1679.—In Fort St. Geo. Cons. of 29th January, the [Black Town] of Madras is called "the Gentue Town."—Notes and Exts., No. ii. 3.
1682.—"This morning a Gentoo sent by Bulchund, Governour of Hugly and Cassumbazar, made complaint to me that Mr. Charnock did shamefully—to ye great scandal of our Nation—keep a Gentoo woman of his kindred, which he has had these 19 years."—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 1.; [Hak. Soc. i. 52].
1683.—"The ceremony used by these Gentu's in their sicknesse is very strange; they bring ye sick person ... to ye brinke of ye River Ganges, on a Cott...."—Ibid. May 10; [Hak. Soc. i. 86].
In Stevens's Trans. of Faria y Sousa (1695) the Hindus are still called Gentiles. And it would seem that the English form Gentoo did not come into general use till late in the 17th century.
1767.—"In order to transact Business of any kind in this Countrey you must at least have a Smattering of the Language.... The original Language of this Countrey (or at least the earliest we know of) is the Bengala or Gentoo; this is commonly spoken in all parts of the Countrey. But the politest Language is the Moors or Mussulmans, and Persian."—MS. Letter of James Rennell.
1772.—"It is customary with the Gentoos, as soon as they have acquired a moderate fortune, to dig a pond."—Teignmouth, Mem. i. 36.
1774.—"When I landed (on Island of Bali) the natives, who are Gentoos, came on board in little canoes, with outriggers on each side."—Forrest, V. to N. Guinea, 169.
1776.—"A Code of Gentoo Laws or Ordinations of the Pundits. From a Persian Translation, made from the original written in the Shanskrit Language. London, Printed in the Year 1776."—(Title of Work by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed.)
1778.—"The peculiar patience of the Gentoos in Bengal, their affection to business, and the peculiar cheapness of all productions either of commerce or of necessity, had concurred to render the details of the revenue the most minute, voluminous, and complicated system of accounts which exist in the universe."—Orme, ii. 7 (Reprint).
1781.—"They (Syrian Christians of Travancore) acknowledged a Gentoo Sovereign, but they were governed even in temporal concerns by the bishop of Angamala."—Gibbon, ch. xlvii.