Chapter MUSSALLA to MUSSOOLA of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

MUSSENDOM, CAPE, n.p. The extreme eastern point of Arabia, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. Properly speaking, it is the extremity of a small precipitous island of the name, which protrudes beyond the N.E. horn of ’Oman. The name is written Masándim in the map which Dr. Badger gives with his H. of ’Oman. But it is Ras Masandam (or possibly Masandum) in the Mohit of Sidi ’Ali Kapudan (J. As. Soc. Ben., v. 459). Sprenger writes Mosandam (Alt. Geog. Arabiens, p. 107). [Morier gives another explanation (see the quotation below).]

1516.—“…it (the coast) trends to the N.E. by N. 30 leagues until Cape Mocondon, which is at the mouth of the Sea of Persia.”—Barbosa, 32.

1553.—“…before you come to Cape Moçandan, which Ptolemy calls Asaboro ([Greek Text] ’Asabwn akron) and which he puts in 23½°, but which we put in 26°; and here terminates our first division” (of the Eastern Coasts).—Barros, I. ix. 1.

1572.—

“Olha o cabo Asabóro que chamado
Agora he Moçandão dos navegantes :
Por aqui entra o lago, que he fechado
De Arabia, e Persias terras abundantes.”

Camões, x. 102.

By Burton :

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 masoli, Konk. masuli. This etymology is substantially adopted by Bp. Heber (see below) ; [and by the compiler of the Madras Gloss., who gives Tel. masula, Hind. machhli]. 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. mausul, ‘joined,’ as opposed to ‘dug- out,’ or canoes ; or possibly it may be from mahsul, ‘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.

c. 1580.—“…where (Negapatam) they cannot land anything but in the Macules of the same country.”—Primor e Honra, &c., f. 93.

c. 1582.—“…There is always a heavy sea there (San Thomé), from swell or storm ; so the merchandise and passengers are transported from shipboard to the town by certain boats which are sewn with fine cords, and when they approach the beach, where the sea breaks with great violence, they wait till the perilous wave has past, and then, in the interval between one wave and the next, those boatmen pull with great force, and so run ashore ; and being there overtaken by the waves they are carried still further up the beach. And the boats do not break, because they give to the wave, and because the beach is covered with sand, and the boats stand upright on their bottoms.”—G. Balbi, f. 89.

1673.—“I went ashore in a Mussoola, a Boat wherein ten Men paddle, the two aftermost of whom are Steersmen, using their Paddles instead