1623.—"And on the Place by the sea there was the Custom-house, which the Persians in their language call Benksal, a building of no great size, with some open outer porticoes."—P. della Valle, ii. 465.
1673.—"... Their Bank Solls, or Custom House Keys, where they land, are Two; but mean, and shut only with ordinary Gates at Night."—Fryer, 27.
1683.—"I came ashore in Capt. Goyer's Pinnace to ye Bankshall, about 7 miles from Ballasore."—Hedges, Diary, Feb. 2; [Hak. Soc. i. 65].
1687.—"The Mayor and Aldermen, etc., do humbly request the Honourable President and Council would please to grant and assign over to the Corporation the petty dues of Banksall Tolls."—In Wheeler, i. 207.
1727.—"Above it is the Dutch Bankshall, a Place where their Ships ride when they cannot get further up for the too swift Currents."—A. Hamilton, ii. 6.
1789.—"And that no one may plead ignorance of this order, it is hereby directed that it be placed constantly in view at the Bankshall in the English and country languages."—Procl. against Slave-Trading in Seton-Karr, ii. 5.
1878.—"The term 'Banksoll' has always been a puzzle to the English in India. It is borrowed from the Dutch. The 'Soll' is the Dutch or Danish 'Zoll,' the English 'Toll.' The Banksoll was then the place on the 'bank' where all tolls or duties were levied on landing goods."—Talboys Wheeler, Early Records of B. India, 196. (Quite erroneous, as already said; and Zoll is not Dutch.)
BANTAM, n.p. The province which forms the western extremity of Java, properly Bāntan. [Mr Skeat gives Bantan, Crawfurd, Bantân.] It formed an independent kingdom at the beginning of the 17th century, and then produced much pepper (no longer grown), which caused it to be greatly frequented by European traders. An English factory was established here in 1603, and continued till 1682, when the Dutch succeeded in expelling us as interlopers.
[1615.—"They were all valued in my invoice at Bantan."—Foster, Letters, iv. 93.]
1727.—"The only Product of Bantam is Pepper, wherein it abounds so much, that they can export 10,000 Tuns per annum."—A. Hamilton, ii. 127.