Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/201

 L2S. V.JULY, 1919.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

195

WAR SLANG (12 S. iv. 271, 306, 333 : 18, 79, 159). "Digger" is the usual rm for Australian soldiers among them- Ives ; and in Australia I asked a man in at country for the derivation, and he ought the term originated from the gold- Ids, i.e., a gold-digger.

1 have never heard " Bill Jim " in con- rsation, but only seen it in Australian pers.

" Dincum " is regarded as a most binding pression. If a man tells you that anything ing he can say more so than " on my bh," " honour bright," &c. No one in LStralia that I asked could give me the rivation.
 * ' dincum " it is probably the most binding

[ have not seen " to chance one's arm " in ) list. " I'll chance my arm " is equiva- it to " I will have a try," and probably plies that the " chancer " knows nothing >ut the job.

Referring to nicknames, why is a Green ^ays a " Dodger," a Clark or Clerke rays a " Nobby," Martin always a 'incher " ? Can any one supply a full of surnames carrying a nickname ?

M.D., E.E.F.

DISCOVERIES IN COINS (12 S. iii. 449). May 15, 1919, it was reported that Mr. A. Shepherd, a Guildford allotment-

der, had unearthed on his plot a farthing

led in the reign of Charles I.

FRED. L. TAVARE.

2 Trentham Street, Pendleton, Manchester.


 * ITT AND DlJNDAS AT NEW CROSS (12 S.

151). The story quoted by MR. PHILIP RMAN is given in greater detail in the a,ble Talk of Samuel Rogers,' as follows :

Stothard the painter happened 1 ? to be one ning at an inn on the Kent Road when Pitt

Dundas put up there on their way from Imer. Next morning as they were stepping i their carriage, the waiter said to Stothard : , do you observe those two gentlemen ? ' e do you suppose they drank last night ? '
 * s,' he replied, ' and I know them to be Mr.
 * and Mr. Dundas.' ' Well, sir, how much
 * hard could not guess. ' Seven bottles,

n those days wine bottles were smaller n they are now, and if seven were Dtied it is reason able to infer that they e pints. Moore has a story of Sheridan's ler saying (when Dr. Bain was called in . found him in a high state of fever) that he drunk nothing extraordinary the day >re, " only two bottles- of port."

J. E. HARTING. [W. B. H. also thanked for reply.]

Mate* 0n 100&5,

The War of Chupas. Translated and edited by

Sir Clements R. Markham. (Hakluyt Society.)

The Book of Duarte Barbosa. Translated, edited,

and annotated by M. Longworth Dames.

(Same publishers.)

A SPECIAL interest is attached to ' The War of Chupas,' a pathetic interest, for this was the last publication of the Society for which the veteran Sir Clements Markham was responsible. The extent and vigour of his literary career may well seem almost incredible, when it is recalled that his first work for the Society appeared in 1859, and that from that time onwards hardly a year passed without bringing something from his pen. It was in 1864 that the translation of the first part of the ' Cronica ' of Cieza de Le"on was entrusted to him, and it was singularly appropriate that he should have been spared to bring the work to a close. For the printing of this volume was in a forward state when the unlucky mishap brought his life to a tragic and untimely end ; his fourscore and more of years seemed to have impaired his powers not a whit.

It is only quite recently that those parts of Cieza de Leon's chronicle which deal with the civil wars of Peru were brought to light, though his account of Inca civilization was well known and of considerable service to Prescott. ' The War of Quito ' and ' The War of Las Salinas ' were among the last contributions of Markham to the Society, and ' The War of Chupas ' serves as a supplement to them. The book deals with the events immediately after the battle of Las Salinas, with the fortunes and ultimate overthrow of the Almagro faction, and ends with the appointment of Blasco Nunez Vela. But the main interest to the general reader lies in the narrative of the murder of Pizarro by the " men of Chile." The chronicler does not, as a rule, show any marked sympathy with the conqueror, only too often he reminds us of his coldness and barbarity, but his courage he never calls in question, and of his intrepidity and resolution at the last he gives a moving picture. The narrative is full of dramatic moments, and is told with a directness and a freedom from digression which do not always distinguish this historian.

Barbosa's account of his periplus in Indian waters has long been known to readers of Ramusio ; for it was included in his ' Navigation! e Viaggi ' published at Venice in 1563. To English readers it was known in the edition of Lord Stanley, prepared for the Society some forty years ago. Unfortunately this translation was made from a Spanish MS. in the library at Barcelona, and is marred by inaccuracies. These have been cor- rected in the present edition, which is an entirely new translation by Mr. Longworth Dames of the Portuguese MS. found at Lisbon in the early part of the nineteenth century. But the excellence of the book does not consist solely m the transla- tion ; for it has been provided with copious foot- notes, which, coming from such an authority as Mr. Longworth Dames, are of great interest and

^Duarte Barbosa, was a man of good family in the service of the Portuguese Government. He