1616.—"... the people of better quality, lying or sitting on their Carpets or Pallats, have servants standing about them, who continually beat the air upon them with Flabella's, or Fans, of stiffned leather, which keepe off the flyes from annoying them, and cool them as they lye."—Ed. 1665, p. 405.
1663.—"On such occasions they desire nothing but ... to lie down in some cool and shady place all along, having a servant or two to fan one by turns, with their great Pankas, or Fans."—Bernier, E.T., p. 76; [ed. Constable, 241].
1787.—"Over her head was held a punker."—Sir C. Malet, in Parl. Papers, 1821, 'Hindoo Widows.'
1809.—"He ... presented me ... two punkahs."—Lord Valentia, i. 428.
1881.—"The chair of state, the sella gestatoria, in which the Pope is borne aloft, is the ancient palanquin of the Roman nobles, and, of course, of the Roman Princes ... the fans which go behind are the punkahs of the Eastern Emperors, borrowed from the Court of Persia."—Dean Stanley, Christian Institutions, 207.
b.—
c. 1150-60.—"Sous le nom de Khaich on entend des étoffes de mauvais toile de lin qui servent à différents usages. Dans ce passage de Rhazès (c. A.D. 900) ce sont des ventilateurs faits de cet étoffe. Ceci se pratique de cette manière: on en prend un morceau de la grandeur d'un tapis, un peu plus grand ou un peu plus petit selon les dimensions de la chambre, et on le rembourre avec des objets qui ont de la consistance et qui ne plient pas facilement, par exemple avec du sparte. L'ayant ensuite suspendu au milieu de la chambre, on le fait tirer et lacher doucement et continuellement par un homme placé dans le haut de l'appartement. De cette manière il fait beaucoup de vent et rafraichit l'air. Quelquefois on le trempe dans de l'eau de rose, et alors il parfume l'air en même temps qu'il le rafraichit."—Glossaire sur le Mançouri, quoted in Dozy et Engelmann, p. 342. See also Dozy, Suppt. aux Dictt. Arabes, s.v. Khaich.
1166.—"He (Ibn Hamdun the Kātib) once recited to me the following piece of his composition, containing an enigmatical description of a linen fan: (1)
"'Fast and loose, it cannot touch what it tries to reach; though tied up it moves swiftly, and though a prisoner it is free. Fixed in its place it drives before it the gentle breeze; though its path lie closed up it moves on in its nocturnal journey.'"—Quoted by Ibn Khallikan, E.T. iii. 91.
"(1) The linen fan (Mirwaha-t al Khaish) is a large piece of linen, stretched on a frame, and suspended from the ceiling of the room. They make use of it in Irâk. See de Sacy's Hariri, p. 474."—Note by MacGuckin de Slane, ibid. p. 92.