Mergui Archipelago
a group of islands in the Gulf of Bengal, lying off the S. provinces of Burma; they are mountainous, some rising to 3,000 feet, of picturesque beauty, and sparsely in habited by a race called the Selungs.
MÉRIDA (mā'rē-thä) (ancient Augusta Emerita), a decayed town of Spain, situated on the right bank of the MERIDEN Guadiana, 36 miles E. of Badajoz. It is remarkable for its Roman remains, which include a bridge of 81 arches, 2,- 575 feet long and 26 feet broad, erected by Trajan; the ruins of half a dozen temples, of an aqueduct, a circus, a theater, a naumachia, a castle, and the Arch of Santiago, 44 feet high, built by Trajan. There is also an old Moorish palace. Merida was built in 23 B. C., and flourished in great splendor as the capital of Lusitania. In 713 it was taken by the Moors Moors, who lost it to the Spaniards in 1229.
Mexican state of Yucatan; on a barren MÉRIDA, city and capital of the plain, 25 miles S. of Gulf of Mexico, and 95 miles N. E. of of plain, 25 miles S. of Progreso, on the Campeachy; occupies the site of a former native city, and was founded by the Spaniards in 1542; has a cathedral and many churches, a university, seminary, girls' high school, and conservatory of music, an antiquarian museum, a public library, hospital, alms-house, and foundling asylum; trade not extensive; pop. about 65,000.
MÉRIDA, a town of Venezuela, capital of Merida state; 5,290 feet above sealevel, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada de Merida, and 70 miles S. of the lake of Maracaibo; founded in 1558; it was alin 1812; is the seat of a bishop, contains most wholly destroyed by an earthquake and has manufactures of carpets and a university and several higher schools, woolen and cotton stuffs and exports coffee and fruits. Pop. about 17,000.