1727.—"The great Rains and Dews that fall from the Mountains of Gatti, which ly 25 or 30 leagues up in the Country."—A. Hamilton, i. 282; [ed. 1744, ii. 285].
1762.—"All the South part of India save the Mountains of Gate (a string of Hills in ye country) is level Land the Mould scarce so deep as in England.... As you make use of every expedient to drain the water from your tilled ground, so the Indians take care to keep it in theirs, and for this reason sow only in the level grounds."—MS. Letter of James Rennell, March 21.
1826.—"The mountains are nearly the same height ... with the average of Welsh mountains.... In one respect, and only one, the Ghâts have the advantage,—their precipices are higher, and the outlines of the hills consequently bolder."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 136.
GHEE, s. Boiled butter; the universal medium of cookery throughout India, supplying the place occupied by oil in Southern Europe, and more; [the samn of Arabia, the raughan of Persia]. The word is Hind. ghī, Skt. ghṛita. A short but explicit account of the mode of preparation will be found in the English Cyclopaedia (Arts and Sciences), s.v.; [and in fuller detail in Watt, Econ. Dict. iii. 491 seqq.].
c. 1590.—"Most of them (Akbar's elephants) get 5 s. (ers) of sugar, 4 s. of ghí, and half a man of rice mixed with chillies, cloves, &c."—Āīn-i-Akbarī, i. 130.
1673.—"They will drink milk, and boil'd butter, which they call Ghe."—Fryer, 33.
1783.—"In most of the prisons [of Hyder 'Ali] it was the custom to celebrate particular days, when the funds admitted, with the luxury of plantain fritters, a draught of sherbet, and a convivial song. On one occasion the old Scotch ballad, 'My wife has ta'en the gee,' was admirably sung, and loudly encored.... It was reported to the Kelledar (see [KILLADAR]) that the prisoners said and sung throughout the night of nothing but ghee.... The Kelledar, certain that discoveries had been made regarding his malversations in that article of garrison store, determined to conciliate their secrecy by causing an abundant supply of this unaccustomed luxury to be thenceforth placed within the reach of their farthing purchases."—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, ii. 154.
1785.—"The revenues of the city of Decca ... amount annually to two kherore (see [CRORE]), proceeding from the customs and duties levied on ghee."—Carraccioli, L. of Clive, i. 172.
1817.—"The great luxury of the Hindu is butter, prepared in a manner peculiar to himself, and called by him ghee."—Mill, Hist. i. 410.
GHILZAI, n.p. One of the most famous of the tribes of Afghanistan, and probably the strongest, occupying the high plateau north of Kandahar, and extending (roundly speaking) eastward to the Sulimānī mountains, and north to the Kābul River. They were supreme in Afghanistan at the beginning of the 18th century, and for a time possessed the throne of Ispahan. The following paragraph occurs in the article Afghanistan, in the 9th ed. of the Encyc. Britan., 1874 (i. 235), written by one of the authors of this book:—