Chapter CAPELAN to CARAT of C by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

CAPELAN to CARAT

CAPELAN, n.p. This is a name which was given by several 16th-century travellers to the mountains in Burma from which the rubies purchased at Pegu were said to come ; the idea of their distance, &c., being very vague. It is not in our power to say what name was intended. [It was perhaps Kyat-pyen.] The real position of the ‘ruby-mines’ is 60 or 70 m. N.E. of Mandalay. [See Ball’s Tavernier, ii. 99, 465 seqq.]

1506.—“…e qui è uno porto appresso uno loco che si chiama Acaplen, dove li se trova molti rubini, e spinade, e zoie d’ogni sorte.”—Leonardo di Ca’ Masser, p. 28.

1510.—“The sole merchandise of these people is jewels, that is, rubies, which come from another city called Capellan, which is distant from this (Pegu) 30 days’ journey.” —Varthema, 218.

1516.—“Further inland than the said Kingdom of Ava, at five days journey to the south-east, is another city of Gentiles… called Capelan, and all round are likewise found many and excellent rubies, which they bring to sell at the city and fair of Ava, and which are better than those of Ava.”—Barbosa, 187.

c. 1535.—“This region of Arquam borders on the interior with the great mountain called Capelangam, where are many places inhabited by a not very civilised people. These carry musk and rubies to the great city of Ava, which is the capital of the Kingdom of Arquam.…”—Sommario de Regni, in Ramusio, i. 334r.

c. 1660.—“…A mountain 12 days journey or thereabouts, from Siren towards the North-east: the name whereof is Capelan. In this mine are found great quantities of Rubies.”—Tacernier (E. T.) ii. 143 ; [ed. Ball, ii. 99].

Phillip’s Mineralogy (according to Col. Burney) mentions the locality of the ruby as “the Capelan mountains, sixty miles from Pegue, a city in Ceylon !”—J. As. Soc. Bengal, ii. 75). This writer is certainly very loose in his geography and Dana (ed. 1850) is not much better: “The best ruby sapphires occur in the Capelan mountains, near Syrian, a city of Pegu.”—Mineralogy, p. 222.

CAPUCAT, n.p. The name of a place on the sea near Calicut, mentioned by several old authors, but which has now disappeared from the maps, and probably no longer exists. The proper name is uncertain. [It is the little port of Kappatt or Kappattangadi (Mal. kaval, ‘guard,’ patu, ‘place,’) in the Cooroombranaud Taluka of the Malabar District. (Logan, Man. of Malabar, i. 73). The Madras Gloss. calls it Caupaud. Also see Gray, Pyrard, i. 360.]

1498.—In the Roteiro it is called Capua.

1500.—“This being done the Captain-Major (Pedralvares Cabral) made sail with the fore-sail and mizen, and went to the port of Capocate which was attached to the same city of Calecut, and was a haven where there was a great loading of vessels, and where many ships were moored that were all engaged in the trade of Calicut.…”—Correa, i. 207.

1510.—“…another place called Capogatto, which is also subject to the King of Calecut. This place has a very beautiful palace, built in the ancient style.”—Varthema, 133-134.

1516.—“Further on…is another town, at which there is a small river, which is called Capucad, where there are many country-born Moors, and much shipping.”—Barbosa, 152.

1562.—“And they seized a great number of grabs and vessels belonging to the people of Kabkad, and the new port, and Calicut, and Funan [i.e. Ponany], these all being subject to the Zamorin.”—Tohfat- ul-Muja-hideen, tr. by Rowlandson, p. 157. The want of editing in this last book is deplorable.

CARACOA, CARACOLLE, KARKOLLEN, &c., s. Malay kura-kura or kura-kura, which is [either a transferred use of the Malay kuraz-kura, or ku-kura, ‘a tortoise,’ alluding, one would suppose, either to the shape or pace of the boat, but perhaps the tortoise was named from the boat, or the two words are independent ; or from the Ar. kurkur, pl. karakir, ‘a large merchant vessel.’ Scott (s.v. Coracora), says : “In the absence of proof to the contrary, we may assume kora-kura to be native Malayan.”] Dozy (s.v. Carraca) says that the Ar. kura-kura was, among the Arabs, a merchant vessel, sometimes of very great size. Crawfurd describes the Malay kura-kura, as ‘a large kind of sailing vessel’; but the quotation from Jarric shows it to have been the Malay galley. Marre (Kata-Kata Malayou, 87) says : “The Malay kora-kora is a great row-boat ; still in use in the Moluccas. Many measure 100 feet long and 10 wide. Some have as many as 90 rowers.”

c. 1330.—“We embarked on the sea at Ladhikiya in a big kurkura belonging to Genoese people, the master of which was called Martalamin.”—Ibn Batuta, ii. 254.

1349.—“I took the sea on a small kurkura belonging to a Tunisian.”—Ibid. iv. 327.

1606.—“The foremost of these galleys or Caracolles recovered