1690.—"A Report spread abroad, that a Rich Moor Ship belonging to one Abdal Ghaford, was taken by Hat-men, that is, in their (the Moors) Dialect, Europeans."—Ovington, 411.
1705.—"... Topases, qui sont des gens du pais qu'on élève et qu'on habille à la Françoise, lesquels ont esté instruits dans la Religion Catholique par quelques uns de nos Missionnaires."—Luillier, 45-46.
1711.—"The Garrison consists of about 250 Soldiers, at 91 Fanhams, or 1l. 2s. 9d. per Month, and 200 Topasses, or black Mungrel Portuguese, at 50, or 52 Fanhams per Month."—Lockyer, 14.
1727.—"Some Portuguese are called Topasses ... will be served by none but Portuguese Priests, because they indulge them more and their Villany."—A. Hamilton, [ed. 1744, i. 326].
1745.—"Les Portugais et les autres Catholiques qu'on nomme Mestices (see [MUSTEES]) et Topases, également comme les naturels du Pays y viennent sans distinction pour assister aux Divins mystères."—Norbert, ii. 31.
1747.—"The officers upon coming in report their People in general behaved very well, and could not do more than they did with such a handful of men against the Force the Enemy had, being as they believe at least to be one thousand Europeans, besides Topasses, Coffrees (see [CAFFER]), and Seapoys (see [SEPOY]), altogether about Two Thousand (2000)."—MS. Consns. at Ft. St. David, March 1. (In India Office).
1749.—"600 effective Europeans would not have cost more than that Crowd of useless Topasses and Peons of which the Major Part of our Military has of late been composed."—In A Letter to a Proprietor of the E.I. Co. p. 57.
" "The Topasses of which the major Part of the Garrison consisted, every one that knows Madrass knows it to be a black, degenerate, wretched Race of the antient Portuguese, as proud and bigotted as their Ancestors, lazy, idle, and vitious withal, and for the most Part as weak and feeble in Body as base in Mind, not one in ten possessed of any of the necessary Requisites of a Soldier."—Ibid. App. p. 103.
1756.—"... in this plight, from half an hour after eleven till near two in the morning, I sustained the weight of a heavy man, with his knees on my back, and the pressure of his whole body on my head; a Dutch sergeant, who had taken his seat upon my left shoulder, and a Topaz bearing on my right."—Holwell's Narr. of the Black Hole, [ed. 1758, p. 19].
1758.—"There is a distinction said to be made by you ... which, in our opinion, does no way square with rules of justice and equity, and that is the exclusion of Portuguese topasses, and other Christian natives, from any share of the money granted by the Nawab."—Court's Letter, in Long, 133.