1829.—"In my English buggy, with lamps lighted and an English sort of a nag, I might almost have fancied myself in England, but for the black horse-keeper alongside of me."—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 87.
1837.—"Even my horse pretends he is too fine to switch off his own flies with his own long tail, but turns his head round to order the horsekeeper ... to wipe them off for him."—Letters from Madras, 50.
HORSE-RADISH TREE, s. This is a common name, in both N. and S. India, for the tree called in Hind. sahajnā; Moringa pterygosperma, Gaertn., Hyperanthera Moringa, Vahl. (N. O. Moringaceae), in Skt. sobhānjana. Sir G. Birdwood says: "A marvellous tree botanically, as no one knows in what order to put it; it has links with so many; and it is evidently a 'head-centre' in the progressive development of forms." The name is given because the scraped root is used in place of horse-radish, which it closely resembles in flavour. In S. India the same plant is called the [Drumstick-tree] (q.v.), from the shape of the long slender fruit, which is used as a vegetable, or in curry, or made into a native pickle "most nauseous to Europeans" (Punjab Plants). It is a native of N.W. India, and also extensively cultivated in India and other tropical countries, and is used also for many purposes in the native pharmacopœia. [See [MYROBALAN].]
HOSBOLHOOKUM, &c. Properly (Ar. used in Hind.) ḥasb-ul-ḥukm, literally 'according to order'; these words forming the initial formula of a document issued by officers of State on royal authority, and thence applied as the title of such a document.
[1678.—"Had it bin another King, as Shajehawn, whose phirmaund (see [FIRMAUN]) and hasbullhookims were of such great force and binding."—In Yule, Hedges' Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. xlvi.]
" "... the other given in the 10th year of Oranzeeb, for the English to pay 2 per cent. at Surat, which the Mogul interpreted by his order, and Husbull Hookum (id est, a word of command by word of mouth) to his Devan in Bengall, that the English were to pay 2 per cent. custom at Surat, and in all other his dominions to be custom free."—Ft. St. Geo. Consns., 17th Dec., in Notes and Exts., Pt. I. pp. 97-98.
1702.—"The Nabob told me that the great God knows that he had ever a hearty respect for the English ... saying, here is the Hosbulhocum, which the king has sent me to seize Factories and all their effects."—In Wheeler, i. 387.
1727.—"The Phirmaund is presented (by the Goosberdaar ([Goorzburdar]), or Hosbalhouckain, or, in English, the King's Messenger) and the Governor of the Province or City makes a short speech."—A. Hamilton, i. 230; [ed. 1744, i. 233].
1757.—"This Treaty was conceived in the following Terms. I. Whatever Rights and Privileges the King had granted the English Company, in their Phirmaund, and the Hushulhoorums (sic), sent from Delly, shall not be disputed."—Mem. of the Revolution in Bengal, pp. 21-22.
1759.—"Housbul-hookum (under the great seal of the Nabob Vizier, Ulmah Maleck, Nizam al Mulack Bahadour). Be peace unto the high and renowned Mr. John Spencer ..."—In Cambridge's Acct. of the War, &c., 229.