c. 1606.—"Philip de Brito issued an order that a custom-house should be planted at Serian (Serião), at which duties should be paid by all the vessels of this State which went to trade with the kingdom of Pegu, and with the ports of Martavan, Tavay, Tenasserim, and Juncalon.... Now certain merchants and shipowners from the Coast of Coromandel refused obedience, and this led Philip de Brito to send a squadron of 6 ships and galliots with an imposing and excellent force of soldiers on board, that they might cruise on the coast of Tenasserim, and compel all the vessels that they met to come and pay duty at the fortress of Serian."—Bocarro, 135.
1695.—"9th. That the Old house and Ground at Syrian, formerly belonging to the English Company, may still be continued to them, and that they may have liberty of building dwelling-houses, and warehouses, for the securing their Goods, as shall be necessary, and that more Ground be given them, if what they formerly had be not sufficient."—Petition presented to the K. of Burma at Ava, by Ed. Fleetwood; in Dalrymple, O.R. ii. 374.
1726.—Zierjang (Syriam) in Valentijn, Choro., &c., 127.
1727.—"About 60 Miles to the Eastward of China Backaar (see [CHINA-BUCKEER]) is the Bar of Syrian, the only port now open for Trade in all the Pegu Dominions.... It was many Years in Possession of the Portugueze, till by their Insolence and Pride they were obliged to quit it."—A. Hamilton, ii. 31-32; [ed. 1744].
SYUD, s. Ar. saiyid, 'a lord.' The designation in India of those who claim to be descendants of Mahommed. But the usage of Saiyid and Sharīf varies in different parts of Mahommedan Asia. ["As a rule (much disputed) the Sayyid is a descendant from Mahommed through his grandchild Hasan, and is a man of the pen; whereas the Sharīf derives from Husayn and is a man of the sword" (Burton, Ar. Nights, iv. 209).]
1404.—"On this day the Lord played at chess, for a great while, with certain Zaytes; and Zaytes they call certain men who come of the lineage of Mahomad."—Clavijo, § cxiv. (Markham, p. 141-2).
1869.—"Il y a dans l'Inde quatre classes de musulmans: les Saiyids ou descendants de Mahomet par Huçain, les Schaikhs ou Arabes, nommés vulgairement Maures, les [Pathans] ou Afgans, et les [Mogols]. Ces quatres classes ont chacune fourni à la religion de saints personnages, qui sont souvent designés par ces dénominations, et par d'autres spécialement consacrées à chacune d'elles, telles que Mir pour les Saiyids, Khân pour les Pathans, Mirzâ, Beg, Agâ, et Khwâja pour les Mogols."—Garcin de Tassy, Religion Mus. dans l'Inde, 22.
(The learned author is mistaken here in supposing that the obsolete term [Moor] was in India specially applied to Arabs. It was applied, following Portuguese custom, to all Mahommedans.)
T
TABASHEER, s. 'Sugar of Bamboo.' A siliceous substance sometimes found in the joints of the bamboo, formerly prized as medicine, [also known in India as Bānslochan or Bānskapūr]. The word is Pers. tabāshīr, but that is from the Skt. name of the article, tvakkshīra, and tavakkshīra. The substance is often confounded, in name at least, by the old Materia Medica writers, with spodium and is sometimes called ispodio di canna. See Ces. Federici below. Garcia De Orta goes at length into this subject (f. 193 seqq.). [See [SUGAR].]