Thus also in "pidgin," Joss-house-man or Joss-pidgin-man is a priest, or a missionary.
JOSTICK, JOSS-STICK, s. A stick of fragrant tinder (powdered costus, sandalwood, &c.) used by the Chinese as incense in their temples, and formerly exported for use as cigar-lights. The name appears to be from the temple use. (See [PUTCHOCK].)
1876.—"Burnee joss-stick, talkee plitty."—Leland, Pidgin-English Sing-Song, p. 43.
1879.—"There is a recess outside each shop, and at dusk the joss-sticks burning in these fill the city with the fragrance of incense."—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 49.
JOW, s. Hind. jhāū. The name is applied to various species of the shrubby tamarisk which abound on the low alluvials of Indian rivers, and are useful in many ways, for rough basket-making and the like. It is the usual material for gabions and fascines in Indian siege-operations.
[c. 1809.—"... by the natives it is called jhau; but this name is generic, and is applied not only to another species of Tamarisk, but to the Casuarina of Bengal, and to the cone-bearing plants that have been introduced by Europeans."—Buchanan-Hamilton, Eastern India, iii. 597.
[1840.—"... on the opposite Jhow, or bastard tamarisk jungle ... a native ... had been attacked by a tiger...."—Davidson, Travels, ii. 326.]
JOWAULLA MOOKHEE, n.p. Skt.—Hind. Jwālā-mukhī, 'flame-mouthed'; a generic name for quasi-volcanic phenomena, but particularly applied to a place in the Kangra district of the Punjab mountain country, near the Biās River, where jets of gas issue from the ground and are kept constantly burning. There is a shrine of Devī, and it is a place of pilgrimage famous all over the Himālaya as well as in the plains of India. The famous fire-jets at Baku are sometimes visited by more adventurous Indian pilgrims, and known as the Great Jwālā-mukhī. The author of the following passage was evidently ignorant of the phenomenon worshipped, though the name indicates its nature.
c. 1360.—"Sultán Fíroz ... marched with his army towards Nagarkot (see [NUGGURCOTE]) ... the idol Jwálá-mukhí, much worshipped by the infidels, was situated on the road to Nagarkot.... Some of the infidels have reported that Sultán Fíroz went specially to see this idol, and held a golden umbrella over its head. But ... the infidels slandered the Sultán.... Other infidels said that Sultán Muhammad Sháh bin Tughlik Sháh held an umbrella over this same idol, but this also is a lie...."—Shams-i-Siráj Afíf, in Elliot, iii. 318.
1616.—"... a place called Ialla mokee, where out of cold Springs and hard Rocks, there are daily to be seene incessant Eruptions of Fire, before which the Idolatrous people fall doune and worship."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1467.