DACOIT, a term used in India for a robber belonging to an armed gang. The word is derived from the Hindustani dakait, and being current in Bengal got into the Indian penal code. By law, to constitute dacoity, there must be five or more in the gang committing the crime. In Burma also the word dacoit came to be applied in a special sense to the armed gangs which main tained a state of guerilla warfare for several years after the defeat of King Thibaw in Nov. 1885. (See BURMESE WARS.) DA COSTA, ISAAK (1798-186o), Dutch poet and theolo gian, was born at Amsterdam on Jan. 14, 1798. His father was a Jew of Portuguese descent, and claimed kindred with the cele brated Uriel D'Acosta. He studied at Amsterdam and at Leiden, where he took his doctor's degree in law in 1818, and in literature in 1821. In 1814 he wrote De Verlossing van Nederland, a patri otic poem, which placed him in line with the contemporary national romantic poets in Germany and in France. His Poezy (2 vols., 1821-22) revealed his emancipation from the Bilderdijk tradition, and the oriental colouring of his poems, his hymn to Lamartine, and his translation of part of Byron's Cain, establish his claim to be considered as the earliest of the Dutch romantic poets. In 1822 he became a convert to Christianity, and towards the close of his life was a director of the seminary established in Amsterdam in connection with the mission of the Free Church of Scotland. He died at Amsterdam on April 28, 1860. Da Costa ranked first among the poets of Holland after the death of Bil derdijk. His principal poetical works were: Alphonsus I. (1818), a tragedy; Poezy (Leyden, 1821) ; God met ons (1826) ; Festlied ern (1828); Vijf-en-twintig jaren Hagar (1852) De Slag bij Nieupoort (1857). He also translated The Persians (1816) and the Prometheus (1818) of Aeschylus, and edited the poetical works of Bilderdijk.
His complete poetical works were edited by J. P. Hasebroek (3 vols., Haarlem, 1861-62) . See G. Groen van Prinsterer, Brieven van Mr I. da Costa, 1830-1849 (1872), and J. ten Brink, Geschiedenis der Noord-Nederlandsche Letteren in de Eeuw (vol. i., 1888, bibl.) .