1544.—"Fac te comem et humanum cum isti Genti praebeas, tum praesertim magistratibus eorum et Praefectis Pagorum, quos Adigares vocant."—S. Fr. Xav. Epistt. 113.
1583.—"Mentre che noi erauamo in questa città, l'assalirono sù la mezza notte all' improuiso, mettendoui il fuoco. Erano questi d'una città uicina, lontana da S. Thomè, doue stanno i Portoghesi, un miglio, sotto la scorta d'un loro Capitano, che risiede in detta città ... et questo Capitano è da loro chiamato Adicario."—Balbi, f. 87.
1681.—"There are two who are the greatest and highest officers in the land. They are called Adigars; I may term them Chief Judges."—Knox, 48.
1726.—" Adigaar. This is as it were the second of the Dessave."—Valentijn (Ceylon), Names of Officers, &c., 9.
1796.—"In Malabar esiste oggidi l'uffizio ... molti Káriakárer o ministri; molti Adhigári o ministri d'un distretto...."—Fra Paolino, 237.
1803.—"The highest officers of State are the Adigars or Prime Ministers. They are two in number."—Percival's Ceylon, 256.
[1810-17.—"Announcing in letters ... his determination to exercise the office of Serv Adikar."—Wilks, Mysoor, i. 264.
1887.—"Each amsam or parish has now besides the Adhikāri or man of authority, headman, an accountant."—Logan, Man. of Malabar, i. 90.]
ADJUTANT, s. A bird so called (no doubt) from its comical resemblance to a human figure in a stiff dress pacing slowly on a parade-ground. It is the H. haṛgīla, or gigantic crane, and popular scavenger of Bengal, the Leptoptilus argala of Linnæus. The H. name is by some dictionaries derived from a supposed Skt. word haḍḍa-gila, 'bone-swallower.' The compound, however appropriate, is not to be found in Böhtlingk and Roth's great Dictionary. The bird is very well described by Aelian, under the name of Κήλα, which is perhaps a relic of the still preserved vernacular one. It is described by another name, as one of the peculiarities of India, by Sultan Baber. See [PELICAN].
"The feathers known as Marabou or Comercolly feathers, and sold in Calcutta, are the tail-coverts of this, and the Lept. Javanica, another and smaller species" (Jerdon). The name marabout (from the Ar. murābit, 'quiet,' and thence 'a hermit,' through the Port. marabuto) seems to have been given to the bird in Africa on like reason to that of adjutant in India. [Comercolly, properly Kumārkhāli, is a town in the Nadiya District, Bengal. See Balfour, Cycl. i. 1082.]