Obs. [a. Bugis, ‘name given by the Malays to the dominant race of the Island of Celébes’ (Col. Yule).] A name formerly used in the Indian Archipelago for a native soldier in European service.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. I. 108. These Buggasses are a sort of warlike trading Malayans and mercenary soldiers of India.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 213. I apprehended he was a Captain of Buggesses, in the English Company’s service. Ibid. (1792), Voy. Mergui, 78 (Y.). The word Buggess has become amongst Europeans consonant to soldier, in the east of India, as Sepoy is in the West.
1811. Ld. Minto in India (1880), 281 (Y.). We had fallen in with a fleet of nine Buggese Prows.
[1878. McNair, Perak, 130 (Y.). The Bugis are evidently a distinct race from the Malays.]
