Chapter LVI: Preface: TO SECOND EDITION xi (53)

c. 1360.—"He shall in all divisions and districts execute MUCHILKAS to
lay no burden on the subjects by extraordinary imposts, and irregular
exaction of supplies."—Form of the Warrant of a Territorial Governor
under the Mongols, in the above, _App._ p. 468.

1818.—"You were present at the India Board when Lord B—— told me that I
should have 10,000 pagodas per annum, and all my expenses paid.... I
never thought of taking a MUCHALKA from Lord B——, because I certainly
never suspected that my expenses would ... have been restricted to 500
pagodas, a sum which hardly pays my servants and equipage."—_Munro to
Malcolm_, in _Munro's Life_, &c., iii. 257.

MOOCHY, s. One who works in leather, either as shoemaker or saddler. It is the name of a low caste, Hind. _mochī_. The name and caste are also found in S. India, Telug. _muchche_. These, too, are workers in leather, but also are employed in painting, gilding, and upholsterer's work, &c.

[1815.—"Cow-stealing ... is also practised by ... the MOOTSHEE or
Shoemaker cast."—_Tytler, Considerations_, i. 103.]

MOOKTEAR, s. Properly Hind. from Ar. _mukhtār_, 'chosen,' but corruptly _mukhtyār_. An authorised agent; an attorney. _Mukhtyār-nāma_, 'a power of attorney.'

1866.—"I wish he had been under the scaffolding when the roof of that new
Cutcherry he is building fell in, and killed two MOOKHTARS."—_The Dawk
Bungalow_ (by G. O. Trevelyan), in _Fraser's Mag._ lxxiii. p. 218.

1878.—"These were the MOOKHTYARS, or Criminal Court attorneys, teaching
the witnesses what to say in their respective cases, and suggesting
answers to all possible questions, the whole thing having been previously
rehearsed at the MOOKHTYAR'S house."—_Life in the Mofussil_, f. 90.

1885.—"The wily Bengali MUKTEARS, or attorneys, were the bane of the Hill
Tracts, and I never relaxed in my efforts to banish them from the
country."—_Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel_, p. 336.

MOOLLAH, s. Hind. _mullā_, corr. from Ar. _maulā_, a der. from _wilā_, 'propinquity.' This is the legal bond which still connects a former owner with his manumitted slave; and in virtue of this bond the patron and client are both called _maulā_. The idea of patronage is in the other senses; and the word comes to mean eventually 'a learned man, a teacher, a doctor of the Law.' In India it is used in these senses, and for a man who reads the Ḳorān in a house for 40 days after a death. When oaths were administered on the Ḳorān, the servitor who held the book was called _Mullā Ḳorānī_. _Mullā_ is also in India the usual Mussulman term for 'a schoolmaster.'

1616.—"Their MOOLAAS employ much of their time like Scriueners to doe
businesse for others."—_Terry_, in _Purchas_, ii. 1476.

[1617.—"He had shewed it to his MULAIES."—_Sir T. Roe_, Hak. Soc. ii.
417.]

1638.—"While the Body is let down into the grave, the kindred mutter
certain Prayers between their Teeth, and that done all the company
returns to the house of the deceased, where the MOLLAS continue their
Prayers for his Soul, for the space of two or three
days...."—_Mandelslo_, E.T. 63.

1673.—"At funerals, the MULLAHS or Priests make Orations or Sermons,
after a Lesson read out of the _Alchoran_."—_Fryer_, 94.

1680.—"The old MULLA having been discharged for misconduct, another by
name Cozzee (see CAZEE) Mahmud entertained on a salary of 5 Pagodas per
mensem, his duties consisting of the business of writing letters, &c., in
Persian, besides teaching the Persian language to such of the Company's
servants as shall desire to learn it."—_Ft. St. Geo. Consn._ March 11.
_Notes and Exts._ No. iii. p. 12; [also see _Pringle, Diary, Ft. St.
Geo._, 1st ser. ii. 2, with note].

1763.—"The MULLA in Indostan superintends the practice, and punishes the
breach of religious duties."—_Orme_, reprint, i. 26.

1809.—"The British Government have, with their usual liberality,
continued the allowance for the MOOLAHS to read the Koran."—_Ld.
Valentia_, i. 423.

[1842.—See the classical account of the MOOLLAHS of Kabul in
_Elphinstone's Caubul_, ed. 1842, i. 281 _seqq._]

1879.—"... struck down by a fanatical crowd impelled by a fierce
MOOLA."—_Sat. Rev._ No. 1251, p. 484.

MOOLVEE, s. Popular Hind. _mulvī_, Ar. _maulavī_, from same root as _mullā_ (see MOOLLAH). A Judge, Doctor of the Law, &c. It is a usual prefix to the names of learned men and professors of law and literature. (See LAW-OFFICER.)

1784.—

"A Pundit in Bengal or MOLAVEE
May daily see a carcase burn;
But you can't furnish for the soul of ye
A dirge sans ashes and an urn."
_N. B. Halhed_, see _Calc. Review_, xxvi. 79.

MOONAUL, s. Hind. _munāl_ or _monāl_ (it seems to be in no dictionary); [Platts gives "_Munāl_ (dialec.)"]. The _Lopophorus Impeyanus_, most splendid perhaps of all game-birds, rivalling the brilliancy of hue, and the metallic lustre of the humming-birds on the scale of the turkey. "This splendid pheasant is found throughout the whole extent of the Himalayas, from the hills bordering Afghanistan as far east as Sikkim, and probably also to Bootan" (_Jerdon_). "In the autumnal and winter months numbers are generally collected in the same quarter of the forest, though often so widely scattered that each bird appears to be alone" (_Ibid._). Can this last circumstance point to the etymology of the name as connected with Skt. _muni_, 'an eremite'?

It was pointed out in a note on _Marco Polo_ (1st ed. i. 246, 2nd ed. i. 272), that the extract which is given below from Aelian undoubtedly refers to the _Munāl_. We have recently found that this indication had been anticipated by G. Cuvier, in a note on Pliny (tom. vii. p. 409 of ed. Ajasson de Grandsagne, Paris, 1830). It appears from Jerdon that _Monaul_ is popularly applied by Europeans at Darjeeling to the Sikkim horned pheasant _Ceriornis satyra_, otherwise sometimes called 'ARGUS PHEASANT' (q.v.).

c. A.D. 350.—"Cocks too are produced there of a kind bigger than any
others. These have a crest, but instead of being red like the crest of
our cocks, this is variegated like a coronet of flowers. The
tail-feathers moreover are not arched, or bent into a curve (like a
cock's), but flattened out. And this tail they trail after them as a
peacock does, unless when they erect it, and set it up. And the plumage
of these Indian cocks is golden, and dark blue, and of the hue of the
emerald."—_De Nat. Animal._ xvi. 2.

MOON BLINDNESS. This affection of the eyes is commonly believed to be produced by sleeping exposed to the full light of the moon. There is great difference of opinion as to the facts, some quoting experience as incontrovertible, others regarding the thing merely as a vulgar prejudice, without substantial foundation. Some remarks will be found in _Collingwood's Rambles of a Naturalist_, pp. 308-10. The present writer has in the East twice suffered from a peculiar affection of the eyes and face, after being in sleep exposed to a bright moon, but he would hardly have used the term _moon-blindness_.

MOONG, MOONGO, s. Or. 'green-gram'; Hind. _mūng_, [Skt. _mudga_]. A kind of vetch (_Phaseolus Mungo_, L.) in very common use over India; according to Garcia the _mesce_ (_māsh_?) of Avicenna. Garcia also says that it was popularly recommended as a diet for fever in the Deccan; [and is still recommended for this purpose by native physicians (_Watt, Econ. Dict._ vi. pt. i. 191)].

c. 1336.—"The MUNJ again is a kind of _māsh_, but its grains are oblong
and the colour is light green. MUNJ is cooked along with rice, and eaten
with butter. This is what they call _Kichrī_ (see KEDGEREE), and it is
the diet on which one breakfasts daily."—_Ibn Batuta_, iii. 131.

1557.—"The people were obliged to bring hay, and corn, and MUNGO, which
is a certain species of seed that they feed horses with."—_Albuquerque_,
Hak. Soc. ii. 132.

1563.—"_Servant-maid._—That girl that you brought from the Deccan asks me
for MUNGO, and says that in her country they give it them to eat, husked
and boiled. Shall I give it her?

"_Orta._—Give it her since she wishes it; but bread and a boiled chicken
would be better. For she comes from a country where they eat bread, and
not rice."—_Garcia_, f. 145.

[1611.—"... for 25 maunds MOONG, 28 m. 09 p."—_Danvers, Letters_, i.
141.]

MOONGA, MOOGA, s. Beng. _mūgā_. A kind of wild silk, the produce of _Antheraea assama_, collected and manufactured in Assam. ["Its Assamese name is said to be derived from the amber _munga_, 'coral' colour of the silk, and is frequently used to denote silk in general" (_B. C. Allen, Mono. on the Silk Cloths of Assam_, 1899, p. 10).] The quotations in elucidation of this word may claim some peculiar interest. That from Purchas is a modern illustration of the legends which reached the Roman Empire in classic times, of the growth of silk in the Seric jungles ("_velleraque ut foliis depectunt tenuia Seres_"); whilst that from Robert Lindsay may possibly throw light on the statements in the _Periplus_ regarding an overland importation of silk from _Thin_ into Gangetic India.

1626.—"... MOGA which is made of the bark of a certaine tree."—_Purchas,
Pilgrimage_, 1005.

c. 1676.—"The kingdom of _Asem_ is one of the best countries of all
Asia.... There is a sort of Silk that is found under the trees, which is
spun by a Creature like our Silk-worms, but rounder, and which lives all
the year long under the trees. The Silks which are made of this Silk
glist'n very much, but they fret presently."—_Tavernier_, E.T. ii. 187-8;
[ed. _Ball_, ii. 281].

1680.—"The Floretta yarn or MUCKTA examined and priced.... The Agent
informed 'that 'twas called _Arundee_, made neither with cotton nor
silke, but of a kind of Herba spun by a worme that feeds upon the leaves
of a stalke or tree called _Arundee_ which bears a round prickly berry,
of which oyle is made; vast quantitys of this cloth is made in the
country about Goora Ghaut beyond Seripore Mercha; where the wormes are
kept as silke wormes here; twill never come white, but will take any
colour'" &c.—_Ft. St. Geo. Agent on Tour, Consn._, Nov. 19. In _Notes and
Exts._, No. iii. p. 58. _Araṇḍī_ or _reṇḍī_ is the castor-oil plant, and
this must be the _Attacus ricini_, Jones, called in H. _Arrindi_,
_Arrindiaria_ (?) and in Bengali _Eri_, _Eria_, _Erindy_, according to
_Forbes Watson's Nomenclature_, No. 8002, p. 371. [For full details see
_Allen, Mono._ pp. 5, _seqq._].

1763.—"No duties have ever yet been paid on Lacks, MUGGA-_dooties_, and
other goods brought from _Assam_."—In _Van Sittart_, i. 249.

c. 1778.—"... Silks of a coarse quality, called MOONGA dutties, are also
brought from the frontiers of China for the Malay trade."—_Hon. R.
Lindsay_, in _Lives of the Lindsays_, iii. 174.

MOONSHEE, s. Ar. _munshi_, but written in Hind. _munshī_. The verb _insha_, of which the Ar. word is the participle, means 'to educate' a youth, as well as 'to compose' a written document. Hence 'a secretary, a reader, an interpreter, a writer.' It is commonly applied by Europeans specifically to a native teacher of languages, especially of Arabic, Persian, and Urdū, though the application to a native amanuensis in those tongues, and to any respectable, well-educated native gentleman is also common. The word probably became tolerably familiar in Europe through a book of instruction in Persian bearing the name (viz. "_The Persian Moonshee, by F. Gladwyn_," 1st ed. s.a., but published in Calcutta about 1790-1800).

1777.—"MOONSHI. A writer or secretary."—_Halhed, Code_, 17.

1782.-"The young gentlemen exercise themselves in translating ... they
reason and dispute with their MUNCHEES (tutors) in Persian and
Moors...."—_Price's Tracts_, i. 89.

1785.—"Your letter, requiring our authority for engaging in your service
a MÛNSHY, for the purpose of making out passports, and writing letters,
has been received."—_Tippoo's Letters_, 67.

" "A lasting friendship was formed between the pupil and his
MOONSHEE.... The MOONSHEE, who had become wealthy, afforded him yet more
substantial evidence of his recollection, by earnestly requesting him,
when on the point of leaving India, to accept a sum amounting to £1600,
on the plea that the latter (_i.e._ Shore) had saved little."—_Mem. of
Lord Teignmouth_, i. 32-33.

1814.—"They presented me with an address they had just composed in the
Hindoo language, translated into Persian by the Durbar MUNSEE."—_Forbes,
Or. Mem._ iii. 365; [2nd ed. ii. 344].

1817.—"Its authenticity was fully proved by ... and a Persian MOONSHEE
who translated."—_Mill, Hist._ v. 127.

1828.—"... the great MOONSHI of State himself had applied the whole of
his genius to selecting such flowers of language as would not fail to
diffuse joy, when exhibited in those dark and dank regions of the
north."—_Hajji Baba in England_, i. 39.

1867.—"When the Mirza grew up, he fell among English, and ended by
carrying his rupees as a MOONSHEE, or a language-master, to that infidel
people."—_Select Writings of Viscount Strangford_, i. 265.

MOONSIFF, s. Hind. from Ar. _munṣif_, 'one who does justice' (_inṣāf_), a judge. In British India it is the title of a native civil judge of the lowest grade. This office was first established in 1793.

1812.—"... MUNSIFS, or native justices."—_Fifth Report_, p. 32.

[1852.—"'I wonder, Mr. Deputy, if Providence had made you a MOONSIFF,
instead of a Deputy Collector, whether you would have been more lenient
in your strictures upon our system of civil justice?'"—_Raikes, Notes on
the N.W. Provinces_, 155.]

MOOR, MOORMAN, s. (and adj. MOORISH). A Mahommedan; and so from the habitual use of the term (_Mouro_), by the Portuguese in India, particularly a Mahommedan inhabitant of India.

In the Middle Ages, to Europe generally, the Mahommedans were known as the _Saracens_. This is the word always used by Joinville, and by Marco Polo. Ibn Batuta also mentions the fact in a curious passage (ii. 425-6). At a later day, when the fear of the Ottoman had made itself felt in Europe, the word _Turk_ was that which identified itself with the Moslem, and thus we have in the Collect for Good Friday,—"Jews, _Turks_, Infidels, and Heretics." But to the Spaniards and Portuguese, whose contact was with the Musulmans of Mauritania who had passed over and conquered the Peninsula, all Mahommedans were MOORS. So the Mahommedans whom the Portuguese met with on their voyages to India, on what coast soever, were alike styled _Mouros_; and from the Portuguese the use of this term, as synonymous with Mahommedan, passed to Hollanders and Englishmen.

The word then, as used by the Portuguese discoverers, referred to religion, and implied no nationality. It is plain indeed from many passages that the _Moors_ of Calicut and Cochin were in the beginning of the 16th century people of mixt race, just as the MOPLAHS (q.v.) are now. The Arab, or Arabo-African occupants of Mozambique and Melinda, the Sumālis of Magadoxo, the Arabs and Persians of Kalhāt and Ormuz, the Boras of Guzerat, are all MOUROS to the Portuguese writers, though the more intelligent among these are quite conscious of the impropriety of the term. The _Moors_ of the Malabar coast were middlemen, who had adopted a profession of Islam for their own convenience, and in order to minister for their own profit to the constant traffic of merchants from Ormuz and the Arabian ports. Similar influences still affect the boatmen of the same coast, among whom it has become a sort of custom in certain families, that different members should profess respectively Mahommedanism, Hinduism, and Christianity.

The use of the word _Moor_ for Mahommedan died out pretty well among educated Europeans in the Bengal Presidency in the beginning of the last century, or even earlier, but probably held its ground a good deal longer among the British soldiery, whilst the adjective _Moorish_ will be found in our quotations nearly as late as 1840. In Ceylon, the Straits, and the Dutch Colonies, the term _Moorman_ for a Musalman is still in common use. Indeed the word is still employed by the servants of Madras officers in speaking of Mahommedans, or of a certain class of these. MORO is still applied at Manilla to the Musulman Malays.

1498.—"... the MOORS never came to the house when this trading went on,
and we became aware that they wished us ill, insomuch that when any of us
went ashore, in order to annoy us they would spit on the ground, and say
'Portugal, Portugal.'"—_Roteiro de V. da Gama_, p. 75.

" "For you must know, gentlemen, that from the moment you put into
port here (Calecut) you caused disturbance of mind to the MOORS of this
city, who are numerous and very powerful in the country."—_Correa_, Hak.
Soc. 166.

1499.—"We reached a very large island called Sumatra, where pepper grows
in considerable quantities.... The Chief is a MOOR, but speaking a
different language."—_Santo Stefano_, in _India in the XVth Cent._ [7].

1505.—"Adì 28 zugno vene in Venetia insieme co Sier Alvixe de Boni un
sclav MORO el qual portorono i spagnoli da la insula spagniola."—_MS._ in
_Museo Civico_ at Venice. Here the term MOOR is applied to a native of
Hispaniola!

1513.—"Hanc (Malaccam) rex MAURUS gubernabat."—_Emanuelis Regis
Epistola_, f. 1.

1553.—"And for the hatred in which they hold them, and for their
abhorrence of the name of _Frangue_, they call in reproach the Christians
of our parts of the world _Frangues_ (see FIRINGHEE), just as we
improperly call _them_ again _Moors_."—_Barros_, IV. iv. 16.

c. 1560.—"When we lay at Fuquien, we did see certain MOORES, who knew so
little of their secte that they could say nothing else but that Mahomet
was a MOORE, my father was a MOORE, and I am a MOORE."—_Reports of the
Province of China_, done into English by _R. Willes_, in _Hakl._ ii. 557.

1563.—"And as to what you say of Ludovico Vartomano, I have spoken both
here and in Portugal, with people who knew him here in India, and they
told me that he went about here in the garb of a MOOR, and that he came
back among us doing penance for his sins; and that the man never went
further than Calecut and Cochin, nor indeed did we at that time navigate
those seas that we now navigate."—_Garcia_, f. 30.

1569.—"... always whereas I have spoken of Gentiles is to be understood
Idolaters, and whereas I speak of MOORES, I mean Mahomets secte."—_Caesar
Frederike_, in _Hakl._ ii. 359.

1610.—"The King was fled for feare of the King of Makasar, who ... would
force the King to turne MOORE, for he is a Gentile."—_Midleton_, in
_Purchas_, i. 239.

1611.—"Les MORES du pay faisoiẽt courir le bruict, que les notres avoient
esté battus."—_Wytfliet, H. des Indes_, iii. 9.

1648.—"King Jangier (Jehāngīr) used to make use of a reproach: That one
_Portugees_ was better than three MOORS, and one Hollander or Englishman
better than two Portugees."—_Van Twist_, 59.

c. 1665.—"Il y en a de MORES et de Gentils _Raspoutes_ (see RAJPOOT)
parce que je savois qu'ils servent mieux que les MORES qui sont superbes,
et ne veulent pas qu'on se plaigne d'eux, quelque sotise ou quelque
tromperie qu'ils fassent."—_Thevenot_, v. 217.

1673.—"Their Crew were all MOORS (by which Word hereafter must be meant
those of the Mahometan faith) apparell'd all in white."—_Fryer_, p. 24.

" "They are a Shame to our Sailors, who can hardly ever work
without horrid Oaths and hideous Cursing and Imprecations; and these
MOORMEN, on the contrary, never set their Hands to any Labour, but that
they sing a Psalm or Prayer, and conclude at every joint Application of
it, 'Allah, Allah,' invoking the Name of God."—_Ibid._ pp. 55-56.

1685.—"We putt out a peece of a Red Ancient to appear like a MOOR'S
Vessel: not judging it safe to be known to be English; Our nation having
lately gott an ill name by abusing ye Inhabitants of these Islands: but
no boat would come neer us ..." (in the Maldives).—_Hedges, Diary_, March
9; [Hak. Soc. i. 190].

1688.—"LASCARS, who are MOORS of India."—_Dampier_, ii. 57.

1689.—"The place where they went ashore was a Town of the MOORS: Which
name our Seamen give to all the Subjects of the great Mogul, but
especially his _Mahometan_ Subjects; calling the Idolators, Gentous or
_Rashboots_ (see RAJPOOT)."—_Dampier_, i. 507.

1747.—"We had the Misfortune to be reduced to almost inevitable Danger,
for as our Success chiefly depended on the assistance of the MOORS, We
were soon brought to the utmost Extremity by being abandoned by
them."—_Letter from Ft. St. Geo. to the Court_, May 2 (India Office MS.
Records).

1752.—"His successor Mr. Godehue ... even permitted him (Dupleix) to
continue the exhibition of those marks of MOORISH dignity, which both
Murzafa-jing and Sallabad-jing had permitted him to display."—_Orme_, i.
367.

1757.—In Ives, writing in this year, we constantly find the terms MOORMEN
and MOORISH, applied to the forces against which Clive and Watson were
acting on the Hoogly.

1763.—"From these origins, time has formed in India a mighty nation of
near ten millions of Mahomedans, whom Europeans call MOORS."—_Orme_, ed.
1803, i. 24.

1770.—"Before the Europeans doubled the Cape of Good Hope, the MOORS, who
were the only maritime people of India, sailed from Surat and Bengal to
Malacca."—_Raynal_ (tr. 1777), i. 210.

1781.—"Mr. Hicky thinks it a Duty incumbent on him to inform his friends
in particular, and the Public in General, that an attempt was made to
Assassinate him last Thursday Morning between the Hours of One and two
o'Clock, by two armed Europeans aided and assisted by a
MOORMAN...."—_Hicky's Bengal Gazette_, April 7.

1784.—"Lieutenants Speediman and Rutledge ... were bound, circumcised,
and clothed in MOORISH garments."—In _Seton-Karr_, i. 15.

1797.—"Under the head of castes entitled to a favourable term, I believe
you comprehend Brahmans, MOORMEN, merchants, and almost every man who
does not belong to the Sudra or cultivating caste...."—_Minute of Sir T.
Munro_, in _Arbuthnot_, i. 17.

1807.—"The rest of the inhabitants, who are MOORS, and the richer
Gentoos, are dressed in various degrees and fashions."—_Ld. Minto in
India_, p. 17.

1829.—"I told my MOORMAN, as they call the Mussulmans here, just now to
ask the drum-major when the mail for the _Pradwan_ (?) was to be made
up."—_Mem. of Col. Mountain_, 2nd ed. p. 80.

1839.—"As I came out of the gate I met some young MOORISH dandies on
horseback; one of them was evidently a 'crack-rider,' and began to show
off."—_Letters from Madras_, p. 290.

MOORA, s. Sea Hind. _mūrā_, from Port. _amura_, Ital. _mura_; a tack (_Roebuck_).

MOORAH, s. A measure used in the sale of paddy at Bombay and in Guzerat. The true form of this word is doubtful. From Molesworth's _Mahr. Dict._ it would seem that _muḍā_ and _mudī_ are properly cases of rice-straw bound together to contain certain quantities of grain, the former larger and the latter smaller. Hence it would be a vague and varying measure. But there is a land measure of the same name. See _Wilson_, s.v. _Múdi_. [The _Madras Gloss._ gives MOODA, Mal. _mūta_, from _mūtu_, 'to cover,' "a fastening package; especially the packages in a circular form, like a Dutch cheese, fastened with wisps of straw, in which rice is made up in Malabar and Canara." The MOODA is said to be 1 cubic foot and 1,116 cubic inches, and equal to 3 Kulsies (see CULSEY).]

1554.—"(At Baçaim) the _Mura_ of _batee_ (see BATTA) contains 3 candis
(see CANDY), which (_batee_) is rice in the husk, and after it is stript
it amounts to a candy and a half, and something more."—_A. Nunes_, p. 30.

[1611.—"I send your worship by the bearer 10 MORAES of rice."—_Danvers,
Letters_, i. 116.]

1813.—

"Batty Measure.—
* * * * * *
25 parahs make 1 MOORAH.[170]
4 candies " 1 MOORAH."
_Milburn_, 2nd ed. p. 143.

MOORPUNKY, s. Corr. of _Mor-pankhī_, 'peacock-tailed,' or 'peacock-winged'; the name given to certain state pleasure-boats on the Gangetic rivers, now only (if at all) surviving at Murshīdābād. They are a good deal like the Burmese 'war-boats;' see cut in _Mission to Ava_ (Major Phayre's), p. 4. [A similar boat was the _Feelchehra_ (Hind. _fīl-chehra_, 'elephant-faced'). In a letter of 1784 Warren Hastings writes: "I intend to finish my voyage to-morrow in the _feelchehra_" (_Busteed, Echoes_, 3rd ed. 291).]

1767.—"Charges Dewanny, viz.:—

"A few MOORPUNGKEYS and _beauleahs_ (see BOLIAH) for the service of
Mahomed Reza Khan, and on the service at the city some are absolutely
necessary ... 25,000 : 0 : 0."—_Dacca Accounts_, in _Long_, 524.

1780.—"Another boat ... very curiously constructed, the MOOR-PUNKY: these
are very long and narrow, sometimes extending to upwards of 100 feet in
length, and not more than 8 feet in breadth; they are always paddled,
sometimes by 40 men, and are steered by a large paddle from the stern,
which rises in the shape of a peacock, a snake, or some other
animal."—_Hodges_, 40.

[1785.—"... MOOR-PUNKEES, or peacock-boats, which are made as much as
possible to resemble the peacock."—_Diary_, in _Forbes, Or. Mem._ 2nd ed.
ii. 450.]

MOORS, THE, s. The Hindustani language was in the 18th century commonly thus styled. The idiom is a curious old English one for the denomination of a language, of which 'broad Scots' is perhaps a type, and which we find exemplified in 'Malabars' (see MALABAR) for Tamil, whilst we have also met with _Bengals_ for Bengālī, with _Indostans_ for Urdū, and with _Turks_ for Turkish. The term _Moors_ is probably now entirely obsolete, but down to 1830, at least, some old officers of the Royal army and some old Madras civilians would occasionally use the term as synonymous with what the former would also call 'the black language.' [MOORS for Urdū was certainly in use among the old European pensioners at Chunār as late as 1892.]

The following is a transcript of the title-page of Hadley's Grammar, the earliest English Grammar of Hindustani:[171]

"Grammatical Remarks | on the | Practical and Vulgar Dialect | Of the |
Indostan Language | commonly called MOORS | with a Vocabulary | English
and MOORS. The Spelling according to | The Persian Orthography | Wherein
are | References between Words resembling each other in | Sound and
different in Significations | with Literal Translations and Explanations
of the Com- | pounded Words and Circumlocutory Expressions | For the more
easy attaining the Idiom of the Language | The whole calculated for

The Common Practice in Bengal.

"——Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti; si non his utere mecum."

By Capt. GEORGE HADLEY.
London:
Printed for T. Cadell in the Strand.
MDCCLXXII."

Captain Hadley's orthography is on a detestable system. He writes _chookerau, chookeree_, for _chhokrā, chhokrī_ ('boy, girl'); _dolchinney_ for _dāl-chīnī_ ('cinnamon'), &c. His etymological ideas also are loose. Thus he gives shrimps = _chînghra mutchee_, 'fish with legs and claws,' as if the word was from _chang_ (Pers.), 'a hook or claw.' _Bāgḍor_, 'a halter,' or as he writes, _baug-doore_, he derives from _dūr_, 'distance,' instead of _ḍor_, 'a rope.' He has no knowledge of the instrumental case with terminal _ne_, and he does not seem to be aware that _ham_ and _tum_ (_hum_ and _toom_, as he writes) are in reality plurals ('we' and 'you'). The grammar is altogether of a very primitive and tentative character, and far behind that of the R. C. Missionaries, which is referred to s.v. HINDOSTANEE. We have not seen that of Schulz (1745) mentioned under the same.

1752.—"The Centinel was sitting at the top of the gate, singing a MOORISH
song."—_Orme_, ed. 1803, i. 272.

1767.—"In order to transact Business of any kind in this Countrey, you
must at least have a smattering of the Language for few of the
Inhabitants (except in great Towns) speak English. The original Language,
of this Countrey (or at least the earliest we know of) is the Bengala or
Gentoo.... But the politest Language is the MOORS or Mussulmans and
Persian.... The only Language that I know anything of is the Bengala, and
that I do not speak perfectly, for you may remember that I had a very
poor knack at learning Languages."—_MS. Letter of James Rennell_, March
10.

1779.—"_C._ What language did Mr. Francis speak?

_W._ (_Meerum Kitmutgar_). The same as I do, in broken MOORS."—_Trial of_
Grand _v._ Philip Francis, quoted in _Echoes of Old Calcutta_, 226.

1783.—"MOORS, by not being written, bars all close application."—Letter
in _Life of Colebrooke_, 13.

" "The language called 'MOORS' has a written character differing
both from the Sanskrit and Bengalee character, it is called _Nagree_,
which means 'writing.'"—Letter in _Mem. of Ld. Teignmouth_, i. 104.

1784.—

"Wild perroquets first silence broke,
Eager of dangers near to prate;
But they in English never spoke,
And she began her MOORS of late."
_Plassey Plain_, a Ballad by _Sir W. Jones_, in _Works_, ii. 504.

1788.—"_Wants Employment._ A young man who has been some years in Bengal,
used to common accounts, understands _Bengallies_, MOORS,
Portuguese...."—In _Seton-Karr_, i. 286.

1789.—"... sometimes slept half an hour, sometimes not, and then wrote or
talked Persian or MOORS till sunset, when I went to parade."—Letter of
_Sir T. Munro_, i. 76.

1802.—"All business is transacted in a barbarous mixture of MOORS,
Mahratta, and Gentoo."—_Sir T. Munro_, in _Life_, i. 333.

1803.—"Conceive what society there will be when people speak what they
don't think, in MOORS."—_M. Elphinstone_, in _Life_, i. 108.

1804.—"She had a MOORISH woman interpreter, and as I heard her give
orders to her interpreter in the MOORISH language ... I must consider the
conversation of the first authority."—_Wellington_, iii. 290.

" "_The Stranger's Guide to the Hindoostanic, or Grand Popular
Language of India, improperly called_ MOORISH; _by_ J. Borthwick
Gilchrist: _Calcutta_."

MOORUM, s. A word used in Western India for gravel, &c., especially as used in road-metal. The word appears to be Mahratti. Molesworth gives "_murūm_, a fissile kind of stone, probably decayed Trap." [_Murukallu_ is the Tel. name for LATERITE. (Also see CABOOK.)]

[1875.—"There are few places where MORRAM, or decomposed granite, is not
to be found."—_Gribble, Cuddapah_, 247.

[1883.—"Underneath is MORAMBU, a good filtering medium."—_Le Fanu,
Salem_, ii. 43.]

MOOTSUDDY, s. A native accountant. Hind. _mutaṣaddī_ from Ar. _mutaṣaddi_.

1683.—"Cossadass ye Chief Secretary, MUTSUDDIES, and ye Nabobs Chief
Eunuch will be paid all their money beforehand."—_Hedges, Diary_, Jan. 6;
[Hak. Soc. i. 61].

[1762.—"MUTTASUDDIES." See under GOMASTA.]

1785.—"This representation has caused us the utmost surprise. Whenever
the MUTSUDDIES belonging to your department cease to yield you proper
obedience, you must give them a severe flogging."—_Tippoo's Letters_, p.
2.

" "Old age has certainly made havock on your understanding,
otherwise you would have known that the MUTUSUDDIES here are not the
proper persons to determine the market prices there."—_Ibid._ p. 118.

[1809.—"The regular battalions have also been riotous, and confined their
MOOTUSUDEE, the officer who keeps their accounts, and transacts the
public business on the part of the commandant."—_Broughton, Letters_, ed.
1892, p. 135.]

MOPLAH, s. Malayāl. _māppila_. The usual application of this word is to the indigenous Mahommedans of Malabar; but it is also applied to the indigenous (so-called) Syrian Christians of Cochin and Travancore. In Morton's _Life of Leyden_ the word in the latter application is curiously misprinted as _madilla_. The derivation of the word is very obscure. Wilson gives _mā-pilla_, 'mother's son,' "as sprung from the intercourse of foreign colonists, who were persons unknown, with Malabar women." Nelson, as quoted below interprets the word as 'bridegroom' (it should however rather be 'son-in-law').[172] Dr. Badger suggests that it is from the Arabic verb _falaḥa_, and means 'a cultivator' (compare the _fellah_ of Egypt), whilst Mr. C. P. Brown expresses his conviction that it was a Tamil mispronunciation of the Arabic _mu'abbar_, 'from over the water.' No one of these greatly commends itself. [Mr. Logan (_Malabar_, ii. ccviii.) and the _Madras Glossary_ derive it from Mal. _ma_, Skt. _māha_, 'great,' and Mal. _piḷḷa_, 'a child.' Dr. Gundert's view is that _Māpiḷḷa_ was an honorary title given to colonists from the W., perhaps at first only to their representatives.]

1516.—"In all this country of Malabar there are a great quantity of
Moors, who are of the same language and colour as the Gentiles of the
country.... They call these Moors MAPULERS; they carry on nearly all the
trade of the seaports."—_Barbosa_, 146.

1767.—"Ali Raja, the Chief of Cananore, who was a Muhammadan, and of the
tribe called MAPILLA, rejoiced at the success and conquests of a
Muhammadan Chief."—_H. of Hydur_, p. 184.

1782.—"... les MAPLETS reçurent les coutumes et les superstitions des
Gentils, sous l'empire des quels ils vivoient. C'est pour se conformer
aux usages des Malabars, que les enfans des MAPLETS n'héritent point de
leurs pères, mais des frères de leurs mères."—_Sonnerat_, i. 193.

1787.—

"Of MOPLAS fierce your hand has tam'd,
And monsters that your sword has maim'd."
_Life and Letters of J. Ritson_, 1833, i. 114.

1800.—"We are not in the most thriving condition in this country.
Polegars, nairs, and MOPLAS in arms on all sides of us."—_Wellington_, i.
43.

1813.—"At one period the MOPLAHS created great commotion in Travancore,
and towards the end of the 17th century massacred the chief of Anjengo,
and all the English gentlemen belonging to the settlement, when on a
public visit to the Queen of Attinga."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ i. 402; [2nd
ed. i. 259].

1868.—"I may add in concluding my notice that the Kallans alone of all
the castes of Madura call the Mahometans '_māpilleis_' or bridegrooms
(MOPLAHS)."—_Nelson's Madura_, Pt. ii. 55.

MORA, s. Hind. _moṛhā_. A stool (_tabouret_); a footstool. In common colloquial use.

[1795.—"The old man, whose attention had been chiefly attracted by a
Ramnaghur MORAH, of which he was desirous to know the construction, ...
departed."—_Capt. Blunt_, in _Asiat. Res._, vii. 92.

[1843.—"Whilst seated on a round stool, or MONDAH, in the thanna, ... I
entered into conversation with the thannadar...."—_Davidson, Travels in
Upper India_, i. 127.]

MORCHAL, s. A fan, or a fly-whisk, made of peacock's feathers. Hind. _morch'hal_.

1673.—"All the heat of the Day they idle it under some shady Tree, at
night they come in troops, armed with a great Pole, a MIRCHAL or
Peacock's Tail, and a Wallet."—_Fryer_, 95.

1690.—(The heat) "makes us Employ our Peons in Fanning of us with
MURCHALS made of Peacock's Feathers, four or five Foot long, in the time
of our Entertainments, and when we take our Repose."—_Ovington_, 335.

[1826.—"They (Gosseins) are clothed in a ragged mantle, and carry a long
pole, and a MIRCHAL, or peacock's tail."—_Pandurang Hari_, ed. 1873, i.
76.]

MORT-DE-CHIEN, s. A name for cholera, in use, more or less, up to the end of the 18th century, and the former prevalence of which has tended probably to the extraordinary and baseless notion that epidemic cholera never existed in India till the governorship of the Marquis of Hastings. The word in this form is really a corruption of the Portuguese MORDEXIM, shaped by a fanciful French etymology. The Portuguese word again represents the Konkani and Mahratti _moḍachī_, _moḍshī_, or _moḍwashī_, 'cholera,' from a Mahr. verb _moḍnen_, 'to break up, to sink' (as under infirmities, in fact 'to collapse'). The Guzaratī appears to be _moṛchi_ or _moṛachi_.

[1504.—Writing of this year Correa mentions the prevalence of the disease
in the Samorin's army, but he gives it no name. "Besides other illness
there was one almost sudden, which caused such a pain in the belly that a
man hardly survived 8 hours of it."—_Correa_, i. 489.]

1543.—Correa's description is so striking that we give it almost at
length: "This WINTER they had in Goa a mortal distemper which the natives
call MORXY, and attacking persons of every quality, from the smallest
infant at the breast to the old man of fourscore, and also domestic
animals and fowls, so that it affected every living thing, male and
female. And this malady attacked people without any cause that could be
assigned, falling upon sick and sound alike, on the fat and the lean; and
nothing in the world was a safeguard against it. And this malady attacked
the stomach, caused as some experts affirmed by chill; though later it
was maintained that no cause whatever could be discovered. The malady was
so powerful and so evil that it immediately produced the symptoms of
strong poison; _e.g._, vomiting, constant desire for water, with drying
of the stomach; and cramps that contracted the hams and the soles of the
feet, with such pains that the patient seemed dead, with the eyes broken
and the nails of the fingers and toes black and crumpled. And for this
malady our physicians never found any cure; and the patient was carried
off in one day, or at the most in a day and night; insomuch that not ten
in a hundred recovered, and those who did recover were such as were
healed in haste with medicines of little importance known to the natives.
So great was the mortality this season that the bells were tolling all
day ... insomuch that the governor forbade the tolling of the church
bells, not to frighten the people ... and when a man died in the hospital
of this malady of MOREXY the Governor ordered all the experts to come
together and open the body. But they found nothing wrong except that the
paunch was shrunk up like a hen's gizzard, and wrinkled like a piece of
scorched leather...."—_Correa_, iv. 288-289.

1563.—"_Page._—Don Jeronymo sends to beg that you will go and visit his
brother immediately, for though this is not the time of day for visits,
delay would be dangerous, and he will be very thankful that you come at
once.

"_Orta._—What is the matter with the patient, and how long has he been
ill?

"_Page._—He has got MORXI; and he has been ill two hours.

"_Orta._—I will follow you.

"_Ruano._—Is this the disease that kills so quickly, and that few recover
from? Tell me how it is called by our people, and by the natives, and the
symptoms of it, and the treatment you use in it.

"_Orta._—Our name for the disease is _Collerica passio_; and the Indians
call it _morxi_; whence again by corruption we call it MORDEXI.... It is
sharper here than in our own part of the world, for usually it kills in
four and twenty hours. And I have seen some cases where the patient did
not live more than ten hours. The most that it lasts is four days; but as
there is no rule without an exception, I once saw a man with great
constancy of virtue who lived twenty days continually throwing up
("_curginosa_"?) ... bile, and died at last. Let us go and see this sick
man; and as for the symptoms you will yourself see what a thing it
is."—_Garcia_, ff. 74_v_, 75.

1578.—"There is another thing which is useless called by them _canarin_,
which the Canarin Brahman physicians usually employ for the _collerica
passio_ sickness, which they call MORXI; which sickness is so sharp that
it kills in fourteen hours or less."—_Acosta, Tractado_, 27.

1598.—"There reigneth a sicknesse called MORDEXIJN which stealeth uppon
men, and handleth them in such sorte, that it weakeneth a man, and maketh
him cast out all that he hath in his bodie, and many times his life
withall."—_Linschoten_, 67; [Hak. Soc. i. 235; MORXI in ii. 22].

1599.—"The disease which in India is called MORDICIN. This is a species
of Colic, which comes on in those countries with such force and vehemence
that it kills in a few hours; and there is no remedy discovered. It
causes evacuations by stool or vomit, and makes one burst with pain. But
there is a herb proper for the cure, which bears the same name of
MORDESCIN."—_Carletti_, 227.

1602.—"In those islets (off Aracan) they found bad and brackish water,
and certain beans like ours both green and dry, of which they ate some,
and in the same moment this gave them a kind of dysentery, which in India
they corruptly call MORDEXIM, which ought to be _morxis_, and which the
Arabs call _sachaiza_ (Ar. _hayẓat_), which is what Rasis calls _sahida_,
a disease which kills in 24 hours. Its action is immediately to produce a
sunken and slender pulse, with cold sweat, great inward fire, and
excessive thirst, the eyes sunken, great vomitings, and in fact it leaves
the natural power so collapsed (_derribada_) that the patient seems like
a dead man."—_Couto_, Dec. IV. liv. iv. cap. 10.

c. 1610.—"Il regne entre eux vne autre maladie qui vient a l'improviste,
ils la nomment MORDESIN, et vient auec grande douleur des testes, et
vomissement, et crient fort, et le plus souvent en meurent."—_Pyrard de
Laval_, ii. 19; [Hak. Soc. ii. 13].

1631.—"Pulvis ejus (Calumbac) ad scrup. unius pondus sumptus cholerae
prodest, quam MORDEXI incolae vocant."—_Jac. Bontii_, lib. iv. p. 43.

1638.—"... celles qui y regnent le plus, sont celles qu'ils appellent
MORDEXIN, qui tue subitement."—_Mandelslo_, 265.

1648.—See also the (questionable) _Voyages Fameux du Sieur Victor le
Blanc_, 76.

c. 1665.—"Les Portugais appellent MORDECHIN les quatre sortes de Coliques
qu'on souffre dans les Indes ou elles sont frequentes ... ceux qui ont la
quatrième soufrent les trois maux ensemble, à savoir le vomissement, le
flux de ventre, les extremes douleurs, et je crois que cette derniere est
le Colera-Morbus."—_Thevenot_, v. 324.

1673.—"They apply Cauteries most unmercifully in a MORDISHEEN, called so
by the Portugals, being a Vomiting with Looseness."—_Fryer_, 114.

[1674.—"The disease called MORDECHI generally commences with a violent
fever, accompanied by tremblings, horrors and vomitings; these symptoms
are generally followed by delirium and death." He prescribes a hot iron
applied to the soles of the feet. He attributes the disease to
indigestion, and remarks bitterly that at least the prisoners of the
Inquisition were safe from this disease.—_Dellon, Relation de
l'Inquisition de Goa_, ii. ch. 71.]

1690.—"The MORDECHINE is another Disease ... which is a violent Vomiting
and Looseness."—_Ovington_, 350.

c. 1690.—_Rumphius_, speaking of the JACK-fruit (q.v.): "Non nisi vacuo
stomacho edendus est, alias enim ... plerumque oritur _Passio Cholerica_,
Portugallis MORDEXI dicta."—_Herb. Amb._, i. 106.

1702.—"Cette grande indigestion qu'on appelle aux Indes MORDECHIN, et que
quelques uns de nos Français ont appellée MORT-DE-CHIEN."—_Lettres
Edif._, xi. 156.

_Bluteau_ (s.v.) says MORDEXIM is properly a failure of digestion which is very perilous in those parts, unless the native remedy be used. This is to apply a thin rod, like a spit, and heated, under the heel, till the patient screams with pain, and then to slap the same part with the sole of a shoe, &c.

1705.—"Ce mal s'appelle MORT-DE-CHIEN."—_Luillier_, 113.

The following is an example of literal translation, as far as we know, unique:

1716.—"The extraordinary distempers of this country (I. of Bourbon) are
the _Cholick_, and what they call the _Dog's Disease_, which is cured by
burning the heel of the patient with a hot iron."—_Acct. of the I. of
Bourbon_, in _La Roque's Voyage to Arabia the Happy_, &c., E.T. London,
1726, p. 155.

1727.—"... the MORDEXIN (which seizes one suddenly with such oppression
and palpitation that he thinks he is going to die on the
spot)."—_Valentijn_, v. (Malabar) 5.

c. 1760.—"There is likewise known, on the Malabar coast chiefly, a most
violent disorder they call the MORDECHIN; which seizes the patient with
such fury of purging, vomiting, and tormina of the intestines, that it
will often carry him off in 30 hours."—_Grose_, i. 250.

1768.—"This (cholera morbus) in the East Indies, where it is very
frequent and fatal, is called MORT-DE-CHIEN."—_Lind, Essay on Diseases
incidental to Hot Climates_, 248.

1778.—In the Vocabulary of the Portuguese _Grammatica Indostana_, we find
MORDECHIM, as a Portuguese word, rendered in Hind. by the word _badazmi_,
_i.e._ _bad-haẓmī_, 'dyspepsia' (p. 99). The most common modern Hind.
term for cholera is Arab. _haiẓah_. The latter word is given by Garcia de
Orta in the form _hachaiza_, and in the quotation from Couto as
_sachaiza_ (?). Jahāngīr speaks of one of his nobles as dying in the
Deccan, of _haiẓah_, in A.D. 1615 (see note to _Elliot_, vi. 346). It is,
however, perhaps not to be assumed that _haiẓah_ always means cholera.
Thus Macpherson mentions that a violent epidemic, which raged in the Camp
of Aurangzīb at Bījapur in 1689, is called so. But in the history of
Khāfi Khān (_Elliot_, vii. 337) the general phrases _ta'ūn_ and _wabā_
are used in reference to this disease, whilst the description is that of
bubonic plague.

1781.—"Early in the morning of the 21st June (1781) we had two men seized
with the MORT-DE-CHIEN."—_Curtis, Diseases of India_, 3rd ed., Edinb.,
1807.

1782.—"Les indigestions appellées dans l'Inde MORT-DE-CHIEN, sont
fréquentes. Les Castes qui mangent de la viande, nourriture trop pesante
pour un climat si chaud, en sont souvent attaquées...."—_Sonnerat_, i.
205. This author writes just after having described two epidemics of
cholera under the name of _Flux aigu_. He did not apprehend that this was
in fact the real MORT-DE-CHIEN.

1783.—"A disease generally called 'MORT-DE-CHIEN' at this time (during
the defence of Onore) raged with great violence among the native
inhabitants."—_Forbes, Or. Mem._ iv. 122.

1796.—"Far more dreadful are the consequences of the above-mentioned
intestinal colic, called by the Indians _shani_, MORDEXIM, and also
_Nircomben_. It is occasioned, as I have said, by the winds blowing from
the mountains ... the consequence is that malignant and bilious slimy
matter adheres to the bowels, and occasions violent pains, vomiting,
fevers, and stupefaction; so that persons attacked with the disease die
very often in a few hours. It sometimes happens that 30 or 40 persons die
in this manner, in one place, in the course of the day.... In the year
1782 this disease raged with so much fury that a great many persons died
of it."—_Fra Paolino_, E.T. 409-410 (orig. see p. 353). As to the names
used by Fra Paolino, for his _Shani_ or _Ciani_, we find nothing nearer
than Tamil and Mal. _sanni_, 'convulsion, paralysis.' (Winslow in his
_Tamil Dict._ specifies 13 kinds of _sanni_. _Komben_ is explained as 'a
kind of cholera or smallpox' (!); and _nir-komben_ ('water-k.') as a kind
of cholera or bilious diarrhœa.) Paolino adds: "La _droga amara_ costa
assai, e non si poteva amministrare a tanti miserabili che perivano.
Adunque in mancanza di questa droga amara noi distillasimo in _Tàgara_, o
acqua vite di coco, molto sterco di cavalli (!), e l'amministrammo
agl'infermi. Tutti quelli che prendevano questa guarivano."

1808.—"MÔRCHEE or MORTSHEE (Guz.) and _Môdee_ (Mah.). A morbid affection
in which the symptoms are convulsive action, followed by evacuations of
the first passage up and down, with intolerable tenesmus, or
twisting-like sensation in the intestines, corresponding remarkably with
the cholera-morbus of European synopsists, called by the country people
in England (?) MORTISHEEN, and by others MORD-DU-CHIEN and MAUA DES
CHIENES, as if it had come from France."—_R. Drummond, Illustrations_,
&c. A curious notice; and the author was, we presume, from his title of
"Dr.," a medical man. We suppose for _England_ above should be read
_India_.

The next quotation is the latest instance of the _familiar_ use of the word that we have met with:

1812.—"General M—— was taken very ill three or four days ago; a kind of
fit—MORT DE CHIEN—the doctor said, brought on by eating too many
radishes."—_Original Familiar Correspondence between Residents in India_,
&c., Edinburgh, 1846, p. 287.

1813.—"MORT DE CHIEN is nothing more than the highest degree of Cholera
Morbus."—_Johnson, Infl. of Tropical Climate_, 405.

The second of the following quotations evidently refers to the outbreak of cholera mentioned, after Macpherson, in the next paragraph.

1780.—"I am once or twice a year (!) subject to violent attacks of
CHOLERA MORBUS, here called MORT-DE-CHIEN...."—_Impey to Dunning_, quoted
by _Sir James Stephen_, ii. 339.

1781.—"The Plague is now broke out in Bengal, and rages with great
violence; it has swept away already above 4000 persons. 200 or upwards
have been buried in the different Portuguese churches within a few
days."—_Hicky's Bengal Gazette_, April 21.

These quotations show that cholera, whether as an epidemic or as sporadic disease, is no new thing in India. Almost in the beginning of the Portuguese expeditions to the East we find apparent examples of the visitations of this terrible scourge, though no precise name is given in the narratives. Thus we read in the Life of Giovanni da Emboli, an adventurous young Florentine who served with the Portuguese, that, arriving in China in 1517, the ships' crews were attacked by a _pessima malatia di frusso_ (virulent flux) of such kind that there died thereof about 70 men, and among these Giovanni himself, and two other Florentines (_Vita_, in _Archiv. Stor. Ital._ 33). Correa says that, in 1503, 20,000 men died of a like disease in the army of the Zamorin. We have given above Correa's description of the terrible Goa pest of 1543, which was most evidently cholera. Madras accounts, according to Macpherson, first mention the disease at Arcot in 1756, and there are frequent notices of it in that neighbourhood between 1763 and 1787. The Hon. R. Lindsay speaks of it as raging at Sylhet in 1781, after carrying off a number of the inhabitants of Calcutta (_Macpherson_, see the quotation of 1781 above). It also raged that year at Ganjam, and out of a division of 5000 Bengal troops under Col. Pearse, who were on the march through that district, 1143 were in a few days sent into hospital, whilst "death raged in the camp with a horror not to be described." The earliest account from the pen of an English physician is by Dr. Paisley, and is dated Madras, Feby. 1774. In 1783 it broke out at Hardwār Fair, and is said, in less than 8 days, to have carried off 20,000 pilgrims. The paucity of cases of cholera among European troops in the returns up to 1817, is ascribed by Dr. Macnamara to the way in which facts were disguised by the current nomenclature of disease. It need not perhaps be denied that the outbreak of 1817 marked a great recrudescence of the disease. But it is a fact that some of the more terrible features of the epidemic, which are then spoken of as quite new, had been prominently described at Goa nearly three centuries before.

See on this subject an article by Dr. J. Macpherson in _Quarterly Review_, for Jany. 1867, and a _Treatise on Asiatic Cholera_, by C. Macnamara, 1876. To these, and especially to the former, we owe several facts and references; though we had recorded quotations relating to MORDEXIN and its identity with cholera some years before even the earlier of these publications.

MORDEXIM, MORDIXIM, s. Also the name of a sea-fish. Bluteau says 'a fish found at the Isle of Quixembe on the Coast of Mozambique, very like _bogas_ (?) or river-pikes.'

MOSELLAY, n.p. A site at Shīrāz often mentioned by Hāfiz as a favourite spot, and near which is his tomb.

c. 1350.—

"Boy! let yon liquid ruby flow,
And bid thy pensive heart be glad,
Whate'er the frowning zealots say;
Tell them that Eden cannot show
A stream so clear as Rocnabad;
A bower so sweet as MOSSELLAY."
_Hafiz_, rendered by _Sir W. Jones_.

1811.—"The stream of Rúknabád murmured near us; and within three or four
hundred yards was the MOSSELLÁ and the Tomb of Hafiz."—_W. Ouseley's
Travels_, i. 318.

1813.—"Not a shrub now remains of the bower of MOSSELLA, the situation of
which is now only marked by the ruins of an ancient tower."—_Macdonald
Kinneir's Persia_, 62.

MOSQUE, s. There is no room for doubt as to the original of this word being the Ar. _masjid_, 'a place of worship,' literally the place of _sujūd_, _i.e._ 'prostration.' And the probable course is this. _Masjid_ becomes (1) in Span. _mezquita_, Port. _mesquita_;[173] (2) Ital. _meschita_, _moschea_; French (old) _mosquete_, _mosquée_; (3) Eng. _mosque_. Some of the quotations might suggest a different course of modification, but they would probably mislead.

Apropos of _masjid_ rather than of mosque we have noted a ludicrous misapplication of the word in the advertisement to a newspaper story. "_Musjeed_ the Hindoo: Adventures with the Star of India in the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857." The _Weekly Detroit Free Press, London_, July 1, 1882.

1336.—"Corpusque ipsius perditissimi Pseudo-prophetae ... in civitate
quae Mecha dicitur ... pro maximo sanctuario conservatur in pulchrâ
ipsorum Ecclesiâ quam MULSCKET vulgariter dicunt."—_Gul. de Boldensele_,
in _Canisii Thesaur. ed. Basnage_, iv.

1384.—"Sonvi le MOSQUETTE, cioe chiese de' Saraceni ... dentro tutte
bianche ed intonicate ed ingessate."—_Frescobaldi_, 29.

1543.—"And with the stipulation that the 5000 _larin tangas_ which in old
times were granted, and are deposited for the expenses of the MIZQUITAS
of Baçaim, are to be paid from the said duties as they always have been
paid, and in regard to the said MIZQUITAS and the prayers that are made
in them there shall be no innovation whatever."—Treaty at Baçaim of the
Portuguese with King Bador of Çanbaya (Bahādur Shāh of Guzerat) in _S.
Botelho, Tombo_, 137.

1553.—"... but destined yet to unfurl that divine and royal banner of the
Soldiery of Christ ... in the Eastern regions of Asia, amidst the
infernal MESQUITAS of Arabia and Persia, and all the PAGODES of the
heathenism of India, on this side and beyond the Ganges."—_Barros_, I. i.
1.

[c. 1610.—"The principal temple, which they call _Oucourou_ MISQUITTE"
(_Hukuru miskitu_, 'Friday mosque').—_Pyrard de Laval_, Hak. Soc. i. 72.]

1616.—"They are very jealous to let their women or MOSCHEES be
seen."—_Sir T. Roe_, in _Purchas_, i. 537; [Hak. Soc. ii. 21].

[1623.—"We went to see upon the same Lake a MESCHITA, or temple of the
Mahometans."—_P. della Valle_, Hak. Soc. i. 69.]

1634.—

"Que a de abominação MESQUITA immũda
Casa, a Deos dedicada hoje se veja."
_Malaca Conquistada_, l. xii. 43.

1638.—Mandelslo unreasonably applies the term to all sorts of pagan
temples, _e.g._—

"Nor is it only in great Cities that the _Benjans_ have their many
MOSQUEYS...."—E.T. 2nd ed. 1669, p. 52.

"The King of _Siam_ is a _Pagan_, nor do his Subjects know any other
Religion. They have divers MOSQUEES, Monasteries, and Chappels."—_Ibid._
p. 104.