1673.—"The Droger being Master of his Science, persists; what comfort can I reap from your Disturbance?"—Fryer, 389.
1682.—"I received a letter from Mr. Hill at Rajemaul advising ye Droga of ye Mint would not obey a Copy, but required at least a sight of ye Originall."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 14; [Hak. Soc. i. 57].
c. 1781.—"About this time, however, one day being very angry, the Darogha, or master of the mint, presented himself, and asked the Nawaub what device he would have struck on his new copper coinage. Hydur, in a violent passion, told him to stamp an obscene figure on it."—Hydur Naik, tr. by Miles, 488.
1812.—"Each division is guarded by a Darogha, with an establishment of armed men."—Fifth Report, 44.
DATCHIN, s. This word is used in old books of Travel and Trade for a steelyard employed in China and the Archipelago. It is given by Leyden as a Malay word for 'balance,' in his Comp. Vocab. of Barma, Malay and Thai, Serampore, 1810. It is also given by Crawfurd as ḍachin, a Malay word from the Javanese. There seems to be no doubt that in Peking dialect ch'eng is 'to weigh,' and also 'steelyard'; that in Amoy a small steelyard is called ch'in; and that in Canton dialect the steelyard is called t'okch'ing. Some of the Dictionaries also give ta 'chêng, 'large steelyard.' Datchin or dotchin may therefore possibly be a Chinese term; but considering how seldom traders' words are really Chinese, and how easily the Chinese monosyllables lend themselves to plausible combinations, it remains probable that the Canton word was adopted from foreigners. It has sometimes occurred to us that it might have been adopted from Achin (d'Achin); see the first quotation. [The N.E.D., following Prof. Giles, gives it as a corruption of the Cantonese name toh-ch'ing (in Court dialect to-ch'êng) from toh 'to measure,' ch'ing, 'to weigh.' Mr. Skeat notes: "The standard Malay is daching, the Javanese dachin (v. Klinkert, s.v.). He gives the word as of Chinese origin, and the probability is that the English word is from the Malay, which in its turn was borrowed from the Chinese. The final suggestion, d'Achin, seems out of the question.] Favre's Malay Dict. gives (in French) "daxing (Ch. pa-tchen), steelyard, balance," also "ber-daxing, to weigh," and Javan. "daxin, a weight of 100 kātis." Gericke's Javan. Dict. also gives "datsin-Picol," with a reference to Chinese. [With reference to Crawfurd's statement quoted above, Mr. Pringle (Diary, Ft. St. George, 1st ser. iv. 179) notes that Crawfurd had elsewhere adopted the view that the yard and the designation of it originated in China and passed from thence to the Archipelago (Malay Archip. i. 275). On the whole, the Chinese origin seems most probable.]
1554.—At Malacca. "The baar of the great Dachem contains 200 cates, each cate weighing two arratels, 4 ounces, 5 eighths, 15 grains, 3 tenths.... The Baar of the little Dachem contains 200 cates; each cate weighing two arratels."—A. Nunes, 39.
[1684-5.—"... he replyed That he was now Content yt ye Honble Company should solely enjoy ye Customes of ye Place on condition yt ye People of ye Place be free from all dutys & Customes and yt ye Profitt of ye Dutchin be his...."—Pringle, Diary, Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iv. 12.]
1696.—"For their Dotchin and Ballance they use that of Japan."—Bowyear's Journal at Cochin-China, in Dalrymple, O. R. i. 88.
1711.—"Never weigh your Silver by their Dotchins, for they have usually two Pair, one to receive, the other to pay by."—Lockyer, 113.
" "In the Dotchin, an expert Weigher will cheat two or three per cent. by placing or shaking the Weight, and minding the Motion of the Pole only."—Ibid. 115.