1852.—"... that the case with respect to the old and new salt batty grounds, may it please your Honble. Board to consider deeply, is totally different, because in their original state the grounds were not of the nature of other sweet waste grounds on the island, let out as foras, nor these grounds were of that state as one could saddle himself at the first undertaking thereof with leases or grants even for that smaller rent as the foras is under the denomination of foras is same other denomination to it, because the depth of these grounds at the time when sea-water was running over them was so much that they were a perfect sea-bay, admitting fishing-boats to float towards Parell."—In Selections, as above, p. 29.
FOUJDAR, PHOUSDAR, &c., s. Properly a military commander (P. fauj, 'a military force,' fauj-dār, 'one holding such a force at his disposal'), or a military governor of a district. But in India, an officer of the Moghul Government who was invested with the charge of the police, and jurisdiction in criminal matters. Also used in Bengal, in the 18th century, for a criminal judge. In the Āīn, a Faujdār is in charge of several pergunnahs under the Sipāh-sālār, or Viceroy and C.-in-Chief of the Subah (Gladwin's Ayeen, i. 294; [Jarrett, ii. 40]).
1683.—"The Fousdar received another Perwanna directed to him by the Nabob of Decca ... forbidding any merchant whatsoever trading with any Interlopers."—Hedges, Diary, Nov. 8; [Hak. Soc. i. 136].
[1687.—"Mullick Burcoordar Phousdardar of Hughly."—Ibid. ii. lxv.]
1690.—"... If any Thefts or Robberies are committed in the Country, the Fousdar, another officer, is oblig'd to answer for them...."—Ovington, 232.
1702.—"... Perwannas directed to all Foujdars."—Wheeler, i. 405.
[1727.—"Fouzdaar." See under HOOGLY.]
1754.—"The Phousdar of Vellore ... made overtures offering to acknowledge Mahomed Ally."—Orme, i. 372.
1757.—"Phousdar...."—Ives, 157.
1783.—"A complaint was made that Mr. Hastings had sold the office of phousdar of Hoogly to a person called Khân Jehân Khân, on a corrupt agreement."—11th Report on Affairs of India, in Burke, vi. 545.
1786.—"... the said phousdar (of Hoogly) had given a receipt of bribe to the patron of the city, meaning Warren Hastings, to pay him annually 36,000 rupees a year."—Articles agst. Hastings, in Ibid. vii. 76.
1809.—"The Foojadar, being now in his capital, sent me an excellent dinner of fowls, and a pillau."—Ld. Valentia, i. 409.
1810.—
"For ease the harass'd Foujdar prays
When crowded Courts and sultry days
Exhale the noxious fume,
While poring o'er the cause he hears
The lengthened lie, and doubts and fears
The culprit's final doom."
Lines by Warren Hastings.
1824.—"A messenger came from the 'Foujdah' (chatellain) of Suromunuggur, asking why we were not content with the quarters at first assigned to us."—Heber, i. 232. The form is here plainly a misreading; for the Bishop on next page gives Foujdar.
FOUJDARRY, PHOUSDARRY, s. P. faujdārī, a district under a faujdār (see FOUJDAR); the office and jurisdiction of a faujdār; in Bengal and Upper India, 'police jurisdiction,' 'criminal' as opposed to 'civil' justice. Thus the chief criminal Court at Madras and Bombay, up to 1863, was termed the Foujdary Adawlut, corresponding to the Nizamut Adawlut of Bengal. (See ADAWLUT.)
[1802.—"The Governor in Council of Fort St. George has deemed it to be proper at this time to establish a Court of Fozdarry Adaulut."—Procl. in Logan, Malabar, ii. 350; iii. 351.]
FOWRA, s. In Upper India, a mattock or large hoe; the tool generally employed in digging in most parts of India. Properly speaking (H.) phāoṛā. (See MAMOOTY.)
[1679.—(Speaking of diamond digging) "Others with iron pawraes or spades heave it up to a heap."—S. Master, in Kistna Man. 147.
[1848.—"On one side Bedullah and one of the grasscutters were toiling away with fowrahs, a kind of spade-pickaxe, making water-courses."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Life in the Mission, i. 373.]
1880.—"It so fell out the other day in Cawnpore, that, when a patwari endeavoured to remonstrate with some cultivators for taking water for irrigation from a pond, they knocked him down with the handle of a phaora and cut off his head with the blade, which went an inch or more into the ground, whilst the head rolled away several feet."—Pioneer Mail, March 4.
FOX, FLYING. (See FLYING-FOX.)
FRAZALA, FARASOLA, FRAZIL, FRAIL, s. Ar. fārsala, a weight formerly much used in trade in the Indian seas. As usual, it varied much locally, but it seems to have run from 20 to 30 lbs., and occupied a place intermediate between the (smaller) maund and the Bahar; the fārsala being generally equal to ten (small) maunds, the bahār equal to 10, 15, or 20 fārsalas. See Barbosa (Hak. Soc.) 224; Milburn, i. 83, 87, &c.; Prinsep's Useful Tables, by Thomas, pp. 116, 119.
1510.—"They deal by farasola, which farasola weighs about twenty-five of our lire."—Varthema, p. 170. On this Dr. Badger notes: "Farasola is the plural of fārsala ... still in ordinary use among the Arabs of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf; but I am unable to verify (its) origin." Is the word, which is sometimes called frail, the same as a frail, or basket, of figs? And again, is it possible that fārsala is the same word as 'parcel,' through Latin particella? We see that this is Sir R. Burton's opinion (Camõens, iv. 390; [Arab. Nights, vi. 312]). [The N.E.D. says: "O. F. frayel of unknown origin."]
[1516.—"Farazola." See under EAGLE-WOOD.]
1554.—"The baar (see BAHAR) of cloves in Ormuz contains 20 faraçola, and besides these 20 ffaraçolas it contains 3 maunds (mãos) more, which is called picottaa (see PICOTA)."—A. Nunez, p. 5.
[1611.—"The weight of Mocha 25 lbs. 11 oz. every frasula, and 15 frasulas makes a bahar."—Danvers, Letters, i. 123.]
1793.—"Coffee per Frail ... Rs. 17."—Bombay Courier, July 20.
FREGUEZIA, s. This Portuguese word for 'a parish' appears to have been formerly familiar in the west of India.
c. 1760.—"The island ... still continues divided into three Roman Catholic parishes, or Freguezias, as they call them; which are Bombay, Mahim, and Salvaçam."—Grose, i. 45.
FULEETA, s. Properly P. palīta or fatīla, 'a slow-match,' as of a matchlock, but its usual colloquial Anglo-Indian application is to a cotton slow-match used to light cigars, and often furnished with a neat or decorated silver tube. This kind of cigar-light is called at Madras Ramasammy (q.v.).
FULEETA-PUP, s. This, in Bengal, is a well-known dish in the repertory of the ordinary native cook. It is a corruption of 'fritter-puff'!
FURLOUGH, s. This word for a soldier's leave has acquired a peculiar citizenship in Anglo-Indian colloquial, from the importance of the matter to those employed in Indian service. It appears to have been first made the subject of systematic regulation in 1796. The word seems to have come to England from the Dutch Verlof, 'leave of absence,' in the early part of the 17th century, through those of our countrymen who had been engaged in the wars of the Netherlands. It is used by Ben Jonson, who had himself served in those wars:
1625.—
"Pennyboy, Jun. Where is the deed? hast thou it with thee?
Picklock. No.
It is a thing of greater consequence
Than to be borne about in a black box
Like a Low-Country vorloffe, or Welsh brief."
The Staple of News, Act v. sc. 1.
FURNAVEESE, n.p. This once familiar title of a famous Mahratta Minister (Nana Furnaveese) is really the Persian fard-navīs, 'statement writer,' or secretary.
[1824.—"The head civil officer is the Furnavese (a term almost synonymous with that of minister of finance) who receives the accounts of the renters and collectors of revenue."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. i. 531.]
FUSLY, adj. Ar.—P. faṣlī, relating to the faṣl, season or crop. This name is applied to certain solar eras established for use in revenue and other civil transactions, under the Mahommedan rule in India, to meet the inconvenience of the lunar calendar of the Hijra, in its want of correspondence with the natural seasons. Three at least of these eras were established by Akbar, applying to different parts of his dominions, intended to accommodate themselves as far as possible to the local calendars, and commencing in each case with the Hijra year of his accession to the throne (A.H. 963 = A.D. 1555-56), though the month of commencement varies. [See Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 30.] The Faṣlī year of the Deccan again was introduced by Shāh Jehān when settling the revenue system of the Mahratta country in 1636; and as it starts with the Hijra date of that year, it is, in numeration, two years in advance of the others.
Two of these faṣlī years are still in use, as regards revenue matters, viz. the Faṣlī of Upper India, under which the Faṣlī year 1286 began 2nd April 1878; and that of Madras, under which Faslī year 1286 began 1st July 1877.
FUTWA, s. Ar. fatwā. The decision of a council of men learned in Mahommedan law, on any point of Moslem law or morals. But technically and specifically, the deliverance of a Mahommedan law-officer on a case put before him. Such a deliverance was, as a rule, given officially and in writing, by such an officer, who was attached to the Courts of British India up to a little later than the middle of last century, and it was more or less a basis of the judge's decision. (See more particularly under ADAWLUT, CAZEE and LAW-OFFICER.)
1796.—"In all instances wherein the Futwah of the Law-officers of the Nizamut-Adaulat shall declare the prisoners liable to more severe punishment than under the evidence, and all the circumstances of the case shall appear to the Court to be just and equitable...."—Regn. VI. of 1796, § ii.
1836.—"And it is hereby enacted that no Court shall, on a Trial of any person accused of the offence made punishable by this Act require any Futwa from any Law-Officer...."—Act XXX. of 1836, regarding Thuggee, § iii.
GALEE, s. H. gālī, abuse; bad language.
[1813.—"... the grossest galee, or abuse, resounded throughout the camp."—Broughton, Letters from a Mahr. Camp, ed. 1892, p. 205.
[1877.—"You provoke me to give you gali (abuse), and then you cry out like a neglected wife."—Allardyce, The City of Sunshine, ii. 2.]
GALLEECE, s. Domestic Hindustani gālīs, 'a pair of braces,' from the old-fashioned gallows, now obsolete, except in Scotland, [S. Ireland and U.S.,] where the form is gallowses.
GALLE, POINT DE, n.p. A rocky cape, covering a small harbour and a town with old fortifications, in the S.W. of Ceylon, familiar to all Anglo-Indians for many years as a coaling-place of mail-steamers. The Portuguese gave the town for crest a cock (Gallo), a legitimate pun. The serious derivations of the name are numerous. Pridham says that it is Galla, 'a Rock,' which is probable. But Chitty says it means 'a Pound,' and was so called according to the Malabars (i.e. Tamil people) from "... this part of the country having been anciently set aside by Ravana for the breeding of his cattle" (Ceylon Gazetteer, 1832, p. 92). Tennent again says it was called after a tribe, the Gallas, inhabiting the neighbouring district (see ii. 105, &c.). [Prof. Childers (5 ser. Notes & Queries, iii. 155) writes: "In Sinhalese it is Gālla, the etymology of which is unknown; but in any case it can have nothing to do with 'rock,' the Sinhalese for which is gala with a short a and a single l."] Tennent has been entirely misled by Reinaud in supposing that Galle could be the Kala of the old Arab voyages to China, a port which certainly lay in the Malay seas. (See CALAY.)
1518.—"He tried to make the port of Columbo, before which he arrived in 3 days, but he could not make it because the wind was contrary, so he tacked about for 4 days till he made the port of Galle, which is in the south part of the island, and entered it with his whole squadron; and then our people went ashore killing cows and plundering whatever they could find."—Correa, ii. 540.
1553.—"In which Island they (the Chinese), as the natives say, left a language which they call Chingálla, and the people themselves Chingállas, particularly those who dwell from Ponta de Gálle onwards, facing the south and east. For adjoining that point they founded a City called Tanabaré (see DONDERA HEAD), of which a large part still stands; and from being hard by that Cape of Gálle, the rest of the people, who dwelt from the middle of the Island upwards, called the inhabitants of this part Chingálla, and their language the same, as if they would say language or people of the Chins of Gálle."—Barros, III. ii. cap. 1. (This is, of course, all fanciful.)
[1554.—"He went to the port of Gabaliquama, which our people now call Porto de Gale."—Castanheda, ii. ch. 23.]
c. 1568.—"Il piotta s'ingannò per ciochè il Capo di Galli dell'Isola di Seilan butta assai in mare."—Cesare de' Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 396v.
1585.—"Dopo haver nauigato tre giorni senza veder terra, al primo di Maggio fummo in vista di Punta di Gallo, laquale è assai pericolosa da costeggiare."—G. Balbi, f. 19.
1661.—"Die Stadt Punto-Gale ist im Jahr 1640 vermittelst Gottes gnadigem Seegen durch die Tapferkeit des Commandanten Jacob Koster den Neiderländen zu teil geworden."—W. Schulze, 190.
1691.—"We passed by Cape Comoryn, and came to Puntogale."—Valentijn, ii. 540.
GALLEGALLE, s. A mixture of lime and linseed oil, forming a kind of mortar impenetrable to water (Shakespear), Hind. galgal.
1621.—"Also the justis, Taccomon Done, sent us word to geve ouer making gallegalle in our howse we hired of China Capt., because the white lyme did trowble the player or singing man, next neighbour...."—Cocks's Diary, ii. 190.
GALLEVAT, s. The name applied to a kind of galley, or war-boat with oars, of small draught of water, which continued to be employed on the west coast of India down to the latter half of the 18th century. The work quoted below under 1717 explains the galleywatts to be "large boats like Gravesend Tilt-boats; they carry about 6 Carvel-Guns and 60 men at small arms, and Oars; They sail with a Peak Sail like the Mizen of a Man-of-War, and row with 30 or 40 Oars.... They are principally used for landing Troops for a Descent...." (p. 22). The word is highly interesting from its genealogical tree; it is a descendant of the great historical and numerous family of the Galley (galley, galiot, galleon, galeass, galleida, galeoncino, &c.), and it is almost certainly the immediate parent of the hardly less historical Jolly-boat, which plays so important a part in British naval annals. [Prof. Skeat takes jolly-boat to be an English adaptation of Danish jolle, 'a yawl'; Mr. Foster remarks that jollyvatt as an English word, is at least as old as 1495-97 (Oppenheim, Naval Accounts and Inventories, Navy Rec. Soc. viii. 193) (Letters, iii. 296).] If this be true, which we can hardly doubt, we shall have three of the boats of the British man-of-war owing their names (quod minime reris!) to Indian originals, viz. the Cutter, the Dingy, and the Jolly-boat to catur, dingy and gallevat. This last derivation we take from Sir J. Campbell's Bombay Gazetteer (xiii. 417), a work that one can hardly mention without admiration. This writer, who states that a form of the same word, galbat, is now generally used by the natives in Bombay waters for large foreign vessels, such as English ships and steamers, is inclined to refer it to jalba, a word for a small boat used on the shores of the Red Sea (see Dozy and Eng., p. 276), which appears below in a quotation from Ibn Batuta, and which vessels were called by the early Portuguese geluas. Whether this word is the parent of galley and its derivatives, as Sir J. Campbell thinks, must be very doubtful, for galley is much older in European use than he seems to think, as the quotation from Asser shows. The word also occurs in Byzantine writers of the 9th century, such as the Continuator of Theophanes quoted below, and the Emperor Leo. We shall find below the occurrence of galley as an Oriental word in the form jalia, which looks like an Arabized adoption from a Mediterranean tongue. The Turkish, too, still has ḳālyūn for a ship of the line, which is certainly an adoption from galeone. The origin of galley is a very obscure question. Amongst other suggestions mentioned by Diez (Etym. Worterb., 2nd ed. i. 198-199) is one from γαλεός, a shark, or from γαλεώτης, a sword-fish—the latter very suggestive of a galley with its aggressive beak; another is from γάλη, a word in Hesychius, which is the apparent origin of 'gallery.' It is possible that galeota, galiote, may have been taken directly from the shark or sword-fish, though in imitation of the galea already in use. For we shall see below that galiot was used for a pirate. [The N.E.D. gives the European synonymous words, and regards the ultimate etymology of galley as unknown.]
The word gallevat seems to come directly from the galeota of the Portuguese and other S. European nations, a kind of inferior galley with only one bank of oars, which appears under the form galion in Joinville, infra (not to be confounded with the galleons of a later period, which were larger vessels), and often in the 13th and 14th centuries as galeota, galiotes, &c. It is constantly mentioned as forming part of the Portuguese fleets in India. Bluteau defines galeota as "a small galley with one mast, and with 15 or 20 benches a side, and one oar to each bench."
a. Galley.
c. 865.—"And then the incursion of the Russians (τῶν Ῥὼς) afflicted the Roman territory (these are a Scythian nation of rude and savage character), devastating Pontus ... and investing the City itself when Michael was away engaged in war with the Ishmaelites.... So this incursion of these people afflicted the empire on the one hand, and on the other the advance of the fleet on Crete, which with some 20 cymbaria, and 7 galleys (γαλέας), and taking with it cargo-vessels also, went about, descending sometimes on the Cyclades Islands, and sometimes on the whole coast (of the main) right up to Proconnesus."—Theophanis Continuatio, Lib. iv. 33-34.
A.D. 877.—"Crescebat insuper diebus singulis perversorum numerus; adeo quidem, ut si triginta ex eis millia una die necarentur, alii succedebant numero duplicato. Tunc rex Aelfredus jussit cymbas et galeas, id est longas naves, fabricari per regnum, ut navali proelio hostibus adventantibus obviaret."—Asser, Annales Rer. Gest. Aelfredi Magni, ed. West, 1722, p. 29.
c. 1232.—"En cele navie de Genevois avoit soissante et dis galeis, mout bien armées; cheuetaine en estoient dui grant home de Gene...."—Guillaume de Tyr, Texte Français, ed. Paulin Paris, i. 393.
1243.—Under this year Matthew Paris puts into the mouth of the Archbishop of York a punning couplet which shows the difference of accent with which galea in its two senses was pronounced:
"In terris galeas, in aquis formido galeias:
Inter eas et eas consulo cautus eas."
1249.—"Lors s'esmut notre galie, et alames bien une grant lieue avant que li uns ne parlast à l'autre.... Lors vint messires Phelippes de Monfort en un galion,[135] et escria au roy: 'Sires, sires, parlés à vostre frere le conte de Poitiers, qui est en cel autre vessel.' Lors escria li roys: 'Alume, alume!'"—Joinville, ed. de Wailly, p. 212.
1517.—"At the Archinale ther (at Venice) we saw in makyng iiiixx (i.e. 80) new galyes and galye Bastards, and galye Sotyltes, besyd they that be in viage in the haven."—Torkington's Pilgrimage, p. 8.
1542.—"They said that the Turk had sent orders to certain lords at Alexandria to make him up galleys (galés) in wrought timber, to be sent on camels to Suez; and this they did with great diligence ... insomuch that every day a galley was put together at Suez ... where they were making up 50 galleys, and 12 galeons, and also small rowing-vessels, such as caturs, much swifter than ours."—Correa, iv. 237.
b. Jalia.
1612.—"... and coming to Malaca and consulting with the General they made the best arrangements that they could for the enterprise, adding a flotilla ... sufficient for any need, for it consisted of seven Galeots, a calamute (?), a sanguicel, five bantins,[136] and one jalia."—Bocarro, 101.
1615.—"You must know that in 1605 there had come from the Reino (i.e. Portugal) one Sebastian Gonçalves Tibau ... of humble parentage, who betook himself to Bengal and commenced life as a soldier; and afterwards became a factor in cargoes of salt (which forms the chief traffic in those parts), and acquiring some capital in this business, with that he bought a jalia, a kind of vessel that is there used for fighting and trading at once."—Ibid. 431.
1634.—"Many others (of the Firingis) who were on board the ghrábs, set fire to their vessels, and turned their faces towards hell. Out of the 64 large dingas, 57 ghrábs, and 200 jaliyas, one ghráb and two jaliyas escaped."—Capture of Hoogly in 1634, Bādshāh Nāma, in Elliot, vii. 34.
c. Jalba, Jeloa, &c.
c. 1330.—"We embarked at this town (Jedda) on a vessel called jalba which belonged to Rashīd-eddīn al-alfī al-Yamanī, a native of Ḥabsh."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 158. The Translators comment: "A large boat or gondola made of planks stitched together with coco-nut fibre."
1518.—"And Merocem, Captain of the fleet of the Grand Sultan, who was in Cambaya ... no sooner learned that Goa was taken ... than he gave up all hopes of bringing his mission to a fortunate termination, and obtained permission from the King of Cambaya to go to Judá ... and from that port set out for Suez in a shallop" (gelua).—Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. iii. 19.
1538.—"... before we arrived at the Island of Rocks, we discerned three vessels on the other side, that seemed to us to be Geloas, or Terradas, which are the names of the vessels of that country."—Pinto, in Cogan, p. 7.
[1611.—"Messengers will be sent along the coast to give warning of any jelba or ship approaching."—Danvers, Letters, i. 94.]
1690.—"In this is a Creek very convenient for building Grabbs or Geloas."—Ovington, 467.
d. Galliot.
In the first quotation we have galiot in the sense of "pirate."
c. 1232.—"L'en leur demanda de quel terre; il respondirent de Flandres, de Hollande et de Frise; et ce estoit voirs que il avoient esté galiot et ulague de mer, bien huit anz; or s'estoient repenti et pour penitence venoient en pelerinage en Jerusalem."—Guill. de Tyr, as above, p. 117.
1337.—"... que elles doivent partir pour uenir au seruice du roy le jer J. de may l'an 337 au plus tart e doiuent couster les d. 40 galées pour quatre mois 144000 florins d'or, payez en partie par la compagnie des Bardes ... et 2000 autres florins pour viretons et 2 galiotes."—Contract with Genoese for Service of Philip of Valois, quoted by Jal, ii. 337.
1518.—"The Governor put on great pressure to embark the force, and started from Cochin the 20th September, 1518, with 17 sail, besides the Goa foists, taking 3 galleys (galés) and one galeota, two brigantines (bargantys), four caravels, and the rest round ships of small size."—Correa, ii. 539.
1548.—"... pera a gualveta em que ha d'andar o alcaide do maar."—S. Botelho, Tombo, 239.
1552.—"As soon as this news reached the Sublime Porte the Sandjak of Katif was ordered to send Murad-Beg to take command of the fleet, enjoining him to leave in the port of Bassora one or two ships, five galleys, and a galiot."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 48.
" "They (the Portuguese) had 4 ships as big as carracks, 3 ghurābs or great (rowing) vessels, 6 Portuguese caravels and 12 smaller ghurabs, i.e. galiots with oars."—Ibid. 67-68. Unfortunately the translator does not give the original Turkish word for galiot.
c. 1610.—"Es grandes Galeres il y peut deux et trois cens hommes de guerre, et en d'autres grandes Galiotes, qu'ils nomment Fregates, il y en peut cent...."—Pyrard de Laval, ii. 72; [Hak. Soc. ii. 118].
[1665.—"He gave a sufficient number of galiotes to escort them to sea."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 193.]
1689.—"He embarked about the middle of October in the year 1542, in a galiot, which carried the new Captain of Comorin."—Dryden, Life of Xavier. (In Works, ed. 1821, xvi, 87.)
e. Gallevat.
1613.—"Assoone as I anchored I sent Master Molineux in his Pinnasse, and Master Spooner, and Samuell Squire in my Gellywatte to sound the depths within the sands."—Capt. N. Downton, in Purchas, i. 501. This illustrates the origin of Jolly-boat.
[1679.—"I know not how many Galwets."—In Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. clxxxiv.]
1717.—"Besides the Salamander Fire-ship, Terrible Bomb, six Galleywatts of 8 guns, and 60 men each, and 4 of 6 guns and 50 men each."—Authentic and Faithful History of that Arch-Pyrate Tulajee Angria (1756), p. 47.
c. 1760.—"Of these armed boats called Gallevats, the Company maintains also a competent number, for the service of their marine."—Grose, ii. 62.
1763.—"The Gallevats are large row-boats, built like the grab, but of smaller dimensions, the largest rarely exceeding 70 tons; they have two masts ... they have 40 or 50 stout oars, and may be rowed four miles an hour."—Orme, i. 409.
[1813.—"... here they build vessels of all sizes, from a ship of the line to the smallest grabs and gallivats, employed in the Company's services."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 94-5.]
GAMBIER, s. The extract of a climbing shrub (Uncaria Gambier, Roxb.? Nauclea Gambier, Hunter; N.O. Rubiaceae) which is a native of the regions about the Straits of Malacca, and is much grown in plantations in Singapore and the neighbouring islands. The substance in chemical composition and qualities strongly resembles cutch (q.v.), and the names Catechu and Terra Japonica are applied to both. The plant is mentioned in Debry, 1601 (iii. 99), and by Rumphius, c. 1690 (v. 63), who describes its use in mastication with betel-nut; but there is no account of the catechu made from it, known to the authors of the Pharmacographia, before 1780. Crawfurd gives the name as Javanese, but Hanbury and Flückiger point out the resemblance to the Tamil name for catechu, Katta Kāmbu (Pharmacographia, 298 seqq.). [Mr. Skeat points out that the standard Malay name is gambir, of which the origin is uncertain, but that the English word is clearly derived from it.]
GANDA, s. This is the H. name for a rhinoceros, gainḍa, genḍa from Skt. gaṇḍa (giving also gaṇḍaka, gaṇḍānga, gajendra). The note on the passage in Barbosa by his Hak. Soc. editor is a marvel in the way of error. The following is from a story of Correa about a battle between "Bober Mirza" (i.e. Sultan Baber) and a certain King "Cacandar" (Sikandar?), in which I have been unable to trace even what events it misrepresents. But it keeps Fernan Mendez Pinto in countenance, as regards the latter's statement about the advance of the King of the Tartars against Peking with four score thousand rhinoceroses!
"The King Cacandar divided his army into five battles well arrayed, consisting of 140,000 horse and 280,000 foot, and in front of them a battle of 800 elephants, which fought with swords upon their tusks, and on their backs castles with archers and musketeers. And in front of the elephants 80 rhinoceroses (gandas), like that which went to Portugal, and which they call bichá (?); these on the horn which they have over the snout carried three-pronged iron weapons with which they fought very stoutly ... and the Mogors with their arrows made a great discharge, wounding many of the elephants and the gandas, which as they felt the arrows, turned and fled, breaking up the battles...."—Correa, iii. 573-574.
1516.—"The King (of Guzerat) sent a Ganda to the King of Portugal, because they told him that he would be pleased to see her."—Barbosa, 58.
1553.—"And in return for many rich presents which this Diogo Fernandez carried to the King, and besides others which the King sent to Affonso Alboquerque, there was an animal, the biggest which Nature has created after the elephant, and the great enemy of the latter ... which the natives of the land of Cambaya, whence this one came, call Ganda, and the Greeks and Latins Rhinoceros. And Affonso d'Alboquerque sent this to the King Don Manuel, and it came to this Kingdom, and it was afterwards lost on its way to Rome, when the King sent it as a present to the Pope."—Barros, Dec. II. liv. x. cap. 1. [Also see d'Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. iv. 104 seq.].
GANTON, s. This is mentioned by some old voyagers as a weight or measure by which pepper was sold in the Malay Archipelago. It is presumably Malay gantang, defined by Crawfurd as "a dry measure, equal to about a gallon." [Klinkert has: "gantang, a measure of capacity 5 katis among the Malays; also a gold weight, formerly 6 suku, but later 1 bongkal, or 8 suku." Gantang-gantang is 'cartridge-case.']
1554.—"Also a candy of Goa, answers to 140 gamtas, equivalent to 15 paraas, 30 medidas at 42 medidas to the paraa."—A. Nunes, 39.
[1615.—"... 1000 gantans of pepper."—Foster, Letters, iii. 168.]
" "I sent to borow 4 or five gantas of oyle of Yasemon Dono.... But he returned answer he had non, when I know, to the contrary, he bought a parcell out of my handes the other day."—Cocks's Diary, i. 6.
GANZA, s. The name given by old travellers to the metal which in former days constituted the inferior currency of Pegu. According to some it was lead; others call it a mixt metal. Lead in rude lumps is still used in the bazars of Burma for small purchases. (Yule, Mission to Ava, 259.) The word is evidently Skt. kaṉsa, 'bell-metal,' whence Malay gangsa, which last is probably the word which travellers picked up.
1554.—"In this Kingdom of Pegu there is no coined money, and what they use commonly consists of dishes, pans, and other utensils of service, made of a metal like frosyleyra (?), broken in pieces; and this is called gamça...."—A. Nunes, 38.
" "... vn altra statua cosi fatta di Ganza; che è vn metallo di che fanno le lor monete, fatte di rame e di piombo mescolati insieme."—Cesare Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 394v.
c. 1567.—"The current money that is in this Citie, and throughout all this kingdom, is called Gansa or Ganza, which is made of copper and lead. It is not the money of the king, but every man may stampe it that will...."—Caesar Frederick, E.T., in Purchas, iii. 1717-18.
1726.—"Rough Peguan Gans (a brass mixt with lead)...."—Valentijn, Chor. 34.
1727.—"Plenty of Ganse or Lead, which passeth all over the Pegu Dominions, for Money."—A. Hamilton, ii. 41; [ed. 1744, ii. 40].
GARCE, s. A cubic measure for rice, &c., in use on the Madras coast, as usual varying much in value. Buchanan (infra) treats it as a weight. The word is Tel. gārisa, gārise, Can. garasi, Tam. karisai. [In Chingleput salt is weighed by the Garce of 124 maunds, or nearly 5.152 tons (Crole, Man. 58); in Salem, 400 Markals (see MERCALL) are 185.2 cubic feet, or 18 quarters English (Le Fanu, Man. ii. 329); in Malabar, 120 Paras of 25 Macleod seers, or 10,800 lbs. (Logan, Man. ii. clxxix.). As a superficial measure in the N. Circars, it is the area which will produce one Garce of grain.]
[1684-5.—"A Generall to Conimeer of this day date enordring them to provide 200 gars of salt...."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iv. 40, who notes that a still earlier use of the word will be found in Notes and Exts. i. 97.]
1752.—"Grain Measures.
| 1 | Measure weighs about 26 | lb. 1 oz. | avd. | |||
| 8 | Do. is 1 Mercal | 21 | " | " | ||
| 3200 | Do. is 400 do., or | |||||
| 1 | Garse | 8400 | " | " | " | |
| Brooks, Weights and Measures, &c., p. 6. | ||||||
1759.—"... a garce of rice...."—In Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 120.
1784.—"The day that advice was received ... (of peace with Tippoo) at Madras, the price of rice fell there from 115 to 80 pagodas the garce."—In Seton-Karr, i. 13.
1807.—"The proper native weights used in the Company's Jaghire are as follows: 10 Vara hun (Pagodas) = 1 Polam, 40 Polams = 1 Visay, 8 Visay (Vees) = 1 Manungu, 20 Manungus (Maunds) = 1 Baruays, 20 Baruays (Candies) = 1 Gursay, called by the English Garse. The Vara hun or Star Pagoda weighs 52¾ grains, therefore the Visay is nearly three pounds avoirdupois (see VISS); and the Garse is nearly 1265 lbs."—F. Buchanan, Mysore, &c., i. 6.
By this calculation, the Garse should be 9600 lbs. instead of 1265 as printed.
GARDEE, s. A name sometimes given, in 18th century, to native soldiers disciplined in European fashion, i.e. sepoys (q.v.). The Indian Vocabulary (1788) gives: "Gardee—a tribe inhabiting the provinces of Bijapore, &c., esteemed good foot soldiers." The word may be only a corruption of 'guard,' but probably the origin assigned in the second quotation may be well founded; 'Guard' may have shaped the corruption of Gharbi. The old Bengal sepoys were commonly known in the N.W. as Purbias or Easterns (see POORUB). [Women in the Amazon corps at Hyderabad (Deccan), known as the Ẓafar Paltan, or 'Victorious Battalion,' were called gardunee (Gārdanī), the feminine form of Gārad or Guard.]
1762.—"A coffre who commanded the Telingas and Gardees ... asked the horseman whom the horse belonged to?"—Native Letter, in Van Sittart, i. 141.
1786.—"... originally they (Sipahis) were commanded by Arabians, or those of their descendants born in the Canara and Concan or Western parts of India, where those foreigners style themselves Gharbies or Western. Moreover these corps were composed mostly of Arabs, Negroes, and Habissinians, all of which bear upon that coast the same name of Gharbi.... In time the word Gharbi was corrupted by both the French and Indians into that of Gardi, which is now the general name of Sipahies all over India save Bengal ... where they are stiled Talingas."—Note by Transl. of Seir Mutaqherin, ii. 93.
[1815.—"The women composing them are called Gardunees, a corruption of our word Guard."—Blacker, Mem. of the Operations in India in 1817-19, p. 213 note.]
GARDENS, GARDEN-HOUSE, s. In the 18th century suburban villas at Madras and Calcutta were so called. 'Garden Reach' below Fort William took its name from these.
1682.—"Early in the morning I was met by Mr. Littleton and most of the Factory, near Hugly, and about 9 or 10 o'clock by Mr. Vincent near the Dutch Garden, who came attended by severall Boats and Budgerows guarded by 35 Firelocks, and about 50 Rashpoots and Peons well armed."—Hedges, Diary, July 24; [Hak. Soc. i. 32].
1685.—"The whole Council ... came to attend the President at the garden-house...."—Pringle, Diary, Fort St. Geo. 1st ser. iv. 115; in Wheeler, i. 139.
1747.—"In case of an Attack at the Garden House, if by a superior Force they should be oblig'd to retire, according to the orders and send a Horseman before them to advise of the Approach...."—Report of Council of War at Fort St. David, in India Office MS. Records.
1758.—"The guard of the redoubt retreated before them to the garden-house."—Orme, ii. 303.
" "Mahomed Isoof ... rode with a party of horse as far as Maskelyne's garden."—Ibid. iii. 425.
1772.—"The place of my residence at present is a garden-house of the Nabob, about 4 miles distant from Moorshedabad."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 34.
1782.—"A body of Hyder's horse were at St. Thomas's Mount on the 29th ult. and Gen. Munro and Mr. Brodie with great difficulty escaped from the General's Gardens. They were pursued by Hyder's horse within a mile of the Black Town."—India Gazette, May 11.
1809.—"The gentlemen of the settlement live entirely in their garden-houses, as they very properly call them."—Ld. Valentia, i. 389.
1810.—"... Rural retreats called Garden-houses."—Williamson, V. M. i. 137.
1873.—"To let, or for sale, Serle's Gardens at Adyar.—For particulars apply," &c.—Madras Mail, July 3.
GARRY, GHARRY, s. H. gāṛī, a cart or carriage. The word is used by Anglo-Indians, at least on the Bengal side, in both senses. Frequently the species is discriminated by a distinctive prefix, as palkee-garry (palankin carriage), sej-garry (chaise), rel-garry (railway carriage), &c. [The modern dawk-garry was in its original form called the "Equirotal Carriage," from the four wheels being of equal dimensions. The design is said to have been suggested by Lord Ellenborough. (See the account and drawing in Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 3 seq.).]