1810.—"Ladies are usually conveyed about Calcutta ... in a kind of palanquin called a bochah ... being a compound of our sedan chair with the body of a chariot.... I should have observed that most of the gentlemen residing at Calcutta ride in bochahs."—Williamson, V. M. i. 322.
BOGUE, n.p. This name is applied by seamen to the narrows at the mouth of the Canton River, and is a corruption of Boca. (See [BOCCA TIGRIS].)
BOLIAH, BAULEAH, s. Beng. bāūlīa. A kind of light accommodation boat with a cabin, in use on the Bengal rivers. We do not find the word in any of the dictionaries. Ives, in the middle of the 18th century, describes it as a boat very long, but so narrow that only one man could sit in the breadth, though it carried a multitude of rowers. This is not the character of the boat so called now. [Buchanan Hamilton, writing about 1820, says: "The bhauliya is intended for the same purpose, [conveyance of passengers], and is about the same size as the Pansi (see [PAUNCHWAY]). It is sharp at both ends, rises at the ends less than the Pansi, and its tilt is placed in the middle, the rowers standing both before and behind the place of accommodation of passengers. On the Kosi, the Bhauliya is a large fishing-boat, carrying six or seven men." (Eastern India, iii. 345.) Grant (Rural Life, p. 5) gives a drawing and description of the modern boat.]
1757.—"To get two bolias, a Goordore, and 87 dandies from the Nazir."—Ives, 157.
1810.—"On one side the picturesque boats of the natives, with their floating huts; on the other the bolios and pleasure-boats of the English."—Maria Graham, 142.
1811.—"The extreme lightness of its construction gave it incredible ... speed. An example is cited of a Governor General who in his Bawaleea performed in 8 days the voyage from Lucknow to Calcutta, a distance of 400 marine leagues."—Solvyns, iii. The drawing represents a very light skiff, with only a small kiosque at the stern.
1824.—"We found two Bholiahs, or large row-boats, with convenient cabins...."—Heber, i. 26.
1834.—"Rivers's attention had been attracted by seeing a large beauliah in the act of swinging to the tide."—The Baboo, i. 14.
BOLTA, s. A turn of a rope; sea H. from Port. volta (Roebuck).
BOMBASA, n.p. The Island of Mombasa, off the E. African Coast, is so called in some old works. Bombāsī is used in Persia for a negro slave; see quotation.