1330.—"And here they burn the brazil-wood (verzino) for fuel...."—Fr. Odoric, in Cathay, &c., p. 77.
1552.—"... when it came to the 3d of May, and Pedralvares was about to set sail, in order to give a name to the land thus newly discovered, he ordered a very great Cross to be hoisted at the top of a tree, after mass had been said at the foot of the tree, and it had been set up with the solemn benediction of the priests, and then he gave the country the name of Sancta Cruz.... But as it was through the symbol of the Cross that the Devil lost his dominion over us ... as soon as the red wood called Brazil began to arrive from that country, he wrought that that name should abide in the mouth of the people, and that the name of Holy Cross should be lost, as if the name of a wood for colouring cloth were of more moment than that wood which imbues all the sacraments with the tincture of salvation, which is the Blood of Jesus Christ."—Barros, I. v. 2.
1554.—"The baar ([Bahar]) of Brazil contains 20 faraçolas (see [FRAZALA]), weighing it in a coir rope, and there is no picotaa (see [PICOTA])"—A. Nunes, 18.
1641.—"We went to see the Rasp-house where the lusty knaves are compelled to labour, and the rasping of Brazill and Logwood is very hard labour."—Evelyn's Diary, August [19].
BREECH-CANDY, n.p. A locality on the shore of Bombay Island to the north of Malabar Hill. The true name, as Dr. Murray Mitchell tells me, is believed to be Burj-khāḍī, 'the Tower of the Creek.'
BRIDGEMÁN, s. Anglo-Sepoy H. brijmān, denoting a military prisoner, of which word it is a quaint corruption.
BRINJARRY, s. Also BINJARREE, BUNJARREE, and so on. But the first form has become classical from its constant occurrence in the Indian Despatches of Sir A. Wellesley. The word is properly H. banjārā, and Wilson derives it from Skt. baṇij, 'trade,' kāra, 'doer.' It is possible that the form brinjārā may have been suggested by a supposed connection with the Pers. birinj, 'rice.' (It is alleged in the Dict. of Words used in the E. Indies, 2nd ed., 1805, to be derived from brinj, 'rice,' and ara, 'bring'!) The Brinjarries of the Deccan are dealers in grain and salt, who move about, in numerous parties with cattle, carrying their goods to different markets, and who in the days of the Deccan wars were the great resource of the commissariat, as they followed the armies with supplies for sale. They talk a kind of Mahratta or Hindi patois. Most classes of Banjārās in the west appear to have a tradition of having first come to the Deccan with Moghul camps as commissariat carriers. In a pamphlet called Some Account of the Bunjarrah Class, by N. R. Cumberlege, District Sup. of Police, Basein, Berar (Bombay, 1882; [North Indian N. & Q. iv. 163 seqq.]), the author attempts to distinguish between brinjarees as 'grain-carriers,' and bunjarrahs, from bunjār, 'waste land' (meaning banjar or bānjaṛ). But this seems fanciful. In the N.-W. Provinces the name is also in use, and is applied to a numerous tribe spread along the skirt of the Himālaya from Hardwār to Gorakhpur, some of whom are settled, whilst the rest move about with their cattle, sometimes transporting goods for hire, and sometimes carrying grain, salt, lime, forest produce, or other merchandise for sale. [See Crooke, Tribes and Castes, i. 149 seqq.] Vanjārās, as they are called about Bombay, used to come down from Rajputāna and Central India, with large droves of cattle, laden with grain, &c., taking back with them salt for the most part. These were not mere carriers, but the actual dealers, paying ready money, and they were orderly in conduct.
c. 1505.—"As scarcity was felt in his camp (Sultan Sikandar Lodi's) in consequence of the non-arrival of the Banjáras, he despatched 'Azam Humáyun for the purpose of bringing in supplies."—Ni'amat Ullah, in Elliot, v. 100 (written c. 1612).
1516.—"The Moors and Gentiles of the cities and towns throughout the country come to set up their shops and cloths at Cheul ... they bring these in great caravans of domestic oxen, with packs, like donkeys, and on the top of these long white sacks placed crosswise, in which they bring their goods; and one man drives 30 or 40 beasts before him."—Barbosa, 71.
1563.—"... This King of Dely took the Balagat from certain very powerful gentoos, whose tribe are those whom we now call Venezaras, and from others dwelling in the country, who are called Colles; and all these, Colles, and Venezaras, and Reisbutos, live by theft and robbery to this day."—Garcia De O., f. 34.