1816.—"... Prahu, a term under which the Malays include every description of vessel."—Raffles, in As. Res. xii. 132.
1817.—"The Chinese also have many brigs ... as well as native-built prahus."—Raffles, Java, i. 203.
1868.—"On December 13th I went on board a prau bound for the Aru Islands."—Wallace, Malay Archip. 227.
PUCKA, adj. Hind. pakkā, 'ripe, mature, cooked'; and hence substantial, permanent, with many specific applications, of which examples have been given under the habitually contrasted term [cutcha] (q.v.). One of the most common uses in which the word has become specific is that of a building of brick and mortar, in contradistinction to one of inferior material, as of mud, matting, or timber. Thus:
[1756.—"... adjacent houses; all of them of the strongest Pecca work, and all most proof against our Mettal on ye Bastions." Capt. Grant, Report on Siege of Calcutta, ed. by Col. Temple, Ind. Ant., 1890, p. 7.]
1784.—"The House, Cook-room, bottle-connah, godown, &c., are all pucka-built."—In Seton-Karr, i. 41.
1824.—"A little above this beautiful stream, some miserable pucka sheds pointed out the Company's warehouses."—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 259-60.
1842.—"I observe that there are in the town (Dehli) many buildings pucka-built, as it is called in India."—Wellington to Ld. Ellenborough, in Indian Adm. of Ld. E., p. 306.
1857.—"Your Lahore men have done nobly. I should like to embrace them; Donald, Roberts, Mac, and Dick are, all of them, pucca trumps."—Lord Lawrence, in Life, ii. 11.
1869.—"... there is no surer test by which to measure the prosperity of the people than the number of pucka houses that are being built."—Report of a Sub-Committee on Proposed Indian Census.