Definition of "pingo"

The greatest variation in cover thickness, as determined from collapsed pingos, is in irregularly shaped pingos, or those with asymmetrically located ice-cores.

1963, J[ohn] Ross Mackay, The Mackenzie Delta Area, N.W.T. (Memoir (Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Canada); 8), Ottawa, Ont.: Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, page 74

Considerable progress has been made on the discovery and mapping of many open system pingos in central Alaska and Yukon Territory […], as well as the discovery of pingo-like mounds in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea north of the mouth of the Mackenzie River. The greatest advance in pingo research in the last decade has been a consideration and understanding of theory and rate of pingo growth […]

1973, Roger J. E. Brown, Troy L. Péwé, “Distribution of Permafrost in North America and Its Relationship to the Environment: A Review, 1963–1973: 13–28 July 1973, Yakutsk, U.S.S.R.”, in Permafrost: North American Contribution: Second International Conference, Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, page 80, column 2

With the exception of small pingos, most pingo ice cores have several ice types. The bulk of the core can be segregated ice, intrusive ice formed from the freezing of bulk water, or any combination of the two types. In addition, dilation-crack ice (tension-crack ice, Brown and Kupsch, 1974) is commonly the main ice type beneath the summit of pingos with craters.

1983, J[ohn] Ross Mackay, “Oxygen Isotope Variations in Permafrost, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Area, Northwest Territories”, in Current Research Part B = Recherches en Cours Partie B (Geological Survey Paper; 83-1B), Ottawa, Ont.: Geological Survey of Canada, page 68

Larger scale frost-heave features, such as pingoes, are rare because there is insufficient water available, generally, for the growth of large ice bodies.

1987, I. B. Campbell, G. G. C. Claridge, Antarctica: Soils, Weathering Processes and Environment (Developments in Soil Science; 16), Amsterdam, New York, N.Y.: Elsevier, page 106

This done, he [an elephant] took up the pingo and moved away from the spot; but at the distance of about a fathom or two, laid it down again, and ripping open one of the bundles, took out of it all the contents, somans [footnote: Woman's robe], cambāyas [footnote: The figured cloth worn by men], handkerchiefs, and several pieces of white cambrick cloth, all which he tore to small pieces, and flung them wildly here and there. He did the same with all the other pingoes.

1861, J[ames] Emerson Tennent, “Appendix to Chapter III. Narratives of the Natives of Ceylon Relative to Encounters with Rogue Elephants.”, in Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon with Narratives and Anecdotes Illustrative of the Habits and Instincts of the Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &c. Including a Monograph of the Elephant and a Description of the Modes of Capturing and Training It. With Engravings from Original Drawings, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, page 138

The Gańga-vaṇṣa minissu are the washers of the Oliya caste, who are not only a low caste, but come below the Paduvó and Berawáyó, and are the only caste who will carry the pingoes of the smiths.

1887, S. M. Burrows, “A Year’s Work at Polonnáruwa”, in Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume X, number 34, Colombo, Ceylon: G. J. A. Skeen, government printer, Ceylon, published 1888, page 49

The following are only a few of the countless uses of this invaluable tree [the coconut]. […] The stem of the leaf, for fences, for pingoes (or yokes) for carrying burthens on the shoulders, for fishing-rods, and innumerable domestic utensils.

1859, James Emerson Tennent, “Vegetation.—Trees and Plants.”, in Ceylon: An Account on the Island Physical, Historical, and Topographical with Notices of Its Natural History, Antiquities and Productions, volume I, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, part I (Physical Geography), footnote 2, page 109

Ceremonial pingoes may also be silver tipped, as in the case of a beautiful example at the Embekke Devale […].

1908, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Mediaeval Sinhalese Art: Being a Monograph on Mediaeval Sinhalese Arts and Crafts, Mainly as Surviving in the Eighteenth Century, with an Account of the Structure of Society and the Status of the Craftsmen, Broad Campden, Gloucestershire: Essex House Press, page 206

Pingo bearers walk to and fro with their burdens of fruit and vegetables, representing many varieties quite strange to us. The pingo is a long and flat piece of wood from the kittul palm, very tough and pliable. The coolie, having suspended his load to the two ends in baskets or nets, places the stave upon his shoulder at the middle, and is thus enabled by the elastic spring and easy balance of the pingo to carry great weights for a considerable distance. Some pingoes are made from the leaf-stalk of the coconut palm, which is even more pliable than the kittul.

1926, Ali Foad Toulba, “The Beautiful Mountain Railway to Kandy”, in Ceylon: The Land of Eternal Charm, London: Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., Paternoster Row, E.C.; reprinted New Delhi, Madras: J. Jetley, Asian Educational Services, 2000, page 145

Upon reaching this quantity, the tribute decreased one pingo annually until the number was reduced to five.

1833, “The Chaliah Caste in Ceylon”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, page 275

About an hour or so before a bridegroom accompanied by his friends arrives at the house of the bride, a person, named for the occasion Gamana or messenger, is sent forward with a number of betel leaves equal to the number of people, who accompany the bridegroom. The Gamana is to give these betel leaves to the bride's friends, together with the large pingo of plantains called Gira-mul-tada, which in the Maritime districts is always a sine qua non of the presents, which a Singhalese bridegroom carries to his bride's house.

1866, Dandris De Silva Goonaratne, “On Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon”, in Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Colombo, Ceylon: F. Fonseka, printer, Fort, Colombo, footnote, page 36

He […] paid the lord of the village three pingos worth one larim and four fanões.

2007, Karunasena Dias Paranavitana, “The Portuguese Tombos as a Source of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Sri Lankan History”, in Jorge Flores, editor, Re-exploring the Links: History and Constructed Histories between Portugal and Sri Lanka (Maritime Asia; 18), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, page 74

A certain Wieremunie Joan testified about facts which already had occurred in 1772 when he had delivered four and a half pingo [footnote: A "pingo" is circa fifty-five pound of cinnamon. […]] of cinnamon above the fixed duty of five and that the Durea still owed him four and a half rixdollar.

2013, Lodewijk Wagenaar, “The Apparition of the Cinnamon Peelers: Dutch Colonial Presence in Eighteenth-century Ceylon and Its Reflection in Non-literary Prose”, in Jeroen Dewulf, Ole Praamstra, Michiel van Kempen, editors, Shifting the Compass: Pluricontinental Connections in Dutch Colonial and Postcolonial Literature, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, page 125