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APRIL, 1921]
TOPAZ-TOPASS
109
1750. When our people arrived, they found English Topasses and peons holding Villupuram fort, on behalf of 'Abd-ul-jalil... Sergeant Saint-Marc, ten Europeans with twenty Topasses and fifty sepoys. . . returned. Nâsîr Jang Nizâm is encamped ... with 200 English soldiers, 100 mestices, 200 Topasses, 400 sepoys and 600 Carnatic peons. Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, vol. VI., ed. Dodwell, pp. 387, 417, 431. 1756. List of the smothered in the Black Hole Prison, exclusive of sixty-nine
(consisting of Dutch and English sergeants, corporals, soldiers, topazes, militia, whites, and Portuguese)... Holwell's Narrative, quoted by C. R. Wilson, Old Fort William, II, 216n.
1756. In this plight... I sustained the weight of a... Topaz bearing on my right. Holwell, Narrative of the Black Hole. (In Hobson-Jobson.) 1758. There is a distinction said to be made by you... which, in our opinion,
does no way square with rules of justice and equity, and that is the exclusion of Portuguese topasses, and other Christian natives, from any share of the money granted by the Nawab. Court's Letter, quoted in Long's Selections, p. 133. (In Hobson-Jobson.)
1758. A Topaz. [Note.] A black Christian soldier; usually termed subjects of
Portugal. Annual Register, 283/2. (In O. E. D.)
1766. Topasses, a tawny race of foot soldiers distinct from Portuguese marine natives, and called Topasses because they wear hats. J. H. Grose, Voyage to the East Indies, (2d. ed.) I, xiv. (Glossary). (In O. E. D.)
1785. Topasses, black foot soldiers, descended from the Portuguese marrying natives, called Topasses, because they wear hats. Carraccioli, Life of Lord Clive, IV, 564. (In Hobson-Jobson.)
1787. I have also recommended the corps of Topasses or descendants of Europeans, who retain the characteristic qualities of their progenitors. Fullarton, View of English Interests in India, p. 222. (In Hobson-Jobson.)
1789. Topasses are the sons of Europeans and black women, or low Portuguese who are trained to arms. Munro, Narrative of Military Operations against the French, p. 321. (In Hobson-Jobson.)
1793. Topazes seu Dvibâshi, in ora Coromandelica Dobáchi, ex etymologia ui nominis interpretes seu duo idiotmata calentes, unum Indicum, aliud Europaeum. Musei Borgiani Velitris Codices Manuscripti, auctore P. Paulino a S. Bartholomaeo, Romae, p. 251.
[Topazes or Dvibashi, on the Coromandel Coast, Dohachi, according to the etymology of their name, interpreters, or versed in two languages, the one Indian, the other European. ]
Colà essi chiamansi Mundocârer, gente di veste bianca, per distinguerli dalli Tupasi, che parlano Malabar e Portoghese, e portano cappello e calzoni senza calzette e senza scarpe. Fra Paolino, Viaggio alle Indie Orientali, p. 144. [In that place (Cochin) they (Christians) are called Mundocârer, men of the white robe, to distinguish them from the Tupasis, who speak Malabar (Tamil) and Portuguese, and wear a hat and trousers without stockings and without shoes ]
