S (part 2)

"The ordinary so-called LXX. editions of Daniel contain what is really the post-Christian version of Theodotion. The true LXX. text has ὑποδήματα.

"It may be added that Jerome says that both Aquila and Symmachus wrote saraballa." [The Encycl. Biblica also prefers the rendering of the A.V. (i. 607), and see iii. 2934.]

The word is widely spread as well as old; it is found among the Tartars of W. Asia as jālbār, among the Siberians and Bashkirds as sālbār, among the Kalmaks as shālbūr, whilst it reached Russia as sharawari, Spain as zaraguelles, and Portugal as zarelos. A great many Low Latin variations of the word will be found in Ducange, serabula, serabulla, sarabella, sarabola, sarabura, and more! [And Crawfurd (Desc. Dict. 124) writes of Malay dress: "Trowsers are occasionally used under the sarung by the richer classes, and this portion of dress, like the imitation of the turban, seems to have been borrowed from the Arabs, as is implied by its Arabic name, sarual, corrupted saluwar."]

In the second quotation from Isidore of Seville below it will be seen that the word had in some cases been interpreted as 'turbans.'

A.D. (?).—"Καὶ ἐθεώρουν τοῦς ἄνδρας ὅτι οὐκ ἐκυρίευσε τὸ πῦρ τοῦ σώματος αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ θρὶξ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐφλογίσθη καὶ τα σαράβαρα αὐτῶν οὐκ ἠλλοιώθη, καὶ ὀσμὴ πυρὸς οὐκ ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς."—Gr. Tr. of Dan. iii. 27.

c. A.D. 200.—"Ἐν δὲ τοῖς Σκύθαις Ἀντιφάνης ἔφη Σαράβαρα καὶ χιτῶνας πάντας ἐνδεδυκότας."—Julius Pollux, Onomast. vii. 13, sec. 59.

c. A.D. 500.—"Σαράβαρα, τὰ περὶ τὰς κνῆμιδας (sic) ἐνδύματα."—Hesychius, s.v.

c. 636.—"Sarabara sunt fluxa ac sinuosa vestimenta de quibus legitur in Daniele.... Et Publius: Vt quid ergo in ventre tuo Parthi Sarabara suspenderunt? Apud quosdam autem Sarabarae quaedã capitum tegmina nuncupantur qualia videmus in capite Magorum picta."—Isidorus Hispalensis, Orig. et Etym., lib. xix., ed. 1601, pp. 263-4.

c. 1000?—"Σαράβαρα,—ἐσθὴς Περσική ἔνιοι δὲ λέγουσι βρακία."—Suidas, s.v.

which may be roughly rendered:

"A garb outlandish to the Greeks,

Which some call Shalwārs, some call Breeks!"

c. 900.—"The deceased was unchanged, except in colour. They dressed him then with sarāwīl, overhose, boots, a ḳurṭak and khaftān of gold-cloth, with golden buttons, and put on him a golden cap garnished with sable."—Ibn Foszlān, in Fraehn, 15.

c. 1300.—"Disconsecratur altare eorum, et oportet reconciliari per episcopum ... si intraret ad ipsum aliquis qui non esset Nestorius; si intraret eciam ad ipsum quicumque sine sorrabulis vel capite cooperto."—Ricoldo of Monte Croce, in Peregrinatores Quatuor, 122.

1330.—"Haec autem mulieres vadunt discalceatae portantes sarabulas usque ad terram."—Friar Odoric, in Cathay, &c., App. iv.

c. 1495.—"The first who wore sarāwīl was Solomon. But in another tradition it is alleged that Abraham was the first."—The 'Beginnings,' by Soyuti, quoted by Fraehn, 113.

1567.—"Portauano braghesse quasi alla turchesca, et anche saluarī."—C. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. f. 389.

1824.—"... tell me how much he will be contented with? Can I offer him five Tomauns, and a pair of crimson Shulwaurs?"—Hajji Baba, ed. 1835, p. 179.

1881.—"I used to wear a red shirt and velveteen sharovary, and lie on the sofa like a gentleman, and drink like a Swede."—Ten Years of Penal Servitude in Siberia, by Fedor Dostoyeffski, E.T. by Maria v. Thilo, 191.

SIAM, n.p. This name of the Indo-Chinese Kingdom appears to come to us through the Malays, who call it Siyăm. From them we presume the Portuguese took their Reyno de Sião as Barros and Couto write it, though we have in Correa Siam precisely as we write it. Camões also writes Syão for the kingdom; and the statement of De la Loubère quoted below that the Portuguese used Siam as a national, not a geographical, expression cannot be accepted in its generality, accurate as that French writer usually is. It is true that both Barros and F. M. Pinto use os Siames for the nation, and the latter also uses the adjective form o reyno Siame. But he also constantly says rey de Sião. The origin of the name would seem to be a term Sien, or Siam, identical with Shan (q.v.). "The kingdom of Siam is known to the Chinese by the name Sien-lo.... The supplement to Matwanlin's Encyclopædia describes Sien-lo as on the seaboard, to the extreme south of Chen-ching (or Cochin China). 'It originally consisted of two kingdoms, Sien and Lo-hoh. The Sien people are the remains of a tribe which in the year (A.D. 1341) began to come down upon the Lo-hoh and united with the latter into one nation.'" See Marco Polo, 2nd ed., Bk. iii. ch. 7, note 3. The considerations there adduced indicate that the Lo who occupied the coast of the Gulf before the descent of the Sien, belonged to the Laotian Shans, Thainyai, or Great T'ai, whilst the Sien or Siamese Proper were the T'ai Noi, or Little T'ai. (See also SARNAU.) ["The name Siam ... whether it is 'a barbarous Anglicism derived from the Portuguese or Italian word Sciam,' or is derived from the Malay Sayam, which means 'brown.'"—J. G. Scott, Upper Burma Gazetteer, i. pt. i. 205.]

1516.—"Proceeding further, quitting the kingdom of Peeguu, along the coast over against Malaca there is a very great kingdom of pagans which they call Danseam (of Anseam); the king of which is a pagan also, and a very great lord."—Barbosa (Lisbon, Acad.), 369. It is difficult to interpret this Anseam, which we find also in C. Federici below in the form Asion. But the An is probably a Malay prefix of some kind. [Also see ansyane in quotation from the same writer under MALACCA.]

c. 1522.—"The king (of Zzuba) answered him that he was welcome, but that the custom was that all ships which arrived at his country or port paid tribute, and it was only 4 days since that a ship called the Junk of Ciama, laden with gold and slaves, had paid him his tribute, and to verify what he said, he showed them a merchant of the said Ciama, who had remained there to trade with the gold and slaves."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. 85.

" "All these cities are constructed like ours, and are subject to the king of Siam, who is named Siri Zacebedera, and who inhabits Iudia (see JUDEA)."—Ibid. 156.

1525.—"In this same Port of Pam (Pahang), which is in the kingdom of Syam, there was another junk of Malaqua, the captain whereof was Alvaro da Costaa, and it had aboard 15 Portuguese, at the same time that in Joatane (Patane) they seized the ship of Andre de Bryto, and the junk of Gaspar Soarez, and as soon as this news was known they laid hands on the junk and the crew and the cargo; it is presumed that the people were killed, but it is not known for certain."—Lembrança das Cousas da India, 6.

1572.—

"Vês Pam, Patâne, reinos e a longura

De Syāo, que estes e outros mais sujeita;

Olho o rio Menão que se derrama

Do grande lago, que Chiamay se chiama."

Camões, x. 25.

By Burton:

"See Pam, Patane and in length obscure,

Siam that ruleth all with lordly sway;

behold Menam, who rolls his lordly tide

from source Chiámái called, lake long and wide."

c. 1567.—"Va etiandio ogn'anno per l'istesso Capitano (di Malacca) vn nauilio in Asion, a caricare di Verzino" (Brazilwood).—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 396.

" "Fu già Sion vna grandissima Città e sedia d'Imperio, ma l'anno MDLXVII fu pressa dal Re del Pegu, qual caminando per terra quattro mesi di viaggio, con vn esercito d'vn million, e quattro cento mila uomini da guerra, la venne ad assediare ... e lo so io percioche mi ritrouai in Pegù sei mesi dopo la sua partita."—Ibid.

1598.—"... The King of Sian at this time is become tributarie to the king of Pegu. The cause of this most bloodie battaile was, that the king of Sian had a white Elephant."—Linschoten, p. 30; [Hak. Soc. i. 102. In ii. 1 Sion].

[1611.—"We have news that the Hollanders were in Shian."—Danvers, Letters, i. 149.]

1688.—"The Name of Siam is unknown to the Siamese. 'Tis one of those words which the Portugues of the Indies do use, and of which it is very difficult to discover the Original. They use it as the Name of the Nation and not of the Kingdom: And the Names of Pegu, Lao, Mogul, and most of the Names which we give to the Indian Kingdoms, are likewise National Names."—De la Loubère, E.T. p. 6.

SICCA, s. As will be seen by reference to the article RUPEE, up to 1835 a variety of rupees had been coined in the Company's territories. The term sicca (sikkā, from Ar. sikka, 'a coining die,'—and 'coined money,'—whence Pers. sikka zadan, 'to coin') had been applied to newly coined rupees, which were at a batta or premium over those worn, or assumed to be worn, by use. In 1793 the Government of Bengal, with a view to terminating, as far as that Presidency was concerned, the confusion and abuses engendered by this system, ordered that all rupees coined for the future should bear the impress of the 19th year of Shāh 'Alam (the "Great Mogul" then reigning), and this rupee, "19 San Sikkah," 'struck in the 19th year,' was to be the legal tender in "Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. This rupee, which is the Sicca of more recent monetary history, weighed 192 grs. troy, and then contained 176.13 grs. of pure silver. The "Company's Rupee," which introduced uniformity of coinage over British India in 1835, contained only 165 grs. silver. Hence the Sicca bore to the Company's Rupee (which was based on the old Farrukhābād rupee) the proportion of 16:15 nearly. The Sicca was allowed by Act VII. of 1833 to survive as an exceptional coin in Bengal, but was abolished as such in 1836. It continued, however, a ghostly existence for many years longer in the form of certain Government Book-debts in that currency. (See also CHICK.)

1537.—"... Sua senhoria avia d'aver por bem que as siquas das moedas corressem em seu nome per todo o Reino do Guzerate, asy em Dio como nos otros luguares que forem del Rey de Portuguall."—Treaty of Nuno da Cunha with Nizamamede Zamom (Mahommed Zamam) concerning Cambaya, in Botelho, Tombo, 225.

1537.—"... e quoanto á moeda ser chapada de sua sita (read sica) pois já lhe concedia."—Ibid. 226.

[1615.—"... cecaus of Amadavrs which goeth for eighty-six pisas (see PICE)...."—Foster, Letters, iii. 87.]

1683.—"Having received 25,000 Rupees Siccas for Rajamaul."—Hedges, Diary, April 4; [Hak. Soc. i. 75].

1705.—"Les roupies Sicca valent à Bengale 39 sols."—Luillier, 255.

1779.—"In the 2nd Term, 1779, on Saturday, March 6th: Judgment was pronounced for the plaintiff. Damages fifty thousand sicca rupees."

" "... 50,000 Sicca Rupees are equal to five thousand one hundred and nine pounds, two shillings and elevenpence sterling, reckoning according to the weight and fineness of the silver."—Notes of Mr. Justice Hyde on the case Grand v. Francis, in Echoes of Old Calcutta, 243. [To this Mr. Busteed adds: "Nor does there seem to be any foundation for the other time-honoured story (also repeated by Kaye) in connection with this judgment, viz., the alleged interruption of the Chief Justice, while he was delivering judgment, by Mr. Justice Hyde, with the eager suggestion or reminder of 'Siccas, Siccas, Brother Impey,' with the view of making the damages as high at the awarded figure as possible. Mr. Merivale says that he could find no confirmation of the old joke.... The story seems to have been first promulgated in a book of 'Personal Recollections' by John Nicholls, M.P., published in 1822."—Ibid. 3rd ed. 229].

1833.— * * *

"III.—The weight and standard of the Calcutta sicca rupee and its sub-divisions, and of the Furruckabad rupee, shall be as follows:—

Weight. Fine. Alloy.

Grains. Grains. Grains.

Calcutta sicca rupee 192 176 16

"IV.—The use of the sicca weight of 179.666 grains, hitherto employed for the receipt of bullion at the Mint, being in fact the weight of the Moorshedabad rupee of the old standard ... shall be discontinued, and in its place the following unit to be called the Tola (q.v.) shall be introduced."—India Regulation VII. of 1833.

[SICKMAN, s. adj. The English sick man has been adopted into Hind. sepoy patois as meaning 'one who has to go to hospital,' and generally sikmān ho jānā means 'to be disabled.'

[1665.—"That sickman Chaseman."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. II. cclxxx.

[1843.—"... my hired cart was broken—(or, in the more poetical garb of the sepahee, 'seek mān hogya,' i.e. become a sick man)."—Davidson, Travels, i. 251.]

SICLEEGUR, s. Hind. ṣaiḳalgar, from Ar. ṣaiḳal, 'polish.' A furbisher of arms, a sword-armourer, a sword- or knife-grinder. [This, in Madras, is turned into Chickledar, Tel. chikili-darudu.]

[1826.—"My father was a shiekul-ghur, or sword-grinder."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 216.]

SIKH, SEIKH, n.p. Panjābi-Hind. Sikh, 'a disciple,' from Skt. Śishya; the distinctive name of the disciples of Nānak Shāh who in the 16th century established that sect, which eventually rose to warlike predominance in the Punjab, and from which sprang Ranjīt Singh, the founder of the brief Kingdom of Lahore.

c. 1650-60.—"The Nanac-Panthians, who are known as composing the nation of the Sikhs, have neither idols, nor temples of idols...." (Much follows.)—Dabistān, ii. 246.

1708-9.—"There is a sect of infidels called Gurú (see GOOROO), more commonly known as Sikhs. Their chief, who dresses as a fakír, has a fixed residence at Láhore.... This sect consists principally of Játs and Khatrís of the Panjáb and of other tribes of infidels. When Aurangzeb got knowledge of these matters, he ordered these deputy Gurús to be removed and the temples to be pulled down."—Khāfī Khān, in Elliot, vii. 413.

1756.—"April of 1716, when the Emperor took the field and marched towards Lahore, against the Sykes, a nation of Indians lately reared to power, and bearing mortal enmity to the Mahomedans."—Orme, ii. 22. He also writes Sikes.

1781.—"Before I left Calcutta, a gentleman with whom I chanced to be discoursing of that sect who are distinguished from the worshippers of Brăhm, and the followers of Mahommed by the appellation Seek, informed me that there was a considerable number of them settled in the city of Patna, where they had a College for teaching the tenets of their philosophy."—Wilkins, in As. Res. i. 288.

1781-2.—"In the year 1128 of the Hedjra" (1716) "a bloody action happened in the plains of the Pendjab, between the Sycs and the Imperialists, in which the latter, commanded by Abdol-semed-Khan, a famous Viceroy of that province, gave these inhuman freebooters a great defeat, in which their General, Benda, fell into the victors' hands.... He was a Syc by profession, that is one of those men attached to the tenets of Guru-Govind, and who from their birth or from the moment of their admission never cut or shave either their beard or whiskers or any hair whatever of their body. They form a particular Society as well as a sect, which distinguishes itself by wearing almost always blue cloaths, and going armed at all times...." &c.—Seir Mutaqherin, i. 87.

1782.—"News was received that the Seiks had crossed the Jumna."—India Gazette, May 11.

1783.—"Unhurt by the Sicques, tigers, and thieves, I am safely lodged at Nourpour."—Forster, Journey, ed. 1808, i. 247.

1784.—"The Seekhs are encamped at the distance of 12 cose from the Pass of Dirderry, and have plundered all that quarter."—In Seton-Karr, i. 13.

1790.—"Particulars relating to the seizure of Colonel Robert Stewart by the Sicques."—Calc. Monthly Register, &c., i. 152.

1810.—Williamson (V.M.) writes Seeks.

The following extract indicates the prevalence of a very notable error:—

1840.—"Runjeet possesses great personal courage, a quality in which the Sihks (sic) are supposed to be generally deficient."—Osborne, Court and Camp of Runjeet Singh, 83.

We occasionally about 1845-6 saw the word written by people in Calcutta, who ought to have known better, Sheiks.

SILBOOT, SILPET, SLIPPET, s. Domestic Hind. corruptions of 'slipper.' The first is an instance of "striving after meaning" by connecting it in some way with 'boot.' [The Railway 'sleeper' is in the same way corrupted into silīpat.]

SILLADAR, adj. and s. Hind. from Pers. silaḥ-dār, 'bearing or having arms,' from Ar. silaḥ, 'arms.' [In the Arabian Nights (Burton, ii. 114) it has the primary sense of an 'armour-bearer.'] Its Anglo-Indian application is to a soldier, in a regiment of irregular cavalry, who provides his own arms and horse; and sometimes to regiments composed of such men—"a corps of Silladar Horse." [See Irvine, The Army of the Indian Moghuls, (J. R. As. Soc., July 1896, p. 549).]

1766.—"When this intelligence reached the Nawaub, he leaving the whole of his troops and baggage in the same place, with only 6000 stable horse, 9000 Sillahdārs, 4000 regular infantry, and 6 guns ... fell bravely on the Mahrattas...."—Mir Hussein Ali, H. of Hydur Naik, 173.

1804.—"It is my opinion, that the arrangement with the Soubah of the Deccan should be, that the whole of the force ... should be silladar horse."—Wellington, iii. 671.

1813.—"Bhàou ... in the prosecution of his plan, selected Malhar Row Holcar, a Silledar or soldier of fortune."—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 349.

[SILLAPOSH, s. An armour-clad warrior; from Pers. silaḥ, 'body armour,' posh, Pers. poshīdan, 'to wear.'

[1799.—"The Sillah posh or body-guard of the Rajah (of Jaipur)."—W. Francklin, Mil. Mem. of Mr. George Thomas, ed. 1805, p. 165.

[1829.—"... he stood two assaults, in one of which he slew thirty Sillehposh, or men in armour, the body-guard of the prince."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, ii. 462.]

SILMAGOOR, s. Ship Hind. for 'sail-maker' (Roebuck).

SIMKIN, s. Domestic Hind. for champagne, of which it is a corruption; sometimes samkīn.

1853.—"'The dinner was good, and the iced simkin, Sir, delicious.'"—Oakfield, ii. 127.

SIND, SCINDE, &c., n.p. The territory on the Indus below the Punjab. [In the early inscriptions the two words Sindhu-Sauvīra are often found conjoined, the latter probably part of Upper Sind (see Bombay Gazetteer, i. pt. i. 36).] The earlier Mahommedans hardly regarded Sind as part of India, but distinguished sharply between Sind and Hind, and denoted the whole region that we call India by the copula 'Hind and Sind.' We know that originally these were in fact but diverging forms of one word; the aspirant and sibilant tending in several parts of India (including the extreme east—compare ASSAM, Ahom—and the extreme west), as in some other regions, to exchange places.

c. 545.—"Σινδοῦ, Ὄρροθα, Καλλιάνα, Σιβὼρ καὶ Μαλὲ πέντε ἐμπόρια ἔχουσα."—Cosmas, lib. xi.

770.—"Per idem tempus quingenti circiter ex Mauris, Sindis, et Chazaris servi in urbe Haran rebellarunt, et facto agmine regium thesaurum diripere tentarunt."—Dionysii Patriarchae Chronicon, in Assemani, ii. 114. But from the association with the Khazars, and in a passage on the preceding page with Alans and Khazars, we may be almost certain that these Sindi are not Indian, but a Sarmatic people mentioned by Ammianus (xxii. 8), Valerius Flaccus (vi. 86), and other writers.

c. 1030.—"Sind and her sister (i.e. Hind) trembled at his power and vengeance."—Al 'Utbi, in Elliot, ii. 32.

c. 1340.—"Mohammed-ben-Iousouf Thakafi trouva dans la province de Sind quarante behar (see BAHAR) d'or, et chaque behar comprend 333 mann."—Shihābuddīn Dimishḳī, in Not. et Ext. xiii. 173.

1525.—"Expenses of Melyquyaz (i.e. Malik Āyāz of Diu):—1,000 foot soldiers (lasquarys), viz., 300 Arabs, at 40 and 50 fedeas each; also 200 Coraçones (Khorāsānīs) at the wage of the Arabs; also 200 Guzarates and Cymdes at 25 to 30 fedeas each; also 30 Rumes at 100 fedeas each; 120 Fartaquys at 50 fedeas each. Horse soldiers (Lasquarys a quaualo), whom he supplies with horses, 300 at 70 fedeas a month...."—Lembrança, p. 37. The preceding extract is curious as showing the comparative value put upon Arabs, Khorāsānīs (qu. Afghāns?), Sindīs, Rūmīs (i.e. Turks), Fartakīs (Arabs of Hadramaut?), &c.

1548.—"And the rent of the shops (buticas) of the Guzaratis of Cindy, who prepare and sell parched rice (avel), paying 6 bazarucos (see BUDGROOK) a month."—Botelho, Tombo, 156.

1554.—"Towards the Gulf of Chakad, in the vicinity of Sind."—Sidi' Ali, in J. As. Ser. I. tom. ix. 77.

1583.—"The first citie of India ... after we had passed the coast of Zindi is called Diu."—Fitch, in Hakl. p. 385.

1584.—"Spicknard from Zindi and Lahor."—W. Barret, in Hakl. ii. 412.

1598.—"I have written to the said Antonio d'Azevedo on the ill treatment experienced by the Portuguese in the kingdom of Cimde."—King's Letter to Goa, in Archiv. Port. Orient. Fascic. iii. 877.

[1610.—"Tzinde, are silk cloths with red stripes."—Danvers, Letters, i. 72.]

1611.—"Cuts-nagore, a place not far from the River of Zinde."—N. Downton, in Purchas, i. 307.

1613.—"... considering the state of destitution in which the fortress of Ormuz had need be,—since it had no other resources but the revenue of the custom-house, and there could now be returning nothing, from the fact that the ports of Cambaia and Sinde were closed, and that no ship had arrived from Goa in the current monsoon of January and February, owing to the news of the English ships having collected at Suratte...."—Bocarro, Decada, 379.

[c. 1665.—"... he (Dara) proceeded towards Scimdy, and sought refuge in the fortress of Tatabakar...."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 71.]

1666.—"De la Province du Sinde ou Sindy ... que quelques-uns nomment le Tatta."—Thevenot, v. 158.

1673.—"... Retiring with their ill got Booty to the Coasts of Sindu."—Fryer, 218.

1727.—"Sindy is the westmost Province of the Mogul's Dominions on the Sea-coast, and has Larribunder (see LARRY-BUNDER) to its Mart."—A. Hamilton, i. 114; [ed. 1744, i. 115].

c. 1760.—"Scindy, or Tatta."—Grose, i. 286.

SINDĀBŪR, SANDĀBŪR, n.p. This is the name by which Goa was known to the old Arab writers. The identity was clearly established in Cathay and the Way Thither, pp. 444 and ccli. We will give the quotations first, and then point out the grounds of identification.

A.D. 943.—"Crocodiles abound, it is true, in the ajwān or bays formed by the Sea of India, such as that of Ṣindābūra in the Indian Kingdom of Bāghira, or in the bay of Zābaj (see JAVA) in the dominion of the Maharāj."—Maṣ'ūdī, i. 207.

1013.—"I have it from Ābū Yūsaf bin Muslim, who had it from Ābū Bakr of Fasā at Ṣaimūr, that the latter heard told by Mūsa the Ṣindābūrī: 'I was one day conversing with the Ṣaḥib of Ṣindābūr, when suddenly he burst out laughing.... It was, said he, because there is a lizard on the wall, and it said, 'There is a guest coming to-day.... Don't you go till you see what comes of it.' So we remained talking till one of his servants came in and said 'There is a ship of Oman come in.' Shortly after, people arrived, carrying hampers with various things, such as cloths, and rose-water. As they opened one, out came a long lizard, which instantly clung to the wall and went to join the other one. It was the same person, they say, who enchanted the crocodiles in the estuary of Ṣindābūr, so that now they hurt nobody."—Livre des Merveilles de l'Inde. V. der Lith et Devic, 157-158.

c. 1150.—"From the city of Barūh (Barūch, i.e. Broach) following the coast, to Sindābūr 4 days.

"Sindābūr is on a great inlet where ships anchor. It is a place of trade, where one sees fine buildings and rich bazars."—Edrisi, i. 179. And see Elliot, i. 89.

c. 1300.—"Beyond Guzerat are Konkan and Tána; beyond them the country of Malibár.... The people are all Samanís (Buddhists), and worship idols. Of the cities on the shore the first is Sindabūr, then Faknūr, then the country of Manjarūr, then the country of Hílí...."—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 68.

c. 1330.—"A traveller states that the country from Sindāpūr to Hanāwar towards its eastern extremity joins with Malabar...."—Abulfeda, Fr. tr., II. ii. 115. Further on in his Tables he jumbles up (as Edrisi has done) Sindāpūr with Sindān (see ST. JOHN).

" "The heat is great at Aden. This is the port frequented by the people of India; great ships arrive there from Cambay, Tāna, Kaulam, Calicut, Fandarāina, Shāliyāt, Manjarūr, Fākanūr, Hanaur, Sandābūr, et cetera."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 177.

c. 1343-4.—"Three days after setting sail we arrived at the Island of Sandābūr, within which there are 36 villages. It is surrounded by an inlet, and at the time of ebb the water of this is fresh and pleasant, whilst at flow it is salt and bitter. There are in the island two cities, one ancient, built by the pagans; the second built by the Musulmans when they conquered the island the first time.... We left this island behind us and anchored at a small island near the mainland, where we found a temple, a grove, and a tank of water...."—Ibid. iv. 61-62.

1350, 1375.—In the Medicean and the Catalan maps of those dates we find on the coast of India Cintabor and Chintabor respectively, on the west coast of India.

c. 1554.—"24th Voyage: from Guvah-Sindābūr to Aden. If you start from Guvah-Sindābūr at the end of the season, take care not to fall on Cape Fāl," &c.—Mohit, in J.A.S.B. v. 564.

The last quotation shows that Goa was known even in the middle of the 16th century to Oriental seamen as Goa-Sindābūr, whatever Indian name the last part represented; probably, from the use of the ṣwād by the earlier Arab writers, and from the Chintabor of the European maps, Chandāpur rather than Sundāpur. No Indian name like this has yet been recovered from inscriptions as attaching to Goa; but the Turkish author of the Mohit supplies the connection, and Ibn Batuta's description even without this would be sufficient for the identification. His description, it will be seen, is that of a delta-island, and Goa is the only one partaking of that character upon the coast. He says it contained 36 villages; and Barros tells us that Goa Island was known to the natives as Tīsvāḍī, a name signifying "Thirty villages." (See SALSETTE.) Its vicinity to the island where Ibn Batuta proceeded to anchor, which we have shown to be Anchediva (q.v.), is another proof. Turning to Rashīduddīn, the order in which he places Sindābūr, Faknūr (Baccanore), Manjarūr (Mangalore), Hīlī (Mt. D'Ely), is perfectly correct, if for Sindābūr we substitute Goa. The passage from Edrisi and one indicated from Abulfeda only show a confusion which has misled many readers since.

SINGALESE, CINGHALESE, n.p. Native of Ceylon; pertaining to Ceylon. The word is formed from Siṉhala, 'Dwelling of Lions,' the word used by the natives for the Island, and which is the origin of most of the names given to it (see CEYLON). The explanation given by De Barros and Couto is altogether fanciful, though it leads them to notice the curious and obscure fact of the introduction of Chinese influence in Ceylon during the 15th century.

1552.—"That the Chinese (Chijs) were masters of the Choromandel Coast, of part of Malabar, and of this Island of Ceylon, we have not only the assertion of the Natives of the latter, but also evidence in the buildings, names, and language that they left in it ... and because they were in the vicinity of this Cape Galle, the other people who lived from the middle of the Island upwards called those dwelling about there Chingálla, and their language the same, as much as to say the language, or the people of the Chins of Galle."—Barros, III. ii. 1.

1583.—(The Cauchin Chineans) "are of the race of the Chingalays, which they say are the best kinde of all the Malabars."—Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 397.

1598.—"... inhabited with people called Cingalas...."—Linschoten, 24; [Hak. Soc. i. 77; in i. 81, Chingalas].

c. 1610.—"Ils tiennent donc que ... les premiers qui y allerent, et qui les peuplerent (les Maldives) furent ... les Cingalles de l'Isle de Ceylan."—Pyrard de Laval, i. 185; [Hak. Soc. i. 105, and see i. 266].

1612.—Couto, after giving the same explanation of the word as Barros, says: "And as they spring from the Chins, who are the falsest heathen of the East ... so are they of this island the weakest, falsest, and most tricky people in all India, insomuch that, to this day, you never find faith or truth in a Chingalla."—V. i. 5.

1681.—"The Chingūleys are naturally a people given to sloth and laziness: if they can but anyways live, they abhor to work."...—Knox, 32.

SINGAPORE, SINCAPORE, n.p. This name was adopted by Sir Stamford Raffles in favour of the city which he founded, February 23, 1819, on the island which had always retained the name since the Middle Ages. This it derived from Siṉhapura, Skt. 'Lion-city,' the name of a town founded by Malay or Javanese settlers from Sumatra, probably in the 14th century, and to which Barros ascribes great commercial importance. The Indian origin of the name, as of many other names and phrases which survive from the old Indian civilisation of the Archipelago, had been forgotten, and the origin which Barros was taught to ascribe to it is on a par with his etymology of Singalese quoted in the preceding article. The words on which his etymology is founded are no doubt Malay: singah, 'to tarry, halt, or lodge,' and pora-pora, 'to pretend'; and these were probably supposed to refer to the temporary occupation of Sinhapura, before the chiefs who founded it passed on to Malacca. [It may be noted that Dennys (Desc. Dict. s.v.) derives the word from singha, 'a place of call,' and pura, 'a city.' In Dalboquerque's Comm. Hak. Soc. iii. 73, we are told: "Singapura, whence the city takes its name, is a channel through which all the shipping of those parts passes, and signifies in his Malay language, 'treacherous delay.'" See quotation from Barros below.]

The settlement of Hinduized people on the site, if not the name, is probably as old as the 4th century, A.D., for inscriptions have been found there in a very old character. One of these, on a rock at the mouth of the little river on which the town stands, was destroyed some 40 or 50 years ago for the accommodation of some wretched bungalow.

The modern Singapore and its prosperity form a monument to the patriotism, sagacity, and fervid spirit of the founder. According to an article in the Geogr. Magazine (i. 107) derived from Mr. Archibald Ritchie, who was present with the expedition which founded the colony, Raffles, after consultation with Lord Hastings, was about to establish a settlement for the protection and encouragement of our Eastern trade, in the Nicobar Islands, when his attention was drawn to the superior advantages of Singapore by Captains Ross and Crawford of the Bombay Marine, who had been engaged in the survey of those seas. Its great adaptation for a mercantile settlement had been discerned by the shrewd, if somewhat vulgar, Scot, Alexander Hamilton, 120 years earlier. It seems hardly possible, we must however observe, to reconcile the details in the article cited, with the letters and facts contained in the Life of Raffles; though probably the latter had, at some time or other, received information from the officers named by Mr. Ritchie.

1512.—"And as the enterprise was one to make good booty, everybody was delighted to go on it, so that they were more than 1200 men, the soundest and best armed of the garrison, and so they were ready incontinently, and started for the Strait of Cincapura, where they were to wait for the junks."—Correa, ii. 284-5.

1551.—"Sed hactenus Deus nobis adsit omnibus. Amen. Anno post Christum natum, MDLI. Ex Freto Syncapurano."—Scti. Franc. Xaverii Epistt. Pragae, 1667, Lib. III. viii.

1553.—"Anciently the most celebrated settlement in this region of Malaca was one called Cingapura, a name which in their tongue means 'pretended halt' (falsa dimora); and this stood upon a point of that country which is the most southerly of all Asia, and lies, according to our graduation, in half a degree of North Latitude ... before the foundation of Malaca, at this same Cingapura ... flocked together all the navigators of the Seas of India from West and East...."—Barros, II. vi. 1. [The same derivation is given in the Comm. of Dalboquerque, Hak. Soc. iii. 73.]

1572.—

"Mas na ponta da terra Cingapura

Verás, onde o caminho as naos se estreita;

Daqui, tornando a costa á Cynosura,

Se incurva, e para a Aurora se endireita."

Camões, x. 125.

By Burton:

"But on her Lands-end throned see Cingapúr,

where the wide sea-road shrinks to narrow way:

Thence curves the coast to face the Cynosure,

and lastly trends Aurora-wards its lay."

1598.—"... by water the coast stretcheth to the Cape of Singapura, and from thence it runneth upwards [inwards] againe...."—Linschoten, 30; [Hak. Soc. i. 101].

1599.—"In this voyage nothing occurred worth relating, except that, after passing the Strait of Sincapura, situated in one degree and a half, between the main land and a variety of islands ... with so narrow a channel that from the ship you could jump ashore, or touch the branches of the trees on either side, our vessel struck on a shoal."—Viaggi di Carletti, ii. 208-9.

1606.—"The 5th May came there 2 Prows from the King of Johore, with the Shahbander (Shabunder) of Singapoera, called Siri Raja Nagara...."—Valentijn, v. 331.

1616.—"Found a Dutch man-of-war, one of a fleet appointed for the siege of Malaca, with the aid of the King of Acheen, at the entrance of the Straits of Singapore."—Sainsbury, i. 458.

1727.—"In anno 1703 I called at Johore on my Way to China, and he treated me very kindly, and made me a Present of the Island of Sincapure, but I told him it could be of no use to a private Person, tho' a proper Place for a Company to settle a Colony in, lying in the Center of Trade, and being accommodated with good Rivers and safe Harbours, so conveniently situated that all Winds served Shipping, both to go out and come in."—A. Hamilton, ii. 98; [ed. 1744, ii. 97].

1818.—"We are now on our way to the eastward, in the hope of doing something, but I much fear the Dutch have hardly left us an inch of ground.... My attention is principally turned to Johore, and you must not be surprised if my next letter to you is dated from the site of the ancient city of Singapura."—Raffles, Letter to Marsden, dated Sandheads, Dec. 12.

SINGARA, s. Hind. singhārā, Skt. sriṇgāttaka, sriṇga, 'a horn.' The caltrop or water-chestnut; Trapa bispinosa, Roxb. (N.O. Haloragaceae).

[c. 1590.—The Āīn (ed. Jarrett, ii. 65) mentions it as one of the crops on which revenue was levied in cash.

[1798.—In Kashmīr "many of them ... were obliged to live on the Kernel of the singerah, or water-nut...."—Forster, Travels, ii. 29.

[1809.—Buchanan-Hamilton writes singghara.—Eastern India, i. 241.]

1835.—"Here, as in most other parts of India, the tank is spoiled by the water-chestnut, singhara (Trapa bispinosa), which is everywhere as regularly planted and cultivated in fields under a large surface of water, as wheat or barley is in the dry plains.... The nut grows under the water after the flowers decay, and is of a triangular shape, and covered with a tough brown integument adhering strongly to the kernel, which is wholly esculent, and of a fine cartilaginous texture. The people are very fond of these nuts, and they are carried often upon bullocks' backs two or three hundred miles to market."—Sleeman, Rambles, &c. (1844), i. 101; [ed. Smith, i. 94.]

1839.—"The nuts of the Trapa bispinosa, called Singhara, are sold in all the Bazaars of India; and a species called by the same name, forms a considerable portion of the food of the inhabitants of Cashmere, as we learn from Mr. Forster [loc. cit.] that it yields the Government 12,000l. of revenue; and Mr. Moorcroft mentions nearly the same sum as Runjeet Sing's share, from 96,000 to 128,000 ass-loads of this nut, yielded by the Lake of Oaller."—Royle, Him. Plants, i. 211.

SIPAHSELAR, s. A General-in-chief; Pers. sipāh-sālār, 'army-leader,' the last word being the same as in the title of the late famous Minister-Regent of Hyderabad, Sir Sālār Jang, i.e. 'the leader in war.'

c. 1000-1100.—"Voici quelle étoit alors la gloire et la puissance des Orpélians dans le royaume. Ils possédoient la charge de sbasalar, ou de généralissime de toute la Georgie. Tous les officiers du palais étoient de leur dependance."—Hist. of the Orpélians, in St. Martin, Mem. sur l'Arménie, ii. 77.

c. 1358.—"At 16 my father took me by the hand, and brought me to his own Monastery. He there addressed me: 'My boy, our ancestors from generation to generation have been commanders of the armies of the Jagtay and the Berlas family. The dignity of (Sepah Salar) Commander-in-Chief has now descended to me, but as I am tired of this world ... I mean therefore to resign my public office...."—Autob. Mem. of Timour, E.T. p. 22.

1712.—"Omnibus illis superior est ... Sipah Salaar, sive Imperator Generalis Regni, Praesidem dignitate excipiens...."—Kaempfer, Amoen. Exot. 73.

1726.—A letter from the Heer Van Maatzuiker "to His Highness Chan Chanaan, Sapperselaar, Grand Duke, and General in Chief of the Great Mogol in Assam, Bengal, &c."—Valentijn, v. 173.

1755.—"After the Sipahsalar Hydur, by his prudence and courage, had defeated the Mahrattas, and recovered the country taken by them, he placed the government of Seringaputtun on a sure and established basis...."—Meer Hussein Ali Khan, H. of Hydur Naik, O. T. F. p. 61.

[c. 1803.—In a collection of native letters, the titles of Lord Lake are given as follows: "Ashja-ul-Mulk Khān Daurān, General Gerard Lake Bahādur, Sipahsalar-i-kishwar-i-Hind," "Valiant of the Kingdom, Lord of the Cycle, Commander-in-chief of the Territories of Hindustan."—North Indian Notes and Queries, iv. 17.]

SIRCAR, s. Hind. from Pers. sar-kār, 'head (of) affairs.' This word has very divers applications; but its senses may fall under three heads.

a. The State, the Government, the Supreme authority; also 'the Master' or head of the domestic government. Thus a servant, if asked 'Whose are those horses?' in replying 'They are the sarkār's,' may mean according to circumstances, that they are Government horses, or that they belong to his own master.

b. In Bengal the word is applied to a domestic servant who is a kind of house-steward, and keeps the accounts of household expenditure, and makes miscellaneous purchases for the family; also, in merchants' offices, to any native accountant or native employed in making purchases, &c.

c. Under the Mahommedan Governments, as in the time of the Mogul Empire, and more recently in the Deccan, the word was applied to certain extensive administrative divisions of territory. In its application in the Deccan it has been in English generally spelt Circar (q.v.).

a.—

[1759.—"... there is no separation between your Honour ... and this Sircar...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, ii. 129.]

1800.—"Would it not be possible and proper to make people pay the circar according to the exchange fixed at Seringapatam?"—Wellington, i. 60.

[1866.—"... the Sirkar Buhadoor gives me four rupees a month...."—Confessions of an Orderly, 43.]

b.—

1777.—"There is not in any country in the world, of which I have any knowledge, a more pernicious race of vermin in human shape than are the numerous cast of people known in Bengal by the appellation of Sircars; they are educated and trained to deceive."—Price's Tracts, i. 24.

1810.—"The Sircar is a genius whose whole study is to handle money, whether receivable or payable, and who contrives either to confuse accounts, when they are adverse to his view, or to render them most expressively intelligible, when such should suit his purpose."—Williamson, V.M. i. 200.

1822.—"One morning our Sircar, in answer to my having observed that the articles purchased were highly priced, said, 'You are my father and my mother, and I am your poor little child. I have only taken 2 annas in the rupee dustoorie'" (dustoor).—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, i. 21-22.

1834.—"'And how the deuce,' asked his companion, 'do you manage to pay for them?' 'Nothing so easy,—I say to my Sirkar: 'Baboo, go pay for that horse 2000 rupees, and it is done, Sir, as quickly as you could dock him.'"—The Baboo and Other Tales, i. 13.

c.—

c. 1590.—"In the fortieth year of his majesty's reign, his dominions consisted of 105 Sircars, subdivided into 2737 kusbahs" (cusba), "the revenue of which he settled for ten years at 3 Arribs, 62 Crore, 97 Lacks, 55,246 Dams" (q.v. 3,62,97,55,246 dāms = about 9 millions sterling).—Ayeen, E.T. by Gladwin, 1800, ii. 1; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 115.]

SIRDAR, s. Hind. from Pers. sardār, and less correctly sirdār, 'leader, a commander, an officer'; a chief, or lord; the head of a set of palankin-bearers, and hence the 'sirdār-bearer,' or elliptically 'the Sirdār,' is in Bengal the style of the valet or body-servant, even when he may have no others under him (see BEARER). [Sirdār is now the official title of the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian army; Sirdār Bahādur is an Indian military distinction.]

[c. 1610.—"... a captain of a company, or, as they call it, a Sardare."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 254.

[1675.—"Sardar." See under SEPOY.]

1808.—"I, with great difficulty, knocked up some of the villagers, who were nearly as much afraid as Christie's Will, at the visit of a Sirdār" (here an officer).—Life of Leyden.

[c. 1817.—"... the bearers, with their Sirdaur, have a large room with a verandah before it."—Mrs. Sherwood, Last Days of Boosy, 63.]

1826.—"Gopee's father had been a Sirdar of some consequence."—Pandurang Hari, 174; [ed. 1873, i. 252].

SIRDRÁRS, s. This is the name which native valets (bearer) give to common drawers (underclothing). A friend (Gen. R. Maclagan, R.E.) has suggested the origin, which is doubtless "short drawers" in contradistinction to Long-drawers, or Pyjamas (qq.v.). A common bearer's pronunciation is sirdrāj; as a chest of drawers is also called 'Drāj kā almairā' (see ALMYRA).

SIRKY, s. Hind. sirkī. A kind of unplatted matting formed by laying the fine cylindrical culms from the upper part of the Saccharum sara, Roxb. (see SURKUNDA) side by side, and binding them in single or double layers. This is used to lay under the thatch of a house, to cover carts and palankins, to make Chicks (q.v.) and table-mats, and for many other purposes of rural and domestic economy.

1810.—"It is perhaps singular that I should have seen seerky in use among a group of gypsies in Essex. In India these itinerants, whose habits and characters correspond with this intolerable species of banditti, invariably shelter themselves under seerky."—Williamson, V.M. ii. 490.

[1832.—"... neat little huts of sirrakee, a reed or grass, resembling bright straw."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 23.]

SIRRIS, s. Hind. siris, Skt. shirisha, shri, 'to break,' from the brittleness of its branches; the tree Acacia Lebbek, Benth., indigenous in S. India, the Sātpura range, Bengal, and the sub-Himālayan tract; cultivated in Egypt and elsewhere. A closely kindred sp., A. Julibrissin, Boivin, affords a specimen of scientific 'Hobson-Jobson'; the specific name is a corruption of Gulāb-reshm, 'silk-flower.'

1808.—"Quelques anneés après le mort de Dariyaî, des charpentiers ayant abattu un arbre de Seris, qui croissoit auprès de son tombeau, le coupèrent en plusieurs pièces pour l'employer à des constructions. Tout-à-coup une voix terrible se fit entendre, la terre se mit à trembler et le tronc de cet arbre se releva de lui-même. Les ouvriers épouvantés s'enfuirent, et l'arbre ne tarda pas à reverdir."—Afsōs, Arāyish-i-Mahfil, quoted by Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus. 88.

[c. 1890.—

"An' it fell when sirris-shaws were sere,

And the nichts were long and mirk."

R. Kipling, Departmental Ditties, The Fall of Jock Gillespie.]

SISSOO, SHISHAM, s. Hind. sīsū, sīsūn, shīsham, Skt. śinśapā; Ar. sāsam, sāsim; the tree Dalbergia Sissoo, Roxb. (N.O. Leguminosae) and its wood. This is excellent, and valuable for construction, joinery, boat- and carriage-building, and furniture. It was the favourite wood for gun-carriages as long as the supply of large timber lasted. It is now much cultivated in the Punjab plantations. The tree is indigenous in the sub-Himālayan tracts; and believed to be so likewise in Beluchistan, Guzerat, and Central India. Another sp. of Dalbergia (D. latifolia) affords the Black Wood (q.v.) of S. and W. India. There can be little doubt that one or more of these species of Dalbergia afforded the sesamine wood spoken of in the Periplus, and in some old Arabic writers. A quotation under Black Wood shows that this wood was exported from India to Chaldaea in remote ages. Sissoo has continued in recent times to be exported to Egypt, (see Forskal, quoted by Royle, Hindu Medicine, 128). Royle notices the resemblance of the Biblical shittim wood to shīsham.

c. A.D. 80.—"... Thither they are wont to despatch from Barygaza (Broach) to both these ports of Persia, great vessels with brass, and timbers, and beams of teak (ξύλων σαγαλίνων καὶ δοκῶν) ... and logs of shīsham (φαλάγγων σασαμίνων)...."—Periplus, Maris Erythr., cap. 36.

c. 545.—"These again are passed on from Sielediba to the marts on this side, such as Malé, where the pepper is grown, and Kalliana, whence are exported brass, and shīsham logs (σησαμίνα ξύλα), and other wares."—Cosmas, lib. xi.

? before 1200.—

"There are the wolf and the parrot, and the peacock, and the dove,

And the plant of Zinj, and al-sāsim, and pepper...."

Verses on India by Abu'l-ḍhal'i, the Sindi,

quoted by Kazvīnī, in Gildemeister, p. 218.

1810.—"Sissoo grows in most of the great forests, intermixed with saul.... This wood is extraordinarily hard and heavy, of a dark brown, inclining to a purple tint when polished."—Williamson, V.M. ii. 71.

1839.—"As I rode through the city one day I saw a considerable quantity of timber lying in an obscure street. On examining it I found it was shīsham, a wood of the most valuable kind, being not liable to the attacks of white ants."—Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, ed. 1851, p. 102.

SITTING-UP. A curious custom, in vogue at the Presidency towns more than a century ago, and the nature of which is indicated by the quotations. Was it of Dutch origin?

1777.—"Lady Impey sits up with Mrs. Hastings; vulgo toad-eating."—Ph. Francis's Diary, quoted in Busteed, Echoes of Old Calcutta, 124; [3rd ed. 125].

1780.—"When a young lady arrives at Madras, she must, in a few days afterwards sit up to receive company, attended by some beau or master of the ceremonies, which perhaps continues for a week, or until she has seen all the fair sex, and gentlemen of the settlement."—Munro's Narr., 56.

1795.—"You see how many good reasons there are against your scheme of my taking horse instantly, and hastening to throw myself at the lady's feet; as to the other, of proxy, I can only agree to it under certain conditions.... I am not to be forced to sit up, and receive male or female visitors.... I am not to be obliged to deliver my opinion on patterns for caps or petticoats for any lady...."—T. Munro to his Sister, in Life, i. 169.

1810.—"Among the several justly exploded ceremonies we may reckon that ... of 'Sitting up.'... This 'Sitting up,' as it was termed, generally took place at the house of some lady of rank or fortune, who, for three successive nights, threw open her mansion for the purpose of receiving all ... who chose to pay their respects to such ladies as might have recently arrived in the country."—Williamson, V.M. i. 113.

SITTRINGY, s. Hind. from Ar. shiṭranjī, shaṭranjī, and that from Pers. shaṭrang, 'chess,' which is again of Skt. origin, chaturanga, 'quadripartite' (see SADRAS). A carpet of coloured cotton, now usually made in stripes, but no doubt originally, as the name implies, in chequers.

1648.—"... Een andere soorte van slechte Tapijten die mẽ noemt Chitrenga."—Van Twist, 63.

1673.—"They pull off their Slippers, and after the usual Salams, seat themselves in Choultries, open to some Tank of purling Water; commonly spread with Carpets or Siturngees."—Fryer, 93.

[1688.—"2 citterengees."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxv.]

1785.—"To be sold by public auction ... the valuable effects of Warren Hastings, Esquire ... carpets and sittringees."—In Seton-Karr, i. 111.

SIWALIK, n.p. This is the name now applied distinctively to that outer range of tertiary hills which in various parts of the Himālaya runs parallel to the foot of the mountain region, separated from it by valleys known in Upper India as dūns (see DHOON). But this special and convenient sense (d) has been attributed to the term by modern Anglo-Indian geographers only. Among the older Mahommedan historians the term Siwālikh is applied to a territory to the west of and perhaps embracing the Aravalli Hills, but certainly including specifically Nagore (Nāgaur) and Mandāwar the predecessor of modern Jodhpūr, and in the vicinity of that city. This application is denoted by (a).

In one or two passages we find the application of the name (Siwālikh) extending a good deal further south, as if reaching to the vicinity of Mālwā. Such instances we have grouped under (b). But it is possible that the early application (a) habitually extended thus far.

At a later date the name is applied to the Himālaya; either to the range in its whole extent, as in the passages from Chereffedin (Sharīffuddīn 'Ali of Yezd) and from Baber; sometimes with a possible limitation to that part of the mountains which overlooks the Punjab; or, as the quotation from Rennell indicates, with a distinction between the less lofty region nearest the plains, and the Alpine summits beyond, Siwālik applying to the former only.

The true Indian form of the name is, we doubt not, to be gathered from the occurrence, in a list of Indian national names, in the Vishnu Purāna, of the Saivālas. But of the position of these we can only say that the nations, with whom the context immediately associates them, seem to lie towards the western part of Upper India. (See Wilson's Works, Vishnu Purāna, ii. 175.) The popular derivation of Siwālik as given in several of the quotations below, is from sawalākh, 'One lākh and a quarter'; but this is of no more value than most popular etymologies.

We give numerous quotations to establish the old application of the term, because this has been somewhat confused in Elliot's extracts by the interpolated phrase 'Siwálik Hills,' where it is evident from Raverty's version of the Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣirī that there is no such word as Hills in the original.

We have said that the special application of the term to the detached sub-Himālayan range is quite modern. It seems in fact due to that very eminent investigator in many branches of natural science, Dr. Hugh Falconer; at least we can find no trace of it before the use of the term by him in papers presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It is not previously used, so far as we can discover, even by Royle; nor is it known to Jacquemont, who was intimately associated with Royle and Cautley, at Sahāranpūr, very shortly before Falconer's arrival there. Jacquemont (Journal, ii. 11) calls the range: "la première chaine de montagnes que j'appellerai les montagnes de Dehra." The first occurrence that we can find is in a paper by Falconer on the 'Aptitude of the Himālayan Range for the Culture of the Tea Plant,' in vol. iii. of the J. As. Soc. Bengal, which we quote below. A year later, in the account of the Sivatherium fossil, by Falconer and Cautley, in the As. Researches, we have a fuller explanation of the use of the term Siwālik, and its alleged etymology.

It is probable that there may have been some real legendary connection of the hills in the vicinity with the name of Śiva. For in some of the old maps, such as that in Bernier's Travels, we find Siba given as the name of a province about Hurdwār; and the same name occurs in the same connection in the Mem. of the Emperor Jahāngīr (Elliot, vi. 382). [On the connection of Siva worship with the lower Himālaya, see Atkinson, Himalayan Gazetteer, ii. 743.]

a.—

1118.—"Again he rebelled, and founded the fortress of Nāghawr, in the territory of Siwālikh, in the neighbourhood of Bīrah(?)."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Nāṣirī, E.T. by Raverty, 110.

1192.—"The seat of government, Ajmīr, with the whole of the Siwālikh [territory], such as (?) Hānsi, Sursutī, and other tracts, were subjugated."—Ibid. 468-469.

1227.—"A year subsequent to this, in 624 H., he (Sultan Iyaltimish) marched against the fort of Manḍawar within the limits of the Siwālikh [territory], and its capture, likewise the Almighty God facilitated for him."—Ibid. 611.

c. 1247.—"... When the Sultan of Islam, Nāṣir-ud Dunyā-wa-ud-Dīn, ascended the throne of sovereignty ... after Malik Balban had come [to Court?] he, on several occasions made a request for Uchchah together with Multan. This was acquiesced in, under the understanding that the Siwālikh [territory] and Nāg-awr should be relinquished by him to other Maliks...."—Ibid. 781.

1253.—"When the new year came round, on Tuesday, the 1st of the month of Muḥarram, 651 H., command was given to Ulugh Khān-i-A'z̤am ... to proceed to his fiefs, the territory of Siwālikh and Hānsī."—Ibid. 693.

1257.—"Malik Balban ... withdrew (from Dehli), and by way of the Siwālikh [country], and with a slight retinue, less than 200 or 300 in number, returned to Uchchah again."—Ibid. 786.

1255.—"When the royal tent was pitched at Talh-pat, the [contingent] forces of the Siwālikh [districts], which were the fiefs of Ulugh Khān-i-A'z̤am, had been delayed ... (he) set out for Hānsī ... (and there) issued his mandate, so that, in the space of 14 days, the troops of the Siwālikh, Hānsī, Sursutī, Jīnd [Jhīnd], and Barwālah ... assembled...."—Ibid. 837.

1260.—"Ulugh Khān-i-A'z̤am resolved upon making a raid upon the Koh-pāyah [hill tracts of Mewāt] round about the capital, because in this ... there was a community of obdurate rebels, who, unceasingly, committed highway robbery, and plundered the property of Musalmāns ... and destruction of the villages in the districts of Harīānah, the Siwālikh, and Bhīānah, necessarily followed their outbreaks."—Ibid. 850.

1300-10.—"The Mughals having wasted the Siwálik, had moved some distance off. When they and their horses returned weary and thirsty to the river, the army of Islám, which had been waiting for them some days, caught them as they expected...."—Ziā-uddīn Barnī, in Elliot, iii. 199.

b.—

c. 1300.—"Of the cities on the shore the first is Sandabúr, then Faknúr, then the country of Manjarúr, then the country of (Fandarainá), then Jangli (Jinkali), then Kúlam.... After these comes the country of Sawálak, which comprises 125,000 cities and villages. After that comes Málwála" (but in some MSS. Málwá).—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 68. Rashīduddīn has got apparently much astray here, for he brings in the Siwālik territory at the far end of Malabar. But the mention of Mālwā as adjoining is a probable indication of the true position. (Elliot imagines here some allusion to the Maldives and Laccadives. All in that way that seems possible is that Rashīduddīn may have heard of the Maldives and made some jumble between them and Mālwā). And this is in a manner confirmed by the next quotation from a Portuguese writer who places the region inland from Guzerat.

1644.—"It confines ... on the east with certain kingdoms of heathen, which are called Saualacca prabatta (Skt. parvata), as much as to say 120,000 mountains."—Bocarro, MS.

c.—

1399.—"Le Détroit de Coupelé est situé au pied d'une montagne par où passe le Gange, et à quinze milles plus haut que ce Détroit il y a une pierre en forme de Vache, de laquelle sort la source de ce grand Fleuve; c'est la cause pour laquelle les Indous adorent cette pierre, et dans tous les pays circonvoisins jusques à une année de chemin, ils se tournent pour prier du côté de ce Détroit et de cette Vache de pierre.... Cependant on eut avis que dans la montagne de Soüalec, qui est une des plus considerables de l'Inde, et qui s'étend dans le deux tiers de ce grand Empire, il s'étoit assemblé un grand nombre d'Indiens qui cherchoient à nous faire insulte."—H. de Timur-Bec, par Chereffedin Ali d'Yezd (Fr. Tr. by Petis de la Croix), Delf, 1723, iii. ch. xxv.-xxvi.

1528.—"The northern range of hills has been mentioned ... after leaving Kashmîr, these hills contain innumerable tribes and states, pergannahs and countries, and extend all the way to Bengal and the shores of the Great Ocean.... The chief trade of the inhabitants of these hills is in musk-bags, the tails of the mountain cow, saffron, lead, and copper. The natives of Hind call these hills Sewâlik-Parbat. In the language of Hind Sawalâk means a lak and a quarter (or 125,000), and Parbat means a hill, that is, the 125,000 hills. On these hills the snow never melts, and from some parts of Hindustán, such as Lahore, Sehrend, and Sambal, it is seen white on them all the year round."—Baber, p. 313.

c. 1545.—"Sher Sháh's dying regrets.

"On being remonstrated with for giving way to low spirits, when he had done so much for the good of the people during his short reign, after earnest solicitation, he said, 'I have had three or four desires on my heart, which still remain without accomplishment.... One is, I wished to have depopulated the country of Roh, and to have transferred its inhabitants to the tract between the Niláb and Lahore, including the hills below Nindūna as far as the Siwálik.'"—Táríkh-Khán Jahán Lodí, in Elliot, v. 107-8. Nindūna was on Balnāth, a hill over the Jelam (compare Elliot, ii. 450-1).

c. 1547-8.—"After their defeat the Níázís took refuge with the Ghakkars, in the hill-country bordering on Kashmír. Islám Sháh ... during the space of two years was engaged in constant conflicts with the Ghakkars, whom he desired to subdue.... Skirting the hills he went thence to Múrín (?), and all the Rájás of the Siwálik presented themselves.... Parsurám, the Rájá of Gwálior, became a staunch servant of the King ... Gwálior is a hill, which is on the right hand towards the South, amongst the hills, as you go to Kángra and Nagarkot." (See NUGGURCOTE).—Táríkh-i-Dáúdí, in Elliot, iv. 493-4.

c. 1555.—"The Imperial forces encountered the Afghans near the Siwálik mountains, and gained a victory which elicited gracious marks of approval from the Emperor. Sikandar took refuge in the mountains and jungles.... Rájá Rám Chand, Rájá of Nagarkot, was the most renowned of all the Rájás of the hills, and he came and made his submission."—Ṭabaḳát-i-Akbarí, in Elliot, v. 248.

c. 1560.—"The Emperor (Akbar) then marched onwards towards the Siwálik hills, in pursuit of the Khán-Khánán. He reached the neighbourhood of Talwára, a district in the Siwálik, belonging to Rájá Gobind Chand.... A party of adventurous soldiers dashed forward into the hills, and surrounding the place put many of the defenders to the sword."—Ibid. 267.

c. 1570.—"Husain Khán ... set forth from Lucknow with the design of breaking down the idols, and demolishing the idol temples. For false reports of their unbounded treasures had come to his ears. He proceeded through Oudh, towards the Siwálik hills.... He then ravaged the whole country, as far as the Kasbah of Wajráíl, in the country of Rájá Ranka, a powerful zamíndár, and from that town to Ajmír which is his capital."—Badáúni, in Elliot, iv. 497.

1594-5.—"The force marched to the Siwálik hills, and the Bakhshí resolved to begin by attacking Jammú, one of the strongest forts of that country."—Akbar Náma, in Elliot, v. 125.

c. " "Rám Deo ... returned to Kanauj ... after that he marched into the Siwálik hills, and made all the zamíndárs tributary. The Rájá of Kamáún ... came out against Rám Deo and gave him battle."—Firishta's Introduction, in Elliot, vi. 561.

1793.—"Mr. Daniel, with a party, also visited Sirinagur the same year [1789]: ... It is situated in an exceedingly deep and very narrow valley; formed by Mount Sewalick, the northern boundary of Hindoostan, on the one side; and the vast range of snowy mountains of Himmaleh or Imaus, on the other; and from the report of the natives, it would appear, that the nearest part of the base of the latter (on which snow was actually falling in the month of May), was not more than 14 or 15 G. miles in direct distance to the N. or N.E. of Sirinagur town.

"In crossing the mountains of Sewalick, they met with vegetable productions, proper to the temperate climates."—Rennell's Mem., ed. 1793, pp. [368-369].

d.—

1834.—"On the flank of the great range there is a line of low hills, the Sewalik, which commence at Roopur, on the Satlej, and run down a long way to the south, skirting the great chain. In some places they run up to, and rise upon, the Himálayas; in others, as in this neighbourhood (Seháranpur), they are separated by an intermediate valley. Between the Jumna and Ganges they attain their greatest height, which Capt. Herbert estimates at 2,000 feet above the plains at their foot, or 3,000 above the sea. Seháranpur is about 1,000 feet above the sea. About 25 miles north are the Sewálik hills."—Falconer, in J.A.S.B. iii. 182.

1835.—"We have named the fossil Sivatherium from Siva the Hindu god, and θηρίον, bellua. The Siválik, or Sub-Himalayan range of hills, is considered, in the Hindu mythology, as the Lútiah or edge of the roof of Siva's dwelling on the Himálaya, and hence they are called the Siva-ala or Sib-ala, which by an easy transition of sound became the Sewálik of the English.

"The fossil has been discovered in a tract which may be included in the Sewálik range, and we have given the name of Sivatherium to it, to commemorate the remarkable formation, so rich in new animals. Another derivation of the name of the hills, as explained by the Mahant, or High Priest at Dehra, is as follows:—

"Sewálik, a corruption of Siva-wála, a name given to the tract of mountains between the Jumna and Ganges, from having been the residence of Iswara Siva and his son Ganes."—Falconer and Cautley, in As. Res., xix. p. 2.

1879.—"These fringing ranges of the later formations are known generally as the Sub-Himalayas. The most important being the Siwálik hills, a term especially applied to the hills south of the Deyra Dún, but frequently employed in a wider sense."—Medlicott and Blanford, Man. of the Geology of India, Intro. p. x.

[1899.—Even so late as this year the old inaccurate etymology of the word appears: "The term Shewalic is stated by one of the native historians to be a combination of two Hindee words 'sewa' and 'lae' (sic), the word 'sewa' signifying one and a quarter, and the word 'lae' being the term which expresses the number of one hundred thousand."—Thornhill, Haunts and Hobbies, 213.]

SKEEN, s. Tib. skyin. The Himalayan Ibex; (Capra Sibirica, Meyer). [See Blanford, Mammalia, 503.]

SLAVE. We cannot now attempt a history of the former tenure of slaves in British India, which would be a considerable work in itself. We only gather a few quotations illustrating that history.

1676.—"Of three Theeves, two were executed and one made a Slave. We do not approve of putting any to death for theft, nor that any of our own nation should be made a Slave, a word that becomes not an Englishman's mouth."—The Court to Ft. St. Geo., March 7. In Notes and Exts. No. i. p. 18.

1682.—"... making also proclamation by beat of drum that if any Slave would run away from us he should be free, and liberty to go where they pleased."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 14; [Hak. Soc. i. 38].

[ " "There being a great number of Slaves yearly exported from this place, to ye great grievance of many persons whose Children are very commonly stollen away from them, by those who are constant traders in this way, the Agent, &c., considering the Scandall that might accrue to ye Government, &c., the great losse that many parents may undergoe by such actions, have order'd that noe more Slaves be sent off the shoare again."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo., 1st ser. i. 70.]

1752.—"Sale of Slaves ... Rs. 10 : 1 : 3."—Among Items of Revenue. In Long, 34.

1637.—"We have taken into consideration the most effectual and speedy method for supplying our settlements upon the West Coast with slaves, and we have therefore fixed upon two ships for that purpose ... to proceed from hence to Madagascar to purchase as many as can be procured, and the said ships conveniently carry, who are to be delivered by the captains of those ships to our agents at Fort Marlborough at the rate of £15 a head."—Court's Letter of Dec. 8. In Long, 293.

1764.—"That as an inducement to the Commanders and Chief Mates to exert themselves in procuring as large a number of Slaves as the Ships can conveniently carry, and to encourage the Surgeons to take proper care of them in the passage, there is to be allowed 20 shillings for every slave shipped at Madagascar, to be divided, viz., 13s. 4d. a head to the Commander, and 6s. 8d. to the Chief Mate, also for every one delivered at Fort Marlborough the Commander is to be allowed the further sum of 6s. 8d. and the Chief Mate 3s. 4d. The Surgeon is likewise to be allowed 10s. for each slave landed at Fort Marlborough."—Court's Letter, Feb. 22. In Long, 366.

1778.—Mr. Busteed has given some curious extracts from the charge-sheet of the Calcutta Magistrate in this year, showing slaves and slave-girls, of Europeans, Portuguese, and Armenians, sent to the magistrate to be punished with the rattan for running away and such offences.—Echoes of Old Calcutta, 117 seqq. [Also see extracts from newspapers, &c., in Carey, Good Old Days, ii. 71 seqq.].

1782.—"On Monday the 29th inst. will be sold by auction ... a bay Buggy Horse, a Buggy and Harness ... some cut Diamonds, a quantity of China Sugarcandy ... a quantity of the best Danish Claret ... deliverable at Serampore; two Slave Girls about 6 years old; and a great variety of other articles."—India Gazette, July 27.

1785.—"Malver. Hair-dresser from Europe, proposes himself to the ladies of the settlement to dress hair daily, at two gold mohurs per month, in the latest fashion, with gauze flowers, &c. He will also instruct the slaves at a moderate price."—In Seton-Karr, i. 119. This was surely a piece of slang. Though we hear occasionally, in the advertisements of the time, of slave boys and girls, the domestic servants were not usually of that description.

1794.—"50 Rupees Reward for Discovery.

"Run off about four Weeks ago from a Gentleman in Bombay, A Malay Slave called Cambing or Rambing. He stole a Silk Purse, with 45 Venetians, and some Silver Buttons...."—Bombay Courier, Feb. 22.

SLING, SELING, n.p. This is the name used in the Himalayan regions for a certain mart in the direction of China which supplies various articles of trade. Its occurrence in Trade Returns at one time caused some discussion as to its identity, but there can be no doubt that it is Si-ning (Fu) in Kan-su. The name Sling is also applied, in Ladak and the Punjab, to a stuff of goat's wool made at the place so called.

c. 1730.—"Kokonor is also called Tzongombo, which means blue lake.... The Tibetans pretend that this lake belongs to them, and that the limits of Tibet adjoin those of the town of Shilin or Shilingh."—P. Orazio della Penna, E.T. in Markham's Tibet, 2d ed. 314.

1774.—"The natives of Kashmir, who like the Jews of Europe, or the Armenians in the Turkish Empire, scatter themselves over the Eastern kingdoms of Asia ... have formed extensive establishments at Lhasa and all the principal towns in the country. Their agents, stationed on the coast of Coromandel, in Bengal, Benares, Nepal, and Kashmir, furnish them with the commodities of these different countries, which they dispose of in Tibet, or forward to their associates at Seling, a town on the borders of China."—Bogle's Narrative, in Markham's Tibet, 124.

1793.—"... it is certain that the product of their looms (i.e. of Tibet and Nepaul) is as inconsiderable in quantity as it is insignificant in quality. The Joos (read TOOS) or flannel procured from the former, were it really a fabric of Tibet, would perhaps be admitted as an exception to the latter part of this observation; but the fact is that it is made at Siling, a place situated on the western borders of China."—Kirkpatrick's Acc. of Nepaul (1811), p. 134.

1854.—"List of Chinese Articles brought to India.... Siling, a soft and silky woollen of two kinds—1. Shirún. 2. Gorún."—Cunningham's Ladak, 241-2.

1862.—"Sling is a 'Pushmina' (fine wool) cloth, manufactured of goat-wool, taken from Karashaihr and Urumchi, and other districts of Turkish China, in a Chinese town called Sling."—Punjab Trade Report, App. p. ccxxix.

1871.—"There were two Calmucks at Yârkand, who had belonged to the suite of the Chinese Ambân.... Their own home they say is Zilm" (qu. Zilin?) "a country and town distant 1½ month's journey from either Aksoo or Khoten, and at an equal distance in point of time from Lhassa.... Zilm possesses manufactures of carpets, horse-trappings, pen-holders, &c.... This account is confirmed by the fact that articles such as those described are imported occasionally into Ladák, under the name of Zilm or Zirm goods.

"Now if the town of Zilm is six weeks journey from either Lhassa or Aksoo, its position may be guessed at."—Shaw, Visits to High Tartary, 38.

SLOTH, s. In the usual way of transferring names which belong to other regions, this name is sometimes applied in S. India to the Lemur (Loris gracilis, Jerdon).

SNAKE-STONE, s. This is a term applied to a substance, the application of which to the part where a snake-bite has taken effect, is supposed to draw out the poison and render it innocuous. Such applications are made in various parts of the Old and New Worlds. The substances which have this reputation are usually of a porous kind, and when they have been chemically examined have proved to be made of charred bone, or the like. There is an article in the 13th vol. of the Asiatic Researches by Dr. J. Davy, entitled An Analysis of the Snake-Stone, in which the results of the examination of three different kinds, all obtained from Sir Alex. Johnstone, Chief Justice of Ceylon, is given. (1) The first kind was of round or oval form, black or brown in the middle, white towards the circumference, polished and somewhat lustrous, and pretty enough to be sometimes worn as a neck ornament; easily cut with a knife, but not scratched by the nail. When breathed on it emitted an earthy smell, and when applied to the tongue, or other moist surface, it adhered firmly. This kind proved to be of bone partially calcined. (2) We give below a quotation regarding the second kind. (3) The third was apparently a bezoar, (q.v.), rather than a snake-stone. There is another article in the As. Res. xvi. 382 seqq. by Captain J. D. Herbert, on Zehr Mohereh, or Snake-Stone. Two kinds are described which were sold under the name given (Zahr muhra, where zahr is 'poison,' muhra, 'a kind of polished shell,' 'a bead,' applied to a species of bezoar). Both of these were mineral, and not of the class we are treating of.

c. 1666.—"C'est dans cette Ville de Diu que se font les Pierres de Cobra si renommées: elles sont composées de racines qu'on brûle, et dont on amasse les cendres pour les mettre avec une sorte de terre qu'ils ont, et les brûler encore une fois avec cette terre; et après cela on en fait la pâte dont ces Pierres sont formées.... Il faut faire sortir avec une éguille, un peu de sang de la plaie, y appliquer la Pierre, et l'y laisser jusqu'à ce qu'elle tombe d'elle même."—Thevenot, v. 97.

1673.—"Here are also those Elephant Legged St. Thomeans, which the unbiassed Enquirers will tell you chances to them two ways: By the Venom of a certain Snake, by which the Jaugies (see JOGEE) or Pilgrims furnish them with a Factitious Stone (which we call a snake-stone), and is a Counter-poyson of all deadly Bites; if it stick, it attracts the Poyson; and put into Milk it recovers itself again, leaving its virulency therein, discovered by its Greenness."—Fryer, 53.

c. 1676.—"There is the Serpent's stone not to be forgot, about the bigness of a double (doubloon?); and some are almost oval, thick in the middle and thin about the sides. The Indians report that it is bred in the head of certain Serpents. But I rather take it to be a story of the Idoloter's Priests, and that the Stone is rather a composition of certain Drugs.... If the Person bit be not much wounded, the place must be incis'd; and the Stone being appli'd thereto, will not fall off till it has drawn all the poison to it: To cleanse it you must steep it in Womans-milk, or for want of that, in Cows-milk.... There are two ways to try whether the Serpent-stone be true or false. The first is, by putting the Stone in your mouth, for there it will give a leap, and fix to the Palate. The other is by putting it in a glass full of water; for if the Stone be true, the water will fall a boyling, and rise in little bubbles...."—Tavernier, E.T., Pt. ii. 155; [ed. Ball, ii. 152]. Tavernier also speaks of another snake-stone alleged to be found behind the hood of the Cobra: "This Stone being rubb'd against another Stone, yields a slime, which being drank in water," &c. &c.—Ibid.

1690.—"The thing which he carried ... is a Specific against the Poison of Snakes ... and therefore obtained the name of Snake-stone. It is a small artificial Stone.... The Composition of it is Ashes of burnt Roots, mixt with a kind of Earth, which is found at Diu...."—Ovington, 260-261.

1712.—"Pedra de Cobra: ita dictus lapis, vocabulo a Lusitanis imposito, adversus viperarum morsus praestat auxilium, externè applicatus. In serpente, quod vulgò credunt, non invenitur, sed arte secretâ fabricatur à Brahmanis. Pro dextro et felici usu, oportet adesse geminos, ut cum primus veneno saturatus vulnusculo decidit, alter surrogari illico in locum possit.... Quo ipso feror, ut istis lapidibus nihil efficaciæ inesse credam, nisi quam actuali frigiditate suâ, vel absorbendo praestant."—Kaempfer, Amoen. Exot. 395-7.

1772.—"Being returned to Roode-Zand, the much celebrated Snake-stone (Slange-steen) was shown to me, which few of the farmers here could afford to purchase, it being sold at a high price, and held in great esteem. It is imported from the Indies, especially from Malabar, and cost several, frequently 10 or 12, rix dollars. It is round, and convex on one side, of a black colour, with a pale ash-grey speck in the middle, and tubulated with very minute pores.... When it is applied to any part that has been bitten by a serpent, it sticks fast to the wound, and extracts the poison; as soon as it is saturated, it falls off of itself...."—Thunberg, Travels, E.T. i. 155 (A Journey into Caffraria).

1796.—"Of the remedies to which cures of venomous bites are often ascribed in India, some are certainly not less frivolous than those employed in Europe for the bite of the viper; yet to infer from thence that the effects of the poison cannot be very dangerous, would not be more rational than to ascribe the recovery of a person bitten by a Cobra de Capello, to the application of a snake-stone, or to the words muttered over the patient by a Bramin."—Patrick Russell, Account of Indian Serpents, 77.

1820.—"Another kind of snake-stone ... was a small oval body, smooth and shining, externally black, internally grey; it had no earthy smell when breathed on, and had no absorbent or adhesive power. By the person who presented it to Sir Alexander Johnstone it was much valued, and for adequate reason if true, 'it had saved the lives of four men.'"—Dr. Davy, in As. Res. xiii. 318.

1860.—"The use of the Pamboo-Kaloo, or snake-stone, as a remedy in cases of wounds by venomous serpents, has probably been communicated to the Singhalese by the itinerant snake-charmers who resort to the island from the Coast of Coromandel; and more than one well-authenticated instance of its successful application has been told to me by persons who had been eye-witnesses."... (These follow.) "... As to the snake-stone itself, I submitted one, the application of which I have been describing, to Mr. Faraday, and he has communicated to me, as the result of his analysis, his belief that it is 'a piece of charred bone which has been filled with blood, perhaps several times, and then charred again.'... The probability is, that the animal charcoal, when instantaneously applied, may be sufficiently porous and absorbent to extract the venom from the recent wound, together with a portion of the blood, before it has had time to be carried into the system...."—Tennent, Ceylon, i. 197-200.

1861.—"'Have you been bitten?' 'Yes, Sahib,' he replied, calmly; 'the last snake was a vicious one, and it has bitten me. But there is no danger,' he added, extracting from the recesses of his mysterious bag a small piece of white stone. This he wetted, and applied to the wound, to which it seemed to adhere ... he apparently suffered no ... material hurt. I was thus effectually convinced that snake-charming is a real art, and not merely clever conjuring, as I had previously imagined. These so-called snake stones are well known throughout India."—Lt.-Col. T. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 91-92.

1872.—"With reference to the snake-stones, which, when applied to the bites, are said to absorb and suck out the poison, ... I have only to say that I believe they are perfectly powerless to produce any such effect ... when we reflect on the quantity of poison, and the force and depth with and to which it is injected ... and the extreme rapidity with which it is hurried along in the vascular system to the nerve centres, I think it is obvious that the application of one of these stones can be of little use in a real bite of a deadly snake, and that a belief in their efficacy is a dangerous delusion."—Fayrer, Thanatophidia of India, pp. 38, 40.

[1880.—"It is stated that in the pouch-like throat appendages of the older birds (adjutants), the fang of a snake is sometimes to be found. This, if rubbed above the place where a poisonous snake has bitten a man, is supposed to prevent the venom spreading to the vital parts of the body. Again, it is believed that a so-called 'snake-stone' is contained within the head of the adjutant. This, if applied to a snake-bite, attaches itself to the punctures, and extracts all the venom...."—Ball, Jungle Life, 82.]

SNEAKER, s. A large cup (or small basin) with a saucer and cover. The native servants call it sīnīgar. We had guessed that it was perhaps formed in some way from ṣīnī in the sense of 'china-ware,' or from the same word, used in Ar. and Pers., in the sense of 'a salver' (see CHINA, s.). But we have since seen that the word is not only in Grose's Lexicon Balatronicum, with the explanation 'a small bowl,' but is also in Todd: 'A small vessel of drink.' A sneaker of punch is a term still used in several places for a small bowl; and in fact it occurs in the Spectator and other works of the 18th century. So the word is of genuine English origin; no doubt of a semi-slang kind.

1714.—"Our little burlesque authors, who are the delight of ordinary readers, generally abound in these pert phrases, which have in them more vivacity than wit. I lately saw an instance of this kind of writing, which gave me so truly an idea of it, that I could not forbear begging a copy of the letter....

"Past 2 o'clock and

a frosty morning.

"Dear Jack,

"I have just left the Right Worshipful and his myrmidons about a sneaker of 5 gallons. The whole magistracy was pretty well disguised before I gave them the slip."

The Spectator, No. 616.

1715.—

"Hugh Peters is making

A sneaker within

For Luther, Buchanan,

John Knox, and Calvin;

And when they have toss'd off

A brace of full bowls,

You'll swear you ne'er met

With honester souls."

Bp. Burnett's Descent into Hell.

In Political Ballads of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Annotated by W. W. Wilkins, 1860, ii. 172.

1743.—"Wild ... then retired to his seat of contemplation, a night-cellar, where, without a single farthing in his pocket, he called for a sneaker of punch, and placing himself on a bench by himself, he softly vented the following soliloquy."—Fielding, Jonathan Wild, Bk. ii. ch. iv.

1772.—"He received us with great cordiality, and entreated us all, five in number, to be seated in a bungalow, where there were only two broken chairs. This compliment we could not accept of; he then ordered five sneakers of a mixture which he denominated punch."—Letter in Forbes, Or. Mem. iv. 217.

[SNOW RUPEE, s. A term in use in S. India, which is an excellent example of a corruption of the 'Hobson-Jobson' type. It is an Anglo-Indian corruption of the Tel. tsanauvu, 'authority, currency.']

SOFALA, n.p. Ar. Sufāla, a district and town of the East African coast, the most remote settlement towards the south made upon that coast by the Arabs. The town is in S. Lat. 20° 10′, more that 2° south of the Zambesi delta. The territory was famous in old days for the gold produced in the interior, and also for iron. It was not visited by V. da Gama either in going or returning.

c. 1150.—"This section embraces the description of the remainder of the country of Sofāla.... The inhabitants are poor, miserable, and without resources to support them except iron; of this metal there are numerous mines in the mountains of Sofāla. The people of the islands ... come hither for iron, which they carry to the continent and islands of India ... for although there is iron in the islands and in the mines of that country, it does not equal the iron of Sofāla."—Edrisi, i. 65.

c. 1220.—"Sofāla is the most remote known city in the country of the Zenj ... wares are carried to them, and left by the merchants who then go away, and coming again find that the natives have laid down the price [they are willing to give] for every article beside it.... Sofālī gold is well-known among the Zenj merchants."—Yāḳūt, Mu'jam al-Buldān, s.v.

In his article on the gold country, Yāḳūt describes the kind of dumb trade in which the natives decline to come face to face with the merchants at greater length. It is a practice that has been ascribed to a great variety of uncivilized races; e.g. in various parts of Africa; in the extreme north of Europe and of Asia; in the Clove Islands; to the Veddas of Ceylon, to the Poliars of Malabar, and (by Pliny, surely under some mistake) to the Seres or Chinese. See on this subject a note in Marco Polo, Bk. iv. ch. 21; a note by Mr. De B. Priaulx, in J. R. As. Soc., xviii. 348 (in which several references are erroneously printed); Tennent's Ceylon, i. 593 seqq.; Rawlinson's Herodotus, under Bk. iv. ch. 196.

c. 1330.—"Sofāla is situated in the country of the Zenj. According to the author of the Kánún, the inhabitants are Muslim. Ibn Ṡayd says that their chief means of subsistence are the extraction of gold and of iron, and that their clothes are of leopard-skin."—Abulfeda, Fr. Tr. i. 222.

" "A merchant told me that the town of Sofāla is a half month's march distant from Culua (Quiloa), and that from Sofāla to Yūfī (Nūfī) ... is a month's march. From Yūfī they bring gold-dust to Sofāla."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 192-3.

1499.—"Coming to Mozambique (i.e. Vasco and his squadron on their return) they did not desire to go in because there was no need, so they kept their course, and being off the coast of Çofala, the pilots warned the officers that they should be alert and ready to strike sail, and at night they should keep their course, with little sail set, and a good look-out, for just thereabouts there was a river belonging to a place called Çofala, whence there sometimes issued a tremendous squall, which tore up trees and carried cattle and all into the sea...."—Correa, Lendas, i. 134-135.

1516.—"... at xviii. leagues from them there is a river, which is not very large, whereon is a town of the Moors called Sofala, close to which town the King of Portugal has a fort. These Moors established themselves there a long time ago on account of the great trade in gold, which they carry on with the Gentiles of the mainland."—Barbosa, 4.

1523.—"Item—that as regards all the ships and goods of the said Realm of Urmuz, and its ports and vassals, they shall be secure by land and by sea, and they shall be as free to navigate where they please as vassals of the King our lord, save only that they shall not navigate inside the Strait of Mecca, nor yet to Çoffala and the ports of that coast, as that is forbidden by the King our lord...."—Treaty of Dom Duarto de Menezes, with the King of Ormuz, in Botelho, Tombo, 80.

1553.—"Vasco da Gama ... was afraid that there was some gulf running far inland, from which he would not be able to get out. And this apprehension made him so careful to keep well from the shore that he passed without even seeing the town of Çofala, so famous in these parts for the quantity of gold which the Moors procured there from the Blacks of the country by trade...."—Barros, I. iv. 3.

1572.—

"... Fizemos desta costa algum desvio

Deitando para o pégo toda a armada:

Porque, ventando Noto manso e frio,

Não nos apanhasse a agua da enseada,

Que a costa faz alli daquella banda,

Donde a rica Sofala o ouro manda."

Camões, v. 73.

By Burton:

"off from the coast-line for a spell we stood,

till deep blue water 'neath our kelsons lay;

for frigid Notus, in his fainty mood,

was fain to drive us leewards to the Bay

made in that quarter by the crookèd shore,

whence rich Sofála sendeth golden ore."

1665.—

"Mombaza and Quiloa and Melind,

And Sofala, thought Ophir, to the realm

Of Congo, and Angola farthest south."

Paradise Lost, xi. 399 seqq.

Milton, it may be noticed, misplaces the accent, reading Sófala.

1727.—"Between Delagoa and Mosambique is a dangerous Sea-coast, it was formerly known by the names of Suffola and Cuama, but now by the Portuguese, who know that country best, is called Sena."—A. Hamilton, i. 8 [ed. 1744].

SOLA, vulg. SOLAR, s. This is properly Hind. sholā, corrupted by the Bengālī inability to utter the shibboleth, to solā, and often again into solar by English people, led astray by the usual "striving after meaning." Sholā is the name of the plant Aeschynomene aspera, L. (N.O. Leguminosae), and is particularly applied to the light pith of that plant, from which the light thick Sola topees, or pith hats, are made. The material is also used to pad the roofs of palankins, as a protection against the sun's power, and for various minor purposes, e.g. for slips of tinder, for making models, &c. The word, until its wide diffusion within the last 45 years, was peculiar to the Bengal Presidency. In the Deccan the thing is called bhenḍ, Mahr. bhenḍa, and in Tamil neṭṭi, ['breaking with a crackle.'] Solar hats are now often advertised in London. [Hats made of elder pith were used in S. Europe in the early 16th century. In Albert Dürer's Diary in the Netherlands (1520-21) we find: "Also Tomasin has given me a plaited hat of elder-pith" (Mrs. Heaton, Life of Albrecht Dürer, 269). Miss Eden, in 1839, speaks of Europeans wearing "broad white feather hats to keep off the sun" (Up the Country, ii. 56). Illustrations of the various shapes of Sola hats used in Bengal about 1854 will be found in Grant, Rural Life in Bengal, 105 seq.]

1836.—"I stopped at a fisherman's, to look at the curiously-shaped floats he used for his very large and heavy fishing-nets; each float was formed of eight pieces of sholā, tied together by the ends.... When this light and spongy pith is wetted, it can be cut into thin layers, which pasted together are formed into hats; Chinese paper appears to be made of the same material."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 100.

1872.—"In a moment the flint gave out a spark of fire, which fell into the solá; the sulphur match was applied; and an earthen lamp...."—Govinda Samanta, i. 10.

1878.—"My solar topee (pith hat) was whisked away during the struggle."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 164.

1885.—"I have slipped a pair of galoshes over my ordinary walking-boots; and, with my solar topee (or sun helmet) on, have ridden through a mile of deserted streets and thronged bazaars, in a grilling sunshine."—A Professional Visit in Persia, St. James's Gazette, March 9.

[SOMBA, SOMBAY, s. A present. Malay sambah-an.

[1614.—"Sombay or presents."—Foster, Letters, ii. 112.

[1615.—"... concluded rather than pay the great Somba of eight hundred reals."—Ibid. iv. 43.]

SOMBRERO, s. Port. sumbreiro. In England we now understand by this word a broad-brimmed hat; but in older writers it is used for an umbrella. Summerhead is a name in the Bombay Arsenal (as M.-Gen. Keatinge tells me) for a great umbrella. I make no doubt that it is a corruption (by 'striving after meaning') of Sombreiro, and it is a capital example of Hobson-Jobson.

1503.—"And the next day the Captain-Major before daylight embarked armed with all his people in the boats, and the King (of Cochin) in his boats which they call tones (see DONEY) ... and in the tone of the King went his Sombreiros, which are made of straw, of a diameter of 4 palms, mounted on very long canes, some 3 or 4 fathoms in height. These are used for state ceremonial, showing that the King is there in person, as it were his pennon or royal banner, for no other lord in his realm may carry the like."—Correa, i. 378.

1516.—"And besides the page I speak of who carries the sword, they take another page who carries a sombreiro with a stand to shade his master, and keep the rain off him; and some of these are of silk stuff finely wrought, with many fringes of gold, and set with stones and seed pearl...."—Barbosa, Lisbon ed. 298.

1553.—"At this time Dom Jorge discerned a great body of men coming towards where he was standing, and amid them a sombreiro on a lofty staff, covering the head of a man on horseback, by which token he knew it to be some noble person. This sombreiro is a fashion in India coming from China, and among the Chinese no one may use it but a gentleman, for it is a token of nobility, which we may describe as a one-handed pallium (having regard to those which we use to see carried by four, at the reception of some great King or Prince on his entrance into a city)...."—Barros, III. x. 9. Then follows a minute description of the sombreiro or umbrella.

[1599.—"... a great broad sombrero or shadow in their hands to defend them in the Summer from the Sunne, and in the Winter from the Raine."—Hakl. II. i. 261 (Stanf. Dict.).

[1602.—In his character of D. Pedro Mascarenhas, the Viceroy, Couto says he was anxious to change certain habits of the Portuguese in India: "One of these was to forbid the tall sombreiros for warding off the rain and sun, to relieve men of the expence of paying those who carried them; he himself did not have one, but used a woollen umbrella with small cords (?), which they called for many years Mascarenhas. Afterwards finding the sun intolerable and the rain immoderate, he permitted the use of tall umbrellas, on the condition that private slaves should bear them, to save the wages of the Hindus who carry them, and are called boys de sombreiro (see BOY)."—Couto, Dec. VII. Bk. i. ch. 12.]

c. 1630.—"Betwixt towns men usually travel in Chariots drawn by Oxen, but in Towns upon Palamkeens, and with Sombreros de Sol over them."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1665, p. 46.

1657.—"A costé du cheval il y a un homme qui esvente Wistnou, afin qu'il ne reçoive point d'incommodité soit par les mouches, ou par la chaleur; et à chaque costé on porte deux Zombreiros, afin que le Soleil ne luise pas sur luy...."—Abr. Roger, Fr. Tr. ed. 1670, p. 223.

1673.—"None but the Emperor have a Sumbrero among the Moguls."—Fryer, 36.

1727.—"The Portuguese ladies ... sent to beg the Favour that he would pick them out some lusty Dutch men to carry their Palenqueens and Somereras or Umbrellas."—A. Hamilton, i. 338; [ed. 1744, i. 340].

1768-71.—"Close behind it, followed the heir-apparent, on foot, under a sambreel, or sunshade, of state."—Stavorinus, E.T. i. 87.

[1845.—"No open umbrellas or summer-heads allowed to pass through the gates."—Public Notice on Gates of Bombay Town, in Douglas, Glimpses of Old Bombay, 86.]

SOMBRERO, CHANNEL OF THE, n.p. The channel between the northern part of the Nicobar group, and the southern part embracing the Great and Little Nicobar, has had this name since the early Portuguese days. The origin of the name is given by A. Hamilton below. The indications in C. Federici and Hamilton are probably not accurate. They do not agree with those given by Horsburgh.

1566.—"Si passa per il canale di Nicubar, ouero per quello del Sombrero, li quali son per mezzo l'isola di Sumatra...."—C. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 391.

1727.—"The Islands off this Part of the Coast are the Nicobars.... The northernmost Cluster is low, and are called the Carnicubars.... The middle Cluster is fine champain Ground, and all but one, well inhabited. They are called the Somerera Islands, because on the South End of the largest Island, is an Hill that resembleth the top of an Umbrella or Somerera."—A. Hamilton, ii. 68 [ed. 1744].

1843.—"Sombrero Channel, bounded on the north by the Islands of Katchull and Noncowry, and by Merve or Passage Island on the South side, is very safe and about seven leagues wide."—Horsburgh, ed. 1843, ii. 59-60.

SONAPARANTA, n.p. This is a quasi-classical name, of Indian origin, used by the Burmese Court in State documents and formal enumerations of the style of the King, to indicate the central part of his dominions; Skt. Suvarna (Pali Sona) prānta (or perhaps aparānta), 'golden frontier-land,' or something like that. There can be little doubt that it is a survival of the names which gave origin to the Chrysē of the Greeks. And it is notable, that the same series of titles embraces Tambadīpa ('Copper Island' or Region) which is also represented by the Chalcitis of Ptolemy. [Also see J. G. Scott, Upper Burma Gazetteer, i. pt. i. 103.]

(Ancient).—"There were two brothers resident in the country called Sunáparanta, merchants who went to trade with 500 wagons...."—Legends of Gotama Buddha, in Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, 259.

1636.—"All comprised within the great districts ... of Tsa-Koo, Tsa-lan, Laygain, Phoung-len, Kalé, and Thoung-thwot is constituted the Kingdom of Thuna-paranta. All within the great districts of Pagán, Ava, Penya, and Myen-Zain, is constituted the Kingdom of Tampadewa...." (&c.)—From an Inscription at the Great Pagoda of Khoug-Mhoo-dau, near Ava; from the MS. Journal of Major H. Burney, accompanying a Letter from him, dated 11th September, 1830, in the Foreign Office, Calcutta. Burney adds: "The Ministers told me that by Thunaparanta they mean all the countries to the northward of Ava, and by Tampadewa all to the southward. But this inscription shows that the Ministers themselves do not exactly understand what countries are comprised in Thunaparanta and Tāmpa-dewa."

1767.—"The King despotick; of great Merit, of great Power, Lord of the Countries Thonaprondah, Tompdevah, and Camboja, Sovereign of the Kingdom of Buraghmagh (Burma), the Kingdom of Siam and Hughen (?), and the Kingdom of Cassay."—Letter from the King of Burma, in Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 106.

1795.—"The Lord of Earth and Air, the Monarch of extensive Countries, the Sovereign of the Kingdoms of Sonahparindá, Tombadeva ... etc...."—Letter from the King to Sir John Shore, in Symes, 487.

1855.—"His great, glorious and most excellent Majesty, who reigns over the Kingdoms of Thunaparanta, Tampadeeva, and all the great umbrella-wearing chiefs of the Eastern countries, the King of the Rising Sun, Lord of the Celestial Elephants, and Master of many white Elephants, and great Chief of Righteousness...."—King's Letter to the Governor-General (Lord Dalhousie), Oct. 2, 1855.

SONTHALS, n.p. Properly Santāls, [the name being said to come from a place called Saont, now Silda in Mednipur, where the tribe remained for a long time (Dalton, Descr. Eth. 210-11)]. The name of a non-Aryan people belonging to the Kolarian class, extensively settled in the hilly country to the west of the Hoogly R. and to the south of Bhāgalpur, from which they extended to Balasore at interval, sometimes in considerable masses, but more generally much scattered. The territory in which they are chiefly settled is now formed into a separate district called Santāl Parganas, and sometimes Santalia. Their settlement in this tract is, however, quite modern; they have emigrated thither from the S.W. In Dr. F. Buchanan's statistical account of Bhāgalpur and its Hill people the Santāls are not mentioned. The earliest mention of this tribe that we have found is in Mr. Sutherland's Report on the Hill People, which is printed in the Appendix to Long. No date is given there, but we learn from Mr. Man's book, quoted below, that the date is 1817. [The word is, however, much older than this. Forbes (Or. Mem. ii. 374 seq.) gives an account taken from Lord Teignmouth of witch tests among the Soontaar.

[1798.—"... amongst a wild and unlettered tribe, denominated Soontaar, who have reduced the detection and trial of persons suspected of witchcraft to a system."—As. Res. iv. 359.]

1817.—"For several years many of the industrious tribes called Sonthurs have established themselves in these forests, and have been clearing and bringing into cultivation large tracts of lands...."—Sutherland's Report, quoted in Long, 569.

1867.—"This system, indicated and proposed by Mr. Eden, was carried out in its integrity under Mr. George Yule, C.B., by whose able management, with Messrs. Robinson and Wood as his deputies, the Sonthals were raised from misery, dull despair, and deadly hatred of the government, to a pitch of prosperity which, to my knowledge, has never been equalled in any other part of India under the British rule. The Regulation Courts, with their horde of leeches in the shape of badly paid, and corrupt Amlah (Omlah) and pettifogging Mooktears, were abolished, and in their place a Number of active English gentlemen, termed Assistant Commissioners, and nominated by Mr. Yule, were set down among the Sonthals, with a Code of Regulations drawn up by that gentleman, the pith of which may be summed up as follows:—

"'To have no medium between the Sonthal and the Hakim, i.e. Assistant Commissioner.

"'To patiently hear any complaint made by the Sonthal from his own mouth, without any written petition or charge whatever, and without any Amlah or Court at the time.

"'To carry out all criminal work by the aid of the villagers themselves, who were to bring in the accused, with the witnesses, to the Hakim, who should immediately attend to their statements, and punish them, if found guilty, according to the tenor of the law.'

"These were some of the most important of the golden rules carried out by men who recognised the responsibility of their situation; and with an adored chief, in the shape of Yule, for their ruler, whose firm, judicious, and gentlemanly conduct made them work with willing hearts, their endeavours were crowned with a success which far exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine...."—Sonthalia and the Sonthals, by E. G. Man, Barrister-at-Law, &c. Calcutta, 1867, pp. 125-127.

SOODRA, SOODER, s. Skt. śudra, [usually derived from root śuć, 'to be afflicted,' but probably of non-Aryan origin]. The (theoretical) Fourth Caste of the Hindus. In South India, there being no claimants of the 2nd or 3rd classes, the highest castes among the (so-called) Śudras come next after the Brahmans in social rank, and śudra is a note of respect, not of the contrary as in Northern India.

1630.—"The third Tribe or Cast, called the Shudderies."—Lord, Display, &c., ch. xii.

1651.—"La quatrième lignée est celle des Soudraes; elle est composée du commun peuple: cette lignée a sous soy beaucoup et diverses familles, dont une chacune prétend surpasser l'autre...."—Abr. Roger, Fr. ed. 1670, p. 8.

[c. 1665.—"The fourth caste is called Charados or Soudra."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 184.

[1667.—"... and fourthly, the tribe of Seydra, or artisans and labourers."—Bernier, ed. Constable, 325.]

1674.—"The ... Chudrer (these are the Nayres)."—Faria y Sousa, ii. 710.

1717.—"The Brahmens and the Tschuddirers are the proper persons to satisfy your Enquiries."—Phillips, An Account of the Religion, &c., 14.

1858.—"Such of the Aborigines as yet remained were formed into a fourth class, the Çudra, a class which has no rights, but only duties."—Whitney, Or. and Ling. Studies, ii. 6.

1867.—"A Brahman does not stand aloof from a Soudra with a keener pride than a Greek Christian shows towards a Copt."—Dixon, New America, 7th ed. i. 276.

SOOJEE, SOOJY, s. Hind. sūjī, [which comes probably from Skt. śuci, 'pure']; a word curiously misinterpreted "the coarser part of pounded wheat") by the usually accurate Shakespear. It is, in fact, the fine flour, made from the heart of the wheat, used in India to make bread for European tables. It is prepared by grinding between two millstones which are not in close contact. [Sūjī "is a granular meal obtained by moistening the grain overnight, then grinding it. The fine flour passes through a coarse sieve, leaving the Suji and bran above. The latter is got rid of by winnowing, and the round, granular meal or Suji, composed of the harder pieces of the grain, remains" (Watt, Econ. Dict. VI. pt. iv. 167).] It is the semolina of Italy. Bread made from this was called in Low Latin simella; Germ. Semmelbrödchen, and old English simnel-cakes. A kind of porridge made with soojee is often called soojee simply. (See ROLONG.)

1810.—"Bread is not made of flour, but of the heart of the wheat, which is very fine, ground into what is called soojy.... Soojy is frequently boiled into 'stirabout' for breakfast, and eaten with milk, salt, and butter; though some of the more zealous may be seen to moisten it with porter."—Williamson, V.M. ii. 135-136.

1878.—"Sujee flour, ground coarse, and water."—Life in the Mofussil, i. 213.

SOORKY, s. Pounded brick used to mix with lime to form a hydraulic mortar. Hind. from Pers. surkhī, 'red-stuff.'

c. 1770.—"The terrace roofs and floors of the rooms are laid with fine pulverized stones, which they call zurkee; these are mixed up with lime-water, and an inferior kind of molasses, and in a short time grow as hard and as smooth, as if the whole were one large stone."—Stavorinus, E.T. i. 514.

1777.—"The inquiry verified the information. We found a large group of miserable objects confined by order of Mr. Mills; some were simply so; some under sentence from him to beat Salkey."—Report of Impey and others, quoted in Stephen's Nuncomar and Impey, ii. 201.

1784.—"One lack of 9-inch bricks, and about 1400 maunds of soorky."—Notifn. in Seton-Karr, i. 34; see also ii. 15.

1811.—"The road from Calcutta to Baracpore ... like all the Bengal roads it is paved with bricks, with a layer of sulky, or broken bricks over them."—Solvyns, Les Hindous, iii. The word is misused as well as miswritten here. The substance in question is khoa (q.v.).

SOORMA, s. Hind. from Pers. surma. Sulphuret of antimony, used for the purpose of darkening the eyes, kuḥl of the Arabs, the stimmi and stibium of the ancients. With this Jezebel "painted her eyes" (2 Kings, ix. 30; Jeremiah, iv. 30 R.V.) "With it, I believe, is often confounded the sulphuret of lead, which in N. India is called soormee (ee is the feminine termination in Hindust.), and used as a substitute for the former: a mistake not of recent occurrence only, as Sprengel says, 'Distinguit vero Plinius marem a feminâ'" (Royle, on Ant. of Hindu Medicine, 100). [See Watt, Econ. Dict. i. 271.]

[1766.—"The powder is called by them surma; which they pretend refreshes and cools the eye, besides exciting its lustre, by the ambient blackness."—Grose, 2nd ed. ii. 142.]

[1829.—"Soorma, or the oxide of antimony, is found on the western frontier."—Tod, Annals, Calcutta reprint, i. 13.

[1832.—"Sulmah—A prepared permanent black dye, from antimony...."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, ii. 72.]

SOOSIE, s. Hind. from Pers. sūsī. Some kind of silk cloth, but we know not what kind. [Sir G. Birdwood (Industr. Arts, 246) defines sūsīs as "fine-coloured cloths, made chiefly at Battala and Sialkote, striped in the direction of the warp with silk, or cotton lines of a different colour, the cloth being called dokanni [dokhānī], 'in two stripes' if the stripe has two lines, if three, tinkanni [tīnkhānī], and so on." In the Punjab it is 'a striped stuff used for women's trousers. This is made of fine thread, and is one of the fabrics in which English thread is now largely used' (Francis, Mon. on Cotton Manufactures, 7). A silk fabric of the same name is made in the N.W.P., where it is classed as a variety of chārkhāna, or check (Yusuf Ali, Mon. on Silk, 93). Forbes Watson (Textile Manufactures, 85) speaks of Sousee as chiefly employed for trousering, being a mixture of cotton and silk. The word seems to derive its origin from Susa, the Biblical Shushan, the capital of Susiana or Elam, and from the time of Darius I. the chief residence of the Achaemenian kings. There is ample evidence to show that fabrics from Babylon were largely exported in early times. Such was perhaps the "Babylonish garment" found at Ai (Josh. vii. 21), which the R.V. marg. translates as a "mantle of Shinar". This a writer in Smith's Dict. of the Bible calls "robes trimmed with valuable furs, or the skins themselves ornamented with embroidery" (i. 452). These Babylonian fabrics have been often described (see Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, 537; Maspero, Dawn of Civ., 470, 758; Encycl. Bibl. ii. 1286 seq.; Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 545 seq.). An early reference to this old trade in costly cloths will be found in the quotation from the Periplus under CHINA, which has been discussed by Sir H. Yule (Introd. to Gill, River of Golden Sand, ed. 1883, p. 88 seq.). This Sūsī cloth appears in a log of 1746 as Soacie, and was known to the Portuguese in 1550 as Soajes (J. R. As. Soc., Jan. 1900, p. 158.)]

[1667.—"... 2 patch of ye finest with what colours you thinke handsome for my own wear Chockoles and susaes."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. cclxii.

[1690.—"It (Suratt) is renown'd ... for Sooseys...."—Ovington, 218.

[1714-20.—In an inventory of Sir J. Fellowes: "A Susa window-curtain."—2nd ser. N. & Q. vi. 244.]

1784.—"Four cassimeers of different colours; Patna dimity, and striped Soosies."—In Seton-Karr, i. 42.

SOPHY, n.p. The name by which the King of Persia was long known in Europe—"The Sophy," as the Sultan of Turkey was "The Turk" or "Grand Turk," and the King of Delhi the "Great Mogul." This title represented Sūfī, Safavī, or Safī, the name of the dynasty which reigned over Persia for more than two centuries (1449-1722, nominally to 1736). The first king of the family was Isma'il, claiming descent from 'Ali and the Imāms, through a long line of persons of saintly reputation at Ardebil. The surname of Sūfī or Safī assumed by Isma'il is generally supposed to have been taken from Shaikh Safī-ud-dīn, the first of his more recent ancestors to become famous, and who belonged to the class of Sūfīs or philosophic devotees. After Isma'il the most famous of the dynasty was Shāh Abbās (1585-1629).

c. 1524.—"Susiana, quae est Shushan Palatium illud regni Sophii."—Abraham Peritsol, in Hyde, Syntagma Dissertt. i. 76.

1560.—"De que o Sufi foy contente, e mandou gente em su ajuda."—Terceiro, ch. i.

" "Quae regiones nomine Persiae ei regnantur quem Turcae Chislibas, nos Sophi vocamus."—Busbeq. Epist. iii. (171).

1561.—"The Queenes Maiesties Letters to the great Sophy of Persia, sent by M. Anthonie Ienkinson.

"Elizabetha Dei gratia Angliae Franciae et Hiberinae Regina, &c. Potentissimo et inuictissimo Principi, Magno Sophi Persarum, Medorum, Hircanorum, Carmanorum, Margianorum, populorum cis et vltra Tygrim fluuium, et omnium intra Mare Caspium et Persicum Sinum nationum atque Gentium Imperatori salutem et rerum prosperarum foelicissimum incrementum."—In Hakl. i. 381.

[1568.—"The King of Persia (whom here we call the great Sophy) is not there so called, but is called the Shaugh. It were dangerous to call him by the name of Sophy, because that Sophy in the Persian tongue is a beggar, and it were as much as to call him The great beggar."—Geffrey Ducket, ibid. i. 447.]

1598.—"And all the Kings continued so with the name of Xa, which in Persia is a King, and Ishmael is a proper name, whereby Xa Ismael, and Xa Thamas are as much as to say King Ismael, and King Thamas, and of the Turkes and Rumes are called Suffy or Soffy, which signifieth a great Captaine."—Linschoten, ch. xxvii.; [Hak. Soc. i. 173].

1601.—"Sir Toby. Why, man, he's a very devil: I have not seen such a firago....

"They say, he has been fencer to the Sophy."—Twelfth Night, III. iv.

[c. 1610.—"This King or Sophy, who is called the Great Chaa."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 253.]

1619.—"Alla porta di Sciah Sofì, si sonarono nacchere tutto il giorno: ed insomma tutta la città e tutto il popolo andò in allegrezza, concorrendo infinita gente alla meschita di Schia Sofì, a far Gratiarum actionem."—P. della Valle, i. 808.

1626.—

"Were it to bring the Great Turk bound in chains

Through France in triumph, or to couple up

The Sophy and great Prester-John together;

I would attempt it."

Beaum. & Fletch., The Noble Gentleman, v. 1.

c. 1630.—"Ismael at his Coronation proclaim'd himself King of Persia by the name of Pot-shaw (Padshaw)-Ismael-Sophy. Whence that word Sophy was borrowed is much controverted. Whether it be from the Armenian idiom, signifying Wooll, of which the Shashes are made that ennobled his new order. Whether the name was from Sophy his grandsire, or from the Greek word Sophos imposed upon Aydar at his conquest of Trebizond by the Greeks there, I know not. Since then, many have called the Kings of Persia Sophy's: but I see no reason for it; since Ismael's son, grand and great grandsons Kings of Persia never continued that name, till this that now reigns, whose name indeed is Soffee, but casuall."—Sir T. Herbert, ed. 1638, 286.

1643.—"Y avoit vn Ambassadeur Persien qui auoit esté enuoyé en Europe de la part du Grand Sophy Roy de Perse."—Mocquet, Voyages, 269.

1665.—

"As when the Tartar from his Russian foe,

By Astracan, over the snowy plains

Retires; or Bactrian Sophy, from the horns

Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond

The realm of Aladule, in his retreat

To Tauris or Casbeen...."

Paradise Lost, x. 431 seqq.

1673.—"But the Suffee's Vicar-General is by his Place the Second Person in the Empire, and always the first Minister of State."—Fryer, 338.

1681.—"La quarta parte comprehende el Reyno de Persia, cuyo Señor se llama en estos tiempos, el Gran Sophi."—Martinez, Compendio, 6.

1711.—"In Consideration of the Company's good Services ... they had half of the Customs of Gombroon given them, and their successors, by a Firman from the Sophi or Emperor."—Lockyer, 220.

1727.—"The whole Reign of the last Sophi or King, was managed by such Vermin, that the Ballowches and Mackrans ... threw off the Yoke of Obedience first, and in full Bodies fell upon their Neighbours in Caramania."—A. Hamilton, i. 108; [ed. 1744, i. 105].

1815.—"The Suffavean monarchs were revered and deemed holy on account of their descent from a saint."—Malcolm, H. of Pers. ii. 427.

1828.—"It is thy happy destiny to follow in the train of that brilliant star whose light shall shed a lustre on Persia, unknown since the days of the earlier Soofees."—J. B. Fraser, The Kuzzilbash, i. 192.

SOUBA, SOOBAH, s. Hind. from Pers. ṣūba. A large Division or Province of the Mogul Empire (e.g. the Ṣūbah of the Deccan, the Ṣūbah of Bengal). The word is also frequently used as short for Sūbadār (see SOUBADAR), 'the Viceroy' (over a ṣūba). It is also "among the Maraṭhas sometimes applied to a smaller division comprising from 5 to 8 ṭarafs" (Wilson).

c. 1594.—"In the fortieth year of his majesty's reign, his dominions consisted of 105 Sircars.... The empire was then parcelled into 12 grand divisions, and each was committed to the government of a Soobadar ... upon which occasion the Sovereign of the world distributed 12 Lacks of beetle. The names of the Soobahs were Allahabad, Agra, Owdh, Ajmeer, Ahmedabad, Bahar, Bengal, Dehly, Cabul, Lahoor, Multan, and Malwa: when his majesty conquered Berar, Khandeess, and Ahmednagur, they were formed into three Soobahs, increasing the number to 15."—Ayeen, ed. Gladwin, ii. 1-5; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 115].

1753.—"Princes of this rank are called Subahs. Nizam al muluck was Subah of the Decan (or Southern) provinces.... The Nabobs of Condanore, Cudapah, Carnatica, Yalore, &c., the Kings of Tritchinopoly, Mysore, Tanjore, are subject to this Subah-ship. Here is a subject ruling a larger empire than any in Europe, excepting that of the Muscovite."—Orme, Fragments, 398-399.

1760.—"Those Emirs or Nabobs, who govern great Provinces, are stiled Subahs, which imports the same as Lord-Lieutenants or Vice-Roys."—Memoirs of the Revolution in Bengal, p. 6.

1763.—"From the word Soubah, signifying a province, the Viceroy of this vast territory (the Deccan) is called Soubahdar, and by the Europeans improperly Soubah."—Orme, i. 35.

1765.—"Let us have done with this ringing of changes upon Soubahs; there's no end to it. Let us boldly dare to be Soubah ourselves...."—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c., i. 183.

1783.—"They broke their treaty with him, in which they stipulated to pay 400,000l. a year to the Subah of Bengal."—Burke's Speech on Fox's India Bill, Works, iii. 468.

1804.—"It is impossible for persons to have behaved in a more shuffling manner than the Soubah's servants have...."—Wellington, ed. 1837, iii. 11.

1809.—"These (pillars) had been removed from a sacred building by Monsieur Dupleix, when he assumed the rank of Soubah."—Lord Valentia, i. 373.

1823.—"The Delhi Sovereigns whose vast empire was divided into Soubahs, or Governments, each of which was ruled by a Soubahdar or Viceroy."—Malcolm, Cent. India, i. 2.

SOUBADAR, SUBADAR, s. Hind. from Pers. ṣūbadār, 'one holding a ṣūba' (see SOUBA).

a. The Viceroy, or Governor of a ṣūba.

b. A local commandant or chief officer.

c. The chief native officer of a company of Sepoys; under the original constitution of such companies, its actual captain.

a. See SOUBA.

b.—

1673.—"The Subidar of the Town being a Person of Quality ... he (the Ambassador) thought good to give him a Visit."—Fryer, 77.

1805.—"The first thing that the Subidar of Vire Rajendra Pettah did, to my utter astonishment, was to come up and give me such a shake by the hand, as would have done credit to a Scotsman."—Letter in Leyden's Life, 49.

c.—

1747.—"14th September.... Read the former from Tellicherry adviseing that ... in a day or two they shall despatch another Subidar with 129 more Sepoys to our assistance."—MS. Consultations at Fort St. David, in India Office.

1760.—"One was the Subahdar, equivalent to the Captain of a Company."—Orme, iii. 610.

c. 1785.—"... the Subahdars or commanding officers of the black troops."—Carraccioli, L. of Clive, iii. 174.

1787.—"A Troop of Native Cavalry on the present Establishment consists of 1 European Subaltern, 1 European Serjeant, 1 Subidar, 3 Jemadars, 4 Havildars, 4 Naiques (naik), 1 Trumpeter, 1 Farrier, and 68 Privates."—Regns. for the Hon. Comp.'s Black Troops on the Coast of Coromandel, &c., p. 6.

[SOUDAGUR, s. P.—H. saudāgar, Pers. saudā, 'goods for sale'; a merchant, trader; now very often applied to those who sell European goods in civil stations and cantonments.

[1608.—"... and kill the merchants (sodagares mercadores)."—Livras das Moncoẽs, i. 183.

[c. 1809.—"The term Soudagur, which implies merely a principal merchant, is here (Behar) usually given to those who keep what the English of India call Europe shops; that is, shops where all sorts of goods imported from Europe, and chiefly consumed by Europeans, are retailed."—Buchanan, Eastern India, i. 375.

[c. 1817.—"This sahib was a very rich man, a Soudagur...."—Mrs. Sherwood, Last Days of Boosy, 84.]

SOURSOP, s.

a. The fruit Anona muricata, L., a variety of the Custard apple. This kind is not well known on the Bengal side of India, but it is completely naturalised at Bombay. The terms soursop and sweetsop are, we believe, West Indian.

b. In a note to the passage quoted below, Grainger identifies the soursop with the suirsack of the Dutch. But in this, at least as regards use in the East Indies, there is some mistake. The latter term, in old Dutch writers on the East, seems always to apply to the Common Jack fruit, the 'sourjack,' in fact, as distinguished from the superior kinds, especially the champada of the Malay Archipelago.

a.—

1764.—

"... a neighbouring hill

Which Nature to the Soursop had resigned."

Grainger, Bk. 2.

b.—

1659.—"There is another kind of tree (in Ceylon) which they call Sursack ... which has leaves like a laurel, and bears its fruit, not like other trees on twigs from the branches, but on the trunk itself...." &c.—Saar, ed. 1672, p. 84.

1661.—Walter Schulz says that the famous fruit Jaka was called by the Netherlanders in the Indies Soorsack.—p. 236.

1675.—"The whole is planted for the most part with coco-palms, mangoes, and suursacks."—Ryklof van Goens, in Valentijn, Ceylon, 223.

1768-71.—"The Sursak-tree has a fruit of a similar kind with the durioon (durian), but it is not accompanied by such a fetid smell."—Stavorinus, E.T. i. 236.

1778.—"The one which yields smaller fruit, without seed, I found at Columbo, Gale, and several other places. The name by which it is properly known here is the Maldivian Sour Sack, and its use here is less universal than that of the other sort, which ... weighs 30 or 40 lbs."—Thunberg, E.T. iv. 255.

[1833.—"Of the eatable fruited kinds above referred to, the most remarkable are the sweetsop, sour sop, and cherimoyer...."—Penny Cycl. ii. 54.]

SOWAR, SUWAR, s. Pers. sawār, 'a horseman.' A native cavalry soldier; a mounted orderly. In the Greek provinces in Turkey, the word is familiar in the form σουβάρις, pl. σουβαρίδες, for a mounted gendarme. [The regulations for suwārs in the Mogul armies are given by Blochmann, Āīn, i. 244 seq.]

1824-5.—"... The sowars who accompanied him."—Heber, Orig. i. 404.

1827.—"Hartley had therefore no resource save to keep his eye steadily fixed on the lighted match of the sowar ... who rode before him."—Sir W. Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiii.

[1830.—"... Meerza, an Asswar well known on the Collector's establishment."—Or. Sport. Mag. reprint 1873, i. 390.]

SOWAR, SHOOTER-, s. Hind. from Pers. shutur-sawār, the rider of a dromedary or swift camel. Such riders are attached to the establishment of the Viceroy on the march, and of other high officials in Upper India. The word sowar is quite misused by the Great Duke in the passage below, for a camel-driver, a sense it never has. The word written, or intended, may however have been surwaun (q.v.)

[1815.—"As we approached the camp his oont-surwars (camel-riders) went ahead of us."—Journal, Marquess of Hastings, i. 337.]

1834.—"I ... found a fresh horse at Sufter Jung's tomb, and at the Kutub (cootub) a couple of riding camels and an attendant Shutur Suwar."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 129.

[1837.—"There are twenty Shooter Suwars (I have not an idea how I ought to spell those words), but they are native soldiers mounted on swift camels, very much trapped, and two of them always ride before our carriage."—Miss Eden, Up the Country, i. 31.]

1840.—"Sent a Shuta Sarwar (camel driver) off with an express to Simla."—Osborne, Court and Camp of Runj. Singh, 179.

1842.—"At Peshawur, it appears by the papers I read last night, that they have camels, but no sowars, or drivers."—Letter of D. of Wellington, in Indian Administration of Ld. Ellenborough, 228.

1857.—"I have given general notice of the Shutur Sowar going into Meerut to all the Meerut men."—H. Greathed's Letters during Siege of Delhi, 42.

SOWARRY, SUWARREE, s. Hind. from Pers. sawārī. A cavalcade, a cortège of mounted attendants.

1803.—"They must have tents, elephants, and other sewary; and must have with them a sufficient body of troops to guard their persons."—A. Wellesley, in Life of Munro, i. 346.

1809.—"He had no sawarry."—Ld. Valentia, i. 388.

1814.—"I was often reprimanded by the Zemindars and native officers, for leaving the suwarree, or state attendants, at the outer gate of the city, when I took my evening excursion."—Forbes, Or. Mem. iii. 420; [2nd ed. ii. 372].

[1826.—"The 'aswary,' or suite of Trimbuckje, arrived at the palace."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, i. 119.]

1827.—"Orders were given that on the next day all should be in readiness for the Sowarree, a grand procession, when the Prince was to receive the Begum as an honoured guest."—Sir Walter Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xiv.

c. 1831.—"Je tâcherai d'éviter toute la poussière de ces immenses sowarris."—Jacquemont, Corresp. ii. 121.

[1837.—"The Raja of Benares came with a very magnificent surwarree of elephants and camels."—Miss Eden, Up the Country, i. 35.]

SOWARRY CAMEL, s. A swift or riding camel. See SOWAR, SHOOTER-.

1835.—"'I am told you dress a camel beautifully,' said the young Princess, 'and I was anxious to ... ask you to instruct my people how to attire a sawārī camel.' This was flattering me on a very weak point: there is but one thing in the world that I perfectly understand, and that is how to dress a camel."—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 36.

SOWCAR, s. Hind. sāhūkār; alleged to be from Skt. sādhu, 'right,' with the Hind. affix kār, 'doer'; Guj. Mahr. sāvakār. A native banker; corresponding to the Chetty of S. India.

1803.—"You should not confine your dealings to one soucar. Open a communication with every soucar in Poonah, and take money from any man who will give it you for bills."—Wellington, Desp., ed. 1837, ii. 1.

1826.—"We were also sahoukars, and granted bills of exchange upon Bombay and Madras, and we advanced moneys upon interest."—Pandurang Hari, 174; [ed. 1873, i. 251].

[In the following the word is confounded with Sowar:

[1877.—"It was the habit of the sowars, as the goldsmiths are called, to bear their wealth upon their persons."—Mrs. Guthrie, My Year in an Indian Fort, i. 294.]

SOY, s. A kind of condiment once popular. The word is Japanese si-yau (a young Japanese fellow-passenger gave the pronunciation clearly as sho-yu.—A. B.), Chin. shi-yu. [Mr. Platts (9 ser. N. & Q. iv. 475) points out that in Japanese as written with the native character soy would not be siyau, but siyau-yu; in the Romanised Japanese this is simplified to shoyu (colloquially this is still further reduced, by dropping the final vowel, to shoy or soy). Of this monosyllable only the so represents the classical siyau; the final consonant (y) is a relic of the termination yu. The Japanese word is itself derived from the Chinese, which at Shanghai is sze-yu, at Amoy, si-iu, at Canton, shi-yau, of which the first element means 'salted beans,' or other fruits, dried and used as condiments; the second element merely means 'oil.'] It is made from the beans of a plant common in the Himālaya and E. Asia, and much cultivated, viz. Glycine Soja, Sieb. and Zucc. (Soya hispida, Moench.), boiled down and fermented. [In India the bean is eaten in places where it is cultivated, as in Chutia Nāgpur (Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 510 seq.)]

1679.—"... Mango and Saio, two sorts of sauces brought from the East Indies."—Journal of John Locke, in Ld. King's Life of L., i. 249.

1688.—"I have been told that soy is made with a fishy composition, and it seems most likely by the Taste; tho' a Gentleman of my Acquaintance who was very intimate with one that sailed often from Tonquin to Japan, from whence the true Soy comes, told me that it was made only with Wheat and a sort of Beans mixt with Water and Salt."—Dampier, ii. 28.

1690.—"... Souy, the choicest of all Sawces."—Ovington, 397.

1712.—"Hoc legumen in coquinâ Japonicâ utramque replet paginam; ex eo namque conficitur: tum puls Miso dicta, quae ferculis pro consistentiâ, et butyri loco additur, butyrum enim hôc coelô res ignota est; tum Sooju dictum embamma, quod nisi ferculis, certè frictis et assatis omnibus affunditur."—Kaempfer, Amoen. Exot. p. 839.

1776.—An elaborate account of the preparation of Soy is given by Thunberg, Travels, E.T. iv. 121-122; and more briefly by Kaempfer on the page quoted above.

[1900.—"Mushrooms shred into small pieces, flavoured with shoyu" (soy).—Mrs. Frazer, A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan, i. 238.]

SPIN, s. An unmarried lady; popular abbreviation of 'Spinster.' [The Port. equivalent soltera (soltiera) was used in a derogatory sense (Gray, note on Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. ii. 128).]

SPONGE-CAKE, s. This well-known form of cake is called throughout Italy pane di Spagna, a fact that suggested to us the possibility that the English name is really a corruption of Spanish-cake. The name in Japan tends to confirm this, and must be our excuse for introducing the term here.

1880.—"There is a cake called kasateira resembling sponge-cake.... It is said to have been introduced by the Spaniards, and that its name is a corruption of Castilla."—Miss Bird's Japan, i. 235.

SPOTTED-DEER, s. Axis maculatus of Gray; [Cervus axis of Blanford (Mammalia, 546)]; Hind. chītal, Skt. chitra, 'spotted.'

1673.—"The same Night we travelled easily to Megatana, using our Fowling-Pieces all the way, being here presented with Rich Game, as Peacocks, Doves, and Pigeons, Chitrels, or Spotted Deer."—Fryer, 71.

[1677.—"Spotted Deare we shall send home, some by ye Europe ships, if they touch here."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 140.]

1679.—"There being conveniency in this place for ye breeding up of Spotted Deer, which the Hon'ble Company doe every yeare order to be sent home for His Majesty, it is ordered that care be taken to breed them up in this Factory (Madapollam), to be sent home accordingly."—Ft. St. George Council (on Tour), 16th April, in Notes and Exts., Madras, 1871.

1682.—"This is a fine pleasant situation, full of great shady trees, most of them Tamarins, well stored with peacocks and Spotted Deer like our fallow-deer."—Hedges, Diary, Oct. 16; [Hak. Soc. i. 39].

SQUEEZE, s. This is used in Anglo-Chinese talk for an illegal exaction. It is, we suppose, the translation of a Chinese expression. It corresponds to the malatolta of the Middle Ages, and to many other slang phrases in many tongues.

1882.—"If the licence (of the Hong merchants) ... was costly, it secured to them uninterrupted and extraordinary pecuniary advantages; but on the other hand it subjected them to 'calls' or 'squeezes' for contributions to public works, ... for the relief of districts suffering from scarcity ... as well as for the often imaginary ... damage caused by the overflowing of the 'Yangtse Keang' or the 'Yellow River.'"—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 36.

STATION, s. A word of constant recurrence in Anglo-Indian colloquial. It is the usual designation of the place where the English officials of a district, or the officers of a garrison (not in a fortress) reside. Also the aggregate society of such a place.

[1832.—"The nobles and gentlemen are frequently invited to witness a 'Station ball.'..."—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations, i. 196.]

1866.—

"And if I told how much I ate at one Mofussil station,

I'm sure 'twould cause at home a most extraordinary sensation."

Trevelyan, The Dawk Bungalow, in Fraser, lxxiii. p. 391.

" "Who asked the Station to dinner, and allowed only one glass of Simkin to each guest."—Ibid. 231.

STEVEDORE, s. One employed to stow the cargo of a ship and to unload it. The verb estivar [Lat. stipare] is used both in Sp. and Port. in the sense of stowing cargo, implying originally to pack close, as to press wool. Estivador in the sense of a wool-packer only is given in the Sp. Dictionaries, but no doubt has been used in every sense of estivar. See Skeat, s.v.

STICK-INSECT, s. The name commonly applied to certain orthopterous insects, of the family Phasmidae, which have the strongest possible resemblance to dry twigs or pieces of stick, sometimes 6 or 7 inches in length.

1754.—"The other remarkable animal which I met with at Cuddalore was the animated Stalk, of which there are different kinds. Some appear like dried straws tied together, others like grass...."—Ives, 20.

1860.—"The Stick-insect.—The Phasmidae or spectres ... present as close a resemblance to small branches, or leafless twigs, as their congeners do to green leaves...."—Tennent, Ceylon, i. 252.

[STICKLAC, s. Lac encrusted on sticks, which in this form is collected in the jungles of Central India.

[1880.—"Where, however, there is a regular trade in stick-lac, the propagation of the insect is systematically carried on by those who wish for a certain and abundant crop."—Ball, Jungle Life, 308.]

STINK-WOOD, s. Foetidia Mauritiana, Lam., a myrtaceous plant of Mauritius, called there Bois puant. "At the Carnival in Goa, one of the sports is to drop bits of this stink-wood into the pockets of respectable persons."—Birdwood (MS.).

STRIDHANA, STREEDHANA, s. Skt. stri-dhana, 'women's property.' A term of Hindu Law, applied to certain property belonging to a woman, which follows a law of succession different from that which regulates other property. The term is first to be found in the works of Jones and Colebrooke (1790-1800), but has recently been introduced into European scientific treatises. [See Mayne, Hindu Law, 541 seqq.]

1875.—"The settled property of a married woman ... is well known to the Hindoos under the name of stridhan."—Maine, Early Institutions, 321.

STUPA. See TOPE.

SUÁKIN, n.p. This name, and the melancholy victories in its vicinity, are too familiar now to need explanation. Arab. Sawákin.

c. 1331.—"This very day we arrived at the island of Sawākin. It is about 6 miles from the mainland, and has neither drinkable water, nor corn, nor trees. Water is brought in boats, and there are cisterns to collect rain water...."—Ibn Batuta, ii. 161-2.

1526.—"The Preste continued speaking with our people, and said to Don Rodrigo that he would have great pleasure and complete contentment, if he saw a fort of ours erected in Macuha, or in Çuaquem, or in Zyla."—Correa, iii. 42; [see Dalboquerque, Comm. ii. 229].

[c. 1590.—"... thence it (the sea) washes both Persia and Ethiopia where are Dahlak and Suakin, and is called (the Gulf of) Omán and the Persian Sea."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 121.]

SUCKER-BUCKER, n.p. A name often given in N. India to Upper Sind, from two neighbouring places, viz., the town of Sakhar on the right bank of the Indus, and the island fortress of Bakkar or Bhakkar in the river. An alternative name is Roree-Bucker, from Rohrī, a town opposite Bakkar, on the left bank, the name of which is probably a relic of the ancient town of Arōr or Alōr, though the site has been changed since the Indus adopted its present bed. [See McCrindle, Invasion of India, 352 seqq.]

c. 1333.—"I passed 5 days at Lāharī ... and quitted it to proceed to Bakār. They thus call a fine town through which flows a canal derived from the river Sind."—Ibn Batuta, iii. 114-115.

1521.—Shah Beg "then took his departure for Bhakkar, and after several days' marching arrived at the plain surrounding Sakhar."—Turkhān Nāma, in Elliot, i. 311.

1554.—"After a thousand sufferings we arrived at the end of some days' journey, at Siāwan (Sehwan), and then, passing by Patara and Darilja, we entered the fortress of Bakr."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 136.

[c. 1590.—"Bhakkar (Bhukkar) is a notable fortress; in ancient chronicles it is called Mamṣúrah."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 327.]

1616.—"Buckor, the Chiefe Citie, is called Buckor Succor."—Terry, [ed. 1777, p. 75].

1753.—"Vient ensuite Bukor, ou comme il est écrit dans la Géographie Turque, Peker, ville située sur une colline, entre deux bras de l'Indus, qui en font une île ... la géographie ... ajoute que Louhri (i.e. Rori) est une autre ville située vis-à-vis de cette île du côté meridional, et que Sekar, autrement Sukor, est en même position du còté septentrional."—D'Anville, p. 37.

SUCKET, s. Old English. Wright explains the word as 'dried sweetmeats or sugar-plums.' Does it not in the quotations rather mean loaf-sugar? [Palmer (Folk Etymol. 378) says that the original meaning was a 'slice of melon or gourd,' Ital. zuccata, 'a kind of meat made of Pumpions or Gourdes' (Florio) from zucca, 'a gourd or pumpkin,' which is a shortened form of cucuzza, a corruption of Lat. cucurbita (Diez). This is perhaps the same word which appears in the quotation from Linschoten below, where the editor suggests that it is derived from Mahr. sukaṭa, 'slightly dried, desiccated,' and Sir H. Yule suggests a corruption of H. sonṭh, 'dried ginger.']

[1537.—"... packed in a fraile, two little barrels of suckat...."—Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. xii. pt. i. 451.]

1584.—"White sucket from Zindi" (i.e. Sind) "Cambaia, and China."—Barret, in Hakl. ii. 412.

[1598.—"Ginger by the Arabians, Persians and Turkes is called Gengibil (see GINGER), in Gusurate, Decan, and Bengala, when it is fresh and green Adrac, and when dried sukte."—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 79.]

c. 1620-30.—

"... For this,

This Candy wine, three merchants were undone;

These suckets brake as many more."

Beaum. and Fletch., The Little French Lawyer, i. 1.

SUCLÁT, SACKCLOTH, &c., s. Pers. saḳallāṭ, saḳallaṭ, saḳlaṭīn, saḳlāṭūn, applied to certain woollen stuffs, and particularly now to European broadcloth. It is sometimes defined as scarlet broad cloth; but though this colour is frequent, it does not seem to be essential to the name. [Scarlet was the name of a material long before it denoted a colour. In the Liberate Roll of 14 Hen. III. (1230, quoted in N. & Q. 8 ser. i. 129) we read of sanguine scarlet, brown, red, white and scarlet coloris de Marble.] It has, however, been supposed that our word scarlet comes from some form of the present word (see Skeat, s.v. Scarlet). But the fact that the Arab. dictionaries give a form saḳirlāṭ must not be trusted to. It is a modern form, probably taken from the European word, [as according to Skeat, the Turkish iskerlat is merely borrowed from the Ital. scarlatto].

The word is found in the medieval literature of Europe in the form siclatoun, a term which has been the subject of controversy both as to etymology and to exact meaning (see Marco Polo, Bk. i. ch. 58, notes). Among the conjectures as to etymology are a derivation from Ar. ṣaḳl, 'polishing' (see SICLEEGUR); from Sicily (Ar. Ṣiḳiliya); and from the Lat. cyclas, cycladatus. In the Arabic Vocabulista of the 13th century (Florence, 1871), siḳlaṭūn is translated by ciclas. The conclusion come to in the note on Marco Polo, based, partly but not entirely, on the modern meaning of saḳallāṭ, was that saḳlāṭūn was probably a light woollen texture. But Dozy and De Jong give it as étoffe de soie, brochée d'or, and the passage from Edrisi supports this undoubtedly. To the north of India the name suklāt is given to a stuff imported from the borders of China.

1040.—"The robes were then brought, consisting of valuable frocks of saklátún of various colours...."—Baihaki, in Elliot, ii. 148.

c. 1150.—"Almeria (Almarīa) was a Musulman city at the time of the Moravidae. It was then a place of great industry, and reckoned, among others, 800 silk looms, where they manufactured costly robes, brocades, the stuffs known as Saḳlāṭūn Isfahānī ... and various other silk tissues."—Edrisi (Joubert), ii. 40.

c. 1220.—"Tabrīz. The chief city of Azarbaijān.... They make there the stuffs called 'attābī (see TABBY), Siḳlāṭūn, Khiṭābī, fine satins and other textures which are exported everywhere."—Yāḳūt, in Barbier de Meynard, i. 133.

c. 1370?—

"His heer, his berd, was lyk saffroun

That to his girdel raughte adoun

Hise shoos of Cordewane,

Of Brugges were his hosen broun

His Robe was of Syklatoun

That coste many a Jane."

Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 4 (Furnival, Ellesmere Text).

c. 1590.—"Suḳlāṭ-i-Rūmī o Farangī o Purtagālī"

(Broadcloth of Turkey, of Europe, and of Portugal)....—Āīn (orig.) i. 110. Blochmann renders 'Scarlet Broadcloth' (see above). [The same word, suḳlāṭī, is used later on of 'woollen stuffs' made in Kashmīr (Jarrett, Āīn, ii. 355).]

1673.—"Suffahaun is already full of London Cloath, or Sackcloath Londre, as they call it."—Fryer, 224.

" "His Hose of London Sackcloth of any Colour."—Ibid. 391.

[1840.—"... his simple dress of sooklaat and flat black woollen cap...."—Lloyd, Gerard, Narr. i. 167.]

1854.—"List of Chinese articles brought to India.... Suklat, a kind of camlet made of camel's hair."—Cunningham's Ladak, 242.

1862.—"In this season travellers wear garments of sheep-skin with sleeves, the fleecy side inwards, and the exterior covered with Sooklat, or blanket."—Punjab Trade Report, 57.

" "Broadcloth (Europe), ('Suklat,' 'Mahoot')."—Ibid. App. p. ccxxx.

SUDDEN DEATH. Anglo-Indian slang for a fowl served as a spatchcock, the standing dish at a dawk-bungalow in former days. The bird was caught in the yard, as the traveller entered, and was on the table by the time he had bathed and dressed.

[c. 1848.—"'Sudden death' means a young chicken about a month old, caught, killed, and grilled at the shortest notice."—Berncastle, Voyage to China, i. 193.]

SUDDER, adj., but used as s. Literally 'chief,' being Ar. ṣadr. This term had a technical application under Mahommedan rule to a chief Judge, as in the example quoted below. The use of the word seems to be almost confined to the Bengal Presidency. Its principal applications are the following:

a. Sudder Board. This is the 'Board of Revenue,' of which there is one at Calcutta, and one in the N.W. Provinces at Allahabad. There is a Board of Revenue at Madras, but not called 'Sudder Board' there.

b. Sudder Court, i.e. 'Sudder Adawlut' (ṣadr 'adālat). This was till 1862, in Calcutta and in the N.W.P., the chief court of appeal from the Mofussil or District Courts, the Judges being members of the Bengal Civil Service. In the year named the Calcutta Sudder Court was amalgamated with the Supreme Court (in which English Law had been administered by English Barrister-Judges), the amalgamated Court being entitled the High Court of Judiciary. A similar Court also superseded the Sudder Adawlut in the N.W.P.

c. Sudder Ameen, i.e. chief Ameen (q.v.). This was the designation of the second class of native Judge in the classification which was superseded in Bengal by Act XVI. of 1868, in Bombay by Act XIV. of 1869, and in Madras by Act III. of 1873. Under that system the highest rank of native Judge was Principal Sudder Ameen; the 2nd rank, Sudder Ameen; the 3rd, Moonsiff. In the new classification there are in Bengal Subordinate Judges of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade, and Munsiffs (see MOONSIFF) of 4 grades; in Bombay, Subordinate Judges of the 1st class in 3 grades, and 2nd class in 4 grades; and in Madras Subordinate Judges in 3 grades, and Munsiffs in 4 grades.

d. Sudder Station. The chief station of a district, viz. that where the Collector, Judge, and other chief civil officials reside, and where their Courts are.

c. 1340.—"The Ṣadr-Jihān ('Chief of the Word') i.e. the Ḳaḍī-al-Kuḍāt ('Judge of Judges') (CAZEE) ... possesses ten townships, producing a revenue of about 60,000 tankas. He is also called Ṣadr-al-Islām."—Shihābuddīn Dimishkī, in Notes et Exts. xiii. 185.

SUFEENA, s. Hind. safīna. This is the native corr. of subpoena. It is shaped, but not much distorted, by the existence in Hind. of the Ar. word safīna for 'a blank-book, a note-book.'

SUGAR, s. This familiar word is of Skt. origin. Sarkara originally signifies 'grit or gravel,' thence crystallised sugar, and through a Prakrit form sakkara gave the Pers. shakkar, the Greek σάκχαρ and σάκχαρον, and the late Latin saccharum. The Ar. is sukkar, or with the article as-sukkar, and it is probable that our modern forms, It. zucchero and succhero, Fr. sucre, Germ. Zucker, Eng. sugar, came as well as the Sp. azucar, and Port. assucar, from the Arabic direct, and not through Latin or Greek. The Russian is sakhar; Polish zukier; Hung. zukur. In fact the ancient knowledge of the product was slight and vague, and it was by the Arabs that the cultivation of the sugar-cane was introduced into Egypt, Sicily, and Andalusia. It is possible indeed, and not improbable, that palm-sugar (see JAGGERY) is a much older product than that of the cane. [This is disputed by Watt (Econ. Dict. vi. pt. i. p. 31), who is inclined to fix the home of the cane in E. India.] The original habitat of the cane is not known; there is only a slight and doubtful statement of Loureiro, who, in speaking of Cochin-China, uses the words "habitat et colitur," which may imply its existence in a wild state, as well as under cultivation, in that country. De Candolle assigns its earliest production to the country extending from Cochin-China to Bengal.

Though, as we have said, the knowledge which the ancients had of sugar was very dim, we are disposed greatly to question the thesis, which has been so confidently maintained by Salmasius and later writers, that the original saccharon of Greek and Roman writers was not sugar but the siliceous concretion sometimes deposited in bamboos, and used in medieval medicine under the name tabasheer (q.v.) (where see a quotation from Royle, taking the same view). It is just possible that Pliny in the passage quoted below may have jumbled up two different things, but we see no sufficient evidence even of this. In White's Latin Dict. we read that by the word saccharon is meant (not sugar but) "a sweet juice distilling from the joints of the bamboo." This is nonsense. There is no such sweet juice distilled from the joints of the bamboo; nor is the substance tabashīr at all sweet. On the contrary it is slightly bitter and physicky in taste, with no approach to sweetness. It is a hydrate of silica. It could never have been called "honey" (see Dioscorides and Pliny below); and the name of bamboo-sugar appears to have been given it by the Arabs merely because of some resemblance of its concretions to lumps of sugar. [The same view is taken in the Encycl. Brit. 9th ed. xxii. 625, quoting Not. et Extr., xxv. 267.] All the erroneous notices of σάκχαρον seem to be easily accounted for by lack of knowledge; and they are exactly paralleled by the loose and inaccurate stories about the origin of camphor, of lac, and what-not, that may be found within the boards of this book.

In the absence or scarcity of sugar, honey was the type of sweetness, and hence the name of honey applied to sugar in several of these early extracts. This phraseology continued down to the Middle Ages, at least in its application to uncrystallised products of the sugar-cane, and analogous substances. In the quotation from Pegolotti we apprehend that his three kinds of honey indicate honey, treacle, and a syrup or treacle made from the sweet pods of the carob-tree.

Sugar does not seem to have been in early Chinese use. The old Chinese books often mention shi-mi or 'stone-honey' as a product of India and Persia. In the reign of Taitsung (627-650) a man was sent to Gangetic India to learn the art of sugar-making; and Marco Polo below mentions the introduction from Egypt of the further art of refining it. In India now, Chīnī (Cheeny) (Chinese) is applied to the whiter kinds of common sugar; Miṣrī (Misree) or Egyptian, to sugar-candy; loaf-sugar is called ḳand.

c. A.D. 60.—

"Quâque ferens rapidum diviso gurgite fontem

Vastis Indus aquis mixtum non sentit Hydaspen:

Quique bibunt tenerâ dulcis ab arundine succos...."

Lucan, iii. 235.

" "Aiunt inveniri apud Indos mel in arundinum foliis, quod aut nos illius cœli, aut ipsius arundinis humor dulcis et pinguis gignat."—Seneca, Epist. lxxxiv.

c. A.D. 65.—"It is called σάκχαρον, and is a kind of honey which solidifies in India, and in Arabia Felix; and is found upon canes, in its substance resembling salt, and crunched by the teeth as salt is. Mixed with water and drunk, it is good for the belly and stomach, and for affections of the bladder and kidneys."—Dioscorides, Mat. Med. ii. c. 104.

c. A.D. 70.—"Saccharon et Arabia fert, sed laudatius India. Est autem mel in harundinibus collectum, cummium modo candidum, dentibus fragile, amplissimum nucis abellanae magnitudine, ad medicinae tantum usum."—Plin. Hist. Nat. xii. 8.

c. 170.—"But all these articles are hotter than is desirable, and so they aggravate fevers, much as wine would. But oxymeli alone does not aggravate fever, whilst it is an active purgative.... Not undeservedly, I think, that saccharum may also be counted among things of this quality...."—Galen, Methodus Medendi, viii.

c. 636.—"In Indicis stagnis nasci arundines calamique dicuntur, ex quorum radicibus expressum suavissimum succum bibunt. Vnde et Varro ait:

Indica non magno in arbore crescit arundo;

Illius et lentis premitur radicibus humor,

Dulcia qui nequeant succo concedere mella."

Isidori Hispalensis Originum, Lib. xvii. cap. vii.

c. 1220.—"Sunt insuper in Terra (Sancta) canamellae de quibus zucchara ex compressione eliquatur."—Jacobi Vitriaci, Hist. Jherosolym, cap. lxxxv.

1298.—"Bangala est une provence vers midi.... Il font grant merchandie, car il ont espi e galanga e gingiber e succare et de maintes autres chieres espices."—Marco Polo, Geog. Text, ch. cxxvi.

1298.—"Je voz di que en ceste provences" (Quinsai or Chekiang) "naist et se fait plus sucar que ne fait en tout le autre monde, et ce est encore grandissime vente."—Ibid. ch. cliii.

1298.—"And before this city" (a place near Fu-chau) "came under the Great Can these people knew not how to make fine sugar (zucchero); they only used to boil and skim the juice, which, when cold, left a black paste. But after they came under the Great Can some men of Babylonia" (i.e. of Cairo) "who happened to be at the Court proceeded to this city and taught the people to refine sugar with the ashes of certain trees."—Idem, in Ramusio, ii. 49.

c. 1343.—"In Cyprus the following articles are sold by the hundred-weight (cantara di peso) and at a price in besants: Round pepper, sugar in powder (polvere di zucchero) ... sugars in loaves (zuccheri in pani), bees' honey, sugar-cane honey, and carob-honey (mele d'ape, mele di cannameli, mele di carrube)...."—Pegolotti, 64.

" "Loaf sugars are of several sorts, viz. zucchero muchhera, caffettino, and bambillonia; and musciatto, and dommaschino; and the mucchera is the best sugar there is; for it is more thoroughly boiled, and its paste is whiter, and more solid, than any other sugar; it is in the form of the bambillonia sugar like this Δ; and of this mucchara kind but little comes to the west, because nearly the whole is kept for the mouth and for the use of the Soldan himself.

"Zucchero caffettino is the next best after the muccara ...

"Zucchero Bambillonia is the best next after the best caffettino.

"Zucchero musciatto is the best after that of Bambillonia.

"Zucchero chandi, the bigger the pieces are, and the whiter, and the brighter, so much is it the better and finer, and there should not be too much small stuff.

"Powdered sugars are of many kinds, as of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of the Cranco of Monreale, and of Alexandria; and they are all made originally in entire loaves; but as they are not so thoroughly done, as the other sugars that keep their loaf shape ... the loaves tumble to pieces, and return to powder, and so it is called powdered sugar ..." (and a great deal more).—Ibid. 362-365. We cannot interpret most of the names in the preceding extract. Bambillonia is 'Sugar of Babylon,' i.e. of Cairo, and Dommaschino of Damascus. Mucchera (see CANDY (SUGAR), the second quotation), Caffettino, and Musciatto, no doubt all represent Arabic terms used in the trade at Alexandria, but we cannot identify them.

c. 1345.—"J'ai vu vendre dans le Bengale ... un rithl (rottle) de sucre (al-sukkar), poids de Dihly, pour quatre drachmes."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 211.

1516.—"Moreover they make in this city (Bengala, i.e. probably Chittagong) much and good white cane sugar (açuquere branco de canas), but they do not know how to consolidate it and make loaves of it, so they wrap up the powder in certain wrappers of raw hide, very well stitched up; and make great loads of it, which are despatched for sale to many parts, for it is a great traffic."—Barbosa, Lisbon ed. 362.

[1630.—"Let us have a word or two of the prices of suger and suger candy."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 5.]

1807.—"Chacun sait que par effet des regards de Farid, des monceaux de terre se changeaient en sucre. Tel est le motif du surnom de Schakar ganj, 'tresor de sucre' qui lui a été donné."—Arāish-i-Maḥfil, quoted by Garcin de Tassy, Rel. Mus. 95. (This is the saint, Farīd-uddīn Shakarganj (d. A.D. 1268) whose shrine is at Pāk Pattan in the Punjab.) [See Crooke, Popular Religion, &c. i. 214 seqq.]

1810.—"Although the sugar cane is supposed by many to be indigenous in India, yet it has only been within the last 50 years that it has been cultivated to any great extent.... Strange to say, the only sugar-candy used until that time" (20 years before the date of the book) "was received from China; latterly, however, many gentlemen have speculated deeply in the manufacture. We now see sugar-candy of the first quality manufactured in various places of Bengal, and I believe that it is at least admitted that the raw sugars from that quarter are eminently good."—Williamson, V.M. ii. 133.

SULTAN, s. Ar. sulṭān, 'a Prince, a Monarch.' But this concrete sense is, in Arabic, post-classical only. The classical sense is abstract 'dominion.' The corresponding words in Hebrew and Aramaic have, as usual, sh or s. Thus sholṭān in Daniel (e.g. vi. 26—"in the whole dominion of my kingdom") is exactly the same word. The concrete word, corresponding to sulṭān in its post-classical sense, is shallīṭ, which is applied to Joseph in Gen. xlii. 6—"governor." So Saladin (Yūsuf Salāh-ad-dīn) was not the first Joseph who was sultan of Egypt. ["In Arabia it is a not uncommon proper name; and as a title it is taken by a host of petty kinglets. The Abbaside Caliphs (as Al-Wásik ...) formerly created these Sultans as their regents. Al Tá'i bi'llah (A.D. 974) invested the famous Sabuktagin with the office ... Sabuktagin's son, the famous Mahmúd of the Ghaznavite dynasty in 1002, was the first to adopt 'Sultán' as an independent title some 200 years after the death of Harún-al-Rashíd" (Burton, Arab. Nights, i. 188.)]

c. 950.—"Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς Βασιλείας Μιχαὴλ τοῦ ὑιοῦ Θεοφίλου ἀνῆλθεν ἀπὸ Ἀφρικῆς στόλος λϛʹ κομπαρίων, ἔχων κεφαλὴν τὸν τε Σολδανὸν καὶ τὸν Σάμαν καὶ τὸν Καλφοῦς, καὶ ἐχειρώσαντο διαφόρους πόλεις τῆς Δαλματίας."—Constant. Porphyrog., De Thematibus, ii. Thēma xi.

c. 1075 (written c. 1130).—"... οἳ καὶ καθελόντες Πέρσας τε καὶ Σαρακηνοὺς αὐτοὶ κύριοι τῆς Περσίδος γεγόνασι σουλτάνον τὸν Στραγγολίπιδα ὀνομάσαντες, ὅπερ σημαίνει παρ' αὐτοῖς Βασιλεὺς καὶ παντοκράτωρ."—Nicephorus Bryennius, Comment. i. 9.

c. 1124.—"De divitiis Soldani mira referunt, et de incognitis speciebus quas in oriente viderunt. Soldanus dicitur quasi solus dominus, quia cunctis praeest Orientis principibus."—Ordericus Vitalis, Hist. Eccles. Lib. xi. In Paris ed. of Le Prevost, 1852, iv. 256-7.

1165.—"Both parties faithfully adhered to this arrangement, until it was interrupted by the interference of Sanjar-Shah ben Shah, who governs all Persia, and holds supreme power over 45 of its Kings. This prince is called in Arabic Sultan ul-Fars-al-Khabir (supreme commander of Persia)."—R. Benjamin, in Wright, 105-106.

c. 1200.—"Endementres que ces choses coroient einsi en Antioche, li message qui par Aussiens estoient alé au soudan de Perse por demander aide s'en retournoient."—Guillaume de Tyr, Old Fr. Tr. i. 174.

1298.—"Et quaint il furent là venus, adonc Bondocdaire qe soldan estoit de Babelonie vent en Armenie con grande host, et fait grand domajes por la contrée."—Marco Polo, Geog. Text, ch. xiii.

1307.—"Post quam vero Turchi occupaverunt terrã illã et habitaverũt ibidem, elegerũt dominũ super eos, et illum vocaverunt Soldã quod idem est quod rex in idiomate Latinorũ."—Haitoni Armeni de Tartaris Liber, cap. xiii. in Novus Orbis.

1309.—"En icelle grant paour de mort où nous estiens, vindrent à nous jusques à treize ou quatorze dou consoil dou soudan, trop richement appareillé de dras d'or et de soie, et nous firent demander (par un frere de l'Ospital qui savoit sarrazinois), de par le soudan, se nous vorriens estre delivre, et nous deimes que oil, et ce pooient il bien savoir."—Joinville, Credo. Joinville often has soudanc, and sometimes saudanc.

1498.—"Em este lugar e ilha a que chamão Moncobiquy estava hum senhor a que elles chamavam Colyytam que era como visorrey."—Roteiro de V. da Gama, 26.

c. 1586.—

"Now Tamburlaine the mighty Soldan comes,

And leads with him the great Arabian King."

Marlowe, Tamb. the Great, iv. 3.

[1596.—

"... this scimitar

That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince

That won three fields of Sultan Solyman."

Merchant of Venice, II. i. 26.]

SUMATRA.

a. n.p. This name has been applied to the great island since about A.D. 1400. There can be no reasonable doubt that it was taken from the very similar name of one of the maritime principalities upon the north coast of the island, which seems to have originated in the 13th century. The seat of this principality, a town called Samudra, was certainly not far from Pasei, the Pacem of the early Portuguese writers, the Passir of some modern charts, and probably lay near the inner end of the Bay of Telo Samawe (see notes to Marco Polo, 2nd ed. ii. 276 seqq.). This view is corroborated by a letter from C. W. J. Wenniker (Bijdragen tot de Taal-Land-en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch Indie, ser. iv. vol. 6. (1882), p. 298) from which we learn that in 1881 an official of Netherlands India, who was visiting Pasei, not far from that place, and on the left bank of the river (we presume the river which is shown in maps as entering the Bay of Telo Samawe near Pasei) came upon a kampong, or village, called Samudra. We cannot doubt that this is an indication of the site of the old capital.

The first mention of the name is probably to be recognised in Samara, the name given in the text of Marco Polo to one of the kingdoms of this coast, intervening between Basma, or Pacem, and Dagroian or Dragoian, which last seems to correspond with Pedir. This must have been the position of Samudra, and it is probable that d has disappeared accidentally from Polo's Samara. Malay legends give trivial stories to account for the etymology of the name, and others have been suggested; but in all probability it was the Skt. Samudra, the 'sea.' [See Miscellaneous Papers relating to Indo-China, 2nd ser. ii. 50; Leyden, Malay Annals, 65.] At the very time of the alleged foundation of the town a kingdom was flourishing at Dwāra Samudra in S. India (see DOOR SUMMUND).

The first authentic occurrence of the name is probably in the Chinese annals, which mention, among the Indian kingdoms which were prevailed on to send tribute to Kublai Khan, that of Sumutala. The chief of this State is called in the Chinese record Tu-han-pa-ti (Pauthier, Marc Pol, 605), which seems to exactly represent the Malay words Tuan-Pati, 'Lord Ruler.'

We learn next from Ibn Batuta that at the time of his visit (about the middle of the 14th century) the State of Sumuṭra, as he calls it, had become important and powerful in the Archipelago; and no doubt it was about that time or soon after, that the name began to be applied by foreigners to the whole of the great island, just as Lamori had been applied to the same island some centuries earlier, from Lāmbrī, which was then the State and port habitually visited by ships from India. We see that the name was so applied early in the following century by Nicolo Conti, who was in those seas apparently c. 1420-30, and who calls the island Shamuthera. Fra Mauro, who derived much information from Conti, in his famous World-Map, calls the island Isola Siamotra or Taprobane. The confusion with Taprobane lasted long.

When the Portuguese first reached those regions Pedir was the leading State upon the coast, and certainly no State known as Samudra or Sumatra then continued to exist. Whether the city continued to exist, even in decay, is obscure. The Āīn, quoted below, refers to the "port of Sumatra," but this may have been based on old information. Valentijn seems to recognise the existence of a place called Samudra or Samotdara, though it is not entered in his map. A famous mystic theologian who flourished under the great King of Achīn, Iskandar Muda, and died in 1630, bore the name of Shamsuddīn Shamatrānī, which seems to point to a place called Shamatra as his birthplace. And a distinct mention of "the island of Samatra" as named from "a city of this northern part" occurs in the soi-disant "Voyage which Juan Serano made when he fled from Malacca" in 1512, published by Lord Stanley of Alderley at the end of his translation of Barbosa. This man, on leaving Pedir and going down the coast, says: "I drew towards the south and south-east direction, and reached to another country and city which is called Samatra," and so on. Now this indicates the position in which the city of Sumatra must really have been, if it continued to exist. But, though this passage is not, all the rest of the narrative seems to be mere plunder from Varthema. Unless, indeed, the plunder was the other way; for there is reason to believe that Varthema never went east of Malabar.

There is, however, a like intimation in a curious letter respecting the Portuguese discoveries, written from Lisbon in 1515, by a German, Valentino Moravia (the same probably who published a Portuguese version of Marco Polo, at Lisbon, in 1502) and who shows an extremely accurate conception of Indian geography. He says: "The greatest island is that called by Marco Polo the Venetian Java Minor, and at present it is called Sumotra from a port of the said island" (see in De Gubernatis, Viagg. Ital. 391).

It is probable that before the Portuguese epoch the adjoining States of Pasei and Sumatra had become united. Mr. G. Phillips, of the Consular Service in China, was good enough to send to one of the present writers, when engaged on Marco Polo, a copy of an old Chinese chart showing the northern coast of the island, and this showed the town of Sumatra (Sumantala). It seemed to be placed in the Gulf of Pasei, and very near where Pasei itself still exists. An extract of a Chinese account "of about A.D. 1413" accompanied the map. This was fundamentally the same as that quoted below from Groeneveldt. There was a village at the mouth of the river called Talu-mangkin (qu. Telu-Samawe?). A curious passage also will be found below, extracted by the late M. Pauthier from the great Chinese Imperial Geography, which alludes to the disappearance of Sumatra from knowledge.

We are quite unable to understand the doubts that have been thrown upon the derivation of the name, given to the island by foreigners, from that of the kingdom of which we have been speaking (see the letter quoted above from the Bijdragen).

1298.—"So you must know that when you leave the Kingdom of Basma (Pacem) you come to another Kingdom called Samara on the same Island."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 10.

c. 1300.—"Beyond it (Lāmūrī, or Lāmbrī, near Achīn) lies the country of Sūmūtra, and beyond that Darband Niās, which is a dependency of Java."—Rashīduddīn, in Elliot, i. 71.

c. 1323.—"In this same island, towards the south, is another Kingdom by name Sumoltra, in which is a singular generation of people."—Odoric, in Cathay, &c., i. 277.

c. 1346.—"... after a voyage of 25 days we arrived at the island of Jāwa" (i.e. the Java Minor of Marco Polo, or Sumatra). "... We thus made our entrance into the capital, that is to say into the city of Sumuthra. It is large and handsome, and is encompassed with a wall and towers of timber."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 228-230.

1416.—"Sumatra [Su-men-ta-la]. This country is situated on the great road of western trade. When a ship leaves Malacca for the west, and goes with a fair eastern wind for five days and nights, it first comes to a village on the sea-coast called Ta-lu-man; and anchoring here and going south-east for about 10 li (3 miles) one arrives at the said place.

"This country has no walled city. There is a large brook running out into the sea, with two tides every day; the waves at the mouth of it are very high, and ships continually founder there...."—Chinese work, quoted by Groeneveldt, p. 85.

c. 1430.—"He afterwards went to a fine city of the island Taprobana, which island is called by the natives Sciamuthera."—Conti, in India in XVth. Cent., 9.

1459.—"Isola Siamotra."—Fra Mauro.

1498.—"... Camatarra is of the Christians; it is distant from Calicut a voyage of 30 days with a good wind."—Roteiro, 109.

1510.—"Wherefore we took a junk and went towards Sumatra to a city called Pider."—Varthema, 228.

1522.—"... We left the island of Timor, and entered upon the great sea called Lant Chidol, and taking a west-south-west course, we left to the right and the north, for fear of the Portuguese, the island of Zumatra, anciently called Taprobana; also Pegu, Bengala, Urizza, Chelim (see KLING) where are the Malabars, subjects of the King of Narsinga."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. 159.

1572.—

"Dizem, que desta terra, co' as possantes

Ondas o mar intrando, dividio

A nobre ilha Samatra, que já d'antes

Juntas ambas a gente antigua vio:

Chersoneso foi dita, e das prestantes

Veas d'ouro, que a terra produzio,

Aurea por epithéto lhe ajuntaram

Alguns que fosse Ophir imaginarám."

Camões, x. 124.

By Burton:

"From this Peninsula, they say, the sea

parted with puissant waves, and entering tore

Samatra's noble island, wont to be

joined to the Main as seen by men of yore.

'Twas callèd Chersonese, and such degree

it gained by earth that yielded golden ore,

they gave a golden epithet to the ground:

Some be who fancy Ophir here was found."

c. 1590.—"The zabád (i.e. civet) which is brought from the harbour town of Sumatra, from the territory of Áchín, goes by the name of Sumatra zabád (chūn az bandar-i Sāmatrāī az muẓāfat-i Achīn awurdand, Sāmatrāī goyand)."—Āīn, Blochmann, i. 79, (orig. i. 93). [And see a reference to Lámri in Āīn, ed. Jarrett, iii. 48.]

1612.—"It is related that Raja Shaher-ul-Nawi (see SARNAU) was a sovereign of great power, and on hearing that Samadra was a fine and flourishing land he said to his warriors—which of you will take the Rajah of Samadra?"—Sijara Malayu, in J. Ind. Archip. v. 316.

c. **.—"Sou-men-t'ala est située au sud-ouest de Tchen-tching (la Cochin Chine) ... jusqu'à la fin du règne de Tching-tsou (in 1425), ce roi ne cessa d'envoyer son tribut à la cour. Pendant les années wen-hi (1573-1615) ce royaume se partagea en deux, dont le nouveau se nomma A-tchí.... Par la suite on n'en entendit plus parler."—Grande Geog. Impériale, quoted by Pauthier, Marc Pol, 567.

b.—

SUMATRA, s. Sudden squalls, precisely such as are described by Lockyer and the others below, and which are common in the narrow sea between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, are called by this name.

1616.—"... it befel that the galliot of Miguel de Macedo was lost on the Ilha Grande of Malaca (?), where he had come to anchor, when a Samatra arose that drove him on the island, the vessel going to pieces, though the crew and most part of what she carried were saved."—Bocarro, Decada, 626.

1711.—"Frequent squalls ... these are often accompanied with Thunder and Lightning, and continue very fierce for Half an Hour, more or less. Our English Sailors call them Sumatras, because they always meet with them on the Coasts of this Island."—Lockyer, 56.

1726.—"At Malacca the streights are not above 4 Leagues broad; for though the opposite shore on Sumatra is very low, yet it may easily be seen on a clear Day, which is the Reason that the Sea is always as smooth as a Mill-pond, except it is ruffled with Squalls of Wind, which seldom come without Lightning, Thunder, and Rain, and though they come with great Violence, yet they are soon over, not often exceeding an Hour."—A. Hamilton, ii. 79, [ed. 1744].

1843.—"Sumatras, or squalls from the S. Westward, are often experienced in the S.W. Monsoon.... Sumatras generally come off the land during the first part of the night, and are sometimes sudden and severe, accompanied with loud thunder, lightning, and rain."—Horsburgh, ed. 1843, ii. 215.

[SUMJAO, v. This is properly the imp. of the H. verb samjhānā, 'to cause to know, warn, correct,' usually with the implication of physical coercion. Other examples of a similar formation will be found under PUCKEROW.

[1826.—"... in this case they apply themselves to sumjao, the defendant."—Pandurang Hari, ed. 1873, ii. 170.]

[SUMPITAN, s. The Malay blowing-tube, by means of which arrows, often poisoned, are discharged. The weapon is discussed under SARBATANE. The word is Malay sumpītan, properly 'a narrow thing,' from sumpit, 'narrow, strait.' There is an elaborate account of it, with illustrations, in Ling Roth, Natives of Sarawak and Br. N. Borneo, ii. 184 seqq. Also see Scott, Malayan Words, 104 seqq.

[c. 1630.—"Sempitans." See under UPAS.

[1841.—"In advancing, the sumpitan is carried at the mouth and elevated, and they will discharge at least five arrows to one compared with a musket."—Brooke, in Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes, i. 261.

[1883.—"Their (the Samangs') weapon is the sumpitan, a blow-gun, from which poisoned arrows are expelled."—Miss Bird, The Golden Chersonese, 16.]

SUNDA, n.p. The western and most mountainous part of the island of Java, in which a language different from the proper Javanese is spoken, and the people have many differences of manners, indicating distinction of race. In the 16th century, Java and Sunda being often distinguished, a common impression grew up that they were separate islands; and they are so represented in some maps of the 16th century, just as some medieval maps, including that of Fra Mauro (1459), show a like separation between England and Scotland. The name Sunda is more properly indeed that of the people than of their country. The Dutch call them Sundanese (Soendanezen). The Sunda country is considered to extend from the extreme western point of the island to Cheribon, i.e. embracing about one-third of the whole island of Java. Hinduism appears to have prevailed in the Sunda country, and held its ground longer than in "Java," a name which the proper Javanese restrict to their own part of the island. From this country the sea between Sumatra and Java got from Europeans the name of the Straits of Sunda. Geographers have also called the great chain of islands from Sumatra to Timor "the Sunda Islands."

[Mr. Whiteway adds: "There was another Sunda near Goa, but above the Ghāts, where an offspring of the Vijāyanagara family ruled. It was founded at the end of the 16th century, and in the 18th the Portuguese had much to do with it, till Tippoo Sultān absorbed it, and the ruler became a Portuguese pensioner."]

1516.—"And having passed Samatara towards Java there is the island of Sunda, in which there is much good pepper, and it has a king over it, who they say desires to serve the King of Portugal. They ship thence many slaves to China."—Barbosa, 196.

1526.—"Duarte Coelho in a ship, along with the galeot and a foist, went into the port of Çunda, which is at the end of the island of Çamatra, on a separate large island, in which grows a great quantity of excellent pepper, and of which there is a great traffic from this port to China, this being in fact the most important merchandize exported thence. The country is very abundant in provisions, and rich in groves of trees, and has excellent water, and is peopled with Moors who have a Moorish king over them."—Correa, iii. 92.

1553.—"Of the land of Jaüa we make two islands, one before the other, lying west and east as if both on one parallel.... But the Jaos themselves do not reckon two islands of Jaoa, but one only, of the length that has been stated ... about a third in length of this island towards the west constitutes Sunda, of which we have now to speak. The natives of that part consider their country to be an island divided from Jaüa by a river, little known to our navigators, called by them Chiamo or Chenano, which cuts off right from the sea, all that third part of the land in such a way that when these natives define the limits of Jaüa they say that on the west it is bounded by the Island of Sunda, and separated from it by this river Chiamo, and on the east by the island of Bale, and that on the north they have the island of Madura, and on the south the unexplored sea ..." &c.—Barros, IV. i. 12.

1554.—"The information we have of this port of Calapa, which is the same as Çumda, and of another port called Bocaa, these two being 15 leagues one from the other, and both under one King, is to the effect that the supply of pepper one year with another will be xxx thousand quintals, that is to say, xx thousand in one year, and x thousand the next year; also that it is very good pepper, as good as that of Malauar, and it is purchased with cloths of Cambaya, Bengalla, and Choromandel."—A. Nunez, in Subsidios, 42.

1566.—"Sonda, vn Isola de' Mori appresso la costa della Giava."—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 391v.

c. 1570.—

"Os Sundas e Malaios con pimenta,

Con massa, e noz ricos Bandanezes,

Com roupa e droga Cambaia a opulenta,

E com cravo os longinquos Maluguezes."

Ant. de Abreu, Desc. de Malaca.

1598.—Linschoten does not recognize the two islands. To him Sunda is only a place in Java:—

"... there is a straight or narrow passage betweene Sumatra and Iaua, called the straight of Sunda, of a place so called, lying not far from thence within the Ile of Iaua.... The principall hauen in the Iland is Sunda Calapa, whereof the straight beareth the name; in this place of Sũda there is much Pepper."—p. 34.

SUNDERBUNDS, n.p. The well-known name of the tract of intersecting creeks and channels, swampy islands, and jungles, which constitutes that part of the Ganges Delta nearest the sea. The limits of the region so-called are the mouth of the Hoogly on the west, and that of the Megna (i.e. of the combined great Ganges and Brahmaputra) on the east, a width of about 220 miles. The name appears not to have been traced in old native documents of any kind, and hence its real form and etymology remain uncertain. Sundara-vana, 'beautiful forest'; Sundarī-vana, or -ban, 'forest of the Sundarī tree'; Chandra-ban, and Chandra-band, 'moon-forest' or 'moon-embankment'; Chanda-bhanda, the name of an old tribe of salt-makers; Chandra dīp-ban from a large zemindary called Chandra-dīp in the Bakerganj district at the eastern extremity of the Sunderbunds; these are all suggestions that have been made. Whatever be the true etymology, we doubt if it is to be sought in sundara or sundarī. [As to the derivation from the Sundarī tree which is perhaps most usually accepted, Mr. Beveridge (Man. of Bakarganj, 24, 167, 32) remarks that this tree is by no means common in many parts of the Bakarganj Sunderbunds; he suggests that the word means 'beautiful wood' and was possibly given by the Brahmans.] The name has never (except in one quotation below) been in English mouths, or in English popular orthography, Soonderbunds, but Sunderbunds, which implies (in correct transliteration) an original sandra or chandra, not sundara. And going back to what we conjecture may be an early occurrence of the name in two Dutch writers, we find this confirmed. These two writers, it will be seen, both speak of a famous Sandery, or Santry, Forest in Lower Bengal, and we should be more positive in our identification were it not that in Van der Broucke's map (1660) which was published in Valentijn's East Indies (1726) this Sandery Forest is shown on the west side of the Hoogly R., in fact about due west of the site of Calcutta, and a little above a place marked as Basanderi, located near the exit into the Hoogly of what represents the old Saraswati R., which enters the former at Sānkrāl, not far below the Botanical Gardens, and 5 or 6 miles below Fort William. This has led Mr. Blochmann to identify the Sanderi Bosch with the old Mahall Basandhari which appears in the Āīn as belonging to the Sirkār of Sulīmānābād (Gladwin's Ayeen, ii. 207, orig. i. 407; Jarrett, ii. 140; Blochm. in J.A.S.B. xlii. pt. i. p. 232), and which formed one of the original "xxiv. Pergunnas." Undoubtedly this is the Basanderi of V. den Broucke's map; but it seems possible that some confusion between Basanderi and Bosch Sandery (which would be Sandarban in the vernacular) may have led the map-maker to misplace the latter. We should gather from Schulz that he passed the Forest of Sandry about a Dutch mile below Sankral, which he mentions. But his statement is so nearly identical with that in Valentijn that we apprehend they have no separate value. Valentijn, in an earlier page, like Bernier, describes the Sunderbunds as the resort of the Arakan pirates, but does not give a name (p. 169).

1661.—"We got under sail again" (just after meeting the Arakan pirates) "in the morning early, and went past the Forest of Santry, so styled because (as has been credibly related) Alexander the Great with his mighty army was hindered by the strong rush of the ebb and flood at this place, from advancing further, and therefore had to turn back to Macedonia."—Walter Schulz, 155.

c. 1666.—"And thence it is" (from piratical raids of the Mugs, &c.) "that at present there are seen in the mouth of the Ganges, so many fine Isles quite deserted, which were formerly well peopled, and where no other Inhabitants are found but wild Beasts, and especially Tygers."—Bernier, E.T. 54; [ed. Constable, 442].

1726.—"This (Bengal) is the land wherein they will have it that Alexander the Great, called by the Moors, whether Hindostanders or Persians, Sulthaan Iskender, and in their historians Iskender Doulcarnain, was ... they can show you the exact place where King Porus held his court. The natives will prate much of this matter; for example, that in front of the Sanderie-Wood (Sanderie Bosch, which we show in the map, and which they call properly after him Iskenderie) he was stopped by the great and rushing streams."—Valentijn, v. 179.

1728.—"But your petitioners did not arrive off Sunderbund Wood till four in the evening, where they rowed backward and forward for six days; with which labour and want of provisions three of the people died."—Petition of Sheik Mahmud Ameen and others, to Govr. of Ft. St. Geo., in Wheeler, iii. 41.

1764.—"On the 11th Bhaudan, whilst the Boats were at Kerma in Soonderbund, a little before daybreak, Captain Ross arose and ordered the Manjee to put off with the Budgerow...."—Native Letter regarding Murder of Captain John Ross by a Native Crew. In Long, 383. This instance is an exception to the general remark made above that the English popular orthography has always been Sunder, and not Soonder-bunds.

1786.—"If the Jelinghy be navigable we shall soon be in Calcutta; if not, we must pass a second time through the Sundarbans."—Letter of Sir W. Jones, in Life, ii. 83.

" "A portion of the Sunderbunds ... for the most part overflowed by the tide, as indicated by the original Hindoo name of Chunderbund, signifying mounds, or offspring of the moon."—James Grant, in App. to Fifth Report, p. 260. In a note Mr. Grant notices the derivation from "Soondery wood," and "Soonder-ban," 'beautiful wood,' and proceeds: "But we adhere to our own etymology rather ... above all, because the richest and greatest part of the Sunderbunds is still comprized in the ancient Zemindarry pergunnah of Chunder deep, or lunar territory."

1792.—"Many of these lands, what is called the Sundra bunds, and others at the mouth of the Ganges, if we may believe the history of Bengal, was formerly well inhabited."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, Pref. p. 5.

1793.—"That part of the delta bordering on the sea, is composed of a labyrinth of rivers and creeks, ... this tract known by the name of the Woods, or Sunderbunds, is in extent equal to the principality of Wales."—Rennell, Mem. of Map of Hind., 3rd ed., p. 359.

1853.—"The scenery, too, exceeded his expectations; the terrible forest solitude of the Sunderbunds was full of interest to an European imagination."—Oakfield, i. 38.

[SUNGAR, s. Pers. sanga, sang, 'a stone.' A rude stone breastwork, such as is commonly erected for defence by the Afrīdīs and other tribes on the Indian N.W. frontier. The word has now come into general military use, and has been adopted in the S. African war.

[1857.—"... breastworks of wood and stone (murcha and sanga respectively)...."—Bellew, Journal of Mission, 127.

[1900.—"Conspicuous sungars are constructed to draw the enemy's fire."—Pioneer Mail, March 16.]

The same word seems to be used in the Hills in the sense of a rude wooden bridge supported by stone piers, used for crossing a torrent.

[1833.—"Across a deep ravine ... his Lordship erected a neat sangah, or mountain bridge of pines."—Mundy, Pen and Pencil Sketches, ed. 1858, p. 117.

[1871.—"A sungha bridge is formed as follows: on either side the river piers of rubble masonry, laced with cross-beams of timber, are built up; and into these are inserted stout poles, one above the other in successively projecting tiers, the interstices between the latter being filled up with cross-beams," &c.—Harcourt, Himalayan Districts of Kooloo, p. 67 seq.]

SUNGTARA, s. Pers. sangtara. The name of a kind of orange, probably from Cintra. See under ORANGE a quotation regarding the fruit of Cintra, from Abulfeda.

c. 1526.—"The Sengtereh ... is another fruit.... In colour and appearance it is like the citron (Tāranj), but the skin of the fruit is smooth."—Baber, 328.

c. 1590.—"Sirkar Silhet is very mountainous.... Here grows a delicious fruit called Soontara (sūntara) in colour like an orange, but of an oblong form."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, ii. 10; [Jarrett (ii. 124) writes Súntarah].

1793.—"The people of this country have infinitely more reason to be proud of their oranges, which appear to me to be very superior to those of Silhet, and probably indeed are not surpassed by any in the world. They are here called Santôla, which I take to be a corruption of Sengterrah, the name by which a similar species of orange is known in the Upper Provinces of India."—Kirkpatrick's Nepaul, 129.

1835.—"The most delicious oranges have been procured here. The rind is fine and thin, the flavour excellent; the natives call them 'cintra.'"—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 99.

SUNN, s. Beng. and Hind. san, from Skt. śaṇa; the fibre of the Crotalaria juncea, L. (N.O. Leguminosae); often called Bengal, or Country, hemp. It is of course in no way kindred to true hemp, except in its economic use. In the following passage from the Āīn the reference is to the Hibiscus canabinus (see Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 597).

[c. 1590.—"Hemp grows in clusters like a nosegay.... One species bears a flower like the cotton-shrub, and this is called in Hindostan, sun-paut. It makes a very soft rope."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, ii. 89; in Blochmann (i. 87) Patsan.]

1838.—"Sunn ... a plant the bark of which is used as hemp, and is usually sown around cotton fields."—Playfair, Taleef-i-Shereef, 96.

[SUNNEE, SOONNEE, s. Ar. sunnī, which is really a Pers. form and stands for that which is expressed by the Ar. Ahlu's-Sunnah, 'the people of the Path,' a 'Traditionist.' The term applied to the large Mahommedan sect who acknowledge the first four Khalīfahs to have been the rightful descendants of the Prophet, and are thus opposed to the Sheeahs. The latter are much less numerous than the former, the proportion being, according to Mr. Wilfrid Blunt's estimate, 15 millions Shiahs to 145 millions of Sunnis.

[c. 1590.—"The Mahommedans (of Kashmīr) are partly Sunnies, and others of the sects of Aly and Noorbukhshy; and they are frequently engaged in wars with each other."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, ii. 125; ed. Jarrett, ii. 352.

[1623.—"The other two ... are Sonni, as the Turks and Moghol."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 152.

[1812.—"A fellow told me with the gravest face, that a lion of their own country would never hurt a Sheyah ... but would always devour a Sunni."—Morier, Journey through Persia, 62.]

SUNNUD, s. Hind. from Ar. sanad. A diploma, patent, or deed of grant by the government of office, privilege, or right. The corresponding Skt.—H. is śāsana.

[c. 1590.—"A paper authenticated by proper signatures is called a sunnud...."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, i. 214; ed. Blochmann, i. 259.]

1758.—"They likewise brought sunnuds, or the commission for the nabobship."—Orme, Hist., ed. 1803, ii. 284.

1759.—"That your Petitioners, being the Bramins, &c. ... were permitted by Sunnud from the President and Council to collect daily alms from each shop or doocan (Doocaun) of this place, at 5 cowries per diem."—In Long, 184.

1776.—"If the path to and from a House ... be in the Territories of another Person, that Person, who always hath passed to and fro, shall continue to do so, the other Person aforesaid, though he hath a Right of Property in the Ground, and hath an attested Sunnud thereof, shall not have Authority to cause him any Let or Molestation."—Halhed, Code, 100-101.

1799.—"I enclose you sunnuds for pension for the Killadar of Chittledroog."—Wellington, i. 45.

1800.—"I wished to have traced the nature of landed property in Soondah ... by a chain of Sunnuds up to the 8th century."—Sir T. Munro, in Life, i. 249.

1809.—"This sunnud is the foundation of all the rights and privileges annexed to a Jageer (Jagheer)."—Harrington's Analysis, ii. 410.

SUNYÁSEE, s. Skt. sannyāsī, lit. 'one who resigns, or abandons,' scil. 'wordly affairs'; a Hindu religious mendicant. The name of Sunnyásee was applied familiarly in Bengal, c. 1760-75, to a body of banditti claiming to belong to a religious fraternity, who, in the interval between the decay of the imperial authority and the regular establishment of our own, had their head-quarters in the forest-tracts at the foot of the Himālaya. From these they used to issue periodically in large bodies, plundering and levying exactions far and wide, and returning to their asylum in the jungle when threatened with pursuit. In the days of Nawāb Mīr Kāsim 'Ali (1760-64) they were bold enough to plunder the city of Dacca; and in 1766 the great geographer James Rennell, in an encounter with a large body of them in the territory of Koch (see COOCH) Bihār, was nearly cut to pieces. Rennell himself, five years later, was employed to carry out a project which he had formed for the suppression of these bands, and did so apparently with what was considered at the time to be success, though we find the depredators still spoken of by W. Hastings as active, two or three years later.

[c. 200 A.D.—"Having thus performed religious acts in a forest during the third portion of his life, let him become a Sannyasi for the fourth portion of it, abandoning all sensual affection."—Manu, vi. 33.

[c. 1590.—"The fourth period is Sannyása, which is an extraordinary state of austerity that nothing can surpass.... Such a person His Majesty calls Sannyásí."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, iii. 278.]

1616.—"Sunt autem Sanasses apud illos Brachmanes quidam, sanctimoniae opinione habentes, ab hominum scilicet consortio semoti in solitudine degentes et nonnunquã totũ nudi corpus in publicũ prodeuntes."—Jarric, Thes. i. 663.

1626.—"Some (an vnlearned kind) are called Sannases."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 549.

1651.—"The Sanyasys are people who set the world and worldly joys, as they say, on one side. These are indeed more precise and strict in their lives than the foregoing."—Rogerius, 21.

1674.—"Saniade, or Saniasi, is a dignity greater than that of Kings."—Faria y Sousa, Asia Port. ii. 711.

1726.—"The San-yasés are men who, forsaking the world and all its fruits, betake themselves to a very strict and retired manner of life."—Valentijn, Choro. 75.

1766.—"The Sanashy Faquirs (part of the same Tribe which plundered Dacca in Cossim Ally's Time) were in arms to the number of 7 or 800 at the Time I was surveying Báár (a small Province near Boutan), and had taken and plundered the Capital of that name within a few Coss of my route.... I came up with Morrison immediately after he had defeated the Sanashys in a pitched Battle.... Our Escorte, which were a few Horse, rode off, and the Enemy with drawn Sabres immediately surrounded us. Morrison escaped unhurt, Richards, my Brother officer, received only a slight Wound, and fought his Way off; my Armenian Assistant was killed, and the Sepoy Adjutant much wounded.... I was put in a Palankeen, and Morrison made an attack on the Enemy and cut most of them to Pieces. I was now in a most shocking Condition indeed, being deprived of the Use of both my Arms, ... a cut of a Sable (sic) had cut through my right Shoulder Bone, and laid me open for nearly a Foot down the Back, cutting thro' and wounding some of my Ribs. I had besides a Cut on the left Elbow whch took off the Muscular part of the breadth of a Hand, a Stab in the Arm, and a large Cut on the head...."—MS. Letter from James Rennell, dd. August 30, in possession of his grandson Major Rodd.

1767.—"A body of 5000 Sinnasses have lately entered the Sircar Sarong country; the Phousdar sent two companies of Sepoys after them, under the command of a serjeant ... the Sinnasses stood their ground, and after the Sepoys had fired away their ammunition, fell on them, killed and wounded near 80, and put the rest to flight...."—Letter to President at Ft. William, from Thomas Rumbold, Chief at Patna, dd. April 20, in Long, p. 526.

1773.—"You will hear of great disturbances committed by the Sinassies, or wandering Fackeers, who annually infest the provinces about this time of the year, in pilgrimage to Juggernaut, going in bodies of 1000 and sometimes even 10,000 men."—Letter of Warren Hastings, dd. February 2, in Gleig, i. 282.

" "At this time we have five battalions of Sepoys in pursuit of them."—Do. do., March 31, in Gleig, i. 294.

1774.—"The history of these people is curious.... They ... rove continually from place to place, recruiting their numbers with the healthiest children they can steal.... Thus they are the stoutest and most active men in India.... Such are the Senassies, the gypsies of Hindostan."—Do. do., dd. August 25, in Gleig, 303-4. See the same vol., also pp. 284, 296-7-8, 395.

1826.—"Being looked upon with an evil eye by many persons in society, I pretended to bewail my brother's loss, and gave out my intention of becoming a Sunyasse, and retiring from the world."—Pandurang Hari, 394; [ed. 1873, ii. 267; also i. 189].

SUPÁRA, n.p. The name of a very ancient port and city of Western India; in Skt. Sūrpāraka, popularly Supāra. It was near Wasāi (Baçaim of the Portuguese—see (1) Bassein)—which was for many centuries the chief city of the Konkan, where the name still survives as that of a well-to-do town of 1700 inhabitants, the channel by which vessels in former days reached it from the sea being now dry. The city is mentioned in the Mahābhārata as a very holy place, and in other old Sanskrit works, as well as in cave inscriptions at Kārlī and Nāsik, going back to the 1st and 2nd centuries of the Christian era. Excavations affording interesting Buddhist relics, were made in 1882 by Mr. (now Sir) J. M. Campbell (see his interesting notice in Bombay Gazetteer, xiv. 314-342; xvi. 125) and Pundit Indrajī Bhagwānlāl. The name of Supāra is one of those which have been plausibly connected, through Sophir, the Coptic name of India, with the Ophir of Scripture. Some Arab writers call it the Sofāla of India.

c. A.D. 80-90.—"Τοπικὰ δὲ ἐμπόρια κατὰ τὸ ἐξῆς κείμενα ἀπὸ Βαρυγάζων, Σούππαρα, καὶ Καλλιένα πόλις ..."—Periplus, § 52, ed. Fabricii.

c. 150.—

"Ἀριακῆς Σαδινῶν

Σουπάρα ...

Γοάριος ποταμοῦ ἐκβολαι ...

Δοῦγγα ...

Βήνδα ποταμοῦ ἐκβολαί ...

Σίμυλλα ἐμπόριον καὶ ἄκρα...."

Ptolemy, VII. i. f. § 6.

c. 460.—"The King compelling Wijayo and his retinue, 700 in number, to have the half of their heads shaved, and having embarked them in a vessel, sent them adrift on the ocean.... Wijayo himself landed at the port of Suppâraka...."—The Mahawanso, by Turnour, p. 46.

c. 500.—"Σουφείρ, χώρα, ἐν ᾗ οἱ πολύτιμοι λίθοι, καὶ ὁ χρυσός, ἐν Ἰνδίᾳ."—Hesychius, s.v.

c. 951.—"Cities of Hind ... Kambáya, Subárá, Sindán."—Istakhri, in Elliot, i. 27.

A.D. 1095.—"The Mahâmândalîka, the illustrious Anantadêva, the Emperor of the Koṅkan (Concan), has released the toll mentioned in this copper-grant given by the Sîlâras, in respect of every cart belonging to two persons ... which may come into any of the ports, Sri Sthânaka (Tana), as well as Nâgapur, Surpâraka, Chemuli (Chaul) and others, included within the Koṅkan Fourteen Hundred...."—Copper-Plate Grant, in Ind. Antiq. ix. 38.

c. 1150.—"Súbára is situated 1½ mile from the sea. It is a populous busy town, and is considered one of the entrepôts of India."—Edrisi, in Elliot, i. 85.

1321.—"There are three places where the Friars might reap a great harvest, and where they could live in common. One of these is Supera, where two friars might be stationed; and a second is in the district of Parocco (Broach), where two or three might abide; and the third is Columbus (Quilon)."—Letter of Fr. Jordanus, in Cathay, &c., 227.

c. 1330.—"Sufâlah Indica. Birunio nominatur Sûfârah.... De eo nihil commemorandum inveni."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 189.

1538.—"Rent of the caçabe (Cusbah), of Çupara ... 14,122 fedeas."—S. Bothelho, Tombo, 175.

1803.—Extract from a letter dated Camp Soopara, March 26, 1803.

"We have just been paying a formal visit to his highness the peishwa," &c.—In Asiatic Annual Reg. for 1803, Chron. p. 99.

1846.—"Sopara is a large place in the Agasee mahal, and contains a considerable Mussulman population, as well as Christian and Hindoo ... there is a good deal of trade; and grain, salt, and garden produce are exported to Guzerat and Bombay."—Desultory Notes, by John Vaupell, Esq., in Trans. Bo. Geog. Soc. vii. 140.

SUPREME COURT. The designation of the English Court established at Fort William by the Regulation Act of 1773 (13 Geo. III. c. 63), and afterwards at the other two Presidencies. Its extent of jurisdiction was the subject of acrimonious controversies in the early years of its existence; controversies which were closed by 21 Geo. III. c. 70, which explained and defined the jurisdiction of the Court. The use of the name came to an end in 1862 with the establishment of the 'High Court,' the bench of which is occupied by barrister judges, judges from the Civil Service, and judges promoted from the native bar.

The Charter of Charles II., of 1661, gave the Company certain powers to administer the laws of England, and that of 1683 to establish Courts of Judicature. That of Geo. I. (1726) gave power to establish at each Presidency Mayor's Courts for civil suits, with appeal to the Governor and Council, and from these, in cases involving more than 1000 pagodas, to the King in Council. The same charter constituted the Governor and Council of each Presidency a Court for trial of all offences except high treason. Courts of Requests were established by charter of Geo. II., 1753. The Mayor's Court at Madras and Bombay survived till 1797, when (by 37 Geo. III. ch. 142) a Recorder's Court was instituted at each. This was superseded at Madras by a Supreme Court in 1801, and at Bombay in 1823.

SURA, s. Toddy (q.v.), i.e. the fermented sap of several kinds of palm, such as coco, palmyra, and wild-date. It is the Skt. sura, 'vinous liquor,' which has passed into most of the vernaculars. In the first quotation we certainly have the word, though combined with other elements of uncertain identity, applied by Cosmas to the milk of the coco-nut, perhaps making some confusion between that and the fermented sap. It will be seen that Linschoten applies sura in the same way. Bluteau, curiously, calls this a Caffre word. It has in fact been introduced from India into Africa by the Portuguese (see Ann. Marit. iv. 293).

c. 545.—"The Argell" (i.e. Nargil, or nargeela, or coco-nut) "is at first full of very sweet water, which the Indians drink, using it instead of wine. This drink is called Rhonco-sura, and is exceedingly pleasant."—Cosmas, in Cathay, &c., clxxvi.

[1554.—"Cura." See under ARRACK.]

1563.—"They grow two qualities of palm-tree, one kind for the fruit, and the other to give çura."—Garcia, f. 67.

1578.—"Sura, which is, as it were, vino mosto."—Acosta, 100.

1598.—"... in that sort the pot in short space is full of water, which they call Sura, and is very pleasant to drinke, like sweet whay, and somewhat better."—Linschoten, 101; [Hak. Soc. ii. 48].

1609-10.—"... A goodly country and fertile ... abounding with Date Trees, whence they draw a liquor, called Tarree (Toddy) or Sure...."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 436.

1643.—"Là ie fis boire mes mariniers de telle sorte que peu s'en falut qu'ils ne renuersassent notre almadie ou batteau: Ce breuvage estoit du sura, qui est du vin fait de palmes."—Mocquet, Voyages, 252.

c. 1650.—"Nor could they drink either Wine, or Sury, or Strong Water, by reason of the great Imposts which he laid upon them."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 86; [ed. Ball, i. 343].

1653.—"Les Portugais appelent ce tari ou vin des Indes, Soure ... de cette liqueur le singe, et la grande chauue-souris ... sont extremement amateurs, aussi bien que les Indiens Mansulmans (sic), Parsis, et quelque tribus d'Indou...."—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, ed. 1657, 263.

SURAT, n.p. In English use the name of this city is accented Surátt; but the name is in native writing and parlance generally Sŭrăt. In the Āīn, however (see below), it is written Sūrat; also in Ṣādiḳ Isfahānī (p. 106). Surat was taken by Akbar in 1573, having till then remained a part of the falling Mahommedan kingdom of Guzerat. An English factory was first established in 1608-9, which was for more than half a century the chief settlement of the English Company in Continental India. The transfer of the Chiefs to Bombay took place in 1687.

We do not know the origin of the name. Various legends on the subject are given in Mr. (now Sir J.) Campbell's Bombay Gazetteer (vol. ii.), but none of them have any probability. The ancient Indian Saurāshṭra was the name of the Peninsula of Guzerat or Kattywar, or at least of the maritime part of it. This latter name and country is represented by the differently spelt and pronounced Sōrath (see SŪRATH). Sir Henry Elliot and his editor have repeatedly stated the opinion that the names are identical. Thus: "The names 'Surat' and 'Sūrath' are identical, both being derived from the Sankrit Suráshtra; but as they belong to different places a distinction in spelling has been maintained. 'Surat' is the city; 'Súrath' is a pránt or district of Kattiwar, of which Junágarh is the chief town" (Elliot, v. 350; see also 197). Also: "The Sanskrit Suráshtra and Gurjjara survive in the modern names Surat and Guzerat, and however the territories embraced by the old terms have varied, it is hard to conceive that Surat was not in Suráshtra nor Guzerat in Gurjjara. All evidence goes to prove that the old and modern names applied to the same places. Thus Ptolemy's Surastrene comprises Surat...." (Dowson (?) ibid. i. 359). This last statement seems distinctly erroneous. Surat is in Ptolemy's Λάρικη, not in Συραστρηνή, which represents, like Saurāshtra, the peninsula. It must remain doubtful whether there was any connection between the names, or the resemblance was accidental. It is possible that continental Surat may have originally had some name implying its being the place of passage to Saurāshtra or Sorath.

Surat is not a place of any antiquity. There are some traces of the existence of the name ascribed to the 14th century, in passages of uncertain value in certain native writers. But it only came to notice as a place of any importance about the very end of the 15th century, when a rich Hindu trader, Gopi by name, is stated to have established himself on the spot, and founded the town. The way, however, in which it is spoken of by Barbosa previous to 1516 shows that the rise of its prosperity must have been rapid.

[Surat in English slang is equivalent to the French Rafiot, in the sense of 'no great shakes,' an adulterated article of inferior quality (Barrére, s.v. Rafiot). This perhaps was accounted for by the fact that "until lately the character of Indian cotton in the Liverpool market stood very low, and the name 'Surats,' the description under which the cotton of this province is still included, was a byword and a general term of contempt" (Berar Gazetteer, 226 seq.).]

1510.—"Don Afonso" (de Noronha, nephew of Alboquerque) "in the storm not knowing whither they went, entered the Gulf of Cambay, and struck upon a shoal in front of Çurrate. Trying to save themselves by swimming or on planks many perished, and among them Don Afonso."—Correa, ii. 29.

1516.—"Having passed beyond the river of Reynel, on the other side there is a city which they call Çurate, peopled by Moors, and close upon the river; they deal there in many kinds of wares, and carry on a great trade; for many ships of Malabar and other parts sail thither, and sell what they bring, and return loaded with what they choose...."—Barbosa, Lisbon ed. 280.

1525.—"The corjaa (Corge) of cotton cloths of Çuryate, of 14 yards each, is worth ... 250 fedeas."—Lembrança, 45.

1528.—"Heytor da Silveira put to sea again, scouring the Gulf, and making war everywhere with fire and sword, by sea and land; and he made an onslaught on Çurrate and Reynel, great cities on the sea-coast, and sacked them, and burnt part of them, for all the people fled, they being traders and without a garrison...."—Correa, iii. 277.

1553.—"Thence he proceeded to the bar of the river Tapty, above which stood two cities the most notable on that gulf. The first they call Surat, 3 leagues from the mouth, and the other Reiner, on the opposite side of the river and half a league from the bank.... The latter was the most sumptuous in buildings and civilisation, inhabited by warlike people, all of them Moors inured to maritime war, and it was from this city that most of the foists and ships of the King of Cambay's fleet were furnished. Surat again was inhabited by an unwarlike people whom they call Banyans, folk given to mechanic crafts, chiefly to the business of weaving cotton cloths."—Barros, IV. iv. 8.

1554.—"So saying they quitted their rowing-benches, got ashore, and started for Surrat."—Sidi 'Ali, p. 83.

1573.—"Next day the Emperor went to inspect the fortress.... During his inspection some large mortars and guns attracted his attention. Those mortars bore the name of Sulaimání, from the name of Sulaimán Sultán of Turkey. When he made his attempt to conquer the ports of Gujarát, he sent these ... with a large army by sea. As the Turks ... were obliged to return, they left these mortars.... The mortars remained upon the sea-shore, until Khudáwand Khán built the fort of Surat, when he placed them in the fort. The one which he left in the country of Súrath was taken to the fort of Junágarh by the ruler of that country."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarī, in Elliot, v. 350.

c. 1590.—"Sūrat is among famous ports. The river Taptī runs hard by, and at seven coss distance joins the salt sea. Rānīr on the other side of the river is now a port dependent on Sūrat, but was formerly a big city. The ports of Khandevī and Balsār are also annexed to Sūrat. Fruit, and especially the ananās, is abundant.... The sectaries of Zardasht, emigrant from Fārs, have made their dwelling here; they revere the Zhand and Pazhand and erect their dakhmas (or places for exposing the dead).... Through the carelessness of the agents of Government and the commandants of the troops (sipah-salārān, Sipah Selar), a considerable tract of this Sirkār is at present in the hands of the Frank, e.g. Daman, Sanjān (St. John's), Tārāpūr, Māhim, and Basai (see (1) Bassein), that are both cities and forts."—Āin, orig. i. 488; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 243].

[1615.—"To the Right Honourable Sir Thomas Roe ... these in Zuratt."—Foster, Letters, iii. 196.]

1638.—"Within a League of the Road we entred into the River upon which Surat is seated, and which hath on both sides a very fertile soil, and many fair gardens, with pleasant Country-houses, which being all white, a colour which it seems the Indians are much in love with, afford a noble prospect amidst the greenness whereby they are encompassed. But the River, which is the Tapte ... is so shallow at the mouth of it, that Barks of 70 or 80 Tun can hardly come into it."—Mandelslo, p. 12.

1690.—"Suratt is reckon'd the most fam'd Emporium of the Indian Empire, where all Commodities are vendible.... And the River is very commodious for the Importation of Foreign Goods, which are brought up to the City in Hoys and Yachts, and Country Boats."—Ovington, 218.

1779.—"There is some report that he (Gen. Goddard) is gone to Bender-Souret ... but the truth of this God knows."—Seir Mutaq. iii. 328.

SURATH, more properly Sōrath, and Sōreth, n.p. This name is the legitimate modern form and representative of the ancient Indian Saurāshṭra and Greek Syrastrēnē, names which applied to what we now call the Kattywar Peninsula, but especially to the fertile plains on the sea-coast. ["Suráshṭra, the land of the Sus, afterwards Sanskritized into Sauráshṭra the Goodly Land, preserves its name in Sorath the southern part of Káthiáváḍa. The name appears as Suráshṭra in the Mahábhárata and Pánini's Gaṇapátha, in Rudradáman's (A.D. 150) and Skandagupta's (A.D. 456) Girnár inscriptions, and in several Valabhi copper-plates. Its Prákrit form appears as Suraṭha in the Násik inscription of Gotamiputra (A.D. 150) and in later Prákrit as Suraṭhṭha in the Tirthakalpa of Jinapra-bhásuri of the 13th or 14th century. Its earliest foreign mention is perhaps Strabo's Saraostus and Pliny's Oratura" (Bombay Gazetteer, i. pt. i. 6)]. The remarkable discovery of one of the great inscriptions of Aśoka (B.C. 250) on a rock at Girnār, near Junāgarh in Saurāshtra, shows that the dominion of that great sovereign, whose capital was at Pataliputra (Παλιμβόθρα) or Patna, extended to this distant shore. The application of the modern form Sūrath or Sōrath has varied in extent. It is now the name of one of the four prānts or districts into which the peninsula is divided for political purposes, each of these prānts containing a number of small States, and being partly managed, partly controlled by a Political Assistant. Sorath occupies the south-western portion, embracing an area of 5,220 sq. miles.

c. A.D. 80-90.—"Ταύτης τὰ μὲν μεσόγεια τῇ Σκυθίᾳ συνορίζοντα Ἀβιρία καλεῖται, τὰ δὲ παραθαλάσσια Συραστρήνη."—Periplus, § 41.

c. 150.—

"Συραστρηνῆς, * * *

Βαρδάξημα πόλις ...

Συράστρα κώμη ...

Μονόγλωσσον ἐμπόριον...."

Ptolemy, VII. i. 2-3.

" "Πάλιν ἡ μὲν παρὰ τὸ λοιπὸν μέρος του Ἰνδοῦ πασα καλεῖται κοινῶς μὲν ... Ἰνδοσκυθία

καὶ ἡ περὶ τὸν Κάνθι κόλπον ... Συραστρηνή."—Ibid. 55.

c. 545.—"Εἰσὶν οὐν τὰ λαμπρὰ ἐμπόρια τῆς Ἰνδικῆς ταῦτα, Σινδοῦ, Ὀῤῥοθα, Καλλιάνα, Σιβὼρ, ἡ Μαλὲ, πέντε ἐμπόρια ἔχουσα βάλλοντα τὸ πέπερι."—Cosmas, lib. xi. These names may be interpreted as Sind, Sorath, Calyan, Choul (?), Malabar.

c. 640.—"En quittant le royaume de Fa-la-pi (Vallabhi), il fit 500 li à l'ouest, et arriva au royaume de Sou-la-tch'a (Sourâchtra).... Comme ce royaume se trouve sur le chemin de la mer occidentale, tous les habitans profitent des avantages qu'offre la mer; ils se livrent au négoce, et à un commerce d'échange."—Hiouen-Thsang, in Pèl. Bouddh., iii. 164-165.

1516.—"Passing this city and following the sea-coast, you come to another place which has also a good port, and is called Çurati Mangalor, and here, as at the other, put in many vessels of Malabar for horses, grain, cloths, and cottons, and for vegetables and other goods prized in India, and they bring hither coco-nuts, Jagara (Jaggery), which is sugar that they make drink of, emery, wax, cardamoms, and every other kind of spice, a trade in which great gain is made in a short time."—Barbosa, in Ramusio, i. f. 296.

1573.—See quotation of this date under preceding article, in which both the names Surat and Sūrath, occur.

1584.—"After his second defeat Muzaffar Gujarátí retreated by way of Champánír, Bírpúr, and Jhaláwar, to the country of Súrath, and rested at the town of Gondal, 12 kos from the fort of Junágarh.... He gave a lac of Mahmúdís and a jewelled dagger to Amín Khán Ghorí, ruler of Súrath, and so won his support."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarí, in Elliot, v. 437-438.

c. 1590.—"Sircar Surat (Sūrath) was formerly an independent territory; the chief was of the Ghelolo tribe, and commanded 50,000 cavalry, and 100,000 infantry. Its length from the port of Ghogeh (Gogo) to the port of Aramroy (Arāmrāī) measures 125 cose; and the breadth from Sindehar (Sirdhār), to the port of Diu, is a distance of 72 cose."—Ayeen, by Gladwin, ii. 73; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 243].

1616.—"7 Soret, the chief city, is called Janagar; it is but a little Province, yet very rich; it lyes upon Guzarat; it hath the Ocean to the South."—Terry, ed. 1665, p. 354.

SURKUNDA, s. Hind. sarkanḍā, [Skt. śara, 'reed-grass,' kāṇḍa, 'joint, section']. The name of a very tall reed-grass, Saccharum Sara, Roxb., perhaps also applied to Saccharum procerum, Roxb. These grasses are often tall enough in the riverine plains of Eastern Bengal greatly to overtop a tall man standing in a howda on the back of a tall elephant. It is from the upper part of the flower-bearing stalk of surkunda that sirky (q.v.) is derived. A most intelligent visitor to India was led into a curious mistake about the name of this grass by some official, who ought to have known better. We quote the passage. ——'s story about the main branch of a river channel probably rests on no better foundation.

1875.—"As I drove yesterday with ——, I asked him if he knew the scientific name of the tall grass which I heard called tiger-grass at Ahmedabad, and which is very abundant here (about Lahore). I think it is a saccharum, but am not quite sure. 'No,' he said, 'but the people in the neighbourhood call it Sikunder's Grass, as they still call the main branch of a river 'Sikander's channel.' Strange, is it not?—how that great individuality looms through history."—Grant Duff, Notes of an Indian Journey, 105.

SURPOOSE, s. Pers. sar-posh, 'head-cover,' [which again becomes corrupted into our Tarboosh (tarbūsh), and 'Tarbrush' of the wandering Briton]. A cover, as of a basin, dish, hooka-bowl, &c.

1829.—"Tugging away at your hookah, find no smoke; a thief having purloined your silver chelam (see CHILLUM) and surpoose."—Mem. of John Shipp, ii. 159.

SURRAPURDA, s. Pers. sarā-parda. A canvas screen surrounding royal tents or the like (see CANAUT).

1404.—"And round this pavilion stood an enclosure, as it were, of a town or castle made of silk of many colours, inlaid in many ways, with battlements at the top, and with cords to strain it outside and inside, and with poles inside to hold it up.... And there was a gateway of great height forming an arch, with doors within and without made in the same fashion as the wall ... and above the gateway a square tower with battlements: however fine the said wall was with its many devices and artifices, the said gateway, arch and tower, was of much more exquisite work still. And this enclosure they call Zalaparda."—Clavijo, s. cxvi.

c. 1590.—"The Sarápardah was made in former times of coarse canvass, but his Majesty has now caused it to be made of carpeting, and thereby improved its appearance and usefulness."—Āīn, i. 54.

[1839.—"The camp contained numerous enclosures of serrapurdahs or canvass skreens...."—Elphinstone, Caubul, 2nd ed. i. 101.]

SURRINJAUM, s. Pers. saranjām, lit. 'beginning-ending.' Used in India for 'apparatus,' 'goods and chattels,' and the like. But in the Mahratta provinces it has a special application to grants of land, or rather assignments of revenue, for special objects, such as keeping up a contingent of troops for service; to civil officers for the maintenance of their state; or for charitable purposes.

[1823.—"It was by accident I discovered the deed for this tenure (for the support of troops), which is termed serinjam. The Pundit of Dhar shewed some alarm; at which I smiled, and told him that his master had now the best tenure in India...."—Malcolm, Central India, 2nd ed. i. 103.]

[1877.—"Government ... did not accede to the recommendation of the political agent immediately to confiscate his saringam, or territories."—Mrs. Guthrie, My Year in an Indian Fort, i. 166.]

SURRINJAUMEE, GRAM, s. Hind. grām-saranjāmī; Skt. grāma, 'a village,' and saranjām (see SURRINJAUM); explained in the quotation.

1767.—"Gram-serenjammee, or peons and pykes stationed in every village of the province to assist the farmers in the collections, and to watch the villages and the crops on the ground, who are also responsible for all thefts within the village they belong to ... (Rs.) 1,54,521 : 14."—Revenue Accounts of Burdwan. In Long, 507.

SURROW, SEROW, &c., s. Hind. sarāo. A big, odd, awkward-looking antelope in the Himālaya, 'something in appearance between a jackass and a Tahir' (Tehr or Him. wild goat).—Col. Markham in Jerdon. It is Nemorhoedus bubalina, Jerdon; [N. bubalinus, Blanford (Mammalia, 513)].

SURWAUN, s. Hind. from Pers. sārwān, sārbān, from sār in the sense of camel, a camel-man.

[1828.—"... camels roaring and blubbering, and resisting every effort, soothing or forcible, of their serwans to induce them to embark."—Mundy, Pen and Pencil Sketches, ed. 1858, p. 185.]

1844.—"... armed Surwans, or camel-drivers."—G. O. of Sir C. Napier, 93.

SUTLEDGE, n.p. The most easterly of the Five Rivers of the Punjab, the great tributaries of the Indus. Hind. Satlaj, with certain variations in spelling and pronunciation. It is in Skt. Satadru, 'flowing in a hundred channels,' Sutudru, Sutudri, Sitadru, &c., and is the Σαράδρος, Ζαράδρος, or Σαδάδρης of Ptolemy, the Sydrus (or Hesudrus) of Pliny (vi. 21).

c. 1020.—"The Sultán ... crossed in safety the Síhún (Indus), Jelam, Chandráha, Ubrá (Ráví), Bah (Bíyáh), and Sataldur...."—Al-'Utbí, in Elliot, ii. 41.

c. 1030.—"They all combine with the Satlader below Múltán, at a place called Panjnad, or 'the junction of the five rivers.'"—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 48. The same writer says: "(The name) should be written Shataludr. It is the name of a province in Hind. But I have ascertained from well-informed people that it should be Sataludr, not Shataldudr" (sic).—Ibid. p. 52.

c. 1310.—"After crossing the Panjáb, or five rivers, namely, Sind, Jelam, the river of Loháwar, Satlút, and Bíyah...."—Wassāf, in Elliot, iii. 36.

c. 1380.—"The Sultán (Fíroz Sháh) ... conducted two streams into the city from two rivers, one from the river Jumna, the other from the Sutlej."—Táríkh-i-Fíroz-Sháhí, in Elliot, iii. 300.

c. 1450.—"In the year 756 H. (1355 A.D.) the Sultán proceeded to Díbálpúr, and conducted a stream from the river Satladar, for a distance of 40 kos as far as Jhajar."—Táríkh-i-Mubárak Sháhí, in Elliot, iv. 8.

c. 1582.—"Letters came from Lahore with the intelligence that Ibrahím Husain Mirzá had crossed the Satlada, and was marching upon Dipálpúr."—Ṭabaḳāt-i-Akbarí, in Elliot, v. 358.

c. 1590.—"Sūbah Dihlī. In the 3rd climate. The length (of this Sūbah) from Palwal to Lodhīāna, which is on the bank of the river Satlaj, is 165 Kuroh."—Āīn, orig. i. 513; [ed. Jarrett, ii. 278].

1793.—"Near Moultan they unite again, and bear the name of Setlege, until both the substance and name are lost in the Indus."—Rennell, Memoir, 102.

In the following passage the great French geographer has missed the Sutlej:

1753.—"Les cartes qui ont précédé celles que j'ai composées de l'Arie, ou de l'Inde ... ne marquoient aucune rivière entre l'Hyphasis, ou Hypasis, dernier des fleuves qui se rendent dans l'Indus, et le Gemné, qui est le Jomanes de l'Antiquité.... Mais la marche de Timur a indiqué dans cette intervalle deux rivières, celle de Kehker et celle de Panipat. Dans un ancien itineraire de l'Inde, que Pline nous a conservé, on trouve entre l'Hyphasis et le Jomanes une rivière sous le nom d'Hesidrus à égale distance d'Hyphasis et de Jomanes, et qu'on a tout lieu de prendre pour Kehker."—D'Anville, p. 47.

SUTTEE, s. The rite of widow-burning; i.e. the burning of the living widow along with the corpse of her husband, as practised by people of certain castes among the Hindus, and eminently by the Rājpūts.

The word is properly Skt. satī, 'a good woman,' 'a true wife,' and thence specially applied, in modern vernaculars of Sanskrit parentage, to the wife who was considered to accomplish the supreme act of fidelity by sacrificing herself on the funeral pile of her husband. The application of this substantive to the suicidal act, instead of the person, is European. The proper Skt. term for the act is saha-gamana, or 'keeping company,' [saha-maraṇa, 'dying together']. A very long series of quotations in illustration of the practice, from classical times downwards, might be given. We shall present a selection.

We should remark that the word (satī or suttee) does not occur, so far as we know, in any European work older than the 17th century. And then it only occurs in a disguised form (see quotation from P. Della Valle). The term masti which he uses is probably mahā-satī, which occurs in Skt. Dictionaries ('a wife of great virtue'). Della Valle is usually eminent in the correctness of his transcriptions of Oriental words. This conjecture of the interpretation of masti is confirmed, and the traveller himself justified, by an entry in Mr. Whitworth's Dictionary of a word Masti-kalla used in Canara for a monument commemorating a sati. Kalla is stone and masti = mahā-satī. We have not found the term exactly in any European document older than Sir C. Malet's letter of 1787, and Sir W. Jones's of the same year (see below).

Suttee is a Brahmanical rite, and there is a Sanskrit ritual in existence (see Classified Index to the Tanjore MSS., p. 135a). It was introduced into Southern India with the Brahman civilisation, and was prevalent there chiefly in the Brahmanical Kingdom of Vijayanagar, and among the Mahrattas. In Malabar, the most primitive part of S. India, the rite is forbidden (Anāchāranirṇaya, v. 26). The cases mentioned by Teixeira below, and in the Lettres Édifiantes, occurred at Tanjore and Madura. A (Mahratta) Brahman at Tanjore told one of the present writers that he had to perform commemorative funeral rites for his grandfather and grandmother on the same day, and this indicated that his grandmother had been a satī.

The practice has prevailed in various regions besides India. Thus it seems to have been an early custom among the heathen Russians, or at least among nations on the Volga called Russians by Maṣ'ūdī and Ibn Fozlān. Herodotus (Bk. v. ch. 5) describes it among certain tribes of Thracians. It was in vogue in Tonga and the Fiji Islands. It has prevailed in the island of Bali within our own time, though there accompanying Hindu rites, and perhaps of Hindu origin,—certainly modified by Hindu influence. A full account of Suttee as practised in those Malay Islands will be found in Zollinger's account of the Religion of Sassak in J. Ind. Arch. ii. 166; also see Friedrich's Bali as in note preceding. [A large number of references to Suttee are collected in Frazer, Pausanias, iii. 198 seqq.]

In Diodorus we have a long account of the rivalry as to which of the two wives of Kēteus, a leader of the Indian contingent in the army of Eumenes, should perform suttee. One is rejected as with child. The history of the other terminates thus:

B.C. 317.—"Finally, having taken leave of those of the household, she was set upon the pyre by her own brother, and was regarded with wonder by the crowd that had run together to the spectacle, and heroically ended her life; the whole force with their arms thrice marching round the pyre before it was kindled. But she, laying herself beside her husband, and even at the violence of the flame giving utterance to no unbecoming cry, stirred pity indeed in others of the spectators, and in some excess of eulogy; not but what there were some of the Greeks present who reprobated such rites as barbarous and cruel...."—Diod. Sic. Biblioth. xix. 33-34.

c. B.C. 30.—

"Felix Eois lex funeris una maritis

Quos Aurora suis rubra colorat equis;

Namque ubi mortifero jacta est fax ultima lecto

Uxorum fusis stat pia turba comis;

Et certamen habet leti, quae viva sequatur

Conjugium; pudor est non licuisse mori.

Ardent victrices; et flammae pectora praebent,

Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris."

Propertius, Lib. iii. xiii. 15-22.

c. B.C. 20.—"He (Aristobulus) says that he had heard from some persons of wives burning themselves voluntarily with their deceased husbands, and that those women who refused to submit to this custom were disgraced."—Strabo, xv. 62 (E.T. by Hamilton and Falconer, iii. 112).

A.D. c. 390.—"Indi, ut omnes fere barbari uxores plurimas habent. Apud eos lex est, ut uxor carissima cum defuncto marito cremetur. Hae igitur contendunt inter se de amore viri, et ambitio summa certantium est, ac testimonium castitatis, dignam morte decerni. Itaque victrix in habitu ornatuque pristino juxta cadaver accubat, amplexans illud et deosculans et suppositos ignes prudentiae laude contemnens."—St. Jerome, Advers. Jovinianum, in ed. Vallars, ii. 311.

c. 851.—"All the Indians burn their dead. Serendib is the furthest out of the islands dependent upon India. Sometimes when they burn the body of a King, his wives cast themselves on the pile, and burn with him; but it is at their choice to abstain."—Reinaud, Relation, &c. i. 50.

c. 1200.—"Hearing the Raja was dead, the Parmâri became a satí:—dying she said—The son of the Jadavanî will rule the country, may my blessing be on him!"—Chand Bardai, in Ind. Ant. i. 227. We cannot be sure that satí is in the original, as this is a condensed version by Mr. Beames.

1298.—"Many of the women also, when their husbands die and are placed on the pile to be burnt, do burn themselves along with the bodies."—Marco Polo, Bk. iii. ch. 17.

c. 1322.—"The idolaters of this realm have one detestable custom (that I must mention). For when any man dies they burn him; and if he leave a wife they burn her alive with him, saying that she ought to go and keep her husband company in the other world. But if the woman have sons by her husband she may abide with them, an she will."—Odoric, in Cathay, &c., i. 79.

" Also in Zampa or Champa: "When a married man dies in this country his body is burned, and his living wife along with it. For they say that she should go to keep company with her husband in the other world also."—Ibid. 97.

c. 1328.—"In this India, on the death of a noble, or of any people of substance, their bodies are burned; and eke their wives follow them alive to the fire, and for the sake of worldly glory, and for the love of their husbands, and for eternal life, burn along with them, with as much joy as if they were going to be wedded. And those who do this have the higher repute for virtue and perfection among the rest."—Fr. Jordanus, 20.

c. 1343.—"The burning of the wife after the death of her husband is an act among the Indians recommended, but not obligatory. If a widow burns herself, the members of the family get the glory thereof, and the fame of fidelity in fulfilling their duties. She who does not give herself up to the flames puts on coarse raiment and abides with her kindred, wretched and despised for having failed in duty. But she is not compelled to burn herself." (There follows an interesting account of instances witnessed by the traveller.)—Ibn Batuta, ii. 138.

c. 1430.—"In Mediâ vero Indiâ, mortui comburuntur, cumque his, ut plurimum vivae uxores ... una pluresve, prout fuit matrimonii conventio. Prior ex lege uritur, etiam quae unica est. Sumuntur autem et aliae uxores quaedam eo pacto, ut morte funus suâ exornent, isque haud parvus apud eos honos ducitur ... submisso igne uxor ornatiori cultu inter tubas tibicinasque et cantus, et ipsa psallentis more alacris rogum magno comitatu circuit. Adstat interea et sacerdos ... hortando suadens. Cum circumierit illa saepius ignem prope suggestum consistit, vestesque exuens, loto de more prius corpore, tum sindonem albam induta, ad exhortationem dicentis in ignem prosilit."—N. Conti, in Poggius de Var. Fort. iv.

c. 1520.—"There are in this Kingdom (the Deccan) many heathen, natives of the country, whose custom it is that when they die they are burnt, and their wives along with them; and if these will not do it they remain in disgrace with all their kindred. And as it happens oft times that they are unwilling to do it, their Bramin kinsfolk persuade them thereto, and this in order that such a fine custom should not be broken and fall into oblivion."—Sommario de' Genti, in Ramusio, i. f. 329.

" "In this country of Camboja ... when the King dies, the lords voluntarily burn themselves, and so do the King's wives at the same time, and so also do other women on the death of their husbands."—Ibid. f. 336.

1522.—"They told us that in Java Major it was the custom, when one of the chief men died, to burn his body; and then his principal wife, adorned with garlands of flowers, has herself carried in a chair by four men ... comforting her relations, who are afflicted because she is going to burn herself with the corpse of her husband ... saying to them, 'I am going this evening to sup with my dear husband and to sleep with him this night.'... After again consoling them (she) casts herself into the fire and is burned. If she did not do this she would not be looked upon as an honourable woman, nor as a faithful wife."—Pigafetta, E.T. by Lord Stanley of A., 154.

c. 1566.—Cesare Federici notices the rite as peculiar to the Kingdom of "Bezeneger" (see BISNAGAR): "vidi cose stranie e bestiali di quella gentilitâ; vsano primamente abbrusciare i corpi morti cosi d'huomini come di donne nobili; e si l'huomo è maritato, la moglie è obligata ad abbrusciarsi viva col corpo del marito."—Orig. ed. p. 36. This traveller gives a good account of a Suttee.

1583.—"In the interior of Hindústán it is the custom when a husband dies, for his widow willingly and cheerfully to cast herself into the flames (of the funeral pile), although she may not have lived happily with him. Occasionally love of life holds her back, and then her husband's relations assemble, light the pile, and place her upon it, thinking that they thereby preserve the honour and character of the family. But since the country had come under the rule of his gracious Majesty [Akbar], inspectors had been appointed in every city and district, who were to watch carefully over these two cases, to discriminate between them, and to prevent any woman being forcibly burnt."—Abu'l Faẓl, Akbar Námah, in Elliot, vi. 69.

1583.—"Among other sights I saw one I may note as wonderful. When I landed (at Negapatam) from the vessel, I saw a pit full of kindled charcoal; and at that moment a young and beautiful woman was brought by her people on a litter, with a great company of other women, friends of hers, with great festivity, she holding a mirror in her left hand, and a lemon in her right hand...."—and so forth.—G. Balbi, f. 82v. 83.

1586.—"The custom of the countrey (Java) is, that whensoever the King doeth die, they take the body so dead and burne it, and preserve the ashes of him, and within five dayes next after, the wiues of the said King so dead, according to the custome and vse of their countrey, every one of them goe together to a place appointed, and the chiefe of the women which was nearest to him in accompt, hath a ball in her hand, and throweth it from her, and the place where the ball resteth, thither they goe all, and turne their faces to the Eastward, and every one with a dagger in their hand (which dagger they call a crise (see CREASE), and is as sharpe as a rasor), stab themselues in their owne blood, and fall a-groueling on their faces, and so ende their dayes."—T. Candish, in Hakl. iv. 338. This passage refers to Blambangan at the east end of Java, which till a late date was subject to Bali, in which such practices have continued to our day. It seems probable that the Hindu rite here came in contact with the old Polynesian practices of a like kind, which prevailed e.g. in Fiji, quite recently. The narrative referred to below under 1633, where the victims were the slaves of a deceased queen, points to the latter origin. W. Humboldt thus alludes to similar passages in old Javanese literature: "Thus we may reckon as one of the finest episodes in the Brata Yuda, the story how Satya Wati, when she had sought out her slain husband among the wide-spread heap of corpses on the battlefield, stabs herself by his side with a dagger."—Kawi-Sprache, i. 89 (and see the whole section, pp. 87-95).

[c. 1590.—"When he (the Rajah of Asham) dies, his principal attendants of both sexes voluntarily bury themselves alive in his grave."—Āīn, ed. Jarrett, ii. 118.]

1598.—The usual account is given by Linschoten, ch. xxxvi., with a plate; [Hak. Soc. i. 249].

[c. 1610.—See an account in Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 394.]

1611.—"When I was in India, on the death of the Naique (see NAIK) of Maduré, a country situated between that of Malauar and that of Choromandel, 400 wives of his burned themselves along with him."—Teixeira, i. 9.

c. 1620.—"The author ... when in the territory of the Karnátik ... arrived in company with his father at the city of Southern Mathura (Madura), where, after a few days, the ruler died and went to hell. The chief had 700 wives, and they all threw themselves at the same time into the fire."—Muhammad Sharíf Hanafí, in Elliot, vii. 139.

1623.—"When I asked further if force was ever used in these cases, they told me that usually it was not so, but only at times among persons of quality, when some one had left a young and handsome widow, and there was a risk either of her desiring to marry again (which they consider a great scandal) or of a worse mishap,—in such a case the relations of her husband, if they were very strict, would compel her, even against her will, to burn ... a barbarous and cruel law indeed! But in short, as regarded Giaccamà, no one exercised either compulsion or persuasion; and she did the thing of her own free choice; both her kindred and herself exulting in it, as in an act magnanimous (which in sooth it was) and held in high honour among them. And when I asked about the ornaments and flowers that she wore, they told me this was customary as a sign of the joyousness of the Mastì (Mastì is what they call a woman who gives herself up to be burnt upon the death of her husband)."—P. della Valle, ii. 671; [Hak. Soc. ii. 275, and see ii. 266 seq.]

1633.—"The same day, about noon, the queen's body was burnt without the city, with two and twenty of her female slaves; and we consider ourselves bound to render an exact account of the barbarous ceremonies practised in this place on such occasions as we were witness to...."—Narrative of a Dutch Mission to Bali, quoted by Crawfurd, H. of Ind. Arch., ii. 244-253, from Prevost. It is very interesting, but too long for extract.

c. 1650.—"They say that when a woman becomes a Sattee, that is burns herself with the deceased, the Almighty pardons all the sins committed by the wife and husband and that they remain a long time in paradise; nay if the husband were in the infernal regions, the wife by this means draws him from thence and takes him to paradise.... Moreover the Sattee, in a future birth, returns not to the female sex ... but she who becomes not a Sattee, and passes her life in widowhood, is never emancipated from the female state.... It is however criminal to force a woman into the fire, and equally to prevent her who voluntarily devotes herself."—Dabistān, ii. 75-76.

c. 1650-60.—Tavernier gives a full account of the different manners of Suttee, which he had witnessed often, and in various parts of India, but does not use the word. We extract the following:

c. 1648.—"... there fell of a sudden so violent a Shower, that the Priests, willing to get out of the Rain, thrust the Woman all along into the Fire. But the Shower was so vehement, and endured so long, that the Fire was quench'd, and the Woman was not burn'd. About midnight she arose, and went and knock'd at one of her Kinsmen's Houses, where Father Zenon and many Hollanders saw her, looking so gastly and grimly, that it was enough to have scar'd them; however the pain she endur'd did not so far terrifie her, but that three days after, accompany'd by her Kindred, she went and was burn'd according to her first intention."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 84; [ed. Ball, i. 219].

Again:

"In most places upon the Coast of Coromandel, the Women are not burnt with their deceas'd Husbands, but they are buried alive with them in holes, which the Bramins make a foot deeper than the tallness of the man and woman. Usually they chuse a Sandy place; so that when the man and woman are both let down together, all the Company with Baskets of Sand fill up the hole above half a foot higher than the surface of the ground, after which they jump and dance upon it, till they believe the woman to be stifl'd."—Ibid. 171; [ed. Ball, ii. 216].

c. 1667.—Bernier also has several highly interesting pages on this subject, in his "Letter written to M. Chapelan, sent from Chiras in Persia." We extract a few sentences: "Concerning the Women that have actually burn'd themselves, I have so often been present at such dreadful spectacles, that at length I could endure no more to see it, and I retain still some horrour when I think on't.... The Pile of Wood was presently all on fire, because store of Oyl and Butter had been thrown upon it, and I saw at the time through the Flames that the Fire took hold of the Cloaths of the Woman.... All this I saw, but observ'd not that the Woman was at all disturb'd; yea it was said, that she had been heard to pronounce with great force these two words, Five, Two, to signifie, according to the Opinion of those who hold the Souls Transmigration, that this was the 5th time she had burnt herself with the same Husband, and that there remain'd but two times for perfection; as if she had at that time this Remembrance, or some Prophetical Spirit."—E.T. p. 99; [ed. Constable, 306 seqq.].

1677.—Suttee, described by A. Bassing, in Valentijn v. (Ceylon) 300.

1713.—"Ce fut cette année de 1710, que mourut le Prince de Marava, âgé de plus de quatre-vingt-ans; ses femmes, en nombre de quarante sept, se brûlèrent avec le corps du Prince...." (details follow).—Père Martin (of the Madura Mission), in Lett. Edif. ed. 1781, tom. xii., pp. 123 seqq.

1727.—"I have seen several burned several Ways.... I heard a Story of a Lady that had received Addresses from a Gentleman who afterwards deserted her, and her Relations died shortly after the Marriage ... and as the Fire was well kindled ... she espied her former Admirer, and beckned him to come to her. When he came she took him in her Arms, as if she had a Mind to embrace him; but being stronger than he, she carried him into the Flames in her Arms, where they were both consumed, with the Corpse of her Husband."—A. Hamilton, i. 278; [ed. 1744, i. 280].

" "The Country about (Calcutta) being overspread with Paganisms, the Custom of Wives burning themselves with their deceased Husbands, is also practised here. Before the Mogul's War, Mr. Channock went one time with his Ordinary Guard of Soldiers, to see a young Widow act that tragical Catastrophe, but he was so smitten with the Widow's Beauty, that he sent his Guards to take her by Force from her Executioners, and conducted her to his own Lodgings. They lived lovingly many Years, and had several Children; at length she died, after he had settled in Calcutta, but instead of converting her to Christianity, she made him a Proselyte to Paganism, and the only part of Christianity that was remarkable in him, was burying her decently, and he built a Tomb over her, where all his Life after her Death, he kept the anniversary Day of her Death by sacrificing a Cock on her Tomb, after the Pagan Manner."—Ibid. [ed. 1744], ii. 6-7. [With this compare the curious lines described as an Epitaph on "Joseph Townsend, Pilot of the Ganges" (5 ser. Notes & Queries, i. 466 seq.).]

1774.—"Here (in Bali) not only women often kill themselves, or burn with their deceased husbands, but men also burn in honour of their deceased masters."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 170.

1787.—"Soon after I and my conductor had quitted the house, we were informed the suttee (for that is the name given to the person who so devotes herself) had passed...."—Sir C. Malet, in Parly. Papers of 1821, p. 1 ("Hindoo Widows").

" "My Father, said he (Pundit Rhadacaunt), died at the age of one hundred years, and my mother, who was eighty years old, became a sati, and burned herself to expiate sins."—Letter of Sir W. Jones, in Life, ii. 120.

1792.—"In the course of my endeavours I found the poor suttee had no relations at Poonah."—Letter from Sir C. Malet, in Forbes, Or. Mem. ii. 394; [2nd ed. ii. 28, and see i. 178, in which the previous passage is quoted].

1808.—"These proceedings (Hindu marriage ceremonies in Guzerat) take place in the presence of a Brahmin.... And farther, now the young woman vows that her affections shall be fixed upon her Lord alone, not only in all this life, but will follow in death, or to the next, that she will die, that she may burn with him, through as many transmigrations as shall secure their joint immortal bliss. Seven successions of suttees (a woman seven times born and burning, thus, as often) secure to the loving couple a seat among the gods."—R. Drummond.

1809.—

"O sight of misery!

You cannot hear her cries ... their sound

In that wild dissonance is drowned; ...

But in her face you see

The supplication and the agony ...

See in her swelling throat the desperate strength

That with vain effort struggles yet for life;

Her arms contracted now in fruitless strife,

Now wildly at full length,

Towards the crowd in vain for pity spread, ...

They force her on, they bind her to the dead."

Kehama, i. 12.

In all the poem and its copious notes, the word suttee does not occur.

[1815.—"In reference to this mark of strong attachment (of Sati for Siva), a Hindoo widow burning with her husband on the funeral pile is called sutee."—Ward, Hindoos, 2nd ed. ii. 25.]

1828.—"After having bathed in the river, the widow lighted a brand, walked round the pile, set it on fire, and then mounted cheerfully: the flame caught and blazed up instantly; she sat down, placing the head of the corpse on her lap, and repeated several times the usual form, 'Ram, Ram, Suttee; Ram, Ram, Suttee.'"—Wanderings of a Pilgrim, i. 91-92.

1829.—"Regulation XVII.

"A Regulation for declaring the practice of Suttee, or of burning or burying alive the widows of Hindoos, illegal, and punishable by the Criminal Courts."—Passed by the G.-G. in C., Dec. 4.

1839.—"Have you yet heard in England of the horrors that took place at the funeral of that wretched old Runjeet Singh? Four wives, and seven slave-girls were burnt with him; not a word of remonstrance from the British Government."—Letters from Madras, 278.

1843.—"It is lamentable to think how long after our power was firmly established in Bengal, we, grossly neglecting the first and plainest duty of the civil magistrate, suffered the practices of infanticide and suttee to continue unchecked."—Macaulay's Speech on Gates of Somnauth.

1856.—"The pile of the sutee is unusually large; heavy cart-wheels are placed upon it, to which her limbs are bound, or sometimes a canopy of massive logs is raised above it, to crush her by its fall.... It is a fatal omen to hear the sutee's groan; therefore as the fire springs up from the pile, there rises simultaneously with it a deafening shout of 'Victory to Umbâ! Victory to Ranchor!' and the horn and the hard rattling drum sound their loudest, until the sacrifice is consumed."—Râs Mâlâ, ii. 435; [ed. 1878, p. 691].

[1870.—A case in this year is recorded by Chevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 665.]

1871.—"Our bridal finery of dress and feast too often proves to be no better than the Hindu woman's 'bravery,' when she comes to perform suttee."—Cornhill Mag. vol. xxiv. 675.

1872.—"La coutume du suicide de la Satî n'en est pas moins fort ancienne, puisque déjà les Grecs d'Alexandre la trouvèrent en usage chez un peuple au moins du Penjâb. Le premier témoignage brahmanique qu'on en trouve est celui de la Brihaddevatâ qui, peut-être, remonte tout aussi haut. A l'origine elle parait avoir été propre à l'aristocratie militaire."—Barth, Les Religions de l'Inde, 39.

SWALLOW, SWALLOE, s. The old trade-name of the sea-slug, or tripang (q.v.). It is a corruption of the Bugi (Makassar) name of the creature, suwālā (see Crawfurd's Malay Dict.; [Scott, Malayan Words, 107]).

1783.—"I have been told by several Buggesses that they sail in their Paduakans to the northern parts of New Holland ... to gather Swallow (Biche de Mer), which they sell to the annual China junk at Macassar."—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 83.

SWALLY, SWALLY ROADS, SWALLY MARINE, SWALLY HOLE, n.p. Suwālī, the once familiar name of the roadstead north of the mouth of the Tapti, where ships for Surat usually anchored, and discharged or took in cargo. It was perhaps Ar. sawāḥil, 'the shores' (?). [Others suggest Skt. Śivālaya, 'abode of Siva.']

[1615.—"The Osiander proving so leaky through the worm through the foulness of the sea-water at Sually."—Foster, Letters, iv. 22. Also see Birdwood, Report on Old Recs. 209.]

1623.—"At the beach there was no kind of vehicle to be found; so the Captain went on foot to a town about a mile distant called Sohali.... The Franks have houses there for the goods which they continually despatch for embarkation."—P. della Valle, ii. 503.

1675.—"As also passing by ... eight ships riding at Surat River's Mouth, we then came to Swally Marine, where were flying the Colours of the Three Nations, English, French, and Dutch ... who here land and ship off all Goods, without molestation."—Fryer, 82.

1677.—"The 22d of February 1676⁄7 from Swally hole the Ship was despatched alone."—Ibid. 217.

1690.—"In a little time we happily arriv'd at Sualybar, and the Tide serving, came to an Anchor very near the Shoar."—Ovington, 163.

1727.—"One Season the English had eight good large Ships riding at Swally ... the Place where all Goods were unloaded from the Shipping, and all Goods for Exportation were there shipp'd off."—A. Hamilton, i. 166; [ed. 1744].

1841.—"These are sometimes called the inner and the outer sands of Swallow, and are both dry at low water."—Horsburgh's India Directory, ed. 1841, i. 474.

SWAMY, SAMMY, s. This word is a corruption of Skt. suāmin, 'Lord.' It is especially used in S. India, in two senses: (a) a Hindu idol, especially applied to those of Śiva or Subramanyam; especially, as Sammy, in the dialect of the British soldier. This comes from the usual Tamil pronunciation sāmi. (b) The Skt. word is used by Hindus as a term of respectful address, especially to Brahmans.

a.—

1755.—"Towards the upper end there is a dark repository, where they keep their Swamme, that is their chief god."—Ives, 70.

1794.—"The gold might for us as well have been worshipped in the shape of a Sawmy at Juggernaut."—The Indian Observer, p. 167.

1838.—"The Government lately presented a shawl to a Hindu idol, and the Government officer ... was ordered to superintend the delivery of it ... so he went with the shawl in his tonjon, and told the Bramins that they might come and take it, for that he would not touch it with his fingers to present it to a Swamy."—Letters from Madras, 183.

b.—

1516.—"These people are commonly called Jogues (see JOGEE), and in their own speech they are called Zoame, which means Servant of God."—Barbosa, 99.

1615.—"Tunc ad suos conversus: Eia Brachmanes, inquit, quid vobis videtur? Illi mirabundi nihil praeter Suami, Suami, id est Domine, Domine, retulerunt."—Jarric, Thes., i. 664.

SWAMY-HOUSE, SAMMY-HOUSE, s. An idol-temple, or pagoda. The Sammy-house of the Delhi ridge in 1857 will not soon be forgotten.

1760.—"The French cavalry were advancing before their infantry; and it was the intention of Colliaud that his own should wait until they came in a line with the flank-fire of the field-pieces of the Swamy-house."—Orme, iii. 443.

1829.—"Here too was a little detached Swamee-house (or chapel) with a lamp burning before a little idol."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 99.

1857.—"We met Wilby at the advanced post, the 'Sammy House,' within 600 yards of the Bastion. It was a curious place for three brothers to meet in. The view was charming. Delhi is as green as an emerald just now, and the Jumma Musjid and Palace are beautiful objects, though held by infidels."—Letters written during the Siege of Delhi, by Hervey Greathed, p. 112.

[SWAMY JEWELRY, s. A kind of gold and silver jewelry, made chiefly at Trichinopoly, in European shapes covered with grotesque mythological figures.

[1880.—"In the characteristic Swami work of the Madras Presidency the ornamentation consists of figures of the Puranic gods in high relief, either beaten out from the surface, or affixed to it, whether by soldering, or wedging, or screwing them on."—Birdwood, Industr. Arts, 152.]

SWAMY-PAGODA, s. A coin formerly current at Madras; probably so called from the figure of an idol on it. Milburn gives 100 Swamy Pagodas = 110 Star Pagodas. A "three swāmi pagoda" was a name given to a gold coin bearing on the obverse the effigy of Chenna Keswam Swāmi (a title of Krishna) and on the reverse Lakshmi and Rukmini (C.P.B.).

SWATCH, s. This is a marine term which probably has various applications beyond Indian limits. But the only two instances of its application are both Indian, viz. "the Swatch of No Ground," or elliptically "The Swatch," marked in all the charts just off the Ganges Delta, and a space bearing the same name, and probably produced by analogous tidal action, off the Indus Delta. [The word is not to be found in Smyth, Sailor's Wordbook.]

1726.—In Valentijn's first map of Bengal, though no name is applied there is a space marked "no ground with 60 raam (fathoms?) of line."

1863.—(Ganges). "There is still one other phenomenon.... This is the existence of a great depression, or hole, in the middle of the Bay of Bengal, known in the charts as the 'Swatch of No Ground.'"—Fergusson, on Recent Changes in the Delta of the Ganges, Qy. Jour. Geol. Soc., Aug. 1863.

1877.—(Indus). "This is the famous Swatch of no ground where the lead falls at once into 200 fathoms."—Burton, Sind Revisited, 21.

[1878.—"He (Capt. Lloyd, in 1840) describes the remarkable phenomenon at the head of the Bay of Bengal, similar to that reported by Captain Selby off the mouths of the Indus, called 'the Swatch of no ground.' It is a deep chasm, open to seaward and very steep on the north-west face, with no soundings at 250 fathoms."—Markham, Mem. of Indian Surveys, 27.]

[SWEET APPLE, s. An Anglo-Indian corruption of sītāphal, 'the fruit of Sītā,' the Musk Melon, Fr. Potiron. Cucurbita moschata (see CUSTARD-APPLE).]

SWEET OLEANDER, s. This is in fact the common oleander, Nerium odorum, Ait.

1880.—"Nothing is more charming than, even in the upland valleys of the Mahratta country, to come out of a wood of all outlandish trees and flowers suddenly on the dry winter bed of some mountain stream, grown along the banks, or on the little islets of verdure in mid (shingle) stream, with clumps of mixed tamarisk and lovely blooming oleander."—Birdwood, MS. 9.

SWEET POTATO, s. The root of Batatas edulis, Choisy (Convolvulus Batatas, L.), N.O. Convolvulaceae; a very palatable vegetable, grown in most parts of India. Though extensively cultivated in America, and in the W. Indies, it has been alleged in various books (e.g. in Eng. Cyclop. Nat. Hist. Section, and in Drury's Useful Plants of India), that the plant is a native of the Malay islands. The Eng. Cyc. even states that batatas is the Malay name. But the whole allegation is probably founded in error. The Malay names of the plant, as given by Crawfurd, are Kaledek, Ubi Jawa, and Ubi Kastila, the last two names meaning 'Java yam,' and 'Spanish yam,' and indicating the foreign origin of the vegetable. In India, at least in the Bengal Presidency, natives commonly call it shakar-ḳand, P.—Ar., literally 'sugar-candy,' a name equally suggesting that it is not indigenous among them. And in fact when we turn to Oviedo, we find the following distinct statement:

"Batatas are a staple food of the Indians, both in the Island of Spagnuola and in the others ... and a ripe Batata properly dressed is just as good as a marchpane twist of sugar and almonds, and better indeed.... When Batatas are well ripened, they are often carried to Spain, i.e., if the voyage be a quiet one; for if there be delay they get spoilt at sea. I myself have carried them from this city of S. Domingo to the city of Avila in Spain, and although they did not arrive as good as they should be, yet they were thought a great deal of, and reckoned a singular and precious kind of fruit."—In Ramusio, iii. f. 134.

It must be observed however that several distinct varieties are cultivated by the Pacific islanders even as far west as New Zealand. And Dr. Bretschneider is satisfied that the plant is described in Chinese books of the 3rd or 4th century, under the name of Kan-chu (the first syllable = 'sweet'). See B. on Chin. Botan. Words, p. 13. This is the only good argument we have seen for Asiatic origin. The whole matter is carefully dealt with by M. Alph. De Candolle (Origine des Plantes cultivées, pp. 43-45), concluding with the judgment: "Les motifs sont beaucoup plus forts, ce me semble, en faveur de l'origine americaine."

The "Sanskrit name" Ruktaloo, alleged by Mr. Piddington, is worthless. Ālū is properly an esculent Arum, but in modern use is the name of the common potato, and is sometimes used for the sweet potato. Raktālū, more commonly rat-ālū, is in Bengal the usual name of the Yam, no doubt given first to a highly-coloured kind, such as Dioscorea purpurea, for rakt- or rat-ālū means simply 'red potato'; a name which might also be well applied to the batatas, as it is indeed, according to Forbes Watson, in the Deccan. There can be little doubt that this vegetable, or fruit as Oviedo calls it, having become known in Europe many years before the potato, the latter robbed it of its name, as has happened in the case of brazil-wood (q.v.). The batata is clearly the 'potato' of the fourth and others of the following quotations. [See Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 117 seqq.]

1519.—"At this place (in Brazil) we had refreshment of victuals, like fowls and meat of calves, also a variety of fruits, called batate, pigne (pine-apples), sweet, of singular goodness...."—Pigafetta, E.T. by Lord Stanley of A., p. 43.

1540.—"The root which among the Indians of Spagnuola Island is called Batata, the negroes of St. Thomè (C. Verde group) called Igname, and they plant it as the chief staple of their maintenance; it is of a black colour, i.e. the outer skin is so, but inside it is white, and as big as a large turnip, with many branchlets; it has the taste of a chestnut, but much better."—Voyage to the I. of San Tomè under the Equinoctial, Ramusio, i. 117v.

c. 1550.—"They have two other sorts of roots, one called batata.... They generate windiness, and are commonly cooked in the embers. Some say they taste like almond cakes, or sugared chestnuts; but in my opinion chestnuts, even without sugar, are better."—Girol. Benzoni, Hak. Soc. 86.

1588.—"Wee met with sixtee or seventee sayles of Canoes full of Sauages, who came off to Sea vnto vs, and brought with them in their Boates, Plantans, Cocos, Potato-rootes, and fresh fish."—Voyage of Master Thomas Candish, Purchas, i. 66.

1600.—"The Battatas are somewhat redder of colour, and in forme almost like Iniamas (see YAM), and taste like Earth-nuts."—In Purchas, ii. 957.

1615.—"I took a garden this day, and planted it with Pottatos brought from the Liquea, a thing not yet planted in Japan. I must pay a tay, or 5 shillings sterling, per annum for the garden."—Cocks's Diary, i. 11.

1645.—"... pattate; c'est vne racine comme naueaux, mais plus longue et de couleur rouge et jaune: cela est de tres-bon goust, mais si l'on en mange souuent, elle degouste fort, et est assez venteuse."—Mocquet, Voyages, 83.

1764.—

"There let Potatos mantle o'er the ground,

Sweet as the cane-juice is the root they bear."—Grainger, Bk. iv.

SYCE, s. Hind. from Ar. sāïs. A groom. It is the word in universal use in the Bengal Presidency. In the South horse-keeper is more common, and in Bombay a vernacular form of the latter, viz. ghoṛāwālā (see GORAWALLAH). The Ar. verb, of which sāïs is the participle, seems to be a loan-word from Syriac, sausī, 'to coax.'

[1759.—In list of servants' wages: "Syce, Rs. 2."—In Long, 182.]

1779.—"The bearer and scise, when they returned, came to the place where I was, and laid hold of Mr. Ducarell. I took hold of Mr. Shee and carried him up. The bearer and scise took Mr. Ducarell out. Mr. Keeble was standing on his own house looking, and asked, 'What is the matter?' The bearer and scise said to Mr. Keeble, 'These gentlemen came into the house when my master was out.'"—Evidence on Trial of Grand v. Francis, in Echoes of Old Calcutta, 230.

1810.—"The Syce, or groom, attends but one horse."—Williamson, V.M. i. 254.

c. 1858?—

"Tandis que les çais veillent les chiens rodeurs."

Leconte de Lisle.

SYCEE, s. In China applied to pure silver bullion in ingots, or shoes (q.v.). The origin of the name is said to be si (pron. at Canton sai and sei) = sz', i.e. 'fine silk'; and we are told by Mr. Giles that it is so called because, if pure, it may be drawn out into fine threads. [Linschoten (1598) speaks of: "Peeces of cut silver, in which sort they pay and receive all their money" (Hak. Soc. i. 132).]

1711.—"Formerly they used to sell for Sisee, or Silver full fine; but of late the Method is alter'd."—Lockyer, 135.

SYRAS, CYRUS. See under CYRUS.

SYRIAM, n.p. A place on the Pegu R., near its confluence with the Rangoon R., six miles E. of Rangoon, and very famous in the Portuguese dealings with Pegu. The Burmese form is Than-lyeng, but probably the Talaing name was nearer that which foreigners give it. [See Burma Gazetteer, ii. 672. Mr. St. John (J. R. As. Soc., 1894, p. 151) suggests the Mwn word sarang or siring, 'a swinging cradle.'] Syriam was the site of an English factory in the 17th century, of the history of which little is known. See the quotation from Dalrymple below.

1587.—"To Cirion a Port of Pegu come ships from Mecca with woollen Cloth, Scarlets, Velvets, Opium, and such like."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 393.

1600.—"I went thither with Philip Brito, and in fifteene dayes arrived at Sirian the chiefe Port in Pegu. It is a lamentable spectacle to see the bankes of the Riuers set with infinite fruit-bearing trees, now ouerwhelmed with ruines of gilded Temples, and noble edifices; the wayes and fields full of skulls and bones of wretched Peguans, killed or famished, and cast into the River in such numbers that the multitude of carkasses prohibiteth the way and passage of ships."—The Jesuit Andrew Boves, in Purchas, ii. 1748.

c. 1606.—"Philip de Brito issued an order that a custom-house should be planted at Serian (Serião), at which duties should be paid by all the vessels of this State which went to trade with the kingdom of Pegu, and with the ports of Martavan, Tavay, Tenasserim, and Juncalon.... Now certain merchants and shipowners from the Coast of Coromandel refused obedience, and this led Philip de Brito to send a squadron of 6 ships and galliots with an imposing and excellent force of soldiers on board, that they might cruise on the coast of Tenasserim, and compel all the vessels that they met to come and pay duty at the fortress of Serian."—Bocarro, 135.

1695.—"9th. That the Old house and Ground at Syrian, formerly belonging to the English Company, may still be continued to them, and that they may have liberty of building dwelling-houses, and warehouses, for the securing their Goods, as shall be necessary, and that more Ground be given them, if what they formerly had be not sufficient."—Petition presented to the K. of Burma at Ava, by Ed. Fleetwood; in Dalrymple, O.R. ii. 374.

1726.—Zierjang (Syriam) in Valentijn, Choro., &c., 127.

1727.—"About 60 Miles to the Eastward of China Backaar (see CHINA-BUCKEER) is the Bar of Syrian, the only port now open for Trade in all the Pegu Dominions.... It was many Years in Possession of the Portugueze, till by their Insolence and Pride they were obliged to quit it."—A. Hamilton, ii. 31-32; [ed. 1744].

SYUD, s. Ar. saiyid, 'a lord.' The designation in India of those who claim to be descendants of Mahommed. But the usage of Saiyid and Sharīf varies in different parts of Mahommedan Asia. ["As a rule (much disputed) the Sayyid is a descendant from Mahommed through his grandchild Hasan, and is a man of the pen; whereas the Sharīf derives from Husayn and is a man of the sword" (Burton, Ar. Nights, iv. 209).]

1404.—"On this day the Lord played at chess, for a great while, with certain Zaytes; and Zaytes they call certain men who come of the lineage of Mahomad."—Clavijo, § cxiv. (Markham, p. 141-2).