Chapter X: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (7)

1554.—"In this country (Guzerat) is a profusion of BĀBĀGHŪRĪ and
carnelians; but the best of these last are those coming from
Yaman."—_Sidi 'Ali Kapudān_, in _J.A.S.B._ v. 463.

1590.—"By the command of his Majesty grain weights of BĀBĀGHŪRĪ were
made, which were used in weighing."—_Āīn_, i. 35, and note, p. 615
(_Blochmann_).

1818.—"On the summit stands the tomb ... of the titular saint of the
country, BABA GHOR, to whom a devotion is paid more as a deity than as a
saint...."—_Copland_, in _Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo._, i. 294.

1849.—Among ten kinds of carnelians specified in H. Briggs's _Cities of
Gujaráshtra_ we find "BAWA GORI Akik, a veined kind."—p. 183.

BABBS, n.p. This name is given to the I. of Perim, in the St. of Babelmandel, in the quotation from Ovington. It was probably English sea-slang only. [Mr Whiteway points out that this is clearly from _albabo_, the Port. form of the Ar. word. João de Castro in Roteiro (1541), p. 34, says: "This strait is called by the neighbouring people, as well as those who dwell on the shores of the Indian Ocean, ALBABO, which in Arabic signifies 'gates.'"]

[1610.—"We attempting to work up to the BABE."—_Danvers, Letters_, i.
52.]

[1611.—"There is at the BABB a ship come from Swahell."—_Ibid._ i. 111.]

1690.—"The BABBS is a small island opening to the _Red Sea_.... Between
this and the Main Land is a safe Passage...."—_Ovington_, 458.

[1769.—"Yet they made no estimation of the currents without the BABS";
(note), "This is the common sailors' phrase for the Straits of
Babelmandel."—_Bruce, Travels to discover the Source of the Nile_, ed.
1790, Bk. i. cap. ii.]

BABER, BHABUR, s. H. _bābar_, _bhābar_. A name given to those districts of the N.W. Provinces which lie immediately under the Himālaya to the dry forest belt on the talus of the hills, at the lower edge of which the moisture comes to the surface and forms the wet forest belt called Tarāī. (See TERAI.) The following extract from the report of a lecture on Indian Forests is rather a happy example of the danger of "a little learning" to a reporter:

1877.—"Beyond that (the Tarāī) lay another district of about the same
breadth, called in the native dialect the BAHADAR. That in fact was a
great filter-bed of sand and vegetation."—_London Morning Paper of 26th
May._

BABI-ROUSSA, s. Malay _babi_[30] ('hog') _rūsa_ ('stag'). The 'Stag-hog,' a remarkable animal of the swine genus (_Sus babirussa_, L.; _Babirussa alfurus_, F. Cuvier), found in the island of Bourou, and some others of the I. Archipelago, but nowhere on continental Asia. Yet it seems difficult to apply the description of Pliny below, or the name and drawing given by Cosmas, to any other animal. The 4-horned swine of Aelian is more probably the African Wart-hog, called accordingly by F. Cuvier _Phacochoerus Aeliani_.

c. A.D. 70.—"The wild bores of India have two bowing fangs or tuskes of a
cubit length, growing out of their mouth, and as many out of their
foreheads like calves hornes."—_Pliny_, viii. 52 (_Holland's Tr._ i.
231).

c. 250. "Λέγει δὲ Δίνων ἐν Αἰθιωπίᾳ γίνεσθαι ... ὕς τετράκερως."—_Aelian,
De Nat. Anim._ xvii. 10.

c. 545.—"The _Choirelaphus_ ('Hog-stag') I have both seen and
eaten."—_Cosmas Indicopleustes_, in _Cathay_, &c., p. clxxv.

1555.—"There are _hogs also with hornes_, and parats which prattle much
which they call _noris_ (LORY)."—_Galvano, Discoveries of the World_,
Hak. Soc. 120.

1658.—"Quadrupes hoc inusitatatae figurae monstrosis bestiis ascribunt
Indi quod adversae speciei animalibus, Porco scilicet et Cervo, pronatum
putent ... ita ut primo intuitu quatuor cornibus juxta se positis
videatur armatum hoc animal BABY-ROUSSA."—_Piso_, App. to _Bontius_, p.
61.

[1869.—"The wild pig seems to be of a species peculiar to the island
(Celebes); but a much more curious animal of this family is the BABIRUSA
or Pig-deer, so named by the Malays from its long and slender legs, and
curved tusks resembling horns. This extraordinary creature resembles a
pig in general appearance, but it does not dig with its snout, as it
feeds on fallen fruits.... Here again we have a resemblance to the
Wart-hogs of Africa, whose upper canines grow outwards and curve up so as
to form a transition from the usual mode of growth to that of the
_Babirusa_. In other respects there seems no affinity between these
animals, and the _Babirusa_ stands completely isolated, having no
resemblance to the pigs of any other part of the world."—_Wallace, Malay
Archip._ (ed. 1890), p. 211, _seqq._]

BABOO, s. Beng. and H. _Bābū_ [Skt. _vapra_, 'a father']. Properly a term of respect attached to a name, like _Master_ or _Mr._, and formerly in some parts of Hindustan applied to certain persons of distinction. Its application as a term of respect is now almost or altogether confined to Lower Bengal (though C. P. Brown states that it is also used in S. India for 'Sir, My lord, your Honour'). In Bengal and elsewhere, among Anglo-Indians, it is often used with a slight savour of disparagement, as characterizing a superficially cultivated, but too often effeminate, Bengali. And from the extensive employment of the class, to which the term was applied as a title, in the capacity of clerks in English offices, the word has come often to signify 'a native clerk who writes English.'

1781.—"I said.... From my youth to this day I am a servant to the
English. I have never gone to any Rajahs or BAUBOOS nor will I go to
them."—Depn. of _Dooud Sing_, Commandant. In _Narr. of Insurn. at
Banaras_ in 1781. Calc. 1782. Reprinted at Roorkee, 1853. App., p. 165.

1782.—"_Cantoo_ BABOO" appears as a subscriber to a famine fund at Madras
for 200 Sicca Rupees.—_India Gazette_, Oct. 12.

1791.

"Here Edmund was making a monstrous ado,
About some bloody Letter and Conta BAH-BOOH."[31]
_Letters of Simkin the Second_, 147.

1803.—"... Calling on Mr. Neave I found there BABOO Dheep Narrain,
brother to Oodit Narrain, Rajah at Benares."—_Lord Valentia's Travels_,
i. 112.

1824.—"... the immense convent-like mansion of some of the more wealthy
BABOOS...."—_Heber_, i. 31, ed. 1844.

1834.—"The BABOO and other Tales, descriptive of Society in India."—Smith
& Elder, London. (By Augustus Prinsep.)

1850.—"If instruction were sought for from them (the Mohammedan
historians) we should no longer hear bombastic BABOOS, enjoying under our
Government the highest degree of personal liberty ... rave about
patriotism, and the degradation of their present position."—_Sir H. M.
Elliot_, Orig. Preface to _Mahom. Historians of India_, in Dowson's ed.,
I. xxii.

c. 1866.

"But I'd sooner be robbed by a tall man who showed me a yard of steel,
Than be fleeced by a sneaking BABOO, with a peon and badge at his
heel."
_Sir A. C. Lyall, The Old Pindaree._

1873.—"The pliable, plastic, receptive BABOO of Bengal eagerly avails
himself of this system (of English education) partly from a servile wish
to please the _Sahib logue_, and partly from a desire to obtain a
Government appointment."—_Fraser's Mag._, August, 209.

[1880.—"English officers who have become de-Europeanised from long
residence among undomesticated natives.... Such officials are what Lord
Lytton calls White BABOOS."—_Aberigh-Mackay, Twenty-one Days_, p. 104.]

_N.B._—In Java and the further East _bābū_ means a nurse or female servant (Javanese word).

BABOOL, s. H. _babūl_, _babūr_ (though often mispronounced _bābul_, as in two quotations below); also called _kīkar_. A thorny mimosa common in most parts of India except the Malabar Coast; the _Acacia arabica_, Willd. The Bhils use the gum as food.

1666.—"L'eau de Vie de ce Païs ... qu'on y boit ordinairement, est faicte
de _jagre_ ou sucre noir, qu'on met dans l'eau avec de l'écorce de
l'arbre BABOUL, pour y donner quelque force, et ensuite on les distile
ensemble."—_Thevenot_, v. 50.

1780.—"Price Current. _Country Produce_: BABLE Trees, large, 5 pc. each
tree."—_Hickey's Bengal Gazette_, April 29. [This is _bāblā_, the Bengali
form of the word.]

1824.—"Rampoor is ... chiefly remarkable for the sort of fortification
which surrounds it. This is a high thick hedge ... of bamboos ... faced
on the outside by a formidable underwood of cactus and BÂBOOL."—_Heber_,
ed. 1844, i. 290.

1849.—"Look at that great tract from Deesa to the Hāla mountains. It is
all sand; sometimes it has a little ragged clothing of BĀBUL or
milk-bush."—_Dry Leaves from Young Egypt_, 1.

BABOON, s. This, no doubt, comes to us through the Ital. _babuino_; but it is probable that the latter word is a corruption of Pers. _maimūn_ ['the auspicious one'], and then applied by way of euphemism or irony to the baboon or monkey. It also occurs in Ital. under the more direct form of _maimone_ in _gatto-maimone_, 'cat-monkey,' or rather 'monkey-cat.' [The _N.E.D._ leaves the origin of the word doubtful, and does not discuss this among other suggested derivations.]

BACANORE and BARCELORE, nn.pp. Two ports of Canara often coupled together in old narratives, but which have entirely disappeared from modern maps and books of navigation, insomuch that it is not quite easy to indicate their precise position. But it would seem that Bacanore, Malayāl. _Vakkanūr_, is the place called in Canarese _Bārkūr_, the _Barcoor-pettah_ of some maps, in lat. 13° 28½′. This was the site of a very old and important city, "the capital of the Jain kings of Tulava ... and subsequently a stronghold of the Vijiyanagar Rajas."—_Imp. Gazet._ [Also see Stuart, _Man. S. Canara_, ii. 264.]

Also that _Barcelore_ is a Port. corruption of _Basrūr_ [the Canarese _Basarūru_, 'the town of the waved-leaf fig tree.' (_Mad. Adm. Man. Gloss._, s.v.).] It must have stood immediately below the 'Barsilur Peak' of the Admiralty charts, and was apparently identical with, or near to, the place called Seroor in Scott's Map of the Madras Presidency, in about lat. 13° 55′. [See Stuart, _ibid._ ii. 242. Seroor is perhaps the _Shirūr_ of Mr Stuart (_ibid._ p. 243).]

c. 1330.—"Thence (from Hannaur) the traveller came to BĀSARŪR, a small
city...."—_Abulfeda_, in _Gildemeister_, 184.

c. 1343.—"The first town of Mulaibār that we visited was ABU-SARŪR, which
is small, situated on a great estuary, and abounding in coco-nut
trees.... Two days after our departure from that town we arrived at
FĀKANŪR, which is large and situated on an estuary. One sees there an
abundance of sugar-cane, such as has no equal in that country."—_Ibn
Batuta_, iv. 77-78.

c. 1420.—"Duas praeterea ad maritimas urbes, alteram PACHAMURIAM ...
nomine, xx diebus transiit."—_Conti_, in _Poggius de Var. Fort._ iv.

1501.—"BACANUT," for Bacanur, is named in Amerigo Vespucci's letter,
giving an account of Da Gama's discoveries, first published by Baldelli
Boni, _Il Milione_, pp. liii. _seqq._

1516.—"Passing further forward ... along the coast, there are two little
rivers on which stand two places, the one called BACANOR, and the other
BRACALOR, belonging to the kingdom of Narsyngua and the province of
Tolinate (_Tulu-nāḍa_, _Tuluva_ or S. Canara). And in them is much good
rice grown round about these places, and this is loaded in many foreign
ships and in many of Malabar...."—_Barbosa_, in Lisbon Coll. 294.

1548.—"The Port of the River of BARCALOR pays 500 loads (of rice as
tribute)."—_Botelho, Tombo_, 246.

1552.—"Having dispatched this vessel, he (V. da Gama) turned to follow
his voyage, desiring to erect the _padrão_ (votive pillar) of which we
have spoken; and not finding a place that pleased him better, he erected
one on certain islets joined (as it were) to the land, giving it the name
of Sancta Maria, whence these islands are now called Saint Mary's Isles,
standing between BACANOR and Baticalá, two notable places on that
coast."—_De Barros_, I. iv. 11.

" "... the city Onor, capital of the kingdom, Baticalá, Bendor,
BRACELOR, BACANOR."—_Ibid._ I. ix. 1.

1726.—"In BARSELOOR or BASSELOOR have we still a factory ... a little
south of Basseloor lies BAQUANOOR and the little River
Vier."—_Valentijn_, v. (Malabar) 6.

1727.—"The next town to the Southward of _Batacola_ [BATCUL] is
BARCELOAR, standing on the Banks of a broad River about 4 Miles from the
Sea.... The Dutch have a Factory here, only to bring up Rice for their
Garrisons.... BACCANOAR and _Molkey_ lie between BARCELOAR and
_Mangalore_, both having the benefit of Rivers to export the large
quantities of Rice that the Fields produce."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 284-5.
[_Molkey_ is _Mulki_, see Stuart, _op. cit._ ii. 259.]

1780.—"St Mary's Islands lie along the coast N. and S. as far as off the
river of BACANOR, or Callianpoor, being about 6 leagues.... In lat. 13°
50′ N., 5 leagues from _Bacanor_, runs the river BARSALOR."—_Dunn's N.
Directory_, 5th ed. 105.

1814.—"BARCELORE, now frequently called Cundapore."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._
iv. 109, also see 113; [2nd ed. II. 464].

BACKDORE, s. H. _bāg-ḍor_ ('bridle-cord'); a halter or leading rein.

BACKSEE. Sea H. _bāksī_: nautical 'aback,' from which it has been formed (_Roebuck_).

BADEGA, n.p. The Tamil _Vaḍagar_, _i.e._ 'Northerners.' The name has at least two specific applications:

A. To the Telegu people who invaded the Tamil country from the kingdom of Vijayanagara (the BISNAGA or NARSINGA of the Portuguese and old travellers) during the later Middle Ages, but especially in the 16th century. This word first occurs in the letters of St. Francis Xavier (1544), whose Parava converts on the Tinnevelly Coast were much oppressed by these people. The _Badega_ language of Lucena, and other writers regarding that time, is the Telegu. The Badagas of St. Fr. Xavier's time were in fact the emissaries of the Nāyaka rulers of Madura, using violence to exact tribute for those rulers, whilst the Portuguese had conferred on the Paravas "the somewhat dangerous privilege of being Portuguese subjects."—See _Caldwell, H. of Tinnevelly_, 69 _seqq._

1544.—"Ego ad Comorinum Promontorium contendo eòque naviculas deduco xx.
cibariis onustas, ut miseris illis subveniam Neophytis, qui BAGADARUM
(read BADAGARUM) acerrimorum Christiani nominis hostium terrore perculsi,
relictis vicis, in desertas insulas se abdiderunt."—_S. F. Xav. Epistt._
I. vi., ed. 1677.

1572.—"Gens est in regno Bisnagae quos BADAGAS vocant."—_E. Acosta_, 4
_b._

1737.—"In eâ parte missionis Carnatensis in quâ _Telougou_, ut aiunt,
lingua viget, seu inter BADAGOS, quinque annos versatus sum; neque
quamdiu viguerunt vires ab illâ dilectissimâ et sanctissimâ Missione
Pudecherium veni."—In _Norbert_, iii. 230.

1875.—"Mr C. P. Brown informs me that the early French missionaries in
the Guntur country wrote a vocabulary 'de la langue Talenga, dite
vulgairement le BADEGA."—_Bp. Caldwell, Dravidian Grammar_, Intr. p. 33.

B. To one of the races occupying the Nilgiri Hills, speaking an old Canarese dialect, and being apparently a Canarese colony, long separated from the parent stock.—(See _Bp. Caldwell's Grammar_, 2nd ed., pp. 34, 125, &c.) [The best recent account of this people is that by Mr Thurston in _Bulletin of the Madras Museum_, vol. ii. No. 1.] The name of these people is usually in English corrupted to BURGHERS.

BADGEER, s. P. _bād-gīr_, 'wind-catch.' An arrangement acting as a windsail to bring the wind down into a house; it is common in Persia and in Sind. [It is the _Bādhanj_ of Arabia, and the _Malkaf_ of Egypt (_Burton, Ar. Nights_, i. 237; _Lane, Mod. Egypt_, i. 23.]

1298.—"The heat is tremendous (at Hormus), and on that account the houses
are built with ventilators (_ventiers_) to catch the wind. These
ventilators are placed on the side from which the wind comes, and they
bring the wind down into the house to cool it."—_Marco Polo_, ii. 450.

[1598.—A similar arrangement at the same place is described by
_Linschoten_, i. 51, Hak. Soc.]

1682.—At Gamron (GOMBROON) "most of the houses have a square tower which
stands up far above the roof, and which in the upper part towards the
four winds has ports and openings to admit air and catch the wind, which
plays through these, and ventilates the whole house. In the heat of
summer people lie at night at the bottom of these towers, so as to get
good rest."—_Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize_, ii. 79.

[1798.—"The air in it was continually refreshed and renewed by a
cool-sail, made like a funnel, in the manner of M. du
Hamel."—_Stavorinus, Voyage_, ii. 104.]

1817.

"The _wind-tower_ on the Emir's dome
Can scarcely win a breath from heaven."
_Moore, Fire-worshippers._

1872.—"... BADGIRS or windcatchers. You see on every roof these
diminutive screens of wattle and dab, forming acute angles with the
hatches over which they project. Some are moveable, so as to be turned to
the S.W. between March and the end of July, when the monsoon sets in from
that quarter."—_Burton's Sind Revisited_, 254.

1881.—"A number of square turrets stick up all over the town; these are
BADGIRS or ventilators, open sometimes to all the winds, sometimes only
to one or two, and divided inside like the flues of a great chimney,
either to catch the draught, or to carry it to the several rooms
below."—_Pioneer Mail, March 8th._

BADJOE, BAJOO, s. The Malay jacket (Mal. _bājū_) [of which many varieties are described by Dennys (_Disc. Dict._ p. 107)].

[c. 1610.—"The women (Portuguese) take their ease in their smocks or
BAJUS, which are more transparent and fine than the most delicate crape
of those parts."—_Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. ii. 112.]

1784.—"Over this they wear the BADJOO, which resembles a morning gown,
open at the neck, but fastened close at the wrist, and half-way up the
arm."—_Marsden, H. of Sumatra_, 2nd ed. 44.

1878.—"The general Malay costume ... consists of an inner vest, having a
collar to button tight round the neck, and the BAJU, or jacket, often of
light coloured dimity, for undress."—_McNair_, 147.

1883.—"They wear above it a short-sleeved jacket, the BAJU, beautifully
made, and often very tastefully decorated in fine needlework."—_Miss
Bird, Golden Chersonese_, 139.

BAEL, s. H. _bel_, Mahr. _bail_, from Skt. _vilva_, the Tree and Fruit of _Aegle marmelos_ (Correa), or 'Bengal Quince,' as it is sometimes called, after the name (_Marmelos de Benguala_) given it by Garcia de Orta, who first described the virtues of this fruit in the treatment of dysentery, &c. These are noticed also by P. Vincenzo Maria and others, and have always been familiar in India. Yet they do not appear to have attracted serious attention in Europe till about the year 1850. It is a small tree, a native of various parts of India. The dried fruit is now imported into England.—(See _Hanbury and Flückiger_, 116); [_Watt, Econ. Dict._ i. 117 _seqq._]. The shelly rind of the bel is in the Punjab made into carved snuff-boxes for sale to the Afghans.

1563.—"And as I knew that it was called BELI in Baçaim, I enquired of
those native physicians which was its proper name, _cirifole_ or _beli_,
and they told me that _cirifole_ [_śriphala_] was the physician's name
for it."—_Garcia De O._, ff. 221 _v._, 222.

[1614.—"One jar of BYLE at ru. 5 per maund."—_Foster, Letters_, iii. 41.]

1631.—Jac. Bontius describes the BEL as _malum cydonium_ (_i.e._ a
quince), and speaks of its pulp as good for dysentery and the _cholerae
immanem orgasmum_.—Lib. vi. cap. viii.

1672.—"The BILI plant grows to no greater height than that of a man [this
is incorrect], all thorny ... the fruit in size and hardness, and nature
of rind, resembles a pomegranate, dotted over the surface with little
dark spots equally distributed.... With the fruit they make a decoction,
which is a most efficacious remedy for dysenteries or fluxes, proceeding
from excessive heat...."—_P. Vincenzo_, 353.

1879.—"... On this plain you will see a large BÉL-tree, and on it one big
BÉL-fruit."—_Miss Stokes, Indian Fairy Tales_, 140.

BAFTA, s. A kind of calico, made especially at Baroch; from the Pers. _bāfta_, 'woven.' The old Baroch _baftas_ seem to have been fine goods. Nothing is harder than to find intelligible explanations of the distinction between the numerous varieties of cotton stuffs formerly exported from India to Europe under a still greater variety of names; names and trade being generally alike obsolete. _Baftas_ however survived in the Tariffs till recently. [_Bafta_ is at present the name applied to a silk fabric. (See quotation from _Yusuf Ali_ below.) In Bengal, Charpata and Noakhali in the Chittagong Division were also noted for their cotton _baftas_ (_Birdwood, Industr. Arts_, 249).]

1598.—"There is made great store of Cotton Linnen of diuers sort ...
BOFFETAS."—_Linschoten_, p. 18. [Hak. Soc. i. 60.]

[1605-6.—"_Patta Kassa_ of the ffinest _Totya_, BAFFA."—_Birdwood, First
Letter Book_, 73. We have also "Black BAFFATTA."—_Ibid._ 74.]

[1610.—"BAFFATA, the corge Rs. 100."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 72.]

1612.—"BAFTAS or white Callicos, from twentie to fortie Royals the
_corge_."—_Capt. Saris_, in _Purchas_, i. 347.

1638.—"... tisserans qui y font cette sorte de toiles de cotton, que l'on
appelle BAFTAS, qui sont les plus fines de toutes celles qui se font dans
la Prouince de Guzaratta."—_Mandelslo_, 128.

1653.—"BAFTAS est un nom Indien qui signifie des toiles fort serrées de
cotton, lesquelles la pluspart viennent de Baroche, ville du Royaume de
Guzerat, appartenant au Grand Mogol."—_De la B. le Gouz_, 515.

1665.—"The BAFTAS, or Calicuts painted red, blue, and black, are carried
white to _Agra_ and _Amadabad_, in regard those cities are nearest the
places where the _Indigo_ is made that is us'd in
colouring."—_Tavernier_, (E. T.) p. 127; [ed. _Ball_, ii. 5].

1672.—"_Broach_ BAFTAS, broad and narrow."—_Fryer_, 86.

1727.—"The _Baroach_ BAFTAS are famous throughout all India, the country
producing the best Cotton in the World."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 144.

1875.—In the Calcutta Tariff valuation of this year we find Piece Goods,
Cotton:

BAFTAHS, score, Rs. 30.

[1900.—"Akin to the _pot thāns_ is a fabric known as BAFTA (literally
woven), produced in Benares; body pure silk, with _butis_ in _kalabatun_
or cloth; ... used for _angarkhas_, _kots_, and women's _paijamas_
(Musulmans)."—_Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk Fabrics_, 97.]

It is curious to find this word now current on Lake Nyanza. The burial of King Mtesa's mother is spoken of:

1883.—"The chiefs half filled the nicely-padded coffin with BUFTA
(bleached calico) ... after that the corpse and then the coffin was
filled up with more BUFTA...."—In _Ch. Missy. Intelligencer_, N.S., viii.
p. 543.

BAHAR, s. Ar. _bahār_, Malayāl. _bhāram_, from Skt. _bhāra_, 'a load.' A weight used in large trading transactions; it varied much in different localities; and though the name is of Indian origin it was naturalised by the Arabs, and carried by them to the far East, being found in use, when the Portuguese arrived in those seas, at least as far as the Moluccas. In the Indian islands the _bahār_ is generally reckoned as equal to 3 PECULS (q.v.), or 400 avoirdupois. But there was a different _bahār_ in use for different articles of merchandise; or, rather, each article had a special surplus allowance in weighing, which practically made a different _bahār_ (see PICOTA). [Mr. Skeat says that it is now uniformly equal to 400 lbs. av. in the British dominions in the Malay Peninsula; but Klinkert gives it as the equivalent of 12 _pikuls_ of AGAR-AGAR; 6 of cinnamon; 3 of TRIPANG.]

1498.—"... and begged him to send to the King his Lord a BAGAR of
cinnamon, and another of clove ... for sample" (_a mostra_).—_Roteiro de
V. da Gama_, 78.

1506.—"In Cananor el suo Re si è zentil, e qui nasce zz. (_i.e._
_zenzeri_ or 'ginger'); ma li zz. pochi e non cusi boni come quelli de
Colcut, e suo peso si chiama BAAR, che sono K. (Cantari) 4 da
Lisbona."—_Relazione di Leonardo Ca' Masser_, 26.

1510.—"If the merchandise about which they treat be spices, they deal by
the _bahar_, which BAHAR weighs three of our _cantari_."—_Varthema_, p.
170.

1516.—"It (Malacca) has got such a quantity of gold, that the great
merchants do not estimate their property, nor reckon otherwise than by
_bahars_ of gold, which are 4 quintals to each BAHAR."—_Barbosa_, 193.

1552.—"300 BAHARES of pepper."—_Castanheda_, ii. 301. Correa writes
BARES, as does also Couto.

1554.—"The BAAR of nuts (_noz_) contains 20 faraçolas, and 5 maunds more
of PICOTA; thus the _baar_, with its _picota_, contains 20½
faraçolas...."—_A. Nunes_, 6.

c. 1569.—"After this I saw one that would have given a BARRE of Pepper,
which is two Quintals and a halfe, for a little Measure of water, and he
could not have it."—_C. Fredericke_, in _Hakl._ ii. 358.

1598.—"Each BHAR of _Sunda_ weigheth 330 _catten_ of
China."—_Linschoten_, 34: [Hak. Soc. i. 113].

1606.—"... their came in his company a Portugall Souldier, which brought
a Warrant from the Capitaine to the Gouernor of _Manillia_, to trade with
vs, and likewise to giue _John Rogers_, for his pains a BAHAR of
Cloues."—_Middleton's Voyage_, D. 2. _b_.

1613.—"Porque os naturaes na quelle tempo possuyão muytos BÂRES de
ouro."—_Godinho de Eredia_, 4 v.

[1802.—"That at the proper season for gathering the pepper and for a
_Pallam_ weighing 13 rupees and 1½ _Viessam_ 120 of which are equal to a
_Tulam_ or _Maund_ weighing 1,732 rupees, calculating, at which standard
for one BAROM or _Candy_ the Sircar's price is Rs. 120."—_Procl. at
Malabar_, in _Logan_, iii. 348. This makes the BAROM equal to 650 lbs.]

BAHAUDUR, s. H. _Bahādur_, 'a hero, or champion.' It is a title affixed commonly to the names of European officers in Indian documents, or when spoken of ceremoniously by natives (_e.g._ "Jones Ṣāhib _Bahādur_"), in which use it may be compared with "the gallant officer" of Parliamentary courtesy, or the _Illustrissimo Signore_ of the Italians. It was conferred as a title of honour by the Great Mogul and by other native princes [while in Persia it was often applied to slaves (Burton, _Ar. Nights_, iii. 114)]. Thus it was particularly affected to the end of his life by Hyder Ali, to whom it had been given by the Raja of Mysore (see quotation from John Lindsay below [and Wilks, _Mysoor_, Madras reprint, i. 280]). _Bahādur_ and _Sirdār Bahādur_ are also the official titles of members of the 2nd and 1st classes respectively of the Order of British India, established for native officers of the army in 1837. [The title of _Rāē Bahādur_ is also conferred upon Hindu civil officers.]

As conferred by the Court of Delhi the usual gradation of titles was (ascending):—1. _Bahādur_; 2. _Bahādur Jang_; 3. _Bahādur ud-Daulah_; 4. _Bahādur ul-mulk_. At Hyderabad they had also _Bahādur ul-Umrā_ (_Kirkpatrick_, in _Tippoo's Letters_, 354). [Many such titles of Europeans will be found in _North Indian N. & Q._, i. 35, 143, 179; iv. 17.]

In Anglo-Indian colloquial parlance the word denotes a haughty or pompous personage, exercising his brief authority with a strong sense of his own importance; a _don_ rather than a swaggerer. Thackeray, who derived from his Indian birth and connections a humorous felicity in the use of Anglo-Indian expressions, has not omitted this serviceable word. In that brilliant burlesque, the _Memoirs of Major Gahagan_, we have the Mahratta traitor _Bobachee Bahauder_. It is said also that Mr Canning's malicious wit bestowed on Sir John Malcolm, who was not less great as a talker than as a soldier and statesman, the title, not included in the Great Mogul's repertory, of _Bahauder Jaw_.[32]

_Bahādur_ is one of the terms which the hosts of Chingiz Khan brought with them from the Mongol Steppes. In the Mongol genealogies we find Yesugai _Bahādur_, the father of Chingiz, and many more. Subutai _Bahādur_, one of the great soldiers of the Mongol host, twice led it to the conquest of Southern Russia, twice to that of Northern China. In Sanang Setzen's poetical annals of the Mongols, as rendered by I. J. Schmidt, the word is written _Baghatur_, whence in Russian _Bogatir_ still survives as a memento probably of the Tartar domination, meaning 'a hero or champion.' It occurs often in the old Russian epic ballads in this sense; and is also applied to Samson of the Bible. It occurs in a Russian chronicler as early as 1240, but in application to Mongol leaders. In Polish it is found as _Bohatyr_, and in Hungarian as _Bátor_,—this last being in fact the popular Mongol pronunciation of _Baghatur_. In Turki also this elision of the guttural extends to the spelling, and the word becomes _Bātur_, as we find it in the Dicts. of Vambéry and Pavet de Courteille. In Manchu also the word takes the form of _Baturu_, expressed in Chinese characters as _Pa-tu-lu_;[33] the Kirghiz has it as _Batyr_; the Altai-Tataric as _Paattyr_, and the other dialects even as _Magathyr_. But the singular history of the word is not yet entirely told. Benfey has suggested that the word originated in Skt. _bhaga-dhara_ ('happiness-possessing').[34] But the late lamented Prof. A. Schiefner, who favoured us with a note on the subject, was strongly of opinion that the word was rather a corruption "through dissimulation of the consonant," of the Zend _bagha-puthra_ 'Son of God,' and thus but another form of the famous term FAGHFŪR, by which the old Persians rendered the Chinese _Tien-tsz_ ('Son of Heaven'), applying it to the Emperor of China.

1280-90.—In an eccentric Persian poem purposely stuffed with Mongol
expressions, written by Purbahā Jāmī in praise of Arghūn Khān of Persia,
of which Hammer has given a German translation, we have the following:—

"The Great Kaan names thee his _Ulugh-Bitekchī_ [Great Secretary],
Seeing thou art _bitekchi_ and BEHĀDIR to boot;
O Well-beloved, the _yarlīgh_ [rescript] that thou dost issue is obeyed
By Turk and Mongol, by Persian, Greek, and Barbarian!"
_Gesch. der Gold. Horde_, 461.

c. 1400.—"I ordained that every Ameer who should reduce a Kingdom, or
defeat an army, should be exalted by three things: by a title of honour,
by the _Tugh_ [Yak's tail standard], and by the _Nakkára_ [great kettle
drum]; and should be dignified by the title of BAHAUDUR."—_Timour's
Institutes_, 283; see also 291-293.

1404.—"E elles le dixeron q̃ aquel era uno de los valiẽtes e BAHADURES
q'en el linage del Señor auia."—_Clavijo_, § lxxxix.

" "E el home q̃ este haze e mas vino beue dizen que es BAHADUR, que
dizen elles por homem rezio."—Do. § cxii.

1407.—"The Prince mounted, escorted by a troop of BAHADURS, who were
always about his person."—_Abdurrazāk's Hist._ in _Not. et Ext._ xiv.
126.

1536.—(As a proper name.) "Itaq̃ ille potentissimus Rex BADUR, Indiae
universae terror, a quo nonulli regnũ Pori maximi quõdam regis teneri
affirmant...."—Letter from _John III. of Portugal_ to Pope Paul III.

Hardly any native name occurs more frequently in the Portuguese Hist. of India than this of _Badur_—viz. Bahādur Shāh, the warlike and powerful king of Guzerat (1526-37), killed in a fray which closed an interview with the Viceroy, Nuno da Cunha, at Diu.

1754.—"The _Kirgeese Tartars_ ... are divided into three _Hordas_, under
the Government of a _Khan_. That part which borders on the Russian
dominions was under the authority of _Jean Beek_, whose name on all
occasions was honoured with the title of BATER."—_Hanway_, i. 239. The
name _Jean Beek_ is probably _Janibek_, a name which one finds among the
hordes as far back as the early part of the 14th century (see _Ibn
Batuta_, ii. 397).

1759.—"From Shah Alum BAHADRE, son of Alum Guire, the Great Mogul, and
successor of the Empire, to Colonel Sabut Jung BAHADRE" (_i.e._
Clive).—Letter in _Long_, p. 163.

We have said that the title _Behauder_ (_Bahādur_) was one by which Hyder Ali of Mysore was commonly known in his day. Thus in the two next quotations:

1781.—"Sheikh Hussein upon the guard tells me that our army has beat the
BEHAUDER [_i.e._ Hyder Ali], and that peace was making. Another sepoy in
the afternoon tells us that the BEHAUDER had destroyed our army, and was
besieging Madras."—_Captivity of Hon. John Lindsay_, in _Lives of the
Lindsays_, iii. 296.

1800.—"One lac of BEHAUDRY pagodas."—_Wellington_, i. 148.

1801.—"Thomas, who was much in liquor, now turned round to his _sowars_,
and said—'Could any one have stopped Sahib BAHAUDOOR at this gate but one
month ago?' 'No, no,' replied they; on which——"—_Skinner, Mil. Mem._ i.
236.

1872.—"... the word 'BAHÁDUR' ... (at the Mogul's Court) ... was only
used as an epithet. Ahmed Shah used it as a title and ordered his name to
be read in the Friday prayer as 'Mujahid ud dín Muhammad Abú naçr Ahmad
Sháh BAHÁDUR. Hence also '_Kampaní_ BAHADUR,' the name by which the E. I.
Company is still known in India. The modern 'Khan BAHÁDUR' is, in Bengal,
by permission assumed by Muhammedan Deputy Magistrates, whilst Hindu
Deputy Magistrates assume 'Rái BAHÁDUR'; it stands, of course, for
'Khán-i-BAHÁDUR,' 'the courageous Khán.' The compound, however, is a
modern abnormal one; for 'Khán' was conferred by the Dihli Emperors, and
so also 'Bahádur' and 'Bahádur Khán,' but not 'Khán Bahádur.'"—_Prof.
Blochmann_, in _Ind. Antiquary_, i. 261.

1876.—"Reverencing at the same time bravery, dash, and boldness, and
loving their freedom, they (the Kirghiz) were always ready to follow the
standard of any BATYR, or hero, ... who might appear on the
stage."—_Schuyler's Turkistan_, i. 33.

1878.—"Peacock feathers for some of the subordinate officers, a yellow
jacket for the successful general, and the bestowal of the Manchoo title
of BATURU, or 'Brave,' on some of the most distinguished brigadiers, are
probably all the honours which await the return of a triumphal army. The
reward which fell to the share of 'Chinese Gordon' for the part he took
in the suppression of the Taiping rebellion was a yellow jacket, and the
title of _Baturu_ has lately been bestowed on Mr Mesny for years of
faithful service against the rebels in the province of
Kweichow."—_Saturday Rev._, Aug. 10, p. 182.

" "There is nothing of the great BAHAWDER about him."—_Athenaeum_,
No. 2670, p. 851.

1879.—"This strictly prohibitive Proclamation is issued by the Provincial
Administrative Board of Likim ... and Chang, Brevet-Provincial Judge,
chief of the Foochow Likim Central Office, Taot'ai for special service,
and BAT'URU with the title of 'Awe-inspiring Brave'"—Transl. of
_Proclamation against the cultivation of the Poppy_ in Foochow, July
1879.

BAHIRWUTTEEA, s. Guj. _bāhirwatū_. A species of outlawry in Guzerat; _bāhirwatīā_, the individual practising the offence. It consists "in the Rajpoots or GRASSIAS making their ryots and dependants quit their native village, which is suffered to remain waste; the _Grassia_ with his brethren then retires to some asylum, whence he may carry on his depredations with impunity. Being well acquainted with the country, and the redress of injuries being common cause with the members of every family, the _Bahirwutteea_ has little to fear from those who are not in the immediate interest of his enemy, and he is in consequence enabled to commit very extensive mischief."—_Col. Walker_, quoted in _Forbes, Rās Māla_, 2nd ed., p. 254-5. Col. Walker derives the name from _bāhir_, 'out,' and _wāt_, 'a road.' [Tod, in a note to the passage quoted below, says "this term is a compound of _bār_ (_bāhir_) and _wuttan_ (_wat̤an_), literally _ex patriâ_."]

[1829.—"This petty chieftain, who enjoyed the distinctive epithet of
outlaw (_barwattia_), was of the Sonigurra clan."...—_Pers. Narr._, in
_Annals of Raj_. (Calcutta reprint), i. 724.]

The origin of most of the brigandage in Sicily is almost what is here described in Kattiwār.

BAIKREE, s. The Bombay name for the BARKING-DEER. It is Guzarātī _bekṛī_; and acc. to Jerdon and [Blandford, _Mammalia_, 533] Mahr. _bekra_ or _bekar_, but this is not in Molesworth's Dict. [Forsyth (_Highlands of C. I._, p. 470) gives the Gond and Korku names as _Bherki_, which may be the original].

1879.—"Any one who has shot BAIKRI on the spurs of the Ghats can tell how
it is possible unerringly to mark down these little beasts, taking up
their position for the day in the early dawn."—_Overl. Times of India_,
Suppt. May 12, 7_b_.

BAJRA, s. H. _bājrā_ and _bājrī_ (_Penicillaria spicata_, Willden.). One of the tall millets forming a dry crop in many parts of India. Forbes calls it _bahjeree_ (_Or. Mem._ ii. 406; [2nd ed. i. 167), and _bajeree_ (i. 23)].

1844.—"The ground (at Maharajpore) was generally covered with BAJREE,
full 5 or 6 feet high."—_Lord Ellenborough_, in _Ind. Admin._ 414.

BĀKIR-KHĀNĪ, s. P.—H. _bāqir-khānī_; a kind of cake almost exactly resembling pie-crust, said to owe its name to its inventor, _Bākir Khān_.

[1871.—"The best kind (of native cakes) are BAKA KANAH and '_sheer mahl_'
(SHEER-MAUL)."—_Riddell, Ind. Domest. Econ._ 386.]

BALÁCHONG, BLACHONG, s. Malay _balāchān_; [acc. to Mr Skeat the standard Malay is _blachan_, in full _belachan_.] The characteristic condiment of the Indo-Chinese and Malayan races, composed of prawns, sardines, and other small fish, allowed to ferment in a heap, and then mashed up with salt. [Mr Skeat says that it is often, if not always, trodden out like grapes.] Marsden calls it 'a species of caviare,' which is hardly fair to caviare. It is the _ngāpi_ (NGAPEE) of the Burmese, and _trāsi_ of the Javanese, and is probably, as Crawfurd says, the Roman _garum_. One of us, who has witnessed the process of preparing _ngāpi_ on the island of Negrais, is almost disposed to agree with the Venetian Gasparo Balbi (1583), who says "he would rather smell a dead dog, to say nothing of eating it" (f. 125_v_). But when this experience is absent it may be more tolerable.

1688.—Dampier writes it BALACHAUN, ii. 28.

1727.—"_Bankasay_ is famous for making BALLICHANG, a Sauce made of dried
Shrimps, Cod-pepper, Salt, and a Sea-weed or Grass, all well mixed and
beaten up to the Consistency of thick Mustard."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 194.
The same author, in speaking of Pegu, calls the like sauce _Prock_ (44),
which was probably the Talain name. It appears also in Sonnerat under the
form _Prox_ (ii. 305).

1784.—"BLACHANG ... is esteemed a great delicacy among the Malays, and is
by them exported to the west of India.... It is a species of caviare, and
is extremely offensive and disgusting to persons who are not accustomed
to it."—_Marsden's H. of Sumatra_, 2nd ed. 57.

[1871.—Riddell (_Ind. Domest. Econ._ p. 227) gives a receipt for
BALLACHONG, of which the basis is prawns, to which are added chillies,
salt, garlic, tamarind juice, &c.]

1883.—"... BLACHANG—a Malay preparation much relished by European lovers
of decomposed cheese...."—_Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese_, 96.

BALAGHAUT, used as n.p.; P. _bālā_, 'above,' H. Mahr., &c., _ghāt_, 'a pass,'—the country 'above the passes,' _i.e._ above the passes over the range of mountains which we call the "Western GHAUTS." The mistaken idea that _ghāt_ means 'mountains' causes Forbes to give a nonsensical explanation, cited below. The expression may be illustrated by the old Scotch phrases regarding "below and above the Pass" of so and so, implying Lowlands and Highlands.

c. 1562.—"All these things were brought by the Moors, who traded in
pepper which they brought from the hills where it grew, by land in
Bisnega, and BALAGATE, and Cambay."—_Correa_, ed. Ld. Stanley, Hak. Soc.
p. 344.

1563.—"_R._ Let us get on horseback and go for a ride; and as we go you
shall tell me what is the meaning of _Nizamosha_ (NIZAMALUCO), for you
often speak to me of such a person.

"_O._ I will tell you now that he is King in the BAGALATE (misprint for
_Balagate_), whose father I have often attended medically, and the son
himself sometimes. From him I have received from time to time more than
12,000 PARDAOS; and he offered me a salary of 40,000 pardaos if I would
visit him for so many months every year, but I would not accept."—_Garcia
de Orta_, f. 33_v_.

1598.—"This high land on the toppe is very flatte and good to build upon,
called BALAGATTE."—_Linschoten_, 20; [Hak. Soc. i. 65; cf. i. 235].

" "BALLAGATE, that is to say, above the hill, for _Balla_ is above,
and _Gate_ is a hill...."—_Ibid._ 49; [Hak. Soc. i. 169].

1614.—"The coast of Coromandel, BALAGATT or Telingana."—_Sainsbury_, i.
301.

1666.—"BALAGATE est une des riches Provinces du Grand Mogol.... Elle est
au midi de celle de Candich."—_Thevenot_, v. 216.

1673.—"... opening the ways to BALIGAOT, that Merchants might with safety
bring down their Goods to Port."—_Fryer_, 78.

c. 1760.—"The BALL-A-GAT Mountains, which are extremely high, and so
called from _Bal_, mountain, and _gatt_, flat [!], because one part of
them affords large and delicious plains on their summit, little known to
Europeans."—_Grose_, i. 231.

This is nonsense, but the following are also absurd misdescriptions:—

1805.—"BALA GHAUT, the higher or upper _Gaut_ or _Ghaut_, a range of
mountains so called to distinguish them from the Payen Ghauts, the lower
Ghauts or Passes."—_Dict. of Words used in E. Indies_, 28.

1813.—"In some parts this tract is called the BALLA-GAUT, or high
mountains; to distinguish them from the lower Gaut, nearer the
sea."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ i. 206; [2nd ed. i. 119].

BALASORE, n.p. A town and district of Orissa; the site of one of the earliest English factories in the "BAY," established in 1642, and then an important seaport; supposed to be properly _Bāleśvara_, Skt. _bāla_, 'strong,' _īśvara_, 'lord,' perhaps with reference to Krishna. Another place of the same name in Madras, an isolated peak, 6762′ high, lat. 11° 41′ 43″, is said to take its name from the Asura Bana.

1676.—

"When in the vale of BALASER I fought,
And from Bengal the captive Monarch brought."
_Dryden, Aurungzebe_, ii. 1.

1727.—"The Sea-shore of BALASORE being very low, and the Depths of Water
very gradual from the Strand, make Ships in BALLASORE Road keep a good
Distance from the Shore; for in 4 or 5 Fathoms, they ride 3 Leagues
off."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 397.

BALASS, s. A kind of ruby, or rather a rose-red spinelle. This is not an Anglo-Indian word, but it is a word of Asiatic origin, occurring frequently in old travellers. It is a corruption of _Balakhshī_, a popular form of _Badakhshī_, because these rubies came from the famous mines on the Upper Oxus, in one of the districts subject to Badakhshān. [See _Vambéry, Sketches_, 255; _Ball, Tavernier_, i. 382 _n._]

c. 1350.—"The mountains of Badakhshān have given their name to the
Badakhshi ruby, vulgarly called _al_-BALAKHSH."—_Ibn Batuta_, iii. 59,
394.

1404.—"Tenia (Tamerlan) vestido vna ropa et vn paño de seda raso sin
lavores e ẽ la cabeça tenia vn sombrero blãco alto con un BALAX en cima e
con aljofar e piedras."—_Clavijo_, § cx.

1516.—"These BALASSES are found in Balaxayo, which is a kingdom of the
mainland near Pegu and Bengal."—_Barbosa_, 213. This is very bad
geography for Barbosa, who is usually accurate and judicious, but it is
surpassed in much later days.

1581.—"I could never understand from whence those that be called BALASSI
come."—_Caesar Fredericke_, in _Hakl._ ii. 372.

[1598.—"The BALLAYESES are likewise sold by weight."—_Linschoten_, Hak.
Soc. ii. 156.]

1611.—"Of BALLACE Rubies little and great, good and bad, there are single
two thousand pieces" (in Akbar's treasury).—_Hawkins_, in _Purchas_, i.
217.

[1616.—"Fair pearls, BALLAST rubies."—_Foster, Letters_, iv. 243.]

1653.—"Les Royaumes de Pegou, d'où viennent les rubis BALETS."—_De la
Boullaye-le-Gouz_, 126.

1673.—"The last sort is called a BALLACE Ruby, which is not in so much
esteem as the Spinell, because it is not so well coloured."—_Fryer_, 215.

1681.—"... ay ciertos BALAXES, que llmana candidos, que son como los
diamantes."—_Martinez de la Puente_, 12.

1689.—"... The BALACE Ruby is supposed by some to have taken its name
from _Palatium_, or Palace; ... the most probable Conjecture is that of
_Marcus Paulus Venetus_, that it is borrow'd from the Country, where they
are found in greatest Plentie...."—_Ovington_, 588.

BALCONY, s. Not an Anglo-Indian word, but sometimes regarded as of Oriental origin; a thing more than doubtful. The etymology alluded to by Mr. Schuyler and by the lamented William Gill in the quotations below, is not new, though we do not know who first suggested it. Neither do we know whether the word _balagani_, which Erman (_Tr. in Siberia_, E. T. i. 115) tells us is the name given to the wooden booths at the Nijnei Fair, be the same P. word or no. Wedgwood, Littré, [and the _N.E.D._] connect _balcony_ with the word which appears in English as _balk_, and with the Italian _balco_, 'a scaffolding' and the like, also used for 'a box' at the play. _Balco_, as well as _palco_, is a form occurring in early Italian. Thus Franc. da Buti, commenting on Dante (1385-87), says: "_Balco_ è luogo alto doue si monta e scende." Hence naturally would be formed _balcone_, which we have in Giov. Villani, in Boccaccio and in Petrarch. Manuzzi (_Vocabolario It._) defines _balcone_ as = _finestra_ (?).

It may be noted as to the modern pronunciation that whilst ordinary mortals (including among verse-writers Scott and Lockhart, Tennyson and Hood) accent the word as a dactyl (_bālcŏny̆_), the _crême de la crême_, if we are not mistaken, makes it, or did in the last generation make it, as Cowper does below, an amphibrach (_bălcōny̆_): "Xanthus his name with those of heavenly birth, But called Scamander by the sons of earth!" [According to the _N.E.D._ the present pronunciation, "which," said Sam. Rogers, "makes me sick," was established about 1825.]

c. 1348.—"E al continuo v'era pieno di belle donne a' BALCONI."—_Giov.
Villani_, x. 132-4.

c. 1340-50.—

"Il figliuol di Latona avea già nove
Volte guardato dal BALCON sovrano,
Per quella, ch'alcun tempo mosse
I suoi sospir, ed or gli altrui commove in vano."
_Petrarca, Rime_, Pte. i. Sonn. 35,
ed. Pisa, 1805.

c. 1340-50.—

"Ma si com' uom talor che piange, a parte
Vede cosa che gli occhi, e 'l cor alletta,
Così colei per ch'io son in prigione
Standosi ad un BALCONE,
Che fù sola a' suoi di cosa perfetta
Cominciai a mirar con tale desío
Che me stesso, e 'l mio mal pose in oblío:
I'era in terra, e 'l cor mio in Paradiso."
_Petrarca, Rime_, Pte. ii. Canzone 4.

1645-52.—"When the King sits to do Justice, I observe that he comes into
the BALCONE that looks into the Piazza."—_Tavernier_, E. T. ii. 64; [ed.
_Ball_, i. 152].

1667.—"And be it further enacted, That in the Front of all Houses,
hereafter to be erected in any such Streets as by Act of Common Council
shall be declared to be High Streets, _Balconies_ Four Foot broad with
Rails and Bars of Iron ... shall be placed...."—Act 19 Car. II., cap. 3,
sect. 13. (Act for Rebuilding the City of London.)

1783.

"At Edmonton his loving wife
From the BALCŌNY spied
Her tender husband, wond'ring much
To see how he did ride."
_John Gilpin._

1805.—

"For from the lofty BALCŎNY,
Rung trumpet, shalm and psaltery."
_Lay of the Last Minstrel._

1833.—

"Under tower and BALCŎNY,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead pale between the houses high."
_Tennyson's Lady of Shalott._

1876.—"The houses (in Turkistan) are generally of but one story, though
sometimes there is a small upper room called _bala-khana_ (P. _bala_,
upper, and _khana_, room) whence we get our BALCONY."—_Schuyler's
Turkistan_, i. 120.

1880.—"_Bālā khānă_ means 'upper house,' or 'upper place,' and is applied
to the room built over the archway by which the _chăppă khānă_ is
entered, and from it, by the way, we got our word 'BALCONY.'"—MS. Journal
in Persia of _Captain W. J. Gill_, R.E.

BALOON, BALLOON, &c., s. A rowing vessel formerly used in various parts of the Indies, the basis of which was a large canoe, or 'dug-out.' There is a Mahr. word _balyānw_, a kind of barge, which is probably the original. [See _Bombay Gazetteer_, xiv. 26.]

1539.—"E embarcando-se ... partio, eo forão accompanhando dez ou doze
BALÕES ate a Ilha de Upe...."—_Pinto_, ch. xiv.

1634.—

"Neste tempo da terra para a armada
BALÕES, e cal' luzes cruzar vimos...."
_Malaca Conquistada_, iii. 44.

1673.—"The President commanded his own BALOON (a Barge of State, of Two
and Twenty Oars) to attend me."—_Fryer_, 70.

1755.—"The Burmas has now Eighty BALLONGS, none of which as [_sic_] great
Guns."—Letter from _Capt. R. Jackson_, in _Dalrymple Or. Repert._ i. 195.

1811.—"This is the simplest of all boats, and consists merely of the
trunk of a tree hollowed out, to the extremities of which pieces of wood
are applied, to represent a stern and prow; the two sides are boards
joined by rottins or small bambous without nails; no iron whatsoever
enters into their construction.... The BALAUMS are used in the district
of Chittagong."—_Solvyns_, iii.

BALSORA, BUSSORA, &c., n.p. These old forms used to be familiar from their use in the popular version of the Arabian Nights after Galland. The place is the sea-port city of _Basra_ at the mouth of the Shat-al-'Arab, or United Euphrates and Tigris. [Burton (_Ar. Nights_, x. 1) writes _Bassorah_.]

1298.—"There is also on the river as you go from Baudas to Kisi, a great
city called BASTRA surrounded by woods in which grow the best dates in
the world."—_Marco Polo_, Bk. i. ch. 6.

c. 1580.—"BALSARA, altrimente detta BASSORA, è una città posta nell'
Arabia, la quale al presente e signoreggiata dal Turco ... è città di
gran negocio di spetiarie, di droghe, e altre merci che uengono di Ormus;
è abondante di dattoli, risi, e grani."—_Balbi_, f. 32_f_.

[1598.—"The town of BALSORA; also BASSORA."—_Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. i.
45.]

1671.—

"From Atropatia and the neighbouring plains
Of Adiabene, Media, and the south
Of Susiana to BALSARA'S Haven...."
_Paradise Regained_, iii.

1747.—"He (the Prest. of Bombay) further advises us that they have wrote
our Honble. Masters of the Loss of Madrass by way of BUSSERO, the 7th of
November."—_Ft. St. David Consn._, 8th January 1746-7. MS. in India
Office.

[Also see CONGO.]

BALTY, s. H. _bāltī_, 'a bucket,' [which Platts very improbably connects with Skt. _vări_, 'water'], is the Port. _balde_.

BÁLWAR, s. This is the native servant's form of 'barber,' shaped by the 'striving after meaning' as _bālwār_, for _bālwālā_, _i.e._ 'capillarius,' 'hair-man.' It often takes the further form BĀL-BŪR, another factitious hybrid, shaped by P. _būrīdan_, 'to cut,' quasi 'hair-cutter.' But though now obsolete, there was also (see both _Meninski_ and _Vullers_ s.v.) a Persian word _bărbăr_, for a barber or surgeon, from which came this Turkish term "Le _Berber_-bachi, qui fait la barbe au Pacha," which we find (c. 1674) in the Appendix to the journal of Antoine Galland, pubd. at Paris, 1881 (ii. 190). It looks as if this must have been an early loan from Europe.

BAMBOO, s. Applied to many gigantic grasses, of which _Bambusa arundinacea_ and _B. vulgaris_ are the most commonly cultivated; but there are many other species of the same and allied genera in use; natives of tropical Asia, Africa, and America. This word, one of the commonest in Anglo-Indian daily use, and thoroughly naturalised in English, is of exceedingly obscure origin. According to Wilson it is Canarese _bănbŭ_ [or as the _Madras Admin. Man._ (_Gloss._ s.v.) writes it, _bombu_, which is said to be "onomatopaeic from the crackling and explosions when they burn"]. Marsden inserts it in his dictionary as good Malay. Crawfurd says it is certainly used on the west coast of Sumatra as a native word, but that it is elsewhere unknown to the Malay languages. The usual Malay word is _buluh_. He thinks it more likely to have found its way into English from Sumatra than from Canara. But there is evidence enough of its familiarity among the Portuguese before the end of the 16th century to indicate the probability that we adopted the word, like so many others, through them. We believe that the correct Canarese word is _baṇwu_. In the 16th century the form in the Concan appears to have been _mambu_, or at least it was so represented by the Portuguese. Rumphius seems to suggest a quaint _onomatopoeia_: "vehementissimos edunt ictus et sonitus, quum incendio comburuntur, quando notum ejus nomen _Bambu, Bambu_, facile exauditur."—(_Herb. Amb._ iv. 17.) [Mr. Skeat writes: "Although _buluh_ is the standard Malay, and _bambu_ apparently introduced, I think _bambu_ is the form used in the low Javanese vernacular, which is quite a different language from high Javanese. Even in low Javanese, however, it may be a borrowed word. It looks curiously like a trade corruption of the common Malay word _samambu_, which means the well-known 'Malacca cane,' both the bamboo and the Malacca cane being articles of export. Klinkert says that the _samambu_ is a kind of rattan, which was used as a walking-stick, and which was called the Malacca cane by the English. This Malacca cane and the rattan 'bamboo cane' referred to by Sir H. Yule must surely be identical. The fuller Malay name is actually _rotan samambu_, which is given as the equivalent of _Calamus Scipionum_, Lour. by Mr. Ridley in his Plant List (_J.R.A.S._, July 1897).]

The term applied to _ṭābāshīr_ (TABASHEER), a siliceous concretion in the bamboo, in our first quotation seems to show that _bambu_ or _mambu_ was one of the words which the Portuguese inherited from an earlier use by Persian or Arab traders. But we have not been successful in finding other proof of this. With reference to _sakkar-mambu_ Ritter says: "That this drug (_Tabashir_), as a product of the bamboo-cane, is to this day known in India by the name of _Sacar Mambu_ is a thing which no one needs to be told" (ix. 334). But in fact the name seems now entirely unknown.

It is possible that the Canarese word is a vernacular corruption, or development, of the Skt. _vaṇśa_ [or _vambha_], from the former of which comes the H. _bāṇs_. _Bamboo_ does not occur, so far as we can find, in any of the _earlier_ 16th-century books, which employ _canna_ or the like.

In England the term _bamboo-cane_ is habitually applied to a kind of walking-stick, which is formed not from any bamboo but from a species of _rattan_. It may be noted that some 30 to 35 years ago there existed along the high road between Putney Station and West Hill a garden fence of bamboos of considerable extent; it often attracted the attention of one of the present writers.

1563.—"The people from whom it (_tabashir_) is got call it _sacar_-MAMBUM
... because the canes of that plant are called by the Indians
MAMBU."—_Garcia_, f. 194.