S. Botelho, Tombo, 149.
1644.—"Going up the stream from this town (Mombaym, i.e. Bombay) some 2 leagues, you come to the aldea of Mazagam."—Bocarro, MS. f. 227.
1673.—"... for some miles together, till the Sea break in between them; over against which lies Massegoung, a great Fishing Town.... The Ground between this and the Great Breach is well ploughed and bears good Batty. Here the Portugals have another Church and Religious House belonging to the Franciscans."—Fryer, p. 67.
[MEARBAR, s. Pers. mīrbaḥr, 'master of the bay,' a harbour-master. Mīrbaḥrī, which appears in Botelho (Tombo, p. 56) as mirabary, means 'ferry dues.'
[1675.—"There is another hangs up at the daily Waiters, or Meerbar's Choultry, by the Landing-place...."—Fryer, 98.]
[1682.—"... ordering them to bring away ye boat from ye Mearbar."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 34.]
MECKLEY, n.p. One of the names of the State of [Munneepore].
MEEANA, MYANNA, s. H.—P. mīyāna, 'middle-sized.' The name of a kind of palankin; that kind out of which the palankin used by Europeans has been developed, and which has been generally adopted in India for the last century. [Buchanan Hamilton writes: "The lowest kind of palanquins, which are small litters suspended under a straight bamboo, by which they are carried, and shaded by a frame covered with cloth, do not admit the passenger to lie at length, and are here called miyana, or Mahapa. In some places, these terms are considered as synonymous, in others the Miyana is open at the sides, while the Mahapa, intended for women, is surrounded with curtains." (Eastern India, ii. 426).] In Williamson's Vade Mecum (i. 319) the word is written Mohannah.
1784.—"... an entire new myannah, painted and gilt, lined with orange silk, with curtains and bedding complete."—In Seton-Karr, i. 49.
" "Patna common chairs, couches and teapoys, two Mahana palanquins."—Ibid. 62.