Mosandam, by the men who plough the Main:
Here lies the Gulf whose long and lake-like Bight,
parts Araby from fertile Persia's plain."
The fact that the poet copies the misprint or mistake of Barros in Asaboro, shows how he made use of that historian.
1673.—"On the one side St. Jaques (see [JASK]) his Headland, on the other that of Mussendown appeared, and afore Sunset we entered the Straights Mouth."—Fryer, 221.
1727.—"The same Chain of rocky Mountains continue as high as Zear, above Cape Musenden, which Cape and Cape Jaques begin the Gulf of Persia."—A. Hamilton, i. 71; [ed. 1744, i. 73].
1777.—"At the mouth of the Strait of Mocandon, which leads into the Persian gulph, lies the island of [Gombroon]" (?)—Raynal, tr. 1777, i. 86.
[1808.—"Musseldom is a still stronger instance of the perversion of words. The genuine name of this head-land is Mama Selemeh, who was a female saint of Arabia, and lived on the spot or in its neighbourhood."—Morier, Journey through Persia, p. 6.]
MUSSOOLA, MUSSOOLAH, BOAT, s. The surf boat used on the Coromandel Coast; of capacious size, and formed of planks sewn together with coir-twine; the open joints being made good with a caulking or wadding of twisted coir. The origin of the word is very obscure. Leyden thought it was derived from "masoula ... the Mahratta term for fish" (Morton's Life of Leyden, 64). As a matter of fact the Mahr. word for fish is māsolī, Konk. măsūlī. This etymology is substantially adopted by Bp. Heber (see below); [and by the compiler of the Madras Gloss., who gives Tel. māsūla, Hind. machhlī]. But it may be that the word is some Arabic sea-term not in the dictionaries. Indeed, if the term used by C. Federici (below) be not a clerical error, it suggests a possible etymology from the Ar. masad, 'the fibrous bark of the palm-tree, a rope made of it.' Another suggestion is from the Ar. mauṣūl, 'joined,' as opposed to 'dug-out,' or canoes; or possibly it may be from maḥsūl, 'tax,' if these boats were subject to a tax. Lastly it is possible that the name may be connected with [Masulipatam] (q.v.), where similar boats would seem to have been in use (see Fryer, 26). But these are conjectures. The quotation from Gasparo Balbi gives a good account of the handling of these boats, but applies no name to them.
c. 1560.—"Spaventosa cosa'è chi nõ ha più visto, l'imbarcare e sbarcar le mercantie e le persone a San Tomè ... adoperano certe barchette fatte aposta molto alte e larghe, ch'essi chiamano Masudi, e sono fatte con tauole sottili, e con corde sottili cusite insieme vna tauola con l'altre," &c. (there follows a very correct description of their use).—C. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 391.