1796.—"The artists of Ceylon prepare rings and heads of canes, which contain a complete assortment of all the precious stones found in that island. These assemblages are called Jargons de Ceilan, and are so called because they consist of a collection of gems which reflect various colours."—Fra Paolino, Eng. ed. 1800, 393. (This is a very loose translation. Fra Paolino evidently thought Jargon was a figurative name applied to this mixture of stones, as it is to a mixture of languages).
1813.—"The colour of Jargons is grey, with tinges of green, blue, red, and yellow."—I. Mawe, A Treatise on Diamonds, &c. 119.
1860.—"The 'Matura Diamonds,' which are largely used by the native jewellers, consist of zircon, found in the syenite, not only uncoloured, but also of pink and yellow tints, the former passing for rubies."—Tennent's Ceylon, i. 38.
JAROOL, s. The Lagerstroemia reginae, Roxb. H.-Beng. jarūl, jāral. A tree very extensively diffused in the forests of Eastern and Western India and Pegu. It furnishes excellent boat-timber, and is a splendid flowering tree. "An exceeding glorious tree of the Concan jungles, in the month of May robed as in imperial purple, with its terminal panicles of large showy purple flowers. I for the first time introduced it largely into Bombay gardens, and called it Flos reginae"—Sir G. Birdwood, MS.
1850.—"Their forests are frequented by timber-cutters, who fell jarool, a magnificent tree with red wood, which, though soft, is durable under water, and therefore in universal use for boat building."—Hooker, Him. Journals, ed. 1855, ii. 318.
1855.—"Much of the way from Rangoon also, by the creeks, to the great river, was through actual dense forest, in which the jarool, covered with purple blossoms, made a noble figure."—Blackwood's Mag., May 1856, 538.
JASK, JASQUES, CAPE-, n.p. Ar. Rās Jāshak, a point on the eastern side of the Gulf of Omān, near the entrance to the Persian Gulf, and 6 miles south of a port of the same name. The latter was frequented by the vessels of the English Company whilst the Portuguese held Ormus. After the Portuguese were driven out of Ormus (1622) the English trade was moved to [Gombroon] (q.v.). The peninsula of which Cape Jask is the point, is now the terminus of the submarine cable from Bushire; and a company of native infantry is quartered there. Jāsak appears in Yāḳūt as "a large island between the land of Omān and the Island of Kish." No island corresponds to this description, and probably the reference is an incorrect one to Jask (see Dict. de la Perse, p. 149). By a curious misapprehension, Cape Jasques seems to have been Englished as Cape James (see Dunn's Or. Navigator, 1780, p. 94).
1553.—"Crossing from this Cape Moçandan to that opposite to it called Jasque, which with it forms the mouth of the strait, we enter on the second section (of the coast) according to our division...."—Barros, I. ix. i.
1572.—
"Mas deixemos o estreito, e o conhecido