CAKSEN, s. This is Sea H. for Coxswain (Roebuck).
CALALUZ, s. A kind of swift rowing vessel often mentioned by the Portuguese writers as used in the Indian Archipelago. We do not know the etymology, nor the exact character of the craft. [According to Mr. Skeat, the word is Jav. kelulus, kalulus, spelt keloeles by Klinkert, and explained by him as a kind of vessel. The word seems to be derived from loeloes, 'to go right through anything,' and thus the literal translation would be 'the threader,' the reference being, as in the case of most Malay boat names, to the special figure-head from which the boat was supposed to derive its whole character.]
[1513.—Calauz, according to Mr. Whiteway, is the form of the word in Andrade's Letter to Albuquerque of Feb. 22nd.—India Office MS.]
1525.—"4 great lancharas, and 6 calaluzes and manchuas which row very fast."—Lembrança, 8.
1539.—"The King (of Achin) set forward with the greatest possible despatch, a great armament of 200 rowing vessels, of which the greater part were lancharas, joangas, and calaluzes, besides 15 high-sided junks."—F. M. Pinto, cap. xxxii.
1552.—"The King of Siam ... ordered to be built a fleet of some 200 sail, almost all lancharas and calaluzes, which are rowing-vessels."—Barros, II. vi. 1.
1613.—"And having embarked with some companions in a caleluz or rowing vessel...."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 51.
CALAMANDER WOOD, s. A beautiful kind of rose-wood got from a Ceylon tree (Diospyros quaesita). Tennent regards the name as a Dutch corruption of Coromandel wood (i. 118), and Drury, we see, calls one of the ebony-trees (D. melanoxylon) "Coromandel-ebony." Forbes Watson gives as Singhalese names of the wood Calumidiriya, Kalumederiye, &c., and the term Kalumadīriya is given with this meaning in Clough's Singh. Dict.; still in absence of further information, it may remain doubtful if this be not a borrowed word. It may be worth while to observe that, according to Tavernier, [ed. Ball, ii. 4] the "painted calicoes" or "chites" of Masulipatam were called "Calmendar, that is to say, done with a pencil" (Ḳalam-dār?), and possibly this appellation may have been given by traders to a delicately veined wood. [The N.E.D. suggests that the Singh. terms quoted above may be adaptations from the Dutch.]
1777.—"In the Cingalese language Calaminder is said to signify a black flaming tree. The heart, or woody part of it, is extremely handsome, with whitish or pale yellow and black or brown veins, streaks and waves."—Thunberg, iv. 205-6.
1813.—"Calaminder wood" appears among Ceylon products in Milburn, i. 345.