Chapter CASTEES to CAT’S-EYE of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

CASTEES to CAT’S-EYE

CASTEES, s. Obsolete. The Indo-Portuguese formed from casta the word castiço, which they used to denote children born in India of Portuguese parents ; much as creole was used in the W. Indies.

1599.—“Liberi vero nati in Indiâ, utroque parente Lusitano; castisos vocantur, in omnibus fere Lusitanis similes, colore tamen modicum differunt, ut qui ad gilvum non nihil deflectant. Ex castisis deinde nati magis magisque gilvi fiunt, a parentibus et mesticis magis deflectentes ; porro et mesticis nati per omnia indigenis respondent, ita ut in tertiâ generatione Lusitani reliquis Indis sunt simillimi.”—De Bry, ii. 76 ; (Linschoten [Hak. Soc. i. 184]).

1638.—“Les habitans sont ou Castizes, c’est à dire Portugais naturels, et nez de pere et de mere Portugais, ou Mestizes, c’est à dire, nez d’vn pere Portugais et d’vne mere Indienne.”—Mandelslo.

1653.—“Les Castissos sont ceux qui sont nays de pere et mere reinols (Reinol) ; ce mot vient de Casta, qui signifie Race, ils sont mesprizez des Reynols.…”—Le Gouz, Voyages, 26 (ed. 1657).

1661.—“Die Stadt (Negapatam) ist zimlich volksreich, doch mehrentheils von Mastycen Castycen, und Portugesichen Christen.”—Walter Schulze, 108.

1699.—“Castees wives at Fort St. George.”—Census of English on the Coast, in Wheeler, i. 356.

1701–2.—In the MS. Returns of Persons in the Service of the Rt. Honble. the E. I. Company, in the India Office, for this year, we find, “4th (in Council) Matt. Empson, Sea Customer, marry’d Castees,” and under 1702, “13. Charles Bugden…marry’d Casteez.”

1726.—“…or the offspring of the same by native women, to wit Mistices and Castices, or blacks…and Moors.”—Valentijn, v. 3.

CASUARINA, s. A tree (Casuarina muricata, Roxb.—N. O. Casuarineae) indigenous on the coast of Chittagong and the Burmese provinces, and southward as far as Queensland. It was introduced into Bengal by Dr. F. Buchanan, and has been largely adopted as an ornamental tree both in Bengal and in Southern India. The tree has a considerable superficial resemblance to a larch or other finely-feathered conifer, making a very acceptable variety in the hot plains, where real pines will not grow. [The name, according to Mr. Scott, appears to be based on a Malayan name associating the tree with the Cassowary, as Mr. Skeat suggests from the resemblance of its needles to the quills of the bird.]

1861.—See quotation under PEEPUL.

1867.—“Our road lay chiefly by the seacoast, along the white sands, which were fringed for miles by one grand continuous line or border of casuarina trees.”—Lt.- Col. Lewin, A Fly on the Wheel, 362.

1879.—“It was lovely in the white moonlight, with the curving shadows of palms on the dewy grass, the grace of the drooping casuarinas, the shining water, and the long drift of surf.…”—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 275.

CATAMARÁN, s. Also CUTMURRAM, CUTMURAL. Tam. kattu, ‘binding,’ maram, ‘wood.’ A raft formed of three or four logs of wood lashed together. The Anglo-Indian accentuation of the last syllable is not correct.

1583.—“Seven round timbers lashed together for each of the said boats, and of the said seven timbers five form the bottom ; one in the middle longer than the rest makes a cutwater, and another makes a poop which is under water, and on which a man sits… These boats are called Gatameroni.”—Balbi, Viaggio, f. 82.

1673.—“Coasting along some Cattamarans (Logs lashed to that advantage that they waft off all their Goods, only having a Sail in the midst and Paddles to guide them) made after us.…”—Fryer, 24.

1698.—“Some time after the Cattamaran brought a letter.…”—In Wheeler, i. 334.

1700.—“Un pecheur assis sur un catimaron, c’est à dire sur quelques grosses pièces de bois liées ensemble en manière de radeau.”—Lett. Edif. x. 58.

c. 1780.—“The wind was high, and the ship had but two anchors, and in the next forenoon parted from that by which she was riding, before that one who was coming from the shore on a Catamaran could reach her.”—Orme. iii. 300.

1810.—“Williamson (V. M.. i. 65) applies the term to the rafts of the Brazilian fishermen.

1836.—“None can compare to the Catamarans and the wonderful people that manage them…each catamaran has one, two, or three men…they sit crouched upon their heels, throwing their paddles about very dexterously, but very unlike rowing.”—Letters from Madras, 34.

1860.—“The Cattamaran is common to Ceylon and Coromandel.”—Tennent, Ceylon, i. 442.

[During the war with Napoleon, the word came to be applied to a sort of fire-ship. “Great hopes have been formed at the Admiralty (in 1804) of certain vessels which were filled with combustibles and called catamarans.” —(Ld. Stanhope, Life of