1784.—
"The Sun in gaudy palanqueen
Curtain'd with purple, fring'd with gold,
Firing no more heav'n's vault serene,
Retir'd to sup with Ganges old."
Plassy Plain, a ballad by Sir W. Jones;
in Life and Works, ed. 1807, ii. 503.
1804.—"Give orders that a palanquin may be made for me; let it be very light, with the pannels made of canvas instead of wood, and the poles fixed as for a dooley. Your Bengally palanquins are so heavy that they cannot be used out of Calcutta."—Wellington (to Major Shaw), June 20.
The following measures a change in ideas. A palankin is now hardly ever used by a European, even of humble position, much less by the opulent:
1808.—"Palkee. A litter well known in India, called by the English Palankeen. A Guzerat punster (aware of no other) hazards the Etymology Pa-lakhee [pāo-lākhī] a thing requiring an annual income of a quarter Lack to support it and corresponding luxuries."—R. Drummond, Illustrations, &c.