1827.—"It would perhaps be worth while to record ... the matériel and personnel of my camp equipment; an humble captain and single man travelling on the most economical principles. One double-poled tent, one routee (see [ROWTEE]), or small tent, a pâl or servants' tent, 2 elephants, 6 camels, 4 horses, a pony, a buggy, and 24 servants, besides mahouts, serwâns or camel-drivers, and tent pitchers."—Mundy, Journal of a Tour in India, [3rd ed. p. 8]. We may note that this is an absurd exaggeration of any equipment that, even seventy-five years since, would have characterised the march of a "humble captain travelling on economical principles," or any one under the position of a highly-placed civilian. Captain Mundy must have been enormously extravagant.
[1849.—"... we breakfasted merrily under a paul (a tent without walls, just like two cards leaning against each other)."—Mrs. Mackenzie, Life in the Mission, ii. 141.]
PAWN, s. The [betel]-leaf (q.v.) Hind. pān, from Skt. parṇa, 'a leaf.' It is a North Indian term, and is generally used for the combination of betel, areca-nut, lime, &c., which is politely offered (along with otto of roses) to visitors, and which intimates the termination of the visit. This is more fully termed pawn-sooparie (supārī, [Skt. supriya, 'pleasant,'] is Hind. for areca). "These leaves are not vsed to bee eaten alone, but because of their bitternesse they are eaten with a certaine kind of fruit, which the Malabars and Portugalls call Arecca, the Gusurates and Decanijns Suparijs...." (In Purchas, ii. 1781).
1616.—"The King giving mee many good words, and two pieces of his Pawne out of his Dish, to eate of the same he was eating...."—Sir T. Roe, in Purchas, i. 576; [Hak. Soc. ii. 453].
[1623.—"... a plant, whose leaves resemble a Heart, call'd here pan, but in other parts of India, Betle."—P. della Valle, Hak. Soc. i. 36.]
1673.—"... it is the only Indian entertainment, commonly called Pawn."—Fryer, p. 140.
1809.—"On our departure pawn and roses were presented, but we were spared the attar, which is every way detestable."—Ld. Valentia, i. 101.
PAWNEE, s. Hind. pānī, 'water.' The word is used extensively in Anglo-Indian compound names, such as bilayutee pawnee, 'soda-water,' brandy-pawnee, Khush-bo pawnee (for European scents), &c., &c. An old friend, Gen. J. T. Boileau, R.E. (Bengal), contributes from memory the following Hindi ode to Water, on the Pindaric theme ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, or the Thaletic one ἀρχὴ δε τῶν πάντων ὑδωρ!
"Pānī kūā, pānī tāl;
Pānī āṭā, pānī dāl;