[1602.—"And the fishers on that coast gave him as tribute one day's oysters (hum dia de chipo), that is the result of one day's pearl fishing."—Couto, Dec. 7, Bk. VIII. ch. ii.]
1685.—"The chipe, for so they call those oysters which their boats are wont to fish."—Ribeiro, f. 63.
1710.—"Some of these oysters or chepîs, as the natives call them, produce pearls, but such are rare, the greater part producing only seed pearls (aljofres) [see [ALJOFAR]]."—Sousa, Oriente Conquist. ii. 243.
CHIRETTA, s. H. chirāītā, Mahr. kirāītā. A Himalayan herbaceous plant of the order Gentianaceae (Swertia Chirata, Ham.; Ophelia Chirata, Griesbach; Gentiana Chirayita, Roxb.; Agathetes chirayta, Don.), the dried twigs of which, infused, afford a pure bitter tonic and febrifuge. Its Skt. name kirāta-tikta, 'the bitter plant of the Kirātas,' refers its discovery to that people, an extensively-diffused forest tribe, east and north-east of Bengal, the Κιῤῥάδαι of the Periplus, and the people of the Κιῤῥάδια of Ptolemy. There is no indication of its having been known to G. de Orta.
[1773.—"Kol Meg in Bengal; Creat in Bombay.... It is excessively bitter, and given as a stomachic and vermifuge."—Ives, 471.]
1820.—"They also give a bitter decoction of the neem (Melia azadirachta) and chereeta."—Acc. of the Township of Luny, in Trans. Lit. Soc. of Bombay, ii. 232.
1874.—"Chiretta has long been held in esteem by the Hindus.... In England it began to attract some attention about 1829; and in 1839 was introduced into the Edinburgh Pharmacopœia. The plant was first described by Roxburgh in 1814."—Hanbury and Flückiger, 392.
CHIT, CHITTY, s. A letter or note; also a certificate given to a servant, or the like; a pass. H. chiṭṭhī; Mahr. chiṭṭī. [Skt. chitra, 'marked.'] The Indian Portuguese also use chito for escrito (Bluteau, Supplement). The Tamil people use shīt for a ticket, or for a playing-card.
1673.—"I sent one of our Guides, with his Master's Chitty, or Pass, to the Governnor, who received it kindly."—Fryer, 126.
[1757.—"If Mr. Ives is not too busie to honour this chitt which nothing but the greatest uneasiness could draw from me."—Ives, 134.]