Chapter GUICOWAR to GUM-GUM of G by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

GUICOWAR to GUM-GUM

GUICOWAR, n.p. Gaekwar, the ti tle of the Mahratta kings of Guzerat, descended from Damaji and Pilaji Gaekwar, who rose to distinction among Mahratta warriors in the second quarter of the 18th century. The word means ‘Cowherd.’

[1813.—“These princes were all styled Guickwar, in addition to their family name…the word literally means a cow-keeper, which, although a low employment in general, has, in this noble family among the Hindoos, who venerate that animal, become a title of great importance.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. i. 375.]

GUINEA-CLOTHS, GUINEA-STUFFS, s. Apparently these were piece-goods bought in India to be used in the West African trade. [On the other hand, Sir G. Birdwood identifies them with gunny (Report on old Recs., 224). The manufacture still goes on at Pondicherry.] These are presumably the Negros- tücher of Baldaeus (1672), p. 154. [1675.—“Guinea-stuffs,” in Birdwood, ut supra.]

1726.—We find in a list of cloths purchased by the Dutch Factory at Porto Novo, Guinees Lywaat, and Negros-Kleederen (‘Guinea linens and Negro’s clothing’).—See Valentijn, Chorom. 9.

1813.—“The demand for Surat piece- goods has been much decreased in Europe…and from the abolition of the slave trade, the demand for the African market has been much reduced…Guinea stuffs, 4½ yards each (per ton) 1200 (pieces).”—Milburn, i. 289.

[1878.—“The chief trades of Pondicherry are, spinning, weaving and dyeing the cotton stuffs known by the name of Guinees.”—Garstin, Man. of S. Arcot, 426.]

[GUINEA DEER, s. An old name for some species of Chevrotain, in the quotation probably the Tragulus meminna or Mouse Deer (Blanford, Mammalia, 555).

[1755.—“Common deer they have here (in Ceylon) in great abundance, and also Guinea Deer.”—Ives, 57.]

GUINEA-FOWL. There seems to have been, in the 16th century, some confusion between turkeys and Guinea-fowl. See however under TURKEY. The Guinea-fowl is the Meleagris of Aristotle and others, the Afra avis of Horace.

GUINEA-PIG, s. This was a nick-name given to midshipmen or apprentices on board Indiamen in the 18th century, when the command of such a vessel was a sure fortune, and large fees were paid to the captain with whom the youngsters embarked. Admiral Smyth, in his Sailor’s Handbook, 1867, defines: ‘The younger midshipmen of an Indiaman.’

[1779.—“I promise you, to me it was no slight penance to be exposed during the whole voyage to the half sneering, satirical looks of the mates and guinea-pigs.”—Macintosh, Travels, quoted in Carey, Old Days, i. 73.]

GUINEA-WORM, s. A parasitic worm (Filaria Medinensis) inhabiting the subcutaneous cellular tissue of man, frequently in the leg, varying from 6 inches to 12 feet in length, and common on the Pers. Gulf, in Upper Egypt, Guinea, &c. It is found in some parts of W. India. “I have known,” writes M.-Gen. Keatinge, “villages where half the people were maimed by it after the rains. Matunga, the Head Quarters of the Bombay Artillery, was abandoned, in great measure, on account of this pest.” [It is the disease most common in the Damoh District (C. P. Gazetteer, 176, Sleeman, Rambles, &c., ed. V. A. Smith, i. 94). It is the rashta, reshta of Central Asia (Schuyler, Turkistan, i. 147; Wolff, Travels, ii. 407).] The reason of the name is shown by the quotation from Purchas respecting its prevalence in Guinea. The disease is graphically described by Agatharchides in the first quotation. B.C. c. 113.—“Those about the Red Sea who are stricken with a certain malady, as Agatharchides relates, besides being afflicted with other novel and unheard-of symptoms, of which one is that small snake-like worms ( [Greek Text] drakontia mikra) eat through the legs and arms, and peep out, but when touched instantly shrink back again, and winding among the muscles produce intolerable burning pains.”—In Dubner’s ed. of Plutarch, iv. 872, viz. Table Discussions, Bk. VIII. Quest. ix. 3.

1600.—“The wormes in the legges and bodies trouble not euery one that goeth to those Countreys, but some are troubled with them and some are not”—(a full account of the disease follows).—Descn. of Guinea, in Purchas, ii. 963.

c. 1630.—“But for their water…I may call it Aqua Mortis…it ingenders small long worms in the legges of such as use to drink it…by