 to 200 (elephants) divided into 4 distinct flocks.... They were put under charge of the common peon. These people were often absent 18 months. On one occasion my servant Manoo ... after a twelve-months' absence returned ... in appearance most miserable; he unfolded his girdle, and produced a scrap of paper of small dimensions, which proved to be a banker's bill amounting to 3 or 4,000 pounds,—his own pay was 30 shillings a month.... When I left India Manoo was still absent on one of these excursions, but he delivered to my agents as faithful an account of the produce as he would have done to myself...."—Hon. R. Lindsay, in Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 77.

1842.—"... he was put under arrest for striking, and throwing into the Indus, an inoffensive Peon, who gave him no provocation, but who was obeying the orders he received from Captain ——. The Major General has heard it said that the supremacy of the British over the native must be maintained in India, and he entirely concurs in that opinion, but it must be maintained by justice."—Gen. Orders, &c., of Sir Ch. Napier, p. 72.

1873.—"Pandurang is by turns a servant to a shopkeeper, a peon, or orderly, a groom to an English officer ... and eventually a pleader before an English Judge in a populous city."—Saturday Review, May 31, p. 728.

PEPPER, s. The original of this word, Skt. pippali, means not the ordinary pepper of commerce ('black pepper') but long pepper, and the Sanskrit name is still so applied in Bengal, where one of the long-pepper plants, which have been classed sometimes in a different genus (Chavica) from the black pepper, was at one time much cultivated. There is still indeed a considerable export of long pepper from Calcutta; and a kindred species grows in the Archipelago. Long pepper is mentioned by Pliny, as well as white and black pepper; the three varieties still known in trade, though with the kind of error that has persisted on such subjects till quite recently, he misapprehends their relation. The proportion of their ancient prices will be found in a quotation below.

The name must have been transferred by foreign traders to black pepper, the staple of export, at an early date, as will be seen from the quotations. Pippalimūla, the root of long pepper, still a stimulant medicine in the native pharmacopoeia, is probably the πεπέρεως ῥίζα of the ancients (Royle, p. 86).

We may say here that Black pepper is the fruit of a perennial climbing shrub, Piper nigrum, L., indigenous in the forests of Malabar and Travancore, and thence introduced into the Malay countries, particularly Sumatra.

White pepper is prepared from the black by removing the dark outer layer of pericarp, thereby depriving it of a part of its pungency. It comes chiefly viâ Singapore from the Dutch settlement of Rhio, but a small quantity of fine quality comes from Tellicherry in Malabar.

Long pepper is derived from two shrubby plants, Piper officinarum, C.D.C., a native of the Archipelago, and Piper longum, L., indigenous in Malabar, Ceylon, E. Bengal, Timor, and the Philippines. Long pepper is the fruit-spike gathered and dried when not quite ripe (Hanbury and Flückiger, Pharmacographia). All these kinds of pepper were, as has been said, known to the ancients.

c. 70 A.D.—"The cornes or graines ... lie in certaine little huskes or cods.... If that be plucked from the tree before they gape and open of themselves, they make that spice which is called Long pepper; but if as they do ripen, they cleave and chawne by little and little, they shew within the white pepper: which afterwards beeing parched in the Sunne, chaungeth colour and waxeth blacke, and therewith riveled also.... Long pepper is soone sophisticated, with the senvie or mustard seed of Alexandria: and a pound of it is worth fifteen Roman deniers. The white costeth seven deniers a pound, and the black is sold after foure deniers by the pound."—Pliny, tr. by Phil. Holland, Bk. xii. ch. 7.

c. 80-90.—"And there come to these marts great ships, on account of the bulk and quantity of pepper and malabathrum.... The pepper is brought (to market) here, being produced largely only in one district near these marts, that which is called Kottonarikē."—Periplus, § 56.

c. A.D. 100.—"The Pepper-tree (πέπερι δένδρον) is related to grow in India; it is short, and the fruit as it first puts it forth is long, resembling pods; and this long pepper has within it (grains) like small millet, which are what grow to be the perfect (black) pepper. At the proper season it opens and puts forth a cluster bearing the berries such as we know them. But those that are like unripe grapes, which constitute the white pepper, serve the best for eye-remedies, and for antidotes, and for theriacal potencies."—Dioscorides, Mat. Med. ii. 188.

c. 545.—"This is the pepper-tree" (there is a drawing). "Every plant of it is twined round some lofty forest tree, for it is weak and slim like the slender stems of the vine. And every bunch of fruit has a double leaf as a shield; and it is very green, like the green of rue."—Cosmas, Book xi.

c. 870.—"The mariners say every bunch of pepper has over it a leaf that shelters it from the rain. When the rain ceases the leaf turns aside; if rain recommences the leaf again covers the fruit."—Ibn Khurdādba, in Journ. As. 6th ser. tom. v. 284.

1166.—"The trees which bear this fruit are planted in the fields which surround the towns, and every one knows his plantation. The trees are small, and the pepper is originally white, but when they collect it they put it into basons and pour hot water upon it; it is then exposed to the heat of the sun, and dried ... in the course of which process it becomes of a black colour."—Rabbi Benjamin, in Wright, p. 114.

c. 1330.—"L'albore che fa il pepe è fatto come l'elera che nasce su per gli muri. Questo pepe sale su per gli arbori che l'uomini piantano a modo de l'elera, e sale sopra tutti li arbori più alti. Questo pepe fa rami a modo dell'uve; ... e maturo si lo vendemiano a modo de l'uve e poi pongono il pepe al sole a seccare come uve passe, e nulla altra cosa si fa del pepe."—Odoric, in Cathay, App. xlvii.

PERGUNNAH, s. Hind. pargana [Skt. pragaṇ, 'to reckon up'], a subdivision of a 'District' (see ZILLAH).

c. 1500.—"The divisions into súbas (see SOUBA) and parganas, which are maintained to the present day in the province of Tatta, were made by these people" (the Samma Dynasty).—Tárikh-i-Táhirí, in Elliot, i. 273.

1535.—"Item, from the three praguanas, viz., Anzor, Cairena, Panchenaa 133,260 fedeas."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 139.

[1614.—"I wrote him to stay in the Pregonas near Agra."—Foster, Letters, ii. 106.]

[1617.—"For that Muckshud had also newly answered he had mist his prigany."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 415.]

1753.—"Masulipatnam ... est capitale de ce qu'on appelle dans l'Inde un Sercar (see SIRCAR), qui comprend plusieurs Perganés, ou districts particuliers."—D'Anville, 132.

1812.—"A certain number of villages with a society thus organised, formed a pergunnah."—Fifth Report, 16.

PERGUNNAHS, THE TWENTY-FOUR, n.p. The official name of the District immediately adjoining and inclosing, though not administratively including, Calcutta. The name is one of a character very ancient in India and the East. It was the original 'Zemindary of Calcutta' granted to the English Company by a 'Subadar's Perwana' in 1757-58. This grant was subsequently confirmed by the Great Mogul as an unconditional and rent-free jagheer (q.v.). The quotation from Sir Richard Phillips' Million of Facts, illustrates the development of 'facts' out of the moral consciousness. The book contains many of equal value. An approximate parallel to this statement would be that London is divided into Seven Dials.

1765.—"The lands of the twenty-four Purgunnahs, ceded to the Company by the treaty of 1757, which subsequently became Colonel Clive's jagghier, were rated on the King's books at 2 lac and 22,000 rupees."—Holwell, Hist. Events, 2nd ed., p. 217.

1812.—"The number of convicts confined at the six stations of this division (independent of Zillah Twenty-four pergunnahs), is about 4,000. Of them probably nine-tenths are dacoits."—Fifth Report, 559.

c. 1831.—"Bengal is divided in 24 Pergunnahs, each with its judge and magistrate, registrar, &c."—Sir R. Phillips, Million of Facts, stereot. ed. 1843, 927.

PERI, s. This Persian word for a class of imaginary sprites, rendered familiar in the verses of Moore and Southey, has no blood-relationship with the English Fairy, notwithstanding the exact compliance with Grimm's Law in the change of initial consonant. The Persian word is parī, from par, 'a feather, or wing'; therefore 'the winged one'; [so F. Johnson, Pers. Dict.; but the derivation is very doubtful;] whilst the genealogy of fairy is apparently Ital. fata, French fée, whence féerie ('fay-dom') and thence fairy.

[c. 1500?—"I am the only daughter of a Jinn chief of noblest strain and my name is Peri-Banu."—Arab. Nights, Burton, x. 264.]

1800.—

1817.—

PERPET, PERPETUANO, s. The name of a cloth often mentioned in the 17th and first part of the 18th centuries, as an export from England to the East. It appears to have been a light and glossy twilled stuff of wool, [which like another stuff of the same kind called 'Lasting,' took its name from its durability. (See Draper's Dict. s.v.)]. In France it was called perpétuanne or sempiterne, in Ital. perpetuana.

[1609.—"Karsies, Perpetuanos and other woollen Comodities."—Birdwood, Letter Book, 288.

[1617.—"Perpetuano, 1 bale."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 293.

[1630.—"... Devonshire kersies or perpetuities...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 4.

[1680.—"Perpetuances."—Ibid. ii. 401.]

1711.—"Goods usually imported (to China) from Europe are Bullion Cloths, Clothrash, Perpetuano's, and Camblets of Scarlet, black, blew, sad and violet Colours, which are of late so lightly set by; that to bear the Dutys, and bring the prime Cost, is as much as can reasonably be hoped for."—Lockyer, 147.

[1717.—"... a Pavilion lined with Imboss'd Perpets."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccclix.]

1754.—"Being requested by the Trustees of the Charity Stock of this place to make an humble application to you for an order that the children upon the Foundation to the number of 12 or 14 may be supplied at the expense of the Honorable Company with a coat of blue Perpets or some ordinary cloth...."—Petition of Revd. R. Mapletoft, in Long, p. 29.

1757.—Among the presents sent to the King of Ava with the mission of Ensign Robert Lester, we find:

PERSAIM, n.p. This is an old form of the name of Bassein (q.v.) in Pegu. It occurs (e.g.) in Milburn, ii. 281.

1759.—"The Country for 20 miles round Persaim is represented as capable of producing Rice, sufficient to supply the Coast of Choromandel from Pondicherry to Masulipatam."—Letter in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 110. Also in a Chart by Capt. G. Baker, 1754.

1795.—"Having ordered presents of a trivial nature to be presented, in return for those brought from Negrais, he referred the deputy ... to the Birman Governor of Persaim for a ratification and final adjustment of the treaty."—Symes, p. 40. But this author also uses Bassien (e.g. 32), and "Persaim or Bassien" (39), which alternatives are also in the chart by Ensign Wood.

PERSIMMON, s. This American name is applied to a fruit common in China and Japan, which in a dried state is imported largely from China into Tibet. The tree is the Diospyros kaki, L. fil., a species of the same genus which produces ebony. The word is properly the name of an American fruit and tree of the same genus (D. virginiana), also called date-plum, and, according to the Dictionary of Worcester, belonged to the Indian language of Virginia. [The word became familiar in 1896 as the name of the winner of the Derby.]

1878.—"The finest fruit of Japan is the Kaki or persimmon (Diospyros Kaki), a large golden fruit on a beautiful tree."—Miss Bird's Japan, i. 234.

PERUMBAUCUM, n.p. A town 14 m. N.W. of Conjevaram, in the district of Madras [Chingleput]. The name is perhaps perum-pākkam, Tam., 'big village.'

PESCARIA, n.p. The coast of Tinnevelly was so called by the Portuguese, from the great pearl 'fishery' there.

[c. 1566.—See under BAZAAR.]

1600.—"There are in the Seas of the East three principal mines where they fish pearls.... The third is between the Isle of Ceilon and Cape Comory, and on this account the Coast which runs from the said Cape to the shoals of Ramanancor and Manâr is called, in part, Pescaria...."—Lucena, 80.

[1616.—"Pesqueria." See under CHILAW.]

1615.—"Iam nonnihil de orâ Piscariâ dicamus quae iam inde a promontorio Commorino in Orientem ad usque breuia Ramanancoridis extenditur, quod haud procul inde celeberrimus, maximus, et copiosissimus toto Oriente Margaritarum piscatus instituitur...."—Jarric, Thes. i. 445.

1710.—"The Coast of the Pescaria of the mother of pearl which runs from the Cape of Camorim to the Isle of Manar, for the space of seventy leagues, with a breadth of six inland, was the first debarcation of this second conquest."—Sousa, Orient. Conquist. i. 122.

PESHAWUR, n.p. Peshāwar. This name of what is now the frontier city and garrison of India towards Kābul, is sometimes alleged to have been given by Akbar. But in substance the name is of great antiquity, and all that can be alleged as to Akbar is that he is said to have modified the old name, and that since his time the present form has been in use. A notice of the change is quoted below from Gen. Cunningham; we cannot give the authority on which the statement rests. Peshāwar could hardly be called a frontier town in the time of Akbar, standing as it did according to the administrative division of the Āīn, about the middle of the Sūba of Kābul, which included Kashmīr and all west of it. We do not find that the modern form occurs in the text of the Āīn as published by Prof. Blochmann. In the translation of the Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarī of Nizāmu-d-din Ahmad (died 1594-95), in Elliot, we find the name transliterated variously as Pesháwar (v. 448), Parsháwar (293), Parshor (423), Pershor (424). We cannot doubt that the Chinese form Folausha in Fah-hian already expresses the name Parashāwar, or Parshāwar.

c. 400.—"From Gandhâra, going south 4 days' journey, we arrive at the country of Fo-lau-sha. In old times Buddha, in company with all his disciples, travelled through this country."—Fah-hian, by Beal, p. 34.

c. 630.—"The Kingdom of Kien-to-lo (Gândhâra) extends about 1000 li from E. to W. and 800 li from S. to N. On the East it adjoins the river Sin (Indus). The capital of this country is called Pu-lu-sha-pu-lo (Purashapura).... The towns and villages are almost deserted.... There are about a thousand convents, ruined and abandoned; full of wild plants, and presenting only a melancholy solitude...."—Hwen T'sang, Pèl. Boud. ii. 104-105.

c. 1001.—"On his (Mahmúd's) reaching Purshaur, he pitched his tent outside the city. There he received intelligence of the bold resolve of Jaipál, the enemy of God, and the King of Hind, to offer opposition."—Al-Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 25.

c. 1020.—"The aggregate of these waters forms a large river opposite the city of Parsháwar."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 47. See also 63.

1059.—"The Amír ordered a letter to be despatched to the minister, telling him 'I have determined to go to Hindustán, and pass the winter in Waihind, and Marminára, and Barshúr...."—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 150.

c. 1220.—"Farshābūr. The vulgar pronunciation is Barshāwūr. A large tract between Ghazna and Lahor, famous in the history of the Musulman conquest."—Yāḳūt, in Barbier de Maynard, Dict. de la Perse, 418.

1519.—"We held a consultation, in which it was resolved to plunder the country of the Aferîdî Afghâns, as had been proposed by Sultan Bayezîd, to fit up the fort of Pershâwer for the reception of their effects and corn, and to leave a garrison in it."—Baber, 276.

c. 1555.—"We came to the city of Purshawar, and having thus fortunately passed the Kotal we reached the town of Joshāya. On the Kotal we saw rhinoceroses, the size of a small elephant."—Sidi 'Ali, in J. As. Ser. i. tom. ix. 201.

c. 1590.—"Tumān Bagrām, which they call Parshāwar; the spring here is a source of delight. There is in this place a great place of worship which they call Gorkhatri, to which people, especially Jogis, resort from great distances."—Āīn (orig.), i. 592; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 404. In iii. 69, Parasháwar].

1754.—"On the news that Peishor was taken, and that Nadir Shah was preparing to pass the Indus, the Moghol's court, already in great disorder, was struck with terror."—H. of Nadir Shah, in Hanway, ii. 363.

1783.—"The heat of Peshour seemed to me more intense, than that of any country I have visited in the upper parts of India. Other places may be warm; hot winds blowing over tracts of sand may drive us under the shelter of a wetted skreen; but at Peshour, the atmosphere, in the summer solstice, becomes almost inflammable."—G. Forster, ed. 1808, ii. 57.

1863.—"Its present name we owe to Akbar, whose fondness for innovation led him to change the ancient Parashâwara, of which he did not know the meaning, to Peshâwar, or the 'frontier town.' Abul Fazl gives both names."—Cunningham, Arch. Reports, ii. 87. Gladwin does in his translation give both names; but see above.

PESHCUBZ, s. A form of dagger, the blade of which has a straight thick back, while the edge curves inwardly from a broad base to a very sharp point. Pers. pesh-ḳabz, 'fore-grip.' The handle is usually made of shirmāhī, 'the white bone (tooth?) of a large cetacean'; probably morse-tooth, which is repeatedly mentioned in the early English trade with Persia as an article much in demand (e.g. see Sainsbury, ii. 65, 159, 204, 305; iii. 89, 162, 268, 287, &c.). [The peshḳubz appears several times in Mr. Egerton's Catalogue of Indian Arms, and one is illustrated, Pl. xv. No. 760.]

1767.—

PESHCUSH, s. Pers. pesh-kash. Wilson interprets this as literally 'first-fruits.' It is used as an offering or tribute, but with many specific and technical senses which will be found in Wilson, e.g. a fine on appointment, renewal, or investiture; a quit-rent, a payment exacted on lands formerly rent-free, or in substitution for service no longer exacted; sometimes a present to a great man, or (loosely) for the ordinary Government demand on land. Peshcush, in the old English records, is most generally used in the sense of a present to a great man.

1653.—"Pesket est vn presant en Turq."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 553.

1657.—"As to the Piscash for the King of Golcundah, if it be not already done, we do hope with it you may obteyn our liberty to coyne silver Rupees and copper Pice at the Fort, which would be a great accommodation to our Trade. But in this and all other Piscashes be as sparing as you can."—Letter of Court to Ft. St. Geo., in Notes and Exts., No. i. p. 7.

1673.—"Sometimes sending Pishcashes of considerable value."—Fryer, 166.

1675.—"Being informed that Mr. Mohun had sent a Piscash of Persian Wine, Cases of Stronge Water, &c. to ye Great Governour of this Countrey, that is 2d. or 3d. pson in ye kingdome, I went to his house to speake abt. it, when he kept me to dine with him."—Puckle's Diary, MS. in India Office.

[1683.—"Piscash." (See under FIRMAUN.)]

1689.—"But the Pishcushes or Presents expected by the Nabobs and Omrahs retarded our Inlargement for some time notwithstanding."—Ovington, 415.

1754.—"After I have refreshed my army at Delhie, and received the subsidy (Note.—'This is called a Peischcush, or present from an inferior to a superior. The sum agreed for was 20 crores') which must be paid, I will leave you in possession of his dominion."—Hist. of Nadir Shah, in Hanway, ii. 371.

1761.—"I have obtained a promise from his Majesty of his royal confirmation of all your possessions and priviledges, provided you pay him a proper pishcush...."—Major Carnac to the Governor and Council, in Van Sittart, i. 119.

1811.—"By the fixed or regulated sum ... the Sultan ... means the Paishcush, or tribute, which he was bound by former treaties to pay to the Government of Poonah; but which he does not think proper to ... designate by any term denotive of inferiority, which the word Paishcush certainly is."—Kirkpatrick, Note on Tippoo's Letters, p. 9.

PESH-KHĀNA, PESH-KHIDMAT, ss. Pers. 'Fore-service.' The tents and accompanying retinue sent on over-night, during a march, to the new camping ground, to receive the master on his arrival. A great personage among the natives, or among ourselves, has a complete double establishment, one portion of which goes thus every night in advance. [Another term used is peshkhaima Pers. 'advance tents,' as below.]

1665.—"When the King is in the field, he hath usually two Camps ... to the end that when he breaketh up and leaveth one, the other may have passed before by a day and be found ready when he arriveth at the place design'd to encamp at; and 'tis therefore that they are called Peiche-kanes, as if you should say, Houses going before...."—Bernier, E.T. 115; [ed. Constable, 359].

[1738.—"Peish-khanna is the term given to the royal tents and their appendages in India."—Hanway, iv. 153.

[1862.—"The result of all this uproarious bustle has been the erection of the Sardár's peshkhaima, or advanced tent."—Bellew, Journal of Mission, 409.]

PESHWA, s. from Pers. 'a leader, a guide.' The chief minister of the Mahratta power, who afterwards, supplanting his master, the descendant of Sivaji, became practically the prince of an independent State and chief of the Mahrattas. The Peshwa's power expired with the surrender to Sir John Malcolm of the last Peshwa, Bājī Rāo, in 1817. He lived in wealthy exile, and with a jāgīr under his own jurisdiction, at Bhitūr, near Cawnpoor, till January 1851. His adopted son, and the claimant of his honours and allowances, was the infamous Nānā Sāhib.

Mr C. P. Brown gives a feminine peshwīn: "The princess Gangā Bāī was Peshwīn of Purandhar." (MS. notes).

1673.—"He answered, it is well, and referred our Business to Moro Pundit his Peshua, or Chancellour, to examine our Articles, and give an account of what they were."—Fryer, 79.

1803.—"But how is it with the Peshwah? He has no minister; no person has influence over him, and he is only guided by his own caprices."—Wellington Desp., ed. 1837, ii. 177.

In the following passage (quandoquidem dormitans) the Great Duke had forgotten that things were changed since he left India, whilst the editor perhaps did not know:

1841.—"If you should draw more troops from the Establishment of Fort St. George, you will have to place under arms the subsidiary force of the Nizam, the Peishwah, and the force in Mysore, and the districts ceded by the Nizam in 1800-1801."—Letter from the D. of Wellington, in Ind. Adm. of Lord Ellenborough, 1874. (Dec. 29). The Duke was oblivious when he spoke of the Peshwa's Subsidiary Force in 1841.

PETERSILLY, s. This is the name by which 'parsley' is generally called in N. India. We have heard it quoted there as an instance of the absurd corruption of English words in the mouths of natives. But this case at least might more justly be quoted as an example of accurate transfer. The word is simply the Dutch term for 'parsley,' viz. petersilie, from the Lat. petroselinum, of which parsley is itself a double corruption through the French persil. In the Arabic of Avicenna the name is given as fatrasiliūn.

PETTAH, s. Tam. pēṭṭai. The extramural suburb of a fortress, or the town attached and adjacent to a fortress. The pettah is itself often separately fortified; the fortress is then its citadel. The Mahratti peṭh is used in like manner; [it is Skt. peṭaka, and the word possibly came to the Tamil through the Mahr.]. The word constantly occurs in the histories of war in Southern India.

1630.—"'Azam Khán, having ascended the Pass of Anjan-dúdh, encamped 3 kos from Dhárúr. He then directed Multafit Khán ... to make an attack upon ... Dhárúr and its petta, where once a week people from all parts, far and near, were accustomed to meet for buying and selling."—Abdul Hamīd, in Elliot, vii. 20.

1763.—"The pagoda served as a citadel to a large pettah, by which name the people on the Coast of Coromandel call every town contiguous to a fortress."—Orme, ed. 1803, i. 147.

1791.—"... The petta or town (at Bangalore) of great extent to the north of the fort, was surrounded by an indifferent rampart and excellent ditch, with an intermediate berm ... planted with impenetrable and well-grown thorns.... Neither the fort nor the petta had drawbridges."—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, iii. 123.

1803.—"The pettah wall was very lofty, and defended by towers, and had no rampart."—Wellington, ed. 1837, ii. 193.

1809.—"I passed through a country little cultivated ... to Kingeri, which has a small mud-fort in good repair, and a pettah apparently well filled with inhabitants."—Ld. Valentia, i. 412.

1839.—"The English ladies told me this Pettah was 'a horrid place—quite native!' and advised me never to go into it; so I went next day, of course, and found it most curious—really quite native."—Letters from Madras, 289.

PHANSEEGAR, s. See under THUG.

[PHOOLKAREE, s. Hind. phūl-kārī, 'flowered embroidery.' The term applied in N. India to the cotton sheets embroidered in silk by village women, particularly Jats. Each girl is supposed to embroider one of these for her marriage. In recent years a considerable demand has arisen for specimens of this kind of needlework among English ladies, who use them for screens and other decorative purposes. Hence a considerable manufacture has sprung up of which an account will be found in a note by Mrs. F. A. Steel, appended to Mr. H. C. Cookson's Monograph on the Silk Industry of the Punjab (1886-7), and in the Journal of Indian Art, ii. 71 seqq.

[1887.—"They (native school girls) were collected in a small inner court, which was hung with the pretty phulcarries they make here (Rawal Pindi), and which ... looked very Oriental and gay."—Lady Dufferin, Viceregal Life, 336.]

[PHOORZA, s. A custom-house; Gujarātī phurjā, from Ar. furẓat 'a notch,' then 'a bight,' 'river-mouth,' 'harbour'; hence 'a tax' or 'custom-duty.'

[1791.—The East India Calendar (p. 131) has "John Church, Phoorza-Master, Surat."

[1727.—"And the Mogul's Furza or custom-house is at this place (Hughly)."—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, ii. 19.

[1772.—"But as they still insisted on their people sitting at the gates on the Phoorzer Coosky ..."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 386, and see 392, "Phoorze Master." Coosky = P.—Mahr. Khushkī, "inland transit-duties."

[1813.—"... idols ... were annually imported to a considerable number at the Baroche Phoorza, when I was custom-master at that settlement."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 334.]

PIAL, s. A raised platform on which people sit, usually under the verandah, or on either side of the door of the house. It is a purely S. Indian word, and partially corresponds to the N. Indian chabūtra (see CHABOOTRA). Wilson conjectures the word to be Telugu, but it is in fact a form of the Portuguese poyo and poyal (Span. poyo), 'a seat or bench.' This is again, according to Diez (i. 326), from the Lat. podium, 'a projecting base, a balcony.' Bluteau explains poyal as 'steps for mounting on horseback' (Scoticè, 'a louping-on stone') [see Dalboquerque, Hak. Soc. ii. 68]. The quotation from Mr. Gover describes the S. Indian thing in full.

1553.—"... paying him his courtesy in Moorish fashion, which was seating himself along with him on a poyal."—Castanheda, vi. 3.

1578.—"In the public square at Goa, as it was running furiously along, an infirm man came in its way, and could not escape; but the elephant took him up in his trunk, and without doing him any hurt deposited him on a poyo."—Acosta, Tractado, 432.

1602.—"The natives of this region who are called Iaos, are men so arrogant that they think no others their superiors ... insomuch that if a Iao in passing along the street becomes aware that any one of another nation is on a poyal, or any place above him, if the person does not immediately come down, ... until he is gone by, he will kill him."—Couto, IV. iii. 1. [For numerous instances of this superstition, see Frazer, Golden Bough, 2nd ed. i. 360 seqq.]

1873.—"Built against the front wall of every Hindu house in southern India ... is a bench 3 feet high and as many broad. It extends along the whole frontage, except where the house-door stands.... The posts of the veranda or pandal are fixed in the ground a few feet in front of the bench, enclosing a sort of platform: for the basement of the house is generally 2 or 3 feet above the street level. The raised bench is called the Pyal, and is the lounging-place by day. It also serves in the hot months as a couch for the night.... There the visitor is received; there the bargaining is done; there the beggar plies his trade, and the Yogi (see JOGEE) sounds his conch; there also the members of the household clean their teeth, amusing themselves the while with belches and other frightful noises...."—Pyal Schools in Madras, by E. C. Gover, in Ind. Antiq. ii. 52.

PICAR, s. Hind. paikār, [which again is a corruption of Pers. pā'e-kār, pā'e, 'a foot'], a retail-dealer, an intermediate dealer or broker.

1680.—"Picar." See under DUSTOOR.

1683.—"Y^e said Naylor has always corresponded with Mr. Charnock, having been always his intimate friend; and without question either provides him goods out of the Hon. Comp.'s Warehouse, or connives at the Weavers and Piccars doing of it."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 133.

[1772.—"Pykârs (Dellols (see DELOLL) and Gomastahs) are a chain of agents through whose hands the articles of merchandize pass from the loom of the manufacturer, or the store-house of the cultivator, to the public merchant, or exporter."—Verelst, View of Bengal, Gloss. s.v.]

PICE, s. Hind. paisā, a small copper coin, which under the Anglo-Indian system of currency is ¼ of an anna, 1⁄64 of a rupee, and somewhat less than 3⁄2 of a farthing. Pice is used slangishly for money in general. By Act XXIII. of 1870 (cl. 8) the following copper coins are current:—1. Double Pice or Half-anna. 2. Pice or ¼ anna. 3. Half-pice or ⅛ anna. 4. Pie or 1⁄12 anna. No. 2 is the only one in very common use. As with most other coins, weights, and measures, there used to be pucka pice, and cutcha pice. The distinction was sometimes between the regularly minted copper of the Government and certain amorphous pieces of copper which did duty for small change (e.g. in the N.W. Provinces within memory), or between single and double pice, i.e. ¼ anna-pieces and ½ anna-pieces. [Also see PIE.]

c. 1590.—"The dám ... is the fortieth part of the rupee. At first this coin was called Paisah."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 31.

[1614.—"Another coin there is of copper, called a Pize, whereof you have commonly 34 in the mamudo."—Foster, Letters, iii. 11.]

1615.—"Pice, which is a Copper Coyne; twelve Drammes make one Pice. The English Shilling, if weight, will yeeld thirtie three Pice and a halfe."—W. Peyton, in Purchas, i. 530.

1616.—"Brasse money, which they call Pices, whereof three or thereabouts countervail a Peny."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1471.

1648.—"... de Peysen zijn kooper gelt...."—Van Twist, 62.

1653.—"Peça est vne monnoye du Mogol de la valeur de 6 deniers."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, p. 553.

1673.—"Pice, a sort of Copper Money current among the Poorer sort of People ... the Company's Accounts are kept in Book-rate Pice, viz. 32 to the Mam. [i.e. Mamoodee, see GOSBECK], and 80 Pice to the Rupee."—Fryer, 205.

1676.—"The Indians have also a sort of small Copper-money; which is called Pecha.... In my last Travels, a Roupy went at Surat for nine and forty Pecha's."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 22; [ed. Ball, i. 27].

1689.—"Lower than these (pice), bitter-Almonds here (at Surat) pass for Money, about Sixty of which make a Pice."—Ovington, 219.

1726.—"1 Ana makes 1½ stuyvers or 2 peys."—Valentijn, v. 179. [Also see under MOHUR GOLD.]

1768.—"Shall I risk my cavalry, which cost 1000 rupees each horse, against your cannon balls that cost two pice?—No.—I will march your troops until their legs become the size of their bodies."—Hyder Ali, Letter to Col. Wood, in Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 287; [2nd ed. ii. 300].

c. 1816.—"'Here,' said he, 'is four pucker-pice for Mary to spend in the bazar; but I will thank you, Mrs. Browne, not to let her have any fruit....'"—Mrs. Sherwood's Stories, 16, ed. 1863.

PICOTA, s. An additional allowance or percentage, added as a handicap to the weight of goods, which varied with every description,—and which the editor of the Subsidios supposes to have lead to the varieties of bahar (q.v.). Thus at Ormuz the bahar was of 20 farazolas (see FRAZALA), to which was added, as picota, for cloves and mace 3 maunds (of Ormuz), or about 1⁄72 additional; for cinnamon 1⁄20 additional; for benzoin 1⁄5 additional, &c. See the Pesos, &c. of A. Nunes (1554) passim. We have not been able to trace the origin of this term, nor any modern use.

[1554.—"Picotaa." (See under BRAZIL-WOOD, DOOCAUN.)]

PICOTTAH, s. This is the term applied in S. India to that ancient machine for raising water, which consists of a long lever or yard, pivotted on an upright post, weighted on the short arm and bearing a line and bucket on the long arm. It is the ḍhenklī of Upper India, the shādūf of the Nile, and the old English sweep, swape, or sway-pole. The machine is we believe still used in the Terra Incognita of market-gardens S.E. of London. The name is Portuguese, picota, a marine term now applied to the handle of a ship's pump and post in which it works—a 'pump-brake.' The picota at sea was also used as a pillory, whence the employment of the word as quoted from Correa. The word is given in the Glossary attached to the "Fifth Report" (1812), but with no indication of its source. Fryer (1673, pub. 1698) describes the thing without giving it a name. In the following the word is used in the marine sense:

1524.—"He (V. da Gama) ordered notice to be given that no seaman should wear a cloak, except on Sunday ... and if he did, that it should be taken from him by the constables (lhe serra tomada polos meirinhos), and the man put in the picota in disgrace, for one day. He found great fault with men of military service wearing cloaks, for in that guise they did not look like soldiers."—Correa, Lendas, II. ii. 822.

1782.—"Pour cet effet (arroser les terres) on emploie une machine appellée Picôte. C'est une bascule dressée sur le bord d'un puits ou d'un réservoir d'eaux pluviales, pour en tirer l'eau, et la conduire ensuite où l'on veut."—Sonnerat, Voyage, i. 188.

c. 1790.—"Partout les pakotiés, ou puits à bascule, étoient en mouvement pour fournir l'eau nécessaire aux plantes, et partout on entendoit les jardiniers égayer leurs travaux par des chansons."—Haafner, ii. 217.

1807.—"In one place I saw people employed in watering a rice-field with the Yatam, or Pacota, as it is called by the English."—Buchanan, Journey through Mysore, &c., i. 15. [Here Yatam, is Can. yāta, Tel. ētamu, Mal. ēttam.]

[1871.—

PIE, s. Hind. pā'ī, the smallest copper coin of the Anglo-Indian currency, being 1⁄12 of an anna, 1⁄192 of a rupee, = about ½ a farthing. This is now the authorised meaning of pie. But pā'ī was originally, it would seem, the fourth part of an anna, and in fact identical with pice (q.v.). It is the H.—Mahr. pā'ī, 'a quarter,' from Skt. pad, pādikā in that sense.

[1866.—"... his father has a one pie share in a small village which may yield him perhaps 24 rupees per annum."—Confessions of an Orderly, 201.]

PIECE-GOODS. This, which is now the technical term for Manchester cottons imported into India, was originally applied in trade to the Indian cottons exported to England, a trade which appears to have been deliberately killed by the heavy duties which Lancashire procured to be imposed in its own interest, as in its own interest it has recently procured the abolition of the small import duty on English piece-goods in India.^[223] [In 1898 a duty at the rate of 3 per cent. on cotton goods was reimposed.]

Lists of the various kinds of Indian piece-goods will be found in Milburn (i. 44, 45, 46, and ii. 90, 221), and we assemble them below. It is not in our power to explain their peculiarities, except in very few cases, found under their proper heading. [In the present edition these lists have been arranged in alphabetical order. The figures before each indicate that they fall into the following classes: 1. Piece-goods formerly exported from Bombay and Surat; 2. Piece-goods exported from Madras and the Coast; 3. Piece-goods: the kinds imported into Great Britain from Bengal. Some notes and quotations have been added. But it must be understood that the classes of goods now known under these names may or may not exactly represent those made at the time when these lists were prepared. The names printed in capitals are discussed in separate articles.]

1665.—"I have sometimes stood amazed at the vast quantity of Cotton-Cloth of all sorts, fine and others, tinged and white, which the Hollanders alone draw from thence and transport into many places, especially into Japan and Europe; not to mention what the English, Portingal and Indian merchants carry away from those parts."—Bernier, E.T. 141; [ed. Constable, 439].

1785.—(Resⁿ. of Court of Directors of the E.I.C., 8th October) "... that the Captains and Officers of all ships that shall sail from any part of India, after receiving notice hereof, shall be allowed to bring 8000 pieces of piece-goods and no more ... that 5000 pieces and no more, may consist of white Muslins and Callicoes, stitched or plain, or either of them, of which 5000 pieces only 2000 may consist of any of the following sorts, viz., Alliballies, Alrochs (?), Cossaes, Doreas, Jamdannies, Mulmuls, Nainsooks, Neckcloths, Tanjeebs, and Terrindams, and that 3000 pieces and no more, may consist of coloured piece-goods...." &c., &c.—In Seton-Karr, i. 83.

[Abrawan, P. āb-i-ravān, 'flowing water'; a very fine kind of Dacca muslin. 'Woven air' is the name applied in the Arabian Nights to the Patna gauzes, a term originally used for the produce of the Coan looms (Burton, x. 247.) "The Hindoos amuse us with two stories, as instances of the fineness of this muslin. One, that the Emperor Aurungzebe was angry with his daughter for exposing her skin through her clothes; whereupon the young princess remonstrated in her justification that she had seven jamahs (see JAMMA) or suits on; and another, in the Nabob Allaverdy Khawn's time a weaver was chastised and turned out of the city for his neglect, in not preventing his cow from eating up a piece of abrooan, which he had spread and carelessly left on the grass."—Bolt, Considerations on Affairs of India, 206.]

3. ADATIS.

2. ALLEJAS.

3. Alliballies.—"Alaballee (signifying according to the weavers' interpretation of the word 'very fine') is a muslin of fine texture."—(J. Taylor, Account of the Cotton Manufacture at Dacca, 45). According to this the word is perhaps from Ar. ā'lā, 'superior,' H. bhalā, 'good.'

3. Allibanees.—Perhaps from ā'lā, 'superior,' bānā, 'woof.'

1. Annabatchies.

3. Arrahs.—Perhaps from the place of that name in Shahābād, where, according to Buchanan Hamilton (Eastern India, i. 548) there was a large cloth industry.

3. Aubrahs.

2. Aunneketchies.

3. BAFTAS.

3. BANDANNAS.

1. Bejutapauts.—H. be-jūṭā, 'without join,' pāt, 'a piece.'

1. BETEELAS.

3. Blue cloth.

1. Bombay Stuffs.

1. Brawl.—The N.E.D. describes Brawl as a 'blue and white striped cloth manufactured in India.' In a letter of 1616 (Foster, iv. 306) we have "Lolwee champell and Burral." The editor suggests H. biral, 'open in texture, fine.' But Roquefort (s.v.) gives: "Bure, Burel, grosse étoffe en laine de couleur rousse ou grisâtre, dont s'habillent ordinairement les ramoneurs; cette étoffe est faite de brebis noire et brune, sans aucune autre teinture." And see N.E.D. s.v. Borrel.

3. Byrampauts. (See BEIRAMEE.)

2. Callawapores.

3. Callipatties.—H. Kālī, 'black,' pattī, 'strip.'

3. CAMBAYS.

3. Cambrics.

3. Carpets.

3. Carridaries.

2. Cattaketchies.

1. Chalias. (See under SHALEE.)

3. Charconnaes.—H. chār-khāna, 'chequered.' "The charkana, or chequered muslin, is, as regards manufacture, very similar to the Doorea (see DOREAS below). They differ in the breadth of the stripes, their closeness to each other, and the size of the squares." (Forbes Watson, Textile Man. 78). The same name is now applied to a silk cloth. "The word chārkhāna simply means 'a check,' but the term is applied to certain silk or mixed fabrics containing small checks, usually about 8 or 10 checks in a line to an inch." (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 93. Also see Journ. Ind. Art, iii. 6.)

1683.—"20 yards of charkonnas."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.

2. Chavonis.

1. Chelloes. (See SHALEE.)

3. Chinechuras.—Probably cloth from Chinsura.

1. CHINTZ, of sorts.

3. Chittabullies.

3. Chowtars.—This is almost certainly not identical with Chudder. In a list of cotton cloths in the Āīn (i. 94) we have chautār, which may mean 'made with four threads or wires.' Chautāhī, 'four-fold,' is a kind of cloth used in the Punjab for counterpanes (Francis, Man. Cotton, 7). This cloth is frequently mentioned in the early letters.

1610.—"Chautares are white and well requested."—Danvers, Letters, i. 75.

1614.—"The Chauters of Agra and fine baftas nyll doth not here vend."—Foster, Letters, ii. 45.

1615.—"Four pieces fine white Cowter."—Ibid. iv. 51.

3. Chuclaes.—This may be H. chaklā, chakrī, which Platts defines as 'a kind of cloth made of silk and cotton.'

3. Chunderbannies.—This is perhaps H. chandra, 'the moon,' bānā, 'woof.'

3. Chundraconaes.—Forbes Watson has: "Chunderkana, second quality muslin for handkerchiefs": "Plain white bleached muslin called Chunderkora." The word is probably chandrakhāna, 'moon checks.'

3. Clouts, common coarse cloth, for which see N.E.D.

3. Coopees.—This is perhaps H. kaupin, kopin, 'the small lungooty worn by Fakirs.'

3. Corahs.—H. korā, 'plain, unbleached, undyed.' What is now known as Kora silk is woven in pieces for waist-cloths (see Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 76).

3. Cossaes.—This perhaps represents Ar. khāṣṣa 'special.' In the Āīn we have khāçah in the list of cotton cloths (i. 94). Mr. Taylor describes it as a muslin of a close fine texture, and identifies it with the fine muslin which, according to the Āīn (ii. 124), was produced at Sonārgāon. The finest kind he says is "jungle-khasu." (Taylor, op. cit. 45.)

3. Cushtaes.—These perhaps take their name from Kushtia, a place of considerable trade in the Nadiya District.

3. Cuttannees. (See COTTON.)

1. Dhooties. (See DHOTY.)

3. Diapers.

3. Dimities.

3. Doreas.—H. ḍoriyā, 'striped cloth,' ḍor, 'thread.' In the list in the Āīn (i. 95), Doriyah appears among cotton stuffs. It is now also made in silk: "The simplest pattern is the stripe; when the stripes are longitudinal the fabric is a doriya.... The doriya was originally a cotton fabric, but it is now manufactured in silk, silk-and-cotton, tasar, and other combinations." (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 57, 94.)

1683.—"3 pieces Dooreas."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.

3. DOSOOTIES.

3. DUNGAREES.

3. Dysucksoys.

3. Elatches.—Platts gives H. Ilāchā, 'a kind of cloth woven of silk and thread so as to present the appearance of cardamoms (ilāchī).' But it is almost certainly identical with alleja. It was probably introduced to Agra, where now alone it is made, by the Moghuls. It differs from doriya (see DOREAS above) in having a substantial texture, whereas the doriya is generally flimsy. (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 95.)

3. Emmerties.—This is H. amratī, imratī, 'sweet as nectar.'

2. GINGHAMS.

2. Gudeloor (dimities).—There is a place of the name in the Neilgherry District, but it does not seem to have any cloth manufacture.

1. GUINEA STUFFS.

3. Gurrahs.—This is probably the H. gārhā: "unbleached fabrics which under names varying in different localities, constitute a large proportion of the clothing of the poor. They are used also for packing goods, and as a covering for the dead, for which last purpose a large quantity is employed both by Hindoos and Mahomedans. These fabrics in Bengal pass under the name of garrha and guzee." (Forbes Watson, op. cit. 83.)

3. Habassies.—Probably P. 'abbāsī, used of cloths dyed in a sort of magenta colour. The recipe is given by Hadi, Mon. on Dyeing in the N.W.P. p. 16.

3. Herba Taffeties.—These are cloths made of Grass-cloth.

3. Humhums, from Ar. ḥammām, 'a Turkish bath' "(apparently so named from its having been originally used at the bath), is a cloth of a thick stout texture, and generally worn as a wrapper in the cold season." (Taylor, op. cit. 63.)

2. Izarees.—P. izār, 'drawers, trousers.' Watson (op. cit. 57, note) says that in some places it is peculiar to men, the women's drawers being Turwar. Herklots (Qanoon-e-Islam, App. xiv.) gives eezar as equivalent to shulwaur, like the pyjamma, but not so wide.

3. Jamdannies.—P.-H. jāmdānī, which is said to be properly jāmahdānī, 'a box for holding a suit.' The jāmdānī is a loom-figured muslin, which Taylor (op. cit. 48) calls "the most expensive productions of the Dacca looms."

3. Jamwars. H. jāmawār, 'sufficient for a dress.' It is not easy to say what stuff is intended by this name. In the Āīn (ii. 240) we have jamahwār, mentioned among Guzerat stuffs worked in gold thread, and again (i. 95) jāmahwār Parmnarm among woollen stuffs. Forbes Watson gives among Kashmīr shawls: "Jamewars, or striped shawl pieces"; in the Punjab they are of a striped pattern made both in pashm and wool (Johnstone, Mon. on Wool, 9), and Mr. Kipling says, "the stripes are broad, of alternate colours, red and blue, &c." (Mukharji, Art Manufactures of India, 374.)

3. Kincha cloth.

3. Kissorsoys.

3. Laccowries.

1. Lemmannees.

3. LONG CLOTHS.

3. LOONGHEES, HERBA. (See GRASS-CLOTH.)

1. LOONGHEE, MAGHRUB. Ar. maghrib, maghrab, 'the west.'

3. Mamoodeatis.

3. Mammoodies. Platts gives Maḥmūdī, 'praised, fine muslin.' The Āīn (i. 94) classes the Maḥmūdī among cotton cloths, and at a low price. A cloth under this name is made at Shāhābād in the Hardoi District. (Oudh Gazetteer, ii. 25.)

2. Monepore cloths. (See MUNNEPORE.)

2. Moorees.—"Moories are blue cloths, principally manufactured in the districts of Nellore and at Canatur in the Chingleput collectorate of Madras.... They are largely exported to the Straits of Malacca." (Balfour, Cycl. ii. 982.)

1684-5.—"Moorees superfine, 1000 pieces."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. iv. 41.

3. Muggadooties. (See MOONGA.)

3. MULMULS.

3. Mushrues.—P. mashrū', 'lawful.' It is usually applied to a kind of silk or satin with a cotton back. "Pure silk is not allowed to men, but women may wear the most sumptuous silk fabrics" (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 90, seq.). "All Mushroos wash well, especially the finer kinds, used for bodices, petticoats, and trousers of both sexes." (Forbes Watson, op. cit. 97.)

1832.—"... Mussheroo (striped washing silks manufactured at Benares)...."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 106.

1. MUSTERS.

3. Naibabies.

3. Nainsooks.—H. nainsukh, 'pleasure of the eye.' A sort of fine white calico. Forbes Watson (op. cit. 76) says it is used for neckerchiefs, and Taylor (op. cit. 46) defines it as "a thick muslin, apparently identical with the tunsook (tansak'h, Blochmann, i. 94) of the Ayeen." A cloth is made of the same name in silk, imitated from the cotton fabric. (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 95.)

1. Neganepauts.

1. Nicannees.—Quoting from a paper of 1683, Orme (Fragments, 287) has "6000 Niccanneers, 13 yards long."

3. Nillaes.—Some kind of blue cloth, H. nīlā, 'blue.'

1. Nunsarees.—There is a place called Nansārī in the Bhandāra District (Central Provinces Gazetteer, 346).

2. Oringal (cloths). Probably take their name from the once famous city of Warangal in Hyderabad.

3. PALAMPORES.

3. Peniascoes.—In a paper quoted by Birdwood (Report on Old Records, 40) we have Pinascos, which he says are stuffs made of pine-apple fibre.

2, 3. Percaulas.—H. parkālā, 'a spark, a piece of glass.' These were probably some kind of spangled robe, set with pieces of glass, as some of the modern Phoolkaris are. In the Madras Diaries of 1684-5 we have "Percollaes," and "percolles, fine" (Pringle, i. 53, iii. 119, iv. 41.)

3. Photaes.—In a letter of 1615 we have "Lunges (see LOONGHEE) and Footaes of all sorts." (Foster, Letters, iv. 306), where the editor suggests H. phūṭā, 'variegated.' But in the Āīn we find "Fautahs (loin-bands)" (i. 93), which is the P. foṭa, and this is from the connection the word probably meant.

3. Pulecat handkerchiefs. (See MADRAS handkerchiefs and BANDANNA.)

2. Punjum.—The Madras Gloss. gives Tel. punjamu, Tam. puñjam, lit. 'a collection.' "In Tel. a collection of 60 threads and in Tam. of 120 threads skeined, ready for the formation of the warp for weaving. A cloth is denominated 10, 12, 14, up to 40 poonjam, according to the number of times 60, or else 120, is contained in the total number of threads in the warp. Poonjam thus also came to mean a cloth of the length of one poonjam as usually skeined; this usual length is 36 cubits, or 18 yards, and the width from 38 to 44 inches, 14 lbs. being the common weight; pieces of half length were formerly exported as Salempoory." Writing in 1814, Heyne (Tracts, 347) says: "Here (in Salem) two punjums are designated by 'first call,' so that twelve punjums of cloth is called 'six call,' and so on."

3. Puteahs. (See PUTTEE.) In a letter of 1610 we have: "Patta, katuynen, with red stripes over thwart through." (Danvers, Letters, i. 72.)

2. Putton Ketchies.—Cloths which ossibly took their name from the city of Anhilwāra Patan in Cutch.

1727.—"That country (Tegnapatam) produces Pepper, and coarse Cloth called catchas."—A. Hamilton, i. 335.

3. Raings.—"Rang is a muslin which resembles jhuna in its transparent gauze or net-like texture. It is made by passing a single thread of the warp through each division of the reed" (Taylor, op. cit. 44.) "1 Piece of Raiglins."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 94.

1. Saloopauts. (See SHALEE.)

3. Sannoes.

2. Sassergates.—Some kind of cloth called 'that of the 1000 knots,' H. sahasra granṭhi. "Saserguntees" (Birdwood, Rep. on Old Records, 63).

2. Sastracundees.—These cloths seem to take their name from a place called Sāstrakunḍa, 'Pool of the Law.' This is probably the place named in the Āīn (ed. Jarrett, ii. 124): "In the township of Kiyāra Sundar is a large reservoir which gives a peculiar whiteness to the cloths washed in it." Gladwin reads the name Catarashoonda, or Catarehsoonder (see Taylor, op. cit. 91).

3. Seerbands, Seerbetties.—These are names for turbans, H. sirband, sirbatti. Taylor (op. cit. 47) names them as Dacca muslins under the names of surbund and surbutee.

3. Seershauds.—This is perhaps P. sirshād, 'head-delighting,' some kind of turban or veil.

3. Seersuckers.—Perhaps, sir, 'head,' sukh, 'pleasure.'

3. Shalbaft.—P. shālbāft, 'shawl-weaving.' (See SHAWL.)

3. Sicktersoys.

3. SOOSIES.

3. Subnoms, Subloms.—"Shubnam is a thin pellucid muslin to which the Persian figurative name of 'evening dew' (shabnam) is given, the fabric being, when spread over the bleaching-field, scarcely distinguishable from the dew on the grass." (Taylor, op. cit. 45.)

3. Succatoons. (See SUCLAT.)

3. Taffaties of sorts. "A name applied to plain woven silks, in more recent times signifying a light thin silk stuff with a considerable lustre or gloss" (Drapers' Dict. s.v.). The word comes from P. tāftan, 'to twist, spin.' The Āīn (i. 94) has tāftah in the list of silks.

3. Tainsooks.—H. tansukh, 'taking ease.' (See above under NAINSOOKS.)

3. Tanjeebs. P. tanzeb, 'body adorning.'—"A tolerably fine muslin" (Taylor, op. cit. 46; Forbes Watson, op. cit. 76). "The silk tanzeb seems to have gone out of fashion, but that in cotton is very commonly used for the chicken work in Lucknow." (Yusuf Ali, op. cit. 96.)

1. Tapseils. (See under ALLEJA.) In the Āīn (i. 94) we have: "Tafçilah (a stuff from Mecca)."

1670.—"So that in your house are only left some Tapseiles and cotton yarn."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxvi. Birdwood in Report on Old Records, 38, has Topsails.

2. Tarnatannes.—"There are various kinds of muslins brought from the East Indies, chiefly from Bengal, betelles (see BETTEELA), tarnatans...." (Chambers' Cycl. of 1788, quoted in 3rd ser. N. & Q. iv. 135). It is suggested (ibid. 3rd ser. iv. 135) that this is the origin of English tarletan, Fr. tarletane, which is defined in the Drapers' Dict. as "a fine open muslin, first imported from India and afterwards imitated here."

3. Tartorees.

3. Tepoys.

3. Terindams.—"Turundam (said by the weavers to mean 'a kind of cloth for the body,' the name being derived from the Arabic word turuh (tarḥ, taraḥ) 'a kind,' and the Persian one undam (andām) 'the body,' is a muslin which was formerly imported, under the name of terendam, into this country." (Taylor, op. cit. 46.)

2. Ventepollams.

PIGDAUN, s. A spittoon; Hind. pīkdān. Pīk is properly the expectorated juice of chewed betel.

[c. 1665.—"... servants ... to carry the Picquedent or spittoon...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 214. In 283 Piquedans.]

1673.—"The Rooms are spread with Carpets as in India, and they have Pigdans, or Spitting pots of the Earth of this Place, which is valued next to that of China, to void their Spittle in."—Fryer, 223.

[1684.—Hedges speaks of purchasing a "Spitting Cup."—Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 149.]

PIGEON ENGLISH. The vile jargon which forms the means of communication at the Chinese ports between Englishmen who do not speak Chinese, and those Chinese with whom they are in the habit of communicating. The word "business" appears in this kind of talk to be corrupted into "pigeon," and hence the name of the jargon is supposed to be taken. [For examples see Chamberlain, Things Japanese, 3rd ed. pp. 321 seqq.; Ball, Things Chinese, 3rd ed. 430 seqq. (See BUTLER ENGLISH.)]

1880.—"... the English traders of the early days ... instead of inducing the Chinese to make use of correct words rather than the misshapen syllables they had adopted, encouraged them by approbation and example, to establish Pigeon English—a grotesque gibberish which would be laughable if it were not almost melancholy."—Capt. W. Gill, River of Golden Sand, i. 156.

1883.—"The 'Pidjun English' is revolting, and the most dignified persons demean themselves by speaking it.... How the whole English-speaking community, without distinction of rank, has come to communicate with the Chinese in this baby talk is extraordinary."—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 37.

PIG-STICKING. This is Anglo-Indian hog-hunting, or what would be called among a people delighting more in lofty expression, 'the chase of the Wild Boar.' When, very many years since, one of the present writers, destined for the Bengal Presidency, first made acquaintance with an Indian mess-table, it was that of a Bombay regiment at Aden—in fact of that gallant corps which is now known as the 103rd Foot, or Royal Bombay Fusiliers. Hospitable as they were, the opportunity of enlightening an aspirant Bengalee on the short-comings of his Presidency could not be foregone. The chief counts of indictment were three: 1st. The inferiority of the Bengal Horse Artillery system; 2nd. That the Bengalees were guilty of the base effeminacy of drinking beer out of champagne glasses; 3rd. That in pig-sticking they threw the spear at the boar. The two last charges were evidently ancient traditions, maintaining their ground as facts down to 1840 therefore; and showed how little communication practically existed between the Presidencies as late as that year. Both the allegations had long ceased to be true, but probably the second had been true in the 18th century, as the third certainly had been. This may be seen from the quotation from R. Lindsay, and by the text and illustrations of Williamson's Oriental Field Sports (1807), [and much later (see below)]. There is, or perhaps we should say more diffidently there was, still a difference between the Bengal practice in pig-sticking, and that of Bombay. The Bengal spear is about 6½ feet long, loaded with lead at the butt so that it can be grasped almost quite at the end and carried with the point down, inclining only slightly to the front; the boar's charge is received on the right flank, when the point, raised to 45° or 50° of inclination, if rightly guided, pierces him in the shoulder. The Bombay spear is a longer weapon, and is carried under the armpit like a dragoon's lance. Judging from Elphinstone's statement below we should suppose that the Bombay as well as the Bengal practice originally was to throw the spear, but that both independently discarded this, the Qui-his adopting the short overhand spear, the Ducks the long lance.

1679.—"In the morning we went a hunting of wild Hoggs with Kisna Reddy, the chief man of the Islands" (at mouth of the Kistna) "and about 100 other men of the island (Dio) with lances and Three score doggs, with whom we killed eight Hoggs great and small, one being a Bore very large and fatt, of greate weight."—Consn. of Agent and Council of Fort St. Geo. on Tour. In Notes and Exts. No. II.

The party consisted of Streynsham Master "Agent of the Coast and Bay," with "Mr. Timothy Willes and Mr. Richard Mohun of the Councell, the Minister, the Chyrurgeon, the Schoolmaster, the Secretary, and two Writers, an Ensign, 6 mounted soldiers and a Trumpeter," in all 17 Persons in the Company's Service, and "Four Freemen, who went with the Agent's Company for their own pleasure, and at their own charges." It was a Tour of Visitation of the Factories.

1773.—The Hon. R. Lindsay does speak of the "Wild-boar chase"; but he wrote after 35 years in England, and rather eschews Anglo-Indianisms:

"Our weapon consisted only of a short heavy spear, three feet in length, and well poised; the boar being found and unkennelled by the spaniels, runs with great speed across the plain, is pursued on horseback, and the first rider who approaches him throws the javelin...."—Lives of the Lindsays, iii. 161.

1807.—"When (the hog) begins to slacken, the attack should be commenced by the horseman who may be nearest pushing on to his left side; into which the spear should be thrown, so as to lodge behind the shoulder blade, and about six inches from the backbone."—Williamson, Oriental Field Sports, p. 9. (Left must mean hog's right.) This author says that the bamboo shafts were 8 or 9 feet long, but that very short ones had formerly been in use; thus confirming Lindsay.

1816.—"We hog-hunt till two, then tiff, and hawk or course till dusk ... we do not throw our spears in the old way, but poke with spears longer than the common ones, and never part with them."—Elphinstone's Life, i. 311.

[1828.—"... the boar who had made good the next cane with only a slight scratch from a spear thrown as he was charging the hedge."—Orient. Sport. Mag. reprint 1873, i. 116.]

1848.—"Swankey of the Body-Guard himself, that dangerous youth, and the greatest buck of all the Indian army now on leave, was one day discovered by Major Dobbin, tête-à-tête with Amelia, and describing the sport of pigsticking to her with great humour and eloquence."—Vanity Fair, ii. 288.

1866.—"I may be a young pig-sticker, but I am too old a sportsman to make such a mistake as that."—Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. 387.

1873.—"Pigsticking may be very good fun...."—A True Reformer, ch. i.

1876.—"You would perhaps like tiger-hunting or pig-sticking; I saw some of that for a season or two in the East. Everything here is poor stuff after that."—Daniel Deronda, ii. ch. xi.

1878.—"In the meantime there was a 'pig-sticking' meet in the neighbouring district."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 140.

PIG-TAIL, s. This term is often applied to the Chinaman's long plait of hair, by transfer from the queue of our grandfathers, to which the name was much more appropriate. Though now universal among the Chinese, this fashion was only introduced by their Manchu conquerors in the 17th century, and was "long resisted by the natives of the Amoy and Swatow districts, who, when finally compelled to adopt the distasteful fashion, concealed the badge of slavery beneath cotton turbans, the use of which has survived to the present day" (Giles, Glossary of Reference, 32). Previously the Chinese wore their unshaven back hair gathered in a net, or knotted in a chignon. De Rhodes (Rome, 1615, p. 5) says of the people of Tongking, that "like the Chinese they have the custom of gathering the hair in fine nets under the hat."

1879.—"One sees a single Sikh driving four or five Chinamen in front of him, having knotted their pigtails together for reins."—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 283.

PILAU, PILOW, PILÁF, &c., s. Pers. pulāo, or pilāv, Skt. pulāka, 'a ball of boiled rice.' A dish, in origin purely Mahommedan, consisting of meat, or fowl, boiled along with rice and spices. Recipes are given by Herklots, ed. 1863, App. xxix.; and in the Āīn-i-Akbarī (ed. Blochmann, i. 60), we have one for ḳīma pulāo (ḳīma = 'hash') with several others to which the name is not given. The name is almost as familiar in England as curry, but not the thing. It was an odd circumstance, some 45 years ago, that the two surgeons of a dragoon regiment in India were called Currie and Pilleau.

1616.—"Sometimes they boil pieces of flesh or hens, or other fowl, cut in pieces in their rice, which dish they call pillaw. As they order it they make it a very excellent and a very well tasted food."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1471.

c. 1630.—"The feast begins: it was compounded of a hundred sorts of pelo and candied dried meats."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1638, p. 138, [and for varieties, p. 310].

[c. 1660.—"... my elegant hosts were fully employed in cramming their mouths with as much Pelau as they could contain...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 121.]

1673.—"The most admired Dainty wherewith they stuff themselves is Pullow, whereof they will fill themselves to the Throat and receive no hurt, it being so well prepared for the Stomach."—Fryer, 399. See also p. 93. At p. 404 he gives a recipe.

1682.—"They eate their pilaw and other spoone-meate withoute spoones, taking up their pottage in the hollow of their fingers."—Evelyn, Diary, June 19.

1687.—"They took up their Mess with their Fingers, as the Moors do their Pilaw, using no Spoons."—Dampier, i. 430.

1689.—"Palau, that is Rice boil'd ... with Spices intermixt, and a boil'd Fowl in the middle, is the most common Indian Dish."—Ovington, 397.

1711.—"They cannot go to the Price of a Pilloe, or boil'd Fowl and Rice; but the better sort make that their principal Dish."—Lockyer, 231.

1793.—"On a certain day ... all the Musulman officers belonging to your department shall be entertained at the charge of the Sircar, with a public repast, to consist of Pullao of the first sort."—Select Letters of Tippoo S., App. xlii.

c. 1820.—

1848.—"'There's a pillau, Joseph, just as you like it, and Papa has brought home the best turbot in Billingsgate.'"—Vanity Fair, i. 20.

PINANG, s. This is the Malay word for Areca, and it is almost always used by the Dutch to indicate that article, and after them by some Continental writers of other nations. The Chinese word for the same product—pin-lang—is probably, as Bretschneider says, a corruption of the Malay word. (See PENANG.)

[1603.—"They (the Javans) are very great eaters—and they haue a certaine hearbe called bettaile (see BETEL) which they vsually have carryed with them wheresouer they goe, in boxes, or wrapped vp in a cloath like a sugar loafe: and also a nut called Pinange, which are both in operation very hott, and they eate them continually to warme them within, and keepe them from the fluxe. They do likewise take much tabacco, and also opium."—E. Scott, An Exact Discovrse, &c., of the East Indies, 1606, Sig. N. 2.

[1665.—"Their ordinary food ... is Rice, Wheat, Pinange...."—Sir T. Herbert, Travels, 1677, p. 365 (Stanf. Dict.).]

1726.—"But Shah Sousa gave him (viz. Van der Broek, an envoy to Rajmahal in 1655) good words, and regaled him with Pinang (a great favour), and promised that he should be amply paid for everything."—Valentijn, v. 165.

PINDARRY, s. Hind. pinḍārī, pinḍārā, but of which the more original form appears to be Mahr. penḍhārī, a member of a band of plunderers called in that language penḍhār and penḍhārā. The etymology of the word is very obscure. We may discard as a curious coincidence only, the circumstance observed by Mr. H. T. Prinsep, in the work quoted below (i. 37, note), that "Pindara seems to have the same reference to Pandour that Kuzāk has to Cossack." Sir John Malcolm observes that the most popular etymology among the natives ascribes the name to the dissolute habits of the class, leading them to frequent the shops dealing in an intoxicating drink called pinda. (One of the senses of penḍhā, according to Molesworth's Mahr. Dict., is 'a drink for cattle and men, prepared from Holcus sorghum' (see JOWAUR) 'by steeping it and causing it to ferment.') Sir John adds: 'Kurreem Khan' (a famous Pindarry leader) 'told me he had never heard of any other reason for the name; and Major Henley had the etymology confirmed by the most intelligent of the Pindarries of whom he enquired' (Central India, 2nd ed. i. 433). Wilson again considers the most probable derivation to be from the Mahr. penḍhā, but in the sense of a 'bundle of rice-straw,' and hara, 'who takes,' because the name was originally applied to horsemen who hung on to an army, and were employed in collecting forage. We cannot think either of the etymologies very satisfactory. We venture another, as a plausible suggestion merely. Both pinḍ-paṛnā in Hindi, and pinḍās-basneṅ in Mahr. signify 'to follow'; the latter being defined 'to stick closely to; to follow to the death; used of the adherence of a disagreeable fellow.' Such phrases would aptly apply to these hangers-on of an army in the field, looking out for prey. [The question has been discussed by Mr. W. Irvine in an elaborate note published in the Indian Antiq. of 1900. To the above three suggestions he adds two made by other authorities: 4. that the term was taken from the Beder race; 5. from Pinḍārā, pinḍ, 'a lump of food,' ār, 'bringer,' a plunderer. As to the fourth suggestion, he remarks that there was a Beder race dwelling in Mysore, Belary and the Nizam's territories. But the objection to this etymology is that as far back as 1748 both words, Bedar and Pinḍārī, are used by the native historian, Rām Singh Munshī, side by side, but applied to different bodies of men. Mr. Irvine's suggestion is that the word Pinḍārī, or more strictly Panḍhār, comes from a place or region called Pāndhār or Pandhār. This place is referred to by native historians, and seems to have been situated between Burhānpur and Handiya on the Nerbudda. There is good evidence to prove that large numbers of Pindāris were settled in this part of the country. Mr. Irvine sums up by saying: "If it were not for a passage in Grant Duff (H. of the Mahrattas, Bombay reprint, 157), I should have been ready to maintain that I had proved my case. My argument requires two things to make it irrefutable: (1) a very early connection between Pandhār and the Pindhāris; (2) that the Pindhāris had no early home or settlement outside Pandhār. As to the first point, the recorded evidence seems to go no further back than 1794, when Sendhiah granted them lands in Nimār; whereas before that time the name had become fixed, and had even crept into Anglo-Indian vocabularies. As to the second point, Grant Duff says, and he if anybody must have known, that "there were a number of Pindhāris about the borders of Mahārāshtra and the Carnatic...." Unless these men emigrated from Khandesh about 1726 (that is a hundred years before 1826, the date of Grant Duff's book), their presence in the South with the same name tends to disprove any special connection between their name, Pindhāri, and a place, Pindhār, several hundred miles from their country. On the other hand, it is a very singular coincidence that men known as Pindhāris should have been newly settled about 1794 in a country which had been known as Pandhār at least ninety years before they thus occupied it. Such a mere fortuitous connection between Pandhār and the Pindhāris is so extraordinary that we may call it an impossibility. A fair inference is that the region Pandhār was the original home of the Pindhāris, that they took their name from it, and that grants of land between Burhānpur and Handiya were made to them in what had always been their home-country, namely Pandhār."]

The Pinḍārīs seem to have grown up in the wars of the late Mahommedan dynasties in the Deccan, and in the latter part of the 17th century attached themselves to the Mahrattas in their revolt against Aurangzīb; the first mention which we have seen of the name occurs at this time. For some particulars regarding them we refer to the extract from Prinsep below. During and after the Mahratta wars of Lord Wellesley's time many of the Pinḍārī leaders obtained grants of land in Central India from Sindia and Holkar, and in the chaos which reigned at that time outside the British territory their raids in all directions, attended by the most savage atrocities, became more and more intolerable; these outrages extended from Bundelkhand on the N.E., Kadapa on the S., and Orissa on the S.E., to Guzerat on the W., and at last repeatedly violated British territory. In a raid made upon the coast extending from Masulipatam northward, the Pinḍārīs in ten days plundered 339 villages, burning many, killing and wounding 682 persons, torturing 3600, and carrying off or destroying property to the amount of £250,000. It was not, however, till 1817 that the Governor-General, the Marquis of Hastings, found himself armed with permission from home, and in a position to strike at them effectually, and with the most extensive strategic combinations ever brought into action in India. The Pinḍārīs were completely crushed, and those of the native princes who supported them compelled to submit, whilst the British power for the first time was rendered truly paramount throughout India.