Chapter XIII: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (10)

BEEBEE, s. H. from P. _bībī_, a lady. [In its contracted form _bī_, it is added as a title of distinction to the names of Musulman ladies.] On the principle of degradation of titles which is so general, this word in application to European ladies has been superseded by the hybrids _Mem-Ṣāhib_, or _Madam-Ṣāhib_, though it is often applied to European maid-servants or other Englishwomen of that rank of life. [It retains its dignity as the title of the _Bībī_ of Cananore, known as _Bībī Valiya_, Malayāl., 'great lady,' who rules in that neighbourhood and exercises authority over three of the islands of the Laccadives, and is by race a Moplah Mohammedan.] The word also is sometimes applied to a prostitute. It is originally, it would seem, Oriental Turki. In Pavet de Courteille's Dict. we have "_Bībī_, dame, épouse légitime" (p. 181). In W. India the word is said to be pronounced _bobo_ (see _Burton's Sind_). It is curious that among the Sákaláva of Madagascar the wives of chiefs are termed _biby_; but there seems hardly a possibility of this having come from Persia or India. [But for Indian influence on the island, see _Encycl. Britt._ 9th ed. xv. 174.] The word in Hova means 'animal.'—(_Sibree's Madagascar_, p. 253.)

[c. 1610.—"Nobles in blood ... call their wives BYBIS."—_Pyrard de
Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 217.]

1611.—"... the title BIBI ... is in Persian the same as among us,
sennora, or doña."—_Teixeira, Relacion ... de Hormuz._ 19.

c. 1786.—"The word _Lowndika_, which means the son of a slave-girl, was
also continually on the tongue of the Nawaub, and if he was angry with
any one he called him by this name; but it was also used as an endearing
fond appellation to which was attached great favour,[38] until one day,
Ali Zumán Khan ... represented to him that the word was low,
discreditable, and not fit for the use of men of knowledge and rank. The
Nawaub smiled, and said, 'O friend, you and I are both the sons of slave
women, and the two Husseins only (on whom be good wishes and Paradise!)
are the sons of a BIBI."—_Hist. of Hydur Naik_, tr. by Miles, 486.

[1793.—"I, BEEBEE BULEA, the Princess of Cannanore and of the Laccadives
Islands, &c., do acknowledge and give in writing that I will pay to the
Government of the English East India Company the moiety of whatever is
the produce of my country...."—_Engagement_ in _Logan, Malabar_, iii.
181.]

BEECH-DE-MER, s. The old trade way of writing and pronouncing the name, _bicho-de-mar_ (borrowed from the Portuguese) of the sea-slug or _holothuria_, so highly valued in China. [See menu of a dinner to which the Duke of Connaught was invited, in _Ball, Things Chinese_, 3rd ed. p. 247.] It is split, cleaned, dried, and then carried to the Straits for export to China, from the Maldives, the Gulf of Manar, and other parts of the Indian seas further east. The most complete account of the way in which this somewhat important article of commerce is prepared, will be found in the _Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indie_, Jaarg. xvii. pt. i. See also SWALLOW and TRIPANG.

BEECHMÁN, also MEECHILMÁN, s. Sea-H. for 'midshipman.' (_Roebuck_).

BEEGAH, s. H. _bīghā_. The most common Hindu measure of land-area, and varying much in different parts of India, whilst in every part that has a _bīghā_ there is also certain to be a _pucka beegah_ and a _kutcha beegah_ (vide CUTCHA and PUCKA), the latter being some fraction of the former. The _beegah_ formerly adopted in the Revenue Survey of the N.W. Provinces, and in the Canal Department there, was one of 3025 sq. yards or ⅝ of an acre. This was apparently founded on Akbar's _beegah_, which contained 3600 sq. _Ilāhi gaz_, of about 33 inches each. [For which see Āīn, trans. _Jarrett_, ii. 62.] But it is now in official returns superseded by the English acre.

1763.—"I never seized a BEEGA or _beswa_ (1/20 _bīghā_) belonging to
Calcutta, nor have I ever impressed your gomastahs." ... _Nawāb Kāsim
'Ali_, in _Gleig's Mem. of Hastings_, i. 129.

1823.—"A BEGAH has been computed at one-third of an acre, but its size
differs in almost every province. The smallest _Begah_ may perhaps be
computed at one-third, and the largest at two-thirds of an
acre."—Malcolm's _Central India_, ii. 15.

1877.—"The Resident was gratified at the low rate of assessment, which
was on the general average eleven annas or 1_s._ 4½_d._ per BEEGAH, that
for the Nizam's country being upwards of four rupees."—_Meadows Taylor,
Story of my Life_, ii. 5.

BEEGUM, BEGUM, &c. s. A Princess, a Mistress, a Lady of Rank; applied to Mahommedan ladies, and in the well-known case of the _Beegum Sumroo_ to the professedly Christian (native) wife of a European. The word appears to be Or. Turki. _bīgam_, [which some connect with Skt. _bhaga_, 'lord,'] a feminine formation from _Beg_, 'chief, or lord,' like _Khānum_ from _Khān_; hence P. _begam_. [_Beg_ appears in the early travellers as _Beage_.]

[1614.—"Narranse saith he standeth bound before BEAGE for 4,800 and odd
mamoodies."—_Foster, Letters_, ii. 282.]

[1505.—"BEGUM." See quotation under KHANUM.]

[1617.—"Their Company that offered to rob the BEAGAM'S junck."—_Sir T.
Roe_, Hak. Soc. ii. 454.]

1619.—"Behind the girl came another BEGUM, also an old woman, but lean
and feeble, holding on to life with her teeth, as one might say."—_P.
della Valle_, Hak. Soc. ii. 6.

1653.—"BEGUN, Reine, ou espouse du Schah."—_De la Boullaye le Gouz_, 127.

[1708.—"They are called for this reason 'BEGOM,' which means Free from
Care or Solicitude" (as if P. _be-gham_, 'without care'!)—_Catrou, H. of
the Mogul Dynasty in India_, E. T., 287.]

1787.—"Among the charges (against Hastings) there is but one engaged, two
at most—the BEGUM'S to Sheridan; the Rannee of Goheed (Gohud) to Sir
James Erskine. So please your palate."—_Ed. Burke_ to Sir G. Elliot. _L.
of Ld. Minto_, i. 119.

BEEJOO, s. Or 'Indian badger,' as it is sometimes called, H. _bījū_ [_bijjū_], _Mellivora indica_, Jerdon, [_Blanford, Mammalia_, 176]. It is also often called in Upper India the _Grave-digger_, [_gorkhodo_] from a belief in its bad practices, probably unjust.

BEER, s. This liquor, imported from England, [and now largely made in the country], has been a favourite in India from an early date. _Porter_ seems to have been common in the 18th century, judging from the advertisements in the _Calcutta Gazette_; and the _Pale Ale_ made, it is presumed, expressly for the India market, appears in the earliest years of that publication. That expression has long been disused in India, and _beer_, simply, has represented the thing. Hodgson's at the beginning of this century, was the beer in almost universal use, replaced by Bass, and Allsopp, and of late years by a variety of other brands. [Hodgson's ale is immortalised in _Bon Gualtier_.]

1638.—"... the Captain ... was well provided with ... excellent good
Sack, _English_ BEER, French Wines, _Arak_, and other
refreshments."—_Mandelslo, E. T._, p. 10.

1690.—(At Surat in the English Factory) "... _Europe_ Wines and _English_
BEER, because of their former acquaintance with our Palates, are most
coveted and most desirable Liquors, and tho' sold at high Rates, are yet
purchased and drunk with pleasure."—_Ovington_, 395.

1784.—"London Porter and _Pale Ale_, light and excellent ... 150 Sicca
Rs. per hhd...."—In _Seton-Karr_, i. 39.

1810.—"Porter, pale-ale and table-BEER of great strength, are often drank
after meals."—_Williamson, V. M._ i. 122.

1814.—

"What are the luxuries they boast them here?
The lolling couch, the joys of bottled BEER."

From '_The Cadet_, a Poem in 6 parts, &c. by a late resident in the
East.' This is a most lugubrious production, the author finding nothing
to his taste in India. In this respect it reads something like a
caricature of "Oakfield," without the noble character and sentiment of
that book. As the Rev. Hobart Caunter, the author seems to have come to a
less doleful view of things Indian, and for some years he wrote the
letter-press of the "Oriental Annual."

BEER, COUNTRY. At present, at least in Upper India, this expression simply indicates ale made in India (see COUNTRY) as at Masūri, Kasauli, and Ootacamund Breweries. But it formerly was (and in Madras perhaps still is) applied to ginger-beer, or to a beverage described in some of the quotations below, which must have become obsolete early in the last century. A drink of this nature called _Sugar-beer_ was the ordinary drink at Batavia in the 17th century, and to its use some travellers ascribed the prevalent unhealthiness. This is probably what is described by Jacob Bontius in the first quotation:

1631.—There is a recipe given for a BEER of this kind, "not at all less
good than Dutch beer.... Take a hooped cask of 30 _amphorae_ (?), fill
with pure river water; add 2lb. black Java sugar, 4oz. tamarinds, 3
lemons cut up, cork well and put in a cool place. After 14 hours it will
boil as if on a fire," &c.—_Hist. Nat. et Med. Indiae Orient._, p. 8. We
doubt the result anticipated.

1789.—"They use a pleasant kind of drink, called COUNTRY-BEER, with their
victuals; which is composed of toddy ... porter, and brown-sugar; is of a
brisk nature, but when cooled with saltpetre and water, becomes a very
refreshing draught."—_Munro, Narrative_, 42.

1810.—"A temporary beverage, suited to the very hot weather, and called
COUNTRY-BEER, is in rather _general_ use, though water artificially
cooled is commonly drunk during the repasts."—_Williamson, V. M._ ii.
122.

BEER-DRINKING. Up to about 1850, and a little later, an ordinary exchange of courtesies at an Anglo-Indian dinner-table in the provinces, especially a mess-table, was to ask a guest, perhaps many yards distant, to "drink beer" with you; in imitation of the English custom of drinking wine together, which became obsolete somewhat earlier. In Western India, when such an invitation was given at a mess-table, two tumblers, holding half a bottle each, were brought to the inviter, who carefully divided the bottle between the two, and then sent one to the guest whom he invited to drink with him.

1848.—"'He aint got distangy manners, dammy,' Bragg observed to his first
mate; 'he wouldn't do at Government House, Roper, where his Lordship and
Lady William was as kind to me ... and asking me at dinner to TAKE BEER
with him before the Commander-in-Chief himself....'"—_Vanity Fair_, II.
ch. xxii.

1853.—"First one officer, and then another, asked him to DRINK BEER at
mess, as a kind of tacit suspension of hostilities."—_Oakfield_, ii. 52.

BEETLEFAKEE, n.p. "In some old Voyages coins used at Mocha are so called. The word is _Bait-ul-fākiha_, the 'Fruit-market,' the name of a bazar there." So C. P. Brown. The place is in fact the Coffee-mart of which Hodeida is the port, from which it is about 30 m. distant inland, and 4 marches north of Mocha. And the name is really _Bait-al-Faḳīh_, 'The House of the Divine,' from the tomb of the Saint Aḥmad Ibn Mūsā, which was the nucleus of the place.—(See _Ritter_, xii. 872; see also BEETLE-FACKIE, _Milburn_, i. 96.)

1690.—"Coffee ... grows in abundance at BEETLE-FUCKEE ... and other
parts."—_Ovington_, 465.

1710.—"They daily bring down coffee from the mountains to BETELFAQUY,
which is not above 3 leagues off, where there is a market for it every
day of the week."—_(French) Voyage to Arabia the Happy_, E. T., London,
1726, p. 99.

1770.—"The tree that produces the Coffee grows in the territory of
BETEL-FAQUI, a town belonging to Yemen."—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. 352.

BEGAR, BIGARRY, s. H. _begārī_, from P. _begār_, 'forced labour' [_be_ 'without,' _gār_ (for _kār_), 'one who works']; a person pressed to carry a load, or do other work really or professedly for public service. In some provinces _begār_ is the forced labour, and _bigārī_ the pressed man; whilst in Karnāta, _begārī_ is the performance of the lowest village offices without money payment, but with remuneration in grain or land (_Wilson_). C. P. Brown says the word is Canarese; but the P. origin is hardly doubtful.

[1519.—"It happened that one day sixty BIGAIRIS went from the Comorin
side towards the fort loaded with oyster-shells."—_Castanheda_, Bk. V.
ch. 38.]

[1525.—"The inhabitants of the villages are bound to supply BEGARINS who
are workmen."—_Archiv. Port. Orient._ Fasc. V. p. 126.]

[1535.—"Telling him that they fought like heroes and worked (at building
the fort) like BYGAIRYS."—_Correa_, iii. 625.]

1554.—"And to 4 BEGGUARYNS, who serve as water carriers to the Portuguese
and others in the said intrenchment, 15 leals a day to each...."—_S.
Botelho, Tombo_, 78.

1673.—"_Gocurn_, whither I took a Pilgrimage, with one other of the
Factors, Four Peons, and Two BIGGEREENS, or Porters only."—_Fryer_, 158.

1800.—"The BYGARRY system is not bearable: it must be abolished
entirely."—_Wellington_, i. 244.

1815.—_Aitchison's Indian Treaties_, &c., contains under this year
numerous _sunnuds_ issued, in Nepāl War, to Hill Chiefs, stipulating for
attendance when required with "BEGAREES and sepoys."—ii. 339 _seqq._

1882.—"The Malauna people were some time back ordered to make a
practicable road, but they flatly refused to do anything of the kind,
saying they had never done any BEGÂR labour, and did not intend to do
any."—(_ref. wanting._)

BEHAR, n.p. H. _Bihār_. That province of the Mogul Empire which lay on the Ganges immediately above Bengal, was so called, and still retains the name and character of a province, under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and embracing the ten modern districts of Patna, Sāran, Gāya, Shāhābād, Tirhut, Champāran, the Santāl Parganas, Bhāgalpūr, Monghyr, and Purnīah. The name was taken from the old city of BIHĀR, and that derived its title from being the site of a famous VIHĀRA in Buddhist times. In the later days of Mahommedan rule the three provinces of Bengal, Behar and Orissa were under one Subadar, viz. the Nawāb, who resided latterly at Murshidābād.

[c. 1590.—"Sarkar of BEHAR; containing 46 Mahals...."—_Āīn_ (tr.
_Jarrett_), ii. 153.]

[1676.—"Translate of a letter from Shausteth Caukne (Shaista Khan) ... in
answer to one from Wares Cawne, Great Chancellor of the Province of
BEARRA about the English."—In _Birdwood, Rep._ 80].

The following is the first example we have noted of the occurrence of the three famous names in combination:

1679.—"On perusal of several letters relating to the procuring of the
Great Mogul's Phyrmaund for trade, custome free, in the Bay of Bengall,
the Chief in Council at Hugly is ordered to procure the same, for the
English to be Customs free in BENGAL, ORIXA and BEARRA...."—_Ft. St. Geo.
Cons._, 20th Feb. in _Notes and Exts._, Pt. ii. p. 7.

BEHUT, n.p. H. _Behat_. One of the names, and in fact the proper name, of the Punjab river which we now call Jelum (_i.e._ _Jhīlam_) from a town on its banks: the _Hydaspes_ or _Bidaspes_ of the ancients. Both _Behat_ and the Greek name are corruptions, in different ways, of the Skt. name _Vitastā_. Sidi 'Alī (p. 200) calls it the river of _Bahra_. Bahra or Bhera was a district on the river, and the town and taḥsīl still remain, in Shahpur Dist. [It "is called by the natives of Kaśmīr, where it rises, the _Bedasta_, which is but a slightly-altered form of its Skt. name, the _Vitastā_, which means 'wide-spread.'"—_McCrindle, Invasion of India_, 93 _seqq._]

BEIRAMEE, BYRAMEE, also BYRAMPAUT, s. P. _bairam_, _bairamī_. The name of a kind of cotton stuff which appears frequently during the flourishing period of the export of these from India; but the exact character of which we have been unable to ascertain. In earlier times, as appears from the first quotation, it was a very fine stuff. [From the quotation dated 1609 below, they appear to have resembled the fine linen known as "Holland" (for which see _Draper's Dict._ s.v.).]

c. 1343.—Ibn Batuta mentions, among presents sent by Sultan Mahommed
Tughlak of Delhi to the great Kaan, "100 suits of raiment called
BAIRAMĪYAH, _i.e._ of a cotton stuff, which were of unequalled beauty,
and were each worth 100 dīnārs [rupees]."—iv. 2.

[1498.—"20 pieces of white stuff, very fine, with gold embroidery which
they call BEYRAMIES."—_Correa_, Hak. Soc. 197.]

1510.—"Fifty ships are laden every year in this place (Bengala) with
cotton and silk stuffs ... that is to say BAIRAM."—_Varthema_, 212.

[1513.—"And captured two Chaul ships laden with BEIRAMES."—_Albuquerque,
Cartas_, p. 166.]

1554.—"From this country come the muslins called Candaharians, and those
of Daulatābād, Berūpātri, and BAIRAMI."—_Sidi 'Ali_, in _J.A.S.B._, v.
460.

" "And for 6 BEIRAMES for 6 surplices, which are given annually ...
which may be worth 7 pardaos."—_S. Botelho, Tombo_, 129.

[1609.—"A sort of cloth called BYRAMY resembling Holland
cloths."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 29.]

[1610.—"BEARAMS white will vent better than the black."—_Ibid._ i. 75].

1615.—"10 pec. BYRAMS nill (see ANILE) of 51 Rs. per corg...."—_Cocks's
Diary_, i. 4.

[1648.—"BERONIS." Quotation from Van Twist, s.v. GINGHAM.]

[c. 1700.—"50 blew BYRAMPANTS" (read BYRAMPAUTS, H. _pāt_, 'a length of
cloth').—In _Notes and Queries_, 7th Ser. ix. 29.]

1727.—"Some Surat _Baftaes_ dyed blue, and some BERAMS dyed red, which
are both coarse cotton cloth."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 125.

1813.—"BYRAMS of sorts," among Surat piece-goods, in _Milburn_, i. 124.

BEITCUL, n.p. We do not know how this name should be properly written. The place occupies the isthmus connecting Carwar Head in Canara with the land, and lies close to the Harbour of Carwar, the inner part of which is _Beitcul Cove_.

1711.—"Ships may ride secure from the South West Monsoon at _Batte Cove_
(qu. BATTECOLE?), and the River is navigable for the largest, after they
have once got in."—_Lockyer_, 272.

1727.—"The _Portugueze_ have an Island called Anjediva [see ANCHEDIVA]
... about two miles from BATCOAL."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 277.

BELGAUM, n.p. A town and district of the Bombay Presidency, in the S. Mahratta country. The proper name is said to be Canarese _Vennu-grāmā_, 'Bamboo-Town.' [The name of a place of the same designation in the Vizagapatam district in Madras is said to be derived from Skt. _bila-grāma_, 'cave-village.'—_Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss._ s.v.] The name occurs in De Barros under the form "Cidade de BILGAN" (Dec. IV., liv. vii. cap. 5).

BENAMEE, adj. P.—H. _be-nāmī_, 'anonymous'; a term specially applied to documents of transfer or other contract in which the name entered as that of one of the chief parties (_e.g._ of a purchaser) is not that of the person really interested. Such transactions are for various reasons very common in India, especially in Bengal, and are not by any means necessarily fradulent, though they have often been so. ["There probably is no country in the world except India, where it would be necessary to write a chapter 'On the practice of putting property into a false name.'"—(_Mayne, Hindu Law_, 373).] In the Indian Penal Code (Act XLV. of 1860), sections 421-423, "on fraudulent deeds and dispositions of Property," appear to be especially directed against the dishonest use of this _benamee_ system.

It is alleged by C. P. Brown on the authority of a statement in the _Friend of India_ (without specific reference) that the proper term is _banāmī_, adopted from such a phrase as _banāmī chiṭṭhī_, 'a transferable note of hand,' such notes commencing, '_ba-nām-i-fulāna_,' 'to the name or address of' (Abraham Newlands). This is conceivable, and probably true, but we have not the evidence, and it is opposed to all the authorities: and in any case the present form and interpretation of the term _be-nāmī_ has become established.

1854.—"It is very much the habit in India to make purchases in the name
of others, and from whatever causes the practice may have arisen, it has
existed for a series of years: and these transactions are known as
'BENAMEE transactions'; they are noticed at least as early as the year
1778, in Mr. Justice Hyde's Notes."—_Ld. Justice Knight Bruce_, in
Moore's Reports of Cases on Appeal before the P. C., vol. vi. p. 72.

"The presumption of the Hindoo law, in a joint undivided family, is that
the whole property of the family is joint estate ... where a purchase of
real estate is made by a Hindoo in the name of one of his sons, the
presumption of the Hindoo law is in favour of its being a BENAMEE
purchase, and the burthen of proof lies on the party in whose name it was
purchased, to prove that he was solely entitled."—_Note by the Editor of
above Vol._, p. 53.

1861.—"The decree Sale law is also one chief cause of that nuisance, the
BENAMEE system.... It is a peculiar contrivance for getting the benefits
and credit of property, and avoiding its charges and liabilities. It
consists in one man holding land, nominally for himself, but really in
secret trust for another, and by ringing the changes between the two ...
relieving the land from being attached for any liability personal to the
proprietor."—_W. Money, Java_, ii. 261.

1862.—"Two ingredients are necessary to make up the offence in this
section (§ 423 of Penal Code). First a fraudulent intention, and secondly
a false statement as to the consideration. The mere fact that an
assignment has been taken in the name of a person not really interested,
will not be sufficient. Such ... known in Bengal as BENAMEE transactions
... have nothing necessarily fraudulent."—_J. D. Mayne's Comm. on the
Penal Code_, Madras, 1862, p. 257.

BENARES, n.p. The famous and holy city on the Ganges. H. _Banāras_ from Skt. _Vārānasī_. The popular Pundit etymology is from the names of the streams _Varaṇā_ (mod. _Barnā_) and _Āsī_, the former a river of some size on the north and east of the city, the latter a rivulet now embraced within its area; [or from the mythical founder, _Rājā Bānār_]. This origin is very questionable. The name, as that of a city, has been (according to Dr. F. Hall) familiar to Sanscrit literature since B.C. 120. The Buddhist legends would carry it much further back, the name being in them very familiar.

[c. 250 A.D.—"... and the ERRENYSIS from the Mathai, an Indian tribe,
unite with the Ganges."—_Aelian, Indika_, iv.]

c. 637.—"The Kingdom of _P'o-lo-nis-se_ (VÂRÂNAÇÎ _Bénarès_) is 4000 _li_
in compass. On the west the capital adjoins the Ganges...."—_Hiouen
Thsang_, in _Pèl. Boudd._ ii. 354.

c. 1020.—"If you go from Bárí on the banks of the Ganges, in an easterly
direction, you come to Ajodh, at the distance of 25 parasangs; thence to
the great Benares (BĀNĀRAS) about 20."—_Al-Birūnī_, in _Elliot_, i. 56.

1665.—"BANAROU is a large City, and handsomely built; the most part of
the Houses being either of Brick or Stone ... but the inconveniency is
that the Streets are very narrow."—_Tavernier_, E. T., ii. 52; [ed.
_Ball_, i. 118. He also uses the forms BENAREZ and BANAROUS, _Ibid._ ii.
182, 225].

BENCOOLEN, n.p. A settlement on the West Coast of Sumatra, which long pertained to England, viz. from 1685 to 1824, when it was given over to Holland in exchange for Malacca, by the Treaty of London. The name is a corruption of Malay _Bangkaulu_, and it appears as _Mangkoulou_ or _Wénkouléou_ in Pauthier's Chinese geographical quotations, of which the date is not given (_Marc. Pol._, p. 566, note). The English factory at Bencoolen was from 1714 called Fort Marlborough.

1501.—"BENCOLU" is mentioned among the ports of the East Indies by
Amerigo Vespucci in his letter quoted under BACANORE.

1690.—"We ... were forced to bear away to BENCOULI, another English
Factory on the same Coast.... It was two days before I went ashoar, and
then I was importuned by the Governour to stay there, to be Gunner of the
Fort."—_Dampier_, i. 512.

1727.—"BENCOLON is an English colony, but the European inhabitants not
very numerous."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 114.

1788.—"It is nearly an equal absurdity, though upon a smaller scale, to
have an establishment that costs nearly 40,000_l._ at BENCOOLEN, to
facilitate the purchase of one cargo of pepper."—_Cornwallis_, i. 390.

BENDAMEER, n.p. Pers. _Bandamīr_. A popular name, at least among foreigners, of the River Kur (_Araxes_) near Shiraz. Properly speaking, the word is the name of a dam constructed across the river by the Amīr Fanā Khusruh, otherwise called Aded-ud-daulah, a prince of the Buweih family (A.D. 965), which was thence known in later days as the _Band-i-Amīr_, "The Prince's Dam." The work is mentioned in the Geog. Dict. of Yāḳūt (c. 1220) under the name of _Sikru Fannā-Khusrah Khurrah_ and _Kirdu Fannā Khusrah_ (see _Barb. Meynard, Dict. de la Perse_, 313, 480). Fryer repeats a rigmarole that he heard about the miraculous formation of the dam or bridge by BAND HAIMERO (!) a prophet, "wherefore both the Bridge and the Plain, as well as the River, by Boterus is corruptly called BINDAMIRE" (_Fryer_, 258).

c. 1475.—"And from thense, a daies iorney, ye come to a great bridge vpon
the BYNDAMYR, which is a notable great ryver. This bridge they said
Salomon caused to be made."—_Barbaro_ (Old E. T.), Hak. Soc. 80.

1621.—"... having to pass the Kur by a longer way across another bridge
called BEND' EMIR, which is as much as to say the Tie (_ligatura_), or in
other words the Bridge, of the Emir, which is two leagues distant from
Chehil minar ... and which is so called after a certain Emir Hamza the
Dilemite who built it.... Fra Filippo Ferrari, in his Geographical
Epitome, attributes the name of _Bendemir_ to the river, but he is wrong,
for _Bendemir_ is the name of the bridge and not of the river."—_P. della
Valle_, ii. 264.

1686.—"Il est bon d'observer, vue le commun Peuple appelle le BEND-EMIR
en cet endroit _ab pulneu_, c'est à dire le Fleuve du Pont Neuf; qu'on ne
l'appelle par son nom de BEND-EMIR que proche de la _Digue_, qui lui a
fait donner ce nom."—_Chardin_ (ed. 1711), ix. 45.

1809.—"We proceeded three miles further, and crossing the River
BEND-EMIR, entered the real plain of Merdasht."—_Morier_ (First Journey),
124. See also (1811) 2nd Journey, pp. 73-74, where there is a view of the
_Band-Amir_.

1813.—"The river BUND EMEER, by some ancient Geographers called the
_Cyrus_,[39] takes its present name from a dyke (in Persian a _bund_)
erected by the celebrated Ameer Azad-a-Doulah Delemi."—_Macdonald
Kinneir, Geog. Mem. of the Persian Empire_, 59.

1817.—

"There's a bower of roses by BENDAMEER'S stream,
And the nightingale sings round it all the day long."—_Lalla Rookh._

1850.—"The water (of Lake Neyriz) ... is almost entirely derived from the
Kur (known to us as the BUND AMIR River)...."—_Abbott_, in _J.R.G.S._,
xxv. 73.

1878.—We do not know whether the BAND-I-AMĪR is identical with the
quasi-synonymous _Pul-i-Khān_ by which Col. Macgregor crossed the Kur on
his way from Shiraz to Yezd. See his _Khorassan_, i. 45.

BENDÁRA, s. A term used in the Malay countries as a title of one of the higher ministers of state—Malay _bandahāra_, Jav. _bendårå_, 'Lord.' The word enters into the numerous series of purely honorary Javanese titles, and the etiquette in regard to it is very complicated. (See _Tijdschr. v. Nederl. Indie_, year viii. No. 12, 253 _seqq._). It would seem that the title is properly _bānḍārā_, 'a treasurer,' and taken from the Skt. _bhāṇḍārin_, 'a steward or treasurer.' Haex in his Malay-Latin Dict. gives _Banḍàri_, 'Oeconomus, quaestor, expenditor.' [Mr. Skeat writes that Clifford derives it from _Benda-hara-an_, 'a treasury,' which he again derives from Malay _benda_, 'a thing,' without explaining _hara_, while Wilkinson with more probability classes it as Skt.]

1509.—"Whilst Sequeira was consulting with his people over this matter,
the King sent his BENDHARA or Treasure-Master on board."—_Valentijn_, v.
322.

1539.—"There the BANDARA (_Bendara_) of _Malaca_, (who is as it were
Chief Justicer among the Mahometans), (_o supremo no mando, na honra e ne
justica dos mouros_) was present in person by the express commandment of
_Pedro de Faria_ for to entertain him."—_Pinto_ (orig. cap. xiv.), in
_Cogan_, p. 17.

1552.—"And as the BENDARA was by nature a traitor and a tyrant, the
counsel they gave him seemed good to him."—_Castanheda_, ii. 359, also
iii. 433.

1561.—"Então manson ... que dizer que matára o seu BANDARA polo mao
conselho que lhe deve."—_Correa, Lendas_, ii. 225.

[1610.—An official at the Maldives is called _Rana_-BANDERY _Tacourou_,
which Mr. Gray interprets—Singh. _ran_, 'gold,' _bandhara_, 'treasury,'
_ṭhakkura_, Skt., 'an idol.'—_Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 58.]

1613.—"This administration (of Malacca) is provided for a three years'
space with a governor ... and with royal officers of revenue and justice,
and with the native BENDARA in charge of the government of the lower
class of subjects and foreigners."—_Godinho de Eredia_, 6_v._

1631.—"There were in Malaca five principal officers of dignity ... the
second is BENDARÁ, he is the superintendent of the executive (_veador da
fazenda_) and governs the Kingdom: sometimes the _Bendará_ holds both
offices, that of Puduca raja and of BENDARÁ."—_D'Alboquerque,
Commentaries_ (orig.), 358-359.

1634.—

"O principal sogeito no governo
De Mahomet, e privanca, era o BENDÁRA,
Magistrado supremo."
_Malaca Conquistada_, iii. 6.

1726.—"BANDARES or _Adassing_ are those who are at the Court as Dukes,
Counts, or even Princes of the Royal House."—_Valentijn_ (Ceylon), _Names
of Officers, &c._, 8.

1810.—"After the Raja had amused himself with their speaking, and was
tired of it ... the BINTARA with the green eyes (for it is the custom
that the eldest BINTARA should have green shades before his eyes, that he
may not be dazzled by the greatness of the Raja, and forget his duty)
brought the books and packets, and delivered them to the BINTARA with the
black _baju_, from whose hands the Raja received them, one by one, in
order to present them to the youths."—A _Malay's_ account of a visit to
Govt. House, Calcutta, transl. by Dr. Leyden in _Maria Graham_, p. 202.

1883.—"In most of the States the reigning prince has regular officers
under him, chief among whom ... the BANDAHARA or treasurer, who is the
first minister...."—_Miss Bird, The Golden Chersonese_, 26.

BENDY, BINDY, s.: also BANDICOY (q.v.), the form in S. India; H. _bhinḍī_, [_bhenḍī_], Dakh. _bhenḍī_, Mahr. _bhenḍā_; also in H. _rāmturἀī_; the fruit of the plant _Abelmoschus esculentus_, also _Hibiscus esc._ It is called in Arab. _bāmiyah_ (_Lane, Mod. Egypt_, ed. 1837, i. 199: [5th ed. i. 184: _Burton, Ar. Nights_, xi. 57]), whence the modern Greek μπάμια. In Italy the vegetable is called _corni de' Greci_. The Latin name _Abelmoschus_ is from the Ar. _ḥabb-ul-mushk_, 'grain of musk' (_Dozy_).

1810.—"The BENDY, called in the West Indies _okree_, is a pretty plant
resembling a hollyhock; the fruit is about the length and thickness of
one's finger ... when boiled it is soft and mucilaginous."—_Maria
Graham_, 24.

1813.—"The BANDA (_Hibiscus esculentus_) is a nutritious oriental
vegetable."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ i. 32; [2nd ed. i. 22].

1880.—"I recollect the West Indian _Ookroo_ ... being some years ago
recommended for introduction in India. The seed was largely advertised,
and sold at about 8_s._ the ounce to eager horticulturists, who ... found
that it came up nothing other than the familiar BENDY, the seed of which
sells at Bombay for 1_d._ the ounce. Yet ... _ookroo_ seed continued to
be advertised and sold at 8_s._ the ounce...."—_Note_ by _Sir G.
Birdwood_.

BENDY-TREE, s. This, according to Sir G. Birdwood, is the _Thespesia populnea_, Lam. [_Watt, Econ. Dict._ vi. pt. iv. 45 _seqq._], and gives a name to the '_Bendy Bazar_' in Bombay. (See PORTIA.)

BENGAL, n.p. The region of the Ganges Delta and the districts immediately above it; but often in English use with a wide application to the whole territory garrisoned by the Bengal army. This name does not appear, so far as we have been able to learn, in any Mahommedan or Western writing before the latter part of the 13th century. In the earlier part of that century the Mahommedan writers generally call the province _Lakhnaotī_, after the chief city, but we have also the old form _Bang_, from the indigenous _Vaṅga_. Already, however, in the 11th century we have it as _Vaṅgālam_ on the Inscription of the great Tanjore Pagoda. This is the oldest occurrence that we can cite.

The alleged _City_ of _Bengala_ of the Portuguese which has greatly perplexed geographers, probably originated with the Arab custom of giving an important foreign city or seaport the name of the country in which it lay (compare the city of _Solmandala_, under COROMANDEL). It long kept a place in maps. The last occurrence that we know of is in a chart of 1743, in Dalrymple's Collection, which identifies it with Chittagong, and it may be considered certain that Chittagong was the place intended by the older writers (see _Varthema_ and _Ovington_). The former, as regards his visiting _Banghella_, deals in fiction—a thing clear from internal evidence, and expressly alleged, by the judicious Garcia de Orta: "As to what you say of Ludovico Vartomano, I have spoken, both here and in Portugal, with men who knew him here in India, and they told me that he went about here in the garb of a Moor, and then reverted to us, doing penance for his sins; and that the man never went further than Calecut and Cochin."—_Colloquios_, f. 30.

c. 1250.—"Muhammad Bakhtiyár ... returned to Behár. Great fear of him
prevailed in the minds of the infidels of the territories of Lakhnauti,
Behar, BANG, and Kámrúp."—_Tabakát-i-Násiri_, in _Elliot_, ii. 307.

1298.—"BANGALA is a Province towards the south, which up to the year 1290
... had not yet been conquered...." (&c.).—_Marco Polo_, Bk. ii. ch. 55.

c. 1300.—"... then to Bijalár (but better reading BANGĀLĀ), which from of
old is subject to Delhi...."—_Rashīduddīn_, in _Elliot_, i. 72.

c. 1345.—"... we were at sea 43 days and then arrived in the country of
BANJĀLA, which is a vast region abounding in rice. I have seen no country
in the world where provisions are cheaper than in this; but it is muggy,
and those who come from Khorāsān call it 'a hell full of good
things.'"—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 211. (But the Emperor Aurungzebe is alleged
to have "emphatically styled it the _Paradise of Nations_."—Note in
_Stavorinus_, i. 291.)

c. 1350.—

"_Shukr shikan shawand hama ṭūṭiān-i-Hind
Zīn ḳand-i-Pārsī kih ba_ BANGĀLA _mi rawad_."
_Hāfiz._

_i.e._,

"Sugar nibbling are all the parrots of Ind
From this Persian candy that travels to BENGAL"
(viz. his own poems).

1498.—"BEMGALA: in this Kingdom are many Moors, and few Christians, and
the King is a Moor ... in this land are many cotton cloths, and silk
cloths, and much silver; it is 40 days with a fair wind from
Calicut."—_Roteiro de V. da Gama_, 2nd ed. p. 110.

1506.—"A BANZELO, el suo Re è Moro, e li se fa el forzo de' panni de
gotton...."—_Leonardo do Ca' Masser_, 28.

1510.—"We took the route towards the city of BANGHELLA ... one of the
best that I had hitherto seen."—_Varthema_, 210.

1516.—"... the Kingdom of BENGALA, in which there are many towns....
Those of the interior are inhabited by Gentiles subject to the King of
Bengala, who is a Moor; and the seaports are inhabited by Moors and
Gentiles, amongst whom there is much trade and much shipping to many
parts, because this sea is a gulf ... and at its inner extremity there is
a very great city inhabited by Moors, which is called BENGALA, with a
very good harbour."—_Barbosa_, 178-9.

c. 1590.—"BUNGALEH originally was called BUNG; it derived the additional
_al_ from that being the name given to the mounds of earth which the
ancient Rajahs caused to be raised in the low lands, at the foot of the
hills."—_Ayeen Akbery_, tr. _Gladwin_, ii. 4 (ed. 1800); [tr. _Jarrett_,
ii. 120].

1690.—"Arracan ... is bounded on the _North-West_ by the Kingdom of
_Bengala_, some Authors making _Chatigam_ to be its first Frontier City;
but _Teixeira_, and generally the _Portuguese_ Writers, reckon that as a
City of BENGALA; and not only so, but place the City of _Bengala_ it self
... more South than _Chatigam_. Tho' I confess a late _French_ Geographer
has put _Bengala_ into his Catalogue of imaginary Cities...."—_Ovington_,
554.

BENGAL, s. This was also the designation of a kind of piece-goods exported from that country to England, in the 17th century. But long before, among the Moors of Spain, a fine muslin seems to have been known as _al-bangala_, surviving in Spanish _albengala_. (See _Dozy and Eng._ s.v. [What were called "_Bengal_ Stripes" were striped ginghams brought first from Bengal and first made in Great Britain at Paisley. (_Draper's Dict._ s.v.). So a particular kind of silk was known as "_Bengal_ wound," because it was "rolled in the rude and artless manner immemorially practised by the natives of that country." (_Milburn_, in _Watt, Econ. Dict._ vi. pt. 3, 185.) See _N.E.D._ for examples of the use of the word as late as Lord Macaulay.]

1696.—"Tis granted that BENGALS and stain'd Callicoes, and other _East
India_ Goods, do hinder the Consumption of Norwich stuffs...."—_Davenant,
An Essay on the East India Trade_, 31.

BENGALA, s. This is or was also applied in Portuguese to a sort of cane carried in the army by sergeants, &c. (_Bluteau_).

BENGALEE, n.p. A native of Bengal [BABOO]. In the following early occurrence in Portuguese, _Bengala_ is used:

1552.—"In the defence of the bridge died three of the King's captains and
Tuam Bandam, to whose charge it was committed, a _Bengali_ (BENGALA) by
nation, and a man sagacious and crafty in stratagems rather than a
soldier (cavalheiro)."—_Barros_, II., vi. iii.

[1610.—"BANGASALYS." See quotation from Teixeira under BANKSHALL.]

A note to the _Seir Mutaqherin_ quotes a Hindustani proverb: BANGĀLĪ
_jangālī, Kashmīrī bepīrī_, _i.e._ 'The Bengalee is ever an entangler,
the Cashmeeree without religion.'

[In modern Anglo-Indian parlance the title is often applied in provinces other than Bengal to officers from N. India. The following from Madras is a curious early instance of the same use of the word:—

[1699.—"Two BENGALLES here of Council."—_Hedges, Diary_, Hak. Soc. ii.
cclxvii.]

BENIGHTED, THE, adj. An epithet applied by the denizens of the other Presidencies, in facetious disparagement to Madras. At Madras itself "all Carnatic fashion" is an habitual expression among older English-speaking natives, which appears to convey a similar idea. (See MADRAS, MULL.)

1860.—"... to ye Londe of St Thomé. It ys ane darke Londe, & ther dwellen
ye Cimmerians whereof speketh HOMERUS Poeta in hys ODYSSEIA & to thys
Daye thei clepen TENEBROSI, OR YE BENYHTED FOLKE."—_Fragments of Sir J.
Maundevile, from a MS. lately discovered._

BENJAMIN, BENZOIN, &c., s. A kind of incense, derived from the resin of the _Styrax benzoin_, Dryander, in Sumatra, and from an undetermined species in Siam. It got from the Arab traders the name _lubān-Jāwī_, _i.e._ 'Java Frankincense,' corrupted in the Middle Ages into such forms as we give. The first syllable of the Arabic term was doubtless taken as an article—_lo bengioi_, whence _bengioi_, _benzoin_, and so forth. This etymology is given correctly by De Orta, and by Valentijn, and suggested by Barbosa in the quotation below. Spanish forms are _benjui_, _menjui_; Modern Port. _beijoim_, _beijuim_; Ital. _belzuino_, &c. The terms _Jāwā_, _Jāwī_ were applied by the Arabs to the Malay countries generally (especially Sumatra) and their products. (See _Marco Polo_, ii. 266; [_Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. ii. 96] and the first quotation here.)

c. 1350.—"After a voyage of 25 days we arrived at the Island of Jāwa
(here Sumatra) which gives its name to the _Jāwī_ incense (al-LUBĀN
al-JĀWĪ)."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 228.

1461.—"Have these things that I have written to thee next thy heart, and
God grant that we may be always at peace. The presents (herewith):
BENZOI, rotoli 30. Legno Aloë, rotoli 20. Due paja di tapeti...."—Letter
from the _Soldan of Egypt_ to the Doge Pasquale Malipiero, in the Lives
of the Doges, _Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores_, xxii. col. 1170.

1498.—"_Xarnauz_ ... is from Calecut 50 days' sail with a fair wind (see
SARNAU) ... in this land there is much BEIJOIM, which costs iii cruzados
the _farazalla_, and much _aloee_ which costs xxv cruzados the farazalla"
(see FRAZALA).—_Roteiro da Viagem de V. da Gama_, 109-110.

1516.—"BENJUY, each farazola lx, and the very good lxx fanams."—_Barbosa_
(Tariff of Prices at Calicut), 222.

" "BENJUY, which is a resin of trees which the Moors call _luban
javi_."—_Ibid._ 188.

1539.—"Cinco quintais de BEIJOIM de boninas."[40]—_Pinto_, cap. xiii.

1563.—"And all these species of BENJUY the inhabitants of the country
call _cominham_,[41] but the Moors call them LOUAN JAOY, _i.e._ 'incense
of Java' ... for the Arabs call incense _louan_."—_Garcia_, f. 29_v_.

1584.—"BELZUINUM mandolalo[40] from Sian and Baros. Belzuinum, burned,
from Bonnia" (Borneo?).—_Barret_, in _Hakl._ ii. 413.

1612.—"BENIAMIN, the pund iiii _li._"—_Rates and Valuatioun of
Merchandize_ (Scotland), pub. by the Treasury, Edin. 1867, p. 298.

BENUA, n.p. This word, Malay _banuwa_, [in standard Malay, according to Mr. Skeat, _benuwa_ or _benua_], properly means 'land, country,' and the Malays use _orang-banuwa_ in the sense of aborigines, applying it to the wilder tribes of the Malay Peninsula. Hence "Benuas" has been used by Europeans as a proper name of those tribes.—See _Crawfurd, Dict. Ind. Arch._ sub voce.

1613.—"The natives of the interior of Viontana (UJONG-TANA, q.v.) are
properly those BANUAS, black anthropophagi, and hairy, like
satyrs."—_Godinho de Eredia_, 20.

BERBERYN, BARBERYN, n.p. Otherwise called _Beruwala_, a small port with an anchorage for ships and a considerable coasting trade, in Ceylon, about 35 m. south of Columbo.

c. 1350.—"Thus, led by the Divine mercy, on the morrow of the Invention
of the Holy Cross, we found ourselves brought safely into port in a
harbour of Seyllan, called PERVILIS, over against
Paradise."—_Marignolli_, in _Cathay_, ii. 357.

c. 1618.—"At the same time Barreto made an attack on BERBELIM, killing
the Moorish modeliar [MODELLIAR] and all his kinsfolk."—_Bocarro,
Decada_, 713.

1780.—"BARBARIEN Island."—_Dunn, New Directory_, 5th ed. 77.

1836.—"BERBERYN Island.... There is said to be an anchorage north of it,
in 6 or 7 fathoms, and a small bay further in ... where small craft may
anchor."—_Horsburgh_, 5th ed. 551.

[1859.—Tennent in his map (_Ceylon_, 3rd ed.) gives BARBERYN, BARBERY,
BARBERRY.]

BERIBERI, s. An acute disease, obscure in its nature and pathology, generally but not always presenting dropsical symptoms, as well as paralytic weakness and numbness of the lower extremities, with oppressed breathing. In cases where debility, oppression, anxiety and dyspnœa are extremely severe, the patient sometimes dies in 6 to 30 hours. Though recent reports seem to refer to this disease as almost confined to natives, it is on record that in 1795, in Trincomalee, 200 Europeans died of it.

The word has been alleged to be Singhalese _beri_ [the _Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss._ s.v. gives _baribari_], 'debility.' This kind of reduplication is really a common Singhalese practice. It is also sometimes alleged to be a W. Indian Negro term; and other worthless guesses have been made at its origin. The Singhalese origin is on the whole most probable [and is accepted by the _N.E.D._]. In the quotations from Bontius and Bluteau, the disease described seems to be that formerly known as BARBIERS. Some authorities have considered these diseases as quite distinct, but Sir Joseph Fayrer, who has paid attention to _beriberi_ and written upon it (see _The Practitioner_, January 1877), regards Barbiers as "the dry form of _beri-beri_," and Dr. Lodewijks, quoted below, says briefly that "the Barbiers of some French writers is incontestably the same disease." (On this it is necessary to remark that the use of the term _Barbiers_ is by no means confined to French writers, as a glance at the quotations under that word will show). The disease prevails endemically in Ceylon, and in Peninsular India in the coast-tracts, and up to 40 or 60 m. inland; also in Burma and the Malay region, including all the islands, at least so far as New Guinea, and also Japan, where it is known as _kakké_: [see _Chamberlain, Things Japanese_, 3rd ed. p. 238 _seqq._]. It is very prevalent in certain Madras Jails. The name has become somewhat old-fashioned, but it has recurred of late years, especially in hospital reports from Madras and Burma. It is frequently epidemic, and some of the Dutch physicians regard it as infectious. See a pamphlet, BERI-BERI _door J. A. Lodewijks, ondofficier van Gezondheit bij het Ned. Indische Leger_, Harderwijk, 1882. In this pamphlet it is stated that in 1879 the total number of _beri-beri_ patients in the military hospitals of Netherlands-India, amounted to 9873, and the deaths among these to 1682. In the great military hospitals at Achin there died of _beri-beri_ between 1st November 1879, and 1st April 1880, 574 persons, of whom the great majority were _dwangarbeiders_, _i.e._ 'forced labourers.' These statistics show the extraordinary prevalence and fatality of the disease in the Archipelago. Dutch literature on the subject is considerable.

Sir George Birdwood tells us that during the Persian Expedition of 1857 he witnessed _beri-beri_ of extraordinary virulence, especially among the East African stokers on board the steamers. The sufferers became dropsically distended to a vast extent, and died in a few hours.

In the second quotation _scurvy_ is evidently meant. This seems much allied by _causes_ to _beriberi_ though different in character.

[1568.—"Our people sickened of a disease called BERBERE, the belly and
legs swell, and in a few days they die, as there died many, ten or twelve
a day."—_Couto_, viii. ch. 25.]

c. 1610.—"Ce ne fut pas tout, car i'eus encor ceste fascheuse maladie de
_louende_ que les Portugais appellent autrement BERBER et les Hollandais
_scurbut_."—_Mocquet_, 221.

1613.—"And under the orders of the said General André Furtado de Mendoça,
the discoverer departed to the court of Goa, being ill with the malady of
the BEREBERE, in order to get himself treated."—_Godinho de Eredia_, f.
58.

1631.—"... Constat frequenti illorum usu, praesertim liquoris _saguier_
dicti, non solum diarrhaeas ... sed et paralysin BERIBERI dictam hinc
natam esse."—_Jac. Bontii_, Dial. iv. See also Lib. ii. cap. iii., and
Lib. iii. p. 40.

1659.—"There is also another sickness which prevails in Banda and Ceylon,
and is called BARBERI; it does not vex the natives so much as
foreigners."—_Sarr_, 37.

1682.—"The Indian and Portuguese women draw from the green flowers and
cloves, by means of firing with a still, a water or spirit of marvellous
sweet smell ... especially is it good against a certain kind of paralysis
called BEREBERY."—_Nieuhof, Zee en Lant-Reize_, ii. 33.

1685.—"The Portuguese in the Island suffer from another sickness which
the natives call BÉRI-BÉRI."—_Ribeiro_, f. 55.

1720.—"BEREBERE (termo da India). Huma _Paralysia_ bastarde, ou
entorpecemento, com que fica o corpo como tolhido."—_Bluteau, Dict._ s.v.

1809.—"A complaint, as far as I have learnt, peculiar to the island
(Ceylon), the BERRI-BERRI; it is in fact a dropsy that frequently
destroys in a few days."—_Ld. Valentia_, i. 318.

1835.—(On the Maldives) "... the crew of the vessels during the survey
... suffered mostly from two diseases; the BERI-BERI which attacked the
Indians only, and generally proved fatal."—_Young and Christopher_, in
_Tr. Ro. Geog. Soc._, vol. i.

1837.—"Empyreumatic oil called _oleum nigrum_, from the seeds of
_Celastrus nutans_ (_Malkungnee_) described in Mr. Malcolmson's able
prize Essay on the Hist. and Treatment of BERIBERI ... the most
efficacious remedy in that intractable complaint."—_Royle on Hindu
Medicine_, 46.

1880.—"A malady much dreaded by the Japanese, called _Kakké_.... It
excites a most singular dread. It is considered to be the same disease as
that which, under the name of BERIBERI, makes such havoc at times on
crowded jails and barracks."—_Miss Bird's Japan_, i. 288.

1882.—"BERBÁ, a disease which consists in great swelling of the
abdomen."—_Blumentritt, Vocabular_, s.v.

1885.—"Dr. Wallace Taylor, of Osaka, Japan, reports important discoveries
respecting the origin of the disease known as BERI-BERI. He has traced it
to a microscopic spore largely developed in rice. He has finally detected
the same organism in the earth of certain alluvial and damp
localities."—_St. James's Gazette_, Aug. 9th.

Also see Report on Prison Admin. in Br. Burma, for 1878, p. 26.

BERYL, s. This word is perhaps a very ancient importation from India to the West, it having been supposed that its origin was the Skt. _vaidūrya_, Prak. _velūriya_, whence [Malay _baiduri_ and _biduri_], P. _billaur_, and Greek βήρυλλος. Bochart points out the probable identity of the two last words by the transposition of _l_ and _r_. Another transposition appears to have given Ptolemy his Ὀρούδια ὄρη (for the Western Ghats), representing probably the native _Vaidūrya_ mountains. In Ezekiel xxvii. 13, the Sept. has Βηρύλλιον, where the Hebrew now has _tarshīsh_, [another word with probably the same meaning being _shohsm_ (see Professor Ridgeway in _Encycl. Bibl._ s.v. _Beryl_)]. Professor Max Müller has treated of the possible relation between _vaidūrya_ and _vidāla_, 'a cat,' and in connection with this observes that "we should, at all events, have learnt the useful lesson that the chapter of accidents is sometimes larger than we suppose."—(_India, What can it Teach us?_" p. 267). This is a lesson which many articles in our book suggest; and in dealing with the same words, it may be indicated that the resemblance between the Greek αἴλουρος, _bilaur_, a common H. word for a cat, and the P. _billaur_, 'beryl,' are at least additional illustrations of the remark quoted.

c. A.D. 70.—"BERYLS ... from India they come as from their native place,
for seldom are they to be found elsewhere.... Those are best accounted of
which carrie a sea-water greene."—_Pliny_, Bk. XXXVII. cap. 20 (in _P.
Holland_, ii. 613).

c. 150.—"Πυννάτα ἐν ᾗ βήρυλλος."—_Ptolemy_, l. vii.

BETEL, s. The leaf of the _Piper betel_, L., chewed with the dried ARECA-nut (which is thence improperly called _betel-nut_, a mistake as old as Fryer—1673,—see p. 40), _chunam_, etc., by the natives of India and the Indo-Chinese countries. The word is Malayāl. _veṭṭila_, _i.e._ _veru_ + _ila_ = 'simple or mere leaf,' and comes to us through the Port. _betre_ and _betle_. PAWN (q.v.) is the term more generally used by modern Anglo-Indians. In former times the _betel-leaf_ was in S. India the subject of a monopoly of the E. I. Co.

1298.—"All the people of this city (Cael) as well as of the rest of
India, have a custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf
called _Tembul_ ... the lords and gentlefolks and the King have these
leaves prepared with camphor and other aromatic spices, and also mixt
with quicklime...."—_Marco Polo_, ii. 358. See also _Abdurrazzāk_, in
_India in XV. Cent._, p. 32.

1498.—In Vasco da Gama's _Roteiro_, p. 59, the word used is _atombor_,
_i.e._ _al-tambūl_ (Arab.) from the Skt. _tāmbūla_. See also _Acosta_, p.
139. [See TEMBOOL.]

1510.—"This BETEL resembles the leaves of the sour orange, and they are
constantly eating it."—_Varthema_, p. 144.

1516.—"We call this BETEL Indian leaf."[42]—_Barbosa_, 73.

[1521.—"BETTRE (or VETTELE)." See under ARECA.]

1552.—"... at one side of the bed ... stood a man ... who held in his
hand a gold plate with leaves of BETELLE...."—_De Barros_, Dec. I. liv.
iv. cap. viii.

1563.—"We call it BETRE, because the first land known by the Portuguese
was Malabar, and it comes to my remembrance that in Portugal they used to
speak of their coming not to _India_, but to Calecut ... insomuch that in
all the names that occur, which are not Portuguese, are Malabar, like
BETRE."—_Garcia_, f. 37_g_.

1582.—The transl. of _Castañeda_ by N. L. has BETELE (f. 35), and also
VITELE (f. 44).

1585.—A King's letter grants the revenue from betel (BETRE) to the bishop
and clergy of Goa.—In _Arch. Port. Or._, fasc. 3, p. 38.

1615.—"He sent for Coco-Nuts to give the Company, himselfe chewing BITTLE
and lime of Oyster-shels, with a Kernell of Nut called _Arracca_, like an
Akorne, it bites in the mouth, accords rheume, cooles the head,
strengthens the teeth, & is all their Phisicke."—_Sir T. Roe_, in
_Purchas_, i. 537; [with some trifling variations in _Foster's_ ed. (Hak.
Soc.) i. 19].

1623.—"Celebratur in universo oriente radix quaedam vocata BETEL, quam
Indi et reliqui in ore habere et mandere consueverunt, atque ex eâ
mansione mire recreantur, et ad labores tolerandos, et ad languores
discutiendos ... videtur autem esse ex _narcoticis_, quia magnopere
denigrat dentes."—_Bacon, Historia Vitae et Mortis_, ed. Amst. 1673, p.
97.

1672.—"They pass the greater part of the day in indolence, occupied only
with talk, and chewing BETEL and Areca, by which means their lips and
teeth are always stained."—_P. di Vincenzo Maria_, 232.

1677.—The Court of the E. I. Co. in a letter to Ft. St. George, Dec. 12,
disapprove of allowing "Valentine Nurse 20 Rupees a month for diet, 7 Rs.
for house-rent, 2 for a cook, 1 for BEETLE, and 2 for a Porter, which is
a most extravagant rate, which we shall not allow him or any
other."—_Notes and Exts._, No. i. p. 21.

1727.—"I presented the Officer that waited on me to the Sea-side (at
Calicut) with 5 zequeens for a feast of BETTLE to him and his
companions."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 306.

BETTEELA, BEATELLE, &c., s. The name of a kind of muslin constantly mentioned in old trading-lists and narratives. This seems to be a Sp. and Port. word _beatilla_ or _beatilha_, for 'a veil,' derived, according to Cobarruvias, from "certain _beatas_, who invented or used the like." _Beata_ is a _religieuse_. ["The BETILLA is a certain kind of white E. I. chintz made at Masulipatam, and known under the name of _Organdi_."—_Mad. Admin. Man. Gloss._ p. 233.]

[1566.—"A score BYATILHAS, which were worth 200 pardaos."—_Correa_, iii.
479.]

1572.—

"Vestida huma camisa preciosa
Trazida de delgada BEATILHA,
Que o corpo crystallino deixa ver-se;
Que tanto bem não he para esconder-se."
_Camões_, vi. 21.

1598.—"... this linnen is of divers sorts, and is called Serampuras,
Cassas, Comsas, BEATTILLIAS, Satopassas, and a thousand such
names."—_Linschoten_, 28; [Hak. Soc. i. 95; and cf. i. 56].

1685.—"To servants, 3 pieces BETEELAES."—In _Wheeler_, i. 149.

1727.—"Before _Aurangzeb_ conquered _Visiapore_, this country (Sundah)
produced the finest BETTEELAS or Muslins in India."—_A. Hamilton_, i.
264.

[1788.—"There are various kinds of muslins brought from the East Indies,
chiefly from Bengal: BETELLES, &c."—_Chambers' Cycl._, quoted in 3 ser.
_Notes & Q._ iv. 88.]

BEWAURIS, adj. P.—H. _be-wāris_, 'without heir.' Unclaimed, without heir or owner.