c. 1300.—"One of the innovations of the Caliph Manṣūr (A.D. 753-774) was the Khaish of linen in summer, a thing which was not known before his time. But the Sāsānian Kings used in summer to have an apartment freshly plastered (with clay) every day, which they inhabited, and on the morrow another apartment was plastered for them."—El-Fakhrī, ed. Ahlwardt, p. 188.
1596.—"And (they use) instruments like swings with fans, to rock the people in, and to make wind for cooling, which they call cattaventos."—Literal Transln. from Linschoten, ch. 6.
1598.—"And they vse certaine instruments like Waggins, with bellowes, to beare all the people in, and to gather winde to coole themselves withall, which they call Cattaventos."—Old English Translation, by W. P., p. 16; [Hak. Soc. i. 52].
The French version is really a brief description of the punka:
1610.—"Ils ont aussi du Cattaventos qui sont certains instruments pendus en l'air es quels se faisant donner le bransle ils font du vent qui les rafraichit."—Ed. 1638, p. 17.
The next also perhaps refers to a suspended punka:
1662.—"... furnished also with good Cellars with great Flaps to stir the Air, for reposing in the fresh Air from 12 till 4 or 5 of the Clock, when the Air of these Cellars begins to be hot and stuffing."—Bernier, p. 79; [ed. Constable, 247].
1807.—"As one small concern succeeds another, the punkah vibrates gently over my eyes."—Lord Minto in India, 27.
1810.—"Were it not for the punka (a large frame of wood covered with cloth) which is suspended over every table, and kept swinging, in order to freshen the air, it would be scarcely possible to sit out the melancholy ceremony of an Indian dinner."—Maria Graham, 30.
" Williamson mentions that punkahs "were suspended in most dining halls."—Vade Mecum, i. 281.