Chapter XLIV: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (41)

c. 1328.—"There are some trees that bear a very big fruit called CHAQUI;
and the fruit is of such size that one is enough for about five persons.
There is another tree that has a fruit like that just named, and it is
called _Bloqui_ [a corruption of Malayāl. _varikka_, 'superior fruit'],
quite as big and as sweet, but not of the same species. These fruits
never grow upon the twigs, for these are not able to bear their weight,
but only from the main branches, and even from the trunk of the tree
itself, down to the very roots."—_Friar Jordanus_, 13-14.

A unique MS. of the travels of Friar Odoric, in the Palatine Library at Florence, contains the following curious passage:—

c. 1330.—"And there be also trees which produce fruits so big that two
will be a load for a strong man. And when they are eaten you must oil
your hands and your mouth; they are of a fragrant odour and very savoury;
the fruit is called _chabassi_." The name is probably corrupt (perhaps
_chacassi_?). But the passage about oiling the hands and lips is aptly
elucidated by the description in Baber's _Memoirs_ (see below), a
description matchless in its way, and which falls off sadly in the new
translation by M. Pavet de Courteille, which quite omits the "haggises."

c. 1335.—"The SHAKĪ and _Barkī_. This name is given to certain trees
which live to a great age. Their leaves are like those of the walnut, and
the fruit grows direct out of the stem of the tree. The fruits borne
nearest to the ground are the _barkī_; they are sweeter and
better-flavoured than the SHAKĪ ..." etc. (much to the same effect as
before).—_Ibn Batuta_, iii. 127; see also iv. 228.

c. 1350.—"There is again another wonderful tree called CHAKE_-Baruke_, as
big as an oak. Its fruit is produced from the trunk, and not from the
branches, and is something marvellous to see, being as big as a great
lamb, or a child of three years old. It has a hard rind like that of our
pine-cones, so that you have to cut it open with a hatchet; inside it has
a pulp of surpassing flavour, with the sweetness of honey, and of the
best Italian melon; and this also contains some 500 chestnuts of like
flavour, which are capital eating when roasted."—_John de' Marignolli_,
in _Cathay_, &c., 363.

c. 1440.—"There is a tree commonly found, the trunk of which bears a
fruit resembling a pine-cone, but so big that a man can hardly lift it;
the rind is green and hard, but still yields to the pressure of the
finger. Inside there are some 250 or 300 pippins, as big as figs, very
sweet in taste, and contained in separate membranes. These have each a
kernel within, of a windy quality, of the consistence and taste of
chestnuts, and which are roasted like chestnuts. And when cast among
embers (to roast), unless you make a cut in them they will explode and
jump out. The outer rind of the fruit is given to cattle. Sometimes the
fruit is also found growing from the roots of the tree underground, and
these fruits excel the others in flavour, wherefore they are sent as
presents to kings and petty princes. These (moreover) have no kernels
inside them. The tree itself resembles a large fig-tree, and the leaves
are cut into fingers like the hand. The wood resembles box, and so it is
esteemed for many uses. The name of the tree is CACHI" (_i.e._ _Çachi_ or
TZACCHI).—_Nicolo de' Conti._

The description of the leaves ... "_foliis da modum palmi intercisis_"—is
the only slip in this admirable description. Conti must, in memory, have
confounded the Jack with its congener the bread-fruit (_Artocarpus
incisa_ or _incisifolia_). We have translated from Poggio's Latin, as the
version by Mr. Winter Jones in _India in the XVth Century_ is far from
accurate.

1530.—"Another is the _kadhil_. This has a very bad look and flavour
(odour?). It looks like a sheep's stomach stuffed and made into a haggis.
It has a sweet sickly taste. Within it are stones like a filbert.... The
fruit is very adhesive, and on account of this adhesive quality many rub
their mouths with oil before eating them. They grow not only from the
branches and trunk, but from its root. You would say that the tree was
all hung round with haggises!"—_Leyden and Erskine's Baber_, 325. Here
_kadhil_ represents the Hind. name _kaṭhal_. The practice of oiling the
lips on account of the "adhesive quality" (or as modern mortals would
call it, 'stickiness') of the jack, is still usual among natives, and is
the cause of a proverb on premature precautions: _Gāch'h meṅ Kaṭhal,
honṭh meṅ tel!_ "You have oiled your lips while the jack still hangs on
the tree!" We may observe that the call of the Indian cuckoo is in some
of the Gangetic districts rendered by the natives as _Kaṭhal pakkā!
Kaṭhal pakkā!_ _i.e._ "Jack's ripe," the bird appearing at that season.

[1547.—"I consider it right to make over to them in perpetuity ... one
palm grove and an area for planting certain mango trees and JACK trees
(mangueiras e JAQUEIRAS) situate in the village of
Calangute...."—_Archiv. Port. Orient._, fasc. 5, No. 88.]

c. 1590.—"In Sircar Hajypoor there are plenty of the fruits called
_Kathul_ and _Budhul_; some of the first are so large as to be too heavy
for one man to carry."—_Gladwin's Ayeen_, ii. 25. In Blochmann's ed. of
the Persian text he reads _barhal_, [and so in Jarrett's trans. (ii.
152),] which is a Hind. name for the _Artocarpus Lakoocha_ of Roxb.

1563.—"_R._ What fruit is that which is as big as the largest (coco)
nuts?

"_O._ You just now ate the _chestnuts_ from inside of it, and you said
that roasted they were like real chestnuts. Now you shall eat the
envelopes of these....

"_R._ They taste like a melon; but not so good as the better melons.

"_O._ True. And owing to their viscous nature they are ill to digest; or
say rather they are not digested at all, and often issue from the body
quite unchanged. I don't much use them. They are called in Malavar JACAS;
in Canarin and Guzerati _panás_.... The tree is a great and tall one; and
the fruits grow from the wood of the stem, right up to it, and not on the
branches like other fruits."—_Garcia_, f. 111.

[1598.—"A certain fruit that in Malabar is called IACA, in Canara and
Gusurate _Panar_ and _Panasa_, by the Arabians _Panax_, by the Persians
_Fanax_."—_Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. ii. 20.

[c. 1610.—"The JAQUES is a tree of the height of a chestnut."—_Pyrard de
Laval_, Hak. Soc. ii. 366.

[1623.—"We had ZIACCHE, a fruit very rare at this time."—_P. della
Valle_, Hak. Soc. ii. 264.]

1673.—"Without the town (Madras) grows their Rice ... JAWKS, a Coat of
Armour over it, like an Hedg-hog's, guards its weighty Fruit."—_Fryer_,
40.

1810.—"The JACK-wood ... at first yellow, becomes on exposure to the air
of the colour of mahogany, and is of as fine a grain."—_Maria Graham_,
101.

1878.—"The monstrous JACK that in its eccentric bulk contains a whole
magazine of tastes and smells."—_Ph. Robinson, In My Indian Garden_,
49-50.

It will be observed that the older authorities mention two varieties of the fruit by the names of _shakī_ and _barkī_, or modifications of these, different kinds according to Jordanus, only from different parts of the tree according to Ibn Batuta. P. Vincenzo Maria (1672) also distinguishes two kinds, one of which he calls GIACHA _Barca_, the other GIACHA _papa_ or _girasole_. And Rheede, the great authority on Malabar plants, says (iii. 19):

"Of this tree, however, they reckon more than 30 varieties, distinguished
by the quality of their fruit, but all may be reduced to two kinds; the
fruit of one kind distinguished by plump and succulent pulp of delicious
honey flavour, being the _varaka_; that of the other, filled with softer
and more flabby pulp of inferior flavour, being the _Tsjakapa_."

More modern writers seem to have less perception in such matters than the old travellers, who entered more fully and sympathetically into native tastes. Drury says, however, "There are several varieties, but what is called the Honey-jack is by far the sweetest and best."

"He that desireth to see more hereof let him reade Ludovicus Romanus, in his fifth Booke and fifteene Chapter of his Navigaciouns, and Christopherus a Costa in his cap. of IACA, and Gracia ab Horto, in the Second Booke and fourth Chapter," saith the learned Paludanus.... And if there be anybody so unreasonable, so say we too—by all means let him do so! [A part of this article is derived from the notes to Jordanus by one of the present writers. We may also add, in aid of such further investigation, that Paludanus is the Latinised name of v.d. Broecke, the commentator on Linschoten. "Ludovicus Romanus" is our old friend Varthema, and "Gracia ab Horto" is Garcia De Orta.]

JACKAL, s. The _Canis aureus_, L., seldom seen in the daytime, unless it be fighting with the vultures for carrion, but in shrieking multitudes, or rather what seem multitudes from the noise they make, entering the precincts of villages, towns, of Calcutta itself, after dark, and startling the newcomer with their hideous yells. Our word is not apparently Anglo-Indian, being taken from the Turkish _chaḳāl_. But the Pers. _shaghāl_ is close, and Skt. _srigāla_, 'the howler,' is probably the first form. The common Hind. word is _gīdar_, ['the greedy one,' Skt. _gṛidh_]. The jackal takes the place of the fox as the object of hunting 'meets' in India; the indigenous fox being too small for sport.

1554.—"Non procul inde audio magnum clamorem et velut hominum irridentium
insultantiumque voces. Interrogo quid sit; ... narrant mihi ululatum esse
bestiarum, quas Turcae CIACALES vocant...."—_Busbeq. Epist._ i. p. 78.

1615.—"The inhabitants do nightly house their goates and sheepe for feare
of IACCALS (in my opinion no other than Foxes), whereof an infinite
number do lurke in the obscure vaults."—_Sandys, Relation_, &c., 205.

1616.—"... those JACKALLS seem to be wild Doggs, who in great companies
run up and down in the silent night, much disquieting the peace thereof,
by their most hideous noyse."—_Terry_, ed. 1665, p. 371.

1653.—"Le SCHEKAL est vn espèce de chien sauvage, lequel demeure tout le
jour en terre, et sort la nuit criant trois ou quatre fois à certaines
heures."—_De la Boullaye-le-Gouz_, ed. 1657, p. 254.

1672.—"There is yet another kind of beast which they call JACKHALZ; they
are horribly greedy of man's flesh, so the inhabitants beset the graves
of their dead with heavy stones."—_Baldaeus_ (Germ. ed.), 422.

1673.—"An Hellish concert of JACKALS (a kind of Fox)."—_Fryer_, 53.

1681.—"For here are many JACKALLS, which catch their Henes, some _Tigres_
that destroy their Cattle; but the greatest of all is the King; whose
endeavour is to keep them poor and in want."—_Knox, Ceylon_, 87. On p. 20
he writes _Jacols_.

1711.—"JACKCALLS are remarkable for Howling in the Night; one alone
making as much noise as three or four Cur Dogs, and in different Notes,
as if there were half a Dozen of them got together."—_Lockyer_, 382.

1810.—Colebrooke (_Essays_, ii. 109, [_Life_, 155]) spells SHAKAL. But
_Jackal_ was already English.

c. 1816.—

"The JACKAL'S troop, in gather'd cry,
Bayed from afar, complainingly."
_Siege of Corinth_, xxxiii.

1880.—"The mention of JACKAL-hunting in one of the letters (of Lord
Minto) may remind some Anglo-Indians still living, of the days when the
Calcutta hounds used to throw off at gun-fire."—_Sat. Rev._ Feb. 14.

JACK-SNIPE of English sportsmen is _Gallinago gallinula_, Linn., smaller than the common snipe, _G. scolopacinus_, Bonap.

JACKASS COPAL. This is a trade name, and is a capital specimen of _Hobson-Jobson_. It is, according to Sir R. Burton, [_Zanzibar_, i. 357], a corruption of _chakāzi_. There are three qualities of copal in the Zanzibar market. 1. _Sandarusi m'ti_, or 'Tree Copal,' gathered directly from the tree which exudes it (_Trachylobium Mossambicense_). 2. _Chakāzi_ or _chakazzi_, dug from the soil, but seeming of recent origin, and priced on a par with No. 1. 3. The genuine _Sandarusi_, or true Copal (the _Animé_ of the English market), which is also fossil, but of ancient production, and bears more than twice the price of 1 and 2 (see _Sir J. Kirk_ in _J. Linn. Soc._ (Botany) for 1871). Of the meaning of _chakāzi_ we have no authentic information. But considering that a pitch made of copal and oil is used in Kutch, and that the cheaper copal would naturally be used for such a purpose, we may suggest as probable that the word is a corr. of _jahāzi_, and = '_ship_-copal.'

JACQUETE, Town and Cape, n.p. The name, properly JAKAD, formerly attached to a place at the extreme west horn of the Kāthiawāṛ Peninsula, where stands the temple of DWARKA (q.v.). Also applied by the Portuguese to the Gulf of Cutch. (See quotation from Camoens under DIUL-SIND.) The last important map which gives this name, so far as we are aware, is Aaron Arrowsmith's great Map of India, 1816, in which Dwarka appears under the name of JUGGUT.

1525.—(Melequyaz) "holds the revenue of Crystna, which is in a town
called ZAGUETE where there is a place of Pilgrimage of gentoos which is
called _Crysna_...."—_Lembrança das Cousas da India_, 35.

1553.—"From the Diul estuary to the Point of JAQUETE 38 leagues; and from
the same JAQUETE, which is the site of one of the principal temples of
that heathenism, with a noble town, to our city Diu of the Kingdom of
Guzarat, 58 leagues."—_Barros_, I. ix. 1.

1555.—"Whilst the tide was at its greatest height we arrived at the gulf
of CHAKAD, where we descried signs of fine weather, such as sea-horses,
great snakes, turtles, and sea-weeds."—_Sidi 'Ali_, p. 77.

[1563.—"Passed the point of JACQUETTE, where is that famous temple of the
Resbutos (see RAJPOOT)."—_Barros_, IV. iv. 4.]

1726.—In Valentyn's map we find JAQUETE marked as a town (at the west
point of Kāthiawāṛ) and _Enceada da_ JAQUETE for the Gulf of Cutch.

1727.—"The next sea-port town to _Baet_, is JIGAT. It stands on a Point
of low Land, called Cape JIGAT. The City makes a good Figure from the
Sea, showing 4 or 5 high Steeples."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 135; [ed. 1744].

1813.—"JIGAT _Point_ ... on it is a pagoda; the place where it stands was
formerly called JIGAT _More_, but now by the Hindoos _Dorecur_ (_i.e._
DWARKA, q.v.). At a distance the pagoda has very much the appearance of a
ship under sail.... Great numbers of pilgrims from the interior visit
JIGAT pagoda...."—_Milburn_, i. 150.

1841.—"JIGAT _Point_ called also Dwarka, from the large temple of Dwarka
standing near the coast."—_Horsburgh, Directory_, 5th ed., i. 480.

JADE, s. The well-known mineral, so much prized in China, and so wonderfully wrought in that and other Asiatic countries; the _yashm_ of the Persians; _nephrite_ of mineralogists.

The derivation of the word has been the subject of a good deal of controversy. We were at one time inclined to connect it with the _yada-tāsh_, the _yada_ stone used by the nomads of Central Asia in conjuring for rain. The stone so used was however, according to P. Hyakinth, quoted in a note with which we were favoured by the lamented Prof. Anton Schiefner, a BEZOAR (q.v.).

Major Raverty, in his translation of the _Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣirī_, in a passage referring to the regions of Ṭukhāristān and Bāmiān, has the following: "That tract of country has also been famed and celebrated, to the uttermost parts of the countries of the world, for its mines of gold, silver, rubies, and crystal, bejādah [jade], and other [precious] things" (p. 421). On _bejādah_ his note runs: "The name of a gem, by some said to be a species of ruby, and by others a species of sapphire; but JADE is no doubt meant." This interpretation seems however chiefly, if not altogether, suggested by the name; whilst the epithets compounded of _bejāda_, as given in dictionaries, suggest a red mineral, which jade rarely is. And Prof. Max Müller, in an interesting letter to the _Times_, dated Jan. 10, 1880, states that the name _jade_ was not known in Europe till after the discovery of America, and that the jade brought from America was called by the Spaniards _piedra de_ IJADA, because it was supposed to cure pain in the groin (Sp. _ijada_); for like reasons to which it was called _lapis nephriticus_, whence _nephrite_ (see _Bailey_, below). Skeat, s.v. says: "It is of unknown origin; but probably Oriental. Prof. Cowell finds _yedá_ a material out of which ornaments are made, in the _Divyávadána_; but it does not seem to be Sanskrit." Prof. Müller's etymology seems incontrovertible; but the present work has afforded various examples of curious etymological coincidences of this kind. [Prof. Max Müller's etymology is now accepted by the _N.E.D._ and by Prof. Skeat in the new edition of his _Concise Dict._ The latter adds that IJADA is connected with the Latin _ilia_.]

[1595.—"A kinde of greene stones, which the Spaniards call Piedras
HIJADAS, and we vse for spleene stones."—_Raleigh, Discov. Guiana_, 24
(quoted in _N.E.D._).]

1730.—"JADE, a greenish Stone, bordering on the colour of Olive, esteemed
for its Hardness and Virtues by the _Turks_ and _Poles_, who adorn their
fine Sabres with it; and said to be a preservative against the nephritick
Colick."—_Bailey's Eng. Dict._ s.v.

JADOO, s. Hind. from Pers. _jādū_, Skt. _yātu_; conjuring, magic, hocus-pocus.

[1826.—"'Pray, sir,' said the barber, 'is that Sanscrit, or what
language?' 'May be it is JADOO,' I replied, in a solemn and deep
voice."—_Pandurang Hari_, ed. 1873, i. 127.]

JADOOGUR, s. Properly Hind. _jādūghar_, 'conjuring-house' (see the last). The term commonly applied by natives to a Freemasons' Lodge, when there is one, at an English station. On the Bombay side it is also called _Shaitān khāna_ (see Burton's _Sind Revisited_), a name consonant to the ideas of an Italian priest who intimated to one of the present writers that he had heard the raising of the devil was practised at Masonic meetings, and asked his friend's opinion as to the fact. In S. India the Lodge is called _Talai-vĕṭṭa-Kovil_, 'Cut-head Temple,' because part of the rite of initiation is supposed to consist in the candidate's head being cut off and put on again.

JAFNA, JAFNAPATÁM, n.p. The very ancient Tamil settlement, and capital of the Tamil kings on the singular peninsula which forms the northernmost part of Ceylon. The real name is, according to Emerson Tennent, _Yalpannan_, and it is on the whole probable that this name is identical with the _Galiba_ (Prom.) of Ptolemy. [The _Madras Gloss._ gives the Tamil name as _Yāzhppānam_, from _yazh-pānan_, 'a lute-player'; "called after a blind minstrel of that name from the Chola country, who by permission of the Singhalese king obtained possession of Jaffna, then uninhabited, and introduced there a colony of the Tamul people."]

1553.—"... the Kingdom Triquinamalé, which at the upper end of its coast
adjoins another called JAFANAPATAM, which stands at the northern part of
the island."—_Barros_, III. ii. cap. i.

c. 1566.—In Cesare de' Federici it is written GIANIFANPATAN.—_Ramusio_,
iii. 390_v_.

[JAFFRY, s. A screen or lattice-work, made generally of bamboo, used for various purposes, such as a fence, a support for climbing plants, &c. The ordinary Pers. _ja'farī_ is derived from a person of the name of _Ja'far_; but Mr. Platts suggests that in the sense under consideration it may be a corr. of Ar. _ẓafirat_, _ẓafir_, 'a braided lock.'

[1832.—"Of vines, the branches must also be equally spread over the
JAFFRY, so that light and heat may have access to the whole."—_Trans.
Agri. Hort. Soc. Ind._ ii. 202.]

JAGGERY, s. Coarse brown (or almost black) sugar, made from the sap of various palms. The wild date tree (_Phoenix sylvestris_, Roxb.), Hind. _khajūr_, is that which chiefly supplies palm-sugar in Guzerat and Coromandel, and almost alone in Bengal. But the palmyra, the caryota, and the coco-palm all give it; the first as the staple of Tinnevelly and northern Ceylon; the second chiefly in southern Ceylon, where it is known to Europeans as the JAGGERY _Palm_ (_kitūl_ of natives); the third is much drawn for TODDY (q.v.) in the coast districts of Western India, and this is occasionally boiled for sugar. Jaggery is usually made in the form of small round cakes. Great quantities are produced in Tinnevelly, where the cakes used to pass as a kind of currency (as cakes of salt used to pass in parts of Africa, and in Western China), and do even yet to some small extent. In Bombay all rough unrefined sugar-stuff is known by this name; and it is the title under which all kinds of half-prepared sugar is classified in the tariff of the Railways there. The word _jaggery_ is only another form of SUGAR (q.v.), being like it a corr. of the Skt. _śarkarā_, Konkani _sakkarā_, [Malayāl. _chakkarā_, whence it passed into Port. _jagara_, _jagra_].

1516.—"Sugar of palms, which they call XAGARA."—_Barbosa_, 59.

1553.—Exports from the Maldives "also of fish-oil, coco-nuts, and JÁGARA,
which is made from these after the manner of sugar."—_Barros_, Dec. III.
liv. iii. cap. 7.

1561.—"JAGRE, which is sugar of palm-trees."—_Correa, Lendas_, i. 2, 592.

1563.—"And after they have drawn this pot of _çura_, if the tree gives
much they draw another, of which they make sugar, prepared either by sun
or fire, and this they call JAGRA."—_Garcia_, f. 67.

c. 1567.—"There come every yeere from Cochin and from Cananor tenne or
fifteene great Shippes (to Chaul) laden with great nuts ... and with
sugar made of the selfe same nuts called GIAGRA."—_Caesar Frederike_, in
_Hakl._ ii. 344.

1598.—"Of the aforesaid _sura_ they likewise make sugar, which is called
IAGRA; they seeth the water, and set it in the sun, whereof it becometh
sugar, but it is little esteemed, because it is of a browne
colour."—_Linschoten_, 102; [Hak. Soc. ii. 49].

1616.—"Some small quantity of wine, but not common, is made among them;
they call it _Raak_ (see ARRACK), distilled from Sugar, and a spicy rinde
of a tree called JAGRA."—_Terry_, ed. 1665, p. 365.

1727.—"The Produce of the Samorin's Country is ... Cocoa-Nut, and that
tree produceth JAGGERY, a kind of sugar, and Copera (see COPRAH), or the
kernels of the Nut dried."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 306; [ed. 1744, i. 308].

c. 1750-60.—"Arrack, a coarse sort of sugar called JAGREE, and vinegar
are also extracted from it" (coco-palm).—_Grose_, i. 47.

1807.—"The _Tari_ or fermented juice, and the JAGORY or inspissated juice
of the Palmira tree ... are in this country more esteemed than those of
the wild date, which is contrary to the opinion of the Bengalese."—_F.
Buchanan, Mysore_, &c., i. 5.

1860.—"In this state it is sold as JAGGERY in the bazaars, at about three
farthings per pound."—_Tennent's Ceylon_, iii. 524.

JAGHEER, JAGHIRE, s. Pers. _jāgīr_, lit. 'place-holding.' A hereditary assignment of land and of its rent as annuity.

[c. 1590.—"_Farmán-i-zabíts_ are issued for ... appointments to JÁGÍRS,
without military service."—_Āīn_, i. 261.

[1617.—"Hee quittes diuers small JAGGERS to the King."—_Sir T. Roe_, Hak.
Soc. ii. 449.]

c. 1666.—"... Not to speak of what they finger out of the Pay of every
Horseman, and of the number of the Horses; which certainly amounts to
very considerable Pensions, especially if they can obtain good JAH-GHIRS,
that is, good Lands for their Pensions."—_Bernier_, E.T. 66; [ed.
_Constable_, 213].

1673.—"It (Surat) has for its Maintenance the Income of six Villages;
over which the Governor sometimes presides, sometimes not, being in the
JAGGEA, or diocese of another."—_Fryer_, 120.

" "JAGEAH, an Annuity."—_Ibid._ _Index_, vi.

1768.—"I say, Madam, I know nothing of books; and yet I believe upon a
land-carriage fishery, a stamp act, or a JAGHIRE, I can talk my two hours
without feeling the want of them."—Mr. Lofty, in _The Good-Natured Man_,
Act ii.

1778.—"Should it be more agreeable to the parties, Sir Matthew will
settle upon Sir John and his Lady, for their joint lives, a JAGGHIRE.

"_Sir John._—A JAGGHIRE?

"_Thomas._—The term is Indian, and means an annual Income."—_Foote, The
Nabob_, i. 1.

We believe the traditional stage pronunciation in these passages is JAG
HIRE (assonant in both syllables to _Quag Mire_); and this is also the
pronunciation given in some dictionaries.

1778.—"... JAGHIRES, which were always rents arising from lands."—_Orme_,
ed. 1803, ii. 52.

1809.—"He was nominally in possession of a larger JAGHIRE."—_Ld.
Valentia_, i. 401.

A territory adjoining Fort St. George was long known as the JAGHIRE, or
the _Company's_ JAGHIRE, and is often so mentioned in histories of the
18th century. This territory, granted to the Company by the Nabob of
Arcot in 1750 and 1763, nearly answers to the former Collectorate of
Chengalput and present Collectorate of Madras.

[In the following the reference is to the _Jirgah_ or tribal council of the Pathan tribes on the N.W. frontier.

[1900.—"No doubt upon the occasion of Lord Curzon's introduction to the
Waziris and the Mohmunds, he will inform their JAGIRS that he has long
since written a book about them."—_Contemporary Rev._ Aug. p. 282.]

JAGHEERDAR, s. P.—H. _jāgīrdār_, the holder of a JAGHEER.

[1813.—"... in the Mahratta empire the principal JAGHIREDARS, or nobles,
appear in the field...."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. i. 328.]

1826.—"The Resident, many officers, men of rank ... JAGHEERDARS,
Brahmins, and Pundits, were present, assembled round my
father."—_Pandurang Hari_, 389; [ed. 1873, ii. 259].

1883.—"The Sikhs administered the country by means of JAGHEERDARS, and
paid them by their JAGHEERS: the English administered it by highly paid
British officers, at the same time that they endeavoured to lower the
land-tax, and to introduce grand material reforms."—_Bosworth Smith, L.
of Ld. Lawrence_, i. 378.

JAIL-KHANA, s. A hybrid word for 'a gaol,' commonly used in the Bengal Presidency.

JAIN, s. and adj. The non-Brahmanical sect so called; believed to represent the earliest heretics of Buddhism, at present chiefly to be found in the Bombay Presidency. There are a few in Mysore, Canara, and in some parts of the Madras Presidency, but in the Middle Ages they appear to have been numerous on the coast of the Peninsula generally. They are also found in various parts of Central and Northern India and Behar. The Jains are generally merchants, and some have been men of enormous wealth (see _Colebrooke's Essays_, i. 378 _seqq._; [Lassen, in _Ind. Antiq._ ii. 193 _seqq._, 258 _seqq._]). The name is Skt. JAINA, meaning a follower of JINA. The latter word is a title applied to certain saints worshipped by the sect in the place of gods; it is also a name of the Buddhas. An older name for the followers of the sect appears to have been _Nirgrantha_, 'without bond,' properly the title of Jain _ascetics_ only (otherwise _Yatis_), [and in particular of the _Digambara_ or 'sky-clad,' naked branch]. (_Burnell, S. Indian Palaeography_, p. 47, note.)

[c. 1590.—"JAINA. The founder of this wonderful system was Jina, also
called Arhat, or Arhant."—_Āīn_, ed. _Jarrett_, iii. 188.]

JALEEBOTE, s. _Jālībōt_. A marine corruption of _jolly-boat_ (_Roebuck_). (See GALLEVAT.)

JAM, s. _Jām_.

A. A title borne by certain chiefs in Kutch, in Kāthiāwāṛ, and on the lower Indus. The derivation is very obscure (see _Elliot_, i. 495). The title is probably Bilūch originally. There are several JĀMS in Lower Sind and its borders, and notably the _Jām_ of Las Bela State, a well-known dependency of Kelat, bordering the sea. [Mr. Longworth Dames writes: "I do not think the word is of Balochi origin, although it is certainly made use of in the Balochi language. It is rather Sindhi, in the broad sense of the word, using Sindhi as the natives do, referring to the tribes of the Indus valley without regard to the modern boundaries of the province of Sindh. As far as I know, it is used as a title, not by Baloches, but by indigenous tribes of Rājput or Jat origin, now, of course, all Musulmans. The Jām of Las Bela belongs to a tribe of this nature known as the Jāmhat. In the Dera Ghāzī Khān District it is used by certain local notables of this class, none of them Baloches. The principal tribe there using it is the Udhāna. It is also an honorific title among the Mochis of Dera Ghāzī Khān town."]

[c. 1590.—"On the Gujarat side towards the south is a Zamíndár of note
whom they call JÁM...."—_Āīn_, ed. _Jarrett_, ii. 250.

[1843.—See under DAWK.]

B. A nautical measure, Ar. _zām_, pl. _azwām_. It occurs in the form GEME in a quotation of 1614 under JASK. It is repeatedly used in the _Mohit_ of Sidi 'Ali, published in the _J. As. Soc. Bengal_. It would appear from J. Prinsep's remarks there that the word is used in various ways. Thus Baron J. Hammer writes to Prinsep: "Concerning the measure of _azwām_ the first section of the IIId. chapter explains as follows: 'The _zām_ is either the practical one (_'arfī_), or the rhetorical (_iṣṭilāḥī_—but this the acute Prinsep suggests should be _aṣṭarlābī_, 'pertaining to the divisions of the astrolabe'). The _practical_ is one of the 8 parts into which day and night are divided; the rhetorical (but read the _astrolabic_) is the 8th part of an inch (_iṣāba_) in the ascension and descension of the stars; ...' an explanation which helps me not a bit to understand the true measure of a _zām_, in the reckoning of a ship's course." Prinsep then elucidates this: The _zām_ in practical parlance is said to be the 8th part of day and night; it is in fact a nautical _watch_ or Hindu _pahar_ (see PUHUR). Again, it is the 8th part of the ordinary inch, like the _jau_ or barleycorn of the Hindus (the 8th part of an _angul_ or digit), of which _jau_, _zām_ is possibly a corruption. Again, the _iṣāba_ or inch, and the _zām_ or ⅛ of an inch, had been transferred to the rude angle-instruments of the Arab navigators; and Prinsep deduces from statements in Sidi 'Ali's book that the _iṣāba_ was very nearly equal to 96′ and the _zām_ to 12′. Prinsep had also found on enquiry among Arab mariners, that the term ZĀM was still well known to nautical people as 1/5 of a geographical degree, or 12 nautical miles, quite confirmatory of the former calculation; it was also stated to be still applied to terrestrial measurements (see _J.A.S.B._ v. 642-3).

1013.—"J'ai déjà parlé de Sérira (read _Sarbaza_) qui est située à
l'extremité de l'île de Lâmeri, à cent-vingt ZÂMÂ de
Kala."—_Ajāīb-al-Hind_, ed. _Van der Lith et Marcel Devic_, 176.

" "Un marin m'a rapporté qu'il avait fait la traversée de Sérira
(_Sarbaza_) à la Chine dans un _Sambouq_ (see SAMBOOK). 'Nous avions
parcouru,' dit-il, 'un espace de cinquante ZÂMÂ, lorsqu'une tempête
fondit sur notre embarcation.... Ayant fait de l'eau, nous remîmes à la
voile vers le Senf, suivant ses instructions, et nous y abordâmes sains
et saufs, après un voyage de quinze ZÂMÂ."—_Ibid._ pp. 190-91.

1554.—"26th VOYAGE _from Calicut_ to _Kardafun_" (see GUARDAFUI).

"... you run from _Calicut_ to _Kolfaini_ (_i.e._ Kalpeni, one of the
Laccadive Ids.) two ZĀMS in the direction of W. by S., the 8 or 9 ZĀMS
W.S.W. (this course is in the 9 degree channel through the Laccadives),
then you may rejoice as you have got clear of the islands of _Fúl_, from
thence W. by N. and W.N.W. till the pole is 4 inches and a quarter, and
then true west to _Kardafún_."

* * * * *

"27th VOYAGE, _from Diú to Malacca_.

"Leaving Diú you go first S.S.E. till the pole is 5 inches, and side then
towards the land, till the distance between it and the ship is six ZĀMS;
from thence you steer S.S.E. ... you must not side all at once but by
degrees, first till the _farkadain_ (β and γ in the Little Bear) are made
by a quarter less than 8 inches, from thence to S.E. till the _farkadain_
are 7¼ inches, from thence true east at a rate of 18 ZĀMS, then you have
passed Ceylon."—_The Mohit_, in _J.A.S.B._ v. 465.

The meaning of this last _routier_ is: "Steer S.S.E. till you are in 8°
N. Lat. (lat. of Cape Comorin); make then a little more easting, but keep
72 miles between you and the coast of Ceylon till you find the β and γ of
Ursa Minor have an altitude of only 12° 24′ (_i.e._ till you are in N.
Lat. 6° or 5°), and then steer due east. When you have gone 216 miles you
will be quite clear of Ceylon."

1625.—"We cast anchor under the island of Kharg, which is distant from
Cais, which we left behind us, 24 GIAM. GIAM is a measure used by the
Arab and Persian pilots in the Persian Gulf; and every GIAM is equal to 3
leagues; insomuch that from Cais to Kharg we had made 72 leagues."—_P.
della Valle_, ii. 816.

JAMBOO, JUMBOO, s. The Rose-apple, _Eugenia jambos_, L. _Jambosa vulgaris_, Decand.; Skt. _jambū_, Hind. _jam_, _jambū_, _jamrūl_, &c. This is the use in Bengal, but there is great confusion in application, both colloquially and in books. The name _jambū_ is applied in some parts of India to the exotic GUAVA (q.v.), as well as to other species of _Eugenia_; including the _jāmun_ (see JAMOON), with which the rose-apple is often confounded in books. They are very different fruits, though they have both been classed by Linnaeus under the genus _Eugenia_ (see further remarks under JAMOON). [Mr. Skeat notes that the word is applied by the Malays both to the rose-apple and the guava, and Wilkinson (_Dict._ s.v.) notes a large number of fruits to which the name _jambū_ is applied.]

Garcia de Orta mentions the rose-apple under the name IAMBOS, and says (1563) that it had been recently introduced into Goa from Malacca. This may have been the _Eugenia Malaccensis_, L., which is stated in Forbes Watson's Catalogue of nomenclature to be called in Bengal _Malāka Jamrūī_, and in Tamil _Malākā maram_ _i.e._ 'Malacca tree.' The Skt. name _jambū_ is, in the Malay language, applied with distinguishing adjectives to all the species.

[1598.—"The trees whereon the IAMBOS do grow are as great as
Plumtrees."—_Linschoten_, Hak. Soc. ii. 31.]

1672.—P. Vincenzo Maria describes the GIAMBO D'INDIA with great
precision, and also the GIAMBO DI CHINA—no doubt _J. malaccensis_—but at
too great length for extract, pp. 351-352.

1673.—"In the South a Wood of JAMBOES, Mangoes, Cocoes."—_Fryer_, 46.

1727.—"Their JAMBO _Malacca_ (at Goa) is very beautiful and
pleasant."—_A. Hamilton_, i. 255; [ed. 1744, i. 258].

1810.—"The JUMBOO, a species of rose-apple, with its flower like crimson
tassels covering every part of the stem."—_Maria Graham_, 22.

JAMES AND MARY, n.p. The name of a famous sand-bank in the Hoogly R. below Calcutta, which has been fatal to many a ship. It is mentioned under 1748, in the record of a survey of the river quoted in _Long_, p. 10. It is a common allegation that the name is a corruption of the Hind. words _jal mari_, with the supposed meaning of 'dead water.' But the real origin of the name dates, as Sir G. Birdwood has shown, out of India Office records, from the wreck of a vessel called the "_Royal James and Mary_," in September 1694, on that sand-bank (_Letter to the Court, from Chuttanuttee_, Dec. 19, 1694). [_Report on Old Records_, 90.] This shoal appears by name in a chart belonging to the _English Pilot_, 1711.

JAMMA, s. P.—H. _jāma_, a piece of native clothing. Thus, in composition, see PYJAMMAS. Also stuff for clothing, &c., _e.g._ _mom_-JAMA, wax-cloth. ["The JAMA may have been brought by the Aryans from Central Asia, but as it is still now seen it is thoroughly Indian and of ancient date."—_Rajendralala Mitra, Indo-Aryans_, i. 187 _seq._

[1813.—"The better sort (of Hindus) wear ... a JAMA, or long gown of
white calico, which is tied round the middle with a fringed or
embroidered sash."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed. i. 52].

JAMOON, s. Hind. _jāmun_, _jāman_, _jāmlī_, &c. The name of a poor fruit common in many parts of India, and apparently in E. Africa, the _Eugenia jambolana_, Lamk. (_Calyptranthes jambolana_ of Willdenow, _Syzygium jambolanum_ of Decand.) This seems to be confounded with the _Eugenia jambos_, or Rose-apple (see JAMBOO, above), by the author of a note on Leyden's _Baber_ which Mr. Erskine justly corrects (Baber's own account is very accurate), by the translators of Ibn Batuta, and apparently, as regards the botanical name, by Sir R. Burton. The latter gives _jamli_ as the Indian, and _zam_ as the Arabic name. The name _jambū_ appears to be applied to this fruit at Bombay, which of course promotes the confusion spoken of. In native practice the stones of this fruit have been alleged to be a cure for diabetes, but European trials do not seem to have confirmed this.

c. 13**.—"The inhabitants (of Mombasa) gather also a fruit which they
call JAMŪN, and which resembles an olive; it has a stone like the olive,
but has a very sweet taste."—_Ibn Batuta_, ii. 191. Elsewhere the
translators write _tchoumoûn_ (iii. 128, iv. 114, 229), a spelling
indicated in the original, but surely by some error.

c. 1530.—"Another is the JAMAN.... It is on the whole a fine looking
tree. Its fruit resembles the black grape, but has a more acid taste, and
is not very good."—_Baber_, 325. The note on this runs: "This, Dr. Hunter
says, is the _Eugenia Jambolana_, the rose-apple (_Eugenia jambolana_,
but not the rose-apple, which is now called _Eugenia jambu_.—D.W.). The
_jâman_ has no resemblance to the rose-apple; it is more like an oblong
sloe than anything else, but grows on a tall tree."

1563.—"I will eat of those olives,——, at least they look like such; but
they are very astringent (_ponticas_) as if binding,——, and yet they do
look like ripe Cordova olives.

"_O._ They are called JAMBOLONES, and grow wild in a wood that looks like
a myrtle grove; in its leaves the tree resembles the arbutus; but like
the jack, the people of the country don't hold this fruit for very
wholesome."—_Garcia_, f. 111_y_.

1859.—"The Indian JAMLI.... It is a noble tree, which adorns some of the
coast villages and plantations, and it produces a damson-like fruit, with
a pleasant sub-acid flavour."—_Burton_, in _J.R.G.S._ ix. 36.

JANCADA, s. This name was given to certain responsible guides in the Nair country who escorted travellers from one inhabited place to another, guaranteeing their security with their own lives, like the Bhāts of Guzerat. The word is Malayāl. _chaṅṅāḍam_ (_i.e._ _changngāḍam_, [the _Madras Gloss._ writes _channātam_, and derives it from Skt. _sanghāta_, 'union']), with the same spelling as that of the word given as the origin of JANGAR or JANGADA, 'a raft.' These _jancadas_ or _jangadas_ seem also to have been placed in other confidential and dangerous charges. Thus:

1543.—"This man who so resolutely died was one of the JANGADAS of the
Pagode. They are called JANGADES because the kings and lords of those
lands, according to a custom of theirs, send as guardians of the houses
of the Pagodes in their territories, two men as captains, who are men of
honour and good cavaliers. Such guardians are called JANGADAS, and have
soldiers of guard under them, and are as it were the Counsellors and
Ministers of the affairs of the pagodes, and they receive their
maintenance from the establishment and its revenues. And sometimes the
king changes them and appoints others."—_Correa_, iv. 328.

c. 1610.—"I travelled with another Captain ... who had with him these
JANGAI, who are the Nair guides, and who are found at the gates of towns
to act as escort to those who require them.... Every one takes them, the
weak for safety and protection, those who are stronger, and travel in
great companies and well armed, take them only as witnesses that they are
not aggressors in case of any dispute with the Nairs."—_Pyrard de Laval_,
ch. xxv.; [Hak. Soc. i. 339, and see Mr. Gray's note _in loco_].

1672.—"The safest of all journeyings in India are those through the
Kingdom of the Nairs and the Samorin, if you travel with GIANCADAS, the
most perilous if you go alone. These GIANCADAS are certain heathen men,
who venture their own life and the lives of their kinsfolk for small
remuneration, to guarantee the safety of travellers."—_P. Vincenzo
Maria_, 127.

See also _Chungathum_, in _Burton's Goa_, p. 198.

JANGAR, s. A raft. Port. _jangada_. ["A double platform canoe made by placing a floor of boards across two boats, with a bamboo railing." (_Madras Gloss._).] This word, chiefly colloquial, is the Tamil-Malayāl. _shangāḍam_, _channātam_ (for the derivation of which see JANCADA). It is a word of particular interest as being one of the few Dravidian words, [but perhaps ultimately of Skt. origin], preserved in the remains of classical antiquity, occurring in the _Periplus_ as our quotation shows. Bluteau does not call the word an Indian term.

c. 80-90.—"The vessels belonging to these places (_Camara_, _Poducē_, and
_Sopatma_ on the east coast) which hug the shore to Limyricē
(_Dimyricē_), and others also called Σάγγαρα, which consist of the
largest canoes of single timbers lashed together; and again those biggest
of all which sail to Chryse and Ganges, and are called
Κολανδίοφωντα."—_Periplus_, in _Müller's Geog. Gr. Min._, i. "The first
part of this name for boats or ships is most probably the Tam. _kul̤inda_
= hollowed: the last _ōḍam_ = boat."—_Burnell, S.I. Palaeography_, 612.

c. 1504.—"He held in readiness many JANGADAS of timber."—_Correa,
Lendas_, I. i. 476.

c. 1540.—"... and to that purpose had already commanded two great Rafts
(JÃGADAS), covered with dry wood, barrels of pitch and other combustible
stuff, to be placed at the entering into the Port."—_Pinto_ (orig. cap.
xlvi.), in _Cogan_, p. 56.

1553.—"... the fleet ... which might consist of more than 200 rowing
vessels of all kinds, a great part of them combined into JANGADAS in
order to carry a greater mass of men, and among them two of these
contrivances on which were 150 men."—_Barros_, II. i. 5.

1598.—"Such as stayed in the ship, some tooke bords, deals, and other
peeces of wood, and bound them together (which y^e Portingals cal
IANGADAS) every man what they could catch, all hoping to save their
lives, but of all those there came but two men safe to
shore."—_Linschoten_, p. 147; [Hak. Soc. ii. 181; and see Mr. Gray on
_Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 53 _seq._].

1602.—"For his object was to see if he could rescue them in JANGADAS,
which he ordered him immediately to put together of baulks, planks, and
oars."—_Couto_, Dec. IV. liv. iv. cap. 10.

1756.—"... having set fire to a JUNGODO of Boats, these driving down
towards the Fleet, compelled them to weigh."—_Capt. Jackson_, in
_Dalrymple's Or. Rep._ i. 199.

c. 1790.—"SANGARIE." See quotation under HACKERY.

c. 1793.—"Nous nous remîmes en chemin à six heures du matin, et passâmes
la rivière dans un SANGARIE ou canot fait d'un palmier
creusé."—_Haafner_, ii. 77.

JANGOMAY, ZANGOMAY, JAMAHEY, &c., n.p. The town and state of Siamese Laos, called by the Burmese _Zimmé_, by the Siamese _Xiengmai_ or _Kiang-mai_, &c., is so called in narratives of the 17th century. Serious efforts to establish trade with this place were made by the E.I. Company in the early part of the 17th century, of which notice will be found in Purchas, _Pilgrimage_, and Sainsbury, _e.g._ in vol. i. (1614), pp. 311, 325; (1615) p. 425; (1617) ii. p. 90. The place has again become the scene of commercial and political interest; an English Vice-Consulate has been established; and a railway survey undertaken. [See _Hallett, A Thousand Miles on an Elephant_, 74 _seqq._]

c. 1544.—"Out of this Lake of _Singapamor_ ... do four very large and
deep rivers proceed, whereof the first ... runneth Eastward through all
the Kingdoms of _Sornau_ and _Siam_ ...; the Second, JANGUMAA ...
disimboking into the Sea by the Bar of _Martabano_ in the Kingdom of
_Pegu_...."—_Pinto_ (in _Cogan_, 165).

1553.—(Barros illustrates the position of the different kingdoms of India
by the figure of a (left) hand, laid with the palm downwards) "And as
regards the western part, following always the sinew of the forefinger,
it will correspond with the ranges of mountains running from north to
south along which lie the kingdom of Avá, and Bremá, and JANGOMÁ."—III.
ii. 5.

c. 1587.—"I went from _Pegu_ to IAMAYHEY, which is in the Countrey of the
_Langeiannes_, whom we call IANGOMES; it is five and twentie dayes
iourney to Northeast from Pegu.... Hither to IAMAYHEY come many Merchants
out of _China_, and bring great store of Muske, Gold, Silver, and many
things of _China_ worke."—_R. Fitch_, in _Hakl._ ii.

c. 1606.—"But the people, or most part of them, fled to the territories
of the King of JANGOMA, where they were met by the Padre Friar Francisco,
of the Annunciation, who was there negotiating ..."—_Bocarro_, 136.

1612.—"The Siamese go out with their heads shaven, and leave long
mustachioes on their faces; their garb is much like that of the Peguans.
The same may be said of the JANGOMAS and the Laojoes" (see LAN
JOHN).—_Couto_, V. vi. 1.

c. 1615.—"The King (of Pegu) which now reigneth ... hath in his time
recovered from the King of _Syam_ ... the town and kingdom of ZANGOMAY,
and therein an Englishman called _Thomas Samuel_, who not long before had
been sent from _Syam_ by Master _Lucas Anthonison_, to discover the Trade
of that country by the sale of certaine goods sent along with him for
that purpose."—_W. Methold_, in _Purchas_, v. 1006.

[1617.—"JANGAMA." See under JUDEA.

[1795.—"ZEMEE." See under SHAN.]

JAPAN, n.p. Mr. Giles says: "Our word is from _Jeh-pun_, the Dutch orthography of the Japanese _Ni-pon_." What the Dutch have to do with the matter is hard to see. ["Our word '_Japan_' and the Japanese _Nihon_ or _Nippon_, are alike corruptions of _Jih-pen_, the Chinese pronunciation of the characters (meaning) literally 'sun-origin.'" (_Chamberlain, Things Japanese_, 3rd ed. 221).] A form closely resembling _Japán_, as we pronounce it, must have prevailed, among foreigners at least, in China as early as the 13th century; for Marco Polo calls it _Chipan_-gu or _Jipan_-ku, a name representing the Chinese _Zhi-păn-Kwe_ ('Sun-origin-Kingdom'), the Kingdom of the Sunrise or Extreme Orient, of which the word _Nipon_ or _Niphon_, used in Japan, is said to be a dialectic variation. But as there was a distinct gap in Western tradition between the 14th century and the 16th, no doubt we, or rather the Portuguese, acquired the name from the traders at Malacca, in the Malay forms, which Crawfurd gives as _Jăpung_ and _Jăpang_.

1298.—"CHIPANGU is an Island towards the east in the high seas, 1,500
miles distant from the Continent; and a very great Island it is. The
people are white, civilized, and well-favoured. They are Idolaters, and
dependent on nobody...."—_Marco Polo_, bk. iii. ch. 2.

1505.—"... and not far off they took a ship belonging to the King of
Calichut; out of which they have brought me certain jewels of good value;
including Mccccc. pearls worth 8,000 ducats; also three astrological
instruments of silver, such as are not used by our astrologers, large and
well-wrought, which I hold in the highest estimation. They say that the
King of Calichut had sent the said ship to an island called SAPONIN to
obtain the said instruments...."—_Letter from the K. of Portugal_ (Dom
Manuel) _to the K. of Castille_ (Ferdinand). Reprint by _A. Burnell_,
1881, p. 8.

1521.—"In going by this course we passed near two very rich islands; one
is in twenty degrees latitude in the antarctic pole, and is called
CIPANGHU."—_Pigafetta, Magellan's Voyage_, Hak. Soc., 67. Here the name
appears to be taken from the chart or Mappe-Monde which was carried on
the voyage. CIPANGHU appears by that name on the globe of Martin Behaim
(1492), but 20 degrees _north_, not south, of the equator.

1545.—"Now as for us three _Portugals_, having nothing to sell, we
employed our time either in fishing, hunting, or seeing the Temples of
these _Gentiles_, which were very sumptuous and rich, whereinto the
_Bonzes_, who are their priests, received us very courteously, for indeed
it is the custom of those of JAPPON (_do Japão_) to be exceeding kind and
courteous."—_Pinto_ (orig. cap. cxxxiv.), in _Cogan_, E.T. p. 173.

1553.—"After leaving to the eastward the isles of the Lequios (see LEW
CHEW) and of the JAPONS (_dos Japões_), and the great province of Meaco,
which for its great size we know not whether to call it Island or
Continent, the coast of China still runs on, and those parts pass beyond
the antipodes of the meridian of Lisbon."—_Barros_, I. ix. 1.

1572.—

"Esta meia escondida, que responde
De longe a China, donde vem buscar-se,
He JAPÃO, onde nasce la prata fina,
Que illustrada será co' a Lei divina."
_Camões_, x. 131.

By Burton:

"This Realm, half-shadowed, China's empery
afar reflecting, whither ships are bound,
is the JAPAN, whose virgin silver mine
shall shine still sheenier with the Law Divine."

1727.—"JAPON, with the neighbouring Islands under its Dominions, is about
the magnitude of Great Britain."—_A. Hamilton_, ii. 306; [ed. 1744, ii.
305].

JARGON, JARCOON, ZIRCON, s. The name of a precious stone often mentioned by writers of the 16th century, but respecting the identity of which there seems to be a little obscurity. The _English Encyclopaedia_, and the _Times_ Reviewer of Emanuel's book _On Precious Stones_ (1866), identify it with the hyacinth or jacinth; but Lord Stanley of Alderley, in his translation of Barbosa (who mentions the stone several times under the form _giagonza_ and _jagonza_), on the authority of a practical jeweller identifies it with corundum. This is probably an error. _Jagonza_ looks like a corruption of _jacinthus_. And Haüy's _Mineralogy_ identifies _jargon_ and _hyacinth_ under the common name of _zircon_. Dana's _Mineralogy_ states that the term _hyacinth_ is applied to these stones, consisting of a _silicate of zirconia_, "which present bright colours, considerable transparency, and smooth shining surfaces.... The variety from Ceylon, which is colourless, and has a smoky tinge, and is therefore sold for inferior diamonds, is sometimes called _jargon_" (_Syst. of Mineral._, 3rd ed., 1850, 379-380; [_Encycl. Britt._ 9th ed. xxiv. 789 _seq._]).

The word probably comes into European languages through the Span. _azarcon_, a word of which there is a curious history in _Dozy and Engelmann_. Two Spanish words and their distinct Arabic originals have been confounded in the _Span. Dict._ of Cobarruvias (1611) and others following him. Sp. _zarca_ is 'a woman with _blue_ eyes,' and this comes from Ar. _zarḳā_, fem. of _azraḳ_, 'blue.' This has led the lexicographers above referred to astray, and _azarcon_ has been by them defined as a 'blue earth, made of burnt lead.' But _azarcon_ really applies to 'red-lead,' or vermilion, as does the Port. _zarcão_, _azarcão_, and its proper sense is as the _Dict. of the Sp. Academy_ says (after repeating the inconsistent explanation and etymology of Cobarruvias), "an intense orange-colour, Lat. _color aureus_." This is from the Ar. _zarḳūn_, which in Ibn Baithar is explained as synonymous with _salīḳūn_, and _asranj_, "which the Greeks call _sandix_," _i.e._ cinnabar or vermilion (see Sontheimer's _Ebn Beithar_, i. 44, 530). And the word, as Dozy shows, occurs in Pliny under the form _syricum_ (see quotations below). The eventual etymology is almost certainly Persian, either _zargūn_, 'gold colour,' as Marcel Devic suggests, or _āzargūn_ (perhaps more properly _āẓargūn_, from _āẓar_, 'fire'), 'flame-colour,' as Dozy thinks.

A.D. c. 70.—"Hoc ergo adulteratur minium in officinis sociorum, et ubivis
SYRICO. Quonam modo SYRICUM fiat suo loco docebimus, sublini autem SYRICO
minium conpendi ratio demonstrat."—_Plin. N. H._ XXXIII. vii.

" "Inter facticios est et SYRICUM, quo minium sublini diximus. Fit
autem Sinopide et sandyce mixtis."—_Ibid._ XXXV. vi.

1796.—"The artists of Ceylon prepare rings and heads of canes, which
contain a complete assortment of all the precious stones found in that
island. These assemblages are called JARGONS _de Ceilan_, and are so
called because they consist of a collection of gems which reflect various
colours."—_Fra Paolino_, Eng. ed. 1800, 393. (This is a very loose
translation. Fra Paolino evidently thought _Jargon_ was a figurative name
applied to this mixture of stones, as it is to a mixture of languages).

1813.—"The colour of JARGONS is grey, with tinges of green, blue, red,
and yellow."—_I. Mawe, A Treatise on Diamonds_, &c. 119.

1860.—"The 'Matura Diamonds,' which are largely used by the native
jewellers, consist of ZIRCON, found in the syenite, not only uncoloured,
but also of pink and yellow tints, the former passing for
rubies."—_Tennent's Ceylon_, i. 38.

JAROOL, s. The _Lagerstroemia reginae_, Roxb. H.-Beng. _jarūl_, _jāral_. A tree very extensively diffused in the forests of Eastern and Western India and Pegu. It furnishes excellent boat-timber, and is a splendid flowering tree. "An exceeding glorious tree of the Concan jungles, in the month of May robed as in imperial purple, with its terminal panicles of large showy purple flowers. I for the first time introduced it largely into Bombay gardens, and called it _Flos reginae_"—_Sir G. Birdwood, MS._

1850.—"Their forests are frequented by timber-cutters, who fell JAROOL, a
magnificent tree with red wood, which, though soft, is durable under
water, and therefore in universal use for boat building."—_Hooker, Him.
Journals_, ed. 1855, ii. 318.

1855.—"Much of the way from Rangoon also, by the creeks, to the great
river, was through actual dense forest, in which the JAROOL, covered with
purple blossoms, made a noble figure."—_Blackwood's Mag._, May 1856, 538.