Chapter CALAY to CALEEFA of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

CALAY to CALEEFA

CALAY, s. Tin; also v., to tin copper vessels—H. kala’i karna. The word is Ar. kala’i, ‘tin,’ which according to certain Arabic writers was so called from a mine in India called kala’. In spite of the different initial and terminal letters, it seems at least possible that the place meant was the same that the old Arab geographers called Kalah, near which they place mines of tin (al-kala’i), and which was certainly somewhere about the coast of Malacca, possibly, as has been suggested, at Kadah¹ or as we write it, Quedda. [See Ain, tr. Jarrett, iii 48.]

The tin produce of that region is well known. Kalang is indeed also a name of tin in Malay, which may have been the true origin of the word before us. It may be added that the small State of Salangor between Malacca and Perak was formerly known as Nagri-Kalang, or the ‘Tin Country,’ and that the place on the coast where the British Resident lives is called Klang (see Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 210, 215). The Portuguese have the forms calaim and calin, with the nasal termination so frequent in their Eastern borrowings. Bluteau explains calaim as ‘Tin of India, finer than ours.’ The old writers seem to have hesitated about the identity with tin, and the word is confounded in one quotation below with Tootnague (q.v.). The French use calin. In the P. version of the Book of Numbers (ch. xxxi. v. 22) kala’i is used for ‘tin.’ See on this word Quatremère in the Journal des Savans, Dec. 1846.

c. 920.—“Kalah is the focus of the trade in aloeswood, in camphor, in sandalwood, in ivory, in the lead which is called al-Kala’i.” —Relation des Voyages, &c., i. 94.

c. 1154.—“Thence to the Isles of Lankialius is reckoned two days, and from the latter to the Island of Kalah 5.… There is in this last island an abundant mine of tin (al-Kala’i). The metal is very pure and brilliant.”—Edrisi, by Jaubert, i. 80.

1552.—“—Tin, which the people of the country call Calem.”—Castanhedu, iii. 213. It is mentioned as a staple of Malacca in ii. 186.

1606.—“That all the chalices which were neither of gold, nor silver, nor of tin, nor of calaim, should be broken up and destroyed.” —Gouvea, Synodo, f. 29b.

1610.—“They carry (to Hormuz) … clove, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, ginger, mace, nutmeg, sugar, calayn, or tin.”— Relaciones de P. Teixeira, 382.

c. 1610.—“… money … not only of gold and silver, but also of another metal, which is called calin, which is white like tin, but harder, purer, and finer, and which is much used in the Indies.”—Pyrard de Laval (1679) i. 164; [Hak. Soc. i. 234, with Gray’s note].

1613.—“And he also reconnoitred all the sites of mines, of gold, silver, mercury, tin or calem, and iron and other metals …” —Godinho de Eredia, f. 58.

[1644.—“Callaym.” See quotation under TOOTNAGUE.]

1646.—“… il y a (i.e. in Siam) plusieurs minieres de calain, qui est vn metal metoyen, entre le plomb et l’estain.”—Cardim, Rel. de la Prov. de Japon, 163.

1726.—“The goods exported hither (from Pegu) are … Kalin (a metal coming very near silver) …”—Valentijn, v. 128.

1770.—“They send only one vessel (viz. the Dutch to Siam) which transports Javanese horses, and is freighted with sugar, spices, and linen; for which they receive in return calin, at 70 livres 100 weight.”— Raynal (tr. 1777), i. 208.

1780.—“… the port of Quedah; there is a trade for calin or tutenague … to export to different parts of the Indies.”— In Dunn, N. Directory, 338.

1794-5.—In the Travels to China of the younger Deguignes, Calin is mentioned as a kind of tin imported into China from Batavia and Malacca.—iii. 367.

CALCUTTA, n.p. B. Kalikata, or Kalikatta, a name of uncertain etymology. The first mention that we are aware of occurs in the Ain-i-Akbari. It is well to note that in some early charts, such as that in Valentijn, and the oldest in the English Pilot, though Calcutta is not entered, there is a place on the Hoogly Calcula, or Calcuta, which leads to mistake. It is far below, near the modern Fulta. [With reference to the quotations below from Luillier and Sonnerat, Sir H. Yule writes (Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. xcvi.): “In Orme’s Historical Fragments, Job Charnock is described as ‘Governo r of the Factory at Golgot near Hughley.’ This name Golgot and the corresponding Golghat in an extract from Muhabbat Khan indicate the name of the particular locality where the English Factory at Hugli was situated. And some confusion of this name with that of Calcutta may have led to the curious error of the Frenchman Luiller and Sonnerat, the former of whom calls Calcutta Golgouthe, while the latter says: ‘Les Anglais prononcent et ecrivent Golgota.’ ”]

c. 1590.—“Kalikata wa Bakoya wa Barbakpur, 3 Mahal.”—Ain. (orig.) i. 408; [tr. Jarrett, ii. 141].

[1688.—“Soe myself accompanyed with Capt. Haddock and the 120 soldiers we carryed from hence embarked, and about the 20th September arrived at Calcutta.” —Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lxxix.]

1698.—“This avaricious disposition the English plied with presents, which in 1698 obtained his permission to purchase from the Zemindar … the towns of Sootanutty, Calcutta, and Goomopore, with their districts extending