A PIECE of Bubry has been [or is herewith] sent for that light of our eyes. You must get a vest made of it for yourself.

N.B. A similar letter follows here, addressed to Meer Moaayenûddeen Khân.

The Bubry was a kind of printed cotton, of a particular pattern; consisting of a stripe, resembling in form, and sometimes in color, the stripe on the skin of a tyger, one of the names of which animal is Bubr. Tippoo Sultan is well known to have considered the tyger as emblematical of his own family or government: probably on account of its affinity to the lion, by which appellation the Caliph Ali has been distinguished. Indeed the tiger and lion are so often called in India by the same name, that it would have been quite uncertain which of the two animals in question was meant by the Sultan, under the appellation of Bubr, if the distinctive mark of the stripe had not placed the matter out of doubt. This stripe, in short, may be said to have constituted the crest, or armorial bearing, of Tippoo; who caused it to be introduced into almost every article belonging to him. Hence it was found stamped on the binding of his books, engraved on his plate and his fire-arms, woven in his standards, &c. It even formed the water­mark of the paper manufactured for his use.

Orders for the fabrication and distribution of Bubry cloths appear in several of the letters forming the present collection. I believe it constituted the uniform dress of a considerable portion of the Sultan’s regular troops.