Chapter NAZIR to NEGRAIS of N by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

unknown in Europe, which he will deliver to you in my name.”—Warren Hastings to Sir G. Colebrooke, in Gleig, i. 288.

1824.—“There are not only neelghaus, and the common Indian deer, but some noble red-deer in the park” (at Lucknow).—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 214.

1882.—“All officers, we believe, who have served, like the present writers, on the canals of Upper India, look back on their peripatetic life there as a happy time…occasionally on a winding part of the bank one intruded on the solitude of a huge nílgai.”—Mem. of General Sir W. E. Baker, p. 11.

NEEM, s. The tree (N.O. Meliaceae) Azadirachta indica, Jussieu; Hind. nim (and nib, according to Playfair, Taleef Shereef, 170), Mahr. nimb, from Skt. nimba. It grows in almost all parts of India, and has a repute for various remedial uses. Thus poultices of the leaves are applied to boils, and their fresh juice given in various diseases; the bitter bark is given in fevers; the fruit is described as purgative and emollient, and as useful in worms, &c., whilst a medicinal oil is extracted from the seeds; and the gum also is reckoned medicinal. It is akin to the bakain (see BUCKYNE), on which it grafts readily.

1563.—“R. I beg you to recall the tree by help of which you cured that valuable horse of yours, of which you told me, for I wish to remember it.

“O. You are quite right, for in sooth it is a tree that has a great repute as valuable and medicinal among nations that I am acquainted with, and the name among them all is nimbo. I came to know its virtues in the Balaghat, because with it I there succeeded in curing sore backs of horses that were most difficult to clean and heal; and these sores were cleaned very quickly, and the horses very quickly cured. And this was done entirely with the leaves of this tree pounded and put over the sores, mixt with lemon-juice.…”—Garcia, f. 153.

1578.—“There is another tree highly medicinal…which is called nimbo; and the Malabars call it Bepole [Malayal. veppu].”—Acosta, 284.

[1813.—“…the principal square…regularly planted with beautiful nym or lym-trees.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 445.

[1856.—“Once on a time Guj Singh…said to those around him, ‘Is there any one who would leap down from that limb tree into the court?’”—Forbes, Ras Mala, ed. 1878, p. 465.]

1877.—“The elders of the Clans sat every day on their platform, under the great neem tree in the town, and attended to all complaints.”—Meadows Taylor, Story, &c., ii. 85.

NEGAPATAM, n.p. A seaport of Tanjore district in S. India, written Nagai-ppattanam, which may mean ‘Snake Town.’ It is perhaps the [Greek Text] Nigama MhtropoliV of Ptolemy; and see under COROMANDEL.

1534.—“From this he (Cunhall Marcar, a Mahommedan corsair) went plundering the coast as far as Negapatão, where there were always a number of Portuguese trading, and Moorish merchants. These latter, dreading that this pirate would come to the place and plunder them, to curry favour with him, sent him word that if he came he would make a famous haul, because the Portuguese had there a quantity of goods on the river bank, where he could come up.…”—Correa, iii. 554.

[1598.—“The coast of Choramandel beginneth from the Cape of Negapatan.”—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. i. 82.

[1615.—“Two (ships) from Negapotan, one from Cullmat and Messepotan.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 6.]

NEGOMBO, n.p. A pleasant town and old Dutch fort nearly 20 miles north of Colombo in Ceylon; formerly famous for the growth of the best cinnamon. The etymology is given in very different ways. We read recently that the name is properly (Tamil) Nir-Kolumbu, i.e. ‘Columbo in the water.’ But, according to Emerson Tennent, the ordinary derivation is Mi-gamoa, the ‘Village of bees’; whilst Burnouf says it is properly Naga-bhu, ‘Land of Nagas,’ or serpent worshippers (see Tennent, ii. 630).

1613.—“On this he cast anchor; but the wind blowing very strong by daybreak, the ships were obliged to weigh, as they could not stand at their moorings. The vessel of Andrea Coelho and that of Nuno Alvares Teixeira, after weighing, not being able to weather the reef of Negumbo, ran into the bay, where the storm compelled them to be beached: but as there were plenty of people there, the vessels were run up by hand and not wrecked.”—Bocarro, 42.

NEGRAIS, CAPE, n.p. The name of the island and cape at the extreme south end of Arakan. In the charts the extreme south point of the mainland is called Pagoda Point, and the seaward promontory, N.W. of this, Cape Negrais. The name is a Portuguese corruption probably of the Arab or Malay form