Chapter CHOOLIA to CHOP of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

with a private mark, as a guarantee of its genuineness (ibid.). (Dollars similarly marked had currency in England in the first quarter of last century, and one of the present writers can recollect their occasional occurrence in Scotland in his childhood). The grand chop is the port clearance granted by the Chinese customs when all dues have been paid (ibid.). All these have obviously the same origin; but there are other uses of the word in China not so easily explained, e.g. chop, for ‘a hulk’; chop-boat for a lighter or cargo-boat.

In Captain Forrest’s work, quoted below, a golden badge or decoration, conferred on him by the King of Achin, is called a chapp (p. 55). The portrait of Forrest, engraved by Sharp, shows this badge, and gives the inscription, translated: “Capt. Thomas Forrest, Orancayo [see ORANKAY] of the Golden Sword. This chapp was conferred as a mark of honour in the city of Atcheen, belonging to the Faithful, by the hands of the Shabander [see SHAHBUNDER] of Atcheen, on Capt. Thomas Forrest.”

[1534.—“The Governor said that he would receive nothing save under his chapa.” “Until he returned from Badur with his reply and the chapa required.”—Correa, iii. 585.]

1537.—“And the said Nizamamede Zamom was present and then before me signed, and swore on his Koran (moçafo) to keep and maintain and fulfil this agreement entirely…and he sealed it with his seal” (e o chapo de sua chapa).—Treaty above quoted, in S. Botelho, Tombo, 228.

1552.—“…ordered…that they should allow no person to enter or to leave the island without taking away his chapa.…And this chapa was, as it were, a seal.”—Castanheda, iii. 32.

1614.—“The King (of Achen) sent us his Chop.”—Milward, in Purchas, i. 526.

1615.—“Sailed to Acheen; the King sent his Chope for them to go ashore, without which it was unlawful for any one to do so.”—Sainsbury, i. 445.

[“2 chistes plate…with the rendadors chape upon it.”—Cocks’s Diary, i. 219.]

1618.—“Signed with my chop, the 14th day of May (sic), in the Yeare of our Prophet Mahomet 1027.”—Letter from Gov. of Mocha, in Purchas, i. 625.

1673.—“The Custom-house has a good Front, where the chief Customer appears certain Hours to chop, that is to mark Goods outward-bound.”—Fryer, 98.

1678.—“…sending of our Vuckeel this day to Compare the Coppys with those sent, in order to y^e? Chaup, he refused it, alledging that they came without y^e Visiers Chaup to him.…”—Letter (in India Office) from Dacca Factory to Mr. Matthias Vincent (Ft. St. George?).

1682.—“To Rajemaul I sent ye old Duan…’s Perwanna, Chopt both by the Nabob and new Duan, for its confirmation.”—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 37.

1689.—“Upon their Chops as they call them in India, or Seals engraven, are only Characters, generally those of their Name.”—Ovington, 251.

1711.—“This (Oath at Acheen) is administered by the Shabander…lifting, very respectfully, a short Dagger in a Gold Case, like a Scepter, three times to their Heads; and it is called receiving the Chop for Trade.”—Lockyer, 35.

1715.—“It would be very proper also to put our chop on the said Books.”—In Wheeler, ii. 224.

c. 1720.—“Here they demanded tax and toll; felt us all over, not excepting our mouths, and when they found nothing, stamped a chop upon our arms in red paint; which was to serve for a pass.”—Zesteen

Jaarige Reize…door Jacob de Bucquoy, Haarlem, 1757.

1727.—“On my Arrival (at Acheen) I took the Chap at the great River’s Mouth, according to Custom. This Chap is a Piece of Silver about 8 ounces Weight, made in Form of a Cross, but the cross Part is very short, that we…put to our Fore-head, and declare to the Officer that brings the Chap, that we come on an honest Design to trade.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 103.

1771.—“…with Tiapp or passports.”—Osbeck, i. 181.

1782.—“…le Pilote…apporte avec lui leur chappe, ensuite il adore et consulte son Poussa, puis il fait lever l’ancre.”—Sonnerat, ii. 233.

1783.—“The bales (at Acheen) are immediately opened; 12 in the hundred are taken for the king’s duty, and the remainder being marked with a certain mark (chapp) may be carried where the owner pleases.”—Forrest, V. to Mergui, 41.

1785.—“The only pretended original produced was a manifest forgery, for it had not the chop or smaller seal, on which is engraved the name of the Mogul.”—Carraccioli’s Clive, i. 214.

1817.—“…and so great reluctance did he (the Nabob) show to the ratification of the Treaty, that Mr. Pigot is said to have seized his chop, or seal, and applied it to the paper.”—Mill’s Hist. iii. 340.

1876.—“‘First chop! tremendously pretty too,’ said the elegant Grecian, who had been paying her assiduous attention.”—Daniel Deronda, Bk. I. ch. x.

1882.—“On the edge of the river facing the ‘Pow-shan’ and the Creek Hongs, were Chop houses, or branches of the Hoppo’s department, whose duty it was to prevent smuggling, but whose interest it was to aid and facilitate the shipping of silks…at a considerable reduction on the Imperial tariff.”—The Fankwae at Canton, p. 25.

The writer last quoted, and others before him, have imagined a Chinese origin for chop, e.g., as “from chah, ‘an official note from a superior,’ or chah, ‘a contract, a diploma, &c.,’ both having at Canton the