Definition of "cawnie"

This fort of mud was formerly built by the Curumbas, covering forty cawnies of ground with two boundary walls, and was long ruled by them.

1838, William Taylor, Examination and Analysis of the Mackenzie Manuscripts, page 83

If we take the best cotton land, paying a land tax of Rupees 3-5-5 per cawnie, the proportion would be upwards of 33 per cent.

1854, John Bruce Norton, A Letter to Robert Lowe, Esq., Joint Secretary of the Board of Controul, from John Bruce Norton, Esq. on the Condition and Requirements of the Presidency of Madras, page 82

We shall now consider the cost of cultivating one cawnie of dry Poonjay land with Indigo by the native cultivator who does not irrigate.

1862, An Essay on the culture and manufacture of Indigo, page 17

On the Nilgiris, the cawnie was initially utilised exclusively in measuring settler occupation.

2009, Deborah Sutton, Other Landscapes, page xii