TONGA, s. A kind of light and small two-wheeled vehicle, Hind, tāngā, [Skt. tamanga, 'a platform']. The word has become familiar of late years, owing to the use of the tonga in a modified form on the roads leading up to Simla, Darjeeling, and other hill-stations. [Tavernier speaks of a carriage of this kind, but does not use the word:
[c. 1665.—"They have also, for travelling, small, very light, carriages which contain two persons; but usually one travels alone ... to which they harness a pair of oxen only. These carriages, which are provided, like ours, with curtains and cushions, are not slung...."—Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 44.]
1874.—"The villages in this part of the country are usually superior to those in Poona or Sholápur, and the people appear to be in good circumstances.... The custom too, which is common, of driving light Tongas drawn by ponies or oxen points to the same conclusion."—Settlement Report of Násik.
1879.—"A tongha dâk has at last been started between Rajpore and Dehra. The first tongha took only 5½ hours from Rajpore to Saharunpore."—Pioneer Mail.
1880.—"In the (Times) of the 19th of April we are told that 'Syud Mahomed Padshah has repulsed the attack on his fort instigated by certain moolahs of tonga dâk.'... Is the relentless tonga a region of country or a religious organization?... The original telegram appears to have contemplated a full stop after 'certain moollahs.' Then came an independent sentence about the tonga dâk working admirably between Peshawur and Jellalabad, but the sub-editor of the Times, interpreting the message referred to, made sense of it in the way we have seen, associating the ominous mystery with the moollahs, and helping out the other sentence with some explanatory ideas of his own."—Pioneer Mail, June 10.
1881.—"Bearing in mind Mr. Framji's extraordinary services, notably those rendered during the mutiny, and ... that he is crippled for life ... by wounds received while gallantly defending the mail tonga cart in which he was travelling, when attacked by dacoits...."—Letter from Bombay Govt. to Govt. of India, June 17, 1881.
TONICATCHY, TUNNYKETCH, s. In Madras this is the name of the domestic water-carrier, who is generally a woman, and acts as a kind of under housemaid. It is a corr. of Tamil tannir-kāssi, tannikkāriççi, an abbreviation of tannīr-kāsatti, 'water-woman.'
c. 1780.—"'Voudriez-vous me permettre de faire ce trajet avec mes gens et mes bagages, qui ne consistent qu'en deux malles, quatre caisses de vin, deux ballots de toiles, et deux femmes, dont l'une est ma cuisinière, et l'autre, ma tannie karetje ou porteuse d'eau.'"—Haafner, i. 242.
1792.—"The Armenian ... now mounts a bit of blood ... and ... dashes the mud about through the streets of the Black Town, to the admiration and astonishment of the Tawny-kertches."—Madras Courier, April 26.
TONJON, and vulg. TOMJOHN, s. A sort of sedan or portable chair. It is (at least in the Bengal Presidency) carried like a palankin by a single pole and four bearers, whereas a [jompon] (q.v.), for use in a hilly country, has two poles like a European sedan, each pair of bearers bearing it by a stick between the poles, to which the latter are slung. We cannot tell what the origin of this word is, nor explain the etymology given by Williamson below, unless it is intended for thām-jāngh, which might mean 'support-thigh.' Mr. Platts gives as forms in Hind. tāmjhām and thāmjān. The word is perhaps adopted from some trans-gangetic language. A rude contrivance of this kind in Malabar is described by Col. Welsh under the name of a 'Tellicherry chair' (ii. 40).