1613.—"And other native fruits, such as bachoes (perhaps bachang, the Mangifera foetida?) rambotans, rambes,[229] buasducos,[229] and pomegranates, and innumerable others...."—Godinho de Eredia, 16.
1726.—"... the ramboetan-tree (the fruit of which the Portuguese call froeta dos caffaros or Caffer's fruit)."—Valentijn (v.) Sumatra, 3.
1727.—"The Rambostan is a Fruit about the Bigness of a Walnut, with a tough Skin, beset with Capillaments; within the Skin is a very savoury Pulp."—A. Hamilton, ii. 81; [ed. 1744, ii. 80].
1783.—"Mangustines, rambustines, &c."—Forrest, Mergui, 40.
[1812.—"... mangustan, rhambudan, and dorian...."—Heyne, Tracts, 411.]
RAMDAM, s. Hind. from Ar. ramaẓān (ramaḍhān). The ninth Mahommedan lunar month, viz. the month of the Fast.
1615.—"... at this time, being the preparation to the Ramdam or Lent."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 537; [Hak. Soc. i. 21; also 58, 72, ii. 274].
1623.—"The 29th June: I think that (to-day?) the Moors have commenced their ramadhan, according to the rule by which I calculate."—P. della Valle, ii. 607; [Hak. Soc. i. 179].
1686.—"They are not ... very curious or strict in observing any Days or Times of particular Devotions, except it be Ramdam time as we call it.... In this time they fast all Day...."—Dampier, i. 343.
RAMOOSY, n.p. The name of a very distinct caste in W. India, Mahr. Rāmosī, [said to be from Mahr. ranavāsī, 'jungle-dweller']; originally one of the thieving castes. Hence they came to be employed as hereditary watchmen in villages, paid by cash or by rent-free lands, and by various petty dues. They were supposed to be responsible for thefts till the criminals were caught; and were often themselves concerned. They appear to be still commonly employed as hired chokidars by Anglo-Indian households in the west. They come chiefly from the country between Poona and Kolhapūr. The surviving traces of a Ramoosy dialect contain Telegu words, and have been used in more recent days as a secret slang. [See an early account of the tribe in: "An Account of the Origin and Present condition of the tribe of Ramoosies, including the Life of the Chief Oomíah Naik, by Capt. Alexander Mackintosh of the Twenty-seventh Regiment, Madras Army," Bombay 1833.]
[1817.—"His Highness must long have been aware of Ramoosees near the Mahadeo pagoda."—Elphinstone's Letter to Peshwa, in Papers relating to E.I. Affairs, 23.]
1833.—"There are instances of the Ramoosy Naiks, who are of a bold and daring spirit, having a great ascendancy over the village Patells (Patel) and Koolkurnies (Coolcurnee), but which the latter do not like to acknowledge openly ... and it sometimes happens that the village officers participate in the profits which the Ramoosies derive from committing such irregularities."—Macintosh, Acc. of the Tribe of Ramoossies, p. 19.
1883.—"Till a late hour in the morning he (the chameleon) sleeps sounder than a ramoosey or a chowkeydar; nothing will wake him."—Tribes on My Frontier.
RAM-RAM! The commonest salutation between two Hindus meeting on the road; an invocation of the divinity.
[1652.—"... then they approach the idol waving them (their hands) and repeating many times (the words) Ram, Ram, i.e. God, God."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 263.]
1673.—"Those whose Zeal transports them no further than to die at home, are immediately Washed by the next of Kin, and bound up in a Sheet; and as many as go with him carry them by turns on a Colt-staff; and the rest run almost naked and shaved, crying after him Ram, Ram."—Fryer, 101.
1726.—"The wives of Bramines (when about to burn) first give away their jewels and ornaments, or perhaps a pinang, (q.v.), which is under such circumstances a great present, to this or that one of their male or female friends who stand by, and after taking leave of them, go and lie over the corpse, calling out only Ram, Ram."—Valentijn, v. 51.
[1828.—See under SUTTEE.]
c. 1885.—Sir G. Birdwood writes: "In 1869-70 I saw a green parrot in the Crystal Palace aviary very doleful, dull, and miserable to behold. I called it 'pretty poll,' and coaxed it in every way, but no notice of me would it take. Then I bethought me of its being a Mahratta poput, and hailed it Ram Ram! and spoke in Mahratti to it; when at once it roused up out of its lethargy, and hopped and swung about, and answered me back, and cuddled up close to me against the bars, and laid its head against my knuckles. And every day thereafter, when I visited it, it was always in an eager flurry to salute me as I drew near to it."
RANEE, s. A Hindu queen; rānī, fem. of rājā, from Skt. rājnī (= regina).
1673.—"Bedmure (Bednūr) ... is the Capital City, the Residence of the Ranna, the Relict of Sham Shunker Naig."—Fryer, 162.
1809.—"The young Rannie may marry whomsoever she pleases."—Lord Valentia, i. 364.
1879.—"There were once a Raja and a Ráné who had an only daughter."—Miss Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales, 1.
RANGOON, n.p. Burm. Ran-gun, said to mean 'War-end'; the chief town and port of Pegu. The great Pagoda in its immediate neighbourhood had long been famous under the name of Dagon (q.v.), but there was no town in modern times till Rangoon was founded by Alompra during his conquest of Pegu, in 1755. The name probably had some kind of intentional assonance to Da-gun, whilst it "proclaimed his forecast of the immediate destruction of his enemies." Occupied by the British forces in May 1824, and again, taken by storm, in 1852, Rangoon has since the latter date been the capital, first of the British province of Pegu, and latterly of British Burma. It is now a flourishing port with a population of 134,176 (1881); [in 1891, 180,324].
RANJOW, s. A Malay term, ranjau. Sharp-pointed stakes of bamboo of varying lengths stuck in the ground to penetrate the naked feet or body of an enemy. See Marsden, H. of Sumatra, 2nd ed., 276. [The same thing on the Assam frontier is called a poee (Lewin, Wild Races, 308), or panji (Sanderson, Thirteen Years, 233).]
RASEED, s. Hind. rasīd. A native corruption of the English 'receipt,' shaped, probably, by the Pers. rasīda, 'arrived'; viz. an acknowledgment that a thing has 'come to hand.'
1877.—"There is no Sindi, however wild, that cannot now understand 'Rasíd' (receipt), and 'Apíl' (appeal)."—Burton, Sind Revisited, i. 282.
RAT-BIRD, s. The striated bush-babbler (Chattarhoea caudata, Dumeril); see Tribes on My Frontier, 1883, p. 3.
RATTAN, s. The long stem of various species of Asiatic climbing palms, belonging to the genus Calamus and its allies, of which canes are made (not 'bamboo-canes,' improperly so called), and which, when split, are used to form the seats of cane-bottomed chairs and the like. From Malay rotan, [which Crawfurd derives from rawat, 'to pare or trim'], applied to various species of Calamus and Daemonorops (see Filet, No. 696 et seq.). Some of these attain a length of several hundred feet, and are used in the Himālaya and the Kāsia Hills for making suspension bridges, &c., rivalling rope in strength.
1511.—"The Governor set out from Malaca in the beginning of December, of this year, and sailed along the coast of Pedir.... He met with such a contrary gale that he was obliged to anchor, which he did with a great anchor, and a cable of rótas, which are slender but tough canes, which they twist and make into strong cables."—Correa, Lendas, ii. 269.
1563.—"They took thick ropes of rotas (which are made of certain twigs which are very flexible) and cast them round the feet, and others round the tusks."—Garcia, f. 90.
1598.—"There is another sorte of the same reedes which they call Rota: these are thinne like twigges of Willow for baskets...."—Linschoten, 28; [Hak. Soc. i. 97].
c. 1610.—"Il y a vne autre sorte de canne qui ne vient iamais plus grosse que le petit doigt ... et il ploye comme osier. Ils l'appellent Rotan. Ils en font des cables de nauire, et quantité de sortes de paniers gentiment entre lassez."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 237; [Hak. Soc. i. 331, and see i. 207].
1673.—"... The Materials Wood and Plaister, beautified without with folding windows, made of Wood and latticed with Rattans...."—Fryer, 27.
1844.—"In the deep vallies of the south the vegetation is most abundant and various. Amongst the most conspicuous species are ... the rattan winding from trunk to trunk and shooting his pointed head above all his neighbours."—Notes on the Kasia Hills and People, in J.A.S.B. vol. xiii. pt. ii. 615.
RAVINE DEER. The sportsman's name, at least in Upper India, for the Indian gazelle (Gazella Bennettii, Jerdon, [Blanford, Mammalia, 526 seqq.]).
RAZZIA, s. This is Algerine-French, not Anglo-Indian, meaning a sudden raid or destructive attack. It is in fact the Ar. ghāziya, 'an attack upon infidels,' from ghāzī, 'a hero.'
REAPER, s. The small laths, laid across the rafters of a sloping roof to bear the tiles, are so called in Anglo-Indian house-building. We find no such word in any Hind. Dictionary; but in the Mahratti Dict. we find rīp in this sense.
[1734-5.—See under BANKSHALL.]
REAS, REES, s. Small money of account, formerly in use at Bombay, the 25th part of an anna, and 400th of a rupee. Port. real, pl. réis. Accounts were kept at Bombay in rupees, quarters, and reas, down at least to November 1834, as we have seen in accounts of that date at the India Office.
1673.—(In Goa) "The Vinteen ... 15 Basrooks (see BUDGROOK), whereof 75 make a Tango (see TANGA), and 60 Rees make a Tango."—Fryer, 207.
1727.—"Their Accounts (Bombay) are kept by Rayes and Rupees. 1 Rupee is ... 400 Rayes."—A. Hamilton, ii. App. 6; [ed. 1744, ii. 315].
RED CLIFFS, n.p. The nautical name of the steep coast below Quilon. This presents the only bluffs on the shore from Mt. Dely to Cape Comorin, and is thus identified, by character and name, with the Πυῤῥὸν ὄρος of the Periplus.
c. 80-90.—"Another village, Bakarē, lies by the mouth of the river, to which the ships about to depart descend from Nelkynda.... From Bakarē extends the Red-Hill (πυῤῥον ὄρος) and then a long stretch of country called Paralia."—Periplus, §§ 55-58.
1727.—"I wonder why the English built their Fort in that place (Anjengo), when they might as well have built it near the Red Cliffs to the Northward, from whence they have their Water for drinking."—A. Hamilton, i. 332; [ed. 1744, i. 334].
1813.—"Water is scarce and very indifferent; but at the red cliffs, a few miles to the north of Anjengo, it is said to be very good, but difficult to be shipped."—Milburn, Or. Comm. i. 335. See also Dunn's New Directory, 5th ed. 1780, p. 161.
1814.—"From thence (Quilone) to Anjengo the coast is hilly and romantic; especially about the red cliffs at Boccoli (qu. Βακαρὴ as above?); where the women of Anjengo daily repair for water, from a very fine spring."—Forbes, Or. Mem., i. 334; [2nd ed. i. 213].
1841.—"There is said to be fresh water at the Red Cliffs to the northward of Anjengo, but it cannot be got conveniently; a considerable surf generally prevailing on the coast, particularly to the southward, renders it unsafe for ships' boats to land."—Horsburgh's Direc. ed. 1841, i. 515.
RED-DOG, s. An old name for Prickly-heat (q.v.).
c. 1752.—"The red-dog is a disease which affects almost all foreigners in hot countries, especially if they reside near the shore, at the time when it is hottest."—Osbeck's Voyage, i. 190.
REGULATION, s. A law passed by the Governor-General in Council, or by a Governor (of Madras or Bombay) in Council. This term became obsolete in 1833, when legislative authority was conferred by the Charter Act (3 & 4 Will. IV. cap. 85) on those authorities; and thenceforward the term used is Act. By 13 Geo. III. cap. 63, § xxxv., it is enacted that it shall be lawful for the G.-G. and Council of Fort William in Bengal to issue Rules or Decrees and Regulations for the good order and civil government of the Company's settlements, &c. This was the same Charter Act that established the Supreme Court. But the authorised compilation of "Regulations of the Govt. of Fort William in force at the end of 1853," begins only with the Regulations of 1793, and makes no allusion to the earlier Regulations. No more does Regulation XLI. of 1793, which prescribes the form, numbering, and codifying of the Regulations to be issued. The fact seems to be that prior to 1793, when the enactment of Regulations was systematized, and the Regulations began to be regularly numbered, those that were issued partook rather of the character of resolutions of Government and circular orders than of Laws.
1868.—"The new Commissioner ... could discover nothing prejudicial to me, except, perhaps, that the Regulations were not sufficiently observed. The sacred Regulations! How was it possible to fit them on such very irregular subjects as I had to deal with?"—Lt.-Col. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, p. 376.
1880.—"The laws promulgated under this system were called Regulations, owing to a lawyer's doubts as to the competence of the Indian authorities to infringe on the legislative powers of the English Parliament, or to modify the 'laws and customs' by which it had been decreed that the various nationalities of India were to be governed."—Saty. Review, March 13, p. 335.
REGULATION PROVINCES. See this explained under NON-REGULATION.
REGUR, s. Dakh. Hind. regaṛ, also legaṛ. The peculiar black loamy soil, commonly called by English people in India 'black cotton soil.' The word may possibly be connected with H.—P. reg, 'sand'; but regaḍa and regaḍi is given by Wilson as Telugu. [Platts connects it with Skt. rekha, 'a furrow.'] This soil is not found in Bengal, with some restricted exception in the Rājmahal Hills. It is found everywhere on the plains of the Deccan trap-country, except near the coast. Tracts of it are scattered through the valley of the Krishna, and it occupies the flats of Coimbatore, Madura, Salem, Tanjore, Ramnād, and Tinnevelly. It occurs north of the Nerbudda in Saugor, and occasionally on the plain of the eastern side of the Peninsula, and composes the great flat of Surat and Broach in Guzerat. It is also found in Pegu. The origin of regaṛ has been much debated. We can only give the conclusion as stated in the Manual of the Geology of India, from which some preceding particulars are drawn: "Regur has been shown on fairly trustworthy evidence to result from the impregnation of certain argillaceous formations with organic matter, but ... the process which has taken place is imperfectly understood, and ... some peculiarities in distribution yet require explanation."—Op. cit. i. 434.
REH, s. [Hind. reh, Skt. rej, 'to shine, shake, quiver.'] A saline efflorescence which comes to the surface in extensive tracts of Upper India, rendering the soil sterile. The salts (chiefly sulphate of soda mixed with more or less of common salt and carbonate of soda) are superficial in the soil, for in the worst reh tracts sweet water is obtainable at depths below 60 or 80 feet. [Plains infested with these salts are very commonly known in N. India as Oosur Plains (Hind. ūsar, Skt. ūshara, 'impregnated with salt.')] The phenomenon seems due to the climate of Upper India, where the ground is rendered hard and impervious to water by the scorching sun, the parching winds, and the treeless character of the country, so that there is little or no water-circulation in the subsoil. The salts in question, which appear to be such of the substances resulting from the decomposition of rock, or of the detritus derived from rock, and from the formation of the soil, as are not assimilated by plants, accumulate under such circumstances, not being diluted and removed by the natural purifying process of percolation of the rain-water. This accumulation of salts is brought to the surface by capillary action after the rains, and evaporated, leaving the salts as an efflorescence on the surface. From time to time the process culminates on considerable tracts of land, which are thus rendered barren. The canal-irrigation of the Upper Provinces has led to some aggravation of the evil. The level of the canal-waters being generally high, they raise the level of the reh-polluted water in the soil, and produce in the lower tracts a great increase of the efflorescence. A partial remedy for this lies in the provision of drainage for the subsoil water, but this has only to a small extent been yet carried out. [See a full account in Watt, Econ. Dict. VI. pt. i. 400 seqq.]
REINOL, s. A term formerly in use among the Portuguese at Goa, and applied apparently to 'Johnny Newcomes' or Griffins (q.v.). It is from reino, 'the Kingdom' (viz. of Portugal). The word was also sometimes used to distinguish the European Portuguese from the country-born.
1598.—"... they take great pleasure and laugh at him, calling him Reynol, which is a name given in iest to such as newly come from Portingall, and know not how to behave themselves in such grave manner, and with such ceremonies as the Portingales use there in India."—Linschoten, ch. xxxi.; [Hak. Soc. i. 208].
c. 1610.—"... quand ces soldats Portugais arriuent de nouueau aux Indes portans encor leurs habits du pays, ceux qui sont là de long tẽs quand ils les voyent par les ruës les appellent Renol, chargez de poux, et mille autres iniures et mocqueries."—Mocquet, 304.
[ " "When they are newly arrived in the Indies, they are called Raignolles, that is to say 'men of the Kingdom,' and the older hands mock them until they have made one or two voyages with them, and have learned the manners and customs of the Indies; this name sticks to them until the fleet arrives the year following."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 123.
[1727.—"The Reynolds or European fidalgos."—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, i. 251.]
At a later date the word seems to have been applied to Portuguese deserters who took service with the E.I. Co. Thus:
c. 1760.—"With respect to the military, the common men are chiefly such as the Company sends out in their ships, or deserters from the several nations settled in India, Dutch, French, or Portuguese, which last are commonly known by the name of Reynols."—Grose, i. 38.
RESHIRE, n.p. Rīshihr. A place on the north coast of the Persian Gulf, some 5 or 6 miles east of the modern port of Bushire (q.v.). The present village is insignificant, but it is on the site of a very ancient city, which continued to be a port of some consequence down to the end of the 16th century. I do not doubt that this is the place intended by Reyxel in the quotation from A. Nunes under Dubber. The spelling Raxet in Barros below is no doubt a clerical error for Raxel.
c. 1340.—"Rishihr.... This city built by Lohrasp, was rebuilt by Shapūr son of Ardeshīr Babegān; it is of medium size, on the shore of the sea. The climate is very hot and unhealthy.... The inhabitants generally devote themselves to sea-trade, but poor and feeble that they are, they live chiefly in dependence on the merchants of other countries. Dates and the cloths called Rīschihrī are the chief productions."—Hamdalla Mastūfī, quoted in Barbier de Meynard, Dict. de la Perse.
1514.—"And thereupon Pero Dalboquerque sailed away ... and entered through the straits of the Persian sea, and explored all the harbours, islands, and villages which are contained in it ... and when he was as far advanced as Bárem, the winds being now westerly—he tacked about, and stood along in the tack for a two days voyage, and reached Raxel, where he found Mirbuzaca, Captain of the Xeque Ismail, (Shāh Ismaīl Sūfi, of Persia), who had captured 20 tarradas from a Captain of the King of Ormuz."—Alboquerque, Hak. Soc. iv. 114-115.
" "On the Persian side (of the Gulf) is the Province of Raxel, which contains many villages and fortresses along the sea, engaged in a flourishing trade."—Ibid. 186-7.
1534.—"And at this time insurrection was made by the King of Raxel, (which is a city on the coast of Persia); who was a vassal of the King of Ormuz, so the latter King sought help from the Captain of the Castle, Antonio da Silveira. And he sent down Jorge de Crasto with a galliot and two foists and 100 men, all well equipt, and good musketeers; and bade him tell the King of Raxel that he must give up the fleet which he kept at sea for the purpose of plundering, and must return to his allegiance to the K. of Ormuz."—Correa, iii. 557.
1553.—"... And Francisco de Gouvea arrived at the port of the city of Raxet, and having anchored, was forthwith visited by a Moor on the King's part, with refreshments and compliments, and a message that ... he would make peace with us, and submit to the King of Ormuz."—Barros, IV. iv. 26.
1554.—"Reyxel." See under DUBBER, as above.
1600.—"Reformados y proueydos en Harmuz de lo necessario, nos tornamos a partir ... fuymos esta vez por fuera de la isla Queixiome (see KISHM) corriendo la misma costa, como de la primera, passamos ... mas adelante la fortaleza de Rexel, celebre por el mucho y perfetto pan y frutos, que su territorio produze."—Teixeira, Viage, 70.
1856.—"48 hours sufficed to put the troops in motion northwards, the ships of war, led by the Admiral, advancing along the coast to their support. This was on the morning of the 9th, and by noon the enemy was observed to be in force in the village of Reshire. Here amidst the ruins of old houses, garden-walls, and steep ravines, they occupied a formidable position; but notwithstanding their firmness, wall after wall was surmounted, and finally they were driven from their last defence (the old fort of Reshire) bordering on the cliffs at the margin of the sea."—Despatch in Lowe's H. of the Indian Navy, ii. 346.
RESIDENT, s. This term has been used in two ways which require distinction. Thus (a) up to the organization of the Civil Service in Warren Hastings's time, the chiefs of the Company's commercial establishments in the provinces, and for a short time the European chiefs of districts, were termed Residents. But later the word was applied (b) also to the representative of the Governor-General at an important native Court, e.g. at Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Baroda. And this is the only meaning that the term now has in British India. In Dutch India the term is applied to the chief European officer of a province (corresponding to an Indian Zillah) as well as to the Dutch representative at a native Court, as at Solo and Djokjocarta.
a.—
1748.—"We received a letter from Mr. Henry Kelsall, Resident at Ballasore."—Ft. William Consn., in Long, 3.
1760.—"Agreed, Mr. Howitt the present Resident in Rajah Tillack Chund's country (i.e. Burdwan) for the collection of the tuncahs (see TUNCA), be wrote to...."—Ibid. March 29, ibid. 244.
c. 1778.—"My pay as Resident (at Sylhet) did not exceed 500l. per annum, so that fortune could only be acquired by my own industry."—Hon. R. Lindsay, in Lives of the L.'s, iii. 174.
b.—
1798.—"Having received overtures of a very friendly nature from the Rajah of Berar, who has requested the presence of a British Resident at his Court, I have despatched an ambassador to Nagpore with full powers to ascertain the precise nature of the Rajah's views."—Marquis Wellesley, Despatches, i. 99.
RESPONDENTIA, s. An old trade technicality, thus explained: "Money which is borrowed, not upon the vessel as in bottomry, but upon the goods and merchandise contained in it, which must necessarily be sold or exchanged in the course of the voyage, in which case the borrower personally is bound to answer the contract" (Wharton's Law Lexicon, 6th ed., 1876; [and see N.E.D. under Bottomry]). What is now a part of the Calcutta Course, along the bank of the Hoogly, was known down to the first quarter of the last century, as Respondentia Walk. We have heard this name explained by the supposition that it was a usual scene of proposals and contingent jawaubs, (q.v.); but the name was no doubt, in reality, given because this walk by the river served as a sort of 'Change, where bargains in Respondentia and the like were made.
[1685.—"... Provided he gives his Bill to repay itt in Syam, ... with 20 p. Ct. Respondentia on the Ship...."—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. iv. 123.]
1720.—"I am concerned with Mr. Thomas Theobalds in a respondentia Bond in the 'George' Brigantine."—Testament of Ch. Davers, Merchant. In Wheeler, ii. 340.
1727.—"There was one Captain Perrin Master of a Ship, who took up about 500 L. on respondentia from Mr. Ralph Sheldon ... payable at his Return to Bengal."—A. Hamilton, ii. 14; [ed. 1744, ii. 12].
" "... which they are enabled to do by the Money taken up here on Respondentia bonds...."—In Wheeler, ii. 427.
1776.—"I have desired my Calcutta Attorney to insure some Money lent on Respondentia on Ships in India.... I have also subscribed £500 towards a China Voyage."—MS. Letter of James Rennell, Feb. 20.
1794.—"I assure you, Sir, Europe articles, especially good wine, are not to be had for love, money, or respondentia."—The Indian Observer, by Hugh Boyd, &c., p. 206.
[1840.—"A Grecian ghat has been built at the north end of the old Respondentia walk...."—Davidson, Diary of Travels, ii. 209.]
RESSAIDAR, s. P.—H. Rasāīdār. A native subaltern of irregular cavalry, under the Ressaldar (q.v.). It is not clear what sense rasāī has in the formation of this title (which appears to be of modern devising). The meaning of that word is 'quickness of apprehension; fitness, perfection.'
RESSALA, s. Hind. from Ar. risāla. A troop in one of our regiments of native (so-called) Irregular Cavalry. The word was in India applied more loosely to a native corps of horse, apart from English regimental technicalities. The Arabic word properly means the charge or commission of a rasūl, i.e. of a civil officer employed to make arrests (Dozy), [and in the passage from the Āīn, quoted under RESSALDAR, the original text has Risalah]. The transition of meaning, as with many other words of Arabic origin, is very obscure.
1758.—"Presently after Shokum Sing and Harroon Cawn (formerly of Roy Dullub's Rissalla) came in and discovered to him the whole affair."—Letter of W. Hastings, in Gleig, i. 70.
[1781.—"The enemy's troops before the place are five Rosollars of infantry...."—Sir Eyre Coote, letter of July 6, in Progs. of Council, September 7, Forrest, Letters, vol. iii.]
RESSALDAR, Ar.—P.—H. Risāladār (Ressala). Originally in Upper India the commander of a corps of Hindustani horse, though the second quotation shows it, in the south, applied to officers of infantry. Now applied to the native officer who commands a ressala in one of our regiments of "Irregular Horse." This title is applied honorifically to overseers of post-horses or stables. (See Panjab Notes & Queries, ii. 84.)
[c. 1590.—"Besides, there are several copyists who write a good hand and a lucid style. They receive the yáddásht (memorandum) when completed, keep it with themselves, and make a proper abridgement of it. After signing it, they return this instead of the yaddásht, when the abridgement is signed and sealed by the Wāqi'ahnawīs, and the Risalahdar (in orig. risālah)...."—Āīn, i. 259.]
1773.—"The Nawaub now gave orders to the Risaladárs of the regular and irregular infantry, to encircle the fort, and then commence the attack with their artillery and musketry."—H. of Hydur Naik, 327.
1803.—"The rissaldars finding so much money in their hands, began to quarrel about the division of it, while Perron crossed in the evening with the bodyguard."—Mil. Mem. of James Skinner, i. 274.
c. 1831.—"Le lieutenant de ma troupe a bonne chance d'être fait Capitaine (resseldar)."—Jacquemont, Corresp. ii. 8.
REST-HOUSE, s. Much the same as Dawk Bungalow (q.v.). Used in Ceylon only. [But the word is in common use in Northern India for the chokies along roads and canals.]
[1894.—"'Rest-Houses' or 'staging bungalows' are erected at intervals of twelve or fifteen miles along the roads."—G. W. MacGeorge, Ways and Works in India, p. 78.]
RESUM, s. Lascar's Hind. for ration (Roebuck).
RHINOCEROS, s. We introduce this word for the sake of the quotations, showing that even in the 16th century this animal was familiar not only in the Western Himālaya, but in the forests near Peshāwar. It is probable that the nearest rhinoceros to be found at the present time would be not less than 800 miles, as the crow flies, from Peshāwar. See also GANDA, [and for references to the animal in Greek accounts of India, McCrindle, Ancient India, its Invasion by Alexander, 186].
c. 1387.—"In the month of Zí-l Ka'da of the same year he (Prince Muhammed Khan) went to the mountains of Sirmor (W. of the Jumna) and spent two months in hunting the rhinoceros and the elk."—Táríkh-i-Mubárak-Sháhí, in Elliot, iv. 16.
1398.—(On the frontier of Kashmīr). "Comme il y avoit dans ces Pays un lieu qui par sa vaste étendue, et la grande quantité de gibiers, sembloit inviter les passans à chaser.... Timur s'en donna le divertissement ... ils prisent une infinité de gibiers, et l'on tua plusiers rhinoceros à coups de sabre et de lances, quoique cet animal ... a la peau si ferme, qu'on ne peut la percer que par des efforts extraordinaires."—Petis de la Croix, H. de Timur-Bec, iii. 159.
1519.—"After sending on the army towards the river (Indus), I myself set off for Sawâti, which they likewise call Karak-Khaneh (kark-khāna, 'the rhinoceros-haunt'), to hunt the rhinoceros. We started many rhinoceroses, but as the country abounds in brushwood, we could not get at them. A she rhinoceros, that had whelps, came out, and fled along the plain; many arrows were shot at her, but ... she gained cover. We set fire to the brushwood, but the rhinoceros was not to be found. We got sight of another, that, having been scorched in the fire, was lamed and unable to run. We killed it, and every one cut off a bit as a trophy of the chase."—Baber, 253.
1554.—"Nous vinmes à la ville de Pourschewer (Peshawur), et ayant heureusement passe le Koutel (Kotul), nous gagnâmes la ville de Djouschayeh. Sur le Koutel nous apercûmes des rhinoceros, dont la grosseur approchait celle d'un elephant...."—Sidi 'Ali, in J. As., 1st ser. tom. ix. 201-202.
RHOTASS, n.p. This (Rohtās) is the name of two famous fortresses in India, viz. a. a very ancient rock-fort in the Shāhābād district of Behar, occupying part of a tabular hill which rises on the north bank of the Sōn river to a height of 1490 feet. It was an important stronghold of Sher Shāh, the successful rival of the Mogul Humāyūn: b. A fort at the north end of the Salt-range in the Jhelum District, Punjab, which was built by the same king, named by him after the ancient Rohtās. The ruins are very picturesque.
a.—
c. 1560.—"Sher Sháh was occupied night and day with the business of his kingdom, and never allowed himself to be idle.... He kept money (khazána) and revenue kharáj) in all parts of his territories, so that, if necessity required, soldiers and money were ready. The chief treasury was in Rohtás under the care of Ikhtiyár Khán."—Waki'at-i-Mushtaki, in Elliot, iv. 551.
[c. 1590.—"Rohtas is a stronghold on the summit of a lofty mountain, difficult of access. It has a circumference of 14 kos and the land is cultivated. It contains many springs, and whenever the soil is excavated to the depth of 3 or 4 yards, water is visible. In the rainy season many lakes are formed, and more than 200 waterfalls gladden the eye and ear."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 152 seq.]
1665.—"... You must leave the great road to Patna, and bend to the South through Exberbourgh (?) [Akbarpur] and the famous Fortress of Rhodes."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 53; [ed. Ball, i. 121].
[1764.—"From Shaw Mull, Kelladar of Rotus to Major Munro."—In Long, 359.]
b.—
c. 1540.—"Sher Sháh ... marched with all his forces and retinue through all the hills of Padmán and Garjhák, in order that he might choose a fitting site, and build a fort there to keep down the Ghakkars.... Having selected Rohtás, he built there the fort which now exists."—Táríkh-i-Sher Sháhí, in Elliot, iv. 390.
1809.—"Before we reached the Hydaspes we had a view of the famous fortress of Rotas; but it was at a great distance.... Rotas we understood to be an extensive but strong fort on a low hill."—Elphinstone, Caubul, ed. 1839, i. 108.
RICE, s. The well-known cereal, Oryza sativa, L. There is a strong temptation to derive the Greek ὀρύζα, which is the source of our word through It. riso, Fr. riz, etc., from the Tamil ariśi, 'rice deprived of husk,' ascribed to a root ari, 'to separate.' It is quite possible that Southern India was the original seat of rice cultivation. Roxburgh (Flora Indica, ii. 200) says that a wild rice, known as Newaree [Skt. nīvāra, Tel. nivvāri] by the Telinga people, grows abundantly about the lakes in the Northern Circars, and he considers this to be the original plant.
It is possible that the Arabic al-ruzz (arruzz) from which the Spaniards directly take their word arroz, may have been taken also directly from the Dravidian term. But it is hardly possible that ὀρύζα can have had that origin. The knowledge of rice apparently came to Greece from the expedition of Alexander, and the mention of ὀρύζα by Theophrastus, which appears to be the oldest, probably dates almost from the lifetime of Alexander (d. B.C. 323). Aristobulus, whose accurate account is quoted by Strabo (see below), was a companion of Alexander's expedition, but seems to have written later than Theophrastus. The term was probably acquired on the Oxus, or in the Punjab. And though no Skt. word for rice is nearer ὀρύζα than vrīhi, the very common exchange of aspirant and sibilant might easily give a form like vrīsi or brīsi (comp. hindū, sindū, &c.) in the dialects west of India. Though no such exact form seems to have been produced from old Persian, we have further indications of it in the Pushtu, which Raverty writes, sing. 'a grain of rice' w'rijza'h, pl. 'rice' w'rijzey, the former close to oryza. The same writer gives in Barakai (one of the uncultivated languages of the Kabul country, spoken by a 'Tajik' tribe settled in Logar, south of Kabul, and also at Kanigoram in the Waziri country) the word for rice as w'rizza, a very close approximation again to oryza. The same word is indeed given by Leech, in an earlier vocabulary, largely coincident with the former, as rizza. The modern Persian word for husked rice is birinj, and the Armenian brinz. A nasal form, deviating further from the hypothetical brīsi or vrīsi, but still probably the same in origin, is found among other languages of the Hindū Kūsh tribes, e.g. Burishki (Khajuna of Leitner) broṉ; Shina (of Gilgit), brīūṉ; Khowar of the Chitral Valley (Arniyah of Leitner), grinj (Biddulph, Tribes of Hindoo Koosh, App., pp. xxxiv., lix., cxxxix.).
1298.—"Il hi a forment et ris asez, mès il ne menuient pain de forment por ce que il est en cele provence enferme, mès menuient ris et font poison (i.e. drink) de ris con especes qe molt e(s)t biaus et cler et fait le home evre ausi con fait le vin."—Marc Pol. Geo. Text, 132.
B.C. c. 320-300.—"Μᾶλλον δὲ σπείρουσι τὸ καλούμενον ὅρυζον, ἐξ οὗ το ἔψημα· τοῦτο δὲ ὅμοιον τῇ ζειᾷ, καὶ περιπτισθὲν οἷον χόνδρος, ευπεπτον δὲ τὴν ὄψιν πεφυκὸς ὅμοιον ταῖς αἴραις, καὶ τὸν πολύν χρόνον ἐν ὕδατι. Ἀποχεῖται δὲ οὒκ εἰς στάχυν, ἀλλ' οἷον φόβην ὥσπερ ὁ κέγχρος καὶ ὁ ἔλυμος."—Theophrast. de Hist. Plantt., iv. c. 4.
B.C. c. 20.—"The rice (ὄρυζα), according to Aristobulus, stands in water, in an enclosure. It is sowed in beds. The plant is 4 cubits in height, with many ears, and yields a large produce. The harvest is about the time of the setting of the Pleiades, and the grain is beaten out like barley.
"It grows in Bactriana, Babylonia, Susis, and in the Lower Syria."—Strabo, xv. i. § 18, in Bohn's E.T. iii. 83.
B.C. 300.—"Megasthenes writes in the second Book of his Indica: The Indians, says he, at their banquets have a table placed before each person. This table is made like a buffet, and they set upon it a golden bowl, into which they first help boiled rice (ὄρυζαν), as it might be boiled groats, and then a variety of cates dressed in Indian fashions."—Athenaeus, iv. § 39.
A.D. c. 70.—"Hordeum Indis sativum et silvestre, ex quo panis apud eos praecipuus et alica. Maxime quidem oryza gaudent, ex qua tisanam conficiunt quam reliqui mortales ex hordeo...."—Pliny, xviii. 13. Ph. Holland has here got so wrong a reading that we abandon him.
A.D. c. 80-90.—"Very productive is this country (Syrastrēnē or Penins. Guzerat) in wheat and rice (ὀρύζης) and sessamin oil and butter[230] (see GHEE) and cotton, and the abounding Indian piece-goods made from it."—Periplus, § 41.
ROC, s. The Rukh or fabulous colossal bird of Arabian legend. This has been treated of at length by one of the present writers in Marco Polo (Bk. iii. ch. 33, notes); and here we shall only mention one or two supplementary facts.
M. Marre states that rūḳ-rūḳ is applied by the Malays to a bird of prey of the vulture family, a circumstance which possibly may indicate the source of the Arabic name, as we know it to be of some at least of the legends. [See Skeat, Malay Magic, 124.]
In one of the notes just referred to it is suggested that the roc's quills, spoken of by Marco Polo in the passage quoted below (a passage which evidently refers to some real object brought to China), might possibly have been some vegetable production such as the great frond of the Ravenala of Madagascar (Urania speciosa), cooked to pass as a bird's quill. Mr. Sibree, in his excellent book on Madagascar (The Great African Island, 1880), noticed this, but pointed out that the object was more probably the immensely long midrib of the rofia palm (Sagus Raphia). Sir John Kirk, when in England in 1882, expressed entire confidence in this identification, and on his return to Zanzibar in 1883 sent four of these midribs to England. These must have been originally from 36 to 40 feet in length. The leaflets were all stript, but when entire the object must have strongly resembled a Brobdingnagian feather. These roc's quills were shown at the Forestry Exhibition in Edinburgh, 1884. Sir John Kirk wrote: