S (continued 6)

[c. 1590.—"When he (the Rajah of Asham) dies, his principal attendants of both sexes voluntarily bury themselves alive in his grave."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 118.]

1598.—The usual account is given by Linschoten, ch. xxxvi., with a plate; [Hak. Soc. i. 249].

[c. 1610.—See an account in Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 394.]

1611.—"When I was in India, on the death of the Naique (see NAIK) of Maduré, a country situated between that of Malauar and that of Choromandel, 400 wives of his burned themselves along with him."—Teixeira, i. 9.

c. 1620.—"The author ... when in the territory of the Karnátik ... arrived in company with his father at the city of Southern Mathura (Madura), where, after a few days, the ruler died and went to hell. The chief had 700 wives, and they all threw themselves at the same time into the fire."—Muhammad Sharíf Hanafí, in Elliot, vii. 139.

1623.—"When I asked further if force was ever used in these cases, they told me that usually it was not so, but only at times among persons of quality, when some one had left a young and handsome widow, and there was a risk either of her desiring to marry again (which they consider a great scandal) or of a worse mishap,—in such a case the relations of her husband, if they were very strict, would compel her, even against her will, to burn ... a barbarous and cruel law indeed! But in short, as regarded Giaccamà, no one exercised either compulsion or persuasion; and she did the thing of her own free choice; both her kindred and herself exulting in it, as in an act magnanimous (which in sooth it was) and held in high honour among them. And when I asked about the ornaments and flowers that she wore, they told me this was customary as a sign of the joyousness of the Mastì (Mastì is what they call a woman who gives herself up to be burnt upon the death of her husband)."—P. della Valle, ii. 671; [Hak. Soc. ii. 275, and see ii. 266 seq.]

1633.—"The same day, about noon, the queen's body was burnt without the city, with two and twenty of her female slaves; and we consider ourselves bound to render an exact account of the barbarous ceremonies practised in this place on such occasions as we were witness to...."—Narrative of a Dutch Mission to Bali, quoted by Crawfurd, H. of Ind. Arch., ii. 244-253, from Prevost. It is very interesting, but too long for extract.

c. 1650.—"They say that when a woman becomes a Sattee, that is burns herself with the deceased, the Almighty pardons all the sins committed by the wife and husband and that they remain a long time in paradise; nay if the husband were in the infernal regions, the wife by this means draws him from thence and takes him to paradise.... Moreover the Sattee, in a future birth, returns not to the female sex ... but she who becomes not a Sattee, and passes her life in widowhood, is never emancipated from the female state.... It is however criminal to force a woman into the fire, and equally to prevent her who voluntarily devotes herself."—Dabistān, ii. 75-76.

c. 1650-60.—Tavernier gives a full account of the different manners of Suttee, which he had witnessed often, and in various parts of India, but does not use the word. We extract the following:

c. 1648.—"... there fell of a sudden so violent a Shower, that the Priests, willing to get out of the Rain, thrust the Woman all along into the Fire. But the Shower was so vehement, and endured so long, that the Fire was quench'd, and the Woman was not burn'd. About midnight she arose, and went and knock'd at one of her Kinsmen's Houses, where Father Zenon and many Hollanders saw her, looking so gastly and grimly, that it was enough to have scar'd them; however the pain she endur'd did not so far terrifie her, but that three days after, accompany'd by her Kindred, she went and was burn'd according to her first intention."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 84; [ed. Ball, i. 219].

Again:

"In most places upon the Coast of Coromandel, the Women are not burnt with their deceas'd Husbands, but they are buried alive with them in holes, which the Bramins make a foot deeper than the tallness of the man and woman. Usually they chuse a Sandy place; so that when the man and woman are both let down together, all the Company with Baskets of Sand fill up the hole above half a foot higher than the surface of the ground, after which they jump and dance upon it, till they believe the woman to be stifl'd."—Ibid. 171; [ed. Ball, ii. 216].

c. 1667.—Bernier also has several highly interesting pages on this subject, in his "Letter written to M. Chapelan, sent from Chiras in Persia." We extract a few sentences: "Concerning the Women that have actually burn'd themselves, I have so often been present at such dreadful spectacles, that at length I could endure no more to see it, and I retain still some horrour when I think on't.... The Pile of Wood was presently all on fire, because store of Oyl and Butter had been thrown upon it, and I saw at the time through the Flames that the Fire took hold of the Cloaths of the Woman.... All this I saw, but observ'd not that the Woman was at all disturb'd; yea it was said, that she had been heard to pronounce with great force these two words, Five, Two, to signifie, according to the Opinion of those who hold the Souls Transmigration, that this was the 5th time she had burnt herself with the same Husband, and that there remain'd but two times for perfection; as if she had at that time this Remembrance, or some Prophetical Spirit."—E.T. p. 99; [ed. Constable, 306 seqq.].

1677.—Suttee, described by A. Bassing, in Valentijn v. (Ceylon) 300.

1713.—"Ce fut cette année de 1710, que mourut le Prince de Marava, âgé de plus de quatre-vingt-ans; ses femmes, en nombre de quarante sept, se brûlèrent avec le corps du Prince...." (details follow).—Père Martin (of the Madura Mission), in Lett. Edif. ed. 1781, tom. xii., pp. 123 seqq.

1727.—"I have seen several burned several Ways.... I heard a Story of a Lady that had received Addresses from a Gentleman who afterwards deserted her, and her Relations died shortly after the Marriage ... and as the Fire was well kindled ... she espied her former Admirer, and beckned him to come to her. When he came she took him in her Arms, as if she had a Mind to embrace him; but being stronger than he, she carried him into the Flames in her Arms, where they were both consumed, with the Corpse of her Husband."—A. Hamilton, i. 278; [ed. 1744, i. 280].

" "The Country about (Calcutta) being overspread with Paganisms, the Custom of Wives burning themselves with their deceased Husbands, is also practised here. Before the Mogul's War, Mr. Channock went one time with his Ordinary Guard of Soldiers, to see a young Widow act that tragical Catastrophe, but he was so smitten with the Widow's Beauty, that he sent his Guards to take her by Force from her Executioners, and conducted her to his own Lodgings. They lived lovingly many Years, and had several Children; at length she died, after he had settled in Calcutta, but instead of converting her to Christianity, she made him a Proselyte to Paganism, and the only part of Christianity that was remarkable in him, was burying her decently, and he built a Tomb over her, where all his Life after her Death, he kept the anniversary Day of her Death by sacrificing a Cock on her Tomb, after the Pagan Manner."—Ibid. [ed. 1744], ii. 6-7. [With this compare the curious lines described as an Epitaph on "Joseph Townsend, Pilot of the Ganges" (5 ser. Notes & Queries, i. 466 seq.).]

1774.—"Here (in Bali) not only women often kill themselves, or burn with their deceased husbands, but men also burn in honour of their deceased masters."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 170.

1787.—"Soon after I and my conductor had quitted the house, we were informed the suttee (for that is the name given to the person who so devotes herself) had passed...."—Sir C. Malet, in Parly. Papers of 1821, p. 1 ("Hindoo Widows").

" "My Father, said he (Pundit Rhadacaunt), died at the age of one hundred years, and my mother, who was eighty years old, became a sati, and burned herself to expiate sins."—Letter of Sir W. Jones, in Life, ii. 120.

1792.—"In the course of my endeavours I found the poor suttee had no relations at Poonah."—Letter from Sir C. Malet, in Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 394; [2nd ed. ii. 28, and see i. 178, in which the previous passage is quoted].

1808.—"These proceedings (Hindu marriage ceremonies in Guzerat) take place in the presence of a Brahmin.... And farther, now the young woman vows that her affections shall be fixed upon her Lord alone, not only in all this life, but will follow in death, or to the next, that she will die, that she may burn with him, through as many transmigrations as shall secure their joint immortal bliss. Seven successions of suttees (a woman seven times born and burning, thus, as often) secure to the loving couple a seat among the gods."—R. Drummond.

1809.—

In all the poem and its copious notes, the word suttee does not occur.

[1815.—"In reference to this mark of strong attachment (of Sati for Siva), a Hindoo widow burning with her husband on the funeral pile is called sutee."—Ward, Hindoos, 2nd ed. ii. 25.]

1828.—"After having bathed in the river, the widow lighted a brand, walked round the pile, set it on fire, and then mounted cheerfully: the flame caught and blazed up instantly; she sat down, placing the head of the corpse on her lap, and repeated several times the usual form, 'Ram, Ram, Suttee; Ram, Ram, Suttee.'"—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, i. 91-92.

1829.—"Regulation XVII.

"A Regulation for declaring the practice of Suttee, or of burning or burying alive the widows of Hindoos, illegal, and punishable by the Criminal Courts."—Passed by the G.-G. in C., Dec. 4.

1839.—"Have you yet heard in England of the horrors that took place at the funeral of that wretched old Runjeet Singh? Four wives, and seven slave-girls were burnt with him; not a word of remonstrance from the British Government."—Letters from Madras, 278.

1843.—"It is lamentable to think how long after our power was firmly established in Bengal, we, grossly neglecting the first and plainest duty of the civil magistrate, suffered the practices of infanticide and suttee to continue unchecked."—Macaulay's Speech on Gates of Somnauth.

1856.—"The pile of the sutee is unusually large; heavy cart-wheels are placed upon it, to which her limbs are bound, or sometimes a canopy of massive logs is raised above it, to crush her by its fall.... It is a fatal omen to hear the sutee's groan; therefore as the fire springs up from the pile, there rises simultaneously with it a deafening shout of 'Victory to Umbâ! Victory to Ranchor!' and the horn and the hard rattling drum sound their loudest, until the sacrifice is consumed."—Râs Mâlâ, ii. 435; [ed. 1878, p. 691].

[1870.—A case in this year is recorded by Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 665.]

1871.—"Our bridal finery of dress and feast too often proves to be no better than the Hindu woman's 'bravery,' when she comes to perform suttee."—Cornhill Mag. vol. xxiv. 675.

1872.—"La coutume du suicide de la Satî n'en est pas moins fort ancienne, puisque déjà les Grecs d'Alexandre la trouvèrent en usage chez un peuple au moins du Penjâb. Le premier témoignage brahmanique qu'on en trouve est celui de la Brihaddevatâ qui, peut-être, remonte tout aussi haut. A l'origine elle parait avoir été propre à l'aristocratie militaire."—Barth, Les Religions de l'Inde, 39.

SWALLOW, SWALLOE, s. The old trade-name of the sea-slug, or tripang (q.v.). It is a corruption of the Bugi (Makassar) name of the creature, suwālā (see Crawfurd's Malay Dict.; [Scott, Malayan Words, 107]).

1783.—"I have been told by several Buggesses that they sail in their Paduakans to the northern parts of New Holland ... to gather Swallow (Biche de Mer), which they sell to the annual China junk at Macassar."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 83.

SWALLY, SWALLY ROADS, SWALLY MARINE, SWALLY HOLE, n.p. Suwālī, the once familiar name of the roadstead north of the mouth of the Tapti, where ships for Surat usually anchored, and discharged or took in cargo. It was perhaps Ar. sawāḥil, 'the shores' (?). [Others suggest Skt. Śivālaya, 'abode of Siva.']

[1615.—"The Osiander proving so leaky through the worm through the foulness of the sea-water at Sually."—Foster, Letters, iv. 22. Also see Birdwood, Report on Old Recs. 209.]

1623.—"At the beach there was no kind of vehicle to be found; so the Captain went on foot to a town about a mile distant called Sohali.... The Franks have houses there for the goods which they continually despatch for embarkation."—P. della Valle, ii. 503.

1675.—"As also passing by ... eight ships riding at Surat River's Mouth, we then came to Swally Marine, where were flying the Colours of the Three Nations, English, French, and Dutch ... who here land and ship off all Goods, without molestation."—Fryer, 82.

1677.—"The 22d of February 1676⁄7 from Swally hole the Ship was despatched alone."—Ibid. 217.

1690.—"In a little time we happily arriv'd at Sualybar, and the Tide serving, came to an Anchor very near the Shoar."—Ovington, 163.

1727.—"One Season the English had eight good large Ships riding at Swally ... the Place where all Goods were unloaded from the Shipping, and all Goods for Exportation were there shipp'd off."—A. Hamilton, i. 166; [ed. 1744].

1841.—"These are sometimes called the inner and the outer sands of Swallow, and are both dry at low water."—Horsburgh's India Directory, ed. 1841, i. 474.

SWAMY, SAMMY, s. This word is a corruption of Skt. suāmin, 'Lord.' It is especially used in S. India, in two senses: (a) a Hindu idol, especially applied to those of Śiva or Subramanyam; especially, as Sammy, in the dialect of the British soldier. This comes from the usual Tamil pronunciation sāmi. (b) The Skt. word is used by Hindus as a term of respectful address, especially to Brahmans.

a.—

1755.—"Towards the upper end there is a dark repository, where they keep their Swamme, that is their chief god."—Ives, 70.

1794.—"The gold might for us as well have been worshipped in the shape of a Sawmy at Juggernaut."—The Indian Observer, p. 167.

1838.—"The Government lately presented a shawl to a Hindu idol, and the Government officer ... was ordered to superintend the delivery of it ... so he went with the shawl in his tonjon, and told the Bramins that they might come and take it, for that he would not touch it with his fingers to present it to a Swamy."—Letters from Madras, 183.

b.—

1516.—"These people are commonly called Jogues (see JOGEE), and in their own speech they are called Zoame, which means Servant of God."—Barbosa, 99.

1615.—"Tunc ad suos conversus: Eia Brachmanes, inquit, quid vobis videtur? Illi mirabundi nihil praeter Suami, Suami, id est Domine, Domine, retulerunt."—Jarric, Thes., i. 664.

SWAMY-HOUSE, SAMMY-HOUSE, s. An idol-temple, or pagoda. The Sammy-house of the Delhi ridge in 1857 will not soon be forgotten.

1760.—"The French cavalry were advancing before their infantry; and it was the intention of Colliaud that his own should wait until they came in a line with the flank-fire of the field-pieces of the Swamy-house."—Orme, iii. 443.

1829.—"Here too was a little detached Swamee-house (or chapel) with a lamp burning before a little idol."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 99.

1857.—"We met Wilby at the advanced post, the 'Sammy House,' within 600 yards of the Bastion. It was a curious place for three brothers to meet in. The view was charming. Delhi is as green as an emerald just now, and the Jumma Musjid and Palace are beautiful objects, though held by infidels."—Letters written during the Siege of Delhi, by Hervey Greathed, p. 112.

[SWAMY JEWELRY, s. A kind of gold and silver jewelry, made chiefly at Trichinopoly, in European shapes covered with grotesque mythological figures.

[1880.—"In the characteristic Swami work of the Madras Presidency the ornamentation consists of figures of the Puranic gods in high relief, either beaten out from the surface, or affixed to it, whether by soldering, or wedging, or screwing them on."—Birdwood, Industr. Arts, 152.]

SWAMY-PAGODA, s. A coin formerly current at Madras; probably so called from the figure of an idol on it. Milburn gives 100 Swamy Pagodas = 110 Star Pagodas. A "three swāmi pagoda" was a name given to a gold coin bearing on the obverse the effigy of Chenna Keswam Swāmi (a title of Krishna) and on the reverse Lakshmi and Rukmini (C.P.B.).

SWATCH, s. This is a marine term which probably has various applications beyond Indian limits. But the only two instances of its application are both Indian, viz. "the Swatch of No Ground," or elliptically "The Swatch," marked in all the charts just off the Ganges Delta, and a space bearing the same name, and probably produced by analogous tidal action, off the Indus Delta. [The word is not to be found in Smyth, Sailor's Wordbook.]

1726.—In Valentijn's first map of Bengal, though no name is applied there is a space marked "no ground with 60 raam (fathoms?) of line."

1863.—(Ganges). "There is still one other phenomenon.... This is the existence of a great depression, or hole, in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, known in the charts as the 'Swatch of No Ground.'"—Fergusson, on Recent Changes in the Delta of the Ganges, Qy. Jour. Geol. Soc., Aug. 1863.

1877.—(Indus). "This is the famous Swatch of no ground where the lead falls at once into 200 fathoms."—Burton, Sind Revisited, 21.

[1878.—"He (Capt. Lloyd, in 1840) describes the remarkable phenomenon at the head of the Bay of Bengal, similar to that reported by Captain Selby off the mouths of the Indus, called 'the Swatch of no ground.' It is a deep chasm, open to seaward and very steep on the north-west face, with no soundings at 250 fathoms."—Markham, Mem. of Indian Surveys, 27.]

[SWEET APPLE, s. An Anglo-Indian corruption of sītāphal, 'the fruit of Sītā,' the Musk Melon, Fr. Potiron. Cucurbita moschata (see CUSTARD-APPLE).]

SWEET OLEANDER, s. This is in fact the common oleander, Nerium odorum, Ait.

1880.—"Nothing is more charming than, even in the upland valleys of the Mahratta country, to come out of a wood of all outlandish trees and flowers suddenly on the dry winter bed of some mountain stream, grown along the banks, or on the little islets of verdure in mid (shingle) stream, with clumps of mixed tamarisk and lovely blooming oleander."—Birdwood, MS. 9.

SWEET POTATO, s. The root of Batatas edulis, Choisy (Convolvulus Batatas, L.), N.O. Convolvulaceae; a very palatable vegetable, grown in most parts of India. Though extensively cultivated in America, and in the W. Indies, it has been alleged in various books (e.g. in Eng. Cyclop. Nat. Hist. Section, and in Drury's Useful Plants of India), that the plant is a native of the Malay islands. The Eng. Cyc. even states that batatas is the Malay name. But the whole allegation is probably founded in error. The Malay names of the plant, as given by Crawfurd, are Kaledek, Ubi Jawa, and Ubi Kastila, the last two names meaning 'Java yam,' and 'Spanish yam,' and indicating the foreign origin of the vegetable. In India, at least in the Bengal Presidency, natives commonly call it shakar-ḳand, P.—Ar., literally 'sugar-candy,' a name equally suggesting that it is not indigenous among them. And in fact when we turn to Oviedo, we find the following distinct statement:

"Batatas are a staple food of the Indians, both in the Island of Spagnuola and in the others ... and a ripe Batata properly dressed is just as good as a marchpane twist of sugar and almonds, and better indeed.... When Batatas are well ripened, they are often carried to Spain, i.e., if the voyage be a quiet one; for if there be delay they get spoilt at sea. I myself have carried them from this city of S. Domingo to the city of Avila in Spain, and although they did not arrive as good as they should be, yet they were thought a great deal of, and reckoned a singular and precious kind of fruit."—In Ramusio, iii. f. 134.

It must be observed however that several distinct varieties are cultivated by the Pacific islanders even as far west as New Zealand. And Dr. Bretschneider is satisfied that the plant is described in Chinese books of the 3rd or 4th century, under the name of Kan-chu (the first syllable = 'sweet'). See B. on Chin. Botan. Words, p. 13. This is the only good argument we have seen for Asiatic origin. The whole matter is carefully dealt with by M. Alph. De Candolle (Origine des Plantes cultivées, pp. 43-45), concluding with the judgment: "Les motifs sont beaucoup plus forts, ce me semble, en faveur de l'origine americaine."

The "Sanskrit name" Ruktaloo, alleged by Mr. Piddington, is worthless. Ālū is properly an esculent Arum, but in modern use is the name of the common potato, and is sometimes used for the sweet potato. Raktālū, more commonly rat-ālū, is in Bengal the usual name of the Yam, no doubt given first to a highly-coloured kind, such as Dioscorea purpurea, for rakt- or rat-ālū means simply 'red potato'; a name which might also be well applied to the batatas, as it is indeed, according to Forbes Watson, in the Deccan. There can be little doubt that this vegetable, or fruit as Oviedo calls it, having become known in Europe many years before the potato, the latter robbed it of its name, as has happened in the case of brazil-wood (q.v.). The batata is clearly the 'potato' of the fourth and others of the following quotations. [See Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 117 seqq.]

1519.—"At this place (in Brazil) we had refreshment of victuals, like fowls and meat of calves, also a variety of fruits, called batate, pigne (pine-apples), sweet, of singular goodness...."—Pigafetta, E.T. by Lord Stanley of A., p. 43.

1540.—"The root which among the Indians of Spagnuola Island is called Batata, the negroes of St. Thomè (C. Verde group) called Igname, and they plant it as the chief staple of their maintenance; it is of a black colour, i.e. the outer skin is so, but inside it is white, and as big as a large turnip, with many branchlets; it has the taste of a chestnut, but much better."—Voyage to the I. of San Tomè under the Equinoctial, Ramusio, i. 117v.

c. 1550.—"They have two other sorts of roots, one called batata.... They generate windiness, and are commonly cooked in the embers. Some say they taste like almond cakes, or sugared chestnuts; but in my opinion chestnuts, even without sugar, are better."—Girol. Benzoni, Hak. Soc. 86.

1588.—"Wee met with sixtee or seventee sayles of Canoes full of Sauages, who came off to Sea vnto vs, and brought with them in their Boates, Plantans, Cocos, Potato-rootes, and fresh fish."—Voyage of Master Thomas Candish, Purchas, i. 66.

1600.—"The Battatas are somewhat redder of colour, and in forme almost like Iniamas (see YAM), and taste like Earth-nuts."—In Purchas, ii. 957.

1615.—"I took a garden this day, and planted it with Pottatos brought from the Liquea, a thing not yet planted in Japan. I must pay a tay, or 5 shillings sterling, per annum for the garden."—Cocks's Diary, i. 11.

1645.—"... pattate; c'est vne racine comme naueaux, mais plus longue et de couleur rouge et jaune: cela est de tres-bon goust, mais si l'on en mange souuent, elle degouste fort, et est assez venteuse."—Mocquet, Voyages, 83.

1764.—

SYCE, s. Hind. from Ar. sāïs. A groom. It is the word in universal use in the Bengal Presidency. In the South horse-keeper is more common, and in Bombay a vernacular form of the latter, viz. ghoṛāwālā (see GORAWALLAH). The Ar. verb, of which sāïs is the participle, seems to be a loan-word from Syriac, sausī, 'to coax.'

[1759.—In list of servants' wages: "Syce, Rs. 2."—In Long, 182.]

1779.—"The bearer and scise, when they returned, came to the place where I was, and laid hold of Mr. Ducarell. I took hold of Mr. Shee and carried him up. The bearer and scise took Mr. Ducarell out. Mr. Keeble was standing on his own house looking, and asked, 'What is the matter?' The bearer and scise said to Mr. Keeble, 'These gentlemen came into the house when my master was out.'"—Evidence on Trial of Grand v. Francis, in Echoes of Old Calcutta, 230.

1810.—"The Syce, or groom, attends but one horse."—Williamson, V.M. i. 254.

c. 1858?—

SYCEE, s. In China applied to pure silver bullion in ingots, or shoes (q.v.). The origin of the name is said to be si (pron. at Canton sai and sei) = sz', i.e. 'fine silk'; and we are told by Mr. Giles that it is so called because, if pure, it may be drawn out into fine threads. [Linschoten (1598) speaks of: "Peeces of cut silver, in which sort they pay and receive all their money" (Hak. Soc. i. 132).]

1711.—"Formerly they used to sell for Sisee, or Silver full fine; but of late the Method is alter'd."—Lockyer, 135.

SYRAS, CYRUS. See under CYRUS.

SYRIAM, n.p. A place on the Pegu R., near its confluence with the Rangoon R., six miles E. of Rangoon, and very famous in the Portuguese dealings with Pegu. The Burmese form is Than-lyeng, but probably the Talaing name was nearer that which foreigners give it. [See Burma Gazetteer, ii. 672. Mr. St. John (J. R. As. Soc., 1894, p. 151) suggests the Mwn word sarang or siring, 'a swinging cradle.'] Syriam was the site of an English factory in the 17th century, of the history of which little is known. See the quotation from Dalrymple below.

1587.—"To Cirion a Port of Pegu come ships from Mecca with woollen Cloth, Scarlets, Velvets, Opium, and such like."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 393.

1600.—"I went thither with Philip Brito, and in fifteene dayes arrived at Sirian the chiefe Port in Pegu. It is a lamentable spectacle to see the bankes of the Riuers set with infinite fruit-bearing trees, now ouerwhelmed with ruines of gilded Temples, and noble edifices; the wayes and fields full of skulls and bones of wretched Peguans, killed or famished, and cast into the River in such numbers that the multitude of carkasses prohibiteth the way and passage of ships."—The Jesuit Andrew Boves, in Purchas, ii. 1748.

c. 1606.—"Philip de Brito issued an order that a custom-house should be planted at Serian (Serião), at which duties should be paid by all the vessels of this State which went to trade with the kingdom of Pegu, and with the ports of Martavan, Tavay, Tenasserim, and Juncalon.... Now certain merchants and shipowners from the Coast of Coromandel refused obedience, and this led Philip de Brito to send a squadron of 6 ships and galliots with an imposing and excellent force of soldiers on board, that they might cruise on the coast of Tenasserim, and compel all the vessels that they met to come and pay duty at the fortress of Serian."—Bocarro, 135.

1695.—"9th. That the Old house and Ground at Syrian, formerly belonging to the English Company, may still be continued to them, and that they may have liberty of building dwelling-houses, and warehouses, for the securing their Goods, as shall be necessary, and that more Ground be given them, if what they formerly had be not sufficient."—Petition presented to the K. of Burma at Ava, by Ed. Fleetwood; in Dalrymple, O.R. ii. 374.

1726.—Zierjang (Syriam) in Valentijn, Choro., &c., 127.

1727.—"About 60 Miles to the Eastward of China Backaar (see CHINA-BUCKEER) is the Bar of Syrian, the only port now open for Trade in all the Pegu Dominions.... It was many Years in Possession of the Portugueze, till by their Insolence and Pride they were obliged to quit it."—A. Hamilton, ii. 31-32; [ed. 1744].

SYUD, s. Ar. saiyid, 'a lord.' The designation in India of those who claim to be descendants of Mahommed. But the usage of Saiyid and Sharīf varies in different parts of Mahommedan Asia. ["As a rule (much disputed) the Sayyid is a descendant from Mahommed through his grandchild Hasan, and is a man of the pen; whereas the Sharīf derives from Husayn and is a man of the sword" (Burton, Ar. Nights, iv. 209).]

1404.—"On this day the Lord played at chess, for a great while, with certain Zaytes; and Zaytes they call certain men who come of the lineage of Mahomad."—Clavijo, § cxiv. (Markham, p. 141-2).

1869.—"Il y a dans l'Inde quatre classes de musulmans: les Saiyids ou descendants de Mahomet par Huçain, les Schaikhs ou Arabes, nommés vulgairement Maures, les Pathans ou Afgans, et les Mogols. Ces quatres classes ont chacune fourni à la religion de saints personnages, qui sont souvent designés par ces dénominations, et par d'autres spécialement consacrées à chacune d'elles, telles que Mir pour les Saiyids, Khân pour les Pathans, Mirzâ, Beg, Agâ, et Khwâja pour les Mogols."—Garcin de Tassy, Religion Mus. dans l'Inde, 22.

(The learned author is mistaken here in supposing that the obsolete term Moor was in India specially applied to Arabs. It was applied, following Portuguese custom, to all Mahommedans.)