1588.—"Wee met with sixtee or seventee sayles of Canoes full of Sauages, who came off to Sea vnto vs, and brought with them in their Boates, Plantans, Cocos, Potato-rootes, and fresh fish."—Voyage of Master Thomas Candish, Purchas, i. 66.
1600.—"The Battatas are somewhat redder of colour, and in forme almost like Iniamas (see [YAM]), and taste like Earth-nuts."—In Purchas, ii. 957.
1615.—"I took a garden this day, and planted it with Pottatos brought from the Liquea, a thing not yet planted in Japan. I must pay a tay, or 5 shillings sterling, per annum for the garden."—Cocks's Diary, i. 11.
1645.—"... pattate; c'est vne racine comme naueaux, mais plus longue et de couleur rouge et jaune: cela est de tres-bon goust, mais si l'on en mange souuent, elle degouste fort, et est assez venteuse."—Mocquet, Voyages, 83.
1764.—
"There let Potatos mantle o'er the ground,
Sweet as the cane-juice is the root they bear."—Grainger, Bk. iv.
SYCE, s. Hind. from Ar. sāïs. A groom. It is the word in universal use in the Bengal Presidency. In the South [horse-keeper] is more common, and in Bombay a vernacular form of the latter, viz. ghoṛāwālā (see [GORAWALLAH]). The Ar. verb, of which sāïs is the participle, seems to be a loan-word from Syriac, sausī, 'to coax.'
[1759.—In list of servants' wages: "Syce, Rs. 2."—In Long, 182.]
1779.—"The [bearer] and scise, when they returned, came to the place where I was, and laid hold of Mr. Ducarell. I took hold of Mr. Shee and carried him up. The bearer and scise took Mr. Ducarell out. Mr. Keeble was standing on his own house looking, and asked, 'What is the matter?' The bearer and scise said to Mr. Keeble, 'These gentlemen came into the house when my master was out.'"—Evidence on Trial of Grand v. Francis, in Echoes of Old Calcutta, 230.