Chapter ALCATIF to ALLAHABAD of A by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

[ALFANDICA, s. A custom-house and resort for foreign merchants in an oriental port. The word comes through the Port. alfandega, Span. fundago, Ital. fondaco, Fr. fondeque or fondique, from Ar. al- funduk, ‘the inn,’ and this from Gk. pandokÎion or pandocÎion, ‘a pilgrim’s hospice.’]

[c. 1610.—“The conveyance of them thence to the alfandigue.”—Pyrard della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 361.]

[1615.—“The Iudge of the Alfandica came to invite me.”—Sir T. Roe, Embassy, Hak. Soc. i. 72.]

[1615.—“That the goods of the English may be freely landed after dispatch in the Alfandiga.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 79.]

ALGUADA, n.p. The name of a reef near the entrance to the Bassein branch of the Irawadi R., on which a splendid lighthouse was erected by Capt. Alex. Fraser (now Lieut.-General Fraser, C.B.) of the Engineers, in 1861-65. See some remarks and quotations under NEGRAIS.

ALJOFAR, s. Port. ‘seed-pearl.’ Cobarruvias says it is from Ar. al-jauhar, ‘jewel.’

1404.—“And from these bazars (alcacerias) issue certain gates into certain streets, where they sell many things, such as cloths of silk and cotton, and sendals, and tafetanas, and silk, and pearl (alxofar).”—Clavijo, § lxxxi. (comp. Markham, 81).

1508.—“The aljofar and pearls that (your Majesty) orders me to send you I cannot have as they have them in Ceylon and in Caille, which are the sources of them: I would buy them with my blood, and with my money, which I have only from your giving. The Sinabaffs (sinabafos), porcelain vases (porcellanas), and wares of that sort are further off. If for my sins I stay here longer I will endeavour to get everything. The slave girls that you order me to send you must be taken from prizes,¹ for the heathen women of this country are black, and are mistresses to everybody by the time they are ten years old.”—Letter of the Viceroy D. Francisco d’Almeida to the King, in Correa, i. 908-9.

[1665.—“As it (the idol) was too deformed, they made hands for it of the small pearls which we call ‘pearls by the ounce.’ ”—Tavernier, ed. Ball, ii. 228.]

ALLAHABAD, n .p. This name, which was given in the time of Akbar to the old Hindu Prayag or Prag (PRAAG) has been subjected to a variety of corrupt pronunciations, both European and native. Illahabaz is a not uncommon native form, converted by Europeans into Halabas, and further by English soldiers formerly into Isle o’ bats. And the Illiabad, which we find in the Hastings charges, survives in the Elleeabad still heard occasionally.

c. 1666.—“La Province de Halabas s’appelloit autrefois Purop (Poorub).”—Thevenot, v. 197.

[ „ “Elabas (where the Gemna (Jumna) falls into the Ganges.”—Bernier (ed. Constable), p. 36.]

1726.—“This exceptionally great river (Ganges).… comes so far from the N. to the S..... and so further to the city Halabas.”—Valentijn.

1753.—“Mais ce qui interesse davantage dans la position de Helabas, c’est d’y retrouver celle de l’ancienne Palibothra. Aucune ville de l’Inde ne paroit égaler Palibothra ou Palimbothra, dans l’Antiquité.… C’est satisfaire une curiosité géographique bien placée, que de retrouver l’emplacement d’une ville de cette considération: mais j’ai lieu de croire qu’il faut employer quelque critique, dans l’examen des circonstances que l’Antiquité a fourni sur ce point.… Je suis done persuadé, qu’il ne faut point cher cher d’autre emplacement à Palibothra que celui de la ville d’Helabas.….”—D’Anville, Eclaircissemens, pp. 53-55.

(Here D’Anville is in error. But see Rennell’s Memoir, pp. 50-54, which clearly identifies Palibothra with Patna.)

1786.—“.… an attack and invasion of the Rohillas .… which nevertheless the said Warren Hastings undertook at the very time when, under the pretence of the difficulty of defending Corah and Illiabad, he sold these provinces to Sujah Dowla.”—Articles of Charge, &c., in Burke, vi. 577.

“You will see in the letters from the Board.… a plan for obtaining Illabad from the Vizier, to which he had spirit enough to make a successful resistance.”—Cornwallis, i. 238.