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

China and Cataya are spoken of as different countries. Comp. Birdwood, Rep. on Old Rec., 168 note.]

Before 1633.—

“I’ll wish you in the Indies or Cataia.…”

Beaum. & Fletch., The Woman’s Prize, iv. 5.

1634.—

“Domadores das terras e dos mares
Não so im Malaca, Indo e Perseu streito
Mas na China, Catai, Japão estranho
Lei nova introduzindo em sacro banho.”

Malaca Conquistada.

1664.—“Tis not yet twenty years, that there went caravans every year from Kachemire, which crossed all those mountains of the great Tibet, entred into Tartary, and arrived in about three months at Cataja. …”—Bernier, E. T., 136 ; [ed. Constable, 425].

1842.—

“Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.”

Tennyson, Locksley Hall.

1871.—“For about three centuries the Northern Provinces of China had been detached from native rule, and subject to foreign dynasties ; first to the Khitan… whose rule subsisted for 200 years, and originated the name of Khitai, Khata, or Cathay, by which for nearly 1000 years China has been known to the nations of Inner Asia, and to those whose acquaintance with it was got by that channel.”— Marco Polo, Introd. ch. ii.

CAT’S-EYE, s. A stone of value found in Ceylon. It is described by Dana as a form of chalcedony of a greenish grey, with glowing internal reflections, whence the Portuguese call it Olho de gato, which our word translates. It appears from the quotation below from Dr. Royle that the Beli oculus of Pliny has been identified with the cat’s-eye, which may well be the case, though the odd circumstance noticed by Royle may be only a curious coincidence. [The phrase billi ki ankh does not appear in Platt’s Dict. The usual name is lahsaniya, ‘like garlic.’ The Burmese are said to call it kyoung, ‘a cat.’]

c. A.D. 70.—“The stone called Belus eye is white, and hath within it a black apple, the mids whereof a man shall see to glitter like gold.…”—Holland’s Plinie, ii. 625.

c. 1340.—“Quaedam regiones monetam non habent, sed pro ea utuntur lapidibus quos dicimus Cati Oculos.”—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fortunae, lib. iv.

1516.—“And there are found likewise other stones, such as Olho de gato, Chrysolites, and amethysts, of which I do not treat because they are of little value.”—Barbosa, in Lisbon Acad., ii. 390.

1599.—“Lapis insuper alius ibi vulgaris est, quem Lusitani olhos de gatto, id est, oculum felinum vocant, propterea quod cum eo et colore et facie conveniat. Nihil autem aliud quam achates est.”—De Bry, iv. 84 (after Linschoten) ; [Hak. Soc. i. 61, ii. 141].

1672.—“The Cat’s-eyes, by the Portuguese called Olhos de Gatos, occur in Zeylon, Cambaya, and Pegu ; they are more esteemed by the Indians than by the Portuguese ; for some Indians believe that if a man wears this stone his power and riches will never diminish, but always increase.”— Baldaeus, Germ. ed. 160.

1837.—“Beli oculus, mentioned by Pliny, xxxvii. c. 55, is considered by Hardouin to be equivalent to œil de chat—named in India billi ke ankh.”—Royle’s Hindu Medicine, p. 103.