HOB-SHEE COFFREES, a kind of Abyssinian slaves very frequent in the empire of Hindostan. They come mostly from a province subject to the Negus of Ethiopia, called Innarish, to the south of his other dominions, and bordering upon Negroland in Africa; from whence they are selected, and a great traffic made of them over all Mogolian and Persia; but it is chiefly from the ports of Arabia and the Red sea that they are brought. Nothing can be imagined more smooth and glossy, and perfectly black, than their skin; in which they far surpass the negroes on the coast of Guinea; and, generally speaking, have not any thing of their thick lips, though otherwise as woolly haired as they. They are highly valued for their courage, fidelity, and shrewdness; in which they so far excel, as often to rise to posts of great honour, and are made governors of places under the title Siddees.
HOBSON'S-CHOICE, a vulgar proverbial expression, applied to that kind of choice in which there is no alternative. It is said to be derived from the name of a carrier at Cambridge, who let out hackney horses, and obliged each customer to take in his turn that horse which stood next the stable door.