Chapter XXIX: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (26)

1619.—"The twelfth in the morning Master _Methwold_ came from
_Messalipatam_ in one of the COUNTREY Boats."—_Pring_, in _Purchas_, i.
638.

1685.—"The inhabitants of the Gentoo Town, all in arms, bringing with
them also elephants, kettle-drums, and all the COUNTRY music."—_Wheeler_,
i. 140.

1747.—"It is resolved and ordered that a Serjeant with two Troopers and a
Party of COUNTRY Horse, to be sent to Markisnah Puram to
patroll...."—_Ft. St. David Council of War_, Dec. 25. _MS. Records_ in
India Office.

1752.—"Captain Clive did not despair ... and at ten at night sent one
Shawlum, a serjeant who spoke the COUNTRY languages, with a few sepoys to
reconnoitre."—_Orme_, i. 211 (ed. 1803).

1769.—"I supped last night at a COUNTRY Captain's; where I saw for the
first time a specimen of the Indian taste."—_Teignmouth, Mem._ i. 15.

1775.—"The Moors in what is called COUNTRY ships in East India, have also
their chearing songs; at work in hoisting, or in their boats a
rowing."—_Forrest, V. to N. Guinea_, 305.

1793.—"The jolting springs of COUNTRY-made carriages, or the grunts of
COUNTRY-made carriers, commonly called _palankeen-boys_."—_Hugh Boyd_,
146.

1809.—"The Rajah had a drawing of it made for me, on a scale, by a
COUNTRY Draftsman of great merit."—_Ld. Valentia_, i. 356.

" "... split COUNTRY peas...."—_Maria Graham_, 25.

1817.—"Since the conquest (of Java) a very extensive trade has been
carried on by the English in COUNTRY ships."—_Raffles, H. of Java_, i.
210.

[1882.—"There was a COUNTRY-born European living in a room in the
bungalow."—_Sanderson, Thirteen Years_, 256.]

COUNTRY-CAPTAIN, s. This is in Bengal the name of a peculiar dry kind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish. We can only conjecture that it was a favourite dish at the table of the skippers of '_country_ ships,' who were themselves called '_country_ captains,' as in our first quotation. In Madras the term is applied to a _spatchcock_ dressed with onions and curry stuff, which is probably the original form. [Riddell says: "COUNTRY-CAPTAIN.—Cut a fowl in pieces; shred an onion small and fry it brown in butter; sprinkle the fowl with fine salt and curry powder and fry it brown; then put it into a stewpan with a pint of soup; stew it slowly down to a half and serve it with rice" (_Ind. Dom. Econ._ 176).]

1792.—"But now, Sir, a COUNTRY CAPTAIN is not to be known from an
ordinary man, or a Christian, by any certain mark whatever."—_Madras
Courier_, April 26.

c. 1825.—"The local name for their business was the 'Country Trade,' the
ships were 'COUNTRY Ships,' and the masters of them 'COUNTRY CAPTAINS.'
Some of my readers may recall a dish which was often placed before us
when dining on board these vessels at Whampoa, viz. 'COUNTRY
CAPTAIN.'—_The Fankwae at Canton_ (1882), p. 33.

COURSE, s. The drive usually frequented by European gentlemen and ladies at an Indian station.

1853.—"It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore COURSE,
after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had
happened in these six months!"—_Oakfield_, ii. 124.

COURTALLUM, n.p. The name of a town in Tinnevelly [used as an European sanatorium (_Stuart, Man. of Tinnevelly_, 96)]; written in vernacular _Kuttālam_. We do not know its etymology. [The _Madras Gloss._ gives _Trikūtāchala_, Skt., the 'Three-peaked Mountain.']

COVENANTED SERVANTS. This term is specially applied to the regular Civil Service of India, whose members used to enter into a formal covenant with the East India Company, and do now with the Secretary of State for India. Many other classes of servants now go out to India under a variety of contracts and covenants, but the term in question continues to be appropriated as before. [See CIVILIAN.]

1757.—"There being a great scarcity of COVENANTED SERVANTS in Calcutta,
we have entertained Mr. Hewitt as a monthly writer ... and beg to
recommend him to be covenanted upon this Establishment."—Letter in
_Long_, 112.

COVID, s. Formerly in use as the name of a measure, varying much locally in value, in European settlements not only in India but in China, &c. The word is a corruption, probably an Indo-Portuguese form, of the Port. _covado_, a cubit or ell.

[1612.—"A long COVAD within 1 inch of our English yard, wherewith they
measure cloth, the short COVAD is for silks, and containeth just as the
Portuguese COVAD."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 241.

[1616.—"Clothes of gould: ... were worth 100 rupies a COBDE."—_Sir T.
Roe_, Hak. Soc. i. 203.

[1617.—Cloth "here affoorded at a rupie and two in a COBDEE vnder
ours."—_Ibid._ ii. 409.]

1672.—"Measures of Surat are only two; the Lesser and the Greater COVELD
[probably misprint for _Coveed_], the former of 27 inches English, the
latter of 36 inches English."—_Fryer_, 206.

1720.—"Item. I leave 200 pagodas for a tomb to be erected in the burial
place in form as follows. Four large pillars, each to be six COVIDS high,
and six _covids_ distance one from the other; the top to be arched, and
on each pillar a cherubim; and on the top of the arch the effigy of
Justice."—_Testament of Charles Davers, Merchant_, in _Wheeler_, ii. 338.

[1726.—"COBIDOS." See quotation under LOONGHEE.]

c. 1760.—According to Grose the COVID at Surat was 1 yard English [the
greater _coveed_ of Fryer], at Madras ½ a yard; but he says also: "At
Bengal the same as at Surat and Madras."

1794.—"To be sold, on very reasonable terms, About 3000 COVITS of 2-inch
_Calicut_ Planks."—_Bombay Courier_, July 19.

The measure has long been forgotten under this name in Bengal, though used under the native name _hāth_. From Milburn (i. 334, 341, &c.) it seems to have survived on the West Coast in the early part of last century, and possibly may still linger.

[1612.—"½ corge of pintados of 4 HASTAS the piece."—_Danvers, Letters_,
i. 232.]

COVIL, s. Tam. _kō-v-il_, 'God-house,' a Hindu temple; and also (in Malabar) a palace, [also in the form _Colghum_, for _Kovilagam_]. In colloquial use in S. India and Ceylon. In S. India it is used, especially among the French, for 'a church'; also among the uneducated English.

[1796.—"I promise to use my utmost endeavours to procure for this Raja
the COLGHUM of Pychi for his residence...."—Treaty, in _Logan, Malabar_,
iii. 254.]

COWCOLLY, n.p. The name of a well-known lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of the Hoogly, in Midnapur District. Properly, according to Hunter, _Geonkhālī_. In Thornton's _English Pilot_ (pt. iii. p. 7, of 1711) this place is called COCKOLY.

COW-ITCH, s. The irritating hairs on the pod of the common Indian climbing herb _Mucuna pruriens_, D.C., N. O. _Leguminosae_, and the plant itself. Both pods and roots are used in native practice. The name is doubtless the Hind. _kewānch_ (Skt. _kapi-kachchhu_), modified in Hobson-Jobson fashion, by the 'striving after meaning.'

[1773.—"COW-ITCH. This is the down found on the outside of a pod, which
is about the size and thickness of a man's little finger, and of the
shape of an Italian S."—_Ives_, 494.]

COWLE, s. A lease, or grant in writing; a safe-conduct, amnesty, or in fact any written engagement. The Emperor Sigismund gave _Cowle_ to John Huss—and broke it. The word is Ar. _ḳaul_, 'word, promise, agreement,' and it has become technical in the Indian vernaculars, owing to the prevalence of Mahommedan Law.

[1611.—"We desired to have a COWL of the Shahbunder to send some persons
aland."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 133.

[1613.—"Procured a COWL for such ships as should come."—_Foster,
Letters_, ii. 17.]

1680.—"A COWLE granted by the Right Worshipful Streynsham Master, Esq.,
Agent and Governour for affairs of the Honorable East India Company in
ffort St. George at Chinapatnam, by and with the advice of his Councell
to all the Pegu Ruby Marchants...."—_Fort St. George Cons._ Feb. 23, in
_Notes and Extracts_, No. iii. p. 10.

1688.—"The President has by private correspondence procured a COWLE for
renting the Town and customs of S. Thomé."—_Wheeler_, i. 176.

1758.—"The Nawaub ... having mounted some large guns on that hill ...
sent to the Killadar a KOWL-NAMA, or a summons and terms for his
surrender."—_H. of Hydur Naik_, 123.

1780.—"This CAOUL was confirmed by another King of Gingy ... of the
Bramin Caste."—_Dunn, New Directory_, 140.

Sir A. Wellesley often uses the word in his Indian letters. Thus:

1800.—"One tandah of brinjarries ... has sent to me for
COWLE...."—_Wellington Desp._ (ed. 1837), i. 59.

1804.—"On my arrival in the neighbourhood of the _pettah_ I offered COWLE
to the inhabitants."—_Ibid._ ii. 193.

COWRY, s. Hind. _kauṛī_ (_kauḍī_), Mahr. _kavaḍī_, Skt. _kaparda_, _kapardika_. The small white shell, _Cypraea moneta_, current as money extensively in parts of S. Asia and of Africa.

By far the most ancient mention of shell currency comes from Chinese literature. It is mentioned in the famous "Tribute of Yü" (or _Yü-Kung_); in the _Shu-King_ (about the 14th cent. B.C.); and in the "Book of Poetry" (_Shi-King_), in an ode of the 10th cent. B.C. The Chinese seem to have adopted the use from the aborigines in the East and South; and they extended the system to tortoise-shell, and to other shells, the cowry remaining the unit. In 338 B.C., the King of Tsin, the supply of shells failing, suppressed the cowry currency, and issued copper coin, already adopted in other States of China. The usurper Wang Mang, who ruled A.D. 9-23, tried to revive the old systems, and issued rules instituting, in addition to the metallic money, ten classes of tortoise-shell and five of smaller shells, the value of all based on the _cowry_, which was worth 3 cash.[94] [Cowries were part of the tribute paid by the aborigines of Puanit to Metesouphis I. (_Maspero, Dawn of Civ._, p. 427).]

The currency of cowries in India does not seem to be alluded to by any Greek or Latin author. It is mentioned by Maṣ'ūdī (c. 943), and their use for small change in the Indo-Chinese countries is repeatedly spoken of by Marco Polo, who calls them _pourcelaines_, the name by which this kind of shell was known in Italy (_porcellane_) and France. When the Mahommedans conquered Bengal, early in the 13th century, they found the ordinary currency composed exclusively of cowries, and in some remote districts this continued to the beginning of the last century. Thus, up to 1801, the whole revenue of the Silhet District, amounting then to Rs. 250,000, was collected in these shells, but by 1813 the whole was realised in specie. Interesting details in connection with this subject are given by the Hon. Robert Lindsay, who was one of the early Collectors of Silhet (_Lives of the Lindsays_, iii. 170).

The Sanskrit vocabulary called _Trikāṇḍaśesha_ (iii. 3, 206) makes 20 _kapardika_ (or _kauṛīs_) = ¼ _paṇa_; and this value seems to have been pretty constant. The cowry table given by Mr. Lindsay at Silhet, circa 1778, exactly agrees with that given by Milburn as in Calcutta use in the beginning of last century, and up to 1854 or thereabouts it continued to be the same:

4 _kauṛis_ = 1 _ganda_
20 _gandas_ = 1 _paṇ_
4 _paṇ_ = 1 _āna_
4 _ānas_ = 1 _kāhan_, or about ¼ rupee.

This gives about 5120 cowries to the Rupee. We have not met with any denomination of currency in actual use below the cowry, but it will be seen that, in a quotation from Mrs. Parkes, two such are indicated. It is, however, Hindu idiosyncracy to indulge in imaginary submultiples as well as imaginary multiples. (See a parallel under LACK).

In Bastar, a secluded inland State between Orissa and the Godavery, in 1870, the following was the prevailing table of cowry currency, according to Sir W. Hunter's _Gazetteer_:

28 _kauṛis_ = 1 _borī_
12 _boris_ = 1 _dugānī_
12 _dugānīs_ = 1 Rupee, _i.e._ 2880 cowries.

Here we may remark that both the _paṇ_ in Bengal, and the _dugānī_ in this secluded Bastar, were originally the names of pieces of money, though now in the respective localities they represent only certain quantities of cowries. (For _paṇ_, see under FANAM; and as regards _dugānī_, see _Thomas's Patan Kings of Delhī_, pp. 218 _seq._). ["Up to 1865 _bee-a_ or cowries were in use in Siam; the value of these was so small that from 800 to 1500 went to a _fuang_ (7½ cents.)."—_Hallett, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant_, p. 164. Mr. Gray has an interesting note on cowries in his ed. of _Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 236 _seqq._]

Cowries were at one time imported into England in considerable quantities for use in the African slave-trade. "For this purpose," says Milburn, "they should be small, clean, and white, with a beautiful gloss" (i. 273). The duty on this importation was £53, 16_s._ 3_d._ per cent. on the sale value, with ⅓ added for war-tax. In 1803, 1418 cwt. were sold at the E. I. auctions, fetching £3,626; but after that few were sold at all. In the height of slave-trade, the great mart for cowries was at Amsterdam, where there were spacious warehouses for them (see the _Voyage_, &c., quoted 1747).

c. A.D. 943.—"Trading affairs are carried on with _cowries_ (_al-wada'_),
which are the money of the country."—_Maṣ'ūdī_, i. 385.

c. 1020.—"These isles are divided into two classes, according to the
nature of their chief products. The one are called _Dewa-Kauḍha_, 'the
Isles of the COWRIES,' because of the COWRIES that they collect on the
branches of coco-trees planted in the sea."—_Albirūnī_, in _J. As._, Ser.
IV. tom. iv. 266.

c. 1240.—"It has been narrated on this wise that as in that country
(Bengal), the KAUṚI [shell] is current in place of silver, the least gift
he used to bestow was a _lak_ of KAUṚIS. The Almighty mitigate his
punishment [in hell]!"—_Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣiri_, by _Raverty_, 555 _seq._

c. 1350.—"The money of the Islanders (of the Maldives) consists of
_cowries_ (_al-wada'_). They so style creatures which they collect in the
sea, and bury in holes dug on the shore. The flesh wastes away, and only
a white shell remains. 100 of these shells are called _siyāh_, and 700
_fāl_; 12,000 they call _kutta_; and 100,000 _bustū_. Bargains are made
with these cowries at the rate of 4 _bustū_ for a gold dīnār. [This would
be about 40,000 for a rupee.] Sometimes the rate falls, and 12 _bustū_
are exchanged for a gold dīnār. The islanders barter them to the people
of Bengal for rice, for they also form the currency in use in that
country.... These cowries serve also for barter with the negroes in their
own land. I have seen them sold at Mālī and Gūgū [on the Niger] at the
rate of 1150 for a gold dīnār."—_Ibn Batuta_, iv. 122.

c. 1420.—"A man on whom I could rely assured me that he saw the people of
one of the chief towns of the Said employ as currency, in the purchase of
low-priced articles of provision, KAUDAS, which in Egypt are known as
_wada_, just as people in Egypt use _fals_."—_Makrizi, S. de Sacy,
Chrest. Arabe_, 2nd ed. i. 252.

[1510.—Mr. Whiteway writes: "In an abstract of an unpublished letter of
Alboquerque which was written about 1510, and abstracted in the following
year, occurs this sentence:—'The merchandize which they carry from Cairo
consists of snails (_caracoes_) of the Twelve Thousand Islands.' He is
speaking of the internal caravan-trade of Africa, and these snails must
be COWRIES."]

1554.—At the Maldives: "COWRIES 12,000 make one _cota_; and 4½ _cotas_ of
average size weigh one _quintal_; the big ones something more."—_A.
Nunes_, 35.

" "In these isles ... are certain white little shells which they
call CAURIS."—_Castanheda_, iv. 7.

1561.—"Which vessels (_Gundras_, or palm-wood boats from the Maldives)
come loaded with coir and CAURY, which are certain little white shells
found among the Islands in such abundance that whole vessels are laden
with them, and which make a great trade in Bengala, where they are
current as money."—_Correa_, I. i. 341.

1586.—"In Bengal are current those little shells that are found in the
islands of Maldiva, called here COURIM, and in Portugal
_Buzio_."—_Sassetti_, in _De Gubernatis_, 205.

[c. 1590.—"Four kos from this is a well, into which if the bone of any
animal be thrown it petrifies, like a COWRIE shell, only smaller."—_Āīn_,
ed. _Jarrett_, ii. 229.]

c. 1610.—"Les marchandises qu'ils portent le plus souvent sont ces
petites coquilles des Maldives, dont ils chargent tous les ans grand
nombre de nauires. Ceux des Maldives les appellent _Boly_, et les autres
Indiens CAURY."—_Pyrard de Laval_, i. 517; see also p. 165; [Hak. Soc. i.
438; also comp. i. 78, 157, 228, 236, 240, 250, 299; _Boly_ is Singh.
_bella_, a cowry].

c. 1664.—"... lastly, it (Indostan) wants those little _Sea-cockles_ of
the Maldives, which serve for common Coyne in _Bengale_, and in some
other places...."—_Bernier_, E.T. 63; [ed. _Constable_, 204].

[c. 1665.—"The other small money consists of shells called COWRIES, which
have the edges inverted, and they are not found in any other part of the
world save only the Maldive Islands.... Close to the sea they give up to
80 for the _paisa_, and that diminishes as you leave the sea, on account
of carriage; so that at Agra you receive but 50 or 55 for the
_paisa_."—_Tavernier_, ed. _Ball_, i. 27 _seq._]

1672.—"COWREYS, like sea-shells, come from Siam, and the Philippine
Islands."—_Fryer_, 86.

1683.—"The Ship Britannia—from the Maldiva Islands, arrived before the
Factory ... at their first going ashore, their first salutation from the
natives was a shower of Stones and Arrows, whereby 6 of their Men were
wounded, which made them immediately return on board, and by ye mouths of
their Guns forced them to a complyance, and permission to load what
COWRIES they would at Markett Price; so that in a few days time they sett
sayle from thence for Surrat with above 60 Tunn of COWRYES."—_Hedges,
Diary_, July 1; [Hak. Soc. i. 96].

1705.—"... CORIS, qui sont des petits coquillages."—_Luillier_, 245.

1727.—"The COURIES are caught by putting Branches of Cocoa-nut trees with
their Leaves on, into the Sea, and in five or six Months the little
Shell-fish stick to those leaves in Clusters, which they take off, and
digging Pits in the Sand, put them in and cover them up, and leave them
two or three Years in the Pit, that the Fish may putrefy, and then they
take them out of the Pit, and barter them for Rice, Butter, and Cloth,
which Shipping bring from _Ballasore_ in _Orisa_ near _Bengal_, in which
Countries COURIES pass for Money from 2500 to 3000 for a Rupee, or half a
Crown _English_."—_A. Hamilton_ [ed. 1744], i. 349.

1747.—"Formerly 12,000 weight of these COWRIES would purchase a cargo of
five or six hundred Negroes: but those lucrative times are now no more;
and the Negroes now set such a value on their countrymen, that there is
no such thing as having a cargo under 12 or 14 tuns of cowries.

"As payments of this kind of specie are attended with some intricacy, the
Negroes, though so simple as to sell one another for shells, have
contrived a kind of copper vessel, holding exactly 108 pounds, which is a
great dispatch to business."—_A Voyage to the Id. of Ceylon on board a
Dutch Indiaman in the year 1747_, &c. &c. Written by a Dutch Gentleman.
Transl. &c. London, 1754, pp. 21 _seq._

1749.—"The only Trade they deal in is COWRIES (or Blackamoor's Teeth as
they call them in England), the King's sole Property, which the sea
throws up in great abundance."—_The Boscawen's Voyage to Bombay_, by
_Philalethes_ (1750), p. 52.

1753.—"Our Hon'ble Masters having expressly directed ten tons of COURIES
to be laden in each of their ships homeward bound, we ordered the
Secretary to prepare a protest against Captain Cooke for refusing to take
any on board the Admiral Vernon."—In _Long_, 41.

1762.—"The trade of the salt and _butty wood_ in the Chucla of Sillett,
has for a long time been granted to me, in consideration of which I pay a
yearly rent of 40,000 _caouns_[95] of COWRIES...."—Native Letter to
Nabob, in _Van Sittart_, i. 203.

1770.—"... millions of millions of lires, pounds, rupees, and
COWRIES."—_H. Walpole's Letters_, v. 421.

1780.—"We are informed that a Copper Coinage is now on the Carpet ... it
will be of the greatest utility to the Public, and will totally abolish
the trade of COWRIES, which for a long time has formed so extensive a
field for deception and fraud. A greviance (_sic_) the poor has long
groan'd under."—_Hicky's Bengal Gazette_, April 29.

1786.—In a Calcutta Gazette the rates of payment at Pultah Ferry are
stated in Rupees, Annas, _Puns_, and _Gundas_ (_i.e._ of _Cowries_, see
above).—In _Seton-Karr_, i. 140.

1791.—"Notice is hereby given, that on or before the 1st November next,
sealed proposals of Contract for the remittance in Dacca of the cowries
received on account of the Revenues of Sylhet ... will be received at the
Office of the Secretary to the Board of Revenue.... All persons who may
deliver in proposals, are desired to specify the rates per cowan or
_cowans_ of COWRIES (see _kāhan_ above) at which they will engage to make
the remittance proposed."—In _Seton-Karr_, ii. 53.

1803.—"I will continue to pay, without demur, to the said Government, as
my annual _peshkush_ or tribute, 12,000 _kahuns_ of COWRIES in three
instalments, as specified herein below."—_Treaty Engagement_ by the Rajah
of Kitta Keonghur, a Tributary subordinate to Cuttack, 16th December,
1803.

1833.—"May 1st. Notice was given in the Supreme Court that Messrs. Gould
and Campbell would pay a dividend at the rate of nine _gundahs_, one
COWRIE, one _cawg_, and eighteen _teel_, in every sicca rupee, on and
after the 1st of June. A curious dividend, not quite a farthing in the
rupee!"[96]—_The Pilgrim_ (by Fanny Parkes), i. 273.

c. 1865.—"Strip him stark naked, and cast him upon a desert island, and
he would manage to play heads and tails for COWRIES with the sea-gulls,
if land-gulls were not to be found."—_Zelda's Fortune_, ch. iv.

1883.—"Johnnie found a lovely COWRIE two inches long, like mottled
tortoise-shell, walking on a rock, with its red fleshy body covering half
its shell, like a jacket trimmed with chenille fringe."—_Letter_ (of Miss
North's) _from Seychelle Islands_, in _Pall Mall Gazette_, Jan. 21, 1884.

COWRY, s. Used in S. India for the yoke to carry burdens, the BANGY (q.v.) of N. India. In Tamil, &c., _kāvaḍi_, [_kāvu_, 'to carry on the shoulder,' _tadi_, 'pole'].

[1853.—"COWRIE baskets ... a circular ratan basket, with a conical top,
covered with green oil-cloth, and secured by a brass padlock."—_Campbell,
Old Forest Ranger_, 3rd ed. 178.]

COWTAILS, s. The name formerly in ordinary use for what we now more euphoniously call CHOWRIES (q.v.).

c. 1664.—"These Elephants have then also ... certain COW-TAILS of the
great _Tibet_, white and very dear, hanging at their Ears like great
Mustachoes...."—_Bernier_, E.T., 84; [ed. _Constable_, 261].

1665.—"Now that this King of the Great Tibet knows, that _Aureng-Zebe_ is
at _Kachemire_, and threatens him with War, he hath sent to him an
Ambassador, with Presents of the Countrey, as Chrystal, and those dear
White COW-TAILS...."—_Ibid._ 135; [ed. _Constable_, 422].

1774.—"To send one or more pair of the cattle which bear what are called
COWTAILS."—_Warren Hastings_, Instruction to Bogle, in _Markham's Tibet_,
8.

" "There are plenty of COWTAILED cows (!), but the weather is too
hot for them to go to Bengal."—_Bogle_, _ibid._ 52. 'Cowtailed cows' seem
analogous to the 'dismounted mounted infantry' of whom we have recently
heard in the Suakin campaign.

1784.—In a 'List of Imports probable from Tibet,' we find "COW TAILS."—In
_Seton-Karr_, i. 4.

" "From the northern mountains are imported a number of articles of
commerce.... The principal ... are ... musk, COWTAILS,
honey...."—_Gladwin's Ayeen Akbery_ (ed. 1800) ii. 17; [ed. _Jarrett_,
ii. 172].

CRAN, s. Pers. _krān_. A modern Persian silver coin, worth about a franc, being the tenth part of a TOMAUN.

1880.—"A couple of mules came clattering into the courtyard, driven by
one muleteer. Each mule carried 2 heavy sacks ... which jingled
pleasantly as they were placed on the ground. The sacks were afterwards
opened in my presence, and contained no less than 35,000 silver KRANS.
The one muleteer without guard had brought them across the mountains, 170
miles or so, from Tehran."—MS. Letter from _Col. Bateman-Champain, R.E._

[1891.—"I on my arrival took my servants' accounts in tomauns and KERANS,
afterwards in _kerans_ and shaies, and at last in _kerans_ and
puls."—_Wills, Land of the Lion_, 63.]

CRANCHEE, s. Beng. H. _karānchī_. This appears peculiar to Calcutta, [but the word is also used in N. India]. A kind of ricketty and sordid carriage resembling, as Bp. Heber says below, the skeleton of an old English hackney-coach of 1800-35 (which no doubt was the model), drawn by wretched ponies, harnessed with rope, and standing for native hire in various parts of the city.

1823.—"... a considerable number of 'CARANCHIES,' or native carriages,
each drawn by two horses, and looking like the skeletons of hackney
coaches in our own country."—_Heber_, i. 28 (ed. 1844).

1834.—"As Lady Wroughton guided her horse through the crowd to the right,
a KURANCHY, or hackney-coach, suddenly passed her at full speed."—_The
Baboo_, i. 228.

CRANGANORE, n.p. Properly (according to Dr. Gundert), _Koḍuṅrīlūr_, more generally _Koduṅgalūr_; [the _Madras Gloss._ gives Mal. _Kotannallūr_, _kota_, 'west,' _kovil_, 'palace,' _ūr_, 'village']. An ancient city and port of Malabar, identical with the _Mūyiri-kkoḍu_ of an ancient copper-plate inscription,[97] with the Μουζιρὶς of Ptolemy's Tables and the Periplus, and with the _Muziris primum emporium Indiae_ of Pliny (Bk. vi. cap. 23 or 26) [see _Logan, Malabar_, i. 80]. "The traditions of Jews, Christians, Brahmans, and of the _Kérala Ulpatti_ (legendary History of Malabar) agree in making Kodungalūr the residence of the Perumāls (ancient sovereigns of Malabar), and the first resort of Western shipping" (Dr. Gundert in _Madras Journal_, vol. xiii. p. 120). It was apparently the earliest settlement of Jew and Christian immigrants. It is prominent in all the earlier narratives of the 16th century, especially in connection with the Malabar Christians; and it was the site of one of the seven churches alleged in the legends of the latter to have been founded by St. Thomas.[98] Cranganor was already in decay when the Portuguese arrived. They eventually established themselves there with a strong fort (1523), which the Dutch took from them in 1662. This fort was dismantled by Tippoo's troops in 1790, and there is now hardly a trace left of it. In Baldaeus (_Malabar und Coromandel_, p. 109, Germ. ed.) there are several good views of Cranganore as it stood in the 17th century. [See SHINKALI.]

c. 774. A.D.—"We have given as eternal possession to Iravi Corttan, the
lord of the town, the brokerage and due customs ... namely within the
river-mouth of CODANGALUR."—_Copper Charter_, see _Madr. Journ._ xiii.
And for the date of the inscription, _Burnell_, in _Ind. Antiq._ iii.
315.

(Before 1500, see as in above quotation, p. 334.).—"I Erveh Barmen ...
sitting this day in CANGANÚR...." (_Madras Journal_, xiii. pt. ii. p.
12). This is from an old Hebrew translation of the 8th century
copper-grant to the Jews, in which the Tamil has "The king ... Sri
Bhaskara Ravi Varman ... on the day when he was pleased to sit in
Muyiri-kódu...."—thus identifying _Muyiri_ or _Muziris_ with Cranganore,
an identification afterwards verified by tradition ascertained on the
spot by Dr. Burnell.

1498.—"QUORONGOLIZ belongs to the Christians, and the king is a
Christian; it is 3 days distant from Calecut by sea with fair wind; this
king could muster 4,000 fighting men; here is much pepper...."—_Roteiro
de Vasco da Gama_, 108.

1503.—"Nostra autem regio in qua Christiani commorantur Malabar
appellatur, habetque xx circiter urbes, quarum tres celebres sunt et
firmæ, CARONGOLY, _Palor_, et _Colom_, et aliæ illis proximæ
sunt."—Letter of _Nestorian Bishops_ on mission to India, in _Assemani_,
iii. 594.

1516.—"... a place called CRONGOLOR, belonging to the King of Calicut ...
there live in it Gentiles, Moors, Indians, and Jews, and Christians of
the doctrine of St. Thomas."—_Barbosa_, 154.

c. 1535.—"CRANCANOR fu antichamente honorata, e buon porto, tien molte
genti ... la città e grande, ed honorata con grã traffico, auãti che si
facesse Cochin, cõ la venuta di Portoghesi, nobile."—_Sommario de'
Regni_, &c. _Ramusio_, i. f. 332_v_.

1554.—"Item ... paid for the maintenance of the boys in the College,
which is kept in CRANGUANOR, by charter of the King our Lord, annually
100 000 _reis_...."—_S. Botelho, Tombo_, &c., 27.

c. 1570.—"... prior to the introduction of Islamism into this country, a
party of Jews and Christians had found their way to a city of Malabar
called CADUNGALOOR."—_Tohfat-ul-Mujahideen_, 47.

1572.—

"A hum Cochin, e a outro Cananor,
A qual Chale, a qual a ilha da pimenta,
A qual Coulão, a qual dá CRANGANOR,
E os mais, a quem o mais serve e contenta...."
_Camões_, vii. 35.

1614.—"The Great Samorine's Deputy came aboord ... and ... earnestly
persuaded vs to stay a day or two, till he might send to the Samorine,
then at CRANGELOR, besieging a Castle of the Portugals."—_Peyton_, in
_Purchas_, i. 531.

c. 1806.—"In like manner the Jews of KRANGHÍR (Cranganore), observing the
weakness of the Sámuri ... made a great many Mahomedans drink the cup of
martyrdom...."—_Muhabbat Khán_ (writing of events in 16th century), in
_Elliot_, viii. 388.

CRANNY, s. In Bengal commonly used for a clerk writing English, and thence vulgarly applied generically to the East Indians, or half-caste class, from among whom English copyists are chiefly recruited. The original is Hind. _karānī_, _kirānī_, which Wilson derives from Skt. _karan_, 'a doer.' _Karaṇa_ is also the name of one of the (so-called) mixt castes of the Hindus, sprung from a Sudra mother and Vaisya father, or (according to some) from a pure Kshatriya mother by a father of degraded Kshatriya origin. The occupation of the members of this mixt caste is that of writers and accountants; [see _Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal_, i. 424 _seqq._].

The word was probably at one time applied by natives to the junior members of the Covenanted Civil Service—"Writers," as they were designated. See the quotations from the "_Seir Mutaqherin_" and from Hugh Boyd. And in our own remembrance the "Writers' Buildings" in Calcutta, where those young gentlemen were at one time quartered (a range of apartments which has now been transfigured into a splendid series of public offices, but, wisely, has been kept to its old name), was known to the natives as _Karānī kī Bārik_.

c. 1350.—"They have the custom that when a ship arrives from India or
elsewhere, the slaves of the Sultan ... carry with them complete suits
... for the _Rabban_ or skipper, and for the KIRĀNĪ, who is the ship's
clerk."—_Ibn Batuta_, ii. 198.

" "The second day after our arrival at the port of Kailūkari, the
princess escorted the _nakhodāh_ (or skipper), the KIRĀNĪ, or
clerk...."—_Ibid._ iv. 250.

c. 1590.—"The KARRÁNÍ is a writer who keeps the accounts of the ship, and
serves out the water to the passengers."—_Āīn_ (_Blochmann_), i. 280.

c. 1610.—"Le Secretaire s'apelle CARANS...."—_Pyrard de Laval_, i. 152;
[Hak. Soc. i. 214].

[1611.—"Doubt you not but it is too true, howsoever the CRANNY flatters
you with better hopes."—_Danvers, Letters_, i. 117, and see also i. 190.

[1684.—"Ye Noceda and CRANEE."—_Pringle, Diary of Ft. St. George_, iii.
111.]

c. 1781.—"The gentlemen likewise, other than the Military, who are in
high offices and employments, have amongst themselves degrees of service
and work, which have not come minutely to my knowledge; but the whole of
them collectively are called CARRANIS."—_Seir Mutaqherin_, ii. 543.

1793.—"But, as Gay has it, example gains where precept fails. As an
encouragement therefore to my brother CRANNIES, I will offer an instance
or two, which are remembered as good Company's jokes."—_Hugh Boyd, The
Indian Observer_, 42.

1810.—"The CRANNY, or clerk, may be either a native Armenian, a native
Portuguese, or a Bengallee."—_Williamson, V. M._ i. 209.

1834.—"Nazir, see bail taken for 2000 rupees. The CRANY will write your
evidence, Captain Forrester."—_The Baboo_, i. 311.

It is curious to find this word explained by an old French writer, in almost the modern application to East Indians. This shows that the word was used at Goa in something of its Hindu sense of one of mixt blood.

1653.—"Les KARANES sont engendrez d'vn Mestis, et d'vne Indienne,
lesquels sont oliaustres. Ce mot de KARANES vient a mon advis de _Kara_,
qui signifie en Turq la terre, ou bien la couleur noire, comme si l'on
vouloit dire par KARANES les enfans du païs, ou bien les noirs: ils ont
les mesmes aduantages dans leur professions que les autres Mestis."—_De
la Boullaye-le-Gouz_, ed. 1657, p. 226. Compare in _M. Polo_, Bk. I., ch.
18, his statement about the CARAONAS, and note thereon.

CRAPE, s. This is no Oriental word, though crape comes from China. It is the French _crêpe_, _i.e._ _crespe_, Lat. _crispus_, meaning frizzed or minutely curled. As the word is given in a 16th century quotation by Littré, it is probable that the name was first applied to a European texture. [Its use in English dates from 1633, according to the _N.E.D._]

"I own perhaps I might desire
Some shawls of true Cashmere—
Some narrowy CRAPES of China silk,
Like wrinkled skins, or scalded milk."
_O. W. Holmes, 'Contentment.'_

CREASE, CRIS, &c., s. A kind of dagger, which is the characteristic weapon of the Malay nations; from the Javanese name of the weapon, adopted in Malay, _krīs_, _kirīs_, or _kres_ (see _Favre, Dict. Javanais-Français_, 137_b_, _Crawfurd's Malay Dict._ s.v., _Jansz, Javaansch-Nederl. Woordenboek_, 202). The word has been generalised, and is often applied to analogous weapons of other nations, as 'an Arab _crease_,' &c. It seems probable that the H. word _kirich_, applied to a straight sword, and now almost specifically to a sword of European make, is identical with the Malay word _krīs_. See the form of the latter word in Barbosa, almost exactly _kirich_. Perhaps Turki _kīlīch_ is the original. [Platts gives Skt. _kṛiti_, 'a sort of knife or dagger.'] If Reinaud is right in his translation of the Arab _Relations_ of the 9th and 10th centuries, in correcting a reading, otherwise unintelligible, to _khrī_, we shall have a very early adoption of this word by Western travellers. It occurs, however, in a passage relating to Ceylon.

c. 910.—"Formerly it was common enough to see in this island a man of the
country walk into the market grasping in his hand a KHRĪ, _i.e._ a dagger
peculiar to the country, of admirable make, and sharpened to the finest
edge. The man would lay hands on the wealthiest of the merchants that he
found, take him by the throat, brandish his dagger before his eyes, and
finally drag him outside of the town...."—_Relation_, &c., _par Reinaud_,
p. 156; and see Arabic text, p. 120, near bottom.

It is curious to find the CRIS adopted by Alboquerque as a piece of state costume. When he received the ambassadors of Sheikh Ismael, _i.e._ the Shāh of Persia, Ismael Sūfī, at Ormuz, we read:

1515.—"For their reception there was prepared a dais of three steps ...
which was covered with carpets, and the Governor seated thereon in a
decorated chair, arrayed in a tunic and surcoat of black damask, with his
collar, and his golden CRIS, as I described before, and with his big,
long snow-white beard; and at the back of the dais the captains and
gentlemen, handsomely attired, with their swords girt, and behind them
their pages with lances and targets, and all uncovered."—_Correa_, ii.
423.

The portrait of Alboquerque in the 1st vol. of Mr. Birch's Translation of
the Commentaries, realises the snow-white beard, tunic, and black
surcoat, but the cris is missing. [The Malay CREESE is referred to in
iii. 85.]

1516.—"They are girt with belts, and carry daggers in their waists,
wrought with rich inlaid work, these they call QUERIX."—_Barbosa_, 193.

1552.—"And the quartermaster ran up to the top, and thence beheld the son
of Timuta raja to be standing over the Captain Major with a cris half
drawn."—_Castanheda_, ii. 363.

1572.—

"... assentada
Lá no gremio da Aurora, onde nasceste,
Opulenta Malaca nomeada!
As settas venenosas que fizeste!
Os CRISES, com que já te vejo armáda...."
_Camões_, x. 44.

By Burton:

"... so strong thy site
there on Aurora's bosom, whence they rise,
thou Home of Opulence, Malacca hight!
The poysoned arrows which thine art supplies,
the _krises_ thirsting, as I see, for fight...."

1580.—A vocabulary of "Wordes of the naturall language of Iaua" in the
voyage of Sir Fr. Drake, has CRICKE, 'a dagger.'—_Hakl._ iv. 246.

[1584.—"CRISE." See quotation under A MUCK.]

1586-88.—"The custom is that whenever the King (of Java) doth die ... the
wives of the said King ... every one with a dagger in her hand (which
dagger they call a CRESE, and is as sharp as a razor) stab themselves to
the heart."—_Cavendish_, in _Hakl._ iv. 337.

1591.—"Furthermore I enjoin and order in the name of our said Lord ...
that no servant go armed whether it be with staves or daggers, or
CRISSES."—Procl. of _Viceroy Mathias d'Alboquerque_ in _Archiv. Port.
Oriental_, fasc. 3, p. 325.

1598.—"In the Western part of the Island (Sumatra) is Manancabo where
they make Poinyards, which in India are called CRYSES, which are very
well accounted and esteemed of."—_Linschoten_, 33; [with some slight
differences of reading, Hak. Soc. i. 110].

1602.—"... Chinesische Dolchen, so sie CRIS nennen."—_Hulsius_, i. 33.

c. 1610.—"Ceux-là ont d'ordinaire à leur costé vn poignard ondé qui
s'apelle CRIS, et qui vient d'Achen en Sumatra, de Iaua, et de la
Chine."—_Pyrard de Laval_, i. 121; [Hak. Soc. i. 164]; also see ii. 101;
[ii. 162, 170].

1634.—"Malayos CRISES, Arabes alfanges."—_Malaca Conquistada_, ix. 32.

1686.—"The CRESSET is a small thing like a Baggonet which they always
wear in War or Peace, at Work or Play, from the greatest of them to the
poorest or meanest person."—_Dampier_, i. 337.

1690.—"And as the Japanners ... rip up their Bowels with a
CRIC...."—_Ovington_, 173.

1727.—"A Page of twelve Years of Age ... (said) that he would shew him
the Way to die, and with that he took a CRESS, and ran himself through
the body."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 99; [ed. 1744, ii. 98].

1770.—"The people never go without a poniard which they call
CRIS."—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. 97.

c. 1850-60.—"They (the English) chew hashish, cut themselves with
poisoned CREASES ... taste every poison, buy every secret."—_Emerson,
English Traits_ [ed. 1866, ii. 59].

The Portuguese also formed a word CRISADA, a blow with a CRIS (see _Castanheda_, iii. 379). And in English we find a verb to '_crease_'; see in _Purchas_, i. 532, and this:

1604.—"This Boyhog we tortured not, because of his confession, but CRYSED
him."—_Scot's Discourse of Iava_, in _Purchas_, i. 175.

[1704.—"At which our people ... were most of them CREEZED."—_Yule,
Hedges' Diary_, Hak. Soc. ii. cccxxxvii.]

Also in _Braddel's Abstract of the Sijara Malayu_:

"He was in consequence CREASED at the shop of a sweetmeat seller, his
blood flowed on the ground, but his body disappeared
miraculously."—_Sijara Malayu_, in _J. Ind. Arch._ v. 318.

CREDERE, DEL. An old mercantile term.

1813.—"DEL CREDERE, or guaranteeing the responsibility of persons to whom
goods were sold—commission ¾ per cent."—_Milburn_, i. 235.

CREOLE, s. This word is never used by the English in India, though the mistake is sometimes made in England of supposing it to be an Anglo-Indian term. The original, so far as we can learn, is Span. _criollo_, a word of uncertain etymology, whence the French _créole_, a person of European blood but colonial birth. See _Skeat_, who concludes that _criollo_ is a negro corruption of _criadillo_, dim. of _criado_, and is = 'little nursling.' _Criados_, _criadas_, according to Pyrard de Laval, [Hak. Soc. ii. 89 _seq._] were used at Goa for male and female servants. And see the passage quoted under NEELAM from Correa, where the words 'apparel and servants' are in the original '_todo o fato e_ criados.'

1782.—"Mr. Macintosh being the son of a Scotch Planter by a French
CREOLE, of one of the West India Islands, is as swarthy and ill-looking a
man as is to be seen on the Portugueze Walk on the Royal
Exchange."—_Price's Observations_, &c. in _Price's Tracts_, i. 9.

CROCODILE, s. This word is seldom used in India; ALLIGATOR (q.v.) being the term almost invariably employed.

c. 1328.—"There be also COQUODRILES, which are vulgarly called _calcatix_
[Lat. _calcatrix_, 'a cockatrice'].... These animals be like lizards, and
have a tail stretched over all like unto a lizard's," &c.—_Friar
Jordanus_, p. 19.

1590.—"One CROCODILE was so huge and greedy that he devoured an
_Alibamba_, that is a chained company of eight or nine slaves; but the
indigestible Iron paid him his wages, and murthered the
murtherer."—_Andrew Battel_ (West Africa), in _Purchas_, ii. 985.

[1870.—"... I have been compelled to amputate the limbs of persons seized
by CROCODILES (_Mugger_).... The Alligator (_gharial_) sometimes devours
children...."—_Chevers, Med. Jurispr. in India_, 366 _seq._].

CRORE, s. One hundred _lakhs_, _i.e._ 10,000,000. Thus a crore of rupees was for many years almost the exact equivalent of a million sterling. It had once been a good deal more, and has now been for some years a good deal less. The H. is _karoṛ_, Skt. _koṭi_.

c. 1315.—"Kales Dewar, the ruler of Ma'bar, enjoyed a highly prosperous
life.... His coffers were replete with wealth, insomuch that in the city
of Mardī (Madura) there were 1200 CRORES of gold deposited, every _crore_
being equal to a thousand laks, and every lak to one hundred thousand
dinārs."—_Wassāf_, in _Elliot_, iii. 52. N.B.—The reading of the word
_crore_ is however doubtful here (see note by Elliot _in loco_). In any
case the value of _crore_ is misstated by Wassāf.

c. 1343.—"They told me that a certain Hindu farmed the revenue of the
city and its territories (Daulatābād) for 17 KARŌR ... as for the KARŌR
it is equivalent to 100 _laks_, and the _lak_ to 100,000 dīnārs."—_Ibn
Batuta_, iv. 49.

c. 1350.—"In the course of three years he had misappropriated about a
KROR of _tankas_ from the revenue."—_Ziā-uddīn-Barnī_, in _Elliot_, iii.
247.

c. 1590.—"Zealous and upright men were put in charge of the revenues,
each over one KRŌR of dams." (These, it appears, were called
KRŌRIS.)—_Āīn-i-Akbari_, i. 13.

1609.—"The King's yeerely Income of his Crowne Land is fiftie CROU of
_Rupias_, every CROU is an hundred _Leckes_, and every _Lecke_ is an
hundred thousand _Rupias_."—_Hawkins_, in _Purchas_, i. 216.

1628.—"The revenue of all the territories under the Emperors of Delhi
amounts, according to the Royal registers, to six _arbs_ and thirty KRORS
of _dāms_. One _arb_ is equal to a hundred KRORS (a _kror_ being ten
millions) and a hundred _Krors_ of _dāms_ are equivalent to two _krors_
and fifty _lacs_ of rupees."—_Muhammad Sharīf Hanafi_, in _Elliot_, vii.
138.

1690.—"The _Nabob_ or Governour of _Bengal_ was reputed to have left
behind him at his Death, twenty COUROUS of Roupies: A KOUROU is an
hundred thousand lacks."—_Ovington_, 189.

1757.—"In consideration of the losses which the English Company have
sustained ... I will give them one CRORE of rupees."—_Orme_, ii. 162 (ed.
1803).

c. 1785.—"The revenues of the city of Decca, once the capital of Bengal,
at a low estimation amount annually to two KHERORE."—_Carraccioli's Life
of Clive_, i. 172.

1797.—"An Englishman, for H. E.'s amusement, introduced the elegant
European diversion of a race in sacks by old women: the Nabob was
delighted beyond measure, and declared that though he had spent a CRORE
of rupees ... in procuring amusement, he had never found one so pleasing
to him."—_Teignmouth, Mem._ i. 407.

1879.—

"'Tell me what lies beyond our brazen gates.'
Then one replied, 'The city first, fair Prince!
* * * * * *
And next King Bimbasâra's realm, and then
The vast flat world with CRORES on CRORES of folk.'"
_Sir E. Arnold, The Light of Asia_, iii.

[CRORI, s. "The possessor or collector of a KROR, or ten millions, of any given kind of money; it was especially applied as an official designation, under the Mohammedan government, to a collector of revenue to the extent of a KROR of dāms, or 250,000 rupees, who was also at various times invested with the general superintendence of the lands in his district, and the charge of the police." (_Wilson._)

[c. 1590.—See quotation under CRORE.

[1675.—"Nor does this exempt them from _pishcashing_ the Nabob's CREWRY
or Governour."—_Yule, Hedges' Diary_, Hak. Soc. ii. ccxxxix.]

[CROTCHEY, KURACHEE,> properly _Karāchi_, the sea-port and chief town of the province of Sind, which is a creation of the British rule, no town appearing to have existed on the site before 1725. In As Suyūti's _History of the Caliphs_ (E.T. p. 229) the capture of Kīrakh or Kīraj is mentioned. Sir H. M. Elliot thinks that this place was probably situated in if not named from Kachh. Jarrett (_Āīn_, ii. 344, note) supposes this to be Karāchi, which Elliot identified with the Krokala of Arrian. Here, according to Curtius, dwelt the Arabioi or Arabitai. The harbour of Karāchi was possibly the Porus Alexandri, where Nearchus was detained by the monsoon for twenty-four days (see _McCrindle, Ancient India_, 167, 262).

[1812.—"From CROTCHEY to Cape Monze the people call themselves
Balouches."—_Morier, Journey through Persia_, p. 5.

[1839.—"... spices of all kinds, which are carried from Bombay ... to
KORATCHEE or other ports in Sind."—_Elphinstone's Caubul_, i. 384.]

CROW-PHEASANT, s. The popular Anglo-Indian name of a somewhat ignoble bird (Fam. _Cuculidae_), common all over the plains of India, in Burma, and the Islands, viz. _Centropus rufipennis_, Illiger. It is held in India to give omens.

1878.—"The CROW-PHEASANT stalks past with his chestnut wings drooping by
his side."—_Phil. Robinson, In My Indian Garden_, 7.

1883.—"There is that ungainly object the _coucal_, CROW-PHEASANT,
jungle-crow, or whatever else you like to call the miscellaneous thing,
as it clambers through a creeper-laden bush or spreads its reddish-bay
wings and makes a slow voyage to the next tree. To judge by its
appearance only it might be a crow developing for a peacock, but its
voice seems to have been borrowed from a black-faced monkey."—_Tribes on
my Frontier_, 155.

CUBEB, s. The fruit of the _Piper Cubeba_, a climbing shrub of the Malay region. [Its Hind. name _kabāb chīnī_ marks its importation from the East by Chinese merchants.] The word and the articles were well known in Europe in the Middle Ages, the former being taken directly from the Arab. _kabābah_. It was used as a spice like other peppers, though less common. The importation into Europe had become infinitesimal, when it revived in last century, owing to the medicinal power of the article having become known to our medical officers during the British occupation of Java (1811-15). Several particulars of interest will be found in _Hanbury and Flückiger's Pharmacog._ 526, and in the notes to _Marco Polo_, ii. 380.

c. 943.—"The territories of this Prince (the Maharaja of the Isles)
produce all sorts of spices and aromatics.... The exports are camphor,
lign-aloes, clove, sandal-wood, betel-nut, nutmeg, cardamom, CUBEB
(_al-kabābah_)...."—_Maṣ'ūdi_, i. 341 _seq._

13th cent.—

"Theo canel and the licoris
And swete savoury meynte I wis,
Theo gilofre, QUYBIBE and mace...."
_King Alesaunder_, in _Weber's Metr. Rom._, i. 279.

1298.—"This Island (Java) is of surpassing wealth, producing black
pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, CUBEBS, cloves...."—_Marco Polo_,
ii. 254.

c. 1328.—"There too (in _Jaua_) are produced CUBEBS, and nutmegs, and
mace, and all the other finest spices except pepper."—_Friar Jordanus_,
31.

c. 1340.—"_The following are sold by the pound._ Raw silk; saffron;
clove-stalks and cloves; CUBEBS; lign-aloes...."—_Pegolotti_, in
_Cathay_, &c., p. 305.

" "CUBEBS are of two kinds, _i.e._ domestic and wild, and both
should be entire and light, and of good smell; and the domestic are known
from the wild in this way, that the former are a little more brown than
the wild; also the domestic are round, whilst the wild have the lower
part a little flattened underneath like flattened buttons."—_Pegolotti_,
in _Cathay_, &c.; in orig. 374 _seq._

c. 1390.—"Take fresh pork, seethe it, chop it small, and grind it well;
put to it hard yolks of eggs, well mixed together, with dried currants,
powder of cinnamon, and maces, CUBEBS, and cloves whole."—_Recipe_ in
_Wright's Domestic Manners_, 350.

1563.—"_R._ Let us talk of CUBEBS; although, according to Sepulveda, we
seldom use them alone, and only in compounds.

"_O._ 'Tis not so in India; on the contrary they are much used by the
Moors soaked in wine ... and in their native region, which is Java, they
are habitually used for coldness of stomach; you may believe me they hold
them for a very great medicine."—_Garcia_, f. 80-80_v_.

1572.—"The Indian physicians use CUBEBS as cordials for the
stomach...."—_Acosta_, p. 138.

1612.—"CUBEBS, the pound ... xvi. s."—_Rates and Valuatioun_ (Scotland).

1874.—"In a list of drugs to be sold in the ... city of Ulm, A.D. 1596,
CUBEBS are mentioned ... the price for half an ounce being 8
_kreuzers_."—_Hanb. & Flück._ 527.

CUBEER BURR, n.p. This was a famous banyan-tree on an island of the Nerbudda, some 12 m. N.E. of Baroch, and a favourite resort of the English there in the 18th century. It is described by Forbes in his _Or. Mem._ i. 28; [2nd ed. i. 16, and in _Pandurang Hari_, ed. 1873, ii. 137 _seqq._]. Forbes says that it was thus called by the Hindus in memory of a favourite saint (no doubt Kabīr). Possibly, however, the name was merely the Ar. _kabīr_, 'great,' given by some Mahommedan, and misinterpreted into an allusion to the sectarian leader.

[1623.—"On an other side of the city, but out of the circuit of the
houses, in an open place, is seen a great and fair tree, of that kind
which I saw in the sea coasts of Persia, near Ormuz, called there _Lul_,
but here _Ber_."—_P. della Valle_, Hak. Soc. i. 35. Mr. Grey identifies
this with the CUBEER BURR.]

1818.—"The popular tradition among the Hindus is that a man of great
sanctity named KUBEER, having cleaned his teeth, as is practised in
India, with a piece of stick, stuck it into the ground, that it took
root, and became what it now is."—_Copland_, in _Tr. Lit. Soc. Bo._ i.
290.

CUCUYA, CUCUYADA, s. A cry of alarm or warning; Malayāl. _kūkkuya_, 'to cry out'; not used by English, but found among Portuguese writers, who formed _cucuyada_ from the native word, as they did _Crisada_ from _kris_ (see CREASE). See _Correa, Lendas_, ii. 2. 926. See also quotation from Tennent, under COSS, and compare Australian _cooey_.

1525.—"On this immediately some of his Nairs who accompanied him, desired
to smite the Portuguese who were going through the streets; but the
Regedor would not permit it; and the CAIMAL approaching the King's
palace, without entering to speak to the King, ordered those cries of
theirs to be made which they call CUCUYADAS, and in a few minutes there
gathered together more than 2000 Nairs with their arms...."—_Correa_, ii.
926.

1543.—"At the house of the pagod there was a high enclosure-wall of
stone, where the Governor collected all his people, and those of the
country came trooping with bows and arrows and a few matchlocks, raising
great cries and CUCUYADAS, such as they employ to call each other to war,
just like cranes when they are going to take wing."—_Ibid._ iv. 327.

CUDDALORE, n.p. A place on the marine backwater 16 m. S. of Pondicherry, famous in the early Anglo-Indian history of Coromandel. It was settled by the Company in 1682-3, and Fort St. David's was erected there soon after. Probably the correct name is _Kaḍal-ūr_, 'Sea-Town.' [The _Madras Gloss._ gives Tam. _kūḍal_, 'junction,' _ūr_, 'village,' because it stands on the confluence of the Kadilam and Paravanar Rivers.]

[1773.—"Fort St. David is ... built on a rising ground, about a mile from
the Black-Town, which is called CUDDALORE."—_Ives_, p. 18.]

CUDDAPAH, n.p. Tel. _kaḍapa_, ['threshold,' said to take its name from the fact that it is situated at the opening of the pass which leads to the holy town of Tripatty (_Gribble, Man. of Cuddapah_, p. 3); others connect it with Skt. _kṛipa_, 'pity,' and the Skt. name is _Kripanagara_]. A chief town and district of the Madras Presidency. It is always written _Kurpah_ in Kirkpatrick's Translation of _Tippoo's Letters_, [and see Wilks, _Mysore_, ed. 1869, i. 303]. It has been suggested as possible that it is the ΚΑΡΙΓΗ (for ΚΑΡΙΠΗ) of Ptolemy's Tables. [KURPAH indigo is quoted on the London market.]

1768.—"The chiefs of Shanoor and KIRPA also followed the same path."—_H.
of Hydur Naik_, 189.

CUDDOO, s. A generic name for pumpkins, [but usually applied to the musk-melon, _cucurbita moschata_ (Watt, _Econ. Dict._ ii. 640)]. Hind. _Kaddū_.

[1870.—"Pumpkin, Red and White—Hind. KUDDOO. This vegetable grows in
great abundance in all parts of the Deccan."—_Riddell, Ind. Dom. Econ._
568.]

CUDDY, s. The public or captain's cabin of an Indiaman or other passenger ship. We have not been able to trace the origin satisfactorily. It must, however, be the same with the Dutch and Germ. _kajute_, which has the same signification. This is also the Scandinavian languages, Sw. in _kajuta_, Dan. _kahyt_, and Grimm quotes _kajute_, "Casteria," from a vocabulary of Saxon words used in the first half of 15th century. It is perhaps originally the same with the Fr. _cahute_, 'a hovel,' which Littré quotes from 12th century as _quahute_. Ducange has L. Latin _cahua_, 'casa, tugurium,' but a little doubtfully. [Burton (_Ar. Nights_, xi. 169) gives P. _kadah_, 'a room,' and compares CUMRA. The _N.E.D._ leaves the question doubtful.]

1726.—"Neither will they go into any ship's CAYUYT so long as they see
any one in the Skipper's cabin or on the half-deck."—_Valentijn, Chorom._
(_and Pegu_), 134.

1769.—"It was his (the Captain's) invariable practice on Sunday to let
down a canvas curtain at one end of the CUDDY ... and to read the church
service,—a duty which he considered a complete clearance of the sins of
the preceding week."—_Life of Lord Teignmouth_, i. 12.