[GOOMTEE, n.p. A river of the N.W.P., rising in the Shāhjahānpur District, and flowing past the cities of Lucknow and Jaunpur, and joining the Ganges between Benares and Ghāzipur. The popular derivation of the name, as in the quotation, is, as if Ghūmtī, from H. ghūmnā, 'to wind,' in allusion to its winding course. It is really from Skt. gomati, 'rich in cattle.'
[1848.—"The Ghumti, which takes its name from its windings...."—Buyers, Recoll. of N. India, 240.]
GOONT, s. H. gūnṭh, gūṭh. A kind of pony of the N. Himālayas, strong but clumsy.
c. 1590.—"In the northern mountainous districts of Hindustan a kind of small but strong horses is bred, which is called guṭ; and in the confines of Bengal, near Kúch, another kind of horses occurs, which rank between the guṭ and Turkish horses, and are called tánghan (see [TANGUN]); they are strong and powerful."—Āīn, i. 183; [also see ii. 280].
1609.—"On the further side of Ganges lyeth a very mighty Prince, called Raiaw Rodorow, holding a mountainous Countrey ... thence commeth much Muske, and heere is a great breed of a small kind of Horse, called Gunts, a true travelling scale-cliffe beast."—W. Finch, in Purchas, i. 438.
1831.—"In Cashmere I shall buy, without regard to price, the best ghounte in Tibet."—Jacquemont's Letters, E.T. i. 238.
1838.—"Give your gūnth his head and he will carry you safely ... any horse would have struggled, and been killed; these gūnths appear to understand that they must be quiet, and their master will help them."—Fanny Parkes, Wanderings of a Pilgrim, ii. 226.
GOORKA, GOORKALLY, n.p. H. Gurkhā, Gurkhālī. The name of the race now dominant in Nepāl, and taking their name from a town so called 53 miles W. of Khatmandu. [The name is usually derived from the Skt. go-raksha, 'cow-keeper.' For the early history see Wright, H. of Nepāl, 147]. They are probably the best soldiers of modern India, and several regiments of the Anglo-Indian army are recruited from the tribe.
1767.—"I believe, Sir, you have before been acquainted with the situation of Nipal, which has long been besieged by the Goorcully Rajah."—Letter from Chief at Patna, in Long, 526.
[ " "The Rajah being now dispossessed of his country, and shut up in his capital by the Rajah of Goercullah, the usual channel of commerce has been obstructed."—Letter from Council to E.I. Co., in Verelst, View of Bengal, App. 36.]