[c. 1660.—"Even the menials and carriers of water belonging to that nation (the Pathāns) are high-spirited and war-like."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 207.]
1773.—"Bheestee, Waterman" (etc.)—Fergusson, Dict. of the Hindostan Language, &c.
1781.—"I have the happiness to inform you of the fall of Bijah Gurh on the 9th inst. with the loss of only 1 sepoy, 1 beasty, and a cossy (? Cossid) killed...."—Letter in India Gazette of Nov. 24th.
1782.—(Table of Wages in Calcutta),
| Consummah | 10 | Rs. |
| Kistmutdar | 6 | " |
| Beasty | 5 | " |
| India Gazette, Oct. 12. | ||
Five Rupees continued to be the standard wage of a bihishtī for full 80 years after the date given.
1810.—"... If he carries the water himself in the skin of a goat, prepared for that purpose, he then receives the designation of Bheesty."—Williamson, V.M. i. 229.
1829.—"Dressing in a hurry, find the drunken bheesty ... has mistaken your boot for the goglet in which you carry your water on the line of march."—Camp Miseries, in John Shipp, ii. 149. N.B.—We never knew a drunken bheesty.
1878.—"Here comes a seal carrying a porpoise on its back. No! it is only our friend the bheesty."—In my Indian Garden, 79.
[1898.
"Of all them black-faced crew,
The finest man I knew
Was our regimental bhisti, Ganga Din."
R. Kipling, Barrack-room Ballads, p. 23.]
BHIKTY, s. The usual Calcutta name for the fish Lates calcarifer. See COCKUP.
[BHOOSA, s. H. Mahr. bhus, bhusa; the husks and straw of various kinds of corn, beaten up into chaff by the feet of the oxen on the threshing-floor; used as the common food of cattle all over India.
[1829.—"Every commune is surrounded with a circumvallation of thorns ... and the stacks of bhoos, or 'chaff,' which are placed at intervals, give it the appearance of a respectable fortification. These bhoos stacks are erected to provide provender for the cattle in scanty rainy seasons."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, i. 737.]
[BHOOT, s. H. &c., bhūt, bhūta, Skt. bhūta, 'formed, existent,' the common term for the multitudinous ghosts and demons of various kinds by whom the Indian peasant is so constantly beset.]
[1623.—"All confessing that it was Buto, i.e. the Devil."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. ii. 341.]
[1826.—"The sepoys started up, and cried 'B,hooh, b,hooh, arry arry.' This cry of 'a ghost' reached the ears of the officer, who bid his men fire into the tree, and that would bring him down, if there."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 107.]
BHOUNSLA, n.p. Properly Bhoslah or Bhonslah, the surname of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta empire. It was also the surname of Parsoji and Raghuji, the founders of the Mahratta dynasty of Berar, though not of the same family as Sivaji.
1673.—"Seva Gi, derived from an Ancient Line of Rajahs, of the Cast of the Bounceloes, a Warlike and Active Offspring."—Fryer, 171.
c. 1730.—"At this time two parganas, named Púna and Súpa, became the jagír of Sáhú Bhoslah. Sívají became the manager.... He was distinguished in his tribe for courage and intelligence; and for craft and trickery he was reckoned a sharp son of the devil."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 257.
1780.—"It was at first a particular tribe governed by the family of Bhosselah, which has since lost the sovereignty."—Seir Mutaqherin, iii. 214.
1782.—"... le Bonzolo, les Marates, et les Mogols."—Sonnerat, i. 60.
BHYACHARRA, s. H. bhayāchārā. This is a term applied to settlements made with the village as a community, the several claims and liabilities being regulated by established customs, or special traditional rights. Wilson interprets it as "fraternal establishments." [This hardly explains the tenure, at least as found in the N.W.P., and it would be difficult to do so without much detail. In its perhaps most common form each man's holding is the measure of his interest in the estate, irrespective of the share to which he may be entitled by ancestral right.]
BICHÁNA, s. Bedding of any kind. H. bichhānā.
1689.—"The Heat of the Day is spent in Rest and Sleeping ... sometimes upon Cotts, and sometimes upon Bechanahs, which are thick Quilts."—Ovington, 313.
BIDREE, BIDRY, s. H. Bidrī; the name applied to a kind of ornamental metal-work, made in the Deccan, and deriving its name from the city of Bīdar (or Bedar), which was the chief place of manufacture. The work was, amongst natives, chiefly applied to hooka-bells, rose-water bottles and the like. The term has acquired vogue in England of late amongst amateurs of "art manufacture." The ground of the work is pewter alloyed with one-fourth copper: this is inlaid (or damascened) with patterns in silver; and then the pewter ground is blackened. A short description of the manufacture is given by Dr. G. Smith in the Madras Lit. Soc. Journ., N.S. i. 81-84; [by Sir G. Birdwood, Indust. Arts, 163 seqq.; Journ. Ind. Art, i. 41 seqq.] The ware was first descrbed by B. Heyne in 1813.
BILABUNDY, s. H. bilabandī. An account of the revenue settlement of a district, specifying the name of each mahal (estate), the farmer of it, and the amount of the rent (Wilson). In the N.W.P. it usually means an arrangement for securing the payment of revenue (Elliot). C. P. Brown says, quoting Raikes (p. 109), that the word is bila-bandī, 'hole-stopping,' viz. stopping those vents through which the coin of the proprietor might ooze out. This, however, looks very like a 'striving after meaning,' and Wilson's suggestion that it is a corruption of behrī-bandī, from behrī, 'a share,' 'a quota,' is probably right.
[1858.—"This transfer of responsibility, from the landholder to his tenants, is called 'Jumog Lagána,' or transfer of jumma. The assembly of the tenants, for the purpose of such adjustment, is called zunjeer bundee, or linking together. The adjustment thus made is called the bilabundee."—Sleeman, Journey through Oudh, i. 208.]
BILAYUT, BILLAÏT, &c. n.p. Europe. The word is properly Ar. Wilāyat, 'a kingdom, a province,' variously used with specific denotation, as the Afghans term their own country often by this name; and in India again it has come to be employed for distant Europe. In Sicily Il Regno is used for the interior of the island, as we use Mofussil in India. Wilāyat is the usual form in Bombay.
BILAYUTEE PAWNEE, BILÁTEE PANEE. The adject. bilāyatī or wilāyatī is applied specifically to a variety of exotic articles, e.g. bilāyatī baingan (see BRINJAUL), to the tomato, and most especially bilāyatī pānī, 'European water,' the usual name for soda-water in Anglo-India.
1885.—"'But look at us English,' I urged, 'we are ordered thousands of miles away from home, and we go without a murmur.' 'It is true, Khudawund,' said Gunga Pursad, 'but you sahebs drink English-water (soda-water), and the strength of it enables you to bear up under all fatigues and sorrows.' His idea (adds Mr. Knighton) was that the effervescing force of the soda-water, and the strength of it which drove out the cork so violently, gave strength to the drinker of it."—Times of India Mail, Aug. 11, 1885.
BILDÁR, s. H. from P. beldār, 'a spade-wielder,' an excavator or digging labourer. Term usual in the Public Works Department of Upper India for men employed in that way.
1847.—
"Ye Lyme is alle oute! Ye Masouns lounge aboute!
Ye Beldars have alle strucke, and are smoaking atte their Eese!
Ye Brickes are alle done! Ye Kyne are Skynne and Bone,
And ye Threasurour has bolted with xii thousand Rupeese!"
Ye Dreme of an Executive Engineere.
BILOOCH, BELOOCH. n.p. The name (Balūch or Bilūch) applied to the race inhabiting the regions west of the Lower Indus, and S.E. of Persia, called from them Bilūchistān; they were dominant in Sind till the English conquest in 1843. [Prof. Max Müller (Lectures, i. 97, note) identified the name with Skt. mlechcha, used in the sense of the Greek βάρβαρος for a despised foreigner.]
A.D. 643.—"In the year 32 H. 'Abdulla bin 'A'mar bin Rabi' invaded Kirmán and took the capital Kuwáshír, so that the aid of 'the men of Kúj and Balúj' was solicited in vain by the Kirmánis."—In Elliot, i. 417.
c. 1200.—"He gave with him from Kandahār and Lār, mighty Balochis, servants ... with nobles of many castes, horses, elephants, men, carriages, charioteers, and chariots."—The Poem of Chand Bardāi, in Ind. Ant. i. 272.
c. 1211.—"In the desert of Khabis there was a body ... of Buluchís who robbed on the highway.... These people came out and carried off all the presents and rarities in his possession."—'Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 193.
1556.—"We proceeded to Gwādir, a trading town. The people here are called Balŭj; their prince was Malik Jalaluddīn, son of Malik Dīnār."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 73.
[c. 1590.—"This tract is inhabited by an important Baloch tribe called Kalmani."—Āīn, trans. Jarret, ii. 337.]
1613.—The Boloches are of Mahomet's Religion. They deale much in Camels, most of them robbers...."—N. Whittington, in Purchas, i. 485.
1648.—"Among the Machumatists next to the Pattans are the Blotias of great strength" [? Wilāyatī].—Van Twist, 58.
1727.—"They were lodged in a Caravanseray, when the Ballowches came with about 300 to attack them; but they had a brave warm Reception, and left four Score of their Number dead on the Spot, without the loss of one Dutch Man."—A. Hamilton, i. 107.
1813.—Milburn calls them Bloaches (Or. Com. i. 145).
1844.—"Officers must not shoot Peacocks: if they do the Belooches will shoot officers—at least so they have threatened, and M.-G. Napier has not the slightest doubt but that they will keep their word. There are no wild peacocks in Scinde,—they are all private property and sacred birds, and no man has any right whatever to shoot them."—Gen. Orders by Sir C. Napier.
BINKY-NABOB, s. This title occurs in documents regarding Hyder and Tippoo, e.g. in Gen. Stewart's desp. of 8th March 1799: "Mohammed Rezza, the Binky Nabob." [Also see Wilks, Mysoor, Madras reprint, ii. 346.] It is properly benkī-nawāb, from Canarese benkī, 'fire,' and means the Commandant of the Artillery.
BIRD OF PARADISE. The name given to various beautiful birds of the family Paradiseidae, of which many species are now known, inhabiting N. Guinea and the smaller islands adjoining it. The largest species was called by Linnæus Paradisaea apoda, in allusion to the fable that these birds had no feet (the dried skins brought for sale to the Moluccas having usually none attached to them). The name Manucode which Buffon adopted for these birds occurs in the form Manucodiata in some of the following quotations. It is a corruption of the Javanese name Manuk-devata, 'the Bird of the Gods,' which our popular term renders with sufficient accuracy. [The Siamese word for 'bird,' according to Mr. Skeat, is nok, perhaps from manok.]
c. 1430.—"In majori Java avis præcipua reperitur sine pedibus, instar palumbi, pluma levi, cauda oblonga, semper in arboribus quiescens: caro non editur, pellis et cauda habentur pretiosiores, quibus pro ornamento capitis utuntur."—N. Conti, in Poggius de Varietate Fortunae, lib. iv.
1552.—"The Kings of the said (Moluccas) began only a few years ago to believe in the immortality of souls, taught by no other argument than this, that they had seen a most beautiful little bird, which never alighted on the ground or on any other terrestrial object, but which they had sometimes seen to come from the sky, that is to say, when it was dead and fell to the ground. And the Machometan traders who traffic in those islands assured them that this little bird was a native of Paradise, and that Paradise was the place where the souls of the dead are; and on this account the princes attached themselves to the sect of the Machometans, because it promised them many marvellous things regarding this place of souls. This little bird they called by the name of Manucodiata...."—Letter of Maximilian of Transylvania, Sec. to the Emp. Charles V., in Ramusio, i. f. 351v; see also f. 352.
c. 1524.—"He also (the K. of Bachian) gave us for the King of Spain two most beautiful dead birds. These birds are as large as thrushes; they have small heads, long beaks, legs slender like a writing pen, and a span in length; they have no wings, but instead of them long feathers of different colours, like plumes; their tail is like that of the thrush. All the feathers, except those of the wings (?), are of a dark colour; they never fly except when the wind blows. They told us that these birds come from the terrestrial Paradise, and they call them 'bolon dinata,' [burung-dewata, same as Javanese Manuk-dewata, supra] that is, divine birds."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. 143.
1598.—"... in these Ilands (Moluccas) onlie is found the bird, which the Portingales call Passaros de Sol, that is Foule of the Sunne, the Italians call it Manu codiatas, and the Latinists Paradiseas, by us called Paradice birdes, for ye beauty of their feathers which passe al other birds: these birds are never seene alive, but being dead they are found vpon the Iland; they flie, as it is said, alwaies into the Sunne, and keepe themselues continually in the ayre ... for they haue neither feet nor wings, but onely head and bodie, and the most part tayle...."—Linschoten, 35; [Hak. Soc. i. 118].
1572.—
"Olha cá pelos mares do Oriente
As infinitas ilhas espalhadas
* * * * * * *
Aqui as aureas aves, que não decem
Nunca á terra, e só mortas aparecem."
Camões, x. 132.
Englished by Burton:
"Here see o'er oriental seas bespread
infinite island-groups and alwhere strewed
* * * * * * *
here dwell the golden fowls, whose home is air,
and never earthward save in death may fare."
1645.—"... the male and female Manucodiatae, the male having a hollow in the back, in which 'tis reported the female both layes and hatches her eggs."—Evelyn's Diary, 4th Feb.
1674.—
"The strangest long-wing'd hawk that flies,
That like a Bird of Paradise,
Or herald's martlet, has no legs...."
Hudibras, Pt. ii. cant. 3.
1591.—"As for the story of the Manucodiata or Bird of Paradise, which in the former Age was generally received and accepted for true, even by the Learned, it is now discovered to be a fable, and rejected and exploded by all men" (i.e. that it has no feet).—Ray, Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation, ed. 1692, Pt. ii. 147.
1705.—"The Birds of Paradice are about the bigness of a Pidgeon. They are of varying Colours, and are never found or seen alive; neither is it known from whence they come...."—Funnel, in Dampier's Voyages, iii. 266-7.
1868.—"When seen in this attitude, the Bird of Paradise really deserves its name, and must be ranked as one of the most beautiful and wonderful of living things."—Wallace, Malay Archip., 7th ed., 464.
BIRDS' NESTS. The famous edible nests, formed with mucus, by certain swiftlets, Collocalia nidifica, and C. linchi. Both have long been known on the eastern coasts of the B. of Bengal, in the Malay Islands [and, according to Mr. Skeat in the islands of the Inland Sea (Tale Sap) at Singora]. The former is also now known to visit Darjeeling, the Assam Hills, the Western Ghats, &c., and to breed on the islets off Malabar and the Concan.
BISCOBRA, s. H. biskhoprā or biskhaprā. The name popularly applied to a large lizard alleged, and commonly believed, to be mortally venomous. It is very doubtful whether there is any real lizard to which this name applies, and it may be taken as certain that there is none in India with the qualities attributed. It is probable that the name does carry to many the terrific character which the ingenious author of Tribes on My Frontier alleges. But the name has nothing to do with either bis in the sense of 'twice,' or cobra in that of 'snake.' The first element is no doubt bish, (q.v.) 'poison,' and the second is probably khoprā, 'a shell or skull.' [See J. L. Kipling, Beast and Man in India (p. 317), who gives the scientific name as varanus dracaena, and says that the name biscobra is sometimes applied to the lizard generally known as the ghoṛpad, for which see GUANA.]
1883.—"But of all the things on earth that bite or sting, the palm belongs to the biscobra, a creature whose very name seems to indicate that it is twice as bad as the cobra. Though known by the terror of its name to natives and Europeans alike, it has never been described in the Proceedings of any learned Society, nor has it yet received a scientific name.... The awful deadliness of its bite admits of no question, being supported by countless authentic instances.... The points on which evidence is required are—first, whether there is any such animal; second, whether, if it does exist, it is a snake with legs, or a lizard without them."—Tribes on my Frontier, p. 205.
BISH, BIKH, &c., n. H. from Skt. visha, 'poison.' The word has several specific applications, as (a) to the poison of various species of aconite, particularly Aconitum ferox, otherwise more specifically called in Skt. vatsanābha, 'calf's navel,' corrupted into bachnābh or bachnāg, &c. But it is also applied (b) in the Himālaya to the effect of the rarefied atmosphere at great heights on the body, an effect which there and over Central Asia is attributed to poisonous emanations from the soil, or from plants; a doctrine somewhat naïvely accepted by Huc in his famous narrative. The Central Asiatic (Turki) expression for this is Esh, 'smell.'
a.—
1554.—"Entre les singularités que le consul de Florentins me monstra, me feist gouster vne racine que les Arabes nomment Bisch: laquelle me causa si grande chaleur en la bouche, qui me dura deux iours, qu'il me sembloit y auoir du feu.... Elle est bien petite comme vn petit naueau: les autres (auteurs?) l'ont nommée Napellus...."—Pierre Belon, Observations, &c., f. 97.
b.—
1624.—Antonio Andrada in his journey across the Himālaya, speaking of the sufferings of travellers from the poisonous emanations.—See Ritter, Asien., iii. 444.
1661-2.—"Est autem Langur mons omnium altissimus, ita ut in summitate ejus viatores vix respirare ob aëris subtilitatim queant: neque is ob virulentas nonnullarum herbarum exhalationes aestivo tempore, sine manifesto vitae periculo transire possit."—PP. Dorville and Grueber, in Kircher, China Illustrata, 65. It is curious to see these intelligent Jesuits recognise the true cause, but accept the fancy of their guides as an additional one!
(?) "La partie supérieure de cette montagne est remplie d'exhalaisons pestilentielles."—Chinese Itinerary to Hlassa, in Klaproth, Magasin Asiatique, ii. 112.
1812.—"Here begins the Esh—this is a Turkish word signifying Smell ... it implies something the odour of which induces indisposition; far from hence the breathing of horse and man, and especially of the former, becomes affected."—Mir Izzet Ullah, in J. R. As. Soc. i. 283.
1815.—"Many of the coolies, and several of the Mewattee and Ghoorkha sepoys and chuprasees now lagged, and every one complained of the bīs or poisoned wind. I now suspected that the supposed poison was nothing more than the effect of the rarefaction of the atmosphere from our great elevation."—Fraser, Journal of a Tour, &c., 1820, p. 442.
1819.—"The difficulty of breathing which at an earlier date Andrada, and more recently Moorcroft had experienced in this region, was confirmed by Webb; the Butias themselves felt it, and call it bis ki huwa, i.e. poisonous air; even horses and yaks ... suffer from it."—Webb's Narrative, quoted in Ritter, Asien., ii. 532, 649.
1845.—"Nous arrivâmes à neuf heures au pied du Bourhan-Bota. La caravane s'arrêta un instant ... on se montrait avec anxiété un gaz subtil et léger, qu'on nommait vapeur pestilentielle, et tout le monde paraissait abattu et découragé.... Bientot les chevaux se refusent à porter leurs cavaliers, et chacun avance à pied et à petits pas ... tous les visages blémissent, on sent le cœur s'affadir, et les jambes ne pouvent plus fonctionner.... Une partie de la troupe, par mesure de prudence s'arrêta ... le reste par prudence aussi épuisa tous les efforts pour arriver jusqu'au bout, et ne pas mourir asphyxié au milieu de cet air chargé d'acide carbonique," &c.,—Huc et Gabet, ii. 211: [E. T., ii. 114].
[BISMILLAH, intj., lit. "In the name of God"; a pious ejaculation used by Mahommedans at the commencement of any undertaking. The ordinary form runs—Bi-'smi 'llāhi 'r-raḥmāni 'r-raḥīm, i.e. "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," is of Jewish origin, and is used at the commencement of meals, putting on new clothes, beginning any new work, &c. In the second form, used at the time of going into battle or slaughtering animals, the allusion to the attribute of mercy is omitted.
[1535.—"As they were killed after the Portuguese manner without the bysmela, which they did not say over them."—Correa, iii. 746.]
BISNAGAR, BISNAGA, BEEJANUGGER, n.p. These and other forms stand for the name of the ancient city which was the capital of the most important Hindu kingdom that existed in the peninsula of India, during the later Middle Ages, ruled by the Rāya dynasty. The place is now known as Humpy (Hampī), and is entirely in ruins. [The modern name is corrupted from Pampa, that of the river near which it stood. (Rice, Mysore, ii. 487.)] It stands on the S. of the Tungabhadra R., 36 m. to the N.W. of Bellary. The name is a corruption of Vijayanagara (City of Victory), or Vidyanagara (City of learning), [the latter and earlier name being changed into the former (Rice, Ibid. i. 342, note).] Others believe that the latter name was applied only since the place, in the 13th century, became the seat of a great revival of Hinduism, under the famous Sayana Mādhava, who wrote commentaries on the Vedas, and much besides. Both the city and the kingdom were commonly called by the early Portuguese Narsinga (q.v.), from Narasimha (c. 1490-1508), who was king at the time of their first arrival. [Rice gives his dates as 1488-1508.]
c. 1420.—"Profectus hinc est procul a mari milliaribus trecentis, ad civitatem ingentem, nomine Bizenegaliam, ambitu milliarum sexaginta, circa praeruptos montes sitam."—Conti, in Poggius de Var. Fortunae, iv.
1442.—"... the chances of a maritime voyage had led Abd-er-razzak, the author of this work, to the city of Bidjanagar. He saw a place extremely large and thickly peopled, and a King possessing greatness and sovereignty to the highest degree, whose dominion extends from the frontier of Serendib to the extremity of the county of Kalbergah—from the frontiers of Bengal to the environs of Malabar."—Abdurrazzāk, in India in XV. Cent., 22.
c. 1470.—"The Hindu sultan Kadam is a very powerful prince. He possesses a numerous army, and resides on a mountain at Bichenegher."—Athan. Nikitin, in India in XV. Cent., 29.
1516.—"45 leagues from these mountains inland, there is a very great city, which is called Bijanagher...."—Barbosa, 85.
1611.—"Le Roy de Bisnagar, qu'on appelle aussi quelquefois le Roy de Narzinga, est puissant."—Wytfliet, H. des Indes, ii. 64.
BISON, s. The popular name, among Southern Anglo-Indian sportsmen, of the great wild-ox called in Bengal gaur and gaviāl (Gavaeus gaurus, Jerdon); [Bos gaurus, Blanford]. It inhabits sparsely all the large forests of India, from near Cape Comorin to the foot of the Himālayas (at least in their Eastern portion), and from Malabar to Tenasserim.
1881.—"Once an unfortunate native superintendent or mistari [Maistry] was pounded to death by a savage and solitary bison."—Saty. Review, Sept. 10, p. 335.
BLACAN-MATEE, n.p. This is the name of an island adjoining Singapore, which forms the beautiful 'New Harbour' of that port; Malay bĕlākang, or blakang-māti, lit. 'Dead-Back island,' [of which, writes Mr. Skeat, no satisfactory explanation has been given. According to Dennys (Discr. Dict., 51), "one explanation is that the Southern, or as regards Singapore, hinder, face was so unhealthy that the Malays gave it a designation signifying by onomatopoea that death was to be found behind its ridge"]. The island (Blacan-mati) appears in one of the charts of Godinho de Eredia (1613) published in his Malaca, &c. (Brussels, 1882), and though, from the excessive looseness of such old charts, the island seems too far from Singapore, we are satisfied after careful comparison with the modern charts that the island now so-called is intended.
BLACK, s. Adj. and substantive denoting natives of India. Old-fashioned, and heard, if still heard, only from the lower class of Europeans; even in the last generation its habitual use was chiefly confined to these, and to old officers of the Queen's Army.
[1614.—"The 5th ditto came in a ship from Mollacco with 28 Portugals and 36 Blacks."—Foster, Letters, ii. 31.]
1676.—"We do not approve of your sending any persons to St. Helena against their wills. One of them you sent there makes a great complaint, and we have ordered his liberty to return again if he desires it; for we know not what effect it may have if complaints should be made to the King that we send away the natives; besides that it is against our inclination to buy any blacks, and to transport them from their wives and children without their own consent."—Court's Letter to Ft. St. Geo., in Notes and Exts. No. i. p. 12.
1747.—"Vencatachlam, the Commanding Officer of the Black Military, having behaved very commendably on several occasions against the French; In consideration thereof Agreed that a Present be made him of Six hundred Rupees to buy a Horse, that it may encourage him to act in like manner."—Ft. St. David Cons., Feb. 6. (MS. Record, in India Office).
1750.—"Having received information that some Blacks residing in this town were dealing with the French for goods proper for the Europe market, we told them if we found any proof against any residing under your Honors' protection, that such should suffer our utmost displeasure."—Ft. Wm. Cons., Feb. 4, in Long, 24.
1753.—"John Wood, a free merchant, applies for a pass which, if refused him, he says 'it will reduce a free merchant to the condition of a foreigner, or indeed of the meanest black fellow.'"—Ft. Wm. Cons., in Long, p. 41.
1761.—"You will also receive several private letters from Hastings and Sykes, which must convince me as Circumstances did me at the time, that the Dutch forces were not sent with a View only of defending their own Settlements, but absolutely with a Design of disputing our Influence and Possessions; certain Ruin must have been the Consequence to the East India Company. They were raising black Forces at Patna, Cossimbazar, Chinsura, &c., and were working Night and day to compleat a Field Artillery ... all these preparations previous to the commencement of Hostilities plainly prove the Dutch meant to act offensively not defensively."—Holograph Letter from Clive (unpublished) in the India Office Records. Dated Berkeley Square, and indorsed "27th Decr. 1761."
1762.—"The Black inhabitants send in a petition setting forth the great hardship they labour under in being required to sit as arbitrators in the Court of Cutcherry."—Ft. Wm. Cons., in Long, 277.
1782.—See quotation under Sepoy, from Price.
" "... the 35th Regiment, commanded by Major Popham, which had lately behaved in a mutinous manner ... was broke with infamy.... The black officers with halters about their necks, and the sepoys stript of their coats and turbands were drummed out of the Cantonments."—India Gazette, March 30.
1787.—"As to yesterday's particular charge, the thing that has made me most inveterate and unrelenting in it is only that it related to cruelty or oppression inflicted on two black ladies...."—Lord Minto, in Life, &c., i. 128.
1789.—"I have just learned from a Friend at the India House, yt the object of Treves' ambition at present is to be appointed to the Adaulet of Benares, wh is now held by a Black named Alii Caun. Understanding that most of the Adaulets are now held by Europeans, and as I am informed yt it is the intention yt the Europeans are to be so placed in future, I shd be vastly happy if without committing any injustice you cd place young Treves in yt situation."—George P. of Wales, to Lord Cornwallis, in C.'s Corresp. ii. 29.
1832-3.—"And be it further enacted that ... in all captures which shall be made by H. M.'s Army, Royal Artillery, provincial, black, or other troops...."—Act 2 & 3 Will. IV., ch. 53, sec. 2.
The phrase is in use among natives, we know not whether originating with them, or adopted from the usage of the foreigner. But Kālā ādmī 'black man,' is often used by them in speaking to Europeans of other natives. A case in point is perhaps worth recording. A statue of Lord William Bentinck, on foot, and in bronze, stands in front of the Calcutta Town Hall. Many years ago a native officer, returning from duty at Calcutta to Barrackpore, where his regiment was, reported himself to his adjutant (from whom we had the story in later days). 'Anything new, Sūbadār, Sāhib?' said the Adjutant. 'Yes,' said the Sūbadār, 'there is a figure of the former Lord Sahib arrived.' 'And what do you think of it?' 'Sāhib,' said the Sūbadār, 'abhi hai kālā ādmī kā sā, jab potā ho jaegā jab achchhā hogā!' ('It is now just like a native—'a black man'; when the whitewash is applied it will be excellent.')
In some few phrases the term has become crystallised and semi-official. Thus the native dressers in a hospital were, and possibly still are, called Black Doctors.
1787.—"The Surgeon's assistant and Black Doctor take their station 100 paces in the rear, or in any place of security to which the Doolies may readily carry the wounded."—Regulations for the H. C.'s Troops on the Coast of Coromandel.
In the following the meaning is special:
1788.—"For Sale. That small upper-roomed Garden House, with about 5 biggahs (see BEEGAH) of ground, on the road leading from Cheringhee to the Burying Ground, which formerly belonged to the Moravians; it is very private, from the number of trees on the ground, and having lately received considerable additions and repairs, is well adapted for a Black Family. ☞ Apply to Mr. Camac."—In Seton-Karr, i. 282.
BLACK ACT. This was the name given in odium by the non-official Europeans in India to Act XI., 1836, of the Indian Legislature, which laid down that no person should by reason of his place of birth or of his descent be, in any civil proceeding, excepted from the jurisdiction of the Courts named, viz.: Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, Zillah and City Judge's Courts, Principal Sudder Ameens, Sudder Ameens, and Moonsiff's Court, or, in other words, it placed European subjects on a level with natives as to their subjection in civil causes to all the Company's Courts, including those under Native Judges. This Act was drafted by T. B. Macaulay, then Legislative Member of the Governor-General's Council, and brought great abuse on his head. Recent agitation caused by the "Ilbert Bill," proposing to make Europeans subject to native magistrates in regard to police and criminal charges, has been, by advocates of the latter measure, put on all fours with the agitation of 1836. But there is much that discriminates the two cases.
1876.—"The motive of the scurrility with which Macaulay was assailed by a handful of sorry scribblers was his advocacy of the Act, familiarly known as the Black Act, which withdrew from British subjects resident in the provinces their so called privilege of bringing civil appeals before the Supreme Court at Calcutta."—Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay, 2nd ed., i. 398.
[BLACK BEER, s. A beverage mentioned by early travellers in Japan. It was probably not a malt liquor. Dr. Aston suggests that it was kuro-hi, a dark-coloured saké used in the service of the Shinto gods.
[1616.—"One jar of black beer."—Foster, Letters, iv. 270.]
BLACK-BUCK, s. The ordinary name of the male antelope (Antilope bezoartica, Jerdon) [A. cervicapra, Blanford], from the dark hue of its back, by no means however literally black.
1690.—"The Indians remark, 'tis September's Sun which caused the black lines on the Antelopes' Backs."—Ovington, 139.
BLACK COTTON SOIL.—(See REGUR.)
[BLACK JEWS, a term applied to the Jews of S. India; see 2 ser. N. & Q., iv. 4. 429; viii. 232, 418, 521; Logan, Malabar, i. 246 seqq.]
BLACK LANGUAGE. An old-fashioned expression, for Hindustani and other vernaculars, which used to be common among officers and men of the Royal Army, but was almost confined to them.
BLACK PARTRIDGE, s. The popular Indian name of the common francolin of S.E. Europe and Western Asia (Francolinus vulgaris, Stephens), notable for its harsh quasi-articulate call, interpreted in various parts of the world into very different syllables. The rhythm of the call is fairly represented by two of the imitations which come nearest one another, viz. that given by Sultan Baber (Persian): 'Shīr dāram, shakrak' ('I've got milk and sugar'!) and (Hind.) one given by Jerdon: 'Lahsan piyāz adrak' ('Garlic, onion, and ginger'!) A more pious one is: Khudā terī ḳudrat, 'God is thy strength!' Another mentioned by Capt. Baldwin is very like the truth: 'Be quick, pay your debts!' But perhaps the Greek interpretation recorded by Athenaeus (ix. 39) is best of all: τρὶς τοῖς κακούργοις κακά 'Three-fold ills to the ill-doers!' see Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. xviii. and note 1; [Burton, Ar. Nights, iii. 234, iv. 17].
BLACK TOWN, n.p. Still the popular name of the native city of Madras, as distinguished from the Fort and southern suburbs occupied by the English residents, and the bazars which supply their wants. The term is also used at Bombay.
1673.—Fryer calls the native town of Madras "the Heathen Town," and "the Indian Town."
1727.—"The Black Town (of Madras) is inhabited by Gentows, Mahometans, and Indian Christians.... It was walled in towards the Land, when Governor Pit ruled it."—A. Hamilton, i. 367.
1780.—"Adjoining the glacis of Fort St. George, to the northward, is a large town commonly called the Black Town, and which is fortified sufficiently to prevent any surprise by a body of horse."—Hodges, p. 6.
1780.—"... Cadets upon their arrival in the country, many of whom ... are obliged to take up their residence in dirty punch-houses in the Black Town...."—Munro's Narrative, 22.
1782.—"When Mr. Hastings came to the government he added some new regulations ... divided the black and white town (Calcutta) into 35 wards, and purchased the consent of the natives to go a little further off."—Price, Some Observations, &c., p. 60. In Tracts, vol. i.
[1813.—"The large bazar, or the street in the Black Town, (Bombay) ... contained many good Asiatic houses."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., i. 96. Also see quotation (1809) under BOMBAY.]
1827.—"Hartley hastened from the Black Town, more satisfied than before that some deceit was about to be practised towards Menie Gray."—Walter Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xi.
BLACK WOOD. The popular name for what is in England termed 'rose-wood'; produced chiefly by several species of Dalbergia, and from which the celebrated carved furniture of Bombay is made. [The same name is applied to the Chinese ebony used in carving (Ball, Things Chinese, 3rd ed., 107).] (See SISSOO.)
[1615.—"Her lading is Black Wood, I think ebony."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 35.
[1813.—"Black wood furniture becomes like heated metal."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., i. 106.]
1879.—(In Babylonia). "In a mound to the south of the mass of city ruins called Jumjuma, Mr. Rassam discovered the remains of a rich hall or palace ... the cornices were of painted brick, and the roof of rich Indian blackwood."—Athenaeum, July 5, 22.
BLANKS, s. The word is used for 'whites' or 'Europeans' (Port. branco) in the following, but we know not if anywhere else in English:
1718.—"The Heathens ... too shy to venture into the Churches of the Blanks (so they call the Christians), since these were generally adorned with fine cloaths and all manner of proud apparel."—(Ziegenbalg and Plutscho), Propagation of the Gospel, &c. Pt. I., 3rd ed., p. 70.
[BLATTY, adj. A corr. of wilāyatī, 'foreign' (see BILAYUT). A name applied to two plants in S. India, the Sonneratia acida, and Hydrolea zeylanica (see Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss. s.v.). In the old records it is applied to a kind of cloth. Owen (Narrative, i. 349) uses Blat as a name for the land-wind in Arabia, of which the origin is perhaps the same.
[1610.—"Blatty, the corge Rs. 060."—Danvers, Letters, i. 72.]
BLIMBEE, s. Malayāl. vilimbi; H. belambū [or bilambū;] Malay. bălimbing or belimbing. The fruit of Averrhoa bilimbi, L. The genus was so called by Linnæus in honour of Averrhoes, the Arab commentator on Aristotle and Avicenna. It embraces two species cultivated in India for their fruits; neither known in a wild state. See for the other CARAMBOLA.
BLOOD-SUCKER, s. A harmless lizard (Lacerta cristata) is so called, because when excited it changes in colour (especially about the neck) from a dirty yellow or grey, to a dark red.