1780.—"Adjoining the glacis of Fort St. George, to the northward, is a large town commonly called the Black Town, and which is fortified sufficiently to prevent any surprise by a body of horse."—Hodges, p. 6.
1780.—"... Cadets upon their arrival in the country, many of whom ... are obliged to take up their residence in dirty punch-houses in the Black Town...."—Munro's Narrative, 22.
1782.—"When Mr. Hastings came to the government he added some new regulations ... divided the black and white town (Calcutta) into 35 wards, and purchased the consent of the natives to go a little further off."—Price, Some Observations, &c., p. 60. In Tracts, vol. i.
[1813.—"The large bazar, or the street in the Black Town, (Bombay) ... contained many good Asiatic houses."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., i. 96. Also see quotation (1809) under [BOMBAY].]
1827.—"Hartley hastened from the Black Town, more satisfied than before that some deceit was about to be practised towards Menie Gray."—Walter Scott, The Surgeon's Daughter, ch. xi.
BLACK WOOD. The popular name for what is in England termed 'rose-wood'; produced chiefly by several species of Dalbergia, and from which the celebrated carved furniture of Bombay is made. [The same name is applied to the Chinese ebony used in carving (Ball, Things Chinese, 3rd ed., 107).] (See [SISSOO].)
[1615.—"Her lading is Black Wood, I think ebony."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 35.
[1813.—"Black wood furniture becomes like heated metal."—Forbes, Or. Mem., 2nd ed., i. 106.]
1879.—(In Babylonia). "In a mound to the south of the mass of city ruins called Jumjuma, Mr. Rassam discovered the remains of a rich hall or palace ... the cornices were of painted brick, and the roof of rich Indian blackwood."—Athenaeum, July 5, 22.
BLANKS, s. The word is used for 'whites' or 'Europeans' (Port. branco) in the following, but we know not if anywhere else in English: