1686.—"... And that if the Chetty Bazaar people do not immediately open their shops, and sell their grain, etc., as usually, that the goods and commodities in their several ships be confiscated."—In Wheeler, i. 152.
1726.—"The Sittis are merchant folk and also porters...."—Valentijn, Choro. 88.
" "The strength of a Bramin is Knowledge; the strength of a King is Courage; the strength of a Bellale (or Cultivator) is Revenue; the strength of a Chetti is Money."—Apophthegms of Ceylon, tr. in Valentijn, v. 390.
c. 1754.—"Chitties are a particular kind of merchants in Madras, and are generally very rich, but rank with the left-hand cast."—Ives, 25.
1796.—"Cetti, mercanti astuti, diligenti, laboriosi, sobrii, frugali, ricchi."—Fra Paolino, 79.
[CHEYLA, s. "Originally a H. word (chelā, Skt. cheṭaka, cheḍaka) meaning 'a servant,' many changes have been rung upon it in Hindu life, so that it has meant a slave, a household slave, a family retainer, an adopted member of a great family, a dependant relative and a soldier in its secular senses; a follower, a pupil, a disciple and a convert in its ecclesiastical senses. It has passed out of Hindu usage into Muhammadan usage with much the same meanings and ideas attached to it, and has even meant a convert from Hinduism to Islam." (Col. Temple, in Ind. Ant., July, 1896, pp. 200 seqq.). In Anglo-Indian usage it came to mean a special battalion made up of prisoners and converts.
[c. 1596.—"The Chelahs or Slaves. His Majesty from religious motives dislikes the name bandah or slave.... He therefore calls this class of men Chelahs, which Hindi term signifies a faithful disciple."—Āīn, Blochmann, i. 253 seqq.
[1791.—"(The Europeans) all were bound on the parade and rings (boly) the badge of slavery were put into their ears. They were then incorporated into a battalion of Cheylas."—In Seton-Karr, ii. 311.
[1795.—"... a Havildar ... compelled to serve in one of his Chela Corps."—Ibid. ii. 407.]
CHIAMAY, n.p. The name of an imaginary lake, which in the maps of the 16th century, followed by most of those of the 17th, is made the source of most of the great rivers of Further India, including the Brahmaputra, the Irawadi, the Salwen, and the Menam. Lake Chiamay was the counterpart of the African lake of the same period which is made the source of all the great rivers of Africa, but it is less easy to suggest what gave rise to this idea of it. The actual name seems taken from the State of Zimmé (see [JANGOMAY]) or Chiang-mai.