s University of California Berkeley Gift of DR. HENRY B. BRUYN I . THE YOUTH'S COMPANION, OR AN Historical Dictionary ; CONSISTING OF ARTICLES CHIEFLY SELECTED FROM NATURAL AND CIVIL HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, ASTRONOMY, ZOOLOGY, BOTANY, AND MINERALOGY ; ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. BY EZRA SAMPSON, Author of the Selection, entitled " Beauties of the Bible." THIRD EDITION. HUDSON : PRINTED FOR NATHAN ELLIOTT, OF CATSKILL, ANB WEBSTERS AND SKINNERS, OF ALBANY, Joint Proprietors of the Copy-Right. WILLIAM L. STONE, AND RICHARD COR8S, PRINTERS* 1816. DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, ss. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the Twenty-Fifth Day of November, in the Thirty-Third Year of the Indepen- dence of the United States of America, EZRA SAMPSON, of the said District, hath deposited in this Office, the title of a book, the Right whereof he claims as Author, in the words following, to wit : '* The youth's Companion, or an Historical Dictionary : consisting of articles selected chiefly from Natural and Civil History, Geography, Astronomy, Zoology, Botany and Mineralogy, arranged in alphabetical order. By EZRA SAMPSON, author of the selection, entitled " Beauties of the Bible." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act for the Encouragement of Learn- ing, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein meationed," and also to an Act entitled " An act supplementary to an Act for the Encouragement of Learn- ing, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned, and extending the Benefits there- of to the Arts of Designing, Engraving, and Etching Histori- cal and other Prints." EDWARD DUNSCOMB, Clerk of the District of New York, RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORK. The Rev. DAY ID PORTER, D. D. of Catskill, has favored ul with his opinion, as follows : ** I have examined the Historical Dictionary with softie care, and think it contains as rich a compendium of facts, concisely and elegantly expressed, as any work of its size, within the compass of my knowledge. It is a book in my opinion admirably adapted to youth ; and such is its real merit, that I am convinced that it needs only to be known to entitle it to the universal patronage of schools and academies throughout our country. * The book contains an epitome of science, chaste, moral, and beautifully descriptive ; and it cannot fail both to enter- tain and instruct. DAVID PORTER." The Rev. JOHN CHESTER, of Hudson, transmits to us the following remarks ; The Historical Dictionary, in the opinion of the subscri- ber, is a most important and valuable acquisition to the schools of our country. Its learned and judicious author has manifested uncommon discrimination and ability in his work. The Dictionary is extremely interesting and instructive to the scholar, who, as he learns to read, stores his mind with facts which are always useful. It is a kind of TEXT BOOK, the usefulness of which out-lives the period of pupilage, and may be'retained with advantage among the number of those works which will always amuse and instruct the person of mature age. It is, in my opinion, one of the best school books with which I am acquainted, and has a fair claim to esteem and patronage. JOHN CHESTER." Mr. ASHBEL STRONG, well known for many years as an in- structor in several academies in this state, and who has had the best opportunity of becoming acquainted! with the merits of this book, has favoured us with his remarks : " Sampson's Historical Dictionary is, in my opinion, one of the best school books ever published. It contains in the compass of a few hundred pages a great variety of important historical, geographical, and philosophical facts, arranged in alphabetical order, and expressed in a neat, concise, and per- spicuous manner. The book is well adapted to the capaci- ties of youth, and extremely well suited to engage their at- tention, I have kept it in constant use among my pupils ever since its first publication, and think it needs only to be generally known, to gain the fullest credit and currency in our academies and schools. ASHBEL STRONG." The following remarks on the Historical Dictionary were made by the learned SAMUEL WILLIAMS, LL, D. author of the History of Vermont, in a letter to a friend" I thank RECOMMENDATION S. you cordially for the Historical Dictionary and must request you to tender my thanks and best regards to its author. The work is so well adapted, although on a novel plan, that I feel myself bound to acknowledge how much I am indebted for the acqui- sition. Already have my sons with their classes gone eagerly through it two or three times. I shall take a great de^al of pleasure in introducing it among my friends, and do most de- voutly hope it may become extensively known. Asa little com- pend of useful knowledge in Natural History, I regard it as the best work of the size that I have ever seen in our lan- guage. The references to authorities from which this valuable miniature is drawn, will be found very serviceable." The Rev. TIMOTHY CLOWES, Minister of the Episcopal Church in the city of Albany, has politely furnished us with the fol- lowing recommendation : Albany, May 24, 1813. Messrs. WEBSTERS & SKINNERS, At your request I have examined Mr. Sampson's Historical Dictionary, and have no hesitation in stating it as my opinion, that the plan and execution of the "work are alike excellent. Compilations of this kind are of more use than is generally ima- gined. The young and the ignorant need them ; the better informed have frequent occasion to be reminded of what they formerly learned. Much is contained in this book which every child ought to know, and with ^hich he has few opportunities of being acquainted in the course of a common school educa- tion. What is here comprised will have a beneficial tendency to excite curiosity in youth, and direct their attention to works of more established credit and greater pretensions. Were it to be introduced into schools as a class book, it would advance the pupils in the art of reading as rapidly as any other, while at the same time it would impart to their minds a store of useful and interesting knowledge. Yours, TIMOTHY CLOWES. Mr. ROBERT O. K. BENNETT, whose reputation as a public Teacher of youth in the city of Albany, for many years, is of the first standing, has communicated to us his opinion, in the following note : Albany, May 27, 1813. Messrs. WEBSTERS &, SKINNERS, I have no hesitation in saying, that I wholly agree in the preceding- recommendations of the "Historical Dictionary." Perhaps there is not extant any other book which contains so many useful facts, and such a fund of useful information, in so small a compass. No fewer than eight hundred and fifty arti- cles, of primary importance, are comprised in this small vlume. 1 am heartily rejoiced that a discerning public has demanded a second edition, and those who have undertaken to supply that demand have my best wishes for their success. Yours, R. Q. K. BENNETT. PREFATORY REMARKS. ANY readers of this book, who can find little or nothing in it but what they knew as well before, are respectfully in* formed that it is not meant for them, but for people whose advantages have been fewer, or whose knowledge is less ex- tensive. It is designed, more particularly as a Companion for Youth ; yet so as not to be a useless companion for ma- ture age. Much in a small compass, has been my aim : and as I have generally named the authors to whom I am indebt- ed, so the reader will know to whose writings he may have recourse for a more enlarged view of some of the subjects which are here given in compendium. Among the Geographical articles, many places are men- tioned for the sake of relating some historical facts connect- ed with them ; while other places of much more importance have been unnoticed. The articles on Astronomy are de- rived from respectable authorities : they can hardly fail to excite in the mind of the reader, some ideas of the astonish*- ing power and wisdom of the Creator, Many particulars in this compilation are on the subjects of Zoology and Botany . the study of these sciences is both useful and delightful, and is recommended by the example of Solomon, who " spake of trees, from the cedar tree that was in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; and spake also Of beasts and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes.'' As a knowledge of the history of animals, and of plants or vegetables, conduces to human safety, convenience, and sus- tenance, so it tends also to improve and exalt the moral sen- timent ; forasmuch as the workmanship displayed in the structure of the meanest animal that breathes, or even of the most unregarded vegetable that grows, infinitely surpasses all the works of men. A2 PREFATORY REMARKS. A multitude of things which are here related or described, as they point directly to a superintending power and all-wise contrivance, might be used as subjects for moral and religious reflections, such reflections, being obvious and easy, I have generally left to be made by the reader. If this, however should be thought by some serious and good minds to be a culpable omission, I might plead the example of the Sacred Historians, who briefly recorded facts involving most import* ant moral principles, and left them without comment. I have endeavoured to weave into this work, various traits ef the human character ; insomuch, that besides numerous sketches of the history of man in civilized societies, it de- scribes, though with the utmost brevity, a greater number of savage tribes, particularly of America and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, than can easily be found described in any other book of an equal size. It was found necessary to reject a considerable number of articles which were prepared for this book, lest it should exceed the intended bounds ; and* perhaps, for want of a more correct judgment, some of this discarded class may be better than some which have been admitted. But though I may have erred in judgment, I have not been sparing of my best endeavours ; the fruits of which are offered to the public, not without diffidence, nor yet wiib* tut hope. TABLE OF THE CONTENTS; Of which the Articles may be found in their Alpha- betical Places. A. Abyssinia Acapulco ^Acorn Adder Africa African pent Agouti Air Ajacio Aleppo Algiers Allegany Alligator Alps Amazon Amazonia America Ammon Amsterdam Ancient Em- pires Andes Angora Goat Animalcules Anjou Cab- bage Ant Anthony's Falls Antelope Antimony Antioch Antipodes Antwerp Ape Apis Apple Tree Baia Baidares Balbec Baloon Baltic Bambarra Ser- Apollo's Sta- Bamboo tue Arabia Arbela Banana Tree Banian Tree Baniserile Archipelago Barbadoes Areopagus Barbary ArgaPs Laws Barein Argati Arietoes Barillha Barley Bartholo- mews Bastinado Batavia Baton Bavarian Sol diets Bay Bear Armadad Artillery Ash Asia Asp Asphaltites Asphodel Athens Atlas Aurora Bore- Beauty alis Beaver Ava Beet B. Bell BaaPs Tern- Bengal pie Bermudas Baboon Babylon Bagdad Berwick Berring's Strait Betel Bezoar Stone Birch Tree Bird men Birds Bison Birming- ham Bittern Bitumen Black Black Oak Blood Hound Boa Boiling Bonzes Braganza Brain Brass Brazil -Bread Tree Bridgwater's Canal Britain Brunswick Buccaniers Buffalo Bull Baiting Bull Dog Bullet Butterfly Butternut Tree CONTENTS. C. Celebes Complexion Cabro Di Ca- CelestialBird Congo pelio Bacao Tree Cairo Calcutta Calendar California Calumet Camel Cameleon Celestial Frame Ceres Ceylon Choctaws Chaimois Goat Chairabes Champlain Connecticut Connecticut River Constance Denmark Dew Diamond Diana Diana's Tem- ple Constantino- Dionea Cherokees Cameleopard Charcoal Camphjre Chariot Tree Canada Canada In- dians Canal pie Contour Copper Copperhead Copts Corlear Cormorant Dismal Swamp Diving Bell Domingo St. Druids Dutch Fish- ery Cherry Tree Cotton Shrub E. Chesnut Tree Coupee Eagle ! Chili Couquar Earth China Creeks Earthquake Canal PrqjectChina Onion Creoles Eclipse Canary Bird China Paper Crocodile Ecliptic Canary Isl- China Wall Crosswise Egypt ands Chirimoya Mark Electric Fluid Candia Chiven Crusades Elephant Cannibal Climacteric Cuba Elm Cantharis Climate Cuckoo Embalming - Canton Clock Cuttle Fish England Cape Cod Cloth Tree Cydnus Caravan Clove Tree Cypress D. C ard sPlay ingC oach- Whip Carline This- Snake Da^on , , . ^ tie Carnabis Carthage Carthgena Cashmere Cochin-ChinaDamascus Cochineal Cocoa Tree Cod Fish Coffee Caspian Sea Coffee Tree English Navy Era Eric Erie Lake Ermine Dancing Ser- Esquimaux pents Etna Danube Europe Darien European Dark Days Languages Cassiopea's Cold Spring Days Euxine Chair Cat combs mount Catanca Cayenne Colopaxi Colossus Colours Columbia River Comet* Deaf Persons Evaporation Deer Del aware Del Cane Delhi Delta F. Fellahs Fetiche Finger Offer- ing CONTENTS. Fire Fire Ball Fire Damp Fire Fly Fire Spouts Fishes Flamingo Flanders Flint Floating Gar- Gourd dens Florida Goa Gold Gold Coast Gold Dust Golden Vul- ture Good Hope Cape Goths Helots Inflammable Heracleum Air Herculaneum Inflammable Flowering Tree Flying Fox Heron Herschell Hessian Fly Hindoos Hindostan Hissing Snake Grand Canal Historical Greeks Greenland Holland Green Moun- Holland New Italy- tains Honey Bees J. Painting Earth Ink Inoculation Inquisition Insects Ireland Iron Iron Wood Iroquois Isingglasi Flying Squir- Green Turtle Hop rel GreySquirrel Hornet Formo sa Grove Horse Foulahs Guana Host Fox Guanches France Guinea France Isle of Guinea Pig Franklinea Gull Freshet Gulf Stream Frigid Zones Gum Tree Frisland Gun Powder Frost Gymnotus Funeral Pile Gypsies Hottentots Howling Monkey Hudson's Bay Hudson's River Hugonots Jackall Jamaica Janizarief Janus Japan Jaquar Java Jersey Jerusalem Jesuits Jesuits 9 Jews Bark Fur G. Gambia Ganges Gazette Georgia Georgia Germany Giant Gibraltar Gypsum Hail Harlem Harmattan Harmonic Duel Havanna Hawksbill Turtle Humane So- Jiboya Ginger Root Heat Gin-Seng Hebiscus Glaciers Hecla Glutton Hedysarum Gnat Hegira cieties Humming Bird Huns Hurricane Hyena Ibis Ice Ice Islands Iceland Ichneumon As.- Jordan Judicial trology Juggernaut Juno Jupiter Jury K. Kalmucs Kamptskatka Kava Kelp Ignis Fatuus Kennebeck Indian Rat Kentucky Indulgencies Kilda 10 CONTENTS. Killer Kingbird Kingfisher Kink aj on Knight Knights Er- rant Knights Templars Knout Koriacs Long-Island Missisippi Longitude Missouri Long Knife Moccasin Indian's Snake Looking Mocha Glass N. Hampshire" Newfound- land New-Orleans New- York Mocking BirdN. York Louisiana Lun^s M, Madagascar Madder Kowry Shells Madeira Ivraken Kurbulo L. Lama Lamas Land Slips Lapland Latana Latitude Laurel Maelstroom Maese Magellan Mahometans Monsoons Mohawks Mohegans Mole Moloch Monati Money -PoundNigua Monkey Nile Monks Nineveh Monongahela Nootka Sound Niagara Nieper Niger Nightingale Nightshade Maine Maize Malacca Mammoth Marble Mars Laurel Mag- Martin nolia Martin, St. La Vera CruzMaryland Lawrence St.Massachu- LazarQBi Lead Lebanon Letters Library Life Boat Life Scale Light > ning Lima Lion Live Oak Loadstone Locust Lollards :')!) Longevity setts Mast Pine Mecca Media Mediterrar nean Medusa Met;. Mercury Month Moon Moors Moose Morai Morea Morocco Moss Mufti Mulberry Tree Mullet N. America N. Carolina North-East- ers Norway Nova Scotia Nymphala O. Oak Obi Obonney Ocean Odin Mumbo-Jum- Ohio River Mummy [bo Ohio State Murex Muscadine Grape Musk N. Merino SheepNan tucket Mexico Naptha Michigan Nature's Mineral Coal Dikes Mines Nautilus Olive Tree Olympic Games Onion River Ontario Ordeal Or oman e Orka Orleans Oronoko ' Mint Minute Ser- pent New Britain Ostracism New -Castle Ostrich New-EnglandOtaheite CONTENTS. 11 Otter Pimento TreeRattle Snake Sea Otter Ouraiig Ou- Pin tang why nee P. Pagodas Pallas Palma ChristiPlantain Palmist Palmyra Pan Panacea Pandects Pangolin Panther Paper Paper Mul- berry Paraguay Paris Parrot Pascataqua Patagonia Patowmac Peacock Raven Seal Pinna Red Elm Sedgmoor Pinnotheris Red Sea Sego Plague Rein Deer Senegal Planets Rhinoceros Sennar Plant Rhode-Island Sensitive Rhone Plant Rhubarb Serpe Nera Rice Shark River Horse Shea Tree Romans Shepherd Ar-Rome Shetland Romee Sinning Rose Wood Mountains Rosicrucians Ship Worm Royal Canal Siam Rumford's Siberia Kitchen Sicily Runnemede Sierra Leone Russia Plata Platina Pleiades Plummet Poisoned rows Poland Polar Bear Pole Star Poles Polypus Pope Poplar Poppy Porcelain Porcupine Portugal S. Sable Sahara Salmon Silk Silk Insect Silk Worm Silver Siminoles Pearl FisheryPotatoe Salmon TroutSinai Pearl Oyster Powder Plot Salt Mines Pekin Powhatans Samiel Pelew IslandsProscription Sandwich Pelican Protestants Islands Pelusium Prussia Penance Pruth Penguin Ptarmigan Pennsylvania Pyramid Pequots Persia Persimon Tree Phenicians Q- Quadrupeds Quail Quebec Quicksilver R. Philadelphia Rain Pichinca Rainbow Pigeon Rasp House Sanscript Saracens Sarana Sardam Saturn Saturn Savannah Crane Scheik Scorpion Scotland Sea Ape Sea Horse Skin Sky Lark Slave Trade Sleep Sloth Small Pox Snake Bird Snow Snow Bird Society Isl- ands Sound South America South-Caro- lina Spain Spaniel 12 CONTENTS. Spanish Swimming Broom Switzerland Spice IslandsSword Fish Spider Sympathetic Spinning Ink Spitzbergen Syria Stars T. Stature Talipot Steam Tallow Tree Steel Tapier Stock Dove Tartary Stork Taurus Stralsund Tear Strombolo Temperate Sturgeon Zones Submarine TenerifF Plants Tennessee Suez Thibet Sugar Thorn Plant Sugar Cane Tide Sugar Maple Tiger Sulphur Tigris Sumach Tin Sumatra Tobacco Sun Tomberongs Sun Dew Tombuctoo Sun Flower Tonquin Superior LakeTormentil Susquehanna Tornado Swallow Torpedo Swan Torrid Zone Swan Trafalgar Sweden Transfusion Transmigra- Water Che- tion nut Trenton Water Fowl* Tripoli Water Spout Triumvirate WaterWythe Troy Wax Tree Tunis Week Turkey Weregild Turks West-Indies Twilight Whale Tyre Wheat U. White Moun- United States tains V. Wild Ass Vaccination Wild Boar Vapor Wild Goose Varnish Tree Wild Horse Vegetable Wild Men Diet Wild Pine Venice Willow Venus Wind Venus Winter's Vermont Cinnamon Vesuvius Wire Vienna Wolf Vine Wooden Col- Virginia lar Volcanos Woodpecker W. Z. Wales Zabians Walnut TreeZealand New War Belts Zebra Water Zinc HISTORICAL DICTIONARY. A. or Higher Ethiopia, an ancient king* dotn in Africa ; bounded on the north by Nubia, and on the east by the Red Sea; lying between 6 and 20 de- grees of north latitude 5 and extending about nine hun- dred miles in length, and eight hundred in breadth. Lofty mountains are scattered all over this country 5 in one of which, called the Mountain of the Moon, the Egyptian Nile has its source. For half the year they en- joy a cloudless sky ; the other six months is a rainy sea- son, attended sometimes with dreadful winds, and tre- mendous thunder and lightning. Although Abyssinia lies wholly v/ithin the torrid zone, its atmosphere has dif- ferent degrees of temperature 5 the air in the vallies is extremely warm, but cooler on the mountains. The complexions of the inhabitants are also different 5 some. are olive coloured, and others black. This country sup- plies Egypt and a part of Arabia with slaves. JEvery year (says Volney) a caravan from Abyssinia arrives at Cairo, on its way to Mecca, and brings from a thousand to twelve hundred black slaves, as also elephants' teeth, gold-dust, &c. The Abyssinians attribute the founda- tion of their monarchy to Menelec, a son f the queen of Sheba ; their religion seems to be a mixture of Chris- tianity, Judaism and Paganism. To prevent insurrec- tions and rebelion, they confine the sons of their kings Ujjon a high mountain, where they are guarded and main- tained at the public expense. This" singular ;eustoiit gave rise to Dr. Johnson's Rasselais, a production of great ingenuity and merit. ACAPULCO, a city in New Spain, on a bay of the Pacific Ocean, two hundred and ten miles south-east of the city of Mexico. It is the seaport by which the com- munication is maintained between the different parts of B 2 ACORN ADDER AFRICA. the Spanish empire in America, and the East Indies. About the month of December, the great Galleon, attend- ed by a large ship as a convoy, annually arrives here. The cargo consists of all kinds of rich commodities and manufactures of the east. At the same time the annu- al ship from Lima, the capital of Peru, conies in, and is computed to bring not less than two millions of pieces of -eight in silver, besides other valuable commodities. Several other ships? from different parts of Chili and Peru, meet on the same occasion ; and the great fair, in which the commodities of various countries are barter- ed for one another, lasts thirty d&ys....Winterbotham. ACORN, the seed or fruit of the oak ; it was reckon- ed, in former times, an important article of human sus- tenance. We are told by historians that our ancestors, in the forests of Germany and Britain, fed on this fruit as a luxury ; and that violent quarrels sometimes arose between the chiefs of their clans, respecting the division of their crops of acorns. According to Vohiey, the peasants of Syria, at this day, depend for a considerable part of their food on oak- acorns, which they gather up- on mount Lebanon ; for if they raise barley and wheat* the Arabs of the wilderness come in harvest-time, and rob them of their crops. ADDER, a snake of the viper kind. Its body is ^hort and thick, and spotted with yellow. Its motion in running is slow $ when provoked it throws itself into a coil, flattening the head, brandishing its forky tongue, and hissing as a goose. Like the rattle-snake it springs at a singleleap towards the object of its vengeance, about the length of its body. The poison of its bite is mortal, unless a proper antidote be speedily administered. This venomous serpent was considerably common in some of the oldest settlements in New-England, forty or fifty years ago ; but the detested race has been gradually extirpated. AFRICA, one of the four principal divisions of the globe, surrounded almost by water ; being bounded by le'literranean, the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, the Red Sea ? and the isthmus of Suez, which is a strip of AFRICAN SERPENT AGOUTI. 3 land, one hundred and twenty miles wide, that divides it from Asia : the greater part lies within the torrid zone. All the inland parts of Africa, seem in all ages of the world to have been in the same barbarous and uncivilized state in which we find them at present. This remarkable circumstance seems to be principally owing to their being necessarily secluded, by their lo- cal situation, from commerce and social intercourse with the rest of the world. There are in Africa no great inlets, such as the Baltic and Adriatic seas in Europe, the Mediterranean and Euxine seas in both Europe and Asia, and the gulphs of Arabia, Persia, India, Bengal, and Siam, in Asia, to carry maritime commerce into the interior parts of that great continent; and the large rivers of Africa are at too great a distance from one another to afford advantages for any considerable inland navigation.- Jidain Srvith. AFRICAN SERPENT. We are told that while Regulus, the Roman general, led his army along the banks of tj ie river Bagrada in Africa, an enormous ser- pe-Ei disputed his passage over. We are assured by Pliny, who says that he himself saw the skin, that it was an hundred and twenty feet long, and that it had de- stroyed many of the army. At last, however, the bat- tering engines were brought out against it 5 and these assailing it at a distance, it was soon destroyed. Its spoils were carried to Rome ; the skin was kept for several years after in the capitol ; and Pliny (who though a credulous writer, has never been charged with wilful falsehood) says, he saw it there.- Gold-* smith. AGOUTI, an animal resembling a rabbit, and found in great abundance in the southern parts of America. It is hunted by dogs, before which it runs* with great swiftness until it gains its retreat, wherein it continues to hide, and nothing but filling the hole with smoke can force it out. For this purpose the hunter burns fagots or straw at the entrance, and conducts the smoke in such a manner, that it fills the whole cavity. While this is doing the poor little animal seems sensible of its clanger, and begs for quarter with a most plaintive cry, A AIR. seldom quitting its hole till the utmost extremity. Goldsmith. AIR, that colourless, transparent, compressible, elas- tic fluid, which every where surrounds our globe to a certain height : and gravitating towards its centre, is carried along with it, and partakes of all its motions, botli annual and diurnal. We not only derive from the 4iir the breath of life, but it is also the medium of sight mid sound ; insomuch that without it we could neither see nor hear. The vast body of air that encompasses our globe is generally called atmosphere, and has been computed to be about forty-ei^ht miles in height, and about eight hundred times lighter than water. The weight of the column of air that presses on the superfi- ces of the body of a middle-sized person, is computed to be, at a medium, thirty-nine thousand and nine hun- dred pounds. The difference of the weight of the air, which our bodies sustain at one time more than anoth- er, has been proved to be equal to about three thousand find nine hundred pounds, between the greatest and the least pressure. Our bodies would be instantly cashed ;and destroyed by the weight of the atmosphere, if its pressure were not equal, or nearly equal, on every part of their superfices. The atmosphere is a heterogene- ous body. Besides ten thousand different steams from minerals, vegetables and animals, which are constantly ascending and mixing with the atmosphere, the serial body itself is of a compound nature, consisting of three different species of air; namely, of vital air, of azotic air, and of fixed, or carbonic air. The common pro- portion of vital air, called oxygen, is, in the atmosphere, about one fourth ; that of azote about five eighths ; and that of carbonic nearly one sixteenth. We cannot brc-athc without a proportion of oxygen, or vital air; both the other species of air being unfit for respiration. Of the three original species of air, the carbonic is the ;<>st, and next in gravity is the oxygen. The spe- ciiic gravity of azote compared with that of common at- ir.os]>1n'ric air, lias been found to be as nine hundred and forty- two to a thousand. TVitlich, Quincy, Ruther* ford. AJACIO ALEPPO ALGIERS. 5 AJACIO, an extraordinary tree, that grows on the shores of the Antilles islands. According to Labat and du Tetre, it grows to such a prodigious size, that out of one log of it they make a boat capable of carry- ing so many as forty men. This tree is also the only one, of those shores, which is never attacked by the sea worm, an insect so formidable to every other spe- cies of timber which floats in those seas, that it de- vours whole squadrons in a very little time, and occa- sions the necessity of sheathing the bottoms of the ves- sels with copper. tf. Pierre. ALEPPO, the capital of the Turkish province of Sy- ria 5 situated in the vast plain which extends from the river Orontes to the Euphrates 5 it possesses the ad- vantage of a rich and fruitful soil, and also that of a stream of fresh water, ^hich never dries. Aleppo is not exceeded in extf^r&y any city in Turkey, except Constantinople ?iftd Cairo, and perhaps Smyrna 5 it is in itself one of the most agreeable cities in Syria, and is, perharv> 9 the cleanest and best built of any in the TurK^t empire. This city is the emporium of Arme- IVi'a" and the Diarbeck, that is, of the ancient Mesopota- mia, between the river Tigris and the Euphrates. It sends caravans to Bagdad, and into Persia ; and com- municates with the Persian gulph and India, by Basra ; with Egypt and Mecca, by Damascus 5 and with Eu- rope, by Alexandretta. The inhabitants are Christians and Turks, and are, with reason, esteemed the most civilized in all Turkey ; the European merchants no where enjoy so much liberty, or are treated with so much respect. Volney. ALGIERS, one of the states of Barbary in Africa 5 extending six hundred miles in length \ bordering on Tunis, on the Mediterranean, on Mount Atlas, and on Morocco. The air is temperate 5 the land towards the north is fertile in corn ; ; "the vallies are full of fruit ; the melons have an exquisite taste ; the stems of the vines are so large that a man can hardly grasp them with his arms ; and the bunches of grapes are a foot and a half long. The city of Algiers, which is the capital of this country, is a strong town, built on the declivity of a B 2 * ALLEGANY ALLIGATOR. mountain, and is in the form of an amphitheatre ilex;! the harbor ; insomuch that the houses rising one above another, make a very fine appearance from the sea. The climate is delightful $ extreme heat is not com- mon 5 seldom is frost seen ; the earth is covered with almost perpetual verdure. The Christian slaves in Al- giers were formerly computed at four thousand $ lately they amounted to no more than twelve hundred.* Morse. ALLEGANY, a vast range of mountains, running north-easterly and south-westerly, nearly parallel with the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, and extending rom Georgia to the river Hudson, about nine hundred miles In length. This range, as to its principal ridges, is call- ed the back bone of the United States. The immense territory lying between the Allegany, the Mississippi, and the lakes, was formerly dunned by the French ; who, in order to enforce their claims-erected a chain of forts to command that whole territory. To one of those forts, George Washington, while yet a youth $nd scarce- Iv arrived to manhood, was sent by the governof-o Vir- ginia, on an important embassy 5 an embassy, the duties of which he discharged with remarkable ability and prudence, and at the imminent hazard of his life. Had the French gained their point, they w r ould have en- circled the Anglo-American colonies, from Nova-Seo- tia to the Mississippi, as with a vast belt. ALLIGATOR, or American crocodile, a formidable species of animals, which are seen in great multitudes in several of the rivers of Georgia and the Floridas. The alligator, when full grown, is of prodigious strength, activity, and swiftness in the water. Some grow from twenty to twenty -three feet in length ; their body is as large as that of a horse, and nearlv resembles a lizard. Their scales, when the animal is alive^ are impenetrable- even to a rifle ball, except about their head, and just be- hind thcpr fore legs, where only they ape vulnerable. The head resemlilee, at a distance, a great chump of wood floating about upon the water ; the mouth of a ve- ' pens about three feet in width, displaying rows of very long, thick, strong teeth, which are as. ALPS AMAZON. 7 white as the finest polished ivory. When they clap their jaws together it causes a surprising noise, and may be heard at a great distance, they have a loud and terri- ble roar, which most resembles very heavy distant thun- der 5 and when hundreds of them are roaring together, it seems as if the earth itself were agitated. These ri- ver monsters are often seen lying in great numbers up- on the banks, where they seize hogs and other animals, which go to the river to drink. They sometimes attack small boats with such fury, as to put the lives of the boatmen in great jeopardy. Bartram. ALPS, the highest mountains in Europe, being about two miles in perpendicular height ; dividing Italy from France, Swisserland and Germany : they have but few passes, and those difficult of access. The prospect from many parts of this enormous range of mountains is ex- tremely romantic. One of the most celebrated is the Grand Chartreuse, on the top of which a monastery was founded in 1080, and continues to the present time. The distance from a little village at the bottom of this mountain to its top, is six miles. Along this course the Jo?Vd runs winding up, for the most part not six feet broad. On one hand is the rock, with woods of pine trees hanging overhead, and on the other a prodigious precipice, almost perpendicular, at the bottom of which rolls a deep torrent. The highest peak in the Alpine range, is called Blanc , or White , because its summit is always covered with snow : it is situated in the duchy of Savoy, which duchy is now called Mont Blanc by the French, who seized it in 1792, and made it an 84th de- partment of France. M. de Sassure measured Mont Blanc, in the year 1784, and found its altitude to be fif- teen thousand six hundred and sixty -two feet above the level of the sea : its top seems to reach and even pierce the highest region of the clouds. Walker. AMAZON, a river in South America, which has its source among the Andes, in Peru $ whence running eastward, it pours into the ocean, directly at the equa- tor. This largest of all rivers is, at its mouth, one hun- dred and fifty miles broad, and fifteen hundred miles from its mouth; 13 thirty or forty fathoms deep. It 8 AMAZONIA AMERICA. runs at least three thousand miles ; receives in its course near two hundred Bother rivers, many of which are five or six hundred leagues in length ; and, in pouring itself into the ocean, repels its waters to the distance of many leagues from the land. Walker. AMAZONIA, a large country in South America* fourteen hundred miles in length, and nine hundred in breadth ; situated between the equator and 20 south latitude ; bounded north by Terra Firma and Guiana ; east by Brazil ; south by Paraguay, and west by Peru. This country was first traversed in 1580, by Francisco Oreilana, who coming from Peru, sailed down the great river to the Atlantic Ocean. Observing companies of women in arms on its banks, he called the country Ama- zonia, or the land of the Amazons, and gave the name of Amazon to the river, which had formerly been called Maragnon. The soil is very rich and fertile ; the trees, fields, and plants, are verdant all the year round. The rivers and lakes are infested with crocodiles, alligators, and serpents. Their banks are inhabited by different tribes of Indians, governed by petty sovereigns distin- guished from their subjects by coronets of beau&fc] Feathers. The Indians of this country are of a good stature, and have comely features ; and are said to nave a taste for painting and sculpture, and to be ingenious in learning the mechanic arts. The Spaniards have made many attempts to settle in Amazonia, but their designs have been rendered abortive. Morse, Walker. AMERICA, a vast continent, discovered by Christo- pher Columbus, in 1491 ; but took its name from Ameri- cus Vespusius, a Florentine, who, a few years after the discovery of this continent, having accompanied Ojeda, fuisii adventurer hither, and drawing up an amus- ing history of his voyage, insinuated therein that he was the fii -t discoverer. The American continent is nearly Mid miles from north to south, and its average ! -li from east to west is computed to be from eigu- !rcd to Uvo thousand miles. It has the loftiest is and the largest rivers in the known world ; braces .every variety of climate, and yields almost kind of production that may be found on airy part AMMON AMSTERDAM. 9 flic globe. Only a small proportion of America is under cultivation. It has been thought to contain a 3opulation of one hundred and fifty millions ; but some ate writers, with the appearance of truth, compute its- whole number of inhabitants as not exceeding fifty mil- lions, which is scarcely a sixth part of the supposed population of China. P la AMMON, one of the titles of the heathen god Jupi- ter. The Greeks called him Jupiter, and the Egyptians Ammon ; and in process of time these two names were united, and he was called Jupiter -Ammon* From No- ah's son Ham (whence came the name Ammon) Egypt and Lybia were first peopled after the flood $ and when idolatry began to prevail in the world, Ham, their pro- genitor, became the deity of the people of these coun- tries, and a temple was built to his honor in the midst of the Lybian desarts, ahtmt eighty leagues from Mem- phis in Egypt. Ale:;u,nder, after liis conquest of Persia, undertook an arduous journey through deep and burn- ing sands, from. Memphis to the temple of Jupiter-Am- mon, for the purpose of being declared by the Oracle to be the son of the god ; and having gained his point by bribing the priests, he thenceforward in all his let- ters, orders, and decrees, wrote in the style following : Alexander, king, son of Jupiter -Amman. In allusion to Alexander's claim to godship, is the appellation that Pope gives him in the following line : " Or let young Ammon loose to scourge mankind." AMSTERDAM, a very rich commercial city in Hol- land, computed to contain about a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. The ground upon which it is Iwilt being originally a morass, the foundation of the city is laid upon piles driven deep into the miry bottom $ and most of the streets have canals, with rows of trees on each side. Its public buildings are numerous and splendid ; its air is bad, and its waters unwholesome. The two circumstances which chiefly contributed to the rapid growth and prosperity of this city, were the fall of Antwerp, and a general toleration in matters of religion, at a time when persecution raged in England 10 ANCIENT EMPIRES. and on the continent of Europe. No people ever car- ried commercial avarice to a greater length than the citizens of Amsterdam, especially during the seven- teenth century. In 1638, one Beiland, a merchant of that city, having carried on a contraband trade, and being taken and examined by the prince of Orange, he profanely replied, that he was free to own, if to get any thing by trade it were necessary to pass through hell, he was ready to burn his sails. See ANTWERP. ANCIENT EMPIRES. The most celebrated an- cient empires were the Assyrian, the Chaldean, the Median, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman: empire. The first empire, after the flood, was the As- syrian, whose capital was Nineveh, which was founded by Ashur, the grandson of Noah. The ambitious war* oV the Assyrians during five hundred years, threw Asia into confusion. At length Babylon of the Chaldees, from being; the vassal of Nineveh, became her rival, and the seat of a new empire $ and the i^des, some time after, shook off their yoke, and dispossessed the Assyri- ans, their former masters ; whose last king w'as Sarda- napulus, the most effeminate and debauched among hu- man beings. The transfer of empire from the Assyri- ans to the Medes happened about nine hundred years before the nativity of our Saviour. The famous Cyrus, whose father was a Persian, and his mother the daugh- ter of Astyages, king of Media and sovereign over Assy- ria, put an end to the Chaldean empire by the conquest of Babylon ; and afterwards driving Astyages, his grandfather, from his throne and kingdoms, he united Media, Assyria and Chaldea, to Persia, and thus raised the Persian empire to a prodigious greatness. The Persians, under Cyrus, within the space of thirty years, extended their conquests from the river Indus to the Mediterranean sea. About three hundred and thirty years before our Saviour's birth, Persia was conquered by Alexander the great ; and the Macedonian empire iii-D.sc. to \;jst height ot power and splendor. This em- pire, which was spread in Asia, Europe and Africa, was '-nimbled to pieces, and brought into subjection by .the FlmiKtns ; who extended their dominion, for a long time, over almost all parts of the known world. In the ANDESANGORA GOAT. 11 fifth century, the western Roman empire was overrun and subdued by innumerable hordes of wandering shep- herds, called Goths, Vandals, and Huns, from the for- ests of Germany, north of the Danube. Each of these empires had been a mighty oppressor and scourge to the human race ; and each, in its turn, (only the Per- sian excepted) has by the overruling hand of Provi- dence, been utterly wiped off from the face of the earth. ANDES, a vast chain of mountains in South Ame- rica. They stretch along the Pacific Ocean from the straits of Magellan to the isthmus of Darien, upwards of four thousand miles 5 thence they run through the ".sive kingdom of New-Spain, till they lose them- selves in the unexplored countries of the north. M. Boquer lound the highest part of this chain to be twen- ty thousand live hundred and seventy feet in height ; this is the highest mountain, by above five thousand feet, of any in the known world. The Andes have six- teen volcanoes, which break out in various places, and by melting the snow, occasion such torrents, that num- bers of men and cattle have perished. They are passa- ble only in summer, and require three or four days to reach the top of any one of the highest. Some of the largest rivers on the globe have their origin in this pro- digious range of mountains. Moore, Williams. ANGORA GOAT, a species of goat, so called, be- cause found in its highest excellence, in the neighbor- hood of Angora, a city of ancient Syria. They are of a dazzling white colour, and, in all, the hair is very long, thick, fine, and glossy ; which is indeed the case with almost all the animals of Syria. There is a great number of these animals about Angora, where the in- habitants drive a trade with their hair, which is sold either raw or manufactured, into all the parts of Eu- rope. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the stuffs which are made from the hair of almost all the animals of that country. These are well known by the name of camlet. The great antiquity of this kind of manufac- ture is evident 5 as we are told in sacred scripture, that 1C ANIMALCULES ANJOU CABBAGE ANT. Ibe curtains of Moses's tabernacle were made of goat's hair, probably of that of the Angora goat. ANIMALCULES, extremely small animals, gene- rally applied to such as are not visible to the naked eye. All parts of the terraqueous globe, the air, earth, and water swarm with living creatures, which are so small as to be seen only by the help of glasses. Lewenhoek reckoned up some thousands of animalcules, furnished with fins, in a single drop of water. Others have been found, whose feet are armed with claws, on the body of the fly, and even on that of the flea. It is credible from analogy, that there are animals, or animalcules, feeding on the leaves of plants, like cattle in our meadows ; which repose under the shade of a down imperceptible to the naked eye. St. Pierre. ANJOU CABBAGE, a very useful vegetable, which till very lately, was unknown in England. The seed was supplied by a French emigrant, and it has recently been brought to perfection, near Bristol. It is so ten- der, that it is dressed in three or four minutes' boiling. It alibrds excellent food for cattle, and they feed upon it very greedily ; it occasions cows to yield abundance of milk, and at the same time keeps them in flesh. In bulk, rapidity of growth, and for the little culture it requires, it exceeds all others of the cabbage species. The stalk acquires the thickness of a man's leg, and is used when dry for fuel. ANT, a well known insect, remarkable for a won- derful degree of industry and economy : of this little animal there is a variety of species. According to Goldsmith, in that part of Africa, called the Golden Coast, there is a species of ants which raise a pile sev- eral feet high for their dwelling. They are so numer- ous, large, and voracious, that no animal can withstand their united attack ; and when they seize their prey in jjivat numbers, they will eat oft* every particle of flesh from the body. ' The voyagers to New Holland, or New ; i Wales, have found there innumerable swarms of Yich build their nests upon trees, by bend- ing down the leaves, and gluing them together so as to ANTHONY'S FALLS ANTELOPE ANTIMONY; 13 form a purse. Though these leaves are as broad as a man's hand, they perform this feat by main strength, -thousands of them being employed in holding down the leaves, while multitudes of others apply the glutinous matter. If they are disturbed in their work by med- dling people, they instantly throw themselves by thou- -sancfs upon the intruders, and revenge themselves by their bite or sting, which is little less painful at first than the sting of a bee, but the pain is momentary.- Cookers Voyage. ANTHONY'S FALLS. The falls of St. Anthony are in the river Mississippi, in 44 50' north latitude ; and to this point the river is navigable. Here the whole river, about fifty rods in width, falls perpendicularly above thirty feet, and forms a most pleasing cataract. At a little distance below the falls is a small island, about an acre and a quarter, on which grow a great number of oak trees 5 all the branches whereof, able to bear the weight, are, in the proper season of the year, loaded with eagles' nests. Their instinctive wisdom has taught them to choose this place, as it is secure or* account of the rapids above, from the attacks either of man or beast. Morse. ANTELOPE, a beautiful little animal, from which is taken the bezoar-stone. The Arabs have a very hand- some sort of antelopes which they rear in their houses. They become domestic, and are models of agility and gracefulness. They are so familiar as to be trouble* some. They leap in general by three springs, of which the second is the longest, and all their feet rise and come to the ground together. They are in height from thirteen to fifteen incries, and can leap six r seven feet. Their coat is grey, with a silver belly 5 and their horns, which are straight, are of a shining black, and never longer than two inches. These animals are re* mark able for requiring but very little nourishment 5 a quality which the barrenness of the country where they breed renders necessary. Grandpre. ANTIMONY, a blackish mineral substance, staining the hands, hard, brittle, and considerably heavy. It i* C 14 ANTIOCH - ANTIPODES. found in different parts of Europe, as Bohemia, Saxo- ny, Transylvania, Hungary, France, and England. An- timony is the stibiam of the ancients, and was used by them in paint ; with this Jezebel blackened her eye- brows, as the women of Georgia, in Asia, do at the pre- sent time. It is not only used medicinally in the dis- eases of animals, and for fattening horses and swine ; but it is a common ingredient in specula or burning f lasses, serving to give the composition a finer texture, t also makes a part in bell-metal, and renders the sound more clear. It is mingled with tin, to make it more hard, white, and sounding, and with lead, in the casting of printers' letters, to render them more smooth and firm. It is used also in the casting of cannon balls, and for purifying and heightening the colour of gold. Encyclopaedia* ANTIOCH, a port town ot Syria, once esteemed the third city of the world, but is now in ruins. This is the place where the disciples of our Saviour were first called Christians: it belongs to the Turkish empire. In the time of Trajan the Roman emperor, the city of An- tioch, together with a great part of the adjacent coun- try, was overwhelmed by an earthquake. About three hundred years after, in the time of the emperor Justin- ian, it was once more destroyed, together with forty thousand inhabitants ; and, after an interval of sixty years, the same ill-fated city was a third time overturn- ed, with the loss of not less than sixty thousand per- sons. Goldsmith. ANTIPODES, in geography, those who live so dia- metrically opposite to each other, that if a right line were continued through the earth, each of its extremi- ties would touch the feet of one of the parties. Long after the learned in Europe were convinced of the glob- ular form of the earth, there were many of them who doubted the practicability of sailing round it. Accord- ingly some of the most learned men in Spain, to whose consideration the projected voyii/;o of Columbus was submitted, objected to it : that if a ship should sail west- ward on a round globe, she would necessarily go down, n tne opposite fcicle. and then it would be impossible ANTWERP APE APIS. 15 to return ; because it would be like climbing up a hill, which no ship could do with the strongest wind. Bel- knap. ANTWERP, a capital ojity in. Brabant, situated on each side of the river Scheld. From two to three cen- turies ago, the wealth and commerce of this Dutch city were prodigious ; two thousand and five hundred mer- chant vessels arriving in its port in one year 5 and the value of the merchandise imported in the single year 1550, amounting to one hundred and thirty -three mil- lions of gold. During the long and bloody struggles of Philip II. of Spain, to subjugate the Dutch, Antwerp was besieged by a powerful army ; and after a very gal- lant defence, was obliged, in 1585, to acknowledge the sovereignty of Philip. This was owing to a most shameful cause. The Hollanders, and particularly the citizens of Amsterdam, obstructed every measure pro- posed for the relief of Antwerp, hoping to profit by its reduction. The protestants, it was concluded, would forsake it, as soon as it fell into the hands of Philip. The conjecture proved just; Antwerp went hourly to decay 5 and Amsterdam, enriched by the ruin of her sister, became the greatest commercial city in the Neth- erlands. Russell. APE, an animal of the monkey kind, and nearly re- sembling the human form. The female has but a sin- gle young one at a time, which she carries on her back ; and when she suckles it, she takes it in her arms and gives it the breast, in the same manner as a woman does to her child. They are remarkable for mimick- ing the actions of human beings. Among the ancients the ape was in demand (doubtless from mere curiosity) as a commercial commodity ; and it made a part of the lading of Solomon's ships from the east. Fenning. APIS, an ox, or bull, venerated as a divinity by the ancient Egyptians, and fed and worshiped, at Mem- phis. This ox must be distinguished by certain extra- ordinary marks ; particularly, its whole body was to be black, except a white square spot on the forehead. When a calf was found, with these and other necessary 16 AP?LE TRSE-APOLLO'S STATUE-ARABIA. marks, it was carried in triumph to the temple of Osiris^ at Memphis, where it was kept and worshiped as the representative of that deity. Whenever the apis died, great grief spread over the land of Egypt, and contin- ued till another proper calf was found. It was in imi- tation of this idolatry, that the Israelites who had emi- grated from Egypt, worshiped the golden calf in the wilderness. APPLE TREE, one of the most valuable fruit trees in the world : this excellent tree is said to have been brought into Italy from Syria and Africa, a very few years before the nativity of our Saviour. Apple trees should be kept from their first growth pruned in such a manner as to spread very much, rather than to run up tall $ they should be cleared from limbs which stop and choak out the free circulation of the air. From May to November, manure eaough to smother and kill the grass, should be put about the stems of the youn^ trees ; but after the beginning of November, it should be carefully removed, as the held mice would otherwise j;naw the bark, and spoil the trees. APOLLO'S STATUE, a brazen statue, f of a prodi- gious size, dedicated to the god Apollo. It had former* ly stood in the city of Gela in Sicily. The Carthage - nians having taken it, about four hundred and twelve years before the nativity of Christ, had given it by way of present to the city of Tyre, which was the mother of Carthage $ and the Tyrians had set it up in their city, and worship was paid to it. During Alexander's seige of Tyre, on a dream which one of the citizens had, the Tyrians imagined that Apollo was determined to leave them, and go over to Alexander ; and immediately they fastened with a golden chain, his statue to the altar of Hercules, the tutelar god of the city, to prevent Apollo from making his escape. Such strange ideas did some, of the wisest among the pagan nations entertain of tluir divinities \RolUn. ARABIA, a country of Asia, situated between twelve and thirty degrees north latitude ; extending fourteen huadred and tuirty miles jin length , and twelve hundred APvBELA. 17 In T>readth ; bounded by the Red Sea and the isthmus of Suez, by the river Euphrates, by the Persian Gulph, and by the Indian Ocean. It was through the desarts or wilderness of Arabia, that the children of Israel pass- ed in their memorable journey from Egypt to the pro- mised land ; and in this country is me mount Sinai where God gave the law to Moses. The Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael, a " wild man*' himself, and his posterity, for almost four thousand years, equally un- tameable. This wonderful people, through a long suc- cession of ages, have suffered no change in their man- ners. At all times they have been distinguished for the same rapacity and ferociousness ; for their robberies and piracies 5 for their hospitality to the man that is un- der their roof, and their readiness to rob and murder him when they find him abroad ; and for their invinci- ble love of liberty and bravery in its defence 5 having made extensive conquests over other nations, but never been conquered themselves. The Arabic is probably the most extensive living language in the world. It is the language of several hundred millions of people. Besides Arabia, it is spoken in Syria, Persia, part of In- dia, and of China, half of Africa, in Turkey, and in all the sea-coasts of the Mediterranean to which the Turk- ish empire extends. This extraordinary extensiveness of the Arabic, is owing to its being the language i which the Alcoran of Mahomet was written.' ARBELA, an ancient city of Asia, near the river Tigris 5 famous for the battle, called the battle of Arbe- la, fought in its neighborhood, between Darius, king of Persia, and Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. The army of Darius consisted at least of six hundred thousand foot, and forty thousand horse ; while that of Alexander was no more than forty thousand foot, and seven or eight thousand horse. The Persians were de- feated with the loss of three hundred thousand men, be- sides those who were taken prisoners. This decisive battle subdued Persia, and threw its immense trea- sures into the hands of Alexander. The invaluable provinces of Babylonia, Susiana, and PeVsis, with their respective capitals of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, were the prize of this victory. The gold and silver C % 18 ARCHIPELAGO-AREOPAGUS ARGAL'S LAWS. found in those cities amounted to thirty millions ster- ling; the jewels and other precious spoil, belonging to Darius, sufficed, according to Plutarch, to load twenty thousand mules, and five thousand camels. Rollin, En- eyclopoedia. ARCHIPELAGO, a part of the Mediterranean sea. The numerous islands in the Archipelago, several of which were famous for wealth and power as well as sci- ence, were pessessed by the ancient Greeks 5 the most celebrated of these islands was Crete, (now called Can- dia) which had more than a thousand cities, towns and villages. These islands are now in the possession of the Turks, \vho have withered the beauty of every country over which their power has extended. AREOPAGUS, a celebrated Athenian tribunal : it was in the city of Athens, on the summit of a rock OF hill opposite to the citadel ; the word Areopagus signi- fying literally rock of Mars. The judges of this cour$ Toted with pieces of flint, held between the thumb and lingers 5 putting their votes into two urns, the one call- ed the urn of death, and the other the urn of compassion. In the primitive condition of the Areopagus, the judges were remarkable for their integrity and impartiality j but in process of time they degenerated : they condemn- ed the wise and virtuous Socrates ; three hundred and sixty -one of them, on that occcasion, casting their votes into the urn of death. St. Paul was brought before this high and ancient court ; where he delivered that pow- eifui address recorded in the 17th of Acts ; and Dyo- msius, one of the judges, was converted by him to the Christian faith. ARGAL'S LAWS. In 1617, captain Samual Ar^al was appointed deputy -governor of the colony of Virgin- ia, under lord Delaware, and admiral of the adjacent seas. To counteract the ill eftects of the indulgent go- vernment of Yeardley, his predecessor, Argal, exercis- ed a military despotism, which hardly has a parallel in the history of the colonies. A specimen of his severe discipline may be seen in the following edicts, recorded in the ingenious and learned Dr. Belknap's Jlmerican ARGATI ARIETOES. 19 " He fixed the advance on goods import- ed from England at twenty -five per cent, and the price of tobacco at three shillings per pound ; the penalty for transgressing this regulation was three years' slavery* No person was allowed to fire a gun except in his own defence against an enemy, till a new supply of ammu- nition should arrive ; on penalty of one year's slavery. Absence from church on Sundays and holidays, was punished by laying the offender neck and heels, for one whole night, or by one week's slavery ; the second of- fence by one month's ; and the third by one year's slave- ry. Private trade with the savages, or teaching them the use of arms, was punishable by death. These and similar laws were executed with great rigor by Argal ; who, though odious to the colony, was never punished, but was afterwards knighted by king James." ARGATI, or Wild Mountain Sheep, an animal com- mon in Kamptskatka, but unknown in Europe, except in Corsica and Sardinia. Its skin resembles that of the* deer, but it nearer approaches the goat in its gait and general appearance. Its head is adorned with two large twisted horns, which, when the animal is at full growth, sometimes weigh from twenty-five to thirty pounds 5 and are rested on the creature's back when it is running. They are remarkably swift and active ; they frequent only the most craggy and mountainous parts, and traverse the steepest rocks with astonishing rapidity. They are extremely beautiful, and their flesh is sweet and delicately flavored. Of their horns are made spoons, platters, and cups, by the Kamptskadales, who often have one of the latter hanging to a belt, serving them to drink out of when in their hunting ex- peditions. Cookers Voyage. ARIETOES, the name of the public dances among the natives of the island of Hispaniola, or St. Domingo. At these arietoes or public dances, (which were appro- priated to particular solemnities amd accompanied by historical songs) it was customary to dance from even- ing to the dawn ; and although fifty thousand men and women were frequently assembled together on these occasions, they seemed to be actuated by one common SO ARMADAARTILLERY. impulse ; keeping time bj responsive motions of their hands, with a wonderful exactness. Bryan Echvards. ARMADA. The prodigious Spanish fleet, called the Invincible Jzraiada, was fitted out by Philip II. of Spain, for the conquest of England, and appeared in the English channel in the year 1588 ; having on board about twenty thousand land forces. There was also a vast number of flat-bottomed vessels prepared to trans- port into England an army of thirty -five thousand men, assembled in the Netherlands. This fleet consisted of a hundred and thirty ships, of which the most were pro- digiously large ; and when it was first discovered in the channel, it appeared in the form of a crescent or half- moon, stretching at the distance of seven miles from the extremity of one division to that of the other. Though the English navy was infinitely inferior, in number and size, it boldly attacked the armada, cap- tured several ships, burnt several others, and dispersed the rest ; which meeting with a violent storm, not one half of them returned to Spain, and a still less propor- tion of the soldiers and seamen. This terrible blow to their naval power, the Spaniards have never since re- covered. liussdl. ARTILLERY, great guns or cannon. They were i.sed in 1346, in the battle of Cressy : where Ed- ward III. had four pieces of cannon, which greatly con- tributed to gain him the victory over the Frencli, who had only small arms. Those who are used to artil- lery are able to judge accurately of the direction in li a cannon is fired, by comparing with each other the two Hashes of powder ; the one from the muzzle, and the other from the touch-hole. Standing on a wall :;rtifi cation, and critically observing those two Hashes, they determine v '/ether the ball goes to the right, or to the left, or is coming to the very spot where they are ; in the latter case tK?.y take care to leap as as they see the Hash. Bomb -shells may be plainly seen in \ 'lie air; but in some casts', the inJ ASH -ASIA -ASP, 1 the rattle-snake. Capt. Drinkwater, in his account of the last siege of Gibraltar, says, " This sudden arrest of the faculties was nothing uncommon 5 several in- stances occurred to my own observation, where men, totally free, have had their senses so engaged by a shell in its descent, that though sensible of their danger, even so far as to cry for assistance, they have been immovea- bly fixed to the place. But what is more remarkable, (continues he) these men have so instantaneously re- covered themselves on its fall to tVe ground, as to re- move to a place of safety before the shell burst." ASH, a common and useful tree. The white ash in particular, is a stiff, light, and durable timber, and is much used for carriages, and for many of the tools em- ployed in agriculture. The bark of this tree is an ex- cellent antidote for poison. It is an undoubted truth, that the natives of this country, who are generally well acquainted with the virtues of indigenous productions, have the white ash in great estimation as peculiarly ef- ficacious against the poison of venomous snakes. The bark, used as an antidote may be chewed, or, what is better, a decoction of it swallowed with milk. Jhtterican Museum. ASIAj one of the four great divisions of the world ; lying east of Europe, and extending more than four thousand and seven hundred miles in length, and al- most four thousand and four hundred in breadth. The frigid zone in Asia is much wider than it is in Europe ; the former continent hardly knows a temperate zone. From the Northern Ocean to Caucasus, (says Montes- quieu) Asia may be considered as a flat mountain ; tnence to the ocean that washes Persia and India, it is a low and level country, without seas, and protected by this immense range of hills (that is, by the chain of mountains called Caucasus) from the polar winds. The Asiatic is, therefore, wanner than the European conti- nent, below the fortieth degree of latitude ; and above that latitude, it is much more cold. Jldavii Sm ASP, a small poisonous kind of serpent, whose bite gives a speedy and certain death : it lies convolved in * 22 ASPHALTITES ASPHODEL ATHENS. circle, in the centre of which is the head. This spe- cies of serpent is said to be plenty in Africa, and particularly about the banks of the Nile. It was with the asp that Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, is said to have dispatched herself, and thus prevented the designs of Augustus, who intended to have carried her captive to adorn his triumphal entry into Rome. Lord Bacon considers the asp as the least painful of all the instru- ments of death. He supposes its poison to have an af- finity to opium, but to be less disagreeable in its opera - t i on . En eye lopcedia. ASPHALTITES, a lake in ancient Canaan, about twenty -four miles long, and six or seven broad : situated south of the river Jordan, and receiving into its bosom the waters of Jordan, Arnon, and Kedron. It is called JlsphaltiteS) on account of the bitumen with which it abounds ; it is also called the Dead Sea, by reason that it contains neither animal nor vegetable life. Volney affirms, that there is no verdure to be seen on its banks, nor fish to be found in its haters. This lake is likewise called the Sea of Sodom, as it is supposed to cover the ground of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, together with that of the whole vale of Siddim, which are thought to have been sunk by an earthquake after the destruction by fire from heaven. ASPHODEL, the Day Lily. There are six species ; and by some of the unenlightened ancients were plant- ed near burying-places, to supply the manes of the de- ceased with nourishment. Hence may be seen the beau- ty of Pope's lines : Penning. " By those happy souls who dwell " In yellow meads of Asphodel" ATHENS, a city of ancient Greece ; and was the most celebrated seat of learning and of the fine arts : it is now called Seiincs 9 and is the capital of a province in European Turkey. As the Athenians had a greater thirst lor learning than any other people, so they re- le, which surrounded the tower, was adorned with saci\ ^d furniture in the same precious metal 5 a golden altar an* ^ table, and a magnificent statue of the god, seated on a throne of solid gold. RusseL See HOST and ZABIAJ\ T S. BABOON, ,an animal of the monkey kind, from three to lour feet high when standing erect, very strong built, with a thick body and limbs, and canine teeth. Its hand? as well as its feet are armed with long, sharp claws ; am BABYLONBAGDAD BAIA. it can easily overcome more than a single man, unless armed. At the Cape of Good-Hope, they set about rob- bing an orchard or a vineyard with surprising skill and regularity ; forming a line reaching all the way from the orchard or vineyard to the place of rendezvous, and tossing the fruit from one to another all along the line, till it is safely deposited at their head quarters.* The natives of the Cape often take the young of these animals, and feeding them with sheep or goat's milk, accustom them to guard their houses ; which duty they perform with great punctuality. Goldsmith. BABYLON, an ancient city, which in its prosperity, was one of the wonders of the world for magnificence ; situated on a watery plain, at no great distance from the river Tigris, in Asia, and was the capital of the Chaldean empire. It is said to have been fifteen miles square, with walls three hundred and fifty feet high, and eighty- seven feet thick, and with beautiful gardens suspended aloft in the air. This famous city, during the impious feast of Belshazzar, was taken by Cyrus ; who having turned the course of the river that run through it, marched his army into the city, along the river's bed. Babylon has been, for thousands of years, vast heaps of mouldering ruins, till at last it can hardly be told where it stood j and it is remaakable, that, while this city was yet in its glory, the manner of its capture, and its" utter destruction, were clearly and circumstantially foretold by the prophets. BAGDAD, a city of Asiatic Turkey, near the spot where ancient Babylon stood. It is thought to contain more treasure than any city of equal size in the world ; and the immense quantity of specie found in the coffers of the late Rya (or prime minister) of Bagdad, seems to warrant such a conjecture. He was murdered (a fexv years ago) by conspirators employed against him by his successor in office $ and when the'bashaw seized on his property, an exact account was taken of his treasure, which amounted in value to upwards of three millions sterling. Jackson* BAIA, an inconsiderable town of Italy, situated at 6 B AID ARES BALBEC B AL OON. the bay of Naples. This town was once famous for its hot baths and elegant palaces. The Romans, when sunk in luxury and voluptuousness, constructed on the shores of Baia, saloons underneath the waves of the sea, in order to enjoy the coolness and the murmuring noise of the water, during the summer. St. Pierre. BAIDARES, a kind of boat formed of whalebone, and covered with the skins of seals. In this boat the Sibe- rians, (a people belonging to the Russian empire) sail in one day, during the summer, from the continent of Asia to the western coast of the continent of America. During; winter, they pass from one continent to the other, in a day, with rein deer. (Hooke's Voyage. BALBEC, (anciently the celebrated Heliopolis, or city of the Sun) a town of Syria, situated near Mount Lebanon. Many incidents, together with the perni- cious government of the Turks,nad contributed to the gradual ruin of this once famous town ; when an earth- quake, in the year 1759, completed its destruction. This earthquake is said to have destroyed, in the valley of Balbec, upwards of twenty thousand persons a loss which was never repaired. For three months, the shocks of it terrified the inhabitants of Lebanon so much as to make them abandon their houses, and dwell un- der tents. Volmy. BALOON, a thin light tegument, filled and inflated with inflammable air 5 which being seven times lighter than common air, it will, according to the established laws of specific gravity, rise in the common atmos- phere. The first human being that adventured in this aerial navigation, was M. Pilatre de Rozier, a French- man, who rose in a lar;e baloon from a garden in the city of Paris, on the loth of October. 1783, and remain- ed a considerable time suspended in the air. 1 month of June, 1785, de Roller, together with M. Ko- main, rose in a baloon, from Boulogne ; and after hav- !Ken a mile' high, for about half an hour, the baioon took lire, and they were both dashed to pieces by fall. Mr. Rozier (says Dr. Darwin) was a phUpso- pheir of great talents and activity, joined with such ur- BALTIC--BAMBARRA. 27 banity and elegance of manners, as conciliated the af- fection of his acquaintance, and rendered his misfortune universally lamented. Miss Susan Dyer, an amiable young lady, was engaged, in a few days to marry this gentleman, who had promised her to quit such danger- ous experiments in future. She was a spectatress ^ of this terrible accident, lingered some months, and died from excessive grief. BALTIC, a large inland sea in the north of Europe ; having on its coasts Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Prussia and Germany. In the Baltic is neither ebb nor flow; yet there are always two opposite currents 5 an upper current that sets tlirough the sound into the ocean, and an under current that is perpetually rushing in from the ocean. Hence a boat in the sound may be kept station- ary, by means of a basket full of stones : when this is thrown overboard, and suspended at a proper depth by a rope, the boat is prevented from being carried along with the upper current, by the pressure of the opposite current beneath on the basket. In winter this sea is commonly frozen for three or four months ; owing prob- ably to the influx of several large rivers into it, which render its waters so fresh that they may in some mea- sure be used for culinary purposes. There is said to have been a constant gradual decrease of the waters of the Baltic, and that it recedes from its shores at the rate of about forty-five inches in a century 5 perhaps, how- ever, it may have gained as much in some parts of it* coasts as it has lost in others. BAHBARRA, a kingdom of Africa on the river Ni* jer. The land is fruitful, and highly cultivated ; the face of the country is charming ; the people are civilized , but are terrified at the sight of a white man. Mun- go Park arriving at a village in this kingdom, was re- garded with astonishment and fear, and no man would admit him into his house : meanwhile night was coming on, a black cloud denoted an approaching tempest, and the wild beasts were roaring for their prey. In this for- lorn situation a venerable negro woman happened to find him ; her pity overcame her fears ; she conducted him to her dwelling, lighted up a lamp, fed him with boiled 8 BAMBOOBANANA TREE. jrice, spread a mat upon the floor, and told him to sleep there without apprehension. Her female domestics, who had stood gazing on him,. in fixed astonishment, she then ordered to resume their task of spinning cotton, in which they continued to employ themselves through the Jiight. They lightened their labor by songs, one at least of which was evidently composed extempore ; for Park himself was the subject of it. It was sung in a aweet and plaintive tone of voice, by one of the young women, the rest joining in a sort of chorus : the words, literally translated, are these : " The winds roared, " and t!?e rains fell ; the poor white man, faint and weary, * 6 came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to " bring him milk 5 no wife to grind his corn." Chorus. ** Let us pity the white man } no mother has he." BAMBOO, a kind of reed, that grows to the height d size of large trees. The trunk is hollow, and divid- ed at certain spaces by knots, but is very strong, and capable of sustaining an enormous weight. The bam- boo reeds are used as pipes to convey water ; when split lengthwise and divided into thin slips, they are woven into mats, trunks, and various other works; paper is also made from a certain paste procured from them, af- ter they have been bruised, and steeped in water. Some build houses of bamboo reeds. At MareveUe-island, as Perouse relates, they came to a village consisting of about forty houses ; the foundations of which were raised about four feet from the ground 5 the walls and floors being made of bamboo, and the roofs covered with leaves. They had the appearance of bird cages suspended in the air. The whole materials of such a house, he says, would most probably, not weigh more than two hun- dred pounds. BANANA TREE, a tree of invaluable utility to the inhabitants of some tropical countries. This, (says St. Pierre) in the opinion oi some, is the most useful tree in the world, because its fruit makes excellent food, with- out any art of cookery; having a most agreeable flavor, and possessing very nutritious qualities. It produces a clusU-mf sixty or four-score fruit, which come to ma- turity all at once ; but it pushes out shoots of every dc- BANIAN TREE BANISERILE. 29 gree of magnitude, which bear in succession, and at all times. Dampier calls this the king of trees, and affirms Jhat multitudes of families live, between the tropics, on this pleasant, wholesome, and nourishing fruit, which lasts all the year round, and stands in no need of any of the arts of cookery. BANIAN TREE, or Indian Fig, a native of the East Indies, and one of the most majestic plants. Some of these trees are of amazing size and vast ex- tent, as they are continually increasing, and seem to be exempted from decay. Every branch from the main body throws out its own roots ; at first in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground ; these continually grow thicker until they reach the surface, and there striking in, they increase to large trunks, and become parent-trees, shooting out new roots from the top 5 these in time suspend their roots, which, swelling into trunks, produce other branches 5 thus continuing in a state of progression as long as the earth continues her sustenance. One of these trees, near the English settlements has, in the aforemen- tioned manner, multiplied itself into three hundred and fifty stems, each larger than English elms; and the whole forming a close shade sufficiently extensive for several thousand men to repose under. This delightful pavilion is generally filled, overhead, with green, wood-pigeons, doves, peacocks, and a variety of leathered songsters 5 and crowded with families of mon- kies, perform ing their antic tricks. The Hi doos ven- erate the banian tree as an emblem of the Deity , from its long duration, its distended arms, and overshadow- ing beneficence. Emydop&di a. BANISERILE, a negro town, the capital of Dehti- la in Africa. A native of this place who had been three years absent, and arrived in company with Mungo Park, invited the latter to go with him to his house ; at the gate of which the negro's friends met him, with many expressions of joy at his return, shaking him by the hand, embracing him, and singing and dancing be- fore him. As soon as he (the negro) had seated him- self upon a seat by the threshold of his door, a youjif D 30 BARBADOES BARBARY BAREIN. woman, his intended bride, brought a little water in a calabash, and kneeling down before him, desired him to wash his hands ; when he had done this, the girl, \vith a tear of joy sparkling in her eyes, drank the wa- ier ; this being considered as the greatest proof she could possibly give of her fidelity and attachment. Park. BARBADOES, one of the British West India isl- ands, twenty-one miles long, and fourteen in breadth. The fertility of this little island is prodigious ; inso- much that is said to have contained, in 1670, fifty thousand whites, and a hundred thousand blacks, anj to have employed sixty thousand tons of shipping. Its population is greatly decreased : owing considerably to the dreadful hurricanes with which it lias often been yisited : one of which, October 10, If 80, destroyed no less than four thousand three hundred and twenty-six of the inhabitants ; the force of the wind being so great as to lift up and carry several paces, some pieces of cannon. Barbadoes being the first English settle- ment in the West Indies, was planted, 1625. The af- fecting story of Inkle and Yarico, in the Spectator, had Its rise in this island ; the earliest settlers having been notorious for kidnapping the natives, and selling them into slavery. BARBARY, a division of North Africa ; being a fer- tile region along the Mediterranean, lying opposite to Spain, France and Italy, and divided into five kingdoms, namely, Morocco, Fez, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. Could we. suppose the western bason of the Mediter- ranean sea to have been once dry land, bating a lake, or recipient for the surrounding rivers, this region (fturbary) might be considered as a part of Europe -$ as it i possesses much more of the European than the African character. >Rennel. BAREIN, a swift footed animal, that abounds at Kamptskc'itka. Bears put in practice a remarkable stratagem to catch these animals, which run too swift for them to expect much in pursuing them. The ba- teiua herd together in great numbers, at the bottu" BARILLH A BARLEY BARTHOLOMEW'S. 3 i precipices ; at the top of which the bear conceals him- self, and, with his paws, pushes clown upon them large pieces of the rock. If he perceives that he has killed or maimed any of the flock, he descends and devours the prej. There appears to be a peculiar sagacity in the bear of this country. The Kamptskadales are in- debted greatly to their bears not only for their food and clothing, but for their medicines. They say that tlieir knowledge of the medicinal virtues of certain plants was obtained by their ancestors, from observing the use made of them by bears, when sick or maimed, Cookers Voyage. , BARILLHA, a plant, whose salts are used in manu- facturing glass. When this plant is grown to its pitch, it is cut down, and let dry ; afterwards it is burnt and calcined in pits, like lime kilns, dug in the ground for that purpose ; which are closely covered up with earth, so that no air may come at the lire. The inattei> by these means, is not reduced into ashes only, but is made into a very hard stone, like rock salt, which must be broken with hammers to get it out. Chambers. BARLEY, a common grain, and highly useful both for beer and for food. " Barley, (says Count Rum- ford) will thicken and change to a jelly much more water than any other grain with which we are ac- quainted, rice even not excepted ; and I have found reason to conclude from the result of common experi- ments, which in the course of several years have been made under my direction in the public kitchen" in the house of industry at Munich, that for making soups, barley is far the best grain that can be used." The Count further remarks : " Were I called upon to give my opinion in regard to the comparitive nutritiousness of barley meal and wheat flour, when used in soups, I should not hesitate to say that I think the former at least three or four times as nutritious as the latter." BARTHOLOMEW'S, a day consecrated to Bartho- lomew, one of the saints in the popish calendar : it ha* been stained by one of the most wanton and bloody mas- sacres that ever sliQC&eU htunaoity. Charles IX. of 32 BASTINADO. France, in confederacy with his mother, Catharine of Mcdicis, the Duke of Guise and other leaders of the popish party, had privately planned the destruction of the French protestants throughout the kingdom, by a general massacre. This infernal plot was conducted with the utmost secrecy; arid the protestants were lull- ed into a fatal security, by the insidious caresses of their murderers. On the eve of St. Bartholomew, being August 24th, 1572, in the midst of general festivity throughout the city of Paris, the royal guards were or- dered to be under arms : the ringing of a bell was the signal ; and the catholic citizens, who had been secret- ly prepared by their leaders for such a scene, zealously seconded the execution of the soldiery, imbruing their bauds, without remorse, in the blood of their neighbors, of their companions, and even of their relations. Per- sons of every condition, age and sex, who were suspect- ed of adhering to the reformed opinions, were involved in one undistinguished ruin. Charles, accompanied by his mother, beheld from a window this horrid massacre ; the king himself inciting the fury of the assassins, by firing upon the fugitives that passed him, and frequent- ly crying kill, kill I In Paris, and other parts of the kingdom, sixty thousand protestants (some of them men of the first rank) are supposed to have been massacred on that dreadful e\ r Q.~ltussell. BASTINADO, a cruel punishment practised in the Turkish dominions, and often inflicted upon the inno- cent, with a view of squeezing money from them. The victim is thrown upon his belly, and his legs raised up, so that the soles 01 his feet are horizontal. A chain is then thrown round both feet above the ancles, which are twisted together 5 and two fellows hold up the feet, by means of a stick that is fastened to the chain. Thus prepared, the blows upon the soles of the feet com- mence, and dve excrutiating pain. There have been instances of me bastinado having been repeated for three days successively, to the number of three thou- sand r after which the feet are generally left use - '"')! life 5 ami it often happens that before they have received bix hundred strokes, the blood gushes from tkeir mouth and nose ? and they die either under or soon T5ATAVIA BATON BAVARIAN SOLDIERS 33 after the operation. When the punsihment of the bas- tinado is inflicted on an alien, never so unjustly, and merely for the sake of extorting money from him, and the sufferer complains to a magistrate of the higher or- der, all he can get from him is this reply, " Mm Jillah, Macktub, Muckkader ! that is, it is from God, it is written in the book of fate, which cannot be altered." Antes. BATAVIA, a sea port town in the island of Java ; it is a wealthy mart, but extremely unhealthy ; insomuch that but very few Europeans who reside here for any considerable time, ever return. This Dutch town lies upon the most frequented road from Indostan to China and Japan, and is nearly about midway upon that road. Almost all the ships too that sail between Europe and China, touch at Batavia. And it is, over and above all this, the centre and principal mart of what is called the country trade of the East Indies ; not only that part of it which is carried on by Europeans, but of that which is carried on by the native Indians ; and vessels naviga- ted by the inhabitants of China and Japan, of Tonquin, Malacca, and Cochin-China, are frequently to be seen in its port. [Batavia has fallen into the possession of Great Britain}. Jldam Smith. BATON, an instrument for flagellation in China ; it is a piece of bamboo, a little flatted, broad at the bot- tom, and polished at the upper extremity. Every man- darin has authority to use it at pleasure, when any one forgets to salute him, or when he administers public justice. The offender who has undergone the flagel- lation of the baton on his naked body, must then throw himself upon his knees before the mandarin, incline his body three times to the earth, and thank him for the care he has taken of his education. Winterbotham. BAVARIAN SOLDIERS. Count Rumford relates, that the soldiers of the Duke of Bavaria in Germany, being provided with clothing by the government, victu- alled themselves, living on soups 5 that the sum total of a soldier's allowance for wages and victualling, was only two pence three farthings sterling a day $ that 34 BAY BEAR. tiro fifths of his pay remained as a saving to the soldier after lie had defrayed all the expenses of his own per- sonal subsistence ; that those soldiers are composed of some of the finest and strongest men in the world, whose countenances showed the most evident marks of ruddy health, and perfect contentment ; and that there were no soldiers in Europe whose situation was more comfortable. If this statement of Count Rumford be correct, it would cost less to victual an army of four or five thousand men in Germany, than of one thousand in the United States. BAY, an arm of the sea running up into the main land. Bays, with good harbors, greatly promote the inland navigation and commerce of a country : nor does any country possess this advantage more amply than the United States of America. Within this ter- ritory, besides innumerable small bays, are Casco, Pe- nobscot, Machias, Saco, and Passamaquoddy bays $ Massachusetts bay, between Cape Ann and Cape Cod; York bay, which spreads to the southward before the city of New-York ; Delaware bay, between Cape May and Cape Henlopen ; and Che bay, between Cape Charles and Cape Henry. The largest and most northern gulf or by, that has yet been discovered in North America, is Baffin's bay, which lies between the 70th and 80th degrees of north latitude, and w r as dis- covered by Mr. Baffin, an Englishman, in the year 1632, while he was attempting to find a north west pas- sage from Europe to the Pacific Ocean ; this bay, on the south side of Davis's straits, has a communication with Hudson's bay, through a cluster of islands. The bay of Fundy, which washes Cape Sable, is remarka- ble for the rapidity and height of the tides, that rise, in different places, thirty, forty, and sixty feet. BEAR, a savage and solitary animal which lives in is and unfrequented places, and chooses its den in LQst gloomy and retire* I parts of the forest, or in the mos( dangerous and inaccessible precipices of un- i mountains ; it retires alone to its den about the cud of autumn, at which time it is exceedingly fat, and lives for several week* in a state of total inactivity BEAUTY. 3j and abstinence from food. During this time the female brings forth her young and suckles them. She makes for them a warm bed, and attends them with unremit- ting care during four months, and in all that time al- lows herself but very little nourishment. The cubs are round and shapeless 5 and have scarce any resem- blance of what the creature is when arrived at maturity. In the spring, the old bears, attended with their young, come out of their retreats, lean, and almost famished by the long abstinence of their confinement. They as- cend trees with surprising agility, keep themselves firm on the branches with one paw, and with the other collect the fruit. Their chosen food is corn, sweet ap- ples, acorns, and nuts. When tamed, the bear may be taught to walk upright, to dance, to lay hold of a pole with its paws, and perform various tricks to entertain the multitude. According to Doctor Williams, the bear is frequently to be met with, and arrives to a great size in the state of Vermont; one having been killed there which weighed four hundred and fifty-six pounds. BEAUTY, a pleasing combination of complexion, features, and form. History and travels inform us, however, that opposite kinds of forms, features, and complexion, have been esteemed as beautiful, in differ- ent countries, and among different nations. A nose fall- ing in a straight line from the forehead, without the smallest sinking between the eyes, was esteemed the perfection of beauty among the ancient Greeks : this form they gave to the nose of the Grecian Venus. The old Romans praised their ladies for their flaxen locks, and even for the redness of their hair ; also for narrow foreheads, and eye-brows joining in tha middle. In Tonquin, black teeth are thought a great ornament : also red teeth, and hair painted white, give beauty its highest charms among the people of Thibet. The pas- sion for coloured teeth obtains likewise in China and Japan ; where, for a complete beauty, the lady must have little eyes nearly closed, and feet so cramped and small, that she hobbles rather than walks. With the Moors, beauty would seem to mean magnitude of bulk ; for, according to Park, the mothers cram their girls to make them plump and large. Among the inhabitants 36 BEAVER. of some of the western parts of Africa, a flat nose, thick lips, and jet black complexion, are considered as among the highest personal charms 5 while some of the Flori- da Indians flatten the heads of their children, in order- to render them conformable with their ideas of beauty. In short, while the Europeans and Anglo-Americans paint the arch-fiend black to render him hideous, the negroes of Guinea paint him white for the same reason. BEAVER, a native of America, valuable for its fur and castor, the latter of which is contained in four bags in the lower belly. This animal is between three and four feet in length, and weighs from forty to sixty pounds. His head is like that of a rat, inclined to the earth 5 bis back rises in an arch between his head and tail ; his teeth are long, broad, sharp, and projecting two inches beyond the jaw. and are curved like a car- penter's gouge. In his fore-feet the toes are separate, as if designed to answer the purposes of lingers and hands : his hind-feet are accommodated with webs, suited to the purpose of swimming. ..His tail is a foot long, an inch thick, and live or six inches broad : it is covered with scales, and with a skin similar to that of a fish. From the necessity of his nature he spends a part of his time in the water, and a part of it upon the Sand ; and he seeks a dwelling that is most suitable for these opposite modes of living. These amphibious animals choose a convenient situation for a dam, cut down trees with their teeth, gnaw oft' the branches from the trunk, cut it into convenient and equal lengths, drag the pieces of wood to the stream, and swim with them to the place where the dam is to be built. They sink one end of the stakes, and the other end they raise, fix and secure; they form earth into a kind of mortar with their feet and tail^, bring it in their mouths, and spread it over the vacancies between the stakes, twisting in and working up with this slime the small branches of 1rcos 5 minding always to leave sluices near the middle of the dam, for the redundant waters to pass oft". As soon as they have completed their dam, which some- is extends a hundred feet in length, and flows sev- eral hundred acres, their next care is to build them- sel\ cs houses. These houses are built ? with wood and BEET BELL. 37 slime, upon piles or strong stakes, along the borders of their pond, and are of an oval form, gradually tapering from the bottom to the top. They are never less than two stories, generally three and sometimes four : each of these huts has two doors; one on the land side to enable them to go out and procure provisions by land, and the other, under water, below where it freezes, to preserve their communication with the pond. The male and female pair, and live in families ; the small- est hut containing one family, and the largest several. A more full account of the sagacity and social nature of this wonderful animal may be seen in doctor Wil- liams's ingenious history of Vermont. BEET, a valuable esculent root, easily raised, and considerably used in this country. Jts juice is said to be capable of producing excellent sugar, and in great plenty. Mr. Achard has found, that, from that kind of beet called scarcity root, sugar may be obtained in such plenty, that, as he affirms, the sugar of this origin might be afforded at five pence sterling per pound. The Prus- sian government offered Mr. Achard six thousand dol- lars as a reward for his invention, if he could prove it to be equal to the uses ascribed to it, and would give it up at once to that government.' JV*. Lon. Itev. BELL, a machine hung in steeples of churches ; made of a compound metal of tin and copper, or pew- ter and copper, in the proportion of twenty pounds of pewter, or twenty- three pounds of tin, to one hundred weight of copper. Bells are said to have been invented by Paulinus, bishop of Nola in Naples, about the year 400 ; they were first known in France in 550 5 and were introduced into churches in England about the year 909. The largest bell in the known world is in the ca- thedral of Moscow in Russra. It was presented by the empress Ann 5 and, (according to Mr. Walker) weighs four hundred and thirty -two thousand pounds. In the dark ages of popery, bells were baptised, and anointed with holy oil ; they were also exorcised by the bishop, from a belief, that in consequence of those ceremonies, the bells would have power to drive the devil out of the air. Hence it was their custom to riii^ bells when it E 58 BENGAL BERMUDAS. thundered in order to drive oft' " the prince of the pow- er of the air;" and also when any of their communion were dying that the devil might be so astounded at the noise of the holy machine as to give the departing soul an opportunity to get the start of him. The popish book called the Golden Legend, remarked, " The evil Spyrites that be in the regyon of the ayre, doubt motcli (that is, are much perplexed) when they here the bells BENGAL, a country in India ; situated on each side of the river Ganges, and being under the sovereignty of the English East India Company. Its capital is Calcut- ta, lying on the west arm of the Ganges, one hundred miles from its mouth. This country has been called the Paradise of India. Such are its advantages of soil and climate, that the inhabitants of Bengal are able to sub- sist by less labor than the people of any other country in the known world. Rice, which forms the basis of tneir food, is produced in such plenty, (always two and riot un- frequently three crops in a year) that two pounds are of- ten sold for a farthing. Mop pieces of cotton and silk are manufactured iti Bengal, than in any other country of Indostan of three times the same extent. The agents of the British East India Company, by inciting the na- tives to civil wars, by monopolizing pro visions and there- by causing most dreadful and extensive famines, have rendered this delightful country a scene of distress and wretchedness ; and have changed one third of it, from extreme populousness, to a mere desart, inhabited by wild beasts. "The civil wars, (says colonel Dow, a Scotch officer in India) to which our violent desire of creating nabobs gives rise, were attended with tragic;! i effects. Bengal was depopulated by every species of public distress. In the space of six years, half the great cities of this opulent kingdom were rendered desolate ; the most fertile fields in the world laid waste, and f.ve millions of harmless and industrious people were either expelled or destroyed." !iMU!)AS, a cluster of small islands, computed jibout four hundred in number, situated about two hundred leagues from Cape Hatteras iu Carolina: BERRING'S STRAITBERWICK. 33 Deceived their name from John Bermudas, a Spaniard, who discovered them. The air is pure and salubrious, and fruits of various kinds grow in luxurious plenty and perfection ; but the islands being surrounded with rocks and shoals are very difficult of access. It was this cir- cumstance, perhaps, that gave these islands, in former times, the reputation of being enchanted. Jordan, in a publication in 16 15, called "*N*ews from Bermuda," says, " Whereas it is reported that this land of Bermuda, with the islands round about it, are enchanted, and kept by evil and wicked spirits, it is a most vile and false report.'' BERRING'S STRAIT, a narrow sea, between the GOth and 70th degrees of north latitude, and took it& name from captain Berring, who first discovered it in the year 17S8 : it separates Asia from the American continent; these two continents approaching within forty miles of each other. It has been ascertained, that, to the north of this strait the Asiatic shore tends rapid- ly to the westward, while the American shore stretches nearly in a northerly direction, till at the distance of about four or five degrees, the continents are joined by solid and impenetrable bonds of ice. The two con- tinents are now known to approach so near to each oth- er, that, even throwing out of view the probability of passing from one to the other on the ice, the passage might easily have been effected by means of canoes, o* small boats.- Miller. BERWICK, a small town on the borders of England and Scotland : it stands on the north or Scottish side of the river Tweed, near the sea ; it is memorable for the following extraordinary incidents : In the year 1333, while Edward III. filled the throne of England, and Ba- liol was king of Scotland, the English monarch besieged Berwick with a powerful force. He held in custody the eldest son, together with a younger son, of sir Al- exander Seton, the governor of the town ; the former as a hostage, and the other as a prisoner of war; and contrary to all good faith, honor and humanity, he threatened the governor, that if he refused immediately to surrender the town he would hang up his two sons in the front of the ramparts. Remonstrances and entrea- 40 BETEL BEZOAR STONE BIRCH TREE. ties were offered in vain. Edward ordered a gibbet to be erected in full view of the town, to carry into execu- tion his most detestable threat. The trial was too great almost for human nature to sustain, Seton, nobly strug- gling between contending impulses that put every sen- timent to the rack, would, it appeared, have yielded to nature, and saved the lives of his children, by sacrificing his country's honor and his own, had not his wife, the own mother of the devoted victims, with a degree of he- roism worthy of a Roman matron, stepped forward, and with the. most forcible eloquence argued to support his principles, and sustain his trembling soul ; and, while the bias of natural aftection yet inclined him. to relax, she withdrew him from the shocking spectacle, that he might preserve his rectitude, though at the inestimable expense of the lives of their sons. Edward with a re- lentless heart put them both to death, and Seton kept possession of the town. Fuller. BETEL, a plant that, in the eastern countries, is chewed like tobacco. It grows like ivy, twisting itself around trees; its leaves are long and sharp -pointed, broad towards the stalk, and of a pale green. The Chinese chew these leaves continually, pretending that they strengthen the gums, comfort the brain, expel bile, nourish the glands of the throat, and serve as a preser- vative against the asthma, a disease very common in th& southern provinces of China. Winterbotham. BEZOAR STONE, a substance of great efficacy against the poison of serpents. The best are those which are found in the bladder of the antelope : the dealers say they are all derived from that animal. These men suffer themselves to be stung in the finger by an enormous black scorpion, which they irritate bv striking it on the back. The wounded part is then made to bleed by pressing it, and they immediately apply the bezoar. After a few minutes they pull away the stone ; and the wound has no swelling or appearance of irritation, and is perfectly cured. Grandpre. BIRCH TREE. This tree of which there is a variety of kinds, extends in northern latitudes beyond any BIRDMEN. 41 tree else ; and at the extremity of vegetation spreads its branches on the ground, and, as to the dwarfish spe- cies, does not rise a foot in height when of a considera- ble age. The birch is so necessary to the Laplanders, that they could scarcely exist without it. Of the outer bark, when cut into thongs and interwoven, they make fishing shoes, ropes, baskets, and many other utensils ; and also of it contrive a cloak, fastened close to the head, which is an excellent defence against the rain. The branches of the dwarf-birch, piled up regularly, and co- vered with the skin of rein-deer, form the Laplanders bed. He also burns this shrub, to drive away his chief annoyance the gnats, by a constant smoke which per- vades his building throughout, as he has no chimnev. With the bark of the birch the Tartars cover their hats, and construct portable boats, cradles and other furni- ture. The North American Indians make their canoes of the same material, and draw the plans of their trav- els on it. The bark of a certain kind of birch exhibits a luminous appearance, resembling phosphorus 5 emit- ting a light strong enough to read by in a darkened room. In times of remote antiquity books and records were written on the inner bark of birch. St. Pierre, in his Studies of Nature, says The bark of a certain kind of birch consists of an accumulation of ten or twelve sheets, white and thin, like paper, the place of which it supplied to the ancients. If we may depend on the tes- timony of Pliny and Plutarch, there were found at Rome four hundred years after the death of Numa, the books which that great king had commanded to be deposited with his body in the tomb. The body was utterly con- sumed : but the books, which treated of philosophy and religion, were in such a state of preservation, that Peti- lius the pretor undertook to read them by command of the senate. They were written on the bark of the birch tree. So great a benefit to multitudes of the human race has Providence made this tree, which, in our age and country, is of little estimation. BIRDMEN. There are men on the northern coasts and islands of Europe, and particularly in the island of St. Kilda, who get their living by catching the sea fowls that make their nests on the steep side ot stupendously 4 *v 4 BIRDS BISON. high rocks. Some of those rocks, hanging over the sea, are a perpendicular wall of solid stone, ten times higher than our tallest steeples : in the sides are large and small cavities, where the sea fowls, in innumerable multitudes,, build their nests. The birdman having a rope five or six feet long, makes it fast about his waist and between his legs, so that he can sit on it ; and five or six men, standing upon the top of the rock, let him down. When he has come to the holes of the rocks where the birds are, he creeps in among them, loosening himself from the rope ; and after he has killed as many fowls as he things fit, he ties them up in a bundle, and fastening himself again to the rope, makes a signal for them above to pull him up. 'Goldsmith. BIRDS. Of birds, or fowls of the air, there are known to be nearly two thousand kinds in the different parts of the earth. The species of birds arranged av.d described by Linseus, amounted to near a thousand. Since that time the number has been more than doubled by the inquiries of subsequent ornithologists. Though birds in general have less sagacity than quadrupeds, they often discover a surprising; degree of cunning and artifice. Rapacious birds uniformly endeavor to rise higher than tlieir prey, that they may have an opportu- nity of darting forcibly upon it with their pounces. To counteract their artifices, nature has endowed the small- er and more innocent species of bints with many arts of defence. When a hawk appears, the small birds if they find it convenient, conceal themselves in the hedg- es or brush wood. When deprived of this opportuni- ty, they, often in great numbers, seem to follow the liawk, and to expose themselv r es unnecessarily to tlan- ger 5 while, in fact, by their numbers, their perpetual es of direction, and their uniform endeavors to ;.i)ove him, they perplex the hawk to such a degree, \\-Aii he is unable to fix upon a single object ; and after exerting all his art and address, lie is frequently obliged 50 relinquish the pursuit. Miller, Smelae. BISON, a species of cow, with a hump between it* shoulders with a long mane, and a beard under its chin. VWds breed of cows is found iu all tiic southern pair BIRMINGHAM BITTERN. 43 the world ; throughout the vast continent of India : and throughout Africa, from Mount Atlas to the Cape of Good -Hope. The bison breed is more expert and do- cile than our species of cows ; they are nimble-footed, and supply the place of horses ; and when they qarry burdens, they bend their knees like the. camel to take them up or set them down. The regard for this animal, in India, lias degenerated into a blind adoration 5 and the Indian feels sure of paradise if he dies with the tail of this cow in his hand. The extreme usefulness of the animal led them first to prize it very highly, and then to adore it. With the Hottentots, the bison cow is taught to tend their sheep, which it does with wonderful ex- pertness and fidelity ; and is also taught to accompany them in war, and tight their enemies $ whom it furiously gores with its horns, and tramples under foot. These animals were once exceedingly numerous in the western parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania ; and so late as the year 1766, herds of four hundred were frequently seen in Kentucky, and thence to the Mississippi ; they are likewise common about some parts of Hudson's Bay.* Goldsmith, Winterbotham. BIRMINGHAM, a celebrated manufacturing town in England \ lying at the distance of one Hundred and sixteen miles from London. In the work of cutlers and locksmiths, in all the toys which are made of the coarser metals, and in all those goods which are commonly known by the name of Birmingham and Sheffield ware. there is such a cheapness as to astonish the workmen of every other part of Europe, who in many cases acknow- ledge that they can produce no work of equal goodness for double, or even for triple the price, in the manu- factures of Birmingham alone, the quantity of gold and silver annually employed in gilding and plating, is said to amount to more than fifty thousand pounds sterling. Mam Smith. BITTERN, or Mght Raven, a water fowl that chief- ly haunts the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers. It is of a palish yellow, spotted and barred with black*. Its windpide is fitted to produce the sound for which it is remarkable. This sound is like the interrupted bellow- 44 BITUMEN BLACK. ing of a bull, but hollo wer and louder, and is heard at a mile's distance, as if issuing from some formidable crea- ture at the bottom of the waters. It hides in the hedg- es, by day, and begins its call in the evening, booming six or eight times, and then discontinuing for ten or twenty minutes to renew the same sound. This bird is thought by the ignorant to be the foreteller of calam- ity and death ; and if it happen to set up a scream near a village, it affects the inhabitants with terror ; and if any person in the neighborhood chance to die soon after- wards, it is believed that the night -raven had foretold the event. Goldsmith. BITUMEN, a kind of pitch, being an exceedingly strong cement ; of which there was, according to Pliny, great plenty in Assyria. This was the slime used in building the tower of Babel : with this, Herodotus says, the walls of Babylon were cemented. It is thought to be the asphaltes, which, as Suidas, says, being mixed with bricks and small stones, the whole becomes as hard as iron. "Orion. BLACK, the colour of the robe of night. Beinard- ine St. Pierre contends, that ivhite increases the intensi- ty of the rays of the sun, while black weakens it ; that white hats in summer, more expose the head than black i and that, whitening the inside of apartments, by increasing the reverberation of the rays of light, increas- es the heat, and injures the eyes. He argues in proof of these principles, that animals whiten in winter, to- wards the north, in proportion as the sun withdraws from them, and that those of the south assume dark and dusky tints, as the sun approaches them ; that negroes, of a jet black, easily bear such an intensely hot sun as is found insupportable by people of a white skin ; and that, in the Isle of France, a country extremely hot, they mitigate the heat of their rooms, not by white- washing, but by using a sable -coloured wood for wain- scoting. Doctor Franklin, on the other hand, maintain- at, on philosophical principles, black clothes, black hats, &c. arc not so proper for a hot sunny climate, or for the summer season, as white ones. This he un- dertook to prove by several experiments / one of which BLACK-OAK BLOOP-HOUNDBOA. 4* / was the following. " Try," says the Doctor, " to fire paper with a burning glass : if it is white, you will not easily burn it ; but if you bring the focus to a black spot, or upon letters, written or printed, the paper will immediately be on tire under the letters." Public opin- ion is, in this instance, on the side of the latter of these celebrated philosophers. BLACK-OAK, a large tree of the American forests. Many of the black-oaks in Georgia, measure ten and eleven feet diameter, five feet above the ground ; whence they ascend perfectly straight, with a gradual taper, forty or fifty feet to the limbs. The bark of this species of oak is found to afford a valuable yellow dye. This tree is common in Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, New-York, and New-England. Bartram* BLOOD-HOUND, a dog of great use, and of high esteem among the ancient English. Its employ was to recover any game that had escaped wounded from the hunter, or had been killed, or stolen out of the forests. But it was still more employed in hunting thieves and robbers ; with which all parts of Europe were formerly so much infested as to render it dangerous to travel, or even to lodge in any house, except a fortified castle. The Spaniards brought over blood-hounds to Hispanio- la, or St. Domingo, to worry and mangle the timid and harmless natives ; and hunted them with these dogs in the forests and mountains, as if they had been wild beasts. BOA, the negro name of a great tree that grows in some of the parched districts of Africa, and in a won- derful manner furnishes supplies of water. The trunk of this tree, which is of a prodigious bulk, is naturally hollow like a cistern. In the rainy season it receives its fill of water, which continues fresh and cool in the great- est heats, by means of the tufted foliage which crowns its summit. Another manner in which Providence has contrived a supply for the thirst of man, in sultry pla- ces, is no less worthy of admiration. Nature has placed amidst the burning sands of Africa, a plant whose leaf, twisted round like a cruet, is always filled with the 46 BOILING BOS2KS BRAGANZ A. quantity of a large glass full of fresh water : the gullet of this cruet is shut by the extremity of the leaf itself, so as to prevent the water from evaporating. St. Pierre. BOILING. The following principles are stated by Count Ilumibrd : 1. Water once brought to be boiling hot, however gently it may boil, cannot possibly be made hotter by any increase of the quantity or intensity of the lire under it : hence, boiling water affords a uniform standard of heat, in all circumstances, and in all parts of the globe, being just as hot at the poles as at the equator. . More than live times as much heat is required to send ofi" in steam any quantity of water already boiling hot, as would be necessary to heat the same quantity of ice-cold water to the boiling point. Therefore, S. Caus- ing any thing to boil violently in any culinary process is very ill-judged : for it not only does not expedite, even in the smallest degree, the process of cooking, but it occasions an enormous waste of fuel ; and besides, by driving away with the steam, many of the more volatile and more savory particles, it renders the iood less nour- ishing and less palatable. BONZES, an inferior order of priests in China, re- sembling the friars and monks in the popish countries of Christendom. They are often seen in the squares and other public places, exhibiting themselves as frightful spectacles of mortification. Some of them drag, with great pain, along the streets, large chains, thirty feet in length, which are fastened round their necks and legs ; and some mangle their bodies, and make them appear all over bloody, by slashing their ilesh with a hard flint. In this situation they stop at the doors of people's hous- ' You see (say they) what we suffer, that we may ite your sins ; can you be so hard-hearted as to re- fuse us a small alms ? 99 ~Winterbottn BRAGANZA, a duchy of Portugal. In the year . Philip H. 1.5 seized upon Portugal; but 5n 1 (j^O, the 'Po: revolted, shook off the Span- ish \oU>. and elected for their king the duke of Bra- a, wSio took the name of John IV. and in whose fam- r since joiiiaiiicci, independent of Spain; BRAIN BRASS. 47 To this royal family was allied by marriage a descend- ant of the celebrated Christopher Columbus, the discov- erer of America. Isabella, daughter of Diego Colum- bus, and grand-daughter of Christopher Columbus, was married to Count de Gelves, a Portuguese nobleman of the house of Braganza 5 and being sole^heiress of the Columfrus family, she conveyed by her marriage her rights (that is,, a right to a tenth of the net profits of the mines of America, and to hold high civil authority in that country) to the house of Braganza ; where they continued till the year 1640 ; and then reverted to the crown of Spain, in consequence of the revolution which placed John duke of Braganza upon the throne. Bry- an Edwards. BRAIN, the soft substance within the skull. Mr. Somering thinks it probable that the soul is seated in the fluid of the ventricles of the brain. He infers this from the fact of the nerves of vision, hearing, taste and smell being all at their origin in contact with and expos- ed to the action of the fluid in the ventricles 5 from the same taking place with regard to the nerves of touch, and those belonging to the organs of the voice and the motions of the eyes ; from the impossibility of finding a solid part of the brain into which the termination of all the nerves can be traced ; from the nerves of the finest senses, viz. hearing and seeing, being most extensively expanded and most directly in contact with this fluid"; from the preternatural increase of this fluid in the ven- tricles of rickety children, which may perhaps be the cause of their uncommon acuteness of mind 5 and final- ly, from the fact, that no animal possesses.so capacious and so perfectly organized ventricles as man 5 they be- ing in the other mammalia (or animals that suckle their young) much smaller than in man. still less in birds, least of all in fishes, and absolutely wanting in insects, Driller. BRASS, a factitious yellow metal made of copper, melted with lapis caliminaris. The calamine is first calcined and ground to powder, then mixed with char- coal dust, and to seventy pounds of this mixture is add- ed five of copper ; which being placed in a wind fur- 48 BRAZIL, nace, eleven or twelve hours, the copper imbibes about one third of the weight of the calamine, and is convert- ed into brass. The ancient Corinthians had the art of manufacturing this metal in the highest degree of ex- cellence 5 insomuch that the Corinthian brass obtained over the world an immortal fame. When the city of Corinth, which was immensely rich, was taken by the Romans one hundred and forty-six years before the Christian era, those merciless conquerors first pillaged, and then set fire to it. At this time a famous metalline mixture is said to have been made, which could never afterwards be imitated by art. The gold, silver, and brass, which the Corinthians had concealed, were melt- ed, and ran down the streets in streams 5 and when the flames were extinguished, a new metal was found, com- posed of several different ones ? and greatly admired in after ages. BRAZIL, a country in South America 5 stretching on the coasts of the Atlantic,* from the equator to the mouth of the river Plata, thirty -five degrees south lati- tude ; extending two thousand and five hundred miles in length, and seven hundred miles in breadth : and comprehending all the Portuguese settlements in A- merica. The rivers in this country annually overflow their banks, and like the Nile, leave a sort of slime up- on the lands ; and the soil is in many places amazing- ly rich. The Brazilians import as many as forty thou- sand negroes annually. The exports ot Brazil are dia- monds, gold, sugar, tobacco, hides, drugs and medi- cines. The gold and diamond mines were first discov- ered in 1681 ; and have since yielded above five mil- lions sterling annually, of which a fifth part belongs to the crown. The Dutch having invaded, and partly subdued Brazil ; the Portuguese agreed to pay them ei-ht tons of gold to relinquish their interest in this country ; which they accepted. Brazil was planted with the vilest refuse of human society. In process of lime, the Portuguese Jews, persecuted by the inquisi- tion, stript of t.he'ir fortunes in Portugal, and banished to Brazil, introduced by their example some sort of order and industry, among the transported felons? by whom BREAD TREE- BMDGWATER'S CANAL. 49 that country was originally peopled, and taught them the culture of the sugar cane. Morse, Jldam Smith. BREAD TREE, a tree of Otaheite, one of the Socie- ty Islands, in the Pacific ocean : it has dark leaves, and is as big as a large apple tree. The fruit is round, and grows on the bows like apples, and measures to th size of the head of a new -born child. When ripe, it turns yellow, soft and sweet. As this fruit is in season eight months in the year, the natives feed on no other- bread during that time. The bread-fruit tree was car- ried from Otaheite to Great-Britain, in the year 1793* and, in 1797, more than three hundred plants of this tree were brought by captain Bligh from Otaheite to Ja- maica ; where they are said to flourish well. Bread is also made, as Mr. Park says, of small mealy berries, of a yellow colour and delicious taste, which grows plenti- fully in Africa. The Africans convert them into bread, by exposing them for some days to the sun, and after- wards pounding them gently in a mortar, until the mealy part of the berry is separated from the stone that it contains. This meal is then mixed with a little wa- ter, and formed into a cake ; which, when dried in the sun, resembles, in colour and flavor, the sweetest ginger- bread. Pliny relates that an army, in Lybia, had been fed with this bread. BRIDGWATER'S CANAL, a famous canal in Eng- land, projected and carried into execution by the duke of Bridgwater, about the year 1759 5 the duke being on- ly twenty-one years of age when he conceived the vast design. This canal unites the city of Liverpool with the populous town of Manchester. It is sometimes carried across vast rocks, hollowed at top. Sometimes it sud- denly vanishes, and makes a great number of turnings in a subterraneous passage eight English miles in length. After appearing, all at once it seems suspended in the air, and crosses the river Wevil by means of prodigious arches, in such a manner that one may often enjoy the picturesque sight of one vessel navigating in the stream below, and of another which crosses it, and seems to sail in the airy element above. Picture of England, F SO BRITAIN BRUNSWICK. BRITAIN. The island of Great Britain, compre- hending England, Scotland and Wales, is live hundred and fifty miles in length and two hundred and ninety in breadth. Forty-four years before our Saviour's nativity, Julius Csesar begun the conquest of the southern parts of Britain, which was completed by Agricola, the Roman general, in the eighty -fifth year of the Christian era ; the Romans keeping possession till the year 428 5 when, in- vaded at home, they withdrew their legions from this island. At that time the old inhabitants, or native Bri- tons, called the Saxons to their aid against the Picts and Scots ; these foreign auxiliaries subdued the country for themselves, and divided it into seven kingdoms, called the Heptarchy. The Heptarchy continued till 829, when Egbert having subdued the other petty sovereigns, uni- ted England under one government. In the year 1014, the TDanes subdued England 5 and Swain, from Den- mark, was proclaimed king : the Saxons, however, re- gained the throne. In the year 1066, William, duke of Normandy in France, invaded and conquered England, slew Harold the Saxon king in battle, and usurped the throne : from him has descended the present race of kings in that island. In 1603 the crowns of England and Scotland were united in the person of James Stuart, called James I. In 1707, the two kingdoms were uni- ted by the consent and decree of the parliaments of both nations ; taking thenceforward the name of Great Britain. This island has become the great mart of the world ; its commerce has been extended and its manu- factures carried to almost every nation. Its maritime power is far greater than has been ever in possession of any nation else. It owns large possessions in North America, and in the West Indies, and some in Africa ; and in the East Indies, fourteen millions of people bow to the British sceptre, BRUNSWICK, a country or duchy of the German empire. The house of Brunswick, since early in the eighteenth century, has held the sceptre of Great Bri- tain, by the 'following title. Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, had marricu a daughter of Henry II. of Eng- land. In the year 1180, the duke having raised trou- in Germany, and being put to the ban of the empire^ BUCCANIERS. $ and divested of all his dominions except the territory of Brunswick, he took refuge with his father-in-law in England ; where his wife bore him a son, from whom the present house of Brunswick, and consequently the present royal family of Great Britain, is descended. < Russell. BUCCANIERS, pirates in the West-Indies, who be- gun to infest the seas in the former part of the seven- teenth century. After the failure of the mines of His- paniola or St. Domingo, and the conquest of Mexico and Peru, which abounded with the precious metals, the Spaniards entirely neglected their West India islands, and betook themselves to the continent in quest of gold and silver. In consequence of the desertion of the isl- ands, all the European animals, especially the horned cattle, had multiplied exceedingly arid run wild. Allur- ed by the advantages of hunting these wild cattle^ cer- tain English and French adventurers, since known by the name of buccaniers, had taken possession of several of the islands. Their dress consisted of a shirt dipped in the blood of the animals they had slain ; a pair of trowsers dirtier than the shirt ; a leathern girdle, from which hung a short sabre and some Dutch knives 5 a hat without any rim, except a flap before to pull it off with ; and shoes made of raw hides, without stockings. These outcasts, after living a while by hunting cattle, turned pirates, and in open boats, attacked and captured trading ships of all nations, especially the Spaniards. They even attacked and plundered some of the Spanish settlements on the American continent ; murdering the men rav- ishing the women, and carrying them into cartivity. Their booty was carried principally to Hispaniola and Jamaica. These piracies they carried on about fifty years to the extreme annoyance of the commercial na- tions of Europe, as well as of the American colonies. His Britannic majesty, Charles II. did not disdain to be- come a partner in the buccaniering business ; he exacted and received a share of the booty ; and promoted Henry Morgan the most celebrated of the English buccaniers, to the office of deputy- governor and lieutenant-general in the island of Jamaica. Russell, Bryan Edwards. 52 BUFFALO BULL-BAITING BULL D06. BUFFALO, a large animal, found in great plenty in Canada. The horns of the buffalo are low, black, and short. He has a ^reat beard of hair under his muzzle, ftnd a large tuft of hair upon his head, which falls dowft upon his eyes, and gives him a hideous look. He has a great hump upon his back, which begins at his hips, and goes, increasing, up to his shoulders. This hump is covered with hair, somewhat reddish, and very long. The rest of the body is covered with black wool, which is much valued. Tliey say that the skin of a buffalo has eight pounds of wool on it. The skin is excellent : it is easily dressed ; and though very strong, becomes supple, like the best chamois. The savages make shields of it, which are very light, and which a musket ball will not easily pierce. BULL-BAITING, the worrying or teazing a bull, by getting dogs at him. The cruel and absurd diversion^ of bull-baiting and bull-fighting have been common in Spain ; originating probably from the Moors, who in former days inhabited that country. The Spanish young gentlemen, on horse back, and completely armed, en- counter an enraged bull, in the presence of their mis- tresses and a numerous concourse of spectators ; and the valor of the hero is proclaimed, honored and re warded, according to the number and fierceness of the bulls he has killed in these encounters. The poor in- habitants of small towns and villages club together, and purchase an ox, or a cow, and light this animal, riding upon asses, instead of horses. Guthrie. BULL DOG, the fiercest of all the dog kind, and ;ibly the most courageous creature in the world. It ,v in stature, but very strong and muscular. It* nose is short; and the under jaw projects beyond the upper, which gives it a fierce but unpleasant aspect. Its courage in attacking the bull is well known ; its fury in seizing, and its invincible obstinacy in maintaining its hold, are truly astonishing. It always aims at the front, and generally fastens upon the lip, the tongue, the eye, or some part of the face ; where it hangs, in spite of every effort of the bull to disengage BULLET BUTTERFLY-BUTTERN UT-TREE. 53 BULLET, an iron or leaden ball or shot, used to load guns with. A bullet passes through the air at the rate of three miles in a second, but the light of the burning powder is conveyed to the eye at the rate of a hundred and ninety -eight thousand miles in a second. There- fore persons, standing at a considerable distance and seeing the flash have time to fall to the ground before the arrival of the bullet, which would strike them before they could hear the report or sound of the gun : for this sound moves only at the rate of a quarter of a mile in one second. When a bullet passes through a man, it is with such velocity as to cauterize the wound and pre- vent an instantaneous effusion of blood ; and gun shot wounds usually take place it is said without much im- mediate pain. BUTTERFLY, an insect well known, and much ad- mired for its beauty : it is bred from the caterpillar. The wings of the butterfly are four in number, and though two of them be cut off, the animal can fly with the two others remaining. If we observe the wing of a butterfly with a good microscope, we shall perceive it studded, over with a variety of little grains of different dimensions and forms ; and nothing can exceed the beautiful and regular arrangement of these little sub- stances. Like the tiles of a house, those of one rank are a little covered by those which follow : and they are of a great variety of figures, some oval, some in the form of a heart, some triangular, and some resembling a hand open : yet the weight of the wing, though it be covered over with these scales, is very little increased thereby.- Goldsmith. BUTTERNUT-TREE, one of the valuable indigen- ous trees of the United States, which grows luxuriantly in many places, and is sometimes so large as to measure ten feet in circumference. The bark affords, by boiling in water, an extract that is found by experience, to pos- sess a purgative quality. This is safe, gentle, and effi- cacious 5 and when administered in doses, from fifteen to forty grains, operates downwards without griping. The nut of this tree is very rich, esculent and oily : the bark is used for dying cloths with various shade* of , Dr, Mitchell* F 2 54 CABRO DI CAPELLO CACAO TREE CAIRO, C. C'ABRO DI CAPELLO, a serpent that inflicts the most deadly wounds. It is from three to eight feet long, with two large fangs hanging out of the upper jaw. It has a broad neck, and a mark of dark brown on the fore- head. The eyes are fierce and full of fire, the head is small and the nose flat, though covered with very large scales of a yellowish colour ; the skin is white, and the large tumor on the back is covered with oblong and smooth scales. The bite of this animal is said to be in- curable, the patient dying in about an hour after the wound, the whole frame being dissolved into one mass of corruption.- 'Goldsmith. CACAO TREE, the tree that produces the choco- late nut, and is a native of South America. In size and shape, it somewhat resembles a young blackheart cherry. The flower is of a saffron colour, extremely beautiful, and the pods, which in a green state are much like a cucumber, proceed immediately from all parts of the body and larger branches. As they ripen, they change their colour, and turn to a fine bluish red, almost purple, with bluish veins. The cacao tree bears two crops a vear, yielding at each, from ten to twenty pounds weight, according to ihe soils and seasons. It is a tree of great delicacy : it is obnoxious to blights, and shrinks at the first appearance of drought. Bryaft Edwards. CAIRO, or Grand Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and a place of great commerce. Every year a caravan from Abyssinia arrives at Cairo, on its way to Mecca, and brings from a thousand to twelve hundred black slaves, as also elephant's teeth, gold dust, ostrich feath- ers, gums, parrots, and monkeys ; while another, con- sisting of not less than three or four thousand camels, multitudes of pilgrims, stops at Cairo annually, on way to Mecca, and on its return. The lading of caravans consists of India stuffs, shawls, gums, -ls, perfumes, and especially the coftee of Yemen. ; caravans arrive also from Damascus, with silk colton stuffs, oil, and dried fruits. Vessels come CALABRIA CALAIS. 55 likewise from Marseilles, Leghorn, and Venice, with cloths, cochineal, Lyons' stuffs and laces, paper, iron, lead, Venetian sequins, and German dollars. All these articles conveyed first by sea to Rosetta, in barks, are first landed there, then re-embarked on the Nile, and gent to Cairo. It is, notwithstanding, a filthy city, of- fensive to the smell, and to the sight. Volney. CALABRIA, a district of Naples in Italy. It is rich in vegetable and mineral productions, but liable to earth- quakes. One of the most terrible on record happened here and in Sicily in 1783. Besides the destruction of Jnany towns, villages, and farms, above forty thousand persons perished by this calamity. Mountains were levelled, and vallies formed in an instant ; new rivers began to flow, and old streams were sunk in the earth, and destroyed 5 plantations \vere removed from their situations, and hills carried to places far distant. At the town of Scilla, a wave which had swept the country For three miles, carried off, on its return, two thousand four hundred and ninety- three of its inhabitants. Some persons were dug out alive after having remained a surprising length of time under the rubbish of their fall- en houses. The earth was tremulous for several months, during which there were many shocks ; those of the fifth and seventh of February, and of the twenty- eighth of March, were the most violent. Before and during the concussions, the clouds gathered, and then hung immoveable and heavy over the earth ; and the at- mosphere wore a fiery aspect. Walker ', Hamilton. CALAIS, a strong town of France, in Picardy. Thii town was besieged by Edward III. of England, in the year 1347; and the besieged having at length consum- ed all their provisions, and even eaten all their horses, dogs, and cats, the governor, John de Vienne, appeared upon the walls and offered to capitulate. Edward, greatly incensed at their obstinate resistance in main- taining a siege of eleven months, demanded that six of the principal burghesses should suffer the penalty of xleath $ and that these victims should deliver him the keys of the city, with ropes about their necks. In this extremity, when tfre whole people were drowned it* 56 CALCUTTA, tears, and uncertain what to do, Eustice de Pierre, one of the richest merchants in the place, stepped forth, and voluntarily offered himself to be one of those six devoted victims ; and his noble example was immediate- ly imitated by other five of the most respectable citi- zens. These patriots, barefooted and bareheaded, with ropes about their necks, were attended to the gates by the whole inhabitants, with tears, blessings, and pray- ers for their safety. When they were brought into Edward's presence, they laid the keys of the city at his feet, and falling on their knees, inplored his mercy in such moving strains, that all the spectators were melt- ed into tears. Edward for some time remained inex- orable ; when his queen, kneeling before him, earnestly begged and obtained their lives. CALCUTTA, a city of Bengal, belonging to the English East India company; situated on a western branch of the Ganges, one hundred miles from its mouth ; supposed to contain five hundred thousand in- habitants, consisting of Europeans and Asiatics, whose mixture of language, dress, and manners, afford a most curious and extraordinary sight. The trade of Calcut- ta is very extensive. It is through this channel the company obtains the saltpetre, and all the muslins which are seen in Europe, while it exports to this port Span- ish coins, gold thread, copper, lead, iron in bars and wrought, English manufactures of different sorts for the use of the Europeans there, wine and brandy, sea- salt, and marine stores of every kind. Individuals there obtain pepper and arrac from the coast of Malabar ; raw silks, nankeens, porcelain, and tea, from China, to which place they send in return the cotton from th Malabar coast. The grain of Bengal they export to ev- ery part of India, receive silks from Surat, send mus- lins and European commodities to Macao, and the Phi- lippine Islands and give circulation to all these articles in the whole interior of Asia. A commerce which ex- tends to sucli a variety of branches cannot fail to en- rich those who cultivate it ; and accordingly Calcutta is the richest town in India. Private merchants? however, are not tne most wealthy class of those who re- side there : the company's servants are much richer, CALENDAR. 7 and become so much more rapidly. A young man who comes from London in the capacity of writer, with- out a single rupee in his pocket, finds himself in a very short time swimming in wealth. In the course of a twelvemonth he will be sent into the country, be invest- ed with some office, such as assistant collector of a district 5 which will enable him, in the usual course of rapine, to acquire speedily an immense fortune. Mean- while the oppressed natives are frequently seen starv- ing at the gates of their unfeeling oppressors, and their bodies preyed upon, sometimes before they are quit dead, by jackalls, eagles, and vultures l~~Grrandpre. CALENDAR, a table containing the days, months, festivals, &c. happening in the year. The Roman cal- endar, from which ours is borrowed, was composed by Romulus, who made the year consist of no more than S64 days. Numa Pompilius made it consist of twelve lunar months of thirty and twenty -nine days alternately, which made 354 days : but being fond of an odd num- ber, he added one day more, which made it 355 days $ tmd that the civil year might equal the sun's motion, he added a month every second year. Julius Csesar, as & farther improvement, made the year consist of 365 days, and left the six hours to form a day, at the end of every fourth year, which was added to the month of February. This calendar was called the Julian, or tha old style, in contradistinction of the new style introduc- ed by Gregory. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII. finding perplexity to arise in the computation of time, from some errors in the Julian calendar, thought proper to order the formation and adoption of a new style of reck- oning. The astronomers and mathematicians whom he summoned to Rome for that purpose, after spending several years in investigating the subject, and adjusting the principles of another system, produced what has been since called the Gregorian Calendar. In forming this method of computation, eleven days were lopped off from the old calendar ; leaving out in the future? one bissextile day every hundred years, and making ev- ery fourth hundred a leap year. The Gregorian style, thus formed, was soon adopted by all the catholic states, aiost of the protestant countries, before the com- S CALIFORNIA CALUMET CAMEL. fi mencement of the 18th century. But it was not until the year 1752, when Britain and her dependencies, by an act of parliament, adopted the new style : at the same time, the Ecclesiastical year, which had before commenced on the 25th of March, was made to coin- cide with the civil i/ear, and ordered, like that, to be computed from the first of January. Penning, Miller. CALIFORNIA, a large peninsula of North Ameri- ca $ lying eastward of New -Mexico, between the gulf of California and the Pacific ocean ; extending irt length from the tropic of Cancer to the 28th degree of north latitude about 300 leagues, and in breadth, from sea to sea, not more than 40 leagues. The Californians draw the bow with inimitable skill ; and will bring down the smallest birds with unerring aim. One of these Indians will fix upon his own, the head with the horns of the stag $ will walk on all fours ; bronze the grass ; and by this and other means so deceive herds of these animals, that they shall without alarm, permit him to approach near enough to kill them with his ar- rows. Perouse. CALUMET, or Indian Pipe, a symbolical instrument of great importance among the natives of America : no affair of consequence is transacted among them without the calumet. Even in the rage of conflfct the calumet is sometimes offered 5 and if accepted, the weapons drop from their hands, and a truce ensues. A stran- ger, on entering the house of an Indian chief, of the Creek nation, (says Bartram) is first presented with food, the best that the house affords. After which, the chief filling a pipe, whose stem is about four feet long, sheathed in a speckled snake-skin, and adorned with leathers and strings of wampum ; he lights it, and smokes a few whiffs, puffing the smoke first towards the sun, and then to the four cardinal points, and lastly over the breast of the stranger 5 then hands the pipe to him, who takes it and smokes. This done, conversa- tion begins ; the chief asks his guest, whence he came, together with such other questions as happen to occur. CAMEL, a large animal with two kumps on his CAMELEON. S3J back ; though the dromedary, which is a creature of the camel kind, and is much tffeed, has but one. The camel is a native of Arabia, and will thrive so well no where else ; it is in every respect surprisingly adapted by nature to live in desarts, as it is able to endure ab- stinence both from food and drink to a wonderful degree. Providence has given this animal two stomachs ; one for the purpose ot carrying a supply of water sufficient for several days. Its foot is soft and sure 5 formed for travelling in deep and burning sands, it never makes a false step, and never slips 5 but it cannot be made to travel a muddy road, unless driven by blows. It is ca- pable of carrying a very heavy load, and lies down to be loaded, or mounted ; rising at the word of command. When the Arabs are attacked, they mount their camels, and fly with the swiftness of the wind ; travelling over deep and burning sands, more than a hundred miles in a single day. The milk of the camel is a great part of their nourishment ; they feed on its flesh ; they clothe themselves with its hair, which it sheds every year ; sal-ammoniac is made of its urine : and its dung is dried, and used for fuel. Grandpre, Goldsmith. CAMELEON, a species of lizard, abounding in some parts of Egypt. This creature, with its tail extended, is about fifteen inches lon^. Its usual colour is of a light green, though it .varies its dye according to that of whatever plant or flower the animal rests upon. The Cameleon devours prodigious quantities of flies ; but being very slow and inactive, it would be impossible for him to take his prey, had not nature taken care to sup- ply those defects by a peculiar gift, which he improves with great success : for sitting as if he were inattentive to his prey, the unthinking flies use no caution in ap- proaching him, when of a sudden, he darts out a tongue about six inches long ; the end of which is concave, and covered with a glutinous matter, so that it is impossible for the fly to escape destruction. The foregoing de- scription is from Lord Sandwich's voyage. Sonini, on the other hand, says, that the changing of colour in Ca- meleons, is not to be ascribed to the objects presented to them 5 and that their different affections increase or diminish the intensity of the tints, which cover, and, a* it were, marble their very delicate skin* <3<3 CAMELEOPARD-CAMPHIRE TREE CANADA, CAMELEOPARD, a large animal of Africa. One een by Mr. Park, near the banks of the Niger, he thus describes : " The neck and fore-legs were very long ; the head was furnished with two black horns turning backwards 5 the tail, which reached down to the ham- joint, had a tuft of hair at the end. The animal was of a mouse colour, and it trotted away from us in a very sluggish manner, moving its head from side to side, te ee if we were pursuing it." CAMPHIRE TREE. The tree from which cam- pliire is procured, is a production of China, and, it is said, that some of them are found more than a hundred and fifty feet in height, and vastly large in circumfer- ence. The trunks of these trees, when old, emit sparks of fire ; but their flame is so subtile, that no danger is to be apprehended from it. The Chinese obtain cam- phire by taking the branches fresh from the tree, chop- ping them small, and laying them to soak in spring wa- ter,for three days and nights. They then are put into a kettle where they are boiled for a certain time, dur- ing which they continually stir them with a stick of wil- low. This liquor is then gently strained off' into an earthern vessel well varnished ; after which they purify it with a certain kind of earth reduced to a very fine powder. TFinterbotham. CANADA, two British provinces in North America. This large district of country (comprehending the pro- Vmees ol Upper and Lower Canada) is situated between 42 30' and 52 north latitude ; extending in length about fourteen hundred miles, and in breadth five hun- dred, it is bounded, in part, by New-Britain and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by the province of New-Bruns- wick and the district ef Maine, and by New-Hampshire, Vermont, New-York, and the Lakes. The Canadians are in a large proportion French, or of French extrac- tion : it is said, that whether sitting or walking, or rid- ing, they have a tobacco pipe in their mouth, and even use it to measure distances. In Weld's Tour through Canada, it is remarked, in substance, that when a trav- eller enquirers the distance to an inn or to any particu- lar town, the informant, iustead of reckoning the dis- CANADA INDIANS. 61 tance by miles, says, it is so many pipes : by which is meant that one might smoke the given number of pipes while the distance is travelling. A pipe, he observes, is reckoned for about three quarters of an English mile. This story is, however, to be received with considerable allowance. CANADA INDIANS, tribes as fierce and warlike as any of the aborigines of North America. During a great part of the time, that Canada was a province of the French government, which was from its first settlement till its conquest by the British in 1759 5 the frontiers of the colonies of New-York, Massachusetts, and New- Hampshire, were frequently infested by those savages* In the depth of winter, 1689, a party of those Indians, together with a number of Frenchmen, surprized the town of Schenectady, in the night, while the inhabitants were unalarmed and in a profound sleep $ and butcher- ed them, with circumstances of most horrible barbarity. The whole village was instantly in a blaze ; women with child were ripped open, and their infants cast intor the flames. Sixty persons perished in the massacre, and twenty-seven were carried into captivity, the rest fled naked through the snow to Albany. Their wonted passage into the western parts of Massachusetts, was through Vermont (then a wilderness) along Onion river. In February, 1703, the Canada Indians burned Deer- field, on Connecticut river, massacred part of the in- habitants, and carried the rest away as captives. Dur- ing the war (that commenced 1756) between the French Canadians, aided by troops from France, and the An- glo-American colonies, assisted by Great Britain ; the cruelties of these savages are thus represented by the celebrated Benjamin Franklin, in a newspaper printed by him in Philadelphia. Speaking of the capture, by the French, of fort William Henry, Franklin expresses himself as follows. " The French, immediately after " the capitulation, most perfidiously let their blood" "hounds loose upon our people. Some got off 5 the " rest were stripped stark naked. Many were killed " and scalped, officers not excepted. The throats of " the women were cut, their bellies ripped open, their 46 bowels turned out, and thrown upon the faces of their Gr 62 CANAL CANAL PROJECT. " yet palpitating bodies. Their children were taken by " the neels, and their brains beat out against the trees " or stones, and not one of them saved." " This cru- " elty of the French (added Franklin) is nothing new, " for that they massacred several hundreds of General " Braddock's wounded men that they murdered their " prisoners near Ticonderoga, and all the sick and " wounded of Oswego, notwithstanding the previous " capitulation." CANAL, an artificial river or rivulet, or any tract of water made by art. Canals answer the twofold purpose of inland navigation, and of enriching a country by float- ing it. Every copious stream abounds with manure of a most fertilizing quality ; and its waters turned upon the land for a short time, (for they should not be continu- ed on long) and then drained oft', enrich it in a most as- tonishing manner. We learn from Herodotus, that an- cient Assyria, in its most cultivated state, was greatly in- debted for its extraordinary fertility, to artificial canals, which conveyed the waters of the Euphrates into the channel of the Tigris ; and which, intersecting the plain of Mesopotamia, in various directions, by means of cross-cuts, afforded a constant supply of moisture to the fields during the absence of rain. In a like manner, the prodigious fruitfulness of ancient Egypt was owing partly to its being inundated annually by the Nile, and partly to its being watered at other seasons of the year by canals which intersected the country in all directions. These canals were drawn principally from the lake Moeris, an artificial lake that was made at immense expense, as a reservoir for the superfluous waters of the Nile, and for the purpose of spreading them, when ne- cessary, over the country. It has been said that the Europeans got the idea of floating and enriching lands, by means of canals, during their frantic crusades in Asia. The first canal in Europe was cut in England, in the year 1130. CANAL PROJECT. The waters in the Gulf of Mexico are considerably higher than the Pacific Ocean ; owing to the trade winds, which blowing from the east, heap them up, and force them to escape through the CANARY BIRD CANARY ISLANDS. 6S straits of Florida, thereby occasioning what we call the gulf stream. By cutting a passage across the isthmus of Darien, or rather through a flat country at the head of the lake Nicaragua to a small river that falls into the great western ocean, in 12 degrees of north latitude, the waters of the gulf would rush through the opening, and by degrees wear a free and wide channel, till the two oceans would become nearly of the same level. The navigation to the East Indies would be shortened nearly ten thousand miles. The waters would recede from the coast all round the gulf; and increase the territories of the bordering countries. The West India islands would grow every day while the channel was wearing ; and the gulf stream would cease. Jim. Museum. CANARY BIRD, a native of the Canary islands. They have a variety of colouring ; some white, some mottled, some beautifully shaded with green ; but they are more esteemed for their song than their beauty, having a high piercing pipe, continuing for some time in one breath without intermission, then raising it high- er by degrees, with great variety. They are capable of surprizing improvement from imitation : the only art necessary with all those that have no very fine note, is to breed them up with one of a more melodious voice. A Canary bird, in London, was taught to pick up the letters of the alphabet at the word of command, so as to shell any person's name in company 5 and this the little animal did by motions from its master, which were^ im- perceptible to every other spectator. ^Goldsmith. CANARY ISLANDS, called by the ancients "the For lunate Islands : of these there are seven, lying in the Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of Africa, in about 30 degrees north latitude. They belong to the crown of Spain ; they are favored with the most delightful temperature of air, and abound with delicious fruits. The discovery of the Canary islands by the Carthageni- ans is a fact well attested. Pliny speaks of them as then destitute of inhabitants 5 but containing the remains of buildings. In Plutarch's time (about one hundred years after our Saviour's nativity) the Canary, or Fortunate Islands, were not only inhabited, but were so celebrated 4>4 CANDIA CANNIBAL CANTHARIS. for their fertility, that they were supposed to be the seat of the blessed. Belknap. CANDIA, the ancient Crete, famed of old for its hundred cities ; it is now in the possession of the Turks. It is an island in the Mediterranean sea, two hundred miles in length, and fifty in breadth : it is a mere desart in comparison with its former populousness, opulence, and splendour, when it was the seat of legislation to all Greece. The Turks besieged the seaport town of Can- dia, the capital of this island, (belonging at that time to the Venetians) in the beginning of the year 1645 ; they stormed it fifty-six times, and continued the siege till the latter end of September, 1669 : when the brave Venetian garrison made an honorable capitulation. During this siege, the longest that history records, the Venetians lost eighty thousand, and the Turks a hun- dred and eighty thousand men. CANNIBAL, one that eats human flesh. The rag* of hunger has sometimes compelled persons to eat the flesh of even their friends and relations. In the siege of Jerusalem, a woman of distinction boiled and ate her own son; and, in modern times, there have been in- stances of ship-wrecked crews eating one another in the extremity of their hunger. It had been doubted, how- ever, whether there were any nations of cannibals ex- isting upon the earth ; but the voyages of captain Cooke have put this matter beyond all doubt. He found it to be a common custom in several islands of the Pacific Ocean, to feast on the bodies of their enemies 5 and in some islands too where extreme hunger was not known, the ground being so fertile that its spontaneous produc- tions aftbrded the inhabitants an abundant supply. It appears from Dr. TrumbulPs history of Connecticut, that the native savages of America used, sometimes, to eat the flesh of their enemies, tineas, the Sachem of the Pequot Indians, having slain Miantonimo, the Sa- chem of the Naragansets, he cut out a large piece of -houlder, and ate it ; saying, " it was the sweetest meat he ever ate, it made his heart strong." ANTHARIS, an insect of the beetle kind j whence CANTON CAPE COD. 65 come the Spanish flies, used in blisters. They have feelers like bristles, flexible cases to the wings, a breast smooth, and the sides of the belly wrinkled. The larg- est are about an inch long, aad as much in circumfer- ence, but others are not above three quarters of an inch. Some are of a pure azure colour, others of pure gold, and others again have a mixture of pure gold and azure colours ; but they are all very brilliant and ex- tremely beautiful. They are chiefly natives of Spain, Italy, and Portugal ; but they are to be met with also about Paris, in the summer time, upon the leaves of the ash, the poplar, and the rose trees, and also among wheat, and in the meadows. Goldsmith. CANTON, the greatest port of China; situated on the river Ta, fifty miles from its mouth. The city is twenty miles in circumference, and contains about two millions of inhabitants : in the port are often seen five thousand trading vessels at a time. In different parts of the city and suburbs are temples, in which are placed the images worshipped by the Chinese ; before which are laid, at particular seasons, a vast variety of sweetmeats, oranges, a great plenty of food ready cook- ed, and also incense which is kept perpetually burning. In the suburbs, England, Holland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and Spain, have their factories, dis- tinguished by the flags of their nations. In Canton there are no carriages : all burdens are carried by porters across their shoulders on bamboos ; as are also the prin- cipal people in sedan chairs. On the river live many thousand souls who never are permitted to come on shore ; whose only habitation is their boat 5 in which they eat, drink, sleep, and carry on many occupations.' Morse, Winterbotham. CAPE COD, the south eastward part of Massachu- setts Bay, which lies between this and Cape Ann. Cape Cod (which took its name from the multitude of codfish that were found near it when it was first discovered) ex- tends about sixty-five miles in length, and, for almost half that distance, is not more than three miles in breadth. The harbor near the point was the first port entered by the English when they came to settle New- G 66 CARAVAN GAUDS-PLAYING. England, in 1620. Captain Bartholomew Gosnold first discovered this Cape, in the year 1602 ; where going ashore, a young Indian, with plates of copper hanging to his ears, and a bow and arrows in his hand, came to him, and in a friendly manner offered his service. Soon after, more of the natives made them a visit. One of them had a plate of copper over his breast, a foot in length and half a foot in breadth ; the others had pen- dants of the same metal at their ears : they all had pipes and tobacco, of which they were fond. Belknap. CARAVAN, a company of merchants or traders, travelling together through desarts, or other dangerous places in the East, for their mutual defence and safety. Their beasts of burden are camels, and they are com- monly escorted by a chief or aga, with a body of Jani- zaries [soldiers.] A caravan which M. Volney accom- panied, in 1783, consisted, he said, of about 3000 camels, and five or six thousand men. In some parts of Asia and Africa, commerce has, from time immemorial, been carried on by caravans 5 which sometimes have been robbed and destroyed by Arabian freebooters, and sometimes overwhelmed by storms of sand. The com- pany consisting of Ishmaelites, with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt, was properly a caravan. In the year 1557, there v/as a celebrated pillage of the caravan of Mecca, by the Arabs. Sixty thousand pilgrims were plundered and dispersed over the desart, a great number destroyed by sword and famine, immense riches lost, and many per- sons reduced to slavery. CARDS-PLAYING, first invented, it is said in France, in the year 1390, as an amusement for Charles VI. When cards are employed not as a mere amuse- ment, but as the means of acquiring estate, it is called gambling ; a practice that places its votaries on the high road to ruin. An intelligent spectator, published, some few years ago^ in a German gazette, as the result of his examination, that, at Hamburgh, within the period of two years, of six hundred individuals who were in the practice of frequenting gambling houses, nearly one half not only lost considerable sums, but were finally CARLINE THISTLE CARNABIS CARTHAGE. 67 stripped of all means of subsistence, and ended their days by self-murder ; and that, of the rest, not less than an hundred finished their career by becoming swind- lers, or robbers on the highway. CARLINE THISTLE. The seeds of this and of many other plants of the same class are furnished with a plume, by which admirable mechanism they perform long aerial journies, crossing lakes and desarts, and are thus disseminated far from the original plant, and have much the appearance of a shuttlecock as they fly. The wings are of different constructions, some being like a divergent tuft of hair, others are branched like feathers, some are elevated from the crown of the seed by a slen- der foot-stalk, which gives them a very elegant appear- ance, others sit immediately on the crown of the seed. Darwin. CARNABIS, or Chinese Hemp. This is a new spe- cies of hemp, of which an account is given by R. Fitz- gerald, esquire, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, and which is believed to be much superior to the hemp of other countries. A few seeds of this plant were sown in England on the fourth of June, and grew to fourteen feet eleven inches in height by the middle of October ; they were nearly seven inches in circumference, and bore many lateral branches, and produced very white and tougli fibres. At some parts of the time these plants grew nearly seven inches in a week. Darwin. CARTHAGE, a famous city of antiquity, founded by the Phenicians, from eight to nine hundred years be- fore the Christian era ; and which, for a very longtime, disputed with Rome the sovereignty of the world. It was situated at the bay of Tunis, directly opposite to Rome, near the mouth of the Tiber. Carthage is said to have been twenty -three miles in circumference : here \vas a temple ot Apollo, in which was a statue of the god all of massy gold. The Carthagenians applied them- selves, with great diligence and skill to maritime affairs, and were formidable by sea, at the time of Cyrus. They conquered a great part of Spain, and the mines of that country were a principal source of their wealth. The G8 CARTHAGENA, whole island of Sardinia and part of Sicily were subject to them 5 and they extended their power over all or most of the islands of the Mediterranean. After sev- eral long and bloody wars with the Romans, the city of Carthage was taken and destroyed by them, about one hundred and forty- six years before the nativity of our Saviour. The Romans, by a dishonorable strata- gem, first induced the citizens of Carthage to deliver up their arms and military engines, and then informed them that their city must* be demolished. On hearing this cruel decree, the Carthagenians shut their gates. Indignation and rage rendered them desperate, and their ingenuity supplied them with expedients. They applied themselves to the manufacture of arms, witK which they supplied their need with amazing prompt- ness. Patriotism fired the female breast ; and ladies of the first rank voluntarily cut off their hair to make cords for working the military machines. Thus Carthage, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which it la- bored, sustained a long siege of the Roman army, and fell at last through the treachery of Asdrubal, the Car- thagenian general. The city was entirely demolished .by the merciless conquerors; its plunder, according to Pliny, amounting to four million four hundred and seventy thousand pounds weight of silver. CARTHAGENA, the principal seaport town of Ter- ra Firma, in South America : it is large and rich, but extremely unhealthy. An unsuccessful attempt was made upon this Spanish town, in the year 1741, by a British fleet ; commanded by admiral Vernon 5 among* which, as they were lying in the harbor, a pestilential fever spread death and destruction. Thompson says, , "You, gallant Vernon, saw 44 The miserable sceno; you pitying, saw *' To infant-weakness sunk the warrior's arm ; " Saw thp deep-racking pang, the ghastly form, "The lip pale-quivering, and the beamless eye "No more with ardor bright; you heard the groans " Of agonizing ships, from shore to shore," &c. ASHMERE CASPIAN SEA. 69 Lawrence Washington, as is stated by judge Marshall, was among the Americans, or provincials, who engaged in the expedition against Carthagena ; and in compli- ment to the admiral, by whom he had been particularly noticed, he called his estate on the Patomac, Mount Vernon. Dying, in the year 1754, he left this estate to his brother, George Washington, of immortal renown, who at that time was twenty -two years of age. CASHMERE, a small country in Asia, called by the Moguls, the Paradise of the Indies. It is confined to a valley about seventy miles in length, and forty in breadth ; and the whole country resembles a garden, in- terspersed with many towns and villages ; intersected by numerous canals ^ and planted with every kind of vegetable that can perfume the air, delight the eye, or please the taste. The inhabitants have a tradition of the general deluge, and are worshippers of the one God 5 they are most ingenious manufacturers, particu- larly of shawls ; which they make, some of goats' hair, and some, as Volney says, of the wool of lambs, torn from the belly of the dam, before the time of birth. The most beautiful shawls, says this author, are brought from Cashmere 5 their price is from six guineas to fifty pounds sterling. CASPIAN SEA, a great inland sea of Asia, border- ing on Persia, and on the Russian empire ; extending C80 miles in length, and in no part more than 60 miles in breadth : its waters are brackish, but it has no tides. Many circumstances combine to justify the opinion of the change which the Caspian has undergone, and par- ticularly, of the gradual diminution of its waters. The shells which are scattered over this country, and which are the same that are tound in the bottom of the Caspian, and which we never find in the rivers, the salt which remains in the soil, the salt ponds scattered over these countries, the extent of flat countries in these districts, are incontestible proofs that they must have been cover- ed formerly with the waters of the Caspian. Pallas. 70 CASSIOPEA'S CHAIR CAT CATACOMBS. ' CASSIOPEA'S CHAIR, a constellation in the heav- ens, so called. In the year 1572, a new star appeared in the chair of Cassiopea, which, at first, surpassed the planet Jupiter in magnitude and brightness ; it dimin- ished by degrees, andi disappeared in eighteen months : it alarmed all the astronomers of the age. 1 Darwin. CAT, a domestic animal, whose good and ill qualities are too generally known to need a description. The an- cient Egyptians paid a religious homage to this little animal ; and among them nothing could more expose a man to popular rage, than killing a cat. The following is, in substance, related by Diodorus Siculus, as a fact of which he was an eye-witness. While ambassadors from Rome, which was at that time the proud mis- tress of the world, were in Egypt, and were treated by the Egyptians, not only with all the courtesy of re- spect, but with all the servility of fear, one of their at- tendants happening unintentionally to kill a cat, this cir- cumstance excited such a general horror and indigna- tion, that neither the remonstrances of the officers sent by Ptolemy their king, nor the fear of the Romans, could save the unhappy man from the fury of the populace. " What is called the WiH Cat, is an animal in most re- spects similar to our common cats ; but different in its disposition and dimensions. It is much larger, strong- er, and fiercer, than any of our domestic cats : and seems to be of the same disposition and colour, as the wolf." Strings for musical instruments, of superior and unri- valled excellence, are made of cat-gut. CATACOMBS, the sepulchres of the ancient Egyp- tians, in which are contained their mummies, or em- balmed bodies. These catacombs are within nine leagues of Grand Cairo : they lie in a field, covered with a fine running sand, of a yellowish colour : the en- trance being choaked up with sand. After clearing away the sand, and coming to a little square opening, they descend into the catacomb. When one gets to the bottom, 'which is sometimes forty feet below me sur- iace, there are several square openings on each side, into passages often or fifteen feet wide, and these lead to chambers of fifteen or twenty feet square. These CATAMOUNT CAT ANE A. 7 1 are all hewn out into the rock ; and in each of the cata- combs are to be found several of these apartments, com- municating with one another. It is altogether proba- ble that the high preservation in which the dead bodies have been kept in Egypt, for thousands of years, has been partly owing to the drjness of the atmosphere, and the nature of the earth or sand where they were de- posited. It is well known that the men and animals that are buried in the sands of Arabia, quickly dry up, and continue in preservation for several ages, as if they had been actually embalmed. If the earth in which a human body is buried, be dry and astringent, it will im- bibe the humidity of the body 5 and it may be probably for this reason that the bodies buried in the monastery of the Cordeliers, at Thoulouse in France, do notputri- fy, but dry in such a manner that one may lift them up by one &rin.~Goldsmith. CATAMOUNT, one of the most fierce and danger- ous quadrupeds of North America. It is supposed to be the same animal, which the ancients called lynx, and which is known in Siberia by the name of ounce. In the form of its body it much resembles a common cat ; it is generally of a yellow colour, bordering upon a red or sandy 5 and is larger than the largest dogs. Some years ago, a catamount, atBennington, in Vermont, took a large calf out of a pen, where the fence was four feet high, and carried it off upon his back. With this load it ascended a ledge of rocks, where one of the leaps was fifteen feet in height. Two hunters finding the catamount upon a tree, one of them discharged his musket, and wounded it in the leg. It descended with the utmost agility and fury ; did not attack the men, but seized their dog by one of his ribs, broke it off in the middle, and instantly leaped up the tree again with astonishing swiftness and dexterity. The other hunter shot him through the head, but his fury did not cease but with the last remains of life. Williams. CAT ANE A, a city of Sicily, destroyed by an earth- quake, in the year 1693. A traveller who was on his way to that city, at a few miles distance perceived a black cloud, like night, hanging over the place. The 72 CAYENNE CELEBES. sea, all of a sudden, began to roar ;"Mount Etna to send forth great spires of flame $ and, soon after, a shock en- sued, with a noise as if the artillery in all the world had been at once discharged. Our traveller being obliged to alight, instantly felt himself raised a foot from the ground ; and, turning his eyes to the city, he, with amazement, saw nothing but a thick cloud of dust in the air. Its place only was to be found ; and not a foot- step of its former magnificence was to be seen remain- ing. Although the shock did not continue above three minutes, yet near nineteen thousand of the inhabitants of Sicily perished in the ruins. Goldsmith. CAYENNE, a province in South America, belong- ing to the French, and is the only part of the American continent which they possess \ bounded north and east by the Atlantic Ocean. Anthony Biet, superior of the missionary priests, who, in the year 1652, went over to Cayenne, gives this testimony concerning the manners of the natives. " The mother (says Biet) takes great delidit in nursing her child. They are fond of their children to excess. They bathe them regularly every day in a fountain or river. They do not swaddle them, but put them to sleep in a little bed of cotton, made ex- pressly for the purpose. They always leave them quite naked : their progress in growth is perfectly wonder- ful ; some are able to walk alone at the age of eight or nine months. They never chide nor beat their chil- dren 5 and they express great astonishment 'when they see any of our people (the French) correcting their children." St. Pierre. CELEBES, an island in the Indian Ocean, called the Island qjf Poisons : together with other poisonous ve- getables, it produces the tree, called by the natives, ipo, or upas. Such is the deleterious activity of this tree, that it is unrivalled in its power of destruction. From the sober narrative of liumphias, we learn that no other vegetable can live within a nearer distance than a stone's throw ; that birds accidentally lighting upon its branches, are immediately killed by the poisonous atmosphere which surrounds it ; and that, in order to procure the juice with safety, it is necessary to cover CELESTIAL BIRD CELESTIAL FRAME. 75 the whole body with a thick cotton cloth. If a person approach it bare headed, it causes the hair to fall oft"; and a drop of the fresh juice applied on the skin, it it do not produce immediate death, will cause an ulcer very difficult to be cured. Miller. CELESTIAL BIRD, a species of goldfinch in China, which has obtained this name for its surpassing beauty, and melody. Its eyes sparkle like the most brilliant ruby ; it has an azure ring round its neck, and a tuft of party-coloured feathers on its head. Its wings, when it is perched, appear variegated with beautiful shades of blue, green, and yellow. It makes its nests in close thickets 5 it conceals itself in time of rain ; but as soon as the rays of the sun begin to dart through the clouds it immediately quits its retreat, and, by its warbling, proclaims to the laborers the return of fine weather. - fPinterbptkam. CELESTIAL FRAME, or Construction of the Heav- ens. The celebrated astronomer, Dr. Herschell, has given a very sublime and curious account of the con- struction 61 the heavens, with his discovery of some thou- sands of nebulee, or clouds of stars ; many of which are much larger collections of stars than all those, put togeth- er, which are visible to our naked eyes, added to those that form the galaxy, or milky zone, which surrounds us. He observes, that in the vicinity of those clusters of stars, there are proportionally fewer stars than in the other parts of me heavens ; and hence he concludes that they have attracted each other, on the supposition that infinite space was at first equally sprinkled with them. Mr. Herschell thinks he has further shown, that the whole sidereal system is gradually moving round some centre, which may be an opaque mass of matter. Miller. Nor is Mr. Herschell alone in this opinion. In the new London Review, it is remarked ; that " it is the opinion of some celebrated astronomers, that some stupendous body, amazingly exceeding the magnitude of our sun, or of our whole solar system, may be the centre of motion to the UNIVERSE, which may be presumed to have its centre, as the distinct systems contained in it have theirs." H 74 CERE A CERES CEYLON. CERE A, a flowering plant of an extraordinary kind, and is a native of Jamaica. It expands a most exqui- sitely beautiful flower, and emits a most fragrant odour for a few hours in the night, and then closes to open no more. The flower is nearly a foot in diameter ; the in- side of the calyx of a splendid yellow, and the numer- ous petals of a pure white. It begins to open about seven or eight o'clock in the evening, and closes before sun -rise in the morning. Martyn. CERES, or PiazzL a primary plannet between Mars and Jupiter : it was discovered by Mr. Piazzi of Paler- mo, on the first of January, 1801. Its diameter, accord- ing to Dr. Herschell, is only one hnndred and sixty miles. It appears like a star of the seventh or eighth magnitude. Its distance from the sun is about two hundred and twenty-six million miles, and its periodic revolution is performed in one thousand six hundred and eighty-three days. Ceres is also the name of a de- ified woman, of the island of Sicily, who has had the credit of being the first that showed the Europeans the use of corn ; on which account the ancient Grecians and Romans placed her among the Gods. CEYLON, an island in the Indian Ocean ; about eighty leagues long, and forty -five wide ; separated from " the peninsula of India by a narrow sea of about sixty miles width, which is so shallow Tind rocky, that in the opinion of Grandpre, this island, in process of time, will be united with the continent. Ceylon is ex- ceedingly fertile, and produces cinnamon, ginger, pep- per, sugar, cotton, and all the fruits of the Indies. It had belonged to the Dutch ; but, in 1796, it surrender- ed to the English. The method of killing deer in the island of Ceylon is very singular. The huntsmen go out in the night, and only two usually go together : the one of these carries upon his head an earthern vessel, in which there is some fire burning and flaming ; the in- gredients are generally small sticks cut into pieces, and common rosin. The person who has the fire upon his head, carries in one hand a staff, on which there are fixed a number of bells. This man goes first into the woods, aud the other follows close behind with a spear CHACTAWS CHAIMOIS GOAT. 7$ in his hand. As soon as the deer hears the noise of the bells, he turns towards the place from whence the sound comes ; and seeing the fire, lie eagerly runs up to it, and stands gazing at a small distance 5 the second man has then nothing to do but to kill him with the spear ; for he observes neither of the men, the fire and bells taking up his whole attention. OHACTHWS, a cunning, courageous, and powerful nation of Indians, inhabiting a fertile country between the Atabama and Mississippi rivers. They are called by the traders flat heads, all the males having the fore and hind part of their sculls actually flattened ; which is done in the following manner. Soon after the child is born he is laid on his back, in a case ; the part where the head is placed having the form of a brick-mould. Then there is laid on the forehead of the infant a bag of sand, which by a continual gentle pressure gives the head somewhat the form of a brick, from the temples upwards ; and by these means they have lofty foreheads, sloping off backwards. The Chactaws are slovenly, but industrious; they have large plantations, where they employ much of their time in agricultural im- provements. Bartram. CHAIMOIS GOAT, a remarkable species of goat that is found in great plenty in the mountains of Dau- phiny, of Piedmont, Swisserland and Germany. They are naturally shy and wild, but are easily tamed ; and when tame become extremely gentle. In their wild state, they are found in flocks, of fourscore or an hun- dred, dispersed upon the crags of the mountains. They have a most piercing eye, and can smell a man at half a league's distance. When danger is apprehended, one one of the flock hisses with such force that the rocks and the forests re-echo to the sound; at the same time striking the ground with its fore foot, and bounding from rock to rock. This alarms the whole flock, and they fly off, all together, with the speed of the wind. These animals climb and descend precipices, 'which to all other quadrupeds are inaccessible ; they throw them- selves down a rock of thirty feet, with great security, upon some excrescence, or fragment, on the side of 76 CHA1RABES -CHAMPLAIN. the precipice, which is just large enough to place their feet upon. In fact to see them jump in this manner, they seem rather to have wings than legs. The hardy mountaineers lie upon beds made of the skins of these goats ; they live upon their milk ; they convert a part of it into butter, and some into cheese. Goldsmith. CHAIRABES, the natives of Barbadoes and the other windward islands in the West-Indies, and of Gui- ana, on the continent of South America. The Chairabe Indians were some of the fiercest and most bloody sav- ages ever known. They devoured without remorse the bodies of such of their enemies as fell into their hands 5 yet their friendship was as warm as their enmi- ty was implacable ; and among themselves they were peaceable, and towards each other faithful and affection- ate. One method of making the boys skilful, even in infancy, in the exercise of the bow, was to suspend their food on the branch of a tree, compelling the hardy ur- chins to pierce it with their arrows before they could obtain permission to eat. As soon as a male child was brought into the world, he was sprinkled with some drops of his father's blood ; the father fondly believing that the same degree of courage which he had himself displayed, was by these means transmitted to his son. As the boy grew, he was made to feed on the flesh, and was frequently anointed with the oil of a slaughtered enemy. When manhood dawned, he was putby his own parents to the most cruel tortures ; if he flinched, he was disgraced forever ; but if he bore pain in tri- umph, without a groan, and with a serene countenance, he was applaudeu, and enrolled among the warriors of his tribe. The Chairabes were a dreadiul scourge to the mild and peaceable natives of Hispaniola, who were often earned away captive, and eaten by them. Bryan Edwards. CHAMPLAIN, a lake that forms a part of the di- viding line between the states of New-York and Ver- mont. Reckpning its length from Fairhaven to St. John's, a course nearly north, it will amount to about two hundred miles 5 its width is from one to eighteen miles, being very different in different places 5 the CHARCOALCHARIOT. 77 mean width way be computed at five miles. The depth of this lake is sufficient for the largest ships. The wa- ters which form it are collected from a large tract of country, particularly from the streams of Vermont and a part of Canada. Various circumstances have left no doubt in the minds of the inhabitants along the shore, that the waters of this lake were formerly much higher, and spread to a much greater extent than they do now. Williams. CHARCOAL, a kind of coal that is made of wood half burnt, under a covering of turf and dust. The microscope discovers a surprising number of pores in charcoal ; they are disposed in order and traverse it lengthwise. If a piece be broken pretty short, it may be seen through with the microscope. In a range the eighteenth part of an inch long. Dr. Hook reckoned one hundred and fifty pores. Charcoal is a powerful anti- septic : consequently it has lately become a practice to char casks, or to burn charcoal in them, before filling them with water for a sea-voyage ; by this means, it is said, water may be kept sweet during the longest voy- age. There is one property of charcoal, that ought to be universally known : it is the wonderful power of con- suming respirable air. Mr. Lavoisier found that one pound of charcoal, in burning, actually consumed two pounds nine ounces of oxygen^ or vital air. Hence the extreme danger, or rather almost inevitable death of per- sons sleeping in a close room with burning charcoal by the bed-side. Encyclopaedia, et cet. CHARIOT, a covered four-wheeled carriage, sus- pended on leathers or springs, drawn by two or more horses, and having only back seats ; whereas a coach has both back and front seats. Chariots are of great antiquity $ ' but coaches are of modern invention. A few centuries ago there were but two even at Paris, one of which belonged to the queen, and the other to Diana, natural daughter of Henry II. In England, as low as queen Elizabeth's time, the nobility of both sex- es attended her in procession on horseback ; and she herself used to ride out upon a pillion, behind her prime minister. Chariots were anciently used for war, rather H 2 79 CHEROKEES CHERRY TREE. than for pleasure. The war chariots used by the an- cient Britons, were open vehicles drawn by two or more horses, with scythes at the wheels, and spears at the pole. Mr. Ferguson has demonstrated the absurdity of using small wheels in the fore part of four-wheeled car- riages, whether chariots, coaches or waggons. " It is " plain, (says that celebrated mathematician) that the " neight of any obstacle bears a much greater propor- ft tion to the semidiameter of a small wheel than to that " of a large one ; and the greater this proportion is, so * much the more power will be required to pull a small wheel out of a hole, or over an obstacle, than would " be sufficient for a large one. And supposing the small " fore wheel of a carriage to fall in a hole as deep a$ * ; the semidiameter of the wheel, all the power of men K and horses could not then draw the carriage without " pulling away the ground before it ; whereas if only " the big hind wheel were to fall into such a hole, it " would be drawn out with much less difficulty." It is also plain, that people in a carriage with large wheels are much less jolted, as these wheels sink to less depths in the little hollows of the road than small wheels do. CHEROKEES, a once celebrated but now declining nation of Indians; inhabiting the northern parts of Georgia and the southern parts of Tennessee. In their disposition and manners they are grave and steady ; they are dignified and circumspect in their deportment; ra- ther slow and reserved in conversation, yet frank, cheer- ful and humane ; tenacious of their natural rights and liberties : secret, deliberate, and determined in their councils ; honest, just, and liberal ; and are always ready to sacrifice every pleasure and gratification, even their blood and life, to defend their territory and maintain their rights. They do homage fo the Creeks with re- luctance. The Creeks, their conquerors, 'have been heard to tell them, that they are old women, and that they have long ago obliged them to wear the petticoat. This insulting language the Cherokees are constrained to bear, although it cuts them to the heart. Bartram. CHERRY TREE. This tree which is very common in the United States, produces a pleasant and useful CHESNUT TREE CHILI. 79 fruit, and yet its branches are sometimes poisonous. Our farmers have often been taught by dear-bought experience, that cherry tree sprouts and boughs, (the wild cherry especially) cut down and withered a little by the sun, will, at some seasons of the year, cause cer- tain and speedy death to the cattle that eat them. CHESNUT TREE, a tree that is common in the United States, and highly valuable both for its timber and fruit : it sometimes grows to a prodigious size. In the Gentleman's Magazine, of 1770, we are told of a Spanish chesnut, measuring fifty-seven feet in circum- ference, which grows in Gloucestershire in England. It is supposed by Evylin and Bradley to ha^e been planted in the reign of king John, from mention of it in records of that antiquity ; and if so, it must have been about six hundred years old. According to Dr. Ho well, the famous chesnut tree of Mount Etna is one hundred and sixty feet in circumference, but quite hollow within 5 which, however, aftects not its verdure ; for the chesnufc tree, like the willow, depends upon its bark for subsist- ence, and by age loses its internal part. In the cavity of this tree the people have constructed a commodious house, which they use for various purposes : it is called the tree of a hundred horses, as so many may at one time be sheltered under its boughs. The wood of the ches- nut tree (says St. Pierre) is never attacked by insects* and is excellent for wainscotting. A judgment (he adds) may be formed of the beauty and of the duration of its wood, from the ancient wainscotting of the market of St. Germain, in France : whereof the joists are of a prodigious length and thickness, and perfectly sound, though more than four hundred years old. CHILI, a large country in South America : extend- ing in length about twelve hundred and sixty miles, and in breadth five hundred and eighty ; situated on both sides of the Andes, between twenty -live and forty-four or forty-five degrees of south latitude ; bounded by- Peru, by La Plata s and by the Pacific Ocean. Its cap- ital is St. Jago ; which is seated on a river in a large beautiful plain at the foot of the Andes. The climate of Chili is wholesome, deriving a delightful tempera- SO CHINA. ture from the Andes ; the soil is prodigiously fertile ; it abounds with rich mines ; and cattle are so plenty that a well fatted ox may be purchased for four dollars. The Indians of this country have distinguished them- selves for their bravery, and by an inveterate hatred of the Spaniards ; and multitudes of them have never sub- mitted to the Spanish yoke. CHINA, a vast empire in Asia, bordering on the Chi- nese Ocean, and separated on the north from Tartary, by a wall nearly fifteen hundred miles in length. It lies between twenty and forty- one degrees north latitude, and is two thousand miles in length, and fifteen hundred in breadth. This prodigious empire is computed to con- tain three hundred and thirty -three millions of people. At a very early period, the Tartars (whose incursions are said to have begun as early as the times of Joshua) conquered the whole empire, and they still continue to hold the sovereignty ; though by adopting the Chinese manners and language, Tartary would seem rather to have been conquered by China, than China by Tartary. About two hundred and thirteen years before the nativ- ity of our Saviour, Shi-Hoang-Ti became emperor of China, with unlimited power; and in order to prevent the incursions of the northern barbarians, he built the famous wall which separates China from Tartary. This monarch, forming the design of making posterity be- lieve that he himself was the first Chinese Emperop that ever sat upon the throne, ordered all the historical writings to be burnt, and caused many of the learned men of the empire to be buried alive. The Chinese have lit- tle respect for foreign trade. " Your beggarly com- merce 1" was the language in which the Mandarins of Pekin used to talk to Mr. De Lange, the Russian En- voy, concerning it. Except with Japan, the Chinese carry on, themselves, and in their own bottoms, little or no foreign trade ; and it is only in one or two ports of this kingdom, that they even admit ships of foreign na- tions. But notwithstanding this, a great part of the produce of the silver mines of America has been drained into China, and for articles rather of luxury than ne- cessity. The commerce ef the Chinese with Europe amounts to fifty millions annually, twenty millions of HINA ONION CHIN A PAPER CHIN 4 WALL. 81 which are paid by the Europeans in silver; and the only Chinese goods which the Europeans purchase with all this wealth, are black and green teas, raw silk, and China ware.- In the same manner there is a constant drain of silver, from the United States of America into China; whence it never returns. Winterbotham, Pe- rouse. CHINA-ONION. There is in China a species of onion, which is not produced from seed, as ours are.. Towards the close of the season, some small filaments spring from the ends of the leaves, in the middle of which a white onion is formed, like those that grow in the earth. This small onion again shoots forth leaves similar to those that support it ; and these new leaves bear another onion on their points, but in such a manner, that the leaves and onions become smaller as they are farther distant from the ea.rth.<}FinterbGtham. CHINA PAPER. The Chinese, for making paper, use the bamboo reed, the cotton shrub, the bark of the kou-chee, and of the mulberry tree ; also hemp, the straw of wheat and rice, the cods of the silk worm, and several other substances, the greater part of which are unknown in this manufacture in Europe. Most of the Chinese paper is very susceptible of moisture ; dust easily ad- heres to it, and worms insensibly get into it ; but their paper is much superior to ours in softness, smoothness, and the extraordinary size of the sheets ; it beiiig no difficult matter to obtain, from certain manufactories, sheets thirty or forty feet in length. Winterbotham. CHINA WALL. This astonishing Wall, from twelve to fifteen hundred miles in length, was built to prevent the incursions of the Tartars. It is carried across rivers, and over the steep brows of the highest mountains, with- out the least interruption. The foundation consists of large blocks of square stone laid in mortar; but all the rest is built with brick. When carried over steep rocks it is about fifteen or twenty feet high, and broad in pro- portion ; but when running through a valley, or cross- ing a river, you behold a strong wall, about thirty feet high, with square towers at certain intervals, and em* m CHIRIMOYA CHIVEN CLIMACTERIC, &c. brasures at equal distances. The top of the wall is flat, and paved with cut stone 5 and where it rises over a rock or eminence, there is an ascent by easy stone stairs. This wall was begun and completely finished in the short space of five years ; one third of the able bodied men in China being employed in constructing it. It is of such prodigious thickness, that six horsemen may easi- ly ride abreast upon it. Winterbotham. CHIRIMOYA, a Peruvian fruit, and one of the most delicious in the world. Its dimensions are from one to five inches in diameter 5 its figure is imperfectly round, flatted towards the stalk ; the outward coat is green, and contains a large quantity of juice resembling honey, mixed with a gentle acid of a most exquisite flavor. The tree is high and tufted, the stem large and round, and terminates in a point. The blossoms differ little from the colour of the leaves, which is a darkish green ; the fragrance of this tree, in bloom, is incomparable.- Winterbotham. CHIVEN, the name of the Evil Principle, worship- ped in the East Indies. The worshipper of Chiven pros- trates himself and makes his offering in silence : the priests receive it ; and when he pays generously, they apply to his arms and forehead, a powder of either red, \vhite, black, or yellow colour, and sometimes all four. Winterbotham. CLIMACTERIC, a critical year in a person's life. According to some, this is every seventh year ; but oth- ers allow only those years produced by multiplying se- ven by the odd numbers, three, five, seven, and nine, to be climacterical. These years, they say, bring with them some remarkable change with respect to health or life. The Grand Climacteric is the sixty -third year f but some, making two, add to this the eighty -first ; the other climacterics are the seventh, twenty -"first, thirty -fifth, forty -ninth, and fifty-sixth.- Encyclopaedia. CLIMATE, a word used, in common language, to denote the difference in the seasons and temperature of the air. Some countries, under the same latitude, have CLOCK. S3 seasons differing from and even opposite to each other. Thus Malabar and Coromandel lie in the same latitude, and are not distant above seventy miles in some places, in others not above twenty, from each other ; and yet when it is summer in one of these places, it is winter in the other, and so contrariwise. The cultivation of the earth produces a remarkable change of climate, or in the state of the atmosphere. The bays and rivers in New-England, are not frozen so hard, or so long, as they were at the first settlement of the country. At the first settlement of Philadelphia, the river Delaware was com- monly covered with ice, about the middle of November, old style 5 it is not now covered with ice, until the first week in January. Similar observations have been made with respect to the ice in Hudson's river, and indeed in almost every part of the higher latitudes of North Amer- ica, where settlements and cultivation have taken place. A permanent alteration in the temperature of the cli- mate, supposes an alteration equally great and perma- nent in the earth. The eftect of cultivation with regard to the heat of the earth, (collected from experiments) appears to be this. The exposure of the land to the full force of the solar rays, will produce a heat at the depth of ten inches below the surface, ten or eleven degrees greater than that which prevails in the uncultivated parts of the country ; and this effect will continue while the solar rays are sufficient to heat the earth. This ad- ditional heat in the earth will be sufficient to produce the same alteration in the temperature of the air $ for whatever degree of heat prevails in the earth, nearly the same will be communicated to the lower parts of the atmosphere. Worthington^ Williams. CLOCK, a machine, moving by a pendulum, serving to measure time, and to show the hours by striking on a bell. Al-Raschied, an Arabian ambassador, brought into France, in the year 802, a striking clock, the first ever seen in that kingdom. At that time, the Arabs were much superior to the French and other Europe- ans, in knowledge, and in the arts. Huggins was the first person who brought the art of clock making to any perfection ; and the first pendulum clock made in Eng- land, was in the year 1662, by Fromantil, a Dutchman, 34 CLOTH TREE CLOVE TREESNAKE. CLOTH TREE, a remarkable and very useful tree, growing in the Sandwich Islands : the natives call it fouta. Of the bark of this tree, neatly twisted, they form the twine which they use for fishing lines, for making nets, and for some other uses. It is of different degrees of firmness, and may be continued to any length. They have also a finer sort, which they make of the bark of a shrub named areemah ; and they make a cordage of a stronger kind, from cocoa-nut fibres, for the rigging of their canoes.- Cookers Voyage. CLOVE TREE, a tree about twenty feet in height, bearing the aromatic fruit called clove ; this tree has grown in greatest abundance in Ternati^ an island of the Indian Ocean, being the principal of the Moluccas, or Spice Islands. In this Island, (belonging to the Dutch,) which has been long celebrated for its beauty and healthful ness, the clove trees grew in such plenty, that they in some measure lessened their own value. For this reason the Dutch resolved to cut down the for- ests, and thus to raise the price of the commodity. But they soon had reason to repent of their avarice ; for such a change ensued by cutting down the trees, that the whole island, from being healthy and delightful, having lost its charming shades, became extremely sickly, and has actually continued so to this d&y. 'Goldsmith. COACH-WHIP SNAKE, a beautiful and harmless kind of snake, common in East-Florida. When full grown they are six or seven feet in length, and the largest part of their body not so thick as a cane or com- mon walking stick ; their head not larger than the end of a man's finger. Their neck is very slender, and from the abdomen the body tapers away in the manner of a small switch or coach-whip : the top of the head and neck, for three or four inches, is as black and shining as a raven 5 the throat and belly as white as snow; and the upper side of their body of a chocolate colour, excepting the tail part, which is black. They are ex- tremely swift, seeming almost to fly over the surface of the ground ; and they can run swiftly on only their tail, carrying their head and body upright. With respect to venom they are as innocent a* a worm, and see^n to COCHIN-CHINA COCHINEALCOCOA TREE, &e. 85 be familiar with man ; for sometimes they will accom- pany a man on horseback, with head erect, looking him in the face. Bartram. COCHIN-CHINA, a kingdom of Asia, bordering on the Eastern Ocean. In Cochin-China, sugar common- ly sells for three piasters the quintal, about thirteen shillings and six pence, as we are told by Mr. Powre, a very careful observer of the agriculture of that country. What is there called a quintal weighs from a hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds, which reduces the price of the hundred weight English to about eight shillings sterling ; not a fourth part of what is common- ly paid for the brown or muscovado sugars, imported from the West-Indies, and not a sixth part of what is paid for the finest white sugar. Mam Smith. COCHINEAL, a rich crimson dye, found in great abundance in Spanish America. In old Mexico, next to gold and silver, the most valuable product is cochi- neal, which is a substance of the animal kind) and of the species of the gall insect. It adheres to the plant call- ed apuntia, and sucks the juice of the fruit, which is of a crimson colour. It is from this juice that the cochi- neal derives its value. It is computed that the Span- iards export no less than nine hnndred thousand pounds weight of this commodity annually. 'Public Journal. COCOA TREE, a tree that grows in the most sul- try climes ; bearing a watery and cooling fruit, inclosed in shells, and appearing upon the trees at all seasons, and in every degree of maturity. In tropical countries, on the uninhabited shores of the islands, the cocoa tree bears, at once, twelve or fifteen clusters of cocoa nuts, some of which are still in the bud ; others are in flower ; others are knit ; others are already full of milk ; and, finally, some are in a state of perfect maturity. The cocoa is the seaman's tree : when cast upon the shores of tropical islands, whether it be summer or winter, he finds sustenance from its fruit. St. Pierre. CODFISH, a fish well known* of great use, and is a staple commodity of the state of Massachusetts. This 86 COFFEECOFFEE TREE. animal's chief resort is on the banks of Newfoundland, and the other sand banks which lie off Cape Breton, That extensive flat seems to be no other than the broad top of a sea mountain, extending for above five hundred miles in length and surrounded with a deeper sea. Hither the cod annually repair in numbers beyond the power of calculation, to feed upon the quantity of worms that are to be found there in the sandy bottom. These may be called fish of passage, and bear a strong analo- gy to birds of passage, both from their social disposi- tions and the immensity of their numbers. They (and also the haddock, the whiting, the mackerel, the her- ring, and the pilchard) are known to take a course of three or four thousand miles in a season ; serving for prey to whales, sharks, and the numerous flocks of wa- ter fowl, which regularly wait to intercept their pro- gre s s . Goldsmith . COFFEE, a native fruit of Arabia, supposed to have been the chief ingredient of the old Lacedemonian broth. The use of this berry was not known in Eng- land till the year 1657; at which time Mr. Daniel Ed- wards, a Turkey merchant, on his return from Smyrna to London, brought with him one Pasque Rose, a Greek of Ragusa, who was used to prepare this liquor for his master every morning. The merchant, in order to get rid of a crowd of visitants that this pleasant beverage brought him, ordered his Greek to open a coffee house, which he did in St. Michael's alley in Cornhill, which was the first coffee house erected in London. -Public Journal. COFFEE TREE. This tree is a native of Arabia ; and though it thrives surprisingly in the Antilles, at Cay- enne, and in the isle of Bourbon, also in Jamaica, it has preserved in its original country a superiority that gives it a preference in all the markets of Europe. The fruit, when stripped of its skin, is commonly small and round ; it is of a green colour, and has a strong scent. In rich and spongy soils, a single tree has been known to yield from six to eight pounds of coffee $ in different situa- tions, a pound and a quarter from each tree is great yielding. An acre of ground will yield from three to seven hundred pounds of coffee. It is said that a der- COLD SPRING COLOPAXICOLOSSUS. 87 vise finding this plant in the mountains of Yemen, (in Arabia) was the first that made a decoction of its fruit ? and that coffee was introduced into Europe by means of the crusades. Grandpre, Edwards., Jl. Smith. COLD SPRING, a celebrated villa, so called, in tha island of Jamaica. It is four thousand and two hundred feet above the level of the sea ; and the climate is the most delightful that can be imagined, but is too cold for the growth of tropical fruits. The orange tree will not bear within a considerable height of this garden 5 but many of the English fruits, as the apple, the peach, and the strawberry, flourish there in great perfection, as al- so the tea tree, and other oriental productions. A per- son from the lower regions of the island, visiting Cold Spring for the .first time, almost conceives himself trans- ported to a distant part of the world $ the air and fac of the country so widely differing from that of the re- gions he had left. Even the birds are all strangers to him. Bryan Edivards. COLOPAXI, a tremendous volcanic mountain, in Quito, a province of Peru, in South America. The mountain of Colopaxi, (being a part of the Andes) as described by Ulloa, is more than three miles perpendi- cular from the surface of the sea ; and it became a vol- cano at the time of the Spaniards' first arrival in that country. A new eruption of it happened in the year 1743, having been for some days perceived by a contin- ual roaring in its bowels. Its sound is heard an hun- dred and fifty miles distance ; and its burning lava has sometimes overflowed the vallies below to a vast ex- tent. Goldsmith. COLOSSUS, an enormous statue of brass, dedicated to Apollo, or the Sun ; it stood at Rhodes, a capital city of an island of the same name, in the Mediterranean Sea, The Colossus was made by Chares, and was of such vast magnitude that a ship could pass with full sails be- tween its legs. Its height was one hundred and twenty- six feet. It was overthrown by an earthquake (235 years before the nativity of our Saviour) after standing thirteen hundred and sixty years. When the Saracens 88 COLOURS COLUMBIA RIVER. had become masters of Rhodes, finding this statue pros- trate on the ground, they sold it to a Jew, who loaded nine hundred camels with the brass of it. It is said to have weighed seven hundred and thirteen thousand pounds. COLOURS, the different hues in which bodies ap- pear to the eye. The colours which are most grateful and refreshing to the sight, are blue and green : and hence our all-bountiful Creator has clothed the heavens and the earth, those expansive and general objects of vision, with these colours. The Turks prefer green to every other colour; because, according to the tradition pf their theologians, this was the favorite colour of Ma- homet 5 and his descendants alone, of all the Turks, have the privilege of wearing the green turban. Yellow is in China the imperial colour, as green is in Turkey. The most beautiful of all colours in the judgment of most nations, is red. The Russians, when they would describe a beautiful girl, say she is red : red and beau- tiful, being with them synonomous terms. In Mexico and Peru, red was held in very high estimation. The most magnificent present which the emperor Montezu- ma could devise for Cortex, was a necklace of lobsters, which naturally have that rich colour. The only de- mand made upon the Spaniards by the king of Sumatra, on their first landing in his country, and presenting him with many samples of the commerce and industry of Europe, was some corals and scarlet coloured stuffs 5 and he promised to give them, in return, all the spice- rics arid merchandize of India, for which they might have occasion. There is no such thing as carrying on trade to any advantage with the Negroes, the Tartars, the American natives, and the East-Indians, but through the medium of red cloths. It is with red that nature heightens the most brilliant parts of the most beautiful flowers i and she invests most of the feathered race in India, with a plumage of this colour : some have their heads covered with it 5 others have a breast plate of it, a necklace, a 1 capuchin, a shoulder-knot. St. Pierre. COLUMBIA RIVER, a large river in Louisiana, tanning westward and falling into the Pacific COMETS COMPLEXION. S3 Captain Lewis, who was sent thither by the President o the United States, with an exploring party, makes it four hundred and thirty miles from the head of the main riv- er of Columbia, to its mouth at the Pacific 5 and three thousand five hundred and fifty-five miles from the mouth of the Missouri, at the Mississippi, to the mouth of the Columbia, at the Pacific Ocean. According to captain Lewis, the tide flows in the river Columbia one hundred and eighty -three miles, to within seven miles of its great rapids, and so far would admit large ships. This whole line, as he tells us, furnishes the most val- uable furs in the world, and a short and easy course for them to the eastern parts of China 5 but that the greater part of these would be from the head of the Missouri. COMETS, large and solid bodies, like other planets moving about the sun in very eccentric orbits, but reg- ulated by the same laws of gravity with the rest of the planetary system. Mr. Bode has given a table of sev- enty-two comets, whose orbits are already calculated : of these, sixty pass within the earths' orbit, and only twelve without it 5 and most of them appear between the orbits of Venus and Mercury, or nearly mid way between the sun and earth. Three comets have been found with certainty to return at intervals of seventy- five, one hundred and twenty-nine, and five hundred and seventy-five years ; and of these, that which appeared in 1680, is the most remarkable. This comet at its greatest distance, is about eleven thousand and two hun- dred million miles from the sun, while its least distance from the centre of the sun is but about five hundred and sixty -four thousand miles, or within less than one third part of the distance of the sun's diameter from his sur- face. In that part of the orbit which is nearest to the sun, it flies with the amazing velocity of eight hundred and eighty thousand miles in an hour, or, above two hundred and forty-four miles in a second ! Morse, Darwin. COMPLEXION, the colour of the skin, varying ac- cording to climate. The Europeans, when they settle in New Spain or the West India islands, soon kse their I 2 $0 CONGO CONNECTICUT. whiteness, and become of a brownish yellow. The Eu- ropeans who reside long in the East Indies, beeome of the same cream coloured complexion. The Spaniard s* who have inhabited America under the torrid zone for any considerable time, have become as dark coloured as the native Indians of Virginia. The descendants of the Portuguese, who settled at Senegal in Africa, m the year 1400, and of those who settled at Mi tambo, and on the coasts of Congo, have the African colour and woolly heads. The Jews who descended from one stock, and whose religion has prevented their marrying with other feople, have varied in complexion according to climate, a Britain and Germany, they are white ; in France and Turkey they are brown ; in Spain and Portugal, theiy colour is swarthy ; in Syria and Chaldea, the olive colour prevails ; in Arabia and Egypt, they are of a lawny or copper colour : and Tudeta, a Jew, relates *hat his countrymen in Abyssinia had acquired the dark complexion of the original natives. Mitchell, Williams. CONGO, Loiver Guinea, a country of Africa; sit- uated on the coast of the Atlantic or Ethiopic Ocean, between the equator and the eighteenth degree of south latitude. The desert parts of this country abound with elephants, tigers, leopards, monkeys, and monstrous serpents ; near the coasts the soil is extremely fertile. The natives are gross idolaters ; but the Portuguese, who have multiplied their settlements on the coasts, have made many converts to Christianity. From this ill fated country are brought multitudes of slaves ; car- goes of Congo Negroes have been advertised weekly, in the southern papers of the United States. CONNECTICUT, one of the United States of Amer- ica; situated between 41 and 42 2' north latitude: bounded north by Massachusetts: east by Rhode -Isl- and ; south by the sound which divides it from Long- Island ; and west by the state of New-York. Its length ie one hundred miles, and its greatest breadth seventv- ivvo miles. This is the most populous and best culti- vated state in the union : its commercial towns are Hart- ford, New-Haven, New-London, Middletown, and Nor- wich. Hartford, a very pleasant town ; surrounded with CONNECTICUT RIVER CONSTANCE. 9! a fine country, is situated at the head of navigation on the west side of Connecticut river, about fifty miles from its entrance into the Sound. The settlement of Hart- ford was begun by the English (the Dutch having pre- viouslv erected a fort and a trading house there) about the year 1636. New-Haven lies round the head 01 a bay, which makes up about four miles north of the sound : in pleasantness of situation, it is rarely exceeded ; its set- tlement begun in the year 1638. New-London stands on the west side of the river Thames, about three miles from its entrance into the sound ; its harbor is the best in Connecticut. Middletown is pleasantly situated on the western bank of Connecticut river, fifteen miles south of Hartford ; Norwich stands on the head of Thames river, fourteen miles north from New-London. About the middle of the eighteenth century, Connecti- cut contained one hundred and thirty-three thousand inhabitants, and had a militia of twenty-seven thousand men ; at the same time the whole number of souls in the province of New -York, was computed at one hun- hred thousand, and its militia did not exceed eighteen thousand. Since the termination of the revolutionary war, there has been a constant stream of emigration from Connecticut to the western parts of New-York. Morse, Winterbotham, Smith. CONNECTICUT RIVER, has its source in a ridge of mountains, which extend north-easterly to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its course between Vermont and New -Hampshire, a distance of two hundred miles, is south-westerly ; thence to its mouth its course is more southerly. After running about four hundred miles through the country, and receiving a great number of other streams and rivers, it discharges itself into the ocean at Saybrook. In the months of April and May, the river overflows its banks : and for the length of three hundred miles, forms and fertilizes a large tract of rich meadow. Williams. CONSTANCE, a city of Germany, on the Rhine 5 once flourishing in commerce, but now fallen into such decay, that grass grows in the principal streets. Here a number of cardinals and bishops of tne Romish church, 93 CONSTANTINOPLE. in the year 1444, held a council, called the council of Constance 5 and summoned before them John Huss, one of the first reformers. Huss attending, and boldly and ably defending the doctrines of the reformation, he was stripped of his sacerdotal habit, and clothed in a lay ilress 5 his hair was cut in the form of a cross ; upon his head was put a paper mitre, painted with the repre- sentation of three devils ; and he was committed to the flames, as was, soon afterwards, Jerome of Prague, for the same offence. Russell. CONSTANTINOPLE, the capital of the /Turkish empire. This city (occupying the site of the ancient Byzantium) is pleasantly situated on the European side of the strait anciently called the Eosphorus, which se- parates Europe from Asia. This strait is twenty miles long, and a mile and a quarter broad. Constantinople was rebuilt by Constantine the Great, and from him de- rived its name. It was taken from the Christians, in 1453, by the Turks, who are reported to have massacred forty thousand of the inhabitants. At the time of its capture, Irene, a beautiful young Greek of an illustrious family, fell into the hands of the sultan, whose savage heart was smitten by her charms. He neglected the army and the affairs of the state for the sake of her company ; till perceiving a general murmur arising a- gainst him on that account, the royal brute led her forth in the midst of the army, and pulling off her veil, demanded of the bashaws with a* fierce look, whether they had ever beheld such a beauty ? After an awful pause, he with one hand laying hold of the young lady by her beautiful locks, and with the other drawing his scymetar, severed the head from the body at one stroke. Then turning to his grandees, with eyes wild and furi- ous, " This sword (says he) when it is my will, knows to cut the bands of love !" The following description of a view of the city and country from the water, is given by lady M. Wortley Montague. " The pleasantness of goino; in a barge to Chelsea, (says that lady) is not com- parable to that of rowing upon the canal of Constanti- nople, where for twenty miles together down the Bos- phorus, the most beautiful variety of prospects present themselves. The Asiatic side is covered with fruit;- CONTOUR COPPER .COPPERHEAD. 93 trees, villages, and the most delightful landscapes in nature 5 on the European side stands Constantinople, situated on seven hills. The unequal heights make it seem as large again as it is, (though one of the largest cities in the world) showing an agreeable mixture of gardens, pine and cypress trees, palaces, mosques, (of which last there are no less than six thousand) and public buildings raised one above another with a most beautiful appearance of symmetry." CONTOUR, or Condour, the largest winged animal in the known world, it is a native of South America; and it is remarkable that the American continent has preduced not only the largest, but also the smallest of the feathered race, namely, the humming bird. Sever- al of these fowls (the contours) which have been killed by the Spaniards, measured, from end to end of their extended wings, fifteen or sixteen feet. Nature, to temper and allay their fierceness, hath denied them the talons which are given to the eagle, their feet being tipped with claws, like those of a dunghill fowl : their beak however is strong enough to tear off the hide, and rip up the bowels of an ox. Two of them will attack a cow or a bull, and devour the animal quickly ; and it hath often happened that a contour hath assaulted and devoured boys often or twelve years of age. Garcilass- co de la Vega. COPPER, a hard heavy metal of a reddish colour., heavier than iron or tin, but lighter than silver, lead, or gold. Its ductility is very great, and its divisibility pro- digious ; for, as Mr. Boyle observes, a single grain of it dissolved in an alkali, will give a sensible colour to more than five hundred thousand times its weight of water. The Romans are said to have had nothing but copper money till within five years of the first Punic war, (about two hundred and sixty years before our Saviour's nativity) when they first began to coin silver. Accordingly, at Rome, one who owed a great deal of money, was said to have a great deal of other people's copper. Penning, Jl. Smith. COPPERHEAD, a snake of the most poisonous kind) 94 COPTS -CORLEAU. seldom found in any parts of the United States, except at the southward. It is sometimes called the pilot, be- cause it always precedes the rattlesnake $ that is, quits its state of torpidity in the spring a week hefore the other. It bears the name of copperhead, on account of its head being marked with many copper-coloured spots. It lurks in rocks near the water, and is extremely active and dangerous ; lor the poison of which no remedy has yet been discovered. Some years ago, a man, in Penn- sylvania, was stung by a copperhead. He instantly swelled in a most dreadful manner 5 a multitude of spots, of different hues, alternately appeared and van- ished, on different parts of his body 5 his eyes were filled with rage ; he cast them on all present with the most vindictive looks ; he thrust out his tongue as the snakes do ; he hissed through his teeth with inconceivably strength, and became an object of terror to all by-stand- ers. Death relieved him of his struggles in about two hours. St. John. COPTS, a distinct people of Egypt, descended from that mixture of native Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks, who under the Ptolemies and Constantines, were so long in possession of that country. Thejr are characterised by a sort of yellowish dusky complexion ; they have all a puffed visage, swoln eyes, flat noses, and thick lips, in short, the exact countenance of a mulatto. The Copts, although at present in a state of barbarism and igno- rance, and held in contempt, descended from a people whence we derived our arts and sciences 5 from the profound genius of the ancient Egyptians, and the bril- liant imagination of the Greeks. The Coptic language fell into disuse more than three centuries ago. Volmy. ' CORLEAR, the name which the Canada Indians for- merly gave to the governor of New-York. The occa- sion, as given in Smith's History, was this. In the year 1665, the French Governor Corcelles sent out a party of his Indians against the Mohawks. It was in the dead of winter, and they must have perished with cold and hunger, but for their arrival at Schenectady. There too the Mohawk Indians would have -sacrificed them to their fury ; but Mr. Corlear, a Dutchman, interposed CORMORANTCOTTON SHRUB. 95 to protect them. Their gratitude towards this man was such, that thereafter, in all their treaties, they addressed the governor of New-York by the name of Corlear.* Other instances are not wanting to show, that the na- tives of this country were as remarkable for their grat- itude towards their benefactors as they were for a thirst for vengeance against their enemies. Doctor Trum- bull, in his history of Connecticut, relates, that, in the year 1659, the Naraganset Indians besieged the fort of (Jncas, sachem of the Pequots, near the banks of the Thames 5 that while Uncas and his men were ready to perish with hunger, Thomas Leffingwell, an ensign at Saybrook, loaded a canoe with beef, corn, and pease, and, with difficulty and hazard, conveyed this provision to the relief of Uncas ; and that, for this service, the grateful sachem gave Leffingwell a deed of a great part of the town of Norwich. It is also related, in substance, in Trumbull's History, that the Connecticut Milford- Indians, happening to find a Mohawk, stripped him naked, and tied him up in the salt meadows for the musquetoes to devour ; mat one Hine, a white man, set the Indian free ; and that the Mohawks, for a long time after, manifested a peculiar affection not only for Mine himself, but for his name, family, and descend- ants. CORMORANT, a sea fowl, about the size of a large Muscovy duck. The head and neck of this bird are of a sooty blackness ; and the body thick and heavy, more inclined in fignre to that of a goose than the gull. The bill is straight till near the end, where the upper chap bends into a hook. The cormorant is most voracious in its appetite ; its smell is fcetid, like that of carrion $ its voice, is hoarse and croaking ; and all its qualities disgusting. No wonder then that Milton should make Satan personate this bird, when he sent him upon the basest purpose, to survey with pain the beauties of Para- dise, and to sit devising death on the tree of life. Some of the old English tamed this ugly bird, and em- ployed it to catch fish for their tables. Goldsmith, Pen- nant. COTTON SHRUB, a plant that rises to the height % COUPEE COUQUAR. of about two feet. That beautiful vegetable wool, called cotton, is the spontaneous production of three parts of the earth. It is found growing naturally in all the trop- ical regions of Asia, Africa, and America. The plant., or shrub, is raised from the seed 5 at the end of live months, it begins to blossom, and put forth its beautiful yellow flowers ; and in two months more, the pod is formed. The pod opens, when ripe, into three or four partitions, discovering the cotton in as many white locks, as there are partitions in the pod. In these pods are interspersed the seeds, which are commonly small and black. As soon as the people in the southern provin- ces of China, have reaped their grain, they sow their cotton in the same field, after having turned up the earth slightly with a rake. Bryan Edwards, Winter- hotham. COUPEE,a short turn in the river Mississippi, about two hundred and fifty-nine miles from its mouth. At Point Coupee, where the Mississippi made a great bend, some Frenchmen, in the year 1722, by deepening the channel of a small brook, turned the water of the river into it. The impetuosity of the stream was so violent, and the soil of so rich and loose a quality, that in a short time the point was entirely cut through ; and travellers were saved fourteen leagues of their voyage. The old bed is left dry ; and the new channel cannot be sound- ed with a line of thirty fathom. Charlevoix. COUQUAR, a ferocious animal of America. It is called by some the American lion ; but differs greatly from that noble animal. Its head is small, it has no mane, its length, from nose to tail, is about five feet, the tail two feet. The predominant colour is a lively red, mixed with black, especially on the back, where it is darkest : its chin, its throat, and all the lower parts of the body are whitish ; its legs are long, ana claws white. It is found in many parts of North America, from Canada to Florida : it is also common in Guiana, Brazil, and' Mexico. In the southern climes of the American continent, it is fierce and ravenous in the ex- treme, and will swim rivers to attack cattle, even in their indosures. Sometimes it lies lurking upon the CREEKSCREOLES. 9r branch of a tree till a moose or deer pass underneath, \vhen it drops down upon it, and never quits its hold till it has drank its blood. Winter botham. CREEKS, or Muskogees, a powerful nation of Indians inhabiting the middle parts of Georgia, along the river Mobile. They are called Creek Indians, by reason of the creeks and rivulets, which abound in their country. Their soil is extremely fruitful, and the climate deli- cious ; they are cultivators of the ground, they permit no kind of spirituous liquors to be used o brought into their towns. They are faithful friends, but inveterate enemies ; hospitable to strangers, and honest and fair in their dealings. Their women are very small, their hands and feet being no larger than those of Europeans of nine or ten years of age. They are well formed ; their visage round, features regular and beautiful $ the eye large, black, and languishing. The men are a full size larger than Europeans. Their mode of marrying is this : the bridegroom takes a cane or reed, and fixes it upright in the ground, then the bride sticks down another reed by the side of his, which finishes the mar- riage ceremony. This, however, must be done in the presence of company. The couple then exchange reeds, which are laid' by as evidences or certificates of their marriage. They allow of polygamy, but always punish adultery with cropping or cutting oft* the ears. Even a white man who should debauch one of their mar- ried women, could not escape the punishment of crop- ping, if he were detected and caught. JSartram. CREOLES, whites and blacks, born in the West-In- dies. The white Creoles are taller than the Europeans, but not so robust. Distinguished for the suppleness of their joints, they move with great ease, agility and grace- fulness 5 and excel in penmanship. With them the socket of the eye is deeper than among the natives of Europe, and their skin feels considerably cooler than that of an European. Though arrogant, they are never mean; though passionate and resentful, they are hu- mane and hospitable. No people surpass them in frank- ness of disposition ; their confidence is unlimited and entire $ superior to falsehood themselves, they suspect K, $8 CROCODILE CROSSWISE-MARK. it not in others. Their quick perception, and rapid ad- vances in knowledge at early childhood, are perfectly astonishing ; but habitual licentiousness prevents sub- sequent improvements : The Creole ladies are domes- tic, temperate, and even abstemious. Simple water, or lemonade, is the strongest beverage in which they indulge, and a vegetable mess at noon, seasoned with Cayenne pepper, constitutes their principal repast. Their persons are fine, but their faces are pallid, and apparently of a sickly hue. Their teeth are beautifully white ; their.eyes are large and expressive 5 sometimes beaming with animation, and sometimes melting with tenderness. No women on earth make better wives, or better mothers. Bryan Edwards. CROCODILE, an enormous river serpent, that is found in abundance in the Nile and the Niger of Afri- ca. It is sometimes found thirty feet long 5 its strength is prodigious ; it seizes even the tiger, and draws him into the water. She lays her eggs in vast numbers, in the sand, and leaves them to be hatched there in the sun. Providence, however, has provided means to check the increase of this detested race. The croco- dile's eggs are greedily destroyed, not only by the ich- neumon, but also by the vulture. Flocks of vultures hide themselves within the thick brandies of the trees that shade the banks of the rivqr, watching the croco- dile in silence while she is laying her eggs ; and when she has retired, they rush on with loud cries, and tear up the eggs out of the sand, and devour them. The monster is tameable : the Siamese take the crocodile's young, breed it up in subjection, put a curb in its mouth and manage it like a horse, the rider directing it as he thinks proper. Goldsmith. CROSSWISE-MARK. In a former age of popish ignorance, when very few, compaVatively, of the people of Europe could write their names, it was ordained that the illiterate, when required to sign or witness any writ- ten instrument, should make the figure of a cross upon the paper or parchment, as an avowal of their being Christians. Hence, to the present day, those who make their mark instead of writing their name, usually draw CRUSADES. 99 two lines crosswise, after that old popish custom. Not so harmless was the superstition of deciding causes by a mode of trial, called the Judgment of the Cross, which prevailed in Europe, several centuries ago. In that kind of trial, as Du Cange tells us, the person accused of a crime was to remain with his arms extended before a cross for five or six hours, without motion. If he fail- ed in sustaining this trial he lost his cause, and was judged guilty. CRUSADES, expeditions against infidels, and for the recovery of the Holy Land. There were eight dif- ferent crusades ; the rage for conquering the Holy Land continuing for nearly two centuries. The first crusade was undertaken in the year 1096. Before this period, pilgrimages to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem had been common 5 and the pilgrims, on their return, had filled Europe with indignation, by recounting the outrages of the infidels, who were masters of Jerusa- lem and the Holy Land. While the minds of men were thus roused and inflamed, a monk, called Peter the Her- mit, ran from province to province with a crucifix in his hand, exciting princes and people to wage a holy war with the infidels. Persons of all ranks flew to arms with the greatest ardor, each warrior fixing a cross to his right shoulder ; whence the expedition got the name of Crusade or Cruisado. Europe seemed, in one uni- ted body, to precipitate itself upon Asia. Peter the Hermit, and Walter, called the Moneyless, led forth an undisciplined multitude, computed at three hundred thousand men ; general Peter walking before them with a rope round his waist. Only twenty thousand of this immense rabble arrived at the borders of Asia ; the rest having supported themselves awhile with plunder and robberies, perished by the sword and famine. The more disciplined armies, led on by princes, noblemen, and the ablest generals in Europe, arrived in Asia 5 and when mustered, they amounted to the prodigious num- ber of one hundred thousand horsemen, and six hun- dred thousand foot. They took Jerusalem by assault, and put the inhabitants to the sword, without distinction of age or sex. These frantic crusaders, having spread desolation far and wide, found most of their graves in 100 CUBA CUCK00. Asia ; a remnant only ever returning. They brought back with them the pestilence, the leprosy, and the small pox ; they also brought back with them several useful arts, which they had learned in those more pol- ished countries, and several productions of the earth, before unknown. Russell, #. Smith. CUBA, a most valuable Spanish island in the West Indies ; situated between and 3 SO' north lati- tude ; extending nearly seven hundred miles in length, and generally about seventy in breadth. It is the key of -the West Indies, and the rendezvous of all the Span- ish vessels which sail to or from the Spanish dominions on the American continent. The soil is exceedingly fertile, and might be made to produce all kinds of trop- ical fruits in great abundance ; but the lazy Spaniards neglect to cultivate it, and only a small part of the island is even cleared. Havanna is the capital. Cuba was discovered by Columbus, 1492; and by the year 1511, it was wholly conquered by the Spaniards, who had de- stroyed in that time, according to their own account, more than a million of the native inhabitants. Those who remained alive, finding their oppressions intolera- ble, had resolved to put an end to their own lives ; when Vasco Porcellos, a Spanish officer, deterred them from it, by threatening that he would hang himself with them, for the sake of having the pleasure of tormenting them in the next world worse than he had done in this. CUCKOO, a- bird of a greyish colour, and less than a pigeon. They are plenty in England, and some other parts of Europe. Before winter sets in this bird dis- appears; in the spring its voice is heard, earlier or la- ter, as the spring happens to be more or less forward. The cheerful voice of this bird teaches the farmer with great exactness, the proper time of sowing. All other signs may fail, but the voice of the cuckoo is an unerr- ing rule ; for heaven has taught it to point out the sea- son. The cuckoo makes herself no nest; she contrives to deposit an ' egg with the eggs of the hedge sparrow, which hatches it, together with her own ; and the young cuckoo, almost as soon as hatched, tumbles out the rest -of the brood, and remains possessor of the nest, and the- CUTTLE FISH CYDNUS CYPEESS. 10J sole object of the future care of its unconscious step- mother, the old sparrow. Goldsmith, Jim. Museum. CUTTLE FISH, an animal of very extraordinary qualities. It is about two feet long covered with a very thin skin, and its flesh composed of a jelly-like substance, strengthened within-side by a strong bone, of which great use is made by goldsmiths. The cuttle- fish is found along many of the coasts of Europe ; but they are not easily caught, from a contrivance with which they are furnished by nature ; this is a black sub- stance, of the colour of ink, which is contained in a bladder, and is emptied at pleasure. Whenever there- fore this fish is pursued and finds a difficulty of escap- ing, it shoots forth a quantity of this black liquor, by which the waters are totally darkened, and then it escapes by lying close at the bottom. Goldsmith. C YDNUS, the ancient name of a river in Asia. Al- exander the Great, when covered with sweat and dust, went into the Cydnus to wash himself at the hottest time of the day. As soon as he entered the water, his limbs grew stiff" on a sudden, he turned pale, and the vital heat forsook almost every part of his body. His servants received him like a dying man, and carried him scarce sensible to his tent. So suddenly was his strength destroyed, young as he was, and hardened by warlike toils ; a violent disease immediately seized him, who was perfectly well before, from which he very dif- ficultly escaped, by the skill and fidelity of Philip, his physician.- Van Swieten. CYPRESS, one of the most majestic among North American trees ; growing in great abundance in Geor- gia. The delicacy of its colour, and the texture of its leaves exceed almost every thing in vegetation. It generally grows in the water, or in low fiat lands, near the banks of great rivers and lakes, which are covered great part of the year, with two or three feet depth of water. When the planters fell these mighty trees, they raise a stage round them ; and on this eight or ten ne- groes ascend with their axes, and fall to work round the trunk ; which usually measures from eight to twelve K 102 DAGONDAMASCUS. feet diameter, for forty or fifty feet straight shaft. This timber is thought to be the Gopher wood, of which No- ah's ark was made ; as great quantities of cypress grew about Babylon, near which place the ark was Inrilt. This wood is so incorruptible, that the remains of the ark might have been seen in Josephus's time, as he and others affirmed it was. The imperishable chests which contain the Egyptian mummies, are of cypress. The gates of St. Peter's Church at Rome, which had lasted from the time of Constantine to that of Pope Eu- gene the IV. that is to say, eleven hundred years, were of cypress, and had in that time suffered no decay. Ac- cording to Thucydides, the Athenians buried the bodies of their heroes in coffins of cypress, as being incor- ruptible and undecaying. Bartrctm, Bishop Danvin. D. JLr AGON, an idol of the ancient Philistines, who iir- habited the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, in the neighborhood of Judea. The upper part of this idol was of human shape, and the lower part like a fish, as mermaids are represented. This figure of Dagon seems to have been allegorically descriptive of the plenty yielded both by the land and sea 5 to which his -worshippers were equally indebted for their subsis- tence. DAMASCUS, a famous city of ancient Syria, be- longing now to the Turkish empire. It is thought to have been built by Uz, grandson of Shem ; and conse- quently to be the most ancient city in the world. This was a "city of note, in the time of the patriarch Abra- ham ; for the steward of his house, as the sacred histo- rian says, was " Eliezer of Damascus." Such was its wealth and spleddour, that at the time it was taken by Tamerlane, and with it three hundred thousand Turks, it was lighted with ninety thousand lamps of gold and silver. From Damascus was brought into Europe, and DANCING SERPENTS--DANUBE-DARIEN. 105 thence to America, the damask rose 5 also that kind of plum called damascene. Damascus is now called Sham. ' DANCING SERPENTS. In India there is nothing more common than dancing serpents, which are carried about in a large flat vessel somewhat resembling a sieve. These serpents stand erect and put themselves in motion at the word of command. When their keep- er sings a slow tune, they seem by their heads to keep time ; when he sings a quicker measure, they appear to move more brisk and lively. Goldsmith. DANUBE, the largest river in Europe : it was for- merly called Ister, and was the northern boundary of the ancient Roman empire. It rises in Suabia, and passing through Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary, and then through several provinces of the Turkish empire, discharges itself into the Black Sea, by several mouths, after receiving sixty rivers in its course. There are cataracts on this river, both above and below Buda, in Hungary. The navigation of the Danube is of very lit- tle use to the different states of Bavaria, Austria, and Hungary, in comparison of what it would be if any of them possessed the whole of its course till it falls into the Black Sea : since the commerce which any nation can carry on by means of a river which does not break itself into any great number of branches or canals, and which runs into another territory before it reaches the sea, can never be very considerable ; because it is al- ways in the power of the nations which possess the oth- er territory, to obstruct the communication between the upper country and the sea. Jidam Smith. DARIEN, a narrow isthmus, that joins Nortlx and South America together. It is three hundred miles in length, and generally about sixty miles in breadth 5 but in one place is no more than thirty-seven miles broad. From the tops of the mountains, the Atlantic and Paci- fic Oceans can both be seen at the same time ; appear- ing to the spectator as at a very small distance from each other. In the year 1698, the Scots, under the avow- ed patronage of the crown of England; had planted a* 104 DARK DAYS. colony on the isthmus of Darien ; and founded a settle- ment to which they gave the name of New Edinburgh. For a while there was the most flattering prospect of their success ; but through the jealousy of the Span- iards and the shameful partiality of King William, they were completely disappointed of their hopes, ruined in their circumstances, and in a most cruel manner left to perish ; insomuch that of twelve hundred brave and enterprising men, only thirty returned to Scot- land. DARK DAYS. The reverend Mr. Sterling gives an account (as published in the Philosophical Transac- tions, in England) of a darkness of six or eight hours at Detroit, in North America, on the 19th of October, 1762,, in which the sun appeared as red as blood, and thrice its usual size 5 some rain falling, covered white paper with dark spots, like sulphur or dirt, which burnt like wet gun-powder, and the air had a very sulphureous smell. He supposes this to have been emitted from some distant earthquake or volcano. Dr. Darwin adds, that a dry fog (somewhat similar to the appearance at Detroit) covered most parts of Europe, for many weeks, in the summer of 1780, which \vas supposed to have had a volcanic origin, as it succeeded the violent erup- tion of Mount Hecla. It is remarkable that the same year which Dr. Darwin mentions, that zs, on the 19th of May, in the afternoon, 1780, a surprising darkness overspread New-England. For several days preceding this darkness, the sun appeared from morning to night, unusually large, and nearly of the colour of blood ; and this was its appearance during the forenoon of the me- morable 1 9th of May. Early in the afternoon, the sun was totally obscured, and all objects had a yellowish or brassy hue. The darkness increased gradually till about three or four o'clock, when the fowls went to roost, candles were necessarily lighted in dwelling houses, and it seemed to be night. During the pro- gress of this wonderful fog, some scattering drops of rain fell, attended, as it was then said, with a blackish powder that tinged the substances which were touched fey it. DAYS DEAF PERSONSDEER. 105 DAYS. The names of the days of the week are thought to have originated as follows : Sunday was so called, because it was dedicated to the sun ; and Monday took its name from its being dedicated to the moon, that is, to the goddess Diana. Tuesday, according to John- son, is derived from Tuv, the Saxon name of Mars. Wednesday is derived from Wodin, or Odin, who was worshipped in Germany, and ancient Denmark. Thurs- day is derived from the word Thor, which was the Sax- on name of Jupiter, or Jove. Friday is derived from the Saxon word Frigedag, which is supposed to have been the Venus of the ancient Saxons. Saturday has taken its name from Saeter, a Saxon Idol. DEAF PERSONS. In 1764, Mr. Thomas 'Braid- wood, of Edinburgh, undertook the difficult task of in- structing the deaf and dumb to speak. Beginning with one pupil, and encouraged by success, he afterwards taught a considerable number to speak distinctly, to read and write, and to understand arithmetic, and the principles of morality and religion. The same curious and highly interesting art has been successfully prac- tised on a different plan in Germany, and France ; but by none with so great success, as by the Abbe L'Epee, of Paris. He had instructed upwards of one thousand deaf and dumb persons, before he was succeeded by his pupil, M. Sicard. A regular institution for this kind of instruction was established in London, in 1792, under the care of Mr. Watson, a pupil of Mr. Braidwood..,* Miller. DEER, an animal that is very common in some parts of the United States. According to the description of doctor Williams, his horns are slender, round, project- ing forwards, and bent into a curve, with branches or shoots on the interior side. These branches do not commence until the deer is three years old 5 and by this circumstance the hunters compute their age. These horns are cast every spring; the new ones in the course of the year will grow two feet in length, and weigh from two to four pounds. In the spring the deer sheds his hair, and appears of a light red ; this colour gradu- ally crows darker until Autumn, when it becomes a 106 DELAWARE DEL CANE DELHI. pale brown ; and remains thus through the 'winter. They are always in motion, and leap over the highest fences with ease. The fawns are red, most beautifully spotted with white ; they are easily tamed. The Amer- ican natives have a curious method of deceiving these animals. Perouse says, " he saw an Indian (at Califor- nia) with a stag's head fixed on his own, walk on all fours, as if he were brow zing the grass, and he played his pantomime to such perfection, that our hunters would have fired at him at thirty paces, had they not been pre- vented. In this manner they approach herds of deer within a very small distance, and kill them with a flight of arrows."" DELAWARE, one of the United States of America 3 situated between 38 SO V and 40 north latitude : ex- tending ninety -two miles in length, and twenty-four in breadth 5 bounded by the river and bay of the same name, by the Atlantic ocean, by Maryland, and Penn- sylvania. This state appears to have derived its name from Lord Delawar, who completed the settlement of Virginia. The Dutch and Swedes settled therein at a very early period. Winterbotham. DEL CANE, a grotto remarkable for its noxious vapors. This grotto lies within four miles of Naples, and is near a large lake of clear and wholesome water, and surrounded with a country, which for natural beau- ty and fertility, resembles a Paradise; yet is in a man- ner uninhabited, by reason of the deadly vapors that proceed from this cavern. If a dog be held in it to a certain depth, he loses all sensation, in the space of four or five minutes 5 taken out, and dipped in the lake, he quickly recovers. Goldsmith. DELHI, the nominal capital of all Hindustan, and was the actual capital during the greatest part of the time since the Mahometan conquest. In 1738, when Nadir Shah invaded Hindustan, he entered Delhi, and dreadful were the massacres, and famine that followed. One hundred thousand of the inhabitants perished by the sword in one day; and plunder to the amount of sixty -two millions sterling, was said to have been col- lected by the conqueror. ^Mo DELTA DENMARK DEW. 107 DELTA, a part of Lower Egypt : taking its name from its triangular figure, or resemblance to the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet; formed by the Nile's di- viding itself into two great branches, and situated be- tween those branches of the river and the Mediterrane- an sea ; extending a hundred and thirty miles in length, and seventy in breadth. Never does it rain in the Del- ta in summer, (although it is a country extremely fruit- ful) and but rarely in the winter. In Egypt, besides the quantity of water that the earth imbibes at the inunda- tion, the dews which fall in the summer nights suffice for vegetation. Though the water melons which grow there nave frequently nothing under them but a dry dust, yet their leaves are always fresh. Russell, Volney. DENMARK, a northern kingdom of Europe ; situated between fifty -four and fifty-eight degrees of north lati- tude ; extending about two hundred and forty miles in length, and two hundred and fourteen in breadth ; bound- ed by the Baltic sea, by the ocean, and by Germany. Copenhagen, which stands on the island of Zealand, is its capital. The whole population of Denmark Proper is about two million and nineteen thousand. The first account we have of its being a kingdom, is in 714. In the early part of the eleventh century, Canute king of Denmark got possession of the English crown, and transmitted it to his successors 5 who, however, did not enjoy it long, being driven from the throne of England by the Saxons. DE W,a light, thin, transparent vapor, that rises af- ter the snn has descended below the horizon, and then comes down in small globules upon vegetables, which imbibe'- it through the orifices of their vessels. The formation of this precious substance, which is the most invigorating cordial to plants, has been a mystery in the chemical process of nature : having never been explain- ed in amanner that was entirely satisfactory. Dew is more penetrating than rain, and will soak leather much sooner. May dew, or that which falls in the month of May, is of a yellowish colour, and has the property of giving linen and wax a beautiful white. In some coun-- tries, as in Egypt and Palestine, where it seldom rains, 108 DIAMOND DIANA. dews are very copious, and in a manner supply the de- ficiency of rain. Hence it was that Isaac, in blessing his eldest son, omitted not to assign him the dew of heaven as an important part of his worldly portion ; and David's beautiful apostrophe to the mountains of Gilboa, where Saul and Jonathan fell in battle, implied, that withhold- ing the dew of Heaven was considered as one of the greatest curses that could befall a land. " Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew," &c. DIAMOND, a precious gem. The diamond is the hardest of all bodies, and can be wrought only by itself 5 it has a great transparency, and is the brightest ot stones 5 it occasions a stronger refraction of light than any oth- er substance ; it separates colours more, and for this reason it shines so eminently, particularly in the sun- shine, or even by candle light. From an experiment made in the latter part of the last century, by some of the most celebrated dry mists in Europe, the conclusion was, that when diamond is burnt, the whole product is carbonic acid gas ; that a given weight of diamond yields just as much carbonic acid gas as the same weight of charcoal ; and that diamond and charcoal are botli composed of the very same substance, or rather diamond is a compound of carbon. Hence the difference of co- lour, hardness, specific gravity, and electrical proper- ties, between common charcoal and the precious stone called diamond. Brisson, Thompson. DIANA, a heathen goddess by whom was meant the moon, or rather an inferior divinity that presided over or inhabited it. Diana was a favorite divinity of the ancient Grecians, who, in some instances, performed \vorship to her with the most cruel and barbarous rites. On the annual celebration of a festival instituted by Ly- curgus, in honor of Diana Orthia, all the Spartan boys were whipped until the blood ran down unon the altar of that cruel goddess. And this flagellation was per- formed in presence of the magistrates of the city, and under the eye of fathers and mothers ; who, instead of compassionating their children, ready to expire from the severity of the lashes, to which they frequently fell martyr^ exhorted them to suffer patiently the discipline DIANA'S TEMPLE DIONEA MUSCIPULA, &c. 165 inflicted, and without seeming to be conscious of any uneasy sensation. Cicero. How easy is the service of the true God, in comparison of what the false gods of the nations have required of their votaries. DIANA'S TEMPLE. The temple at Ephesus, ded- icated to Diana, was called one of the seven wonders of the world. It had been built in the name, and at the instance of all Asia Minor ; and a great number of years were employed in building it. Its length was four hun- dred and twenty -five feet, and its breadth two hundred and twenty. It was supported by an hundred and twen- ty-seven columns, threescore feet high, which many kings had caused to be wrought at great expense and by the most expert artists, who endeavored to rival one another in 'the excellence of the workmanship ; the rest of the temple corresponding with the magnilicence ' of the columns. In the year of the \vorld 3648, (three hundred and thirty-six years before our Saviour's nativi- ty) being the year in which Alexander the Great was born, this temple was set on fire and burnt, purposely, by one Herostratus, with a view, as he himself avow r ed, of immortalizing his name. Rollin. DIONEA MUSCIPULA, an extraordinary plant, with thick leaves disposed in the form of hinges, cover- ed with prickles, and furnished by nature with an lion- . ied substance. The flies attracted by the sweetness of the liquor, come to feast themselves upon it : but the plant is endued with such acute sensibility, that it is ir- ritated by the smallest touch ; the leaf doubles up its fold, shuts upon itself, seizes the insect within its prickles, pierces and kills it. This plant grows in the marshes of South Carolina, and thence was sent over to Europe by Dr. Franklin. St. Fond. DISMAL SWAMP, a vast bog, extending from north to south nearly thirty miles ; and from east to west at a medium about ten ; it lies partly in Virginia, and partly in North Carolina. Not less than five navigable rivers, besides creeks, rise out of it 5 whereof two run into Virginia, and three into North Carolina. The ground of this swamp is a mere quagmire $ and it js L 110 DIVING BELL DOMINGO, ST. overgrown with reeds, bamboo-briars, and cypress. It is remarkable, that towards the heart of tliis horrible desart, no beast or bird approaches ; nor indeed do any birds care to fly over it, any more than they are said to do over the lake Jlvernus, for fear of the noisome ex- halations that rise from this vast body of dirt and misti- ness. -American Museum, DIVING BELL, a machine invented for the pur- pose of exploring the bottom of the sea. In the great diving bell, improved by Dr. Halley, which was large enough to contain five, men, and was supplied with fresh air by buckets that alternately rose ana fell, they de- scended fifty fathom. In this huge machine, which was let down from the mast of a ship, the doctor himself went down to the bottom, where, when the sea was clear, and especially when the sun shone, he couid see per- fectly well to write or read, and much more to take up any thing that was underneath : at other times, wheii the water was troubled and thick, it was as dark as night below, so that he was obliged to keep a candle lighted at the bottom. But, what was more remarka- ble, the water, which from above is usually seen of a green colour, when looked at from below, appeared to him of a different, hue, casting a redness upon one of ibis hands, like thattof a damask rose. Goldsmith. DOMINGO, ST. or Hispaniofa, (now called the isl- and or empire of Hayti^ an island in the Atlantic Ocean, at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, being the largest of the West India islands, except Cuba : the natives called it //?/, signifying high or mountainous land. Columbus, who landed, on it, the sixth of December, 1492, gave it the name of Hispaniola, or Little Spain ; it was afterwards called St. Domingo, from the name of its capital town : it is one hundred and sixty miles long from east to west, and from sixty to seventy broad from north to south. After the Spaniards had taken possession of this island, the natives were ordered to collect gold dust 5 but they were so unused to gather it in such quantities as their conquerors demanded, that they offered to- plant the immense plains of the island, send pay an equivalent in ccrn. Columbus was struck; DRUIDSDUTCH FISHERY. Ill vnth the magnitude of the proposal ; and in conse- quence, moderated the tribute. This did not satisfy the avarice of his fellow adventurers, who found means to complain of him to the king's ministers, for his negli- gence in acquiring the only commodity which they thought deserved the name of riches. To such an in- famous height did the Spaniards carry their oppressions of the poor natives, that, within four years from th first discovery of the island, one third part of its inhabi- tants, (or from three to four hundred thousand) perish- ed. t Since the year 1790, St. Domingo has been the stage of some of the most barbarous cruelties and ter- rible massacres, ever witnessed since the creation. Morse, Bdknap. DRUIDS, the Priests, and Ministers of Religion amongst the ancient Britons, Gauls, and Germans. They were in Britain th first and most distinguished order in the island, and were treated with the highest venera- tion. Once a year they used to assemble in a wood, in the centre of the island, and there to hear causes : from their determination there was no appeal, and whoever refused to acquiesce in their decisions, was reckoned impious, and excommunicated. They are represented by the Romans as exceedingly cruel in their religious rites, and even as guilty of offering human sacrifices to their gods. Ceesar, in his commentaries, informs us, that the Druids, in honor of their gods, burned men in baskets of ozier ; and that when criminals were want- ing for this horrible purpose, they sacrificed even the innocent. Fenning, St. Pierre. DUTCH FISHERY. In 1610, the Dutch, who car- ry on the herring fishery on the coasts of Scotland and Norway, employed in it three thousand boats and fifty thousand fishermen, without reckoning nine thousand other vessels employed in barrelling and conveying them to Holland ; anfl a hundred and fifty thousand per- sons, partly at sea, and partly on shore, engaged in the carrying trade, and in preparing and salting. At that period they derived a revenue from it, of two million six hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, It is related by Pont Oppidam, a bishop in Norway, that 112 EAGLE EARTH. when the herrings coasted along the shores of that country, the whales which pursued them in great nunv bers, and darted their \vater-spouts into the air, gave to the sea, at a distance, the appearance of being covered over with smoaking chimnies. The herrings, in order to elude the pursuit, threw themselves close in shore into every little bay and creek, where the water, before tranquil, formed considerable swellings and surges, wherever they crowded to make their escape. &t* Pierre. E. AGLE, the king of birds. As Ms flight is higher than that of any other bird, the ancients called him the bird of heaven 5 they also called Mm the bird of Jupiter the thunderer, inasmuch as he often seemed to soar among the clouds. This fierce animal may be consider- ed among birds as the lion among quadrupeds. He strongly resembles the lion in courage and magnanimi- ty, in a solitary disposition, in tha sparkling of his eyes, in the form of his claws, in the strongness of his breath, and in his loud and terrifying cry. The eagle in his .flight first stoops toward the ground^, and then rises per- pendicularly inta the clouds. He carries away not only lambs and kids, but sometimes small children. An in- stance is recorded in Scotland of two children being carried off by eagles; but fortunately they received no hurt by the way ; and, the eagles being pursued, the children were restored unhurt out of the nests to their affrighted parents. Less fortunate was a poor Scots peasant, who having robbed an eagle's nest of its young while the old ones were away, was pursued by them and despatched with their beaks and talons, Goldsmith. EARTH, the planet we inhabit. That the figure of the earth is spherical, or globular, is evident from many particulars 5 ,as when the moon is eclipsed, the shadow of the earth, which interposes between the sun and that bedy appears circular upon it. The earth is abort EARTHQUAKE. 113 ninety-one million miles from the sun ; (Bowditch says, ninety-six,) and journeys round him in three hundred and sixty-five days, five hours and forty-nine minutes, nearly ; its motion being about a hundred and ^twenty times swifter than a cannon ball, in its greatest velocity. The diameter of the earth is about seven thousand nine hundred and ninety -nine miles ; and by turning round its axis every twenty -four hours from west to east, it causes an apparent diurnal motion of all the heavenly bodies from east to west. Thus like a chariot wheel, the earth has a compound motion ; for while it goes forward on its journey, it is all the while turning upon itself, From the first of these two motions there rises the grateful vicissitude of the seasons ; from the second 9 that of day and night. . By the rapid motion of the earth on its axis the inhabitants about the equator are carried one thousand and forty -two geographical miles every* hour, while those on the parallel of London are carried only five hundred and eighty miles an hour, besides live hundred and eighty thousand miles an hour by the annual motion about the sun, which is common to all places on the surface of the globe. Diet. Bible, Gold.- smith. EARTHQUAKE, " a sudden and violent concussion of the earth, which is generally attended with noise, both in the air and under ground." Earthquakes are most frequent in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which are commonly at no great distance from the sea. A short time previous to the shock the sea swells and roars, even though ijt be a dead calm ; wells and foun- tains become foetid, and brute animals seem to be fright- ened. The shocks begin with a rumbling noise, like that of carnage wheels running upon a pavement, and sometimes resembling the roaring of cannon. A sin- gle shock seldom continues longer than a minute, which is followed by others, at short intervals $ meanwhile there is often perceived a strong swell of sulphur.- Earthquakes are sometimes very extensive ; but we read of none that extended over the whole globe. " They are thought to arise from the confinement of air within the bowels of the earth, where it is generated by sulphureous vapours acting on metallic ores, the L 114 ECLIPSE. principal of which appears to be iron." This theory seems to have been confirmed by experiment. Mr. Winthrop, formerly Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, in Cambridge University, observed, *' there is so strong an attraction between iron and sul- phur, that even the gross body of sulphur, powdered, and with an equal weight of iron filings and a little wa- ~ter, made into paste, in a few hours grows too hot to be touched and emits a flame. This paste, if put a few feet under ground, will by degrees cause the earth over it to heave and crack, to let out the flame ; thus pro- ducing an artificial earthquake." Of the ravages of earthquakes, during the last century, the following in- stances were among the most terrible. In the early part of that century there \vas an. earthquake, which, in a quarter of an hour, laid the whole country of Peru in ruins, to the extent of three hundred leagues in length, -and ninety in breadth. In 1730, a great part of the kingdom of Chili, together with its capital, St. Jago, was swallowed up by an earthquake : as were also four whole provinces in China, the next year. In 1754, a great part of the city of Constantinople was destroyed by an earthquake ; and the same year two thirds of the houses of Grand Cairo, and forty thousand of the inha- bitants, were swallowed up. In 1755, most of the hous- es in Lisbon and fifty thousand inhabitants, were de- stroyed by an earthquake, in about eight minutes ; and the same earthquake buried ten thousand people at the Azores Islands. In 1783, a great part of Calabria was destroyed by an earthquake, and more than forty thou- sand people lost their lives. ECLIPSE, the darkening of one of the luminaries by the interposition of some opaque body between it and the eye. The sun is eclipsed by the moon's interven- ing between the earth and the sun. An eclipse of the moon is when the shadow of the earth, being between the sun and moon, hinders the light of the sun from falling upon and being reflected by the moon : if the light of the sun is kept off from the whole body of the moon, it is a total eclipse, if from a part only, it is a par- tial one. To nations ignorant of the laws of nature, ail eclipse is terrible 5 denoting in their apprehension, the ECLIPTIC. 115 anger of the gods. An eclipse of the sun fortunately happening while two armies, in ancient Greece, were engaged in battle ; they desisted from lighting, and en- tered into a league of amity. Christopher Columbus, taking an advantage of the superstition of savages, availed himself of an eclipse for the saving of his own life, and the lives of his men. They were shipwrecked and cast upon the island of Jamaica 5 where the natives, at first friendly, became hostile, and refused them sup- plies of provision. Columbus, knowing that an eclipse of the moon was at hand, sent for the principal Indians ; told them that God was angry with them for their in- hospitality towards him ; and, as a token, that the moon in the evening would appear of an angry bloody colour. His prediction coming exactly to pass, their enmity was turned into veneration ; and there was no more want of pro vision, while he remained on the island. ECLIPTIC, the "great circle in which the earth per- forms her annual revolution round the sun, or in which the sun seems to move round the earth once a year 5 cutting the equator under an angle of twenty-three de- grees and twenty -eight minutes. This circle is suppos- ed to be divided into twelve parts, each of which is marked with one of the twelve signs, and contains the space of a month. The goodness of God is striking! v seen in the path of the sun. The sun is in the equator only twice a year, namely the twentieth of March, and about the same time in September, when the days and nights are equal. Were the sun constantly in the equa- tor, it is questionable whether a single spot of the globe would be habitable. First, the torrid zone would be burnt up by his fervent heat ; the two icy zones would extend much farther than they do at present ; the tem- perate zones would be at least as cold toward their mid- dle, as they are with us at the vernal equinox, (or at the twentieth of March ;) and this temperature would prevent the greatest part of fruits from coming to ma- turity. But the sun neither moves in the circle of the equator, which would parch . the earth and destroy all vegetation in the torrid zone, nor in the circle of the meridian, (or north and south) which would produce an inundation of water (by melting all the ice at the poles ,;) 116 EGYPT ELECTRIC FLUID. but his course is traced in the ecliotic, describing a% spiral line between the two poles of the earth. In this harmonious course, he dispenses cold and heat, dryness and humidity, and derives from these powers, each of them destructive by itself, latitudes so varied^ and so temperate, all over the globe, that an infinite number of creatures, of an extreme delicacy, find in them every decree of temperature adapted to their frail existence. St. Pierre. EGYPT, a country of Africa 5 bordering on the Me- diterranean, and on the Red Sea 5 situated betweei\two ridges of mountains, in a valley, through the midst of \vhich the Nile pours its fertilizing stream; extending about five hundred miles in length, and about a hundred and sixty in average breadth ; containing in the times of its ancient prosperity, a prodigious number of weal- thy cities and towns, and about eight millions of people. Upper Egypt extends itself no where above a few miles from the Nile, and in lower Egypt that great river breaks itself into many different canals, which, with the assistance of art, seem to have afforded to the ancient inhabitants the means of watering the country at plea- sure, and also a communication by water carriage, not only between all the great towns, but between all the considerable villages. Of all the countries on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt seems to have been the first in which either agriculture or manufactures were cultivated and improved to any considerable de- gree. It was a kingdom in the time of the patriarch Abraham ; in Jacob's time it fed the neighboring coun- tries in seasons of dearth and scarcity ; it was the cra- dle of the arts and sciences, which were carried from Egypt to Greece, and thence to the western parts of Europe ; while subject to the Roman empire, it was the granary of Rome, as it now is of Constantinople, notwithstanding the wretched condition to which it is reduced by the Turkish government. ELECTRIC FLUID, an exceedingly subtile fluid that pervades bodies generally, and is the same as light- ning. In the year 1744, Mr. Von Kleist discovered Ihe* method of giving a shock, by accumulating the electri- ELEPHANT. 117 cal fluid in a jar, and discharging it by means of a con- ductor ; and the next year the experiment being re- peated, in a different manner, and with better success, by Mr. Cunaeus, of Leyden, the jar so filled became generally known by the name of the Leyden Phial, which it has retained to the present day. In the year 1752, Dr. Franklin discovered the identity of the electric fluid and lightning. The doctor also first discovered, "in conjunction with his friend, Mr. Thomas Hopkinson, the peculiar power of pointed bodies, to draw off* the electrical matter, more effectually, and at a greater dis- tance than others ; founded on which, was his ingenious invention for defending houses from the destructive ef- fects of lightning, by the use of Metallic Conductors. He elevated a tall rotl, with wire wrapped round it, and fixing the bottom of the rod into a glass bottle, and pre- serving it from falling by means of silk strings, he found it electrified whenever a cloud passed, over it, receiv- ing sparks by his finger from it, and charging coated phials. This great discovery taught us to defend houses, and ships, and temples from lightning, and also to un- derstand, that people are safe in a room during a iitsn- der-storm, if they keep themselves at three or four feet distance from tJie walls. For the matter of lightning, in passing from the clouds to the earth, or from the earth to the clouds, runs through the walls of a house, the trunk of a tree, or other elevated objects 5 except there be some moister body, as an animal, in contact with them, or nearly so \ and in that case the lightning leaves the wall or tree, and passes through the animal $ but as it can pass through metals with still greater facility, it will leave animal bodies to pass through metallic ones. ^liller, Darwin. On this principle, lightning has sometimes melted the metal buttons iii a man's sleeves, or upon his coat, without hurting his body 5 in fact, the metal buttons diverted the lightning from his body, and saved ffis life. ELEPHANT, a quadruped of a prodigious size, and of remarkable sagacity. Jie sometimes grows to the height of eleven or twelve feet, and his body is thick in proportion. He has instead of a nose, a long, hollow piece of flesh, which grows over his mouth to the length 118 ELM. of three or four feet, and is called his trunk, or proto* scis : this trunk he bends with ease and swiftness in ev- ery direction, twisting off with it the branches of trees, or" letting it down into the water, when he wants to drink, and sucking up several gallons at a time, then doubling the end of it back, discharges the whole con- tents into his mouth. Although his strength is prodi- gious, he is naturally mild and inoffensive, but impatient of insult, or ill usage ; and when roused to rage, be- comes one of the most terrible of animals. In the east- ern parts of the world, where elephants are bred, prin- ces keep them to ride upon, and use them for war: a kind of tent or pavilion is fixed upon the back of the animal, in which one or more persons is placed ? r and the keeper that is used to manage him 5 sits upon the neck of the elephant, and guides him by means of a pole with an iron hook at the end. From experiments lately made at Paris, it has been discovered that ele- phants have an ear for music ; that they will leave their food to listen to the musician 5 and that their behaviour becomes either turbulent, or gay, or languishing, in ex- aet x correspondence to the different expressions of the music they hear. Day, *V. Lou, Rev. ELM, a stately, majestic, and long-living tree, that grows spontaneously in the United States. The tree it- self is generally known 5 but it is not so generally known that farmers in Europe use its tendrils for fences. In, the Bath (Agricultural) Papers, elms are 'recommend- ed for hedges; and the following method of raising tli em for this purpose are said to be the best. When elm timber is felled in the spring, sow the chips made in trimming or hewing them green, on a piece of ground newly ploughed, as you would corn, and harrow them in. Every chip which has an eye or bud-knot, or some bark on it, will immediately shoot like the cuttings of potatoes ; and the plants thus raised, having no tap- roots, but shooting their fibres horizontally in the rich- est part of the soil, will be more vigorous, and may be more safely and easily transplanted, than when raised from seeds or in any other method. The plants thus raised for elm fences, have greatly the advantage of others ; as five, six, and sometimes more stems will EMBALMINGENGLAND. 119 fcrise from the same chip ; and such plants, if cut down within three inches of the ground, will multiply their side shoots in proportion, and make a hedge thicker, without running to naked wood, than by any other me- thod yet practised. If kept clipped tor three or four years, they will be almost impenetrable. Encyclopaedia* EMBALMING, the preparing of the bodies of the dead so as to prevent their putrefaction. This process has been said to have been performed in Egypt, by dis- embowelling the dead body, washing it with the oil of cinnamon, myrrh, and other rich spices for forty days, and also by replenishing the inside with these ingredi- ents. The body was then put into a pickle of nitre, or salt-petre, till seventy days were completed from the time they begun their operations ; and, thus prepared, it would keep for centuries. Orion. The principal reason why the ancient Egyptians were so solicitous to preserve the bodies of the dead, was the belief that the soul continued with the body until the latter was. putrU fied ; for the same reason they built themselves magni- ficent tombs, of the most durable materials, ENGLAND, a principal part of the kingdom and island of Great Britain ; bounded on the north by Scot- land, on the east by the German Ocean, on the south by the English Channel, and on the west by the Atlantic, Wales, and the Irish Sea ; extending from 50 to 55* 40' north latitude. The rigors of winter, as well as the parching heats of summer, are felt here in a much less degree than in parallel climates on the continent; a circumstance common to all islands. While the sea- ports in Holland and Germany are every winter locked up with ice, those of England, and even of Scotland, are very seldom known to suffer this inconvenience.- Morse 9 Jiikin. The names England or English began to be given to the people of South Britain, about "the latter part of the nintli century. These names took their origin from the Jingles, who together with the Saxons, two nations or tribes from Germany, had over- spread and conquered a considerable part 01 the island j were called Anglo Sawons. i20 ENGLISH NAVY ERA ERIC. the ENGLISH NAVY, first formed in the ninth centu- King Alfred may be considered as the creator of the English navy.- Sensible that ships were the most natural bulwark of an island, he (about the year 880) provided himself with a naval force, and met the Danes, those terrible invaders of England on their own element. A fleet of a hundred and twenty armed vessels was sta- tioned upon the coast ; and being provided with warlike engines, and expert seamen, maintained a superiority over the enemy, and gave birth to that claim, which England has supported, of a sovereignty of the ocean. Russell. ERA, an account of time, reckoned from any parti- cular period, term, or epoch. The Jews had several eras, as from the creation of the world, from the univer- sal deluge, from the confusion of languages, from Abra- ham's journey to the land of Canaan, from the departure of their forefathers out of Egypt, from the building of Solomon's temple, and from the Babylonish captivity. The ancient Greeks reckoned time by Olympiads, which were public games celebrated every fifth year ; the first Olympiad they placed in the year of the world 3187. The ancient Romans reckoned from the building of their city, winch was in the year of the world 3113. The Christians take their era from the birth of our Saviour ; this method of computing time commencing among them, about the beginning of the seventh century. The Mahometans compute their time from the Hegira or flight of their prophet, in the year of our Lord 617: subtracting this number (617) from the Christian year, the remainder will be the Mahometan year. ERIC, the fine for murder in Ireland, which was le- vied on the criminal, and sometimes upon the commu- nity, and which varied as to the sum according to the rank of the person murdered. Accordingly, about two centuries ago, when Sir William Fitz Williams, while lord deputy of Ireland, told Maguire, an Irish chieftain, that he was about to send a sheriff' into Fermanah, which had been made a county a little before, and subjected to the English laws ; Maguire replied, " Your sheriff shall be welcome to me $ but let me know beforehand ERIE LAKE ERMINE-ESQUIMAUX. 121 his eric, or the price of his head/that if any of my people should cut it off, I may levy the money upon the county. 5 * Somewhat similar to the Irish Eric was the custom ot the ancient Grecians, in what were called the heroic ages. Homer, speaking in the person of Ajax, says, " a brother receives the price of a brother's blood : fathers for their slain sons are appeased. ^ The mur- derer pays the high fine of his crime, and in his ci*y unmolested remains." Russell. ERIE LAKE, a large lake in North America; the line between the United States and Upper Canada run- ning through it. It is situated bgcween 41 and 43* north latitude ; and forms part of tlie western bounda- ry of the state of New- York. It is from two hundred and twenty- five to two hundred and sixty miles in. length, and from forty to sixty broad. It communicates, at its northeast end, with Lake Ontario by the strait of Niagara. This lake abounds with excellent fish, and also with pernicious serpents. The islands and banks towards its west end are much infested with rattle snakes ; and on the leaves of the large water lilly, which grows here, covering the surface of the water, to an extent of many acres, myriads of water snakes lie bask* in in the sun in summer. Of the venomous serpents, Which infes,t this lake, the hissing snake is the most re- markable, and is accounted the most deadly. See HIS- SING SNAKE. ERMINE, a most beautiful little quadruped, usually about nine inches long : its body is white, the tail being always tipped witli black. Some have a stripe of dark brown, or mouse colour, extending along the back, from the head to the tail ; the other parts being perfectly white. The ermine is remarkable for the softness, the closeness, and the warmth of its fur. In the north of Europe and Siberia, their skins make a valuable article of commerce : they are found in some parts of the Uni- ted States, particularly in Vermont, 'Goldsmith, Wil- liams. ESQUIMAUX, a race of Indians who inhabit the country north of Canada, and in the neighborhood of M 122 ETNA EUROPE. Hudson's Bay 5 and in lowness of stature and the fea- tures of their faces, resemble the Laplanders of Europe. Few Europeans are able to endure cold, fatigue, hunger, or adversity in any shape with an equal degree of com- posure to that which is familiar to these savages. Af- ter being out a whole day on a hunt, exposed to the bleakest winds and most penetrating cold, (for the cold is so extreme that the ice in the rivers is eight feet thick,) and that without the least thing to satisfy the calls of nature, an Indian comes home, warms himself at the fire, smokes a few pipes of tobacco, and then re- tires to rest, as calm as if in the midst of plenty. Mis- sionaries sent from the Moravian brethren, have had considerable success in converting the Esquimaux to the Christian faith. Winterbotham. See NEW -BRITAIN. ETNA, a famous burning mountain in the island of Sicily ; about nine thousand feet in height ; from sixty to seventy miles in circumference at the base ; and ris- ing in the form of a cone till it terminates in a circum- ference of about three miles. On the summit is the crater, or fiery abyss, more than a mile in diameter, round, and unfathomably deep. From the bottom of the mountain you ascand ten leagues be fore reaching its summit on the south side ; and on any of the other sidels, the way being not so straight, would be considerably longer. Etna has been a volcano for ages immemorial ; its eruptions are very violent ; and its discharge has been known to cover the earth sixty-eight feet deep. The mountain itself seems to have been entirely composed of substances that have been discharged from the volca- no in its various eruptions ; the ilames whereof have been seen at Malta, which is sixty leagues distance. In 1755, Etna, from the crater on its summit, emitted an immense torrent of boiling water, which dashing its aw- ful cataracts from one chain of rocks to another, at length reached the cultivated plains, which it overflowed for a number of miles ; and dividing itself into several branches, formed a number of deep and rapid rivers, which discharged themselves into the sea. Howell, and others. EUROPE, one of the four great divisions of the EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. 821 world ; bounded on the west by the Atlantic ; on the north by the Frozen Ocean ; on the east by Asia ; and on the South by the Euxine or Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. It is about three thousand and three hundred miles in length, and about two thousand and seven hundred in breadth; and is situated between thirty-six and seventy -two degrees north latitude, lying nearly all within the temperate zone. " Although Eu- " rope," (says Reichard) is the smallest of the four " great divisions in number of square miles, it hasredu- ced to its subjection a great part of the other quarters " of the world. It governs all that part of the Ameri- " can continent that has been peopled from Europe, the " United States excepted. It possesses almost all the " islands which have been discovered in the three great " Oceans, the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian. It " gives laws to more than, half Asia, to the greater part " of the coasts of Africa, and to several interior coun- " tries of considerable extent : so that nearly half of the " inhabited world bows to Europe." It cannot be, how- ever, that Europe gives laws to naif the people of Asia, though it may to more than half the territory ; for Chi- na alone, over which Europe has no control, is compu- ted to have a population of more than three hundred million. EUROPEAN LANGUAGES. The languages of Europe are derived from the Latin, Celtic, Gothic, and Sclavonian. The Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French languages are derived from the Latin. The Scotch, Welsh, and Irish languages are from the Celtic. The high and low Dutch, the English, (which is also enriched with the spoils of many other languages,) the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and Jutlandic, are from the Gothic. The Polish, Bohemian, Russian, and sev- eral other languages of Europe, are from the ancient Sclavonian. In the English language, Doct. Johnson, in his Dictionary, has collected about forty -eight thou- sand words. The reverend H. Croft asserts that he has made a list of eleven thousand more, which he proposes to introduce into a new work ; making in the whole fifty -nine thousand English words. In a highly cele- brated work of Mr, John Home Tooke, published in the *&4 - KUXINE. jear 1786, and entitled Diversions of Ptirlei/, the autW has been thought by some grammarians, to^ have done 'more to explain the whole theory of language, than any, or than all his predecessors. The leading doctrine oi 4 Mr. T0oke is, that there are only two necessary parts of speech, namely, the noun and the verb, and that all other words, whether adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, Sec. are to be considered as corruptions or alterations^. these two : and of course, that the latter classes of words, instead of being in themselves mere unmeaning sounds, might be traced to a distinct and sensible signi- fication. Fry, Miller. The English language^ which, & little more than two centuries ago, was confined to the British island, will in all probability, within a century hence, be spoken by more than a hundred million peo- ple. Nor is it a little remarkable, that the greatest por- tion of civil liberty enjoyed in the world at the present day, is to be found among those who speak the Eng- lish as their mother tongue. It is the language of ree- TnenT EUXINE, or Black Sea, a sea about six hundred miles in length, which forms a part of the boundary be- tween Europe and Asia, and communicates with the Mediterranean by the strait of Constantinople. It re- ceives the Danube and Nieper: and the produce of land is exceedingly plenty and cheap in the countries \vhichborderupon these and other large rivers that empty into the Euxine. Mr. Towson, in his account of Hungary, which lies on the Danube, says, " Wherever I went, I was led into cellars full of wine, and into gra- jiaries full of corn, and I was shown pastures full of cat- tle. If I felicitated the owners on their rich stores, I heard one common complaint, " the want of a market*" The Ukraine, which lies on the banks of the Nieper, nnd is inhabited by the Cossacs, is one of the cheapest countries in the world : wheat is said to sell there from one shilling to two shillings sterling a bushel. If any revolution should open the straits of Constantinople, so lhat the productions of the countries on the Danube and Nieper might rush from the Euxine through this t into the Mediterranean, and thence into all the western parts of Europe: should such an event happen^ EVAPORATION FELLAHS. 125 its plain consequence would be the loss of the Europe- an markets to the people of the United vStates of Ame- rica ; where labor is three-fold higher and land produce three-fold dearer, than in the countries aforementioned, EVAPORATION, " the conversion of fluids, prin- cipally water, into vapor, which is specifically lighter than the atmosphere." Evaporation is constantly taking place, not only from the surface of the ocean, but from that of the earth, and even from the leaves of trees and vegetables. By means of this great and marvellous che- mical process, the whole vegetable kingdom is suppli- ed with the necessary nourishment of dew and rain 5 the water which is thus raised, descending again in dews and showers j is absorbed by the vegetable tribes. Dr. Williams, makfe his calculations from actual experi- ments, compute|!y. that from one acre of land well cov- ered with l$rge trees, three thousand eight hundred and seventy-l^s gallons of water are thrown off and dis- persed in the atmosphere, in the space of twelve hours, in the summer season.;/; Also, from experiments on the emission of air, he^cafculated, that fourteen thousand seven hundred 'and seventy-four gallons of air, are thrown oft* in twelve hours, from one acre of land, thus covered with trees. F. JF ELLAHS, the miserable peasants of Egypt. Vol- ney says, " I have seen them pass whole days in draw- ing water from the Nile, exposed naked to a sun which would kill us. Those who^are valets to the Mamelukes, or military officers of Egypt, continually follow their masters. In town, or in tne country, and amid all the dangers of war, they accompany them every where, and always on foot ; they will run befof Q?or after their hors- es for days together ; and when they are fatigued, tie themselves to the tails' of their masters' horses, rather than be left behind." % M 3 \ 16 FETICHE FINGER OFFERING FIRE. FETICHE, a remarkable kind of snake, which is ttiade an object of religious worship, in Whydah. a kingdom of Africa. This snake has a large, round, beau- tiful head, a short, pointed tongue, resembling a dart, and a sharp, short tail. It is slow and solemn in its pace, except when it seizes on its prey, when it is quick and rapid. It-is tame and familiar 5 the natives and Euro- peans handling and playing with them, without dread or apprehension of danger. When the English first settled in Whydah, a sailor just arrived, found one of these snakes in the magazine belonging to the factory, and killing it, threw it on the bank. The negroes, filled with rage and terror at the murder of one of their gods, assembled all the inhabitants of the province, and mas- sacred the factors to a man ; consuming their bodies and goods in the fire they had set to their warehouse. Walker. FINGER OFFERING. When the people of the Friendly Islands (in the Pacific Ocean) are afflicted with any dangerous disorder which they apprehend may bring them to the grave, they cut off the little fin ger; supposing that this would be accepted as a kind of propitiatory sacrifice sufficiently efficacious to procure their recovery. There is scarcely one to ten among them who is not thus mutilated, in one hand or the other :, and many have made an oblation of both their little fin- gers. Cookers Voyage. FIRE, that subtile, invisible cause, which easily pene- trates both solid and liquid matters, and renders them hot to the touch. It is also the chief agent, 'by which the composition and decomposition of natural bodies is generally effected ; so that, without fire, the animal and vegetable kingdoms would cease to exist. Fire is uni- versally necessary to human existence, in particular, even in the hottest climates. By means of fire alone, man guards his habitation, by night, from the ravenous beasts of prey; drives away the insects which thirst for his blood : clears the ground of the trees and plant* which cover it, and whose stems and trunks would re- sist every species of cultivation, should he find means any other way, to bring them down. In a word, in. every FIRE-BALL FIRE-DAMP. 137 country* \vith fire he prepares his food, dissolves metals. hardens clay into brick, softens iron, and gives to all the productions of the earth, the form and combinations which his necessities require. It is a benevolent ordi- nation of Providence, that the management of fire be- longs exclusively to man ; if any of the inferior animals had sagacity enough to enkindle fires, it would lead to inconceivable mischief. Here is one of the dividing lines between the human and brutal natures 5 the most sagacious dog,, how much soever he delights in the warmth of a nre, is never known to supply it with fuel. Dom. Enci/c. St. Pierre. FIRE -BALL, a remarkable kind of meteor. Fire- balls differ from lightning, and from shooting stars, in many remarkable circumstances : as their very great bulk, being a mile and a half in diameter 5 their travel- ling a thousand miles nearly horizontally 5 their throw- ing oft* sparks in their passage ; their changing colours from bright blue to dusky red 5 and their leaving a train of fire behind them, continuing about a minute. Dr. Blagden has related the history of one of these meteors? or fire-balls, which was seen the 18th of August, 1783. This was computed to be between sixty and seventy miles high, and to have travelled a thousand miles, at the rate of about twenty miles in a second. This fire-ball had likewise a train of light left behind in its passage, which varied in colour, and in some parts of its course, and gave off sparks or explosions where it had been brightest; and a dusky red streak remained visible perhaps a minute. -Darwin. FIRE-DAMP, a white globular vapor, sometimes HO bigger than a walnut, and sometimes as large as a man's head $ moving slowly near the bottom of mines, and taking fire and making an explosion when touched with a candle. Some years ago a fire-damp in one of the tin mines of Cornwall in England, being touched, as was supposed, by the light of a candle or lamp, the explosion was tremendous. A vast quantity of fire burst up out of the shaft, or passage into the mine, and arose in a compact body to the height of a hundred and twen- ty feet. The whole frame of woodwork, though very 128 FIRE-FLY FIRE-SPOUTS. solid, was torn up and gone ; and the miners, (eight i number) were destroyed : one was tossed high into the air, while the rest were suffocated below, aiid then bu- ried in the ruins. FIRE -FLY. a creature of the beetle kind, which is said to be about two inches long, and inhabits the West Indies and South America. The natives use them in- stead of candles, putting from one to three of them un- der a glass. Madame Merian says, that at Surinam the light of this fly \vas so great, that she saw sufficiently well by one of them, to paint and finish one of the fig- ures of them in her worlt. Darwin. FIRE-SPOUTS. Torrents of liquid fire have some- times burst from the earth and overwhelmed the adja- cent country, in a manner somewhat different from the common eruptions of volcanoes ; and are called Fire- Spouts. In 1783, three fire-spouts broke out in Iceland, in the province of Shapterfiall, Signs of the eruptions were perceived on the first of June 5 the earth begin- ning to tremble, and a continual smoke or steam rising from it. On the eighth of June the fire became visible, and the atmosphere was filled with sand, brimstone, and ashes, in such a manner as to occasion continual dark- ness. The three different fire-spouts, in a short time, united into one, and rolled its billows of flame so bigh as to be seen at the distance of more than two hundred miles 5 the whole country, for double that distance, be- ing covered with a smoke or steam not to be described. The torrent of fire took its course first down, and then up the channel of the river Skapta, and entirely con- sumed or dried up its waters : at length coming to the hill, in which the river had its source, the fiery deluge rose to a prodigious height, and overflowed the village of Buland, which was situated upon the top of the hill 5 consuming the houses, church, and every thing that stood in its way. It still increased, spreading itself out in length and breadth for many miles, drying up other rivers besides the Skapta, overflowing a number of vil- ? and converting a large tract of country into a sea of fire. It continued its dreadful progress, in different directions, till the thirteenth of August $ after whick FISHES FLAMINGO. 129 the fiery lake no longer spread itself, but nevertheless continued to burn for some length of time. The smoke reached as far as the island of Great Britain, where, during the whole summer of 1783, an obscurity pre- vailed throughout all parts of that island ; the atmos- phere appearing to be covered with a continual haze, which prevented the sun from appearing with iris usual splendor* Brit* Encyclopaedia. FISHES. These are the most prolific animals in na- ture. Lewenhoek assures us, that the cod spawns about nine millions in a season ; that the flounder commonly produces above one million \ and the mackerel above live. These animals are also remarkable for their lon- gevity 5 their age being determined by the circles of their scales. When a fish's scale is examined by_ a mi- croscope, it is found to consist of a number of circles, one within another, in some measure resembling those which appear on the transverse section of a tree, and is^ CU??0?ed t-0 *ive the- satna mfbrEuthS, ?C7 * in trees* we can tell their age, by the number of their circles ; so in fishes, we can tell theirs by the number of circles in every scale, reckoning one ring for every year of the animal's existence. Of these animals of the deep Lin- iireus has described about four hundred species ; but since he wrote, the catalogue has been so much enlarg- ed by circumnavigators and travellers, that they now amount to considerably more than one thousand. En- cyclopaedia, Miller. FLAMINGO, a large and beautiful bird, of a fire- colour, which is seen on the shores of India. They generally inhabit in swampy grounds, and salt marshes, in the waters of which they construct their nests, by raising out of the moisture of a foot deep, a little hil- lock of mud, a foot and a half high. They there make a hole in the summit of this hillock ; in this the hen deposits two eggs, and hatches them, with her feet sunk in tjie water, by means of the extreme length of her legs. When several of these birds are setting at the same time on their eggs, in the midst of a swamp, you would take them at a distance, for the flames of a con- flagration, bursting from the bosom of the waters, St.* flerre. ISO FLANDERS FLINT. FLANDERS, a country of the Netherlands 5 sixty miles long, and about fifty in breadth ; bordering upon the German Ocean, and English Channel. The Flem- ings, or people of Flanders, were formerly the princi- pal manufacturers and merchants of Europe, and from them the English learnt the art of weaving. All the wool of England, before the reign of Edward III, (that is, about the middle of the fourteenth century) except a small quantity wrought into coarse cloth for home con- sumption, was sold principally to the Flemings, and ma- nufactured by them : and it was not till the middle of the fifteenth century, that the English were capable of fabricating cloth for foreign market. Flanders table linens, lace, and tapestry, are yet thought to be superior to all others. In Anderson's History of Commerce, we are told, that one ounce of the finest Flanders thread has been sold in London for four pounds sterling ; and that such an ounce made in Flanders into the finest lace might be sold there (in London) for forty pounds : which is above ten times the price of staiitiard gold, weight for weight. This fine thread, according to Anderson, is spun by little children, whose feeling is finer than that of fljrown people, whereby they are capable of spinning sucii a thread as is smaller than the finest hair ; and one ounce of that thread is said to reach in length sixteen thousand yards. FLINT, a hard kind of stone, used, together with steel, for producing fire. Prometheus first struck fire from flints, one thousand seven hundred and fifteen years before the birth of Christ ; and hence he is said to have brought tire down from heaven. When flints are struck against other flints, they have the property of giving sparks of light ; but it seems to be an internal light, perhaps of electric origin, very different from the ignited sparks which are struck from the flint and steel. The sparks produced by the collision of steel with flint, appear to be globular particles of iron, which have been fused and imperfectly vitrified. They are kindled by the heat prpduced by the collision $ but their vivid li^lit, and their fusion and vitrification are the effects of a combustion continued in these particles during their passage through the air. One cause of gun-locks miss- FLOATING GARDENS FLORIDA. 131 ing fire is, the flint being imperfectly fixed, as the form of the hammer allows it to be struck only in one partic- ular place ; a flint, therefore, too high or too low, too long or too short, misses fire. In a hammer lately con- structed (in England) this cannot happen, for be the flint struck wherever it may, it must produce the effect required. Keir, New London Review. FLOATING GARDENS, curious gardens of Mex- ico, which float on the lake Fetzuco. The Mexicans, in making these gardens, plait and twist willows, and roots of marsh plants, or other materials together, which are light, but capable of supporting the earth of the garden. On this foundation they lay little bushes, and Xipon that the mud which they draw up out of the lake. These gardens are, in some instances, about eight rods in length, and three in breadth, and have less than a foot of elevation above the surface of the water. They cul- tivate flowers and every sort of garden herbs upon them. In the largest gardens there is commonly a lit- tle tree, and even a little hut to shelter the cultivator, and defend him from the rain and sun. When the owner of the garden wishes to change his situation, he gets into his little boat, and by his own strength alone, if the garden be small, or with the assistance of others, if it be large, he tows it after him, and conducts it wher- ever he pleases, with the little tree and hut upon it. That part of the lake, where the floating gardens are, is a place of infinite recreation, where the senses receive their highest possible gratification. Mbe Clavigero. FLORIDA, a country of North America, claimed by the king of Spain, but mostly possessed by the native Indians ; situated betwee.n 5 and 31 north latitude ; extending six hundred miles in length, and one hun- dred and thirty miles in medial breadth ; bounded north by Georgia, east by the Atlantic Ocean, south by the Gulf of Mexico and west by the Mississippi. It is di- vided into JEast and West Florida. St. Augustine, sit- uated on the sea coast, is the capital of East Florida ; and the principal town of West Florida is Pensacola. This country produces two crops of Indian corn a year : 152 FLOWERING TREES -FLYING FOX, &c. it took its name from the profusion of flowers with which it was clad, when first discovered by the Europeans* FLOWERING TREES. The three following arc the most celebrated flowering trees of China, with which the Chinese ornament their gardens. First, the Ou- tong-tree, which is of a large size, and resembles the sycamore, or maple : arid is loaded with such bunches of flowers that it excludes the rajs of the sun. Second, the Molien^ the branches of which are few in number, very slender, and covered with red bark, interspersed with small white spots. This tree produces large flow- ers, formed of seven or eight sharp pointed oval leaves ; the flowers being some red, others yellow, and others white* Third, the Yu-tan, a most beautiful tree, which rises to the height of thirty or forty feet. All its branch- es are crowned with flowers, the scent of which per- fumes the air to a great distance around.- JFiwterfcof/tawi. FLYING FOX, a singular animal found in the Pe- lew Islands. According to captain Wilson's descrip- tion, this animal has some similitude to the bat, but is five or six times larger ; it resembles a fox in its head, and has much the same smell. It runs along the ground, and up trees, like a cat : it has wings that ex* tend pretty wide, by which it flies like a bird. Wil- son's Journal. FLYING SQUIRREL, a native of the North Amer- ican forests. This remarkable little animal lias a kind of wings, (or membranes spread like wings) by which lie will fly from one tree to another, at the distance of thirty or forty feet. None of our animals has a more fine or delicate fur than this little squirrel. He feeds on the buds or seeds of vegetables ; and generally has his nest in decayed and rotted trees. 'Williams. FORMOSA, an island in the Chinese Sea 5 extend- ing about two hundred and forty miles in length, and sixty in its greatest breadth ; separated from the conti- nent of China by a strait, sixty miles over : it received its name of Formosa on account of its singular beauty. The inhabitants rear a great number of oxen? which they F01TLAHS OX. 13S \ise for riding, from a want of horses and mules. They accustom them early to this kind of service, and by dai- ly exercise, train them to go well and expeditiously. These oxen are furnished with a bridle, saddle, and crupper ; and a Chinese looks as big and is as proud when mounted in this manner, as if he were carried by the finest Barbary courser,- JFinterbotham. FOULAHS, a people of Africa, inhabiting in great numbers the countries near the river Gambia : they are generally of a tawny complexion, with soft silky hair, and pleasing features. They are much attached to a pastoral life, and have introduced themselves into all the kingdoms in the windward coasts of Africa, as herdsmen and husbandmen ; paying a tribute to the sovereign of the country for the land which they hold. The Foulahs being bigoted Mahometans, most of them view a Christian with horror, especially their women and children. Whilst Mungo Park was in the interior of Africa, a Foulah, of more than ordinary liberality of mind, invited him into his tent, and some food was bro't him. When he was eating, the children kept their eyes fixed upon him ; and no sooner did the shepherd pronounce the word Nazarene, (that is Christian) than they began to cry, and their mother crept slowly to- wards the door, out of which she sprung like a grey^ liound, and was instantly followed by her three chil- dren ; so frightened were they at the very name of a Christian, that no intreaties could induce them to ap- proach the tent. FOX, a common and mischievous animal, which, in all ages and nations, has been celebrated for its craft and wiles. He is so extremely fond of honey, that he attacks the nests of wild bees, regardless of their fury. They at first put him to flight by numberless stings ; but he retires for the sole purpose of rolling himself upon the ground and crushing his enemies under him. He returns to the charge so often, that he obliges them to abandon the hive, which he soon uncovers, and de- vours both the honey and the wax. The fox sleeps in a round form, like the dog 5 but when he only reposes himself; he lies on his belly with his hind-legs extend* 134 FRANCE. ed. It is in this situation, that he eyes the birds on the hedges and trees. The birds have such an antipathy against him, that they no sooner perceive him, than they send forth shrill cries to warn their neighbors of the enemy's approach. The jays and blackbirds, in parti- cular, follow the fox from tree to tree, sometimes two or three hundred paces? often repeating the watch-cries. Smellie. FRANCE, a large and powerful empire of Europe ; extending nearly seven hundred miles in length, and about six hundred and fifty in breadth ; bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the German Ocean, Holland, Germany, Swisserland, the Mediter- ranean Sea, and the Pyrenean Mountains. The air is wholesome, the soil is diversified and productive, the mineral productions are various, and the situation of the country is favorable to commerce. This country had been a province of the Romans, and was anciently call- ed Gaul. In the year 486, Clovis. having defeated the Roman governor, begun the French monarchy, estab- lishing a new kingdom, to which he gave the name of France, or the land of free men. In the year 751, Pe- pin assumed the sovereignty, excluding forever the neirs of Clovis. One of the descendants of Pepin. naimely, Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, at the be- ginning of the ninth century, possessed all France, all Germany, part of Hungary, part of Spain, the Low Countries, and most of Italy. In the year 987, Hugh Capet, the most powerful nobleman in France, seized the crown, and expelled the race of Pepin. Thirty- three descendants of Hugh Capet reigned, in succes- sion, over France, during the period of eight hundred years, nearly ; the last of this race being the unfortu- nate Louis XVI. who was beheaded, January 23, 1793. The torrents of blood shed in the revolution in France, commenced with the taking of the Bastile, July 14, 1789. The French, in the incipient stage of the revo- lution, shook off at once all civil, moral, and religious restraints. The authority even of the Most High they openly disclaimed. It is asserted by Foder, that atheism was established in France for three years and a half, to wit, from September, 1792 ? to March, 1796 5 during all FRANCE, ISLE OF, &c. 135 Mhich time it would submit one to scorn, if not to death as a fanatic, merely to mention, with any degree of reve- rence, the name of God ! After the revolutionary gov- ernment of France, for the space of 13 years, had pass- ed in rapid succession through a variety of forms, Na- poleon Bonaparte, a general of its armies, forcibly made himself First Consul for life, August 2, 1802: and, on the 3d of December, 1804, he was crowned emperor of France, by his Holiness the Pope, by the name of Na- poleon 1. Napoleon Bonaparte, the wonder and the scourge of the world, was born at Calvi, in the island o Corsica, August 15, 1769. By his second wife, daugh- ter to the sovereign of Austria, he has a son. His eldest brother is Lucien 5 his second brother is Joseph ; hL third brother is Louis ; and his youngest is Jerome. The deeds of Napoleon Bonaparte are recorded to ever- lasting ages by the Angel of Death, FRANCE, ISLE of, an island in the Indian Ocean, one hundred and fifty mites in circumference. It is owned by the French 5 and lies 400 miles east of. the island of Madagascar ; whence they bring theif slaves to the Isle of France, and have to the number of twelve thousand. These black slaves, says St. Pierre, cultivate the soil, do all the drudgery, and are treated in the most cruel man- ner. In desperation, they often hang or drown them- selves. More frequently they fly to the woods, where they are hunted and shot, like* beasts, by parties of plea- sure, formed for the purpose. According to Dr. Morse, the wretched slaves torn from Madagascar by the French, toil, almost naked, with an iron collar fastened round the neck, from which rise plates of iron forming a mask and head-piece ; before the mouth is a round plate of iron, in which are small holes to emit the breath ; there is a place for the nose; a flat piece of iron passes through the mouth, as a bit in a horse's mouth. The skin is soon worn from the mouth, nose, face, and chin. This island has fallen under the dominion of Great Britain. FRANKLINEA ALL AT AH AM A, a flowering tree, of the first order for beauty and fragrance of blossoms 5 growing in some parts of Georgia and the east borders 1*6 FRESHET FRIGID ZONES FRISLANB. of Florida. This tree grows fifteen or twenty feet high, branching in every direction. The flowers are very large, expand themselves perfectly, are of a snow-white colour, and ornamented with a crown or tassel of gold coloured glittering stamina in their centre. These large flowers stand single in the bosom of the leaves, 'which being near together towards the extremities of the twigs make a ga} r appearance. Bartram. FRESHET, the raising of the waters in streams and rivers, most commonly in the spring, by the melting of the snow towards their sources and along their banks. If the snow in the woods and mountains be dissolved gradually, as it always is when not accelerated by a hea- vy rain, no damage is done by the rising of the water $ but if the dissolution of the snow be sudaen, the effects are often calamitous. Some of the rivers of New-Eng- land are remarkable for high and sudden freshets. Saco riyer; which has its source ig the state of New-Hamp- shire, has risen twenty -five feet in a great freshet ; its common rise is ten feet. Pemigewasset, another river of New-Hampshire, has also been known to rise twen- ty-five feet. Connecticut river in a common freshet, is ten feet higher than its usual summer level ; its greatest elevation does not exceed twenty kQt.--*Winterbotham. FRIGID ZONES, those regions round the poles \vhere the sun does not rise for some days in the winter, nor set for some days in the summer ; extending from each pole to twenty-three degrees and twenty-eight minutes. Nothing can be more mournful or hideous than the picture which travellers present of these wretched regions. The ground, which is rocky and barren, rears itself, in every place, into lofty mountains and inaccessible cliffs, -and meets the mariner's eye at even forty leagues from shore. These precipices, frightful in themselves, receive an additional horror from being constantly covered with ice and snow, which daily seem to accumulate, and to fill all the vullics with increasing desolation. Go Idsmith. FRISLAND, formerly a very large island (in the Af> ^ntic Ocean) which is supposed to have been sunk by FROST FUNERAL-PILE. 137 an earthquake. Frisland was seen by Martin -Frobisher in each of his three voyages to and From Greenland in the years 1576, 1577, and 1 578. Frobisher describes it to have been as large as England, the southernmost part of it lying about 60 degrees north latitude, and as being more west than any other land iir Europe ; and inhabit- ed by people who resembled the Greenlanders. This great tract of country has long since disappeared. In a map prefixed to Crantz's history of Greenland, there is marked a very extensive shoal between the latitudes of 59 and 80, called the sunken lands of Buss." Its longitude is between Iceland and Greenland, and Crantz speaks of it in these words. " Some are of opinion that 4i Frisland was sunk by an earthquake 5 and that it was " situate in those parts where the sunken land of Buss " is marked in the maps $ which the seamen cautiously " avoid, because of the shallow ground and turbulent " waves." Belknap. FROST, that state of the air whereby fluids are con- verted into ice. It has been thought by many that frosts meliorate the ground, and that they are in general salu- brious to mankind. In respect to the former, it is now well known that ice or snow contains no nitrous parti- cles, and though frost, by enlarging the bulk of moist clay, leaves it softer for a time after the thaw, yet as soon as the water exhales, the clay becomes as hard as before, being pressed together by the incumbent at- mosphere, and by its attraction, called setting by the potters. Add to this, that on the coasts of Africa, where frost is unknown, the fertility of the soil is almost be- yond our conceptions of it. Darwin. FUNERAL-PILE, a pile of combustible materials, erected among the East-Indians for the purpose of burn- ing their dead. The inhuman custom of women burn- ing themselves to death on the corpses of their husbands is not vet annihilated in India; but it is confined to the cast or the Bramins. When an individual of this cast dies, one of his wives is bound, (not by law? but by cus tor.-i) to exhibit this dreadful proof of her affection. Tliis horrible sacrifice, as exhibited at Bengal, is as fel- lows. The funeral -pile of the husband is erected near IS* FUR. a wall, with just space enough between for a single per- son to pass, that the widow may walk, as is the custom, three times round it. A hole is made in the wall at the height of the pile, in which abeam, of more than twenty feet in length, is placed with a rope fastened to the and of it, and hanging to the ground, for the purpose of making it move backwards and forwards. \Vhen the widow has performed her ambalations, and taken off her jewels, which she distributes among her compan- ions, she ascends the pile, a-nd lies down, embracing the corijse of her husband. The beam is then put in motion, and falls upon her so heavily as to break her loins, or deprive her at least of the power of moving. The pile- is now set on fire, and the music striking up, contri- butes, with the shouts of the people, to drown the noise of her groans : and she is thus in the full sense of the expression burnt alive,- Grrandpre. FUR, the fine, soft, close hair of certain kinds of ani- mals. It is a remarkable ordination of Providence, that warm coats of fur are given only to the animals of the coldest regions. Furs are to be obtained only in the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America. From Siberia the Russians have long been wont to send, by annual caravans, to Kiatcha on the confines of China, vast quantities of furs, which the Chinese there pur- chase from them at enormous prices. Canada and Hud- ton's Bay furnish the merchants of Britain also with great quantities of furs, which they partly sell in Eu- rope and partly in China. The quantity of furs which can be procured, is always, however, exceedingly une- qual to the demand for them. A fur-dress is not favora- ble to health 5 its alkaline and oilv particles stimulate the skin, when in contact with it, thus partially increase perspiration, and lay the foundation of colds and catarrhs. A fur-dress readily attracts infection, and soon acquires an intolerable smell. The plague ,.itself is said to be spread among the Turks chiefly by their absurd and cumbersome dresses lined with animal hair. Ptrouse, Domestic JZr&yclvpcedia. GAMBIAGANGES. 139 G. IjTAMBIA, a deep river of Africa, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, between thirteen and fourteen degrees north latitude, and, like the Nile, overflows its banks. It is navigable for sloops six hundred miles up the country 5 its banks are planted with towns, inhabit- ed by various nations ; it abounds with crocodiles and sharks, and here also resides the hippopotamos, or riv- er horse. Mr. Brue 5 principal factor for the French African Company, in an account of a voyage he made up the river Gambia, says, that he was surprised to see tke land so well cultivated ; scarce a spot lay unimprov- ed ; the low lands, divided by small canals, were all sowed with rice 5 the higher ground planted with mil- let, Indian corn, and peas of different sorts $ their beef excellent $ poultry plenty and very cheap, as well as all other necessaries of life. GANGES, a celebrated river of Asia : more than two thousand miles in length, and in its annual inunda- tion, overflowing the country to the extent of more than a hundred miles in width. The tides of the Ganges are prodigiously rapid. The channels, which the stream of this river has formed in the sand banks at its mouth, are in some places not more than half a league wide ; in entering them, during the south-west monsoon, the force of wind and tide together will carry a vessel at the rate of six leagues an hour : in this state a single false stroke of the helm will throw her too much to one side, and, by losing the exact direction of the channel, expose her to the greatest danger, often to the inevita- ble fate of being wrecked. The Ganges, dispensing fertility in its progress, and affording the means of com- mercial intercourse, has obtained the adoration of the Hindoos, or Gentoos, who inhabit its banks ; and has been worshipped as a divinity since the period when, accord- ing to tradition, Dourga plunged herself into it, and disappeared. They relate that tkis woman was their legislator, that in her old age she descended to the bot- tom of the Ganges, and still lives there. Accordingly the greatest happiness of life is that of bathing in this river ; and drinking its waters, which are believed to 140 GAZETTE GEORGIA. have the virtue of purifying both body and soul. If they happen to be drowned in the Ganges, they are sure of Paradise. Ghrandpre. GAZETTE, a newspaper. The first gazette is said to have been printed in Italy, at Venice, in the year 1536 5 and to have derived its name from the name of a little coin called gazetta, which was the common price of one of these papers. The first regular gazette pub- lished in England was in 1622 9 entitled " The certaine hTeivs of the present Weeke." The first gazette in France was in 1631 ; the first in America was the Boston News- Letter, commenced at Boston, 1704, by B. Green : the first in Pennsylvania was in 1 719 ; the first in New-York was in 1725 ; the first in Rhode -Island was in 1732 ; the first in Connecticut was in 1755 ; and the first in New- Hampshire in 1756. The number of papers, issu'ng an- nually from the presses in Great Britain at the close of the 18th century, are computed to have been .consider- ably more than fifteen million. The number of gazettes in the United States, at the beginning of the 19th cen- tury, was about two hundred ; and the number of pa- pers which they circulated annually, are calculated to be twelve or thirteen inillion.-+JMiuer. GEORGIA, one of the United States of America ; situated between 30 37' and 35 north latitude ; ex- tending about 600 miles in length, and on an average 250 iii breadth ; bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, by East and West Florida, by the river Mississippi, and by North and South Carolina,' and the state of Tennessee, state produces rice and cotton in great abundance. In some parts of the state, the heat, in summer, is ex- cessive. In a letter from Henry Ellis, Esq. formerly governor of Georgia, dated at Savannah, July 17, 1758, lie remarks, " I think it is highly probable, that the in- ants of this place breathe a notter air than any oth- er people on the face of the earth. I have travelled a part of this globe, not without giving some attcn- the peculiarities of each climate, and I can fair- 'uce, that I never felt such heats any where as iu Georgia/' GEORGIA GERMANY. 141 GEORGIA, a country of Asia, between the Caspian and Black Sea : it is the ancient Colchis. This country (including Circassia) has been for many ages a nurs,- ery for slaves ; it furnished the Greeks, Romans, and Asiatic nations with them. From the time of the Mo- guls, (whose empire commenced in the beginning of the 15th century.) the slave trade has been carried on here in the same manner as it is carried on in Africa, by the wars among the numerous tribes, and by the misery of the inhabitants, who sell their own children for a subsistence. Multitudes of these slaves are car- ried to Constantinople and to Egypt* We read in Re- roditus, that the ancient Colchis* (now called Georgia) received slaves from Egypt 5 that ?'s, from the same country into which they now sell their children. What an extraordinary reverse of circumstances l**~ GERMANY, a large country of Europe. Ancient Germany included the north of France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, part of Turkey in Europe, and of Muscovy, or Russia. The Romans were able to con- quer only a part of Germany. The Danube was the boundary of the ancient Roman empire 5 for though tha emperor Trajan, at the beginning of the second centu- ry, conquered Dacia, which was situated north of the Danube, and built a bridge over the river, yet the Ro- mans held that province tor no long time, and were at last compelled to destroy the bridge, to prevent the ir- ruptioBS of the northern barbarians. This country was called the Northern Hive ; for thence issued numerous- swarms of warlike and barbarous people, called Goths, Vandals, and Huns, who overthrew the western Roman empire, changed the face of the civilized parts of Eu- rope, and laid the foundations of most of the European monarchies and aristocracies which now subsist. Mod- ern Germany is six hundred miles in length and five hundred and twenty in breadth ; is situated between about forty -five and fifty -five degrees of nortlj latitude; borders upon the. German Ocean, Denmark, the Baltic Sea, Poland, Swisserland, the Alps, the Netherlands^ and France ; and is computed to contain about twenty- eight million inhabitants. Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was the founder of the German empire } in tlm 142 GIANT GIBRALTAR. rear 800. Beforfr the French revolution there were ia all Germany, about two hundred independent sove- reignties 5 all confederated under one common head, namely? the Emperor. GIANT, a person of prodigious stature and dinien- tions of body. The iron bedstead of Og? king of Ba- shan, was nine cubits? or about sixteen feet. Goli- ath, of Gatlu the champion of the Philistines, measured six cubits and a span ; which, according to Bishop Cumberland, is eleven feet English. The body of Ores- tes? according to the Greeks? was eleven feet and a half. The giant Galbara? brought from Arabia to Rome un- der Claudius Ceesar? was near ten feet. Maximus, the Roman emperor, was nine feet high. Dr. Cheselden speaks of a skeleton, discovered in a Roman camp, near St. Albans, in England, which he judged to have been eight feet and four inches. Byrne, the Irish giant? who died since the middle of the eighteenth century, mea- sured eight feet and two inches. Edward JVlalone, an- other Irishman? was seven feet and seven inches ; and his stature and size were exceeded by Daniel Cordanus, a Swede. Patrick O'Brien, who died in England, 1806, was full eight feet high. Encyclopedia^ et cet, GIBRALTAR, a famous promontory, or rather pen- insula of Spain ; lying in latitude 35 50'. To the ancients it was known by the name of Calpe, and was called one of the Pillars of Hercules: it faces the moun- tain of Jibila, on the African shore, which is the other Pillar of Hercules. These two eminences were, among the ancients? considered as the limits of navigation ; and to pass them and enter the Atlantic Ocean? was thought a most daring adventure. The strait, upon which this fortress stands, connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic, and divides Europe from Africa ; it is twenty -four miles in length, and fifteen in breadth. Through this strait a strong current always runs from the Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The whole prom- ontory, upon the summit of which the fortress is built, is a vast rock?, rising perpendicularly several hundred feet, measuring from norm to south about two English miles, but not above one in breadth from east to west. GINGER-ROOTGIN-SENG. 1 43 Nature and art have done every thing to render it as strong as possible. Gibraltar was captured from Spain, in 1704, and has ever since been held by the British crown. Although this impregnable fortress is the key of the Mediterranean, it has been the opinion of some, particularly of Adam Smith, that its capture and deten- tion have been injurious to the interest of Great Brit- ain, by occasioning an implacable enmity in the minds of the Spaniards, who otherwise might have been among the number of England's most profitable commercial customers, That enmity is now done away, by the ef- fectual assistance given by Great Britain to Spain, dur- ing her noble struggles for independence. GINGER-ROOT, an aromatic root that grows plen- tifully in the West-Indies, and is ground into ginger- flour. In the cultivation of this root no greater skill or care is required than in the propagation of potatoes, and it is planted much in the same manner. When ripe it is dug and exposed to a hot sun for drying. These roots, taken up while their fibres are tender and full of sap, make an admirable sweetmeat. -Bryan Ed- wards. GIN-SENG, a valuable plant that grows spontane- ously in China, and in some parts of the United States. The root of Gin-seng is white and rough ; its stem is smooth and very round, and of a deep red colour. Its height is various, according to the vigor of the plant. From the extremity of the stalk proceeds a number of branches, equally distant one from the other, and, in their growth, never deviating from the same plan. Each branch bears five small leaves full of fibres, the upper parts of which are of a dark green, and the low- er of a shining whitish green. This plant decays and springs up every year. It is the most esteemed of ail the plants of China ; where it is found on the declivi- ties of mountains, between the thirty-ninth and forty- seventh degrees of north latitude. Gin-seng was for- merly thought to be a plant indigenous only to China and Tartary. In 1720, it was discovered by the Jesuit Lasiton, in the forests of Canada; and in 1750 it was found in the western parts $f New-England, It grows 144 GLACIERSGLUTTON .GNAT, in great plenty in Vermont, and has been a valuable ar- ticle of exportation ; but its sale lias been injured by an injudicious method of collecting, curing, and pack- ing it. Wlnterbotham^ Williams. GLACIERS, extensive fields of ice among the Alps of Swisserland. Some stretch several leagues in length : that of des Bois, in particular, is more than fif- teen miles long; and above three in its greatest breadth. The thickness of the ice varies in different parts. M. tie Saussure found its general depth in the glaciers des Bois from eighty to a hundred feet ; but questions not the information of those who assert, that, in some places, its thickness exceeds even six hundred feet. These fields of ice are intersected by chasms, which the traveller crosses on foot with much difficulty. Morse. GLUTTON, an animal of the weasel kind, which takes its name from its voracious appetite ; it is found in the north of Europe and Siberia, and in the northern parts of America, where it is called Carcajou. The body is thick aiid long $ the legs short, with sharp claws ; its fur is held in high estimation, for its soft- ness and beautiful gloss. This voracious animal is seen lurking among the branches of trees in the forests oi North America, in order to spring down and seize up- on deer that happen to pass along underneath. When- ever an opportunity offers, it darts down upon the moose or deer, sticks its claws between the shoulders, and notwithstanding the violent efforts of its victim, remains there unalterably fixed, eating its neck, ond digging its passage to the great blood vessels that lie in that part. GNAT, an insect fly that feasts on blood, and is the expertest phlebotomist in nature. The Gnat is furnish- ed with a proboscis, which is at once an awl proper for piercing the flesh of animals, and a pump by which it sucks out their blood. This proboscis contains, besides, a long saw, with which it opens the small blood vessels at the bottom of the wound which it has made. He is likewise provided with a corslet of eyes studded round GOA. 145 luji little head, to see all the objects around him in every direction : talons so sharp, that he can walk on polished glass, in a perpendicular line $ feet supplied with brash- es to clean himself; a plume of feathers on his fore- head ; and an instrument answering the purpose of a trumpet, to proclaim his triumphs. St. Pierre. GOA, a small island and city, the capital of the Por- tuguese settlements in the East- Indies. It is the only place known in the world, where the popish court of inquisition still remains the reign of terror, as in for- mer ages. This horrible court has existed here about three centuries ; and no person, not even the vice-roy of Goa, is exempt from its jurisdiction. The inquisi- tors are priests, clothed in black robes when they are going to sit upon the tribunal of the Holy Office 5 their usual dress being white. The accused are examined by torture, to bring them to make confession 5 and the shrieks of some or others of these wretched victims, may be heard every morning, sometimes for months to- gether. In the prison of the inquisition are two hun- dred dungeons, ten feet square ; where they remain, Sometimes for years, without seeing any person but the jailer who brings them their victuals. But not so with those who have given any mortal offence to these holy fathers : they are condemned to the flames, both men and women. Early in the morning of the day of their execution, the great bell of the cathedral begins to ring, to give warning of the Jluto da Fe, or Jlct of Faith ; the name they give to the ceremony of burning heretics. Soon after the bars are removed from the prison-doors of the victims. They are taken out of their dungeons, .and clothed with a robe of grey cloth, upon which their own portraits are painted, and placed upon burning torches surrounded with demons. Upon their heads are fixed pasteboard caps, painted like sugar-loaves, and all covered over with devils and flames of fire. Thus attired, they are made to march in procession, barefoot, through the streets of Goa, to a church ; where a monk delivers a sermon on the occasion. This ser- vice being over, their sentences are read to them. They then receive each a slight blow upon the breast, from sin officer of the inquisition, called the Mcaide / as a to- 146 GOLDGOLD COAST. ken that the church had abandoned them. Upon whicli an officer of the secular tribunal instantly steps for- ward, seizes them, and leads them to the stake ; where the faggots are already prepared. Of late years the celebration of the Jluto da Fe at Goa, is private, within the walls of the inquisition ; a circumstance which in- creases rather than lessens the terrors of that abomina- ble tribunal.- Buchanan., Dellon. GOLD, a precious metal, and the heaviest of all met- tals, platina excepted : it is of a bright yellow colour when pure, but becomes more or less pale, in propor- tion as it is alloyed with other metals. Gold is so duc- tile, that, as Wallerius asserts, a single grain of it may be stretched in such a manner as to cover five hundred ells of wire. Nor is its malleability inferior to its duc- tility. Mr. Boyle says, that one grain and a half of gold may be beaten into fifty leaves of one inch square, which if intersected by parallel lines drawn at right an- gles to each other, and distant only the hundredth part of an inch from one another, will produce twenty-five millions of little squares, each very discernible by the naked eye. Gold is indestructible by the common ope- rations of fire : when exposed to the strongest heat it loses no part of its weight ; it is incapable of rusting, and combines with various metals. In Europe the pro- portion between gold and silver, is as fourteen or fifteen to one ; whereas in China, and the greater part of the markets of India, it is but as ten, or at most, as twelve to one ; therefore it is more advantageous to carry sil- ver thither than gold. Encyclopaedia, Jl. Smith. GOLD COAST, a maritime country of Guinea, in which are more forts and factories of European nations, than in any other part of the coasts of Africa ; the whole gold coast extending about one hundred and eighty miles in length. Tne negro merchants are usually very rich, and trade with the Europeans in gold. Some wri- ters have said that there .are gold mines in the neigh- borhood of Mina, on the gold coast ; others, that tho gold is rollei} down by the rivers to that neighborhood : . both may be true. N The wealth of the natives enable,. a to gratify their taste for finery. The women wc^.t GOLD DUST GOLDEN VULTURE, &c. 14f old, and coral chains about their necks, arms, legs, and waists. They cover themselves with ornaments. Walker, Nennel. GOLD DUST, a precious article, found in Africa^ particularly in the country of Handing, which borders upon the river Niger. The gold of Manding is never found in a mine, but always in small grains, nearly in a pure state, from the size of a pin's head, to that of a pea, scattered through a large body of sand or clay. As soon as their harvest is over the Mandingo negroes go in search of gold dust. Some gather up the sands at the bottom of streams ; others dig pits in the earth, near some hill which has been previously discovered to contain gold; and when they come to a stratum of fine reddish sand, with small specks therein, they are gene- rally sure to find gold in some proportion or other. The men gather the sand into large calabashes, and the women by washing it several times, separate the pre- cious metal, Park, GOLDEN VULTURE, a bird that is foremest of the vulture kind, and is in many respects like the gold- en eagle, but is larger in every proportion. From the end of the beak to that of the tail, it is four feet and an half, and to the claws' end, forty-five inches. The feathers are black on the back, and on the wings and tail of a yellowish brown : their sense of smelling is amazingly great. In Egypt, this bird seems to be of singular service. There are great flocks of them in the neighborhood of Grand Cairo, which no person is permitted to destroy. The service they render the in- habitants, is the devouring of the carrion and filth of that great city ; which might otherwise corrupt the air. They are commonly seen in company with the wild dogs of the country, tearing a carcase very deliberately together. Goldsmith. GOOD HOPE, CAPE of, the most southerly point of the continent of Africa, lying in 34 29' south latitude : inhabited by the people called Hottentots. This Cape was first sailed round, in the year 1497, by Vasco de Gama, a noble Portuguese, who was sent out by Emau* 148 GOTHS GOURD. uel I. king of Portuga,, \vith a fleet of four ships, in or- der to complete the passage to India by sea. The Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope is one of the most considerable of the colonies which the Europe- ans have established, either in Africa or the East-In- dies, and is peculiarly fortunate in its situation. It is the half-way-house, if one may say so, between Europe and the East-Indies, at which almost every European ship makes some stay both at going and returning. The supplying of those ships with almost every sort of fresh provisions, with fruit, and sometimes with wine, affords alone a very extensive market for the surplus produce of the colonists. [The Cape of Good Hope is now held by the British government.] Mam Smith. GOTHS, a people of ancient Germany, north of the Danube, who conquered the western Roman Empire, in the fifth century, and demolished the whole fabric of literature and civil institutions. Those fierce and bar- barous tribes were inspired with invincible courage and promoted to deeds of carnage by the genius ot their religion. An opinion was fixed and general among them, that death was but the entrance into another life ; that all men who lived lazy and inactive lives, and died natural deaths, by sickness or by age, went into vast caves under ground, all dark and miry, full of noisome creatures usual to such places, and there forever grov- elled in endless stench and misery. On the contrary, all who gave themselves to warlike actions and enter- prises, to the conquest of their neighbors and the slaughter of their enemies, and died in battle, or of vio- lent deaths upon bold adventures or resolutions, went immediately to the vast hall or palace of Odin, their god of war, who eternally kept open house for all such guests, where they were entertained at infinite tables, in perpetual feasts and mirth, carousing in bowls made of the skulls of their enemies they had slain : according to the number of whom, every one in those mansions of pleasure was the most honoured and the best enter- tained. Sir William Temple. GOURD, k plant or vegetable. Iti the Sandwich J*.1ands, gourds are applied to various domestic (wv- GRAND CANALGREEKS. 149 poses. They grow to such an enormous magnitude, that some of them will contain from ten to a dozen gal- lons. In order to adapt them the better to their re- ,spective uses, they take care to give them different shapes, by fastening bandages round them during their growth. "Thus, some of them are in the form of a dish, serving to hold their puddings, vegetables, salted pro- visions, &c. Others are of a long cylindrical form, and serve to contain their fishing tackle 5 each of these two sorts being furnished with close covers, made also of the shell of the gourd. Others are in the shape of a long necked bottle ; and in these water is kept. They frequently score them with a heated instrument, so as to communicate to them the appearance of being paint- ed, in a great variety of elegant designs. Cookers Voyages. GRAND CANAL, or Languedoc Canal, a famous canal in France, which opens a communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean ; and was made by Lewis XIV. This canal, which was be- gun in the year 1666, and finished in 1680, was carried over hills and valiies, and in one place through a moun- tain. It begins with a large reservoir, four hundred paces in circumference and twenty -four feet deep, which receives many springs from the mountain Noire. This canal is about sixty-four leagues in length, is supplied by a number of rivulets and is furnished with a hundred and four locks, with about eight feet rise each. In some places it passes over bridges of vast height; and in others it cuts through solid rocks for a thousand pa- ces. When that great work, which had cost the king of France prodigious sums of money, was finished, the most likely method, it was found, of keeping it in con- stant repair, was to make a present of the tolls, in per- petuity, to Mr. Piquet, the engineer, who had planned and conducted the work. Those tolls constitute a very large estate to the different branches of the family of that gentleman. Mam Smith, et cet. GREEKS, or Grecians, a people who inhabited the country, in Europe, that borders on the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic; and the Archipelago $ and whose tei> 2 15i GREENLAND. ritory (exclusive of a number of islands) was about four hundred miles both in length and breadth ; situated be- tween thirty-six and forty -four degrees north latitude. The Greeks derived their origin from the Egyptians and Phoenicians. In the year 1556 before our Saviour's nativity, and fifteen years after the birth of Moses, Ce- crops brought a colony of people from Egypt into Atti- ea, and began the kingdom of Athens in Greece. Lite- rature dawned in Greece more than a fhousand years earlier than in the other parts of Europe. The Gre- cians received the letters of the alphabet, from Cadmus, two years before the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt : they were also among the first of the Europe- ans who were enlightened by the gospel, which was preached among them by Paul and Timothy. No peo- ple ever had so great a thirst for learning, or carried the fine arts to so great perfection, as the Grecians. All the Roman learning was derived from Greece $ which, being conquered by the Remans, about a hun- ilred and forty years before the Christian era, spread the arts and sciences among its conquerors ; who dif- fused them among the 'other nations of Europe, which were subjected to their power. Thus, the arts and sci- ences travelled from Egypt, their fountain head, to Greece 5 from Greece te Jiome 5 and from Rome, among the conquered and tributary nations of the Roman em- pire. The descendants of the ancient Greeks, having oeen long and horribly oppressed by the Turks, are now as remarkable for ignorance and servility, as their ancestors were for brilliancy of genius and a love of liberty. GREENLAND. East find West Greenland, (sup- posed to be one continued body of. land ; West Green- land being the most easterly part of America,) extend* from about sixty -three degrees n^rth latitude towards the north pole. The whole coast is surrounded with prodigious mountains of ice, which reflect a multitude of colours, and exhibit a most dazzling appearance. In the year 889, a part of this country was discovered by some Danish adventurers ; and, under the conduct of Eric Rauh, or Redhead, a Danish chief, it was soon peo- pled : it still belongs to the crown of Denmark, The $REEN MOUNTAINSGREEN TURTLE. 151 inhabitants of this most wretched country pride them- selves in their superiority to other nations. Grantz as^ sures us, that when the Greenland ers are met together, nothing is so customary among them as to turn the (southern) Europeans into ridicule. They count them- selves the only civilized and well bred people in the world ; and it is common with them, when they see a modest stranger, to say, that he is almost as well bred as a Greenlander. During winter, they are confined by the weather in large cabins, composed of earth and stones, and the top secured with turf. Along the sides of the cabins are several partitions, in each of which a Greenlander lives with his family. Each of these fam- ilies has a small lamp continually burning before them, to give them light ; the sun not appearing for several months together, and the ground being covered with snow of a prodigious depth. In this manner these con- tented people pass away the long and sunless winters ; living on smoked fish, and the dried flesh of bears, and wrapping their limbs in warm furs. Belknap, Gold- smith, Day. GREEN MOUNTAINS, a range of mountains, ex- tending through the whole tract of country which lie* between the west side of Connecticut river, and the east side of Hudson's river and lake Cham plain. These mountains begin in the province of Canada : thence they extend through the states of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and terminate within a few miles of the sea coast. Their general direction is from north north- east to south south-west ; and their extent is through a country, not less than four hundred miles in length. Williams. GREEN TURTLE, the most noted and the most valuable of all animals of the tortoise kind ; by reason of the delicacy of its flesh and its nutritive qualities, to- gether with the property of being easily digested. This animal, which is found in great abundance on the coasts of Jamaica and some other West-India islands, is called the green turtle from the colour of its skin, which is rather greener than that of others of the tortoise kind. It is generally fonnd to weigh about two hundred j 152 GREY SQUIRREL GROVE GUANA. though some are five hundred, and others not above fif- ty. Dampier tells us, of one that was seen at Port Royal, in Jamaica, that was six feet across the back ; arid that the son of captain Roach, a boy about ten years old, sailed in the shell, as in a boat, from the shore to his father's ship, which was about a quarter of a mile from land. Goldsmith. GREY SQUIRREL, a well known animal that is found all along the continent of America, from New- England to Chili and Peru. They make a nest of moss in a hollow tree, and here they deposit their provisions of nuts and acorns 5 this is their place of residence during winter, and here they bring forth their young. Their summer-house, which is built of sticks and leaves, is placed near the top of the tree. They sometimes migrate in considerable numbers : if in their course they meet with a river, each of them takes a piece of bark, and carries it to the water ; thus equipped, they embark, and spread their tails to the ^gentle breeze, which soon wafts them over in safety. JFinterbotkam. GROVE, a walk formed by trees, whose branches meet above. In the patriarchal ages groves w r ere plant- ed for places of devotion and religious worship. Abra- ham planted a grove in Bersheba, and called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. In process of time, however, the practice of worshipping in groves was corrupted into a species of idolatry ; forasmuch as it was imagined that green trees were inhabited by genii, or a kind of demi-gods. For this reason the chil- dren of Israel were commanded in their laws, not only to destroy all the graven images, but also to cut^own all the groves that were used in religious worship. Vir- gil in his Georgics tells us, that the Grecians believed oak trees to be oracles : and this notion spread from Greece into Germany and Britain 5 where the Druids, who were the ancient priests of those countries, per- formed their worship in groves, and paid religious homage to green trees, particularly the oaK. GUANA, a species of lizard, that is worshipped as a god by the Negroes of Benin, who are called, in the GUANCIIESGUINEA. 153 West-Indies, Eboes : in the worship of this animal they frequently offer up human sacrifices. In the year 1787, two of the seamen of a Liverpool ship, being ashore watering, had the misfortune to kill a Guana, as they were rolling a cask to the beach. An outcry was im- mediately raised by the natives ; the boat ? s crew were seized, carried to the negro king, and condemned to die : their release,. ho wever, was offered for a present of one hundred and seventy -five pounds sterling ; which the captain refused to pay, and inhumanly left them to their fate. Bryan Edwards. GUANCHES, the skeletons, covered with skin, of the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. The body of the guancho was deposited in a cavity adapted to its size, hewn out of a rock. The stone being of a porous nature, the animal juices were absorbed, or fil- tered through, and the solid parts, with their natural skinny mantle, became indurated by a process of natu- ral embalming, to such a degree as to resist the future assaults of time. They are still exhibited by the native^ of those islands, with emotions of pride and\ T eneration : as the images of their illustrious ancestors were osten- tatiously displayed by the patrician families of Rome. Avarice has, however, infected the Canaries, as well as more enlightened islands ; and families have been pre- vailed on to part with their guanches to the museums of European collectors of curiosities, for a little ready money. St. Pierre. GUINEA, a large district of country in the western parts of Africa, bordering on the Atlantic. This is re- presented as being a most charming country ; and the inhabitants are reported to be good natured, sociable and hospitable. Here the negroes live on the sponta- neous productions of the earth, without labor and with- out care, reclining in ease and indolence under the shade of their spreading trees. The barbarous slave-trade has drenched this terrestrial paradise in tears and blood. From this delightful land, says Dr. Morse, it is supposed one hundred thousand slaves are annually exported to the different countries of Europe and America. Thou- sands are slaughtered on their native shore ; thousands 154 GUINEA PIGGULF STREAM. perish on the voyage. Guinea is divided into the Low- er and Upper : the lower Guinea is commonly called Congo. GUINEA PIG, an animal of the hare kind, resem- bling a rabbit, but is less in size. It is a native of the warmer climates, but has long been rendered domestic over the world : in some places it is considered the principal favorite, and is often found even to displace the lap-dog. Its colours are different ; some are white, some are red, and others both red and white. The male and the female are never seen both asleep at the same time : but while he enjoys his repose, she remains on the watch, silently continuing to guard him, and her head turned toward the place where he lies. When she supposes he has had his turn, she then wakes him with a kind of a murmuring noise, goes to him, forces him from his bed, and lies down in his place. He then per- forms the same good turn for her ; and continues watchr ing till she also has done sleeping. Goldsmith. GULF STREAM, a rapid current, passing from the Gulf of Florida to the north-east, along the coast of North America. A chart of this stream was published by Dr. Franklin in 1 768, from the information princi- pally of captain Folger. This was confirmed by the ingenious experiments of Dr. Blagden, published in 1781 $ who found that the water of the Gulf Stream was from six to eleven degrees warmer than the water of the sea through which it ran 5 which must have been occasioned by its being brought from a hotter climate. He ascribes the origin of this current to the power of the trade winds, which blowing always in the same di- rection, carry the waters of the Atlantic Ocean to the westward, till they are stopped by the opposing conti- nent on the west of the Gulf of "Mexico, and are thug accumulated there, and turn down the Gulf of Florida. It is the opinion of some learned men, that in process of time the narrow tract of land on the west of the Gulf of Mexico, may be worn away by this elevation of wa- ter dashing .against it ; by which means this immense current would cease to e*xist, and a wonderful change take place iu the Gulf of Mexico and the West-India GULLGUM TREE GUN-POWDER. 155 islands, by the subsiding of the sea, which might proba- bly lay all those islands into one, or join them to the continent. Phil. Trans. GULL, a sea fowl, remarkable for being easily de- ceived and caught. At Well fleet, on Cape Cod, (ac- cording to Dr. Morse) they have gull-houses, built with crotches fixed in. the ground on the beach, and covered with poles ; the sides are thatched with sea-weed ; and over the poles on the top are spread flakes of lean whale. The gull-catcher takes his station within side, and while the simple fowls are greedily swallowing the bait, he? unobserved, draws them in one by one between the poles, until he has collected forty or fifty. In the Amer- ican Museum, it is mentioned as a fact, that a gentle- man, having caught a sea gull, and tamed him this gull, though fondly attached to the house and family, would frequently associate with the wild gulls on the beach ; that when they left the country, he accompani- ed them, and returned with them the next season, and visited the house with as much apparent affection as ever ; that he annually continued his migrations and his friendly visits to the family on his return, for forty years 5 when he departed and never returned again. GUM TREE, the tree that produces the substance called Gum Arabic, though not properly so called 5 as the best kind of it is not produced in Arabia, but in Abyssinia, a part of Africa. The gum tree of Arabia is a little, short, stunted plant, and the drops of gum which it yields are small and yellowish 5 whereas the Abyssinia gum tree is large and flourishing, and pro- duces drops in abundance, as large as a pigeon's egg, and as transparent as crystal. Grandpre. GUN-POWDER, a composition of saltpetre, sul- phur, and the dust of charcoal. This wonderful com- position is said to have been invented by Bartholdus Schwarts, a monk of Cologne in Germany, in the year 1330. It was, however, plainly described in the works of Roger Bacon, in the year 1216. " You may raise * thunder and lightning at pleasure, (says he) by only 156 GfYMNOTUS -GYPSIES. " taking sulphur, nitre, and charcoal, which, singly, have '* no effect ; but mixed together, and confined into a 66 close place, cause an explosion greater than that of a " clap of thunder." The permanently elastic fluid, gen- erated in the firing of gun-powder, is calculated by Mr. Robbins to be about two hundred and forty -four, if the bulk of the powder be one ; and that the heat generated fit the time of the explosion, occasions the rarified air, thus produced, to occupy about a thousand times the space of the gun-powder. This pressure may therefore be called equal to six tons upon a square inch. In prov- ing gun-powder, fill a thimble with the powder you wish to try ; pour it upon dry white paper; fire the little heap with a burning coal, lightly touching the powder. If it be excellent, every grain wilfinstantly rise in smoke, only leaving on the paper a round spot, pearl colour : if bad it burns the paper ; powder of a middling kind cither burns the paper a little, or only blackens it. * Darwin, Jim. Jllus. GYMNOTUS, an electric fish, a native of the river Surinam, in South America. Those which were brought over to England were about three or four feet long, and gave an electric shock by putting one finger on the back, and another, of the opposite hand, into the water, near its tail. In their native country they are said to exceed twenty feet in length. It is not only to escape its ene- mies that this electric power of the fish is used, but also to take its prey 5 which is done by benumbing them, and then devouring them before they have time to recover, or by perfectly killing them ; for the quantity of the power seems 'to be determined by the will or anger of the animal, as it sometimes strides a fish twice before it is sufficiently benumbed to be easily swallowed. Darwin. GYPSIES, idle vagabonds and jugglers, who swarm over Europe and Asia ; but are thought to have had their origin in Egypt. Historians inform us that when 8uitan S'elim conquered Egypt, in the year 1517, some of the nativQS refusing to submit to the Turkish yoke, were banished ; and they agreed to disperse in small parties over the world, and support themselves by a pre- &YFSUM. 15? 'tended skill in the black art. Wherever they travelled they gained from among the idle and vicious, numerous proselytes, who imitated their language and manners, and followed their practices. Although numbers of this singular race of vagrants are seen in Egypt and various parts of Asia, their chief population is in the south- east parts of Europe ; and the whole European conti- nent is computed to contain more than seven hundred thousand of them. In the sixteenth century, they were banished from England, France, and Spain, but were never entirely expelled ; nor did persecution seem to diminish their numbers in any considerable degree. Forty thousand of these strollers are supposed to be in Spain at the present time ; and a greater number still in Italy. Their complexion is swarthy, their dress and diet most filthy, their language a strange gibberish peculiar to themselves, their manners shockingly depraved ; nor do they ever appear to pay any regard either to the> Christian or to the Mahometan religion. They gene- rally abhor labor : some, however, are tinkers, others are venders of wooden ware ; the women are fortune- ey ly . * . they are very iond, to their own profession. For nearly three centuries they have wandered in companies, through the world 5 and their singular physiognomy and particular manners have been the same, at ail times, and in every country. This strange race is humorously noticed in some papers of Addisort's Spectator. SUM, a substance of a stony nature, yet soft, and easy to be scraped with a knife : it is found in many parts of the earth in very great quantities, forming hills of a considerable extent ; it has acquired the name of Plaster of Paris, from its abounding in the neighbor- hood of tiiat city. The great advantages of gypsum, as a manure, was discovered in the year 1768, by Mr. Mayer, a respectable German clergyman. Since that time this substance has been used with much success, not only in Germany, but also in several other parts of Europe as well a in America. During the American revolutionary war, gypsum >vas discovered ID great pisci* *58 HAIL. ty on lands belonging to certain refugees, in Nova-Sco- tia 5 arid thence it is annually imported into the United States. In the state of New-York, particularly in the counties of Dutchess and Columbia, some lands have been doubled and even trebled in value by the use of this manure, which has an astonishing effect in bringing i.n clover, and thereby preparing the ground for wheat. H. JO. AIL, icy balls, of various figures and dimensions, formed in the atmosphere, but in a manner that remains mysterious. Some philosophers ascribe the formation of hail to electricity. Signior Beccaria supposed hail to be formed in the higher regions of the air, where the cold is intense ; and where the electric matter is very copious. In these circumstances a great number of par- ticles of water are brought near together, where they are frozen, and in their descent collect other particles, so that the density of the substance of the hailstone grows less and less from the centre 5 the central part being formed first in the higher regions, and the surface being collected in the lower regions of the air. Agreea- ble to this theory, it is found that on the tops of moun- tains hailstones are very small, and continually increase In bulk till they reach the lower ground ; also that the central part is generally harder than the superfices. In the year 1697, there was a tremendous hail-storm in a part of England, attended with unusual thunder and lightning. The hailstones which poured down from a black cloud, being measured, many of them were found to be fourteen inches round. Mazeray in his history of France, tells us of a shower of hail much more terrible, which happened in the year 1510. There was, for a time, a horrible darkness, thicker than that of midnight, which continued till the terrors- of mankind were chang- ed to still more terrible objects, by thunder and light- ning breaking through the gloom, bringing on such a shower of nail as scarcely any history of human ca- lamjljes could equal. 'These hailstones were of a bluish HARLEM HARM ATT 4Pf HARMOXIC DUEL- 153 colour, and of a most prodigious size 5 some of them weighing an hundred pounds. A noisome vapor of sul- phur -attended the storm. The birds and beasts of the country were destroyed ; and numbers of the human race suffered the same fate. Brit. Encyclopaedia, Gold- smith. HARLEM, a town of the United Provinces, in Hol- land. This town claims the invention of printing ; and in fact the first essays of the art are indisputably to be attributed to Laurentius, a magistrate of that city. It was from Harlem that printing was first introduced in- to England. Towards the middle of the fifteenth cen- tury, archbishop Bouchier persuaded Henry VI. to fur- nish- one Mr. Robert Tumour with a thousand marks (toward which the archbishop himself contributed three hundred) and to send him privately to Harlem, in com* pan} 7 " with a Mr. Caxton, in order to fetch thence the newly-invented art of printing; which he did accor- dingly, by bringing over to England Frederick Corsel- les, one ot the expositors at Harlem. Encyclopedia^ Bp. Porteus. HARMATTAN, a singular wind, blowing from the interior parts of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean ; some- times for a few hours, sometimes for several days, with- out regular periods. It is always attended with a fog er haze, so dense as to render those objects invisible, which are at the distance of a quarter of a mile ; the suit appears through it only about noon, and then of a thin red, and very minute particles subside from the misty air, so as to make the grass, and the skins of negroes, appear whitish. The extreme dryness which attends this wind, or fog, without dews, withers and quite dries the leaves of vegetables; and is said, by Dr. Lind, at some seasons, to be malignant and fatal to mankind. From the subsidence of a white powder, it seems proba- ble that the Harmattan has its origin in the violent eruptions of volcanoes, from the unexplored mountains of Africa. Darwin. HARMONIC DUEL. The inhabitants of Green* land, though living amidst perpetual ice and snows, have 160 HAVANNA HAWKSBILL TURTLE. a wonderful taste for poetry 5 insomuch that they eve*h decide their angry disputes by poetic combat. When they happen to quarrel, they challenge one another, it is said, to contend in Terse ; and he that excels his an- tagonist in this bloodless kind of warfare, is considered as conqueror. The spectators are highly diverted 5 and the two champions, after cudgelling each other in rhyme, generally part in good humor. HAY ANNA, the principal seaport in the island of Cuba, the key of the Gulf of Mexico, and the centre of the Spanish trade and navigation in America. The town of Havanna stands near the bottom of a small bay, that forms o$e of the safest harbors in the world, and which is so capacious, that a thousand ships of the larg- est size may coinmodiously ride at anchor. The en- trance into this harbor is by a channel so narrow that only one ship can pass at a tima, and which is stronglj fortified on each side. In the administration of the elder Pitt, 1762, this city was taken by the British forces ? the fleet being commanded by admiral-Pococke, and th# army by the earl of Albermarle. By the treaty of peace, 1763, (the earl of Bute being then prime minister) Ha- vanna was restored to the Spaniards, much to the dis- satisfaction of the British nation. It was considered by them as the Gibraltar of America, by possessing which they might command the trade not only of all the West-India islands, but of the whole South American continent. Russell. HAWKSBILL TURTLE, an animal of the turtle Species, of a moderate size ; has a long and small mouth, somewhat resembling the bill of a hawk ; its flesh is very indifferent : but the shell serves for valuable pur- poses. This is the animal that supplies the tortoise- shell, of which such a variety of beautiful articles are made. The substance of which the shells of other tur- tles are composed, is thin and porous ^ but that of the hawksbill turtle is linn, and when polished, is beauti- fully marbled. They are easily cast with what form the workman thinks proper, by making them soft and pli- ant in warm water, and then screwing them in a mould u modal. HEAT HEBISCUS HECLA. 161 HEAT, the subtile invisible element or fluid, that ex- pels colds, expands bodies, and., when not too intense, assists the progress of vegetation. The latent heat that is diffused through bodies, is called caloric, by the ch ym- ists. If caloric be disengaged either bv the gradual ac- tion of certain constituent parts upon one another, or on the alteration of their form, occasioned by exterior causes, inflammable mixtures may be spontaneously in- flamed. There are several substances which are liable to inflammation, without any external application of fire to them ; and by their own internal heat may set fire to ships, houses, &c. Mr. Georgi, of the imperial acade- my of Petersburg!!, has clearly ascertained, from a num- ber, of experiments, the spontaneous inflammation or combustion of pyrites, hemp, lamp-black, wool, hemp- seed, oil, the bran of rye strongly roasted, and wrapt up in a packet ; as also torrified root of succory, and saw- dust of Mahogany wood. -Green. To the aforemen- tioned articles may be added green hay, when laid close and thick in a barn-mow. HEBISCUS, one of the most stately of all herbaceous plants : it grows ten or twelve feet high, branching regu- larly so as to form a sharp cone. These branches also divide again, and are embellished with large expanded crimson flowers. This herbal plant sometimes rises to the size and figure of a bea'utiful little tree 5 having at once several hundred of these splendid flowers, and which may be then seen at a great distance. They con- tinue to flower in succession. all summer and autumn, when the slems wither and decay 5. but the perennial root sends forth new stems the next spring^ and so on for many years. JBartram. HECLA, a furious volcano, situated in the southern part of the island of Iceland, about four miles from the sea coast. It is divided into three points at the top, the middle point or beak being the highest 5 and according io an exact observation with Ramselen's barometer, is five thousand feet above the level of the sea. There k an uninterrupted tract of lava round this mountain, ex- tending to a vast distance. Towards the summit, heat and cold are felt at the same time 5 a hot s P 2 162 HEDYSARUM GYRANS-HEG IRA HELOTS. ing from the mountain, while the surrounding atmos- phere is filled with frost to an intolerable degree. The eruptions of Helca, in 169S and 1766, occasioned terri- ble devastations ; some of the matter being thrown forth to the distance of a hundred and fifty miles, and a cir- cuit of nearly fifty miles laid waste by the lava. The Icelanders believe that some of the souls of the dam- ned are imprisoned in the burning entrails of this moun- tain. HEDYSARUM GYRANS, a sensitive plant, which is a native of the East-Indies 5 and was exported from Bengal to England, in 1775, by Dr. Patrick Russel, and grows in Kew Gardens : it arrives at the height of four feet, and in autumn produces bunches of yellow flowers. The leaves are all day long in constant motion without any external impulse. They move up and down ; and while the one leaf is .rising, its associate is generally de- scending. The motion downwards is more irregular than the motion upwards, which is steady and uniform. These motions are observable for the space of twenty- four hours, in the leaves of a branch which is lopped off from the shrub if it be kept in water. If from any obstacle the motion is retarded, on the removal of that obstacle it is resumed with a greater degree of veloci- ty. "Encyclopaedia, St. Fond. HEGIRA, an Arabic word signifying flight. In chronology, a celebrated epoch whence the Mahome- tans compute their time ; which took its origin from Mahomet's flight from Mecca on the evening of the 15th or 16 th of July, 622 5 being driven thence by the magis- trates, for fear his imposture should occasion sedition. As the years of the Hegira consist only of 354 days, they are reduced to the Julian Calendar, by multiply- ing the year of the Hegira by 354, dividing the product by S65, subtracting the intercalary days, or as many times as there are four years in the quotient, and adding the remainder. Penning. HELOTS, laborers in husbandry and the mechanic- al arts, in ancient Sparta. The Spartans, or Lacede- monians, were a nation of soldiers, and, like the Amcri- HERACLEUM SIBERICUM HERCULANEUM. 163 can Indians, held all other professions but that of arms in the utmost contempt. The Helots, who were tillers of the grounds, and mechanics, were treated by the sol- diery like laboring cattle. They were obliged to wear dog-skin caps, and sheep-skin garments ; were com- pelled to submit without resistance to every insult and injury 5 and were liable to be killed at pleasure, and with impunity. HERACLEUM SIBERICUM, or Sweet Grass, a useful plant that grows in Kamptskatka, and in some parts of Siberia. When this plant attains to its full growth, it is about six feet in height 5 and it is covered with a sort of white down, the taste of which is as sweet as sugar, though very hot and pungent. The Kampt- schadales formerly used this plant in cookery ; but ^iihce the Russians have gotten possession of their coun- try, they chiefly appropriate it to the purpose of distil- lation ; drawing from it a liquor which the natives call raka, and which has the strength of brandy. -Cooke's Voyages. HERCULANEUM, an ancient city of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, totally overwhelmed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in the beginning of the reign of Titus, the Roman emperor, or in the year 79. Dur- ing the 18th century, a vast number of monuments be- longing to that ancient city have been dug out of the ruins ; such as paintings? statues, furniture, &c. From the ruins of Herculaneum, nearly eighteen hundred man- uscripts chiefly Greek, have been taken and deposited in the Museum of Portici, belonging to the king of Na- ples. HERON, a bird that lives chiefly among pools and marshes, and preys on fish. It is remarkably light in proportion to its bulk, scarce weighing three pounds and an half, yet expands a breadth of wing, which is five feet from tip to tip. The heron takes his prey, usually by wading into the water, and sometimes by hovering over it ; but he never hovers over deep wa- ters, as there his prey is enabled to escape him by sink- ing to the bottom. In shallow places he darts with 164 HERSCHELL-HESSIAN FLY HINDOOS. more certainty ; for though the fish at sight of its ene- my instantly descends, yet the heron, with its long bill and legs, instantly pins it to the bottom, and thus seizes* it securely. In this manner, after having been seen with its long neck for above a minute under water, he rises upon the wing, with a trout or an eel struggling in his bill to get free. The greedy bird, however, flies to the shore, scarce gives it time to expire, but swal- lows it whole, and then returns to fishing as before. The life of the heron is said to exceed sixty years. Goldsmith. HERSC1IELL, or Uranus, a planet, discovered, with a reflecting telescope, of great excellence, by Mr. Hers- chell, a celebrated astronomer of Hanover, residing in Great Britain. The other planets had been known, as such, to the highest antiquity ; but from its extreme smallness, this had escaped ascertainment, till the year 1781, although it had been recognised as a very minute ^tar, by several astronomers. It is near twice Saturn's distance, or eighteen hundred million miles from the sun ; will be near eighty -two years and six months in going round him $ is of a pale colour 5 is about a hun- dred times as large as the earth ; has six satellites, or moons. Neiv London Review. HESSIAN FLY, an insect that destroys wheat. It first began to make its appearance in this country on Long-Island, about the time of the termination of the American revolutionary war. This insect in the spring resembles a small Hax seed, though rather of a rounder shape : towards the beginning of summer they mostly appear of a white colour, and of an increased length. They generally may be found between the first, second, and third blades, near the root above the ground ; sometimes in the middle of the spire near the root.- American Museum. HINDOOS, or Gentoos, the inhabitants of that part of India known by the name of Hindustan or the Mo- gul's empire, who profess the religion of the Rramins. The religion of the Hindoos, by which they are made to differ so much from other people, is contained in certain books named veda, or vedams, written in a Ian* guage called Sanscrit, which is now known only to the learned among them. They are divided into four tribes* the chief of which is that of the Bramins $ each tribe is subdivided, into casts ; and no Hindoo is permitted to quit the cast in which he was born on any account. It is said that the difficulty of converting them to the Christian religion is owing considerably to the fear of losing their cast 5 which, as it respects the higher or- is considered as even worse than death. The lowest cast, called Chandalas, are never employed but in the meanest offices. Except the cast of soldiers, who are called Sepoys, the 111 A:* DOS eat no flesh, nor shed blood, their ordinary food being rice and other ve- getables ; but what they esteem most is milk, as com- ing from the cow, an animal for which they have the most extravagant veneration. They will not eat any .food provided by those of an inferior class, nor by per* ;sons of a different religion, and they scrupulously ab- stain from all intoxicating liquors. Their religion is idolatrous ; the, temples consecrated to their deities are magnificent : their religious ceremonies are splendid, and the Bramins, or priests, have absolute dominion, over the minds of the people. They believe that bath- ing in the Ganges will w r ash away their sins, and puri- fy their souls as well as bodies. In the code of Hindoo laws is the following passage ; " It is proper for a wo- man, after her husband's death, to burn herself in the fire with his corpse." The number of this people is computed at one hundred million. Jones, Walker. HINDOSTAN, an extensive country in Asia, and one of the most celebrated in the world for its antiquity, populousness, and opulence ; situated between the eighth and thirty-sixth degrees of north latitude, and is, consequently, partly in the torrid, and partly in th northern temperate zone. In 1227, the Tartars, under Gingis Khan, emerging from the northern parts of Asia, conquered a great part of the Asiatic continent, and Hindostan in particular : and in twenty-two years de- stroyed upwards of fourteen million people : here be- gun the Mogul empire in India. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, Timur Bek, or Tamerlane, equal- 166 HISSING SNAKE HISTORICAL PAINTING. Ij signalised for his conquests and his cruelties, be* came Great Mogul. In the former part of the eigh- teenth century 5 Kouli Khan, or Nader Sha, who had usurped the throne of Persia, made a successful expe- dition into Hindostan, and pillaged from that country immense treasures. Since that period, many of the Nabobs have made themselves independent $ and' the English East-India Company, prompting them to mu- tual wars, and taking advantages of their contentions, have conquered several of them one after another, and extended their dominion over many millions of the na- tives ; who have suffered from those avaricious mer- chants the most horrible oppressions. See BENGAL. HISSING SNAKE, a venomous serpent that infests lake Erie. It is about eighteen inches long, and is small and speckled. When you approach it, it flattens in a moment, and its spots, wriieh are of various colours, become visibly brighter through rage. At the same time it blows from its'- mouth with great force a subtile wind, said to.be of a nauseous smell ; and if drawn in. with the breath of the unwary traveller, will infallibly bring on a decline, that in a few months will prove fa- tal. Winterbotham. % HISTORICAL PAINTING, a representation of historical facts by the pencil. Three eminent artists in this department are natives of America. Sir Benja- min West, who has long resided in Great Britain, and is said by some good judges, to be the greatest historical painter now living, is a native of Pennsylvania. His Suite of sacred paintings for the royal chapel at Wind- sor, his I)e&th of Wolfe, his Buttle of La Hogue, his Battle of the Boyne, and his flood, are considered as deserving particular attention. Mr. John Singleton Copely, a distinguished artist, patronised and instructed by Mr. West, and residing in Great Britain, is a native of the state of Massachusetts. His Death of Chatham, and his Siege of Gibraltar* are generally considered as among the most respectable monuments of his genius. Mr. John Truimbull, brother of his excellency Jonathan Trumbull, is a native of Connecticut ; and he also stu- died for some time under the direction of Mr. West* HOLLAND HOLLAND, NEW. 167 Several historical paintings, with which he has present- ed the public, place him high among this description of artists. His best pieces are the Death of Montgomery, the Battle of Bunker's Hill, and the Sortie of Gibraltar. Mr. Gilbert Stuart, who placed himself under the di- rection of Mr. West, and has obtained a very high reputation, in Great Britain and America, as a Portrait Painter, is a native of the state of Rhode-Island. Mil- ler. HOLLAND, the most considerable of the united Dutch provinces; bordering on the German ocean. It contains twenty- nine walled towns, with many others that enjoy municipal privileges, and above four hundred villages. This whole country seems to be a conquest upon the sea, and in a manner rescued from its bosom. The surface of the earth is below the level of the wa- ter ; and one, upon approaching the coast, looks down upon it from the sea, as into a valley. The soil is so soft and marshy, that but for the constant care in form- ing ditches and canals, it would be hardly capable of cultivation. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, by agricultural, mechanical, and commercial industry, this had become the richest country in Europe. The mer- cantile capital of Holland was so great that it was, as it were, continually overflowing, sometimes into the pub- lic funds of foreign countries, sometimes into the most round about foreign trades of consumption, and some- times into 'the carrying trade. All near employments being completely filled up, all the capital which could be placed in them with any tolerable profit, being al- ready placed in them, the capital of Holland necessari- ly flowed towards the most distant employments. In jthe year 1795, Holland was swallowed up in the French republic. Morse, Goldsmith, Jl. Smith. HOLLAND, NEW, or New South Wales, the larg- est island in the world, or perhaps more properly, an- other continent : the places belonging to it which are best known, are Botany -Bay, Port Jackson, and Van Dieman's Land. This vast territory, reaching from ten to forty -four degrees south latitude, is two thousand and four hundred miles in length, and two thousand and 168 HONEYBEES, three hundred in breadth. The western part was dis- covered by the Dutch, early in the seventeenth centu- ry : and in the year 1687, Dampier. an Englishman,, sailed along this coast. The eastern part was first ex- plored by captain Cooke, in the year 1770 ; and when the English took possession they gave it the name of New South Wales. In 1786, orders were issued by his Bri- tannic majesty in council for transporting and settling a colony of convicts in New -Holland : that part of the coast called Botany -Bay being first intended for the place of settlement ; but the actual settlement was at Port Jackson. The general face of the country is pleasingly diversilied with gentle risings, and small winding vallies, covered for the most part with large spreading trees, and flowering shrubs. The natives are represented as the most ignorant and miserable race of human beings existing on the face of the earth. - Their colour is a deep chocolate ; their skins are cov- ered with filth : clothing they have none. Some of them perforate the cartillage of the nose, and thrust through it a bone as thick as a man's finger, and five or six inches long. In Van Diemari's Land, which is the south extremity of New-Holland, the wretched inhab- itants convert many of their largest trees into habita- tions. The trunks of these trees are hollowed out to the height of six or seven feet, by means of fire. In the middle are their hearths made of clay, round which four or five persons might sit. These places of shelter are rendered durable by their leaving one Side of the tree sound, so that it continues growing with great lux- uriance. Cooke's Voyages, et cet. HONEY BEES, a species of animals remarkable for industry, economy, and ingenuity. They have all things in common, and yet live under inviolable laws. Mindful of the coming winter, they toil in summer, and lay up food in common stock. Some are employed in Ihe fields, gathering honey and wax ; some construct the combs ; some fill the cells with honey ; some watch at the gates to observe the weather, or receive the loads of those that return to the hive. All have one time of labor 5 all have one rest from work. In the morning they rush out of tlie gates without delay 5 at evening ail HOP HORNET. 169 is hushed for the night. It has been remarked, that if Newton had been a bee, he could not have constructed the combs, or cells, with more geometrical exactness. In a hive of bees are commonly found from fifteen to eighteen thousand inhabitants 5 over which there is al- ways a queen, that reigns obsolute. The queen is dis- tinguished from the other bees, by the form of her bo- dy ; she is longer and larger than they are, and her wings are much shorter than theirs in proportion to her body. Her hinder parts are more taper than those of the other bees ; her belly and legs are of a deep gold- en yellow. A hive of bees cannot subsist without a queen, as she lays all the eggs, and thus produces the whole posterity. No other earthly monarch has such obedient subjects. If you take the queen, wherever you put her in sight, the whole hive will follow, and presently surround her ; and when a queen happens to die, the bees of her hive immediately leave working, consume their honey, fly about their own and other hives at unusual hours when other bees are at rest, and pine away, if not soon supplied with another sovereign, Virgil, Encyc lopcedia . HOP, a narcotic plant of the creeping kind, the flower of which is an ingredient in beer and ale. In some parts of Europe vast profits are made by cultivat- ing this plant. It is stated in a late publication, that in England and Wales, there are forty-four thousand acres of hop ground, producing, on an average, thirty pounds sterling an acre. Cloth has been manufactured in Eng- land from hop-stalks, by rotting them in water, and dressing them in the manner of flax. To promote this kind of manufacture, the London society for the encour^ agement of &rts, &c. in the year 1799, offered a pre- mium of a gokl medal, or 30 guineas, to the person who should present to the society the greatest quantity, not less than thirty yards of cloth, at least 27 inches wide, made in Great Britain of hop stalks or vines, and supe- rior to any other hitherto manufactured in England of that material. New London Review. HORNET, a large strong fly, whose body is long, and of a bluish colour, and whose tail is armed with a Q iro HORSE HOST. formidable sting;. It would hardly be thought that these furious and vindictive little animals could be ren-* dered tame and amicable by gentle usage : yet Mr. J. Hector St. John, in his farmer's letters, assures us, that in the middle of his parlour he had a curious republic of industrious hornets, hanging to the ceiling by the same twig on which it was built in the woods : that they lived on flies, and were busy in catching them even on the eye-lids of his children, besmearing them with a sort of glue, and then carrying them to their nests as food for their young ones ; that his family had become so accustomed to their strong buzzing as to take no no- tice of them ; and that notwithstanding their fierce and vindictive nature, kindness and hospitality had render- ed them useful and harmless. HORSE, a well known, useful, and noble animal. Buffon remarks, that the horses used by the great men in the Indies, are fed with hay during the day, and at night, in place of barley and oats, they get peas boiled with sugar and butter. This nourishing diet supports them, arid gives them some strength : without it, they \vould soon perish 5 the climate not being adapted to their constitution. In scarcity of provision, they give them opium, which has the same effect both on horses and men ; for it at once damps the appetite, and ena- bles them to undergo fatigue. The common food of Arabian horses, which consists of dates and camel's milk, is given them every morning, and at night. These aliments, instead cf fattening them, render them mea- gre, nervous, and very fleet. The colts spontaneously suck the she-camels, which they follow till the time they are ready for mounting, which is not before the age of six or seven years. It is a piece of natural history use- ful to be generally known, that, as horses moult, or cast their hair every year, commonly in the spring, and sometimes also in the autumn; they then are weak- er then at any other periods, aud consequently require more care, and should be more plentifully fed. Clark. HOST, an army or multitude : the name is often ap- plied to the heavenly bodies. The Host of Heaven. mentioned in the scriptures, as worshipped by the an- HOTTENTOTS. 171 cient heathen nations, and sometimes by the Israelites, meant the celestial orbs. The names of these orbs be- ing male and female, the male orbs were called Baalim, and the female Jlshtaroth. Baal, or Bel, in the eastern language, signified Lord, and when used in the singu- lar number meant the Sun, the supposed Lord or King of the celestial bodies : Baalim, the plural of Baal, meant Lords, or the celestial orbs, under the government of Baal, or the Sun, as their supreme head. The moon \vas styled the Queen of Heaven, and was sometimes worshipped under the name of Astarte, and sometimes under that of Diana ; while the female planets, under the government of the Queen of Heaven, or the Moon, were called Jlshiaroth. The worship of Ashtaroth was peculiarly attractive to the women : hence, Solomon's strange wives enticed him, against his better knowledge, to build a High Place for Ashtaroth, (called Ckemos/i) on a hill before Jerusalem. The Host of Heaven, or the celestial orbs, were worshipped on lulls and moun- tains, called in scripture, High Places ; because there the clearest and fullest view of them could be obtained. HOTTENTOTS, a singular description of people, \vho inhabit the Cape of Good Hope, and along the sea coasts in the southern parts of Africa. They are as tall as most Europeans, but more slender ; their skin is of a dingy yellow ; their teeth are the finest imaginable. They are remarkable for their honesty, and fidelity, nor seem lacking in native powers of mind ; but are the la- ziest and filthiest among human beings. Both men and women generally go bare-headed, and seldom wear shoes ; they are clothed with sheep-skins ; the wool be- ing worn outward in summer, and inward in winter: both sexes wear rings of iron, copper, brass, or ivory, about their legs and arms. They besmear their bodies with butter or sheep's fat, mixed with soot, and cook their victuals in the most filthy manner. Their huts are small, and commonly filled with smoke ; which seems riot to injure or oftend their eyes, as they have been accustomed to it from their infancy. They wear ia their countenances the evident marks of content- ment ; they discover an abundant flow of spirits ; and .frequently live tq old age. There are many tribes of irs HOWLING MONKEYHUDSON'S BAY. Hottentots, among -which the Boshmans seem to be th most savage and the most degraded. The Boshmans inhabit the mountains in the interior part of the coun- try. Many of them go entirely naked ; houses made of bushes, and clefts of the rocks, are their dwellings : and wild roots, berries, plants, catterpillars, ants, lo- custs, snakes, and spiders, eaten raw, are their food. HOWLING MONKEY, a species of monkeys which inhabit the woods of Brazil and Guiana, in South America, and take their name from the noise they make. Several of them assemble together, one placing himself on a higher branch, the rest placing themselves in a regular order below him : the first then begins as if to harangue with a loud tone, which may be heard a great distance. At a signal made with his hand, the rest join in regular chorus, the most dissonant and tremendous that can be conceived ; on another signal they all stop, except the first, who finishes singly, and all the assem- bly breaks up. These monkeys are very fierce, and so wild and mischievous, that they can neither be conquer- ed nor tamed. They live in trees and leap from bough to bough with wonderful agility, catching hold with their hands and tails, as they throw themselves from one branch to another. Winterbotham. HUDSON'S BAY, a vast bay of North America, and may properly be called the American Mediterra- nean ; lying north of Canada, and extending about three hundrga leagues in length, and, at its broadest part, a hundred and thirty leagues in width. It took its name from captain Henry Hudson, who discovered and en- tered it, in the year 1610. This voyage put a period to the useful adventures of that enterprising and skilful mariner. His crew mutinied, seized upon him, and seven of those who were most faithful to him, and com- mitted them to the icy seas in an open boat : they were never more heard of. The oatli by which the conspira- tors bound themselves to execute their horrible plot, can scarce find a parallel, for hypocrisy, in the history of human wickedness: it was as follows. " You shall 4i swear truth, to God, your prince and country ; you :;ll do nothing but to the glory of God, and the good HUDSON'S RIVER. 173 of the action in hand, and harm no man." The Brit- ish have settlements on the confines of this bay, which carry on the fur trade, under the direction of the Hud- son Bay company. HUDSON'S RIVER, one of the largest and finest rivers of the United States ; rising in a mountainous country, between the lakes Ontario and Champlain ; running in its whole course (two hundred and fifty miles) through the state of New-York 5 and emptying into York Bay. Its course from Troy to New-York, is south westerly : it is navigable for ships to Hudson, and for sloops of an hundred tons to Albany. The principal trading towns on this river, are, 1st. Lansingburgh, and Troy, situated on the eastern bank ; the former nine, and the latter six miles above Albany. 2d. Albany, the seat of government, and the great emporium of the in- creasing trade of a large extent of country west and north 5 situated on the west bank of the river, one hun- dred and sixty miles north of the city of New-York. 3d. Hudson, on the east side of the river, one hundred and thirty -two miles north of New-York city. 4th. Cats- kill, situated jon a creek, about a hundred rods from the western bank of the river, five miles south of Hudson city. 5th. Poughkeepsie, lying a mile from the east bank of the river and eighty four miles from its mouth. 6th. Newburgh, on the west bank of the river, sixty-six miles from New-York. The river Hudson took its name from captain Henry Hudson, who discovered it. The Dutch East-India company fitted out a ship for dis- covery, and put Hudson in command ; who sailed from Amsterdam on the 25th of March, 1609. In the month of September, following, they entered the mouth of the river which bears his name 5 and came to anchor two leagues within it. Here they were visited by the na- tives, who brought corn, beans, oysters, and tobacco. They had pipes of copper, in which they smoked $ and earth ern pots in which they dressed their meat. It is evident from his journal , tnat Hudson penetrated this river as far as where the city of Albany now stands 5 and the farther he went up the river the more friendly and hospitable the natives appeared, giving them skins in exchange for knives and other trifles.-JJ/orse, Beticnap* Q 2 174 HUGONOTS-- HUMANE SOCIETIES, HUGONOTS, a name given, in ridicule and con- tempt, to the protestants of France. In the year 1758, Henry IV. of France, assembled the heads of the Hu- gonots, or protestant patty, at Nantes ; and passed there the famous edict, which not only secured to them the free exercise of their religion, but a share in the admin- istration of justice, and the privileges of being admitted to all employments of trust, profit and honor. These privileges and immunities they enjoyed till the year 1686, when Lewis XIV. revoked the edict of Nantes, and instituted against them a most bloody persecution. A twentieth part of the whole numerous bocfy of protes- tants were put to death in a short time 5 and a price was set on the 'heads of the rest, who were hunted like wild beasts. By those horrible seventies, in spite of the guards which were placed on the frontiers, and ev- ery other tyrannical restraint, France was deprived of nearly six hundred thousand of her most valuable in- habitants; who carried their wealth, their industry, and their skill in ingenious manufactures, into England,, Holland, and Germany. Some of them fled to the American colonies, particularly the ancestors of Bow- doin, Jay, Laurens, and Boudinot; names distinguished in the annals of the American revolution. HUMANE SOCIETIES, benevolent associations for the purpose of ascertaining the means of restoring the suspended actions of life, and particularly for the recovery of drowned persons. These societies, which began to be instituted soon after the middle of the 18th century, have been the means of saving a great number of lives, and have multiplied to such an extent, that they are to be found in most of the great sea port towns. The Humane Society of the city of New-York has pub- lished the following directions for the recovery of per- sons apparently dead from drowning. 1st. Avoid any violent agitation of the body, such as rolling it on a cask or hanging it up by the. heels, but carefully convey it with the head a little raised, to the nearest house. 2d, Strip and dry the body, and lay it in a warm blanket, which must be reneweci every few minutes. If a child* place it between two persons in a warm bed. 3d. Im- warm spirits or brandy to the HUMMING BIRD HUNS. 175 breast, belly, feet and hands ; at the same time, the whole body should be diligently rubbed with warm woollen cloths. 4th. Introduce the pipe of a pair of bellows in- to one nostril, keep the other nostril and mouth closed, inflate the lungs till the breast be a little raised, the mouth and nostrils must then be let free, and the chest gently pressed in imitation of natural breathing, the bellows should then be applied as before, and the whole process repeated and continued at least fifteen or twen- ty minutes. 5th. Inject into the bowels by means of a syringe a pint of warm spirits and water, composed of equal parts of each : this injection the Society prefer to tobacco smoke, usually recommended in cases of this sort. 6th. When the physician who has the care of the appa- ratus, arrives with the same, he will, with the machine for this purpose, inject into the stomach some warm spirits and water, with a small quantity of spirits of hartshorn, open a vein, or cause such other remedies to be applied as are indicated. 7th. Renew the external application of hot spirits to the surface of the body, and diligently continue the friction with woollen cloths, at least two hours, or until signs of returning life are ap- Jarent. 8th. Do not despair. By perseverance in warm riction alone many lives have been restored, arid in some instances where the bodies have remained in the water for the space of half an hour. HUMMING BIRD, the least of all the feathered tribes 5 its body being not bigger than the end of one's finger, and its eggs no larger than small peas : it is a native of America. On this little bird nature has pro- fusely lavished her most splendid colours ; the most perfect azure, the most beautiful gold colour, the most dazzling red, are for ever in contrast, and help to embel- lish the plumes of its majestic head. Like the bee, it finds its food in flowers and blossoms ; when it feeds, it appears as if immoveable, though continually on the wing. Myriads of those little birds are seen, feeding on the flowers and blossoms, in the southern parts of the United States, and in the Floridas. St. John. HUNS, a fierce and savage race of Scythians, or Tartars, who originally were from a country near the 1 76 HURRICANE. Euxine, or Black vSea, on the confines of Europe and Asia. They were unknown to other nations, till the year 376 ; when they begun to make dreadful ravages in Europe, along the Danube. In 441, the Huns ex- tended their ravages, under Attila their king, whose vast conquests and horrible cruelties gave him the name of the Scourge of God. Cotemporary historians seem to labor for adequate epithets and expressions, in de- scribing the immense devastations and shocking butch- eries of this monster. Attila made himself master of all the northern countries from the confines of Persia to the banks of the Rhine, and even broke into Gaul, which is now called France ; burning the cities and villages, and massacreing the inhabitants without regard to age or sex. This people gave name to Hungary, where they made a permanent settlement in the ninth century. HURRICANE, a furious and tremendous kind of storm : concerning the nature and cause of which, the following thoughts are from a very ingenious author. 1st. The storm in the Atlantic Ocean, called Hurricane, is local, irregular in its periods, and peculiar to the West-India islands, and the sea that surrounds them. d. It usually happens in August and September, when those islands are most heated, and their soil is opened by frequent showers, and when the exhalations rise in the greatest abundance. 3d. The hurricane storm is preceded by an extraordinary effervescence, or bub- bling up of the sea, which then rises on the shore, and calms prevail, huge dark clouds are formed, and the atmosphere is obscured by thick vapors sensibly me- phitic. 4th. Towards the Gulf of Mexico, the hurri- cane commonly begins in the western quarter ; but in the windward islands, at north-east, or north north-east. It rages for some hours with incredible violence ; and near the centre of its operation is accompanied with a deluge of rain, and sometimes with glimmerings of lightning ; a short calm ensues ; when the wind chang- es to the opposite points, and blows for a less time, but with like violence : it then gradually abates, and at length terminates, varying all round the horizon. It is conjectured, from these circumstances, that the sea, where the hurricanes prevail, covers the crater of a HYENA IBISICE. 177 prodigious volcano long since extinct; or perhaps, is rather the abyss into which a large tract of land, under- mined by subterraneous fires, is sunk. Ellis. HYENA, an animal of the dog kind, and nearly the size of a wolf. Its hair is of a dirty greyish colour, marked with black, disposed in waves down its body. It holds its head like a dog pursuing its scent; its back appear- ing elevated like that of a hog. More savage and un- tameabje than any other quadruped, it seems to be for- ever tii a state of rage or rapacity, forever growling, except when receiving its food. Its eyes then glisten, the bristles of its back all stand upright, its head hangs low, and yet its teeth appear ; all which give it a most frightful aspect, which a dreadful howl tends to height- en. It seems the most untractable, and, for its size, the most terrible of all quadrupeds ; it defends itself against the lion, and is a match for the panther. When destitute of other provision, it scrapes open the graves, mid devours the dead bodies, how putrid soever. Gold- smith. I. JSjBIS, a bird that was adored by the ancient Egyptians, on account of its usefulness in devouring serpents and other noxious animals 5 it is thought to have been either of the vulture or the stork kind. It has been usually sup- posed that the ancient ibis was the same with that which goes at present by the same name : but however useful the modern ibis may be, in ridding Egypt, where it re- sides, of vermin, and venomous animals that infest it ; yet it is much doubted whether this be the same ibis to which the ancients paid their adoration. The modern ibis is not peculiar to Egypt, as it is to be seen but at certain seasons of the year ; whereas we are informed by Pliny, that this bird was seen no where else. Gold- smith. ICE, a solid, transparent, and brittle body, formed of 178 ICE ISLANDS. fluid matter by the power of the cold. As by a famous experiment of Mr. Boyle, it appears, that ice evaporates very fast even in severe frosty weather, when the wind blows upon it $ and as ice, in a thawing state, is known to contain six times more cold thaa water at the same degree of sensible coldness ; so it is easy to understand* that winds blowing over islands and continents of ice, and coming thence into our latitudes, must bring great degrees of cold along with them. Hence it is no won- der that the north, north -west, and north -east winds, should be extremely cold in some parts of the United States of America, during winter ; since they pass over vast regions of ice and frost, quite from Greenland and the Frozen Ocean. It has been said, that ice will pro- duce fire if fair water be made to boil for half an hour to make the air pass out of it. Two inches of this water must afterwards be exposed to a very cold air ; and, when it is frozen, the extremities of the ice are to be melted before a fire, till the ice acquires a convex, spherical figure, on both sides. Then, with a glove, presenting this kind of burning mirror to the sun, and assembling the rays by refraetion in a common focus, fire may be set therein to fine gun -powder. ICE ISLANDS, vast bodies of ice near the north and south poles, which never thaw, except those of them that happen to be driven into warmer latitudes. There are many reasons to believe, from the accounts of trav- ellers and navigators, that the islands of ice in the high- er northern latitudes, continue perpetually to increase in bulk. The great islands of ice in the northern seas, near Hudson's Bay, have been observed to have been immersed above one hundred fathoms beneath the sur- face of the sea, and to have risen a fifth or sixth part above the surface, and to have measured between three and four miles in circumference. Some of these ice islands have been known to have been wafted, both from the northern and southern polar regions, into the tropical climates : on one of them, brought from the southern pole, the British ship Guardian struck, near the Cape of 'Good Hope, December 2, 1789. These islands when wafted into the tropical seas, are involved iti mist, occasioned by the vast evaporation from the ia- ICELAND-ICELAND FALCON-ICHNEUMON. 179 tense heat of the climate. Mr. Barkam, about the year 1718, in his voyage from Jamaica to England, in the be- ginning of June, met with ice islands coming from the north, which were surrounded with so great a fog that the ship was in danger of striking upon them. One of them measured sixty miles in length. Philo. Trans. Darwin. ICELAND, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, north- west of Scotland ; three hundred miles long, and one hundred and fifty broad ; lyin; between sixty -four and sixty six degrees north latitude ; and belonging tu the crown of Denmark. For two months together the sun never sets ; and in the winter it never rises for the same space, at least not entirely. Many of their houses are deep in the ground ; but they are all miserable huts, covered with skins. About the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century, the Normans made themselves famous by their predatory excursions. England, Scotland, Ireland, the Orkney and .Shetland islaads, were objects of their depredations ; and in one of their piratical expeditions (A. D. 861,) they discov- ered this island, which from its lofty mountains, cover- ed with ice and snow, obtained the name of Iceland. Morse, Bdknap, ICELAND FALCON, a noble species of hawk, and a first rate in respect to size. Some are white, and oth- ers varying in colour. The king of Denmark sends an- nually into Iceland, to buy up all that are taken. Fifteen dollars are allowed for a quite white falcon ; ten for one not quite white 5 besides a gratuitous allowance to each falcon catcher to encourage them in their business. In order to take them, the Icelanders strike two posts into the ground at a small distance trom eacli other. To the one they tie a pigeon, partridge, or fowl, by a small line, two or three yards long, that they may flut- ter, and be seen by the falcon, and decoy him down in- to the snare prepared for him. Gent. Juag. ICHNEUMON, an animal of the weasel kind, bred chiefly 1,1 Sgypt. It has the strength of a cat, and is more nimble aud more cunning ; it easily strangles a 180 IGNIS FATUUS. cat that is larger than itself. It takes to the water when in danger, and will live a considerable time under wa- ter. More expert than cats in catching rats and mice, they are used in Egypt for that purpose. This animal makes war with great courage and eagerness upon all kinds of serpents. If bitten by the viper or the asp, it uses a certain root that cures the poison. Its principal ser- vice to the ancient Egyptians was in discovering and destroying the eggs of crocodiles ; and for its usefulness in this respect it was worshipped by that idolatrous peo- ple as a deity, Goldsmith. IGNIS FATUUS, or Jack ivith a lanthern, a flame- coloured vapory ball, that dances over bogs, commonly about six feet from the surface of the ground. Its usu- al motion, as it proceeds forward, is a constant alternate rising and descending; yet it keeps about the same medial distance from the earth. This curious body, which has often frightened the benighted travellers, is thought to be a collection of vapor of the putrescent kind, charged with electric matter. Though it will^ip- proach and seem to follow a person, it retreats when he turns and pursues it ; and cannot be overtaken and caught. This may be owing to its electric nature ; for bodies possessed of different qualities of electricity may be made to attract one another for a certain space, and then repel without ever coming into contact. Lights of this kind are sometimes observed at sea, skipping about the masts and rigging of ships. Doctor Shaw, in his travels to the Holy Land, gives a very remarkable account of an ignis fatuus. It appeared in the vallies of mount Ephraim, and attended him and his company for more than an hour. Sometimes it would appear globu- lar, or in the shape of the flaine of a candle : at others it would spread to such a degree as to involve the whole company in a pale inoffensive light, then contract itself, and suddenly disappear; but m less than a minute it would appear again ; sometimes running swiftly along would expand itself at certain intervals over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains. The atmosphere 'that evening was remarkably thick and ha- zy. Encyclopaedia, et cet. INDIAN RAT INDULGENCES. 181 INDIAN RAT. This sagacious animal lives in con- stant apprehension from his neighbour, an animal called dragon, who instinctively owes Trim a spite, and is con- siderably the largest and strongest of the two. There- fore in order to circumvent his dread foe, the rat has recourse to this stratagem. He makes two entrances to his cave, the one small and proportioned to the bulk of his own body, the other wider at the surface, but which he draws narrower by degrees till towards the other end, it is but just wide enougli to admit his passing through. Thus prepared, he, whenever the invader comes in si^nt, betakes himself with all speed to his cave, and enters it at the wide mouth. The dragon follows close at his heels ; and, eager for his prey, presses with all his might into t\\z funnel, till at last his body is fast wedged in, so that he is not able either to advance or retreat. The rat now, finding his formidable enemy in a condition neither to fight nor fly ; instantly emigrates from his <;ave, through the small entrance, and falling upon his rear, demolishes him at his leisure. ^ INDULGENCES, licences from the Pope of Rome for committing sins of almost every description and de- nomination according to stipulated prices. They were first invented by Pope Urban II, as a recompence for those who engaged in the crusades 5 and the pretend- ed principle on which they were granted, was as fol- lows : According to the doctrine of the Romish Church all the good works of the saints over and above all that were necessary towards their own justification ; are de- posited, together with the infinite merits of JESUS CHRIST, in one inexhaustible treasury. The keys of this were committed to St. Peter, and to his successors the Popes, who might open it at pleasure, and by trans- ferring a portion or this superabundant merit to any par- ticular person, for certain sums of money, might con- vey to him the pardon of his own past sins, a release for any one in whom he was interested, from the pains of purgatory, and a good warrant and right to commit sins in future. In the year 1518, Pope Leo X, wanting mo- ney for finishing St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, pub- lished a general sale of indulgences. They were pub- licly retailed in ale-houses in Germany, where their pro- R 182 INFLAMMABLE AIR INFLAMMABLE EARTH. duce in particular districts was rented out, in the man- ner of a toll or custom 5 and a man could purchase for a shilling, an indulgence for almost any crime. This abominable traffic awakened the zeal of Martin Luther, an Augustin friar ; who by his preaching and writings, shook the whole fabric of the Romish Church. INFLAMMABLE AIR, a kind of air, which, as its name imports, is liable to catch fire and burn. It has been found to be twelve times lighter than common air ; It cannot be breathed ; it is generated in mines, in coal J)its, in subterraneous caverns, in burying-grounds, and places where dead animals are exposed to putrifaction. The white dittany, when in flower, generates so great a quantity of inflammable air, that the atmosphere around it has been observed to catch fire. In swamps, pools, and other stagnant waters, where a number of plants are putrifying, we find a species of inflammable air, \vhich is known by the name of marsh-air, or most com- monly is called ignis fatUtts, or Jack with a lantern, Willich. INFLAMMABLE EARTH, a kind of earth that \vill catch fire and burn like a taper. In some parts of Persia the earth has this surprising property, that by taking up two or three inches of the surface, and apply- ing a live coal, the part which is uncovered immediate- ly takes fire almost before the coal touches the earth ; trie flame makes the soil hot, but does not consume it, nor aftect what is near it with any degree of heat. If a cane, or a tube of paper, be set about two inches in the ground, confined and closed with earth below, and the top of it touched with a live coal and blown upon, im- mediately a flame issues without hurting either the cane or paper, provided the edges be covered with clay ; and this method they use for light in their houses, which have only the earth for floors. Three or four of these lighted canes will boil water in a pot, and thus they dress their victuals. Lime is burnt to great perfection by means of i;his inflammable earth ; the lime- stones must be laid on one another, and in three days the lime is completed. Gent* Mag. INK INOCULATION INQUISITION. 183 INK, a black liquor used in writing, generally made of an infusion of galls, copperas, and gum arabic. The- ancients who lived before the invention of printing, were much more attentive to the making of ink, than trie mo- derns ; insomuch that manuscripts that were written from the fifth to the twelfth centuries, are much more plain and legible than the writings which have been preserved only two or three hundred years. It is of the utmost importance, that records, wills, and other valuable papers, which cannot be printed, should be written with ink of a durable quality. The ink of the ancients is thought to have been composed of ivory black. Encyclopaedia. INOCULATION, the transferring of distempers from one subject to another, particularly of the small- pox, and cow-pox. In the year 1721, Dr. Cotton Math- er, one of the ministers of Boston, having observed in a volume of the Philosophical Transactions, printed in London, some communications from Constantinople and Smyrna, giving a favorable account of the practice of inoculation ; he recommended to the physicians of his acquaintance, (as the small-pox was then beginning to spread in the town) to make trial of inoculation. They* all declined it, excepting Dr. Boylston ; who began witht his own children and servants. But the degree of odi- um which he drew upon himself by this measure is scarcely credible ; his house was attacked with so much violence, that he and his family did not consider them- selves safe in it ; he was assaulted in the streets, loaded with every species of abuse, and execrated as a mur- derer. Benjamin Franklin, (since so celebrated* who was then an apprentice in the printing office of his broth- er at Boston, employed his opening talents in opposi- tion to Boylston, and in favor of the deluded party. Miller. See VACCINATION. INQUISITION, a spiritual, or rather diabolical court in Roman Catholic countries, established for the trial and punishment of heretics. This court was founded in the twelfth century by father Dominic and his follow- ers, who were sent by Pope Innocent III. to inquire in- to and extirpate heresy 5 hence they were called inqidsi- 1 84 INSECTS IREL ANB. tors. It was the custom of the inquisition to array those who were to be burnt, in flame coloured clothes, on which was their own picture, surrounded with figures of devils. In the year 1480 (in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, on whom the Pope had conferred the title of their Catholic Majesties] the ecclesiastical tribunal, call- ed the court of inquisition, was established in Spain : and six thousand persons were burnt, or expired on the rack, by order of this bloody tribunal, within four years, after the appointment of the first inquisitor -general, and upwards of one hundred thousand felt its fury. The unhappy wretch who falls under suspicion of heresy, is brought bound from his dungeon. He knows not his accusers, nor is permitted either defence or appeal. In vain he pleads for mercy. The rack is prepared ; the wheels are driven round ; the bloody whip and hissing pincers tear the quivering flesh from the bones ; the pullies raise him to the roof; the sinews crack; the joints are torn asunder; the pavement swims in blood. Ihe unfeeling inquisitor, who calls himself a minister and servant of Christ, views the scene with no other emo- tion but that of joy and exultation !-It is a matter of great joy, that the horrible court of inquisition has been late- ly abolished in Spain : where it had been maintained in all its terrors, during several ages and centuries.' Burgh, et cet* See GOA. INSECTS, a species of animal, so called because their bodies seem as it were cut in two, and joined to- gether only by a small ligature, or membrane. Before the time of Linnseus, scarcely more than two hundred species of insects were known. In the last editions of his work he described about three thousand : and there are now known more than twenty thousand species. * Jlillen IRELAND, an island in the Atlantic Ocean ; lying; to the west of Great Britain, from which it is separated by St. George's Channel ; situated between the fifty- first and fifty-sixth degrees of north latitude ; and ex- tending about three hundred miles in length, and one hundred and fifty miles in medial breadth. The air is mild and temperate 5 the soil is fertile, and well water- IRON. 185 ed with lakes and rivers $ it is a country exceedingly well situated for foreign trade, and has many secure and commodious bays, creeks and harbors, especially on the west coast. The name Ireland (it has also b^een called Erin) is said to be derived from the word Eir 9 in the Celtic language signifying ivest. Christianity was first introduced into Ireland, about the middle of the fifth century, by Patricius, called St. Patrick, a Scotchman by birth. He was first a soldier, and then a priest 5 he landed in Wicklow in 441, converted the Irish, became bishop of Armagh, and died in the hun- dred and twentieth year of his age. The first invasion of Ireland, from England, was in the year 1171 \ when Fitz-Stephen and Fitz-Gerald crossed the sea from Wales with about three hundred men, and were soon followed by earl Strongbow with twelve hundred more. The pretence for this invasion was, that O'Dermot, an Irish chief, being deposed for having carried off the wife of O'Rourk, another chieftain, he (O'Dermot) fled to England, and solicited the assistance of Henry II. ta recover his dominions. The English having obtained foothold in Ireland, continued from age to age to pro- ject new expeditions against it, till at last James I. pos- sessed the entire dominion of that island. The union lately formed between Great Britain and Ireland, it is thought will meliorate the condition of the latter.* Douglas. IRON, a well known metal. Though lighter than all other metals, except tin, yet considerably the hardest ; when pure, malleable, but in a less degree than gold, silver, lead, or copper. It is more liable to rust than other metals, and requires the strongest fire to melt it. Most other metals are brittle while they are hot; but this is the most malleable the nearer it approaches to fusion : it is the only known substance attracted by the loadstone. The benefits to mankind from this singular substance are immense. " To any reflecting person, (says the immortal Locke) it will appear past doubt, that the ignorance of savages in useful arts, and their want of the greater part of the conveniences of life, in countries which abound with all sorts of natural plenty, may be attributed to their ignorance of the uianufac- B 3 186 IRON WOOD IROQUOIS. ture and use of iron ; and that, were the use of iron lost among the most learned and polished nations in the world, they would in a few ages be unavoidably reduced to the wants and ignorance of savages ; so that he who first made known the use of that one mineral, may be truly styled the father of arts, and the author of plenty." As iron is the most useful, so it is the most common and plentiful metal; the ore being; found in great abundance in various parts of the world. IRON WOOD, a peculiar kind of wood in China. The tree rises to the height of a large oak ; but it dif- fers both in the size of its trunk and in the shape of its leaves. Its wood is so exceedingly hard and heavy, that it sinks in water : it is said that the anchors of tlie Chi- nese ships are made of it. Winterbotham. IROQUOIS, a confederacy of Indian nations : for- merly called the Five Nations, five only being then join- ed in the confederacy ; but they afterwards consisted of six nations. These are the Mohawks, Oneidas, Ononda- gas, Senecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras ; the latter hav- ing joined the alliance, about the year 1720. Each na- tion of the Iroquois was divided into three families of different ranks, bearing for their arms, and being dis- tinguished by the names of the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf. Their instruments of conveyances were sign- ed by signatures, which they made with a pen, repre- senting the figures of those animals. Hence there ap- pears to have been three orders of state among them. When the Dutch begun the settlement of New -York, all the Indians, on Long-Island and the northern shore of the Sound, on the banks of Connecticut river, Hud- son's, Delaware, and Susquehannah rivers, were in sub- jection to the Five Nations, and acknowledged it by paying annual tribute. In the war with Great Britain, these nations (inhabiting the northern and western parts of New-York) were allies to that power; and, in 1779, they were entirely defeated by the American troops, and their towns all destroyed. The Mohawks and the greater part of {he Cayugas have removed into Canada. The residue now live on grounds called the State Re- ISINGLASS ITALY. 187 servations ; the state of New-York having taken these Indians under its protection. W. Smith, Morse. ISINGLASS, a preparation from different species of the fish, called sturgeon : it may also be produced from the air-bladders of the cod, as well as from those of other fish inhabiting the fresh waters. H. Jackson in- forms us, in his Essay on British Isinglass, published about the year 1765, that its yearly consumption in the brewery was then calculated at twenty -five tons weight, and that forty thousand pounds annually were paid for this article to the Russians. There is also a transpar- ent substance, called isinglass, that is found adhering to rocks, and lying in sheets like paper : most of it is white, some is yellow, and some has a purple hue. It is found in plenty in a mountain in the state of New- Hampshire, about twenty miles eastward of Dartmouth college. During the American revolutionary war, it was used instead of window-glass, which at that time was very scarce. This substance is particularly valua- ble for the windows of ships, as it is not brittle, but elas- tic, and will stand the explosion of cannon. It is also used to cover miniature paintings, and to preserve mi- nute objects for the microscope : for lanterns it is pre- ferable to glass. Domestic Encyclopaedia, Winterbot- ham. ITALY, one of the finest countries in Europe ; bounded by Swisserland and Germany, the Mediterra- nean Sea, and France. The cities of Italy seem to have been the first in Europe which were raised by com- merce to any considerable degree of opulence. Italy lay in the centre of what was at that time the improved and civilized part of the world. The crusades too, though by the great waste of stock and destruction of inhabitants which they occasioned, they must necessa- rily have retarded the progress of the greater part of Europe, were extremely favorable to that of some Ital- ian cities. The great armies which marched from all parts to the conquest of the Holy Land, gave extraor- dinary encouragement to the shipping of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, sometimes in transporting them thither, and always in supplying them with provisions. They were 1 83 JACKALL JAMAICA. the commissaries, if one may so say, of those armies ; and the most destructive phrenzy that ever befel the European nations, was a source of opulence to those republics. Such Italy was, some centuries ago ; the first nation of Europe, in civilization, in arts, in agri- culture, in commerce, and in wealth. How fallen !- Jldam Smith. J. fj ACKALL, a wild and ferocious animal of the dog kind. It is said to be of the size of a middling dog, re- sembling the fox in the hinder parts, particularly the tail ; and the wolf in the fore parts, especially the nose; its colour is a bright yellow. The species of the jackall is diffused all over Asia, and is found also in most parts of Africa. Its cry is a howl, mixed with barking, and a lamentation resembling that of human distress. The jackall never goes alone, but always in a pack of forty or fifty together. These unite regularly every day to form a combination against the rest of the forest 5 and nothing then can escape them. They not only attack the living but the dead. They scratch up with their feet the new-made graves, and devour the corpse, how putrid soever : and while they are at this dreary work, they exhort each other with a most mournful cry, re- sembling that of children under chastisement. The li- on, less swift than the jackall, attends to its call, and follows it in silence at some distance behind ; and, com- ing up, robs it of its prey : hence the jackal! is said to hunt for the Hon. Goldsmith. JAMAICA, one of the West-India islands, belong- ing to Great Britain, and being prodigiously fertile and productive ; situated in the Atlantic Ocean, about four thousand miles south-west of England : having the isl- and of Hispanjola, or St. Domingo, at the distance of thirty leagues, to the east, and the island of Cuba, about the same distance, to the north : extending one hun- dred, and fifty miles in length, and about forty miles ia JANIZARIES. 1S9 medial breadth ; the centre of the island lies in about 18 12' north latitude. Besides free negroes, people of colour, and Maroons, there are in Jamaica thirty thousand whites, ond two hundred and fifty thousand slaves. The native inhabitants of this island, to the number of sixty thousand, on the most moderate esti- mate, were wholly cut oft* and exterminated by the Span- iards, not a single descendant, of either sex, being alive when the English took the island in 1655. Port Royal, once the capital of Jamaica, was formerly a place of the greatest wealth and importance in the West-Indies ; but is now reduced, by repeated calamities, to three streets, containing about two hundred houses. This place was distinguished for its rapid rise, extensive prosperity, deplorable wickedness, and fatal catastro- phe. In the month of June, 1692, happened that tre- mendous earthquake, which, in two minutes time de- stroyed a great part of the town of Port Royal, and sunk the houses in a gulf forty fathoms deep. Two or three hundred openings in the earth might be seen at a time j in some whereof the people were swallowed up ; in oth- ers the earth closing, caught them by^the middle, and thus crushed them instantly to death. Others opening still more dreadful than the rest, swallowed up whole streets ; and others, more formidable still, spouted up whole cataracts of water, drowning such as the earth- quake had spared. One man miraculously escaped ; and on his tomb-stone, at Green Bay, in Jamaica, is the following inscription. " Here lies the body of Lewis " Galdy, Esq. who departed this life, at Port Royal, the " 22d of December, 1736, aged eighty. He was born " at Montpelier, in France, but left that country fr? his " religion, and came to settle in this island, where he " was swallowed up in the great earthquake, in the " year 1692, and by the providence of God, was by an- 4i other shock thrown into the sea, and miraculously " saved by swimming, until a boat took him up. He " lived many years after, in great reputation, beloved " by all who knew him, and much lamented at his " death." Goldsmith, Bryan Edwards. JANIZARIES, an order of infantry in the Turkish armies 5 reputed the grand seignior's foot guards. 190 JANUS JAPAN. About the year 1560, the sultan Amurath, grandson of Othman, the founder of the Turkish empire, in order to create a body of devoted troops that might serve as the immediate guards of his person and dignity, command- ed his officers to seize annually, as the imperial proper- ty, the third part of the young males taken in war. Af- ter being instructed in the Mahometan religion, inured to obedience by severe discipline, and trained to warlike . exercises, these youths were formed into a regular band, distinguished by the name of Janizaries, or New Sol- diers. Their number is about forty thousand ; they are of a superior rank to all other soldiers : at the same time they are arrogant and factious ; and this military body is formidable to all orders of the state. When the Jan- izaries were first organized, Hagi Bektaski, a man high- Jy reputed among the Mahometans for his holiness, gave them his blessing, and cutting off one of the sleeves of the fur -gown which he had on, put it on the head of the leader uf this new militia from which time they still wear the fur-cap. JANUS, a Roman deity, Represented with two faces, looking different ways ; symbolically denoting (as some say) political prudence, examining, at the same time, the past, and the probable future, and weighing the con- sequences to be hoped or feared from any public mea- sure. In the reign of Numa, about seven hundred years before our Saviour's nativity, a temple was built to Janus at Rome. This temple was shut in peace, and left open during war : at the time when the Prince of Peace was born into the world, the temple of Janus was shut. JAPAN, an empire, consisting of three large, and many small islands, lying eastward of China. The gov- ernment is ancient, regular, and despotic ; the country is fertile, rich, and populous ; the people ingenious, in- dustrious, and commercial, but invincibly attached to home. The commodities which these islands yield are the same that are brought from China ; namely, the fin- est of porcelain, varnish and teas, silk and cotton manu- factures, medicinal roots and gums, gold, pearls, coral, and ambergris. Postlewait affirms, uu 70 'I ' T " , that the teas of Ja- JAQUARr- JAVA. 191 pan are free from the adulterations practised in China. The Japanese, are said to be the grossest idolaters, shy of strangers, rigorous in all their dealings with them, and detesters of the name of Christians. About the middle of the sixteenth century, popish missionaries from Portugal and Spain, were sent to Japan, and met with surprising success in converting the Japanese to the Catholic faith ; which spread through most of the provinces of the empire, and was openly embraced by many of the princes and lords. This bright prospect was "at length overcast ; and the issue was most tragic^ al. The missionaries were accused of treasonable plots to subvert the state ; and against them and all their proselytes and adherents a bloody persecution arose, which continued for many years, and ended in their utter extermination. The Christian religion has ever since that time been held in the utmost abhorrence at Japan. JAQUAR, a very formidable animal that infests some of the southern parts of America. It is rather larger than a panther, with hair of a bright tawney colour. The top of the back is marked with long streaks of black ; the sides beautifully variegated with irregular oblong spots. It is found in the hottest parts of South America, is very fierce, and when pressed with hunger, will sometimes venture to seize a man : the Indians are much afraid of it, and think it prefers them to white people. In travelling through the desarts of Guiana, (or Surinam) they light great fires in the night, of -which these animals are much afraid.- VTinterbotham. JAVA, an island in the Indian Ocean ; upwards of six hundred miles in length, and from sixty to eighty in breadth ; lying about midway on the most frequented road from Hindostan to China and Japan. The natives, who resemble the Chinese, are considerably numerous. The island yields immense quantities of pepper ; it pro- duces, of flowers and fruits, whatever can regale the senses : in the mean time it abounds with venomous ser- pents, monstrous tigers, and other beasts of prey. On the coasts the Dutch have several establishments^ 192 JERSEY, NEW JERUSALEM. ike principal of which are Batavia and Bantam. See BATAVIA. JERSEY, NEW, one of the United States of Amer- ica, situated between 39 and 41 24' north latitude; bounded by Hudson's river and the ocean, and by Dela- ware bay and river, which divide it from the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania 5 extending about 150 miles in length, and 52 in breadth. The inhabitants are a col- lection of Low Dutch, Germans, English, Scotch, Irish, and New-Englanders, and their descendants. " The Swedes, (says Adam Smith) established themselves in New Jersey; and the number of Swedish families still to be found there, sufficiently demonstrates, that this colony was very likely to have prospered, had it been protected by the mother country. But being neglected by Sweden, it was soon swallowed up by the Dutch colony of New -York, which again in 1674, fell under the dominion of the English." JERUSALEM, a city of Palestine in Asia ; situat- ed about forty-five miles south-east of the Mediterrane- an Sea. It is supposed to have been founded by Mel- chizedec, arid then called Salem. It was formerly the capital of Juclea ; it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews its inhabitants, led captive to Babylon. Sev- enty years after the nativity of our Saviour, it was taken and destroyed by the Romans ; when more than a mill- ion wretched Jews perished in the siege and capture of the city. Near the ruins of the ancient Jerusalem, the emperor Adrian built a new city, which was taken by the Persians, in 614, and by the Saracens (or Arabians) in 636. In the year 1099, it was taken by the crusaders from Europe, who founded a new kingdom, which last- ed eighty-eight years, under nine kings. Saladin, king of Egypt and Syria, gained possession of Jerusalem, in 1187. The Turks drove out the Saracens, 1217, and have kept possession of it ever since. It is now inhab- ited by Turks, Arabs, Jews, and Christians. It is situ- ated on a rocky height, with steep ascents on every side, except towards the north : it is about three miles in circumference, and includes Mount Calvary, which was formerly yvithout the walls," The siege of Jeru- JESUITS JESUITS' BARK. 195 salem by the Romans, its capture and entire destruc- tion, were foretold by our blessed Saviour, circumstan- tially, and with the utmost exactness. JESUITS, a monastic order, instituted by the Pope of Rome, in the year 1536; Ignatius Loyala being at that time head of the fraternity. While other monks spent their time in cloisters, these were remarkable for their activity and free intercourse with the world ; and none were admitted into the order but persons of supe- rior cunning and parts. The Jesuits, by their subtle arts and intrigues, had obtained immense influence in all the popish kingdoms. To them was generally com- mitted the education of the children of the princes and nobility 5 they were consulted in all important matters of church and state ; they were sent abroad as missiona- ries ; they crrried on a lucrative traffic in South Ameri- ca and the East-Indies; and being always united among themselves, and seeking incessantly "the aggrandize- ment of their order without regarding means, they be- came a most powerful and dangerous body. In the year 1762, the government of France demanded of the Jesuits the rules of their order, which they had hitherto care- fully concealed. That mysterious book was found to contain maxims subversive of all government, and even of the fundamental principles of morals. lu conse- quence of that discovery they were banished the king- dom. They had been banished from England in 1604; from Venice, in 1606; from Portugal, in 1759; they were expelled Naples, 1768 ; and in 1773, the order was abolished by the Pope : it revived in Russia, 1783, JESUITS' BARK, or Peruvian Bark, an invaluable drug, used with great success in intermittent fevers. The tree which produces it, grows chiefly in Quito, a province of Peru. It is about the size of a cherry tree, and bears a kind of fruit resembling an almond ; but it is only the bark that possesses those excellent qualities for which it is % so much celebrated. It is said that the medicinal virtue of this bark was discovered in the fol- lowing manner. Several of the trees were felled for other purposes into a lake, when an epidemic fever of a, very mortal kind prevailed at Loxa, in Peru 5 and the S 194 JEWS. woodmen accidentally drinking the water, were cured. Some Jesuits carried this bark to Rome, about the year 1639. Danvin, et cet. JEWS, descendants of the patriarch Jacob. No na- tion on the globe has suffered such terrible calamities., and for so long time, as the Jews. During the siege of Jerusalem, the famine was so distressing, that after eat- ing their horses, dogs, cats, and every other edible sub- stance which they could lay their hands on, some even proceeded to eat their own children. In the siege and capture of the city, more than a million are said to have perished by famine and the sword 5 and several hun- dred thousand at the same time, in other parts of the province of Judea. Titus, the conqueror of Jerusalem, carried away ninety thousand captives ; all of these un- der seventeen years of age, he ordered to be sold ; and in such numbers, that thirty of them were commonly sold for a small piece of money. The emperor Adrian, not long after, slew five hundred thousand Jews; innu- merable multitudes also he sold at the public fairs. Such prodigious numbers were exposed to sale, that there were not persons enough to buy them ; arid they were sent into confinement, ^nd that so strict and se- vere, that they died by thousands together. Some were carried to Spain, multitudes fled to Babylon, and the east ; they were scattered over all the face of the earth. They have been a most remarkably suffering people now for more than seventeen hundred years. They have been greviously persecuted in popish countries, particularly in Spain and Portugal ; almost every gov- ernment has oppressed them 5 Christians, Mahometans, and Pagans, have, by turns,- plundered and murdered them. Still they have kept themselves a distinct peo- ple, and continue to observe their ancient rites and ceremonies. All this is justly considered as a most re- markable fulfilment of scripture prophecies, and indeed us a kind of standing miracle. It is remarkable that the Jews in the East-Indies, and various other parts of the world, are now looking earnestly for the speedy resto- ration of their p'rivile^cs, and for even greater manifes- tations of the divine favor, than their nation had ever yet enjoyed $ founding thesa hopes upon prophecies of the JIBOY A- JORDANJUDICIAL ASTROLOGY. 195 Old Testament : and it is jet more remarkable, tlata vast number of enlightened and pious Christians are at the same time confidently expecting this event, from the prophecies both of the Old Testament and of tire New. Josephus, et ceteri. JIBOY A, an enormous serpent of Java and Brazil, \vhich Legaut affirms, he has seen fifty feet long. Nor is he singular ^n this respect, as many of the missiona- ries affirm the same ; and we have the concurrent tes- timony of historians as a further proof. The largest an- imal otthis kind, (the skin of) which has been brought into Europe, is but thirty-six feet long; the most usual length is about twenty feet, and the thickness in propor- tion. It lies in wait for small animals near the paths, and when it throws itself upon them, it wraps itself round them so closely as to break all their bones ; then moistening the whole body over with its slaver, it makes it fit for deglutition, and swallows it whole.- - Goldsmith. JORDAN, a small river in Palestine, often mention- ed in scripture. Its course is upon the borders of an- cient Galilee ; and it empties into the Dead Sea, or Sea of Sodom. It is generally about four or five rods wide, and ten or twelve feet deep. At a certain season of the year, it overflows its banks, owing to the melting of the snows on Mount Lebanon, at the foot ot which is the head of this river : it then forms a sheet of water some- times a quarter of a league broad. At the time of its inundation, its waters are troubled, and of a yellow hue, and its course impetuous. Volney. JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY, the pretended art of calculating the future fortunes of persons, from the par- ticular planet that ruled at the time of their birth. This occult science, which is now happily exploded except among the most ignorant, was in such repute even so lately as the seventeenth century, that a professed as- trologer, at the court of Berlin, received applications from the most respectable houses in Germany, Poland* Hungary, and even from England, for the purpose of consulting him respecting the future fortunes of new- 196 JUGGERNAUT. born infants ; acquainting him with the hour of their nativity, and requesting nis direction as to their man- agement. The astrologers pretended to have the art of counteracting the influence of a malignant planet, by removing their pupils to a place that was governed by a friendly planet, or feeding them with certain kinds of vegetables, or casting medals of metal to be worn as amulets, or charms, round their necks. JUGGERNAUT, the chief idol of Hindostan ; near- ly resembling the Moloch of the ancient Canaanites, and perhaps differing from it only in name. The rites of Juggernaut's worship consis ' 01 shocking exhibitions of obscenity, and his chosen libation is human blood. This terrible idol has his principal temple in a town called by his name, situated in the province of Orissa, which now is subject to the British empire. Thither pilgrims resort, not by thousands merely, but by hun- dreds of thousands as well from the remotest as from the adjacent parts of India. As you travel towards the temple of Juggernaut, the toad is covered with pilgrims, before and behind, as far as the eye can reach ; march- ing slowly, with their wives and children, under a scorching sun. Some you see stooping with age, and others labouring under mortal distempers 5 yet exerting the utmost of their little remains of strength, that they may reach the temple of their god, and die in his pre- sence. Others perish by the way, and, being left un- buried, are fed upon by dogs, jackalls, and vultures. Ere you come witnin fifty miles, you know it to be the road to Juggernaut, by the human skulls and bones strewed over it. When arrived at this region of the shadow of death, the habitation of the idol, you behold the walls of the town surrounded with numberless squa- lid famishing pilgrims, with clotted hair and painted flesh, practising their various austerities and modes of self-torture. Upon entering the town (if it;. be the great day of the idolatrous feast) you see a stupendous car or tower, sixty feet in height, resting on wheels, and drawn by me.n. On the top of the car you see a throne sur- rounded with priests ; and upon the throne, a block of wood, having a frightful visage painted black, with a distended mouth of a bloody colour. It is Juggernaut .' JUNOJUPITER. 197 Instantly the welkin rings with the yell-like acclama- tions of innumerable multitudes of men ; the females joining the chorus in a kind of hissing scream, with the lips circular, and the tongue vibrating, as if a serpent were speaking by their organs. The horrors of the scene now thicken. The car that carries the idol moves on, and, as it slowly moves, the wheels, prest down by the ponderous weight above, deeply indent the ground. And now is the moment for the devotees of Juggernaut to pay him their last and most acceptable homage. They fall prostrate, women as well as men, before the moving wheels which support his throne, and are crush--,, ed into the earth. Their dead bodies are cast forth, as a prey to ravenous beasts and birds ; polluting the at- mosphere, which the worship of Juggernaut renders constantly foetid and loathsome. " Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood *' Of human sacrifice and parents' tears." What a mercy to enjoy the light of the gospel ! What matter of joy that the Prince of Peace is erecting his throne in India, and will finally establish it upon the ruins of Juggernaut's horrid empire. Buchanan's Chris- tian Researches. JUNO, or Harding, a primary planet between Mars and Jupiter 5 it was discovered by Mr. Harding, of Germany, on the first of September, 1804. It appears like a star of the eighth magnitude. Its distance from the sun is about two hundred and twenty -five million miles ; its periodical revolution is performed in fifteen hundred and eighty -two d&ys-Bowditch. JUPITER, the largest of all the planets ; being ea- sily distinguished from them by its peculiar magnitude and light. Its diameter is eighty-nine thousand one hundred and seventy miles ; its distance from the sun four hundred and ninety million miles ; and the time of its periodical revolution is four thousand three hundred and thirty -two days and a half. Though Jupiter is the largest of all the planets, yet its diurnal revolution is the swiftest, being only nine hours and fifty six minutes. S 2 103 JURY -KALMUCS. Jupiter is attended by four satellites, invisible to the na- ked eye ; but through a telescope they make a beautiful appearance. Bowditch. JURY r a company of men, consisting commonly of twelve, and sworn to deliver a true verdict on such evi- dence as shall be laid before them respecting the cause they are to decide. This admirable institution which has been almost peculiar to the English nation and their descendants, had its origin about a thousand years ago 9 and in the following manner. Alfred, king of England, in the ninth century, divided the whole kingdom into counties : these counties he subdivided into hundreds ; and the hundreds into ty things or tenths, over which a person called a tything man presided. In smaller dif- ferences the tything man summoned the heads of the ten families under his jurisdiction, to assist him ; but important causes were brought before the hundred, who regularly assembled once in four weeks : and out of these hundred householders twelve freemen were chos- en, who having sworn, along with the Magistrate of the hundred, to administer justice, proceeded to the exam- ination of the cause that was committed to them. * Uussdl. K ALMUCS, a nation of Tartars, who inhabit that part of the Russian empire in Asia, which lies between the river Volga and the river Ural, towards the Cas- pian Sea. In all their country, which is immensely large, there is not a house to be seen ; as they all live in tents, and remove from one place to another in quest of pasturage for their large herds of cattle? consisting of horses, camels, cows, and sheep. They neither sow nor reap ; they eat no bread, nor any kind of vegetable* Their food is mi|k, flesh, fish, butter and cheese : they prefer mare's- milk, and horseflesh, which they cook by each putting a piece under his saddle, and riding upon it. They wear sheep-skin coats, with, the wool on, and KAMPTSKATKA -KAYA. 19$ caps of the same. When they come to a river, they want no bridge or boat to help them across ; but they plunge in with their horses, and, sliding from their backs, hold fast by the manes till they get over ; and then immediately mount again and proceed. Walker. KAMPTSKATKA, a peninsula of Asia, belonging to the Russian empire, and separated from the western coast of America by only a narrow sea. The peninsu- la of Kamptskatka is situated on the eastern coast of Asia, and extends from 52 to 61 north latitude ; its greatest breadth being about two hundred and thirty -six miles. Sometimes, even in the month of May, this country is covered with snow, from six to eight feet in depth. They have, properly speaking, no spring : from October to the beginning of June, it is all dreary winter 5 the Kamptskadales, notwithstanding, think that no country on the globe is equal to theirs. In Kampt- skatka there is a remarkable breed of dogs, which are used for transporting persons from place to place. The natives make use of these dogs for the draught, as oth- ers do horses. They are fed chiefly with fish, and re- ceive their meals only at the end of the day's journey. They are yoked in sledges. The length of the body of one of these sledges is about four feet and an half. It is made of light tough wood, fastened together with wicker-work, and elegantly stained with red and bli!e^ the seat being covered with furs or bear-skins ; it is shod with the bone of some sea animal. This sledge* which usually carries only one person and his baggage? is drawn by five dogs ; four of them yoked two and two, and the other acting as a leader. They go with amaz- ing swiftness : there has been an instance of a despatch conveyed in this manner, two hundred and twenty miles, in. twenty -three hours. Cookers Voyages. KAVA, a kind of pepper-plant, rising about five or six feet in height, and bearing large heart-shaped leaves, and jointed stalks. From the roots of this plant the people of the Friendly Islands, in the southern Pacific Ocean, obtain a spirituous intoxicating liquor, w-hiclt they extract in this singular manner. The roots are U P an d give 11 to the servants : who breaking them 00 KELP KENNEBECK, in pieces, scrape the dirt oft; and each chews his portion, which he afterwards spits into a piece of plan tain -leaf* Those who are to prepare the liquor, collect these mouthfuls of spittle together and deposit them in a large wooden bowl, adding a sufficient quantity of water to make it of a proper strength. The better sort then quaff this delicious cordial ; about half a pint usually being put into each cup, as sufficient for one person. Cookers Voyage. KELP, a species of sea-weed, which, when burnt, yields an alkaline salt, useful for making glass, and soap, and for several other purposes. The kelp is first dried in the sun, and then burnt in a kiln, of about two feet, or less, in diameter. In this is burnt a small par- cel of the herb, and before it is reduced to ashes, more is thrown on till the kiln is full, or the materials are expended. This reduces the ashes to a hard and solid cake, or to a sort of pot-ash, by the heat of the kiln, and the quantity of salt in the herb. The landlords in Great Britain, whose estates are bounded by a kelp shore, de- mand a rent for the profits of this weed, as well as for their cornfield. Jimtr. Mus. #. Smith. KENNEBECK, a fine river which rises in the north- west part of the province of Maine, in Massachusetts ; and flowing in a southerly direction, falls into the At- lantic Ocean : it abounds with fish, particularly excel- lent salmon and shad. This river forms the nearest sea-port for the people on the upper part of the river Connecticut ; it being ninety measured miles from the upper Cohoes, on Connecticut river, to the tide water in Kennebeck. A sensible writer, speaking of the Kenne- beck, and the country adjacent, says, " the navigation of the river, the great abundance of the fish it contains, the constant healthiness of the climate, the happy se- verities of the winters always sheltering the earth with a voluminous coat of snow, the equally happy necessity of labor ; all these reasons would greatly preponderate against the softer situations of Carolina ; where man- kind reap too much, do not toil enough, and are liable to enjoy too fast the benefits of life." Fanner^ Letters, KENTUCKY KILDA, ST. 01 KENTUCKY, one of the United States of America 5 bounded north-westerly by the river Ohio, east by Vir- ginia, southerly>by the state of Tennessee, and westerly by the Mississippi ; extending about two hundred and fifty miles in length, and two hundred in breadth : Lex- ington is the capital. The Kentucky -country, which in the Indian language signifies bloody^ was established into a separate district, in 1782. The falls of Ohio, which are about the mean climate of this state, are sit- uated in S7 SO' north latitude ; but the country is much more serene and temperate than could be supposed from its situation, owing chiefly, perhaps, to its great remove from the northern lakes. Spring approaches early in February ; and by the beginning of March several shrubs and trees begin to shoot forth their buds. The first and second rate lands, are from one to several feet deep of a chocolate, and, in some places, of a deep mu- latto colour, exempted from stones, gravel, or sand, on the surface ; tying generally on a flat limestone quarry, from three to six feet below the soil, Morrison. KILDA, ST. a small island of Scotland, being one of the Hebrides : the inhabitants live chiefly by fishing and catching wild-fowls. Perhaps, of all the shores in the world, there is none so high as that of St. Kilda, which lias been found to be six hundred fathoms perpendicu- lar, above the surface of the sea. In a barbarous age, lord Grange of Scotland, (one of the Erskine family) suspecting that his lady had come at the knowledge of some secret state papers, and would divulge their con- tents ; he, together with his son conveyed her privately to the island of St. Kild, and there put her on shore, and left her to shift for herself. The lady's relations could never find the place of her concealment till after her death. The island of St. Kilda afforded no imple- ments for writing, and the lady's history could never have been known, had she not worked it on her muslin apron with her hair. She lived thirty years in this state of banishment. After her death, her family, by some means or other, got possession of this curious piece of workmanship. -/V. Lon. Review. See SOS KILLER KINGBIRD KINGFISHER. KILLER, a sea animal, comparatively small, but of amazing strength, and armed with powerful teeth* j it is a terrible enemy to the whale. A number of them are said to sarround a whale, in the same manner as dogs get round a bull. Some attack it with their teeth be- hind ; others attempt it before 5 until, at last, the great animal is torn down, and its tongue is said to be the on- ly part they devour when they have made it their prey. Goldsmith. KINGBIRD, an American bird, too well known in this country to need a description. J. Hector St. John, a farmer of Pennsylvania, gives us, in his Farmer's Let- ters, the following curious story of this bird. " At the time of my bees swarming (says Mr. St. John) the king- birds came, and fixed themselves upon the neighboring trees, from whence they catched those that returned loaded from the fields. This made me resolve to kill as many as I could ; and I was just ready to fire, when a bunch of bees as big as my fist, issued from one of the hives, rushed on one of the birds, and probably stung him 5 for he instantly screamed and fiew r , not as before in an irregular manner, but in a direct line. He was followed by the same bold phalanx, which unfortunate- ly at length becoming too sure of victory, quitted tlieir military array, and disbanded themselves ; and no soon- er did he perceive their disorder, than he instantly re- turned, and snapped up as many as he wanted. I kill- ed him and opened his craw, from which I took one hundred and twenty-one bees. I laid them all on a blanket in the sun, and to my great surprize, fifty -four returned to life, licked themselves clean, and joyfully went back 'to the hive." KINGFISHER, a bird not much larger than a swal- low ; its shape is clumsy ; the legs disproportion ally small, and the bill disproportionally long. But the co- lours of this bird atone for its inelegant form ; the crown of the head and the coverts of the wings are of a deep blackish green, spotted with bright azure 5 the back and tail are of the most resplendent azure ; the whole under side of the body is orange -coloured : a broad mark of the same passes from the bill beyond the e^ KINKAJOU -KNIGHT. 803 beyond that is a large white spot ; the tail is short, and consijiof twelve feathers, of a rich deep blue ; and the feet ire of a reddish yellow. This bird is one of the most rapacious little animals that skims the deep. It is forever on the wing, and feeds on fish : it chiefly fre- quents the banks of rivers, and takes its prey by bal- ancing itself at a certain distance above the water for a considerable space, then darting into the deep, and seizing the fish with inevitable certainty. While it re- mains suspended in the air, in a bright day, its plum- age exhibits a beautiful variety of the most dazzling and brilliant colours. Goldsmith. KINKAJOU, an American animal resembling a cat, and about as large, but better formed for agility and speed than for strength. His tail gradually tapers to the end, and is as long as his whole body ; his colour is yellow. Between him and the fox there is a perpetual war. This animal is able to suspend himself by twin- ing the end of his tail round the limb of a tree, whereby lie can pursue his prey where cats cannot ; and when he attacks a large animal, his tail enables him to secure his hold till he has opened the blood vessels of the neck. In some parts of Canada these animals are very numer- ous, and make great havoc among the deer ; nor do they spare even the neat cattle. Wlnterbolham. KNIGHT, a person advanced to the degree of milita- ry rank, which took its origin from the custom of the ancient Germans, who used to present their youths with a shield and javalin in a public assembly, as soon as they were capable of bearing arms. The addition sir to the names of knights, was from sire, which in old French signifies seignior, or lord. A gentleman soldier was made a knight by receiving from a prince, or any one belonging to the order of knighthood, a gentle blow of a sword. It was, in former times, a point of honor for a knight never to yield to any one below that dignity. Hence when the English commander, the duke of Suf- folk, in a battle in France, was obliged to yield himself a prisoner to a Frenchman called Renaud, before he submitted, he asked his adversary, whether lie was a gentleman? On receiving a satisfactory answer, he de- 204 KNIGHTS ERRANT KNIGHTS TEMPL4RS. manded, whether he was a knight ? Renaud replied* t^t he had not yet attained that honor. " Thenf^make ySii one," answered Suffolk ; giving him the blow' with his sword, which dubbed him into that fraternity ; and immediately surrendering himself his prisoner. Stuart. KNIGHTS ERRANT, a class of knights who were continually travelling from place to place, for the pur- pose of relieving oppressed innocence. Some centuries ago. when the nobility of Europe lived in fortified cas- tles, and were continually making war upon one ano- ther ; when the public roads were infested with robbers and assassins: when wives and damsels, especially the most beautiful, were frequently carried oft' by force, and confined in some fortified castle : in those times of hor- rible anarchy, the ardor of redressing wrongs seized many knights so powerfully, that, attended by esquires, they wandered about in search of objects whose misfor- tunes and misery required their assistance and suc- cor. And as ladies engaged more particularly their attention, the relief of unfortunate damsels was the achievement they most courted. This was the rise of the knights errant, or wandering knights ; whose ad- ventures produced those extravagant Romances which Cervantes ridiculed in his inimitable Don Quixotte. Thousands of years before this the Grecians witnessed a sort of knight errantry. Perseus, Hercules, and The- seus, were in reality knights errant in ancient Greece, about thirteen or fourteen hundred years before our Saviour's nativity. There was then no travelling with safety from one district to another, or even from place to place within any particular district. Every deep cave was the den of some savage plunderer, who ob- structed social intercouse, and preyed without remorse upon the surrounding country. And then it was that the heroes aforenamed, stood forth as the champions of oppressed innocence and violated beauty ; which pro- cured their deification among their idolatrous country- men. KNIGHTS TEMPLARS, a religious and military order of knighthood, which took its rise during the fervor of tl)e crusades. The first knights templars, by KNOUT KQRIAC3. 205 their zeal and valor against the infidels, had made rapid advances in credit, authority and wealth ; and theh^sp- ulent successors scorning the occupation of a monas- tic life, passed their time wholly in the fashionable amusements of hunting, gallantry, and the pleasures of the table. The mal-administration of Philip IV, of France, occasioned a sedition in Paris ; and the knights templars were accused of being concerned in the tumult. Philip, who was equally avaricious and vindictive, deter- mined to'involve the whole order in one undistinguished ruin. . He ordered all the templars in France to be com- mitted to prison, on one day, charging them with mur- der, robbery, and the vices most shocking to nature. Many of them perished on the rack ; many others were burnt alive $ all their treasures were confiscated, and the order was abolished by Philip, in the year 1311. Russell. KNOUT, a horrible cruel kind of punishment com- mon in Russia. In what is called the double knout^ tha hands are bound behind the prisoner's back, and the cord being fixed to a pully, lifts him from the ground, with the dislocation of both his shoulders ; and then his back is in a manner scarified by the executioner, with a hard thong, cut from a wild ass's skin. In the single knout,, the prisoner is stripped naked to the waist, with the w r hole back quite exposed to the strokes of the exe- cutioner; who, with a long strap of leather prepared for the purpose, gives a stroke in such a manner as to car- ry away a strip of skin from the neck to the bottom of the back. Then taking aim again with great exact- ness, he applies a second blow parallel to the former; and thus proceeds till all the skin of the back is cut away. By the order of the late empress Elizabeth, this punishment was inflicted on Madam Lapouchin, a court lady of exquisite beauty and sweetness of manners, for an alleged concern in a conspiracy. Her tongue was cut out immediately after the punishment of the knout was inflicted ; and she was banished to Siberia. Morse^ L*Mbe, Cliappe. KORIACS, an Asiatic nation on the borders of Kampt- skatka, tributary to the Russian empire. According t& 206 KOWRY SHELLS KRAKEN. Walker's account they were formerly very numerous 5 but^have greatly diminished by the small-pox, and by frequent contests with their neighbors. Some of them have a fixed residence ; others are wanderers : their regular occupation is hunting and fishing. They live on dried fish, and the flesh and fat of the whale and sea wolf, together with that of the rein-deer, which is their favorite dish : they greedily devour raw flesh. Their characteristic features are sunken eyes, flat noses, and prominent cheeks. The men are almost entirely beard- less : the women carry their children in a basket arched over, in which the infant is placed in a sitting posture, and sheltered from the weather. They have an uncon- querable thirst for strong liquors, and are generally ad- dicted to drunkenness. Two remarks are here obvi- ous : the first is, that these people remarkably resem- ble the native savages of America ; and the second, that the continents of Asia and America, in the neighbor- hood of the Koriacs, approach so near together, that the passage from one to the other is easy, in summer by small boats or canoes, and in winter on the ice. KOWRY SHELLS, a species of shell-money, so ex- ceedingly small in value, that, in Bengal, about two thousand and four hundred of them are equal to a shil- ling ; and yet notwithstanding the exceeding small ness of the denomination, some article in the market may be purchased for a single kowry.* Rennet, KRAKEN, a monster of incredible magnitude, in the Norwegian sea : he is represented as appearing in size like a small island, and as rising and sinking in the wa- ter very slowly. When the fishermen find a more than usual plenty of cod, and the water to be shoal er than could have been expected, they judge that the kraken is at the bottom ; and if they find by their lines that the water still shallows on them, they know that he is ris- ing to the surface, and row oft' with the greatest speed till they come into the usual soundings of the place ; when lying on their oars, in a few minutes the monster emerges : in a short time he sinks, causing such a swell or whirlpool, as draws every thing down with it. He is said to feed on cod, and other fish, which constantly sur- KURBULO LAMA. 207 round him in great abundance, being attracted by his excrements. The real existence of an animal so vastly disproportionate in bulk to all others, seems incredible : yet its existence is confidently affirmed by bishop Pont- oppidam, in his Natural History of Norway. Milton must have meant the kraken, in the following lines in his Paradise Lost. " Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam 44 The pilot of some small night-foimder'd skiff " Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, 41 With fixed anchor in his scaly rind " Moors by his side under the lee, while night " Invests the sea, and the wish'd morn delays." KURBULO, a bird of the size of the sparrow, var- eusly coloured. It inhabits the banks of the river Sene- gal in Africa ; and makes its nest on a fluviatic tree, the leaves of which are thorny, and the branches pen- dent in form of an arch. The bill of these little birds is very long, and armed with teeth resembling a saw. They build a nest, of the bulk of a pear, composed of earth, feathers, straw, and moss ; and attach it to a long thread, suspended from the extremity of the branches which project over the river, in order to secure it from the serpents and monkeys, which sometimes contrive to clamber up after them. Some of these trees contain to the number of a thousand nests. St. Pierre. L. JLjAMA, an animal of Peru and Chili, resembling the camel. Like the camel they have the faculty of ab- staining from water, and like that animal their food is coarse and scanty. They travel, though slowly, long journies in countries impassable to most other animals, and are much employed in transporting the rich ores, dug out of the mines of Potosi, over the rugged hills and narrow paths of the Andes. They lie down to be 20* LAMAS LAND SLIPS. loaded, and, when weary, no blows can excite them t'o quicken their pace. They neither defend themselves with their feet nor teeth : when angry, they have no oili- er method of avenging injuries but by spitting. They can throw out their saliva to the distance of ten paces 5 and if it fall on the skin, it raises an itching, accompa- nied with a slight inflammation. Wintzrbotkam. LAMAS, the priests of Thibet, a large country of Asia. The chief priest, or grand lama, resides on a mountain. He passes a great part of his life on a kind of altar, where he sits motionless, in a cross-legged pos- ture, on a large and magnificent cushion ; and receives with the greatest gravity the adoration, not only of the Thibetians, but also of prodigious multitudes of strang- ers and pilgrims, who undertake long and difficult jour- Hies, that they may worship him on their bended knees, and receive from him the remission of their sins* They are persuaded that he knows the secret thoughts of men> and that he is immortal ; dying merely in appearance 5 and that when he seems to die, his soul and his divinity, only change their place of residence, and pass into an- other body. tWinterbotham. LAND SLIPS, the loosened fragments of hills and mountains sliding down upon and overwhelming the rallies below. In the year 1618, the town of Fleurus, in Italy, was buried by a part of the Alps falling on it, and twenty-two hundred persons were destroyed. On the 17th of February, 1751, Markeley hill, in England, was moved from its situation, and continued its motion for three days ; during which time it carried along with it the trees and cattle on its surface, and did much dam- age. A similar event had happened in England, in 1583 ; when a field of three acres, with the trees and fences, passed over other fields, and settled at the distance of some miles from its original station. Few land slips have been more remarkable, or attended with more dreadful consequences than the following which lately happened in Swisserland. The sides of the lofty moun- tain called Spitzenbull, from the base halfway up, were covered in the most romantic manner with pastures, orchards, houses, and dispersed castles ; farther to- LAPLAND. 209 wards the summit were meadows and forests ; and above all a Grand Mp. At the foot of this mountain was a charming and fertile valley, in which stood three villa- ges, whose inhabitants were distinguished for their neat- ness, industry, economy, peaceable demeanor, and pure morals. On the 2d day of September^ 1806, after an extraordinary rain of two whole days, a singular noise issued from the bowels of the mountain ; and soon af- ter its dreadful fall commenced. At first the summit slid slowly down to a certain distance, when it exploded like a mine with a most tremendous noise, accompanied with a smoke, vapor, and flames of fire, which shot into the air in different directions with the rapidity of light- ning, and spread destruction on all sides over that beau* tiful valley 5 burying it and its inhabitants, in the twink^ ling of an eye. Paris Journal^ et. cet. LAPLAND, a country belonging to the crown of Sweden, and situated in the northern parts of Europe : it is reckoned to be 450 miles in length, and 300 in breadth. This is one of the most cold, barren, and dis- mal countries in the world ; yet the inhabitants would not exchange it for any other portion of the globe. Most of the Laplanders neither sow nor reap 5 they are total- ly unacquainted with the use of corn. They have no trees which bear fruit, scarcely any edible herbs or ve- getables; nor do they possess either sheep, goats, hogs, cows $r horses. During the short summer, the Lap- lander lives principally on the milk of the rein deer. In the winter he kills part of his herds, and lives on the flesh. Of the skin he makes warm garments for him- self and family, and strews them thick upon the ground to sleep on. He hunts the bear, kills him with his bow and arrows, and feasts upon his flesh, which he counts of the greatest delicacy. If a stranger comes among them, they lodge and entertain him in the best manner they are able, and generally refuse compensation for their hospitality : they will, however, accept in requital,, a bit of tobacco, as they are immoderately fond of smok- ing. The Laplanders make use of skates, which are made of fir-wood, of near three feet long, and half a foot broad : these are pointed, and raised before, and tied to the foot by straps of leather. With these they skate T3 10 LATANA LATITUDE. upon the icy snow, with such velocity, that they rery easily overtake the swiftest animals. They make use also of a pole, pointed with iron at one end, and rounded at the other. This pole serves to push them along, to stop the impetuosity of their motion, and to kill that game which they have overtaken. In these exercises the women are not less skillful than the men. Linnseus, the celebrated naturalist of Sweden, in speaking of the Laplanders, with whom he had intimately associated, in his travels through their country, breaks out into the following rapturous encomium on their manner of life. " Happy Laplander ! you live contented, in your " sequestered corner, to a cheerful, vigorous, and long- " extended old age ; unacquainted with the innumera- " ble disorders which constantly infest the rest of Eu- " rope. You live in the woods, like the fowls of heaven 7 66 and neither sow nor reap, and yet the beneficent Deity " hath provided for you most bountifully. Your drink ft is the crystal stream ; your food in spring fresh-taken " fish, in summer the milk of the rein deer, in autumn <{ and winter the Ptarmigan, and rein deer's flesh newly " killed, for you use no salt, neither do you make any " bread, and are a stranger to the poisons which lurk M under honied cates. Bay, Goldsmith. LATANA, a beautiful flowering shrub, that grows in Georgia and the Floridas. It grows in coppices, in old fields, about five or six feet high. The flowers are of various colours, on the same plant, and even in the same Cluster ; as crimson, scarlet, orange and golden yel- low. The whole plant is of a most agreeable scent. Eartram. LATITUDE, the distance of a place from the equa- tor, reckoned in degrees, north and south ; there being 90 degrees of latitude from the equator to each of the poles. It is observed in Captain Cooke's voyages to the .Pacific Ocean, that there is an equal and durable influ- ence of the sun, at all times to 50 degrees of latitude on each side of the line, or equator ; and that at SO degrees of latitude, even in the winter season, they had only be- gun to feel a sensatio^ of cold in the uiornjpgs and even- LAUREL LAUREL MAGNOLIA, &c. 211 ings. Hence it appears that there is a region quite round the globe, from three to four thousand miles wide, in which winter is not known. The southermost line of the United States (extending to the 31st degree of latitude) is but one degree, or Vixty miles, from this region of perpetual spring and summer. LAUREL, a poisonous shrub, common in the Uni- ted States, and often fatal to lambs. The distilled wa- ter from laurel leaves, is, perhaps, the most sudden poison we are acquainted with. Two spoonfuls of it have been known to destroy a large pointer dog in less than ten minutes. In a smaller dose it is said to pro- duce intoxication ; on this account there is reason to believe it acts as opium and vinous spirit. It is used in the ratafia of the distillers, by which some dram-drink- ers have been suddenly killed. Darwin. LAUREL MAGNOLIA, a large and beautiful tree, that grows on the banks of the Mississippi, and of the river St. Juan. Their usual height is about one hun- dred feet, and some greatly exceed it. The trunk is perfectly erect, rising in the form of a beautiful column, and supporting a head like an obtuse cone. The flow- ers of this tree are the largest and most complete of any yet known : when fully expanded they are of six, eight, and nine inches diameter. They are on the ex- tremities of the subdivisions of the branches : they are perfectly white, and expanded like a full blown rose. In the autumn, multitudes of red berries hang down from the branches of these trees, suspended by white silky threads, from four to nine inches in length. The berries laave an agreeable spicy scent, and an aromatic bitter taste. The wood when seasoned is of a straw co- lour, and harder and firmer than that of the poplar. The grape vines which climb these trees, are frequent- ly nine, ten, and twelve inches in diameter : they twine round the trunks of the trees, climb to their very tops, and then spread along their limbs, from tree to tree, throughout the forest. Bartram. LA VERA CRUZ, the grand port of Mexico, or New Spain $ situated on a rock of an island, in the gulf 31 s LAWRENCE, ST. LAZARONILEAD. of Mexico. It is by means of La Vera Cruz that Mex- ico pours her wealth over the world, and receives hi return the numberless luxuries and necessaries which Europe affords her. To this port the fleet from Cadiz, called the Jlota, consisting 01 three men of war, as a convoy, and fourteen large merchant ships, annually ar- rives about the beginning of November. Its cargo con- sists of almost every commodity and manufacture of Europe. From La Vera Cruz they sail to the Havanna, in the island of Cuba, which is the rendezvous where they meet the galleons, another fleet which carries on the .trade of Terra Firma by Carthagena and of Peru by Panama and Porto Bello. When all are collected and provided with a convoy necessary for their safety, they steer for old Spain. tt r interbotham. LAWRENCE, ST. one of the largest rivers of North America. This river, beginning at lake Ontario, and extending, in a north-east course, to the ocean, is seven hundred and forty -three miles in length : it meets the tide upwards of four hundred miles from the sea. At its mouth it is ninety miles wide ; at Cape Cat, which is one hundred and forty miles from its mouth, it is thirty miles wide ; at Quebec, which is nearly four hundred miles from its mouth, it is five miles wide : up to this distance from the ocean, the river is naviga- ble for ships of the line. At and near Kingston, which is situated at the head of the St. Lawrence, that is, seven hundred and forty -three miles from the ocean, the river is said to be from two and an half to six miles wide. *flm. Museum. LAZARONI, a beggarly crew, at Naples in Italy, to the number of about thirty thousand : the greater part have no dwelling houses^ but sleep every night in sum- mer under porticoes, piazzas, or any kind of shelter they can find ; and in the winter or rainy time of the year, which lasts several weeks, the rain then falling by pailfuls, they resort to the caves under Capo di Monte, where they sleep in crowds like sheep in a fold. -Morse. LEAD, one >of the softest, most ductile? and most LEBANON LETTERS. 215 heavy metals next to gold, very subject to rust, dissolv- ed by the weakest acids. It is a most deadly poison. Lead, if once introduced into the animal system , though in the smallest proportions, cannot be removed by art : and never fails to produce the most deplorable dfects, such as palsy, contraction and convulsion of tke limbs, lameness, weakness, and cholics. Whether tms insid- ious and deleterious metal be communicated by inhal- ing its vapors through the lungs, or by absorbing them through the pores of the skin, the effects of it are equally dangerous and fatal. Hence painters, glazjers, pot- ters, and manufacturers of glazed earth ern ware, are greatly exposed ; hence too the danger of using lead- en water pipes, or tea-kettles lined with lead, as this metal is easily dissolved with acids : hence also the danger of modern cosmetics, which being mixed with lead, that poisonous substance may be communicated to the fluids through the skin.- Wiliich. There are sev- eral mines of lead in Virginia : two of . them have been worked, and have produced sixty tons of lead in a year. LEBANON, a mountain in Syria, one hundred and ninety miles from east to west ; and on the north it forms the boundary of the holy land. This mountain is often mentioned in the sacred scriptures, and celebrated for its lofty cedars : it was here king Hiram obtained the cedar trees for building the temple of Solomon. Volney represents mount Lebanon to be exceeding lof- ty, and covered with snow most of the summer, while tne vallies below are suffering a suffocating heat. On the top of Lebanon the traveller is indulged with a prospect astonishingly sublime : his imagination is transported from Jerusalem to Antioch ; rocks, torrents, hill -sides, villages and towns are presented to his view, or when the weather happens to be tempestuous, he be- holds the clouds wafted, and hears the thunders roar under his feet. LETTERS, the characters in the alphabet, express- ing the sounds of words. There is no account of using letters before about the time of Moses ; and probably one of the first books which was written was that of Job 214 LIBRARY LIFE BOAT. the Arabian, who is thought to have been cotemporary with Moses* The first mention of a public or national record in writing, is in the 17th chapter of Exodus ; when Joshua having defeated the armies of Amelek, the Lord said unto Moses, write this in a book for a me- morial. In the commonly received chronological table, it is stated that Memnon, the Egyptian, invented letters, 1822 years before Christ's nativity, or 251 years before the birth of Moses. It seems, however, uncertain., whether letters were invented by the Egyptians, Pho2- nicians, or Arabians. It is said that Sir Isaac Newton ascribed to the Midianites, the honor of instructing Mo- bes in the art of writing, during his abode in Arabia, with Jethro, his father-in-law. Moses is supposed to have written the book of Job, in the wilderness of Ara- bia, during the time that he kept Jethro's flock, at the foot of Mount Horeb. LIBRARY, a large collection of books, either public or private. The first public library, recorded in histo- ry, was founded at Athens by Hypparchus, five hundred and twenty-six years before the birth of our Saviour : the second \vas founded at Alexandria, in Egypt, by Ptolemy Philadelphia, two hundred and eiglity-four years before Christ's nativity ; and it was burnt when Julius Ceesar set fire to that city ; by which catastrophe four hundred thousand volumes in manuscript, were said to have been destroyed. A second library was founded at Alexandria by Ptolemy's successor, and was reputed to have consisted of seven hundred thousand volumes, which was totally destroyed by the Saracens, in the year 642. The largest collection of books in the United States, it is said, is the City Library of Philadel- phia, which, together with the Loganian Library there, makes in the whole. about fifteen thousand volumes. The first Circulating Library, in London, was establish- ed by a Mr. Wright, a bookseller, about the year 1740. In 1800, the number of these libraries in Great Britain was not less than one thousand. LIFE BOAT, a boat used in some parts of Europe, to save the lives of seamen in stormy weather. The particular kind of life boat, the construction of which LIFE SCALE LIGHT. 215 is recommended by the Royal Society, is thirty feet by ten, with a flattish bottom* She is lined with cork in- side and outside of the gunwale, about two feet in breadth, and the seats underneath are filled with cork likewise ; the weight of the cork used in the boat is about seven hundred pounds. She draws very little water, and is able to carry twenty people. The boat is able to contend against the most tremendous sea arid broken water, and never, in one instance, has she failed of bringing the crew in distress into safety. Public Journal. LIFE SCALE, a scale for calculating the probable value of life-leases, and life -annuities. According to the calculations of De Moivre and Dr. Ilally, eighty -six years is a fair estimate of the ultimate period of human life ; and the probabilities of life (after twelve years old) decrease in arithmetical progression, in such a manner, that out of a certain number of persons of the same age, one dying yearly, the whole number will be extinct at the age of eighty-six, extraordinaries except- ed. Suppose, for example, seventy-four children, of twelve years old ; after the expiration of one year (ac- cording to the ordinary and average decrease) there will remain seventy -three ; after two years seventy- two ; and so on, till in seventy -four years, that is, eigh- ty-six years from their birth, the whole number will be extinct. According to this principle the probability ot living a year longer, at the age of twenty, is as 66 to 1 ; at thirty, as 56 to 1 ; at forty, as 46 to 1 ; at fifty, as 36 to 1 ; at sixty, as 6 to 1 ; and at seventy, as six- teen to 1 5 provided the person in question, at each of these periods, begins the year in a commonly good state of health. LIGHT, an invisible fluid, which renders objects perceptible to the sight. The velocity of light is al- most inconceivable, though its motion is not instantane- ous. The particles of light fly nearly two hundred thousand miles every second of time ; which is above a million of times swifter than a cannon ball. And as the medial distance of the globe we inhabit, is about ninety million miles from the sun, (some make the distance :2U> LIGHTNING LIMA. greater) its rays travel that vast distance in eight min- utes and a quarter. It has been found from modern ex- periments that light is essentially necessary to vegeta- tion. Domestic Encyclopaedia. LIGHTNING, a bright and vivid flash of fire, sud- denly appearing in the atmosphere, and commonly dis- appearing in an instant. The most formidable and de- structive form which lightning is ever known to assume is that of balls of fire : these carry destruction wherev- er they fall. The next in destructive effects, is that of the zig-zag kind ; which sometimes makes only one angle, sometimes has several branches, and sometimes appears like the arch of a circle. The colour of the lightning also indicates in some measure the degree of its power to do mischief ; the palest and brightest being the most destructive ; such as is red, or of a darker colour, commonly doing less damage. In thunder storms the burning vapor explodes before the clap com- mences ; the flash is conveyed to us at the rate of a hundred and ninety eight thousand miles in a second 5 but the thunder rolls on at the rate of only thirteen miles in a minute. Hence, when we hear the thunder, we may know that we are safe from the lightning ; which must have passed oft* from us before the arrival of the sound. And by this comparative calculation of the light and sound, the thunder cloud is computed to be distant about one mile, when we see the lightning five seconds before we hear the thunder. In a thunder storm it is advisable to keep at some distance from trees ; and, while in a room, to avoid the fire-place, fire- irons, gilded mouldings, and all articles containing me- tallic ingredients. Encyclopaedia, et cet. LIMA, a city of South America, and the capital of Peru : situated on a small river in the fertile valley of Ilimac, near the Pacific Ocean, in about twelve degrees south latitude. This city is about four miles in length, and two in breadth. Some of the houses are two hun- dred feet long, and proportionably broad ; but are built low on account of the earthquakes. There are trees planted all round their houses, to keep oft* the heat of the sun ; and the river that crosses the city forms ca- LION. 217 nals, which run to most of the houses, and water their gardens. The churches are extremely rich, and dis- play a wonderful magnificence of ornaments. The cit- izens are so rich, that when the viceroy, sent from Spain, in 1682, made his public entrance into this city, they paved the street he was to pass through with ingots of silver. The inhabitants are said to be equally remark- able for debauchery and superstition ; the most profli- gate of them thinking they can atone for all their crimes by hearing a mass, or kissing the robe of St. Francis or St. Dominic. The most terrible earthquakes have been frequent at Lima ; a circumstance that more than countervails its immense wealth and natural ad- vantages. Three fourths of this city was laid level with the ground by an earthquake, in the year 1746.- Walker, et cet. LION, called the king of beasts. The largest lions are from eight to nine feet in length, and from four to six feet high : those of a smaller size are generally about five feet and a half long and about three feet and a half high. The head of this animal is very thick, and his face is beset on all sides with long bushy yellowish hair : this shaggy hair extends from the top of the head to below the shoulders, and hangs down to his knees. He is no where so large or tierce as in the burning sands of Africa. There is this mark of gene- rosity in the lion, that he takes away life, not to gratify cruelty, but merely to satisfy hunger. As Mungo Park was crossing a large open plain, in the interior parts of Africa, some few years ago, he, together with his guide, rode very near a large lion, which lay by the side of a bush, wiih his head couched between his fore paws. Mr. Park expecting the lion would instantly spring up- on him, instinctively pulled his feet from the stirrups to- throw himself oft* on the opposite side, so that his horse might become the victim rather than himself. But the generous beast, not being hungry, quietly suffered them to pass, although they were fairly within his reach.- The arms even of a Hottentot or a negro make them more than a match for this powerful creature ; and they seldom make the attack without coming off victo- rious. Their usual manner is to find out Iris retreat, U 218 LIVE OAK LOADSTONE. and., with spears headed with iron, to provoke him to the combat. Four men are reckoned sufficient for this encounter ; and he, against whom the lion flies, receives him upon his spear, while the others attack him behind. The lion finding himself wounded in the rear, turns that way, and thus gives the man that first attacked him, an opportunity to recover. In this manner they attack him on all sides ; until at last, they entirely dis- able, and then despatch him. The Romans used to tame this formidable beast ; and Mark Anthony, we are told, rode through the streets of Rome in a chariot drawn by lions. Encyclopaedia, Park's Travels, Gold- smith. LIVE OAK, a valuable tree that grows in great abundance in the Floridas. Although the live oak is not tall, it contains a great quantity of timber. The trunk is from twelve to twenty feet in circumference, rising about ten or twelve feet from the root, and then branching into four or five great limbs, extending in a horizontal direction, sometimes fifty jmces from the tnfhk. They bear a great quantity of small acorns, from which the Indians extract a sweet oil, which they use in their cookery. Bears and wild turkeys grow ex- ceedingly fat by feeding on these acorns. Bartram. LOADSTONE, or the Magnet, a kind of ferrugin- ous stone, which in weight and colour resembles iron ore, though it is somewhat harder and more ponderous. Its distinguishing properties are its attraction of iron, and its polar inclination. The magnetic needle, or arti- ficial magnet, is a needle touched by the loadstone ; and which, fixed in the mariner's and surveyor's com- pass, points towards the north pole. As every piece of iron which was made magnetical by the touch of a magnet became itself a magnet, many attempts were made to improve these artificial magnets, but without success, till Servington Savary, Esq. of Great Britain, made them of hardened steel-bars, which were so pow- erful, that one of them weighing three pound avoirdu- pois, would lift another of the same weight. From the year 1302, the directive power of the magnet has been employed with great success in the affairs of naviga- LOCUST LOLLARDS. 19 tion ; but the first account we have of any variation in its direction, was by Columbus, in the year 1492, in his hist voyage to America. From that time the variation began to be observed, and became more and more known. For the last century and an half, mathemati- cians have made it a regular part of their business to observe it, in different parts of the earth ; with the an- nual alterations that are constantly taking place. In the year 1723, a very accurate observer, G. Graham of London, discovered that the magnetic needle had a di- urnal, as well as an annual variation. And it is now well known, that from about eight o'clock in the morn- ing, the magnetic needle varies to the west, until about two o'clock in the afternoon. The effects of these va- riations are at all times such, that the magnetic needle can never give to the surveyor who follows its direction* a si-fright and accurate line> -Encyclopaedia, Miller ^ Williams. LOCUST, an insect about three inches long ; having four wings, and two horns about an inch in length. There is no animal upon earth that multiplies so fast as these, or that is so dreadful a scourge to the human race : famine and plague are often the consequence of their invasion. Africa is the native climate of locusts ; whence they fly into Asia and the southern parts of Eu- rope, desolating whole countries and putrifying the air with their dead bodies. Mr. Park informs us, that while he was in the interior of Africa, he saw locusts in such immense quantities that the trees were quite black with them; that they devoured every vegetable that came in their way, and in a short time completely strip- ped a tree of its leaves : that the noise of their excre- ments falling upon the leaves and withered grass, very much resembled a shower of rain 5 and that when a tree was shaken or struck, it was astonishing to see what a cloud of them would fly oft'. LOLLARDS, the followers of Wicklifte, a secular priest, educated at Oxford in England 5 who, in the fourteenth century? preached the doctrines of the re- formation from popery : his followers were called Lol- lards in way of derision and contempt. Wickliffe died LONDON. In peace ; but the council of Constance ordered hi<* bones to be burnt, forty years after his death. A bloody persecution against those reformers was begun in Eng- land, in the year 1400, in the reign of Henry VII. A law was then enacted, that when any heretic, who re- lapsed or refused to abjure his opinions, was delivered over to the secular arm bj the bishop or his commissa- ries, he should be committed to the flames by the civil magistrate, before the whole people. The first that suffered under this statute, was William Sautre, a cler- gyman in London. He had been condemned by the convocation of Canterbury; his sentence was ratified by the house of peers ; and he was burned at the stake, because he could not think as the Romish church di- rected. The execution of Sautre was a prelude to fu- ture horrors of persecution. Russell. LONDON, the metropolis of Great Britain, and one of the largest and most opulent cities in the world : it is mentioned by Tacitus as a considerable commercial place even in the reign of the Roman emperor Nero. London spreads itself on each side of the river Thames 5 extending seven miles in length, (including Westmin- ster and Southwark) and about three miles in its great- est breadth ; and containing no less than nine hundred thousand people. Its situation on a fine Bavigable river that is seldom obstructed by frost, gives it every advan- tage that can be derived from a sea-port, without its dangers ; and, at the same time it enjoys a very exten- sive communication with the internal parts of the coun- try, which supply it with necessaries, and, in return, re- ceive from it such commodities as they require. In the seventeenth century, two dreadful events befel the city of London, in rapid succession. In 1665, the great plague cut off ninety thousand people ; and in 1666, thirteen thousand houses were consumed by fire. Dur- ing the plague, pits were dug to receive the dead ; one of these pits was forty feet long, sixteen wide, and about twenty feet deep. There were instances of mothers carrying their own children to those public graves, and of people delirious, or in despair for the loss of their friends, who threw themselves alive into those pits. It has been recorded to the immortal honor of Sir John LONGEVITY. 2S1 Lawrence, the then lord mayor, that he continued the whole time in the city ; heard complaints and redressed -them $ enforced the wisest regulations then known, and saw them executed. The day after the disease was known for certainty to be the plague, above forty thou- sand servants were dismissed, and turned into the streets to perish, as no one would receive them into their hous- es ; and the villagers near London drove them away with pitchforks and fire-arms. Sir John Lawrence sup- ported them all, as well as the needy who were sick ; at first by expending his own fortune, till subscriptions could be solicited and received from all parts of tne na- tion .^-Walker ) Darwin. LONGEVITY, length of life. The following, ex- tracted from Mr. Whitehurst and Dr. Fothergill, are among the most remarkable instances of longevity dur- ing the two last centuries. Thomas Parre of Shropshire in England, died November 16, 1635, aged one hundred and fifty -two years. Henry Jenkins of Yorkshire in Englanu, died December 8, 1670, aged one hundred and sixty -nine years. James Sands, of Staffordshire in England, died about the year 1670, aged one hundred and forty years. The countess of Desmond, and the countess of Eccleston, both of the kingdom of Ireland, died about the year 1691, the former aged one hundred and forty, and the latter one hundred and forty -three years. Col. Thomas Wirislow, of Ireland, died August 26, 1776, aged one hundred and forty-six years. Fran- cis Consist, of Yorkshire in England, died Jan. 1768, aged one hundred and fifty years. Christopher J.Dra- kenberg, of Norway, died June 24, 1770, aged one hun- dred and forty-six years. A. Goldsmith, of France, died June, 1776, aged one hundred and forty years. Louisa Truxo, anegress,of Tucomea, in South America, was living, October 5, 1780, aged one hundred and seventy- five years. It is observable that but few persons live to extreme old age in crowded cities and that the most remarkable instances of longevity have been found among that class of people who had nothing but plain coarse diet, and were accustomed to daily labor in the open air. Old Parre, for instance, had been U g LONG-ISLAND LONGITUDE, &c, used all his life to the coarsest fare. British Encijd&- pcedia. LONG-ISLAND, an island belonging to the state of New-York ; extending north-east from near the city of New-York, almost to the western bounds of the coast of Rhode-Island ; and is separated by the sound from Connecticut, whence it was first settled : it is one hun- dred and forty miles long, and its medial breadth not above ten miles. Dr. Mitchill mentions it as a proba- ble opinion, that Long -Island and the adjacent continent were, in former days, continuous, or only separated by a small river ; and that the strait which now divides them, was formed by successive inroads of the sea from the eastward and westward. Because the fossil bodies on both shores have a near resemblance 5 because the rocks and islands lying between, are formed of similar materials ; because in several places, particularly at White Stone and Hell Gate, the distance from land to land is very small, &c. LONGITUDE, the distance, east or west, from any given point, called the first meridian. By the French, Paris is made the first meridian : the English make the vieridian of London, or rather the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, the first. There are one hundred and eigh- ty degrees of longitude : a degree at the equator being sixty geographical miles, but constantly decreasing from the equator to either of the poles. In order for ascertaining longitude, the British parliament, about the year 1760, decreed the reward of twenty thousand pounds sterling to the inventor of a time piece, which should err less than ten leagues (thirty miles) in the space of about six weeks. Mr. Harrison's time piece, in his first voyage, going and returning, erred only one minute, fifty -four and an half seconds, in one hundred and forty-seven days. In consequence of this he had a moiety of the reward, though by the letter of the law he was entitled to the whole. 'Gentleman's Magazine. LONG KNIFE INDIANS, the Virginia savages, who procured to themselves this name by a most horri- ble massacre of the whites. On the 22d day of March* LOOKING GLASSLOUISIANA. 223 in the year 1622, the Virginia Indians, having concert- ed the plan with the utmost secrecy and-*subtlety, were distributed in parties through the colony, to attack eve- ry plantation, at the same hour of the day, when the men should be abroad and at work. Three hundred and forty -nine people fell in this general massacre ; of which number six were members of the coumeiiv. ,- The unre- lenting severity with which the subsequent 7 war was prosecuted by the colonists against the Indians, trans- mitted mutual abhorrence to the posterity of both ; and procured to the latter the name of long knife, by which they are still distinguished in the hieroglyphic language of the natives. Beiknap. LOOKING GLASS, a glass mirror, which being over- spread on the inside with quicksilver, exhibits the images of such objects as are placed before it, appar- ently at the same distance behind. About the begin- ning of the fourteenth century, these mirrors were made no where in Europe but at Venice ; nor was it till late- ly that large ones were found, unless in the houses of the very rich. We are informed in Cooke's voyages, that nothing could exceed the pleasing astonishment of Lee Boo, the young prince of Pelew, when he first saw himself in a large looking glass. He walked backward and forward, to the right and to the left ; he threw him- self into various attitudes, still fixing his eyes upon the image that seemed to mimic all the changes of his motions 5 he took a peep at the backside of the glass, to see if there were nobody behind it. It was all en- chantment to the imagination of this untaught but sensi- ble son of nature. LOUISIANA, a large region, lately belonging to the crown of Spain, but purchased by the government of the United States of America 5 bounded by the Mis- sissippi, on the east 5 by the Gulf of Mexico on the south ; by New-Mexico, on the west 5 and extending indefinitely to the north : New-Orleans is the capital. The extent of this territory, on the western banks of the Mississippi, from the bay of Mexico to the mouth of the Missouri, is about twelve hundred and thirty miles ; and from the mouth of the Missouri at the Mississippi, 224 LUNGSMADAGASCAR. to the mouth of the Columbia at the Pacific Ocean, is said to be three thousand five hundred and fifty -five miles. See COLUMBIA and MISSOURI RIVERS. LUNGS, the organ of respiration, or that part of the body by which breathing is performed. It is a melan- choly observation, that this vital organ is oftener aft'ect- ed with mortal disease at the present day, than in for- mer times. It is stated in Doctor Willich's Lectures, that it appears from the London bills of mortality, that in the years 1776, 1777, and 1778, taken on an average, jive thousand eight hundred and fifty -three persons died annually in that city, of disorders in the lungs ; and that the consumption and other pulmonary complaints carried oft' every year about eighty thousand people^ in the island of Great Britain. As a cure of the consump- tion, Doctor Beddoes, of England, recommends a tinc- ture of the vegetable called fox-glove. The beneficial action of this remedy is said to consist in producing a great diminution of that action of the arteries by which the ulceration of the lungs is continually increased 3 and in so augmenting the action of the absorbents, that the purulent matter is quickly carried away by them, their proper energies are fully renewed, and the ulcers are, consequently, healed. As a preventive of this dreadful malady, the consumption, the same Dr. Beddoes gives the following directions. " Resume the flannels and " other woollen garments of our ancestors ; diminish " your fires 5 throw open your doors and windows ; re- " turn to the robust and manly exercises of your more " vigorous forefathers. Abolish the whole present sys- " tern ot female dress, education, employments and " amusements ; and give us again the hearty, romping, " beef-eating lasses of good Bess's (or queen Eliza- " beth's) day." New London Review, M. .MADAGASCAR, a large island in the Indian sea, about ninety leagues east of the continent of Africa $ MADDER MADEIRA. 225 extending eight hundred miles in length, and from one hundred and twenty to two hundred in breadth. The natives are friendly, intelligent, grateful, and hospita- ble 5 and they are ingenious artists. " These amiable people (says Dr. Morse) are torn from their country, their families, their parents, their children, their lovers, and sold in thousands, in the French colonies, (particu- larly in the isle of France) and more cruelly treated than beasts of burden. To relieve themselves from their insupportable wretchedness, they gladly meet death : they often hang or poison themselves, or rush into the open ocean in a little boat." MADDER, a plant that, in Europe, is cultivated in very large quantities for dying red. If mixed with the food of young pigs or chickens, it colours their bones red. If they are fed alternate fortnights with a mix- ture of madder, and with their usual food alone, their bones will consist of concentric circles of white and red. -Phil. Trans. It has been said, in some respectable publications, that madder might be raised in the United States to great advantage. MADEIRA, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, one hundred and twenty miles in circumference ; lying north-westerly of the northern coasts of Africa, in about thirty- four degrees of north latitude. It produces sugar and excellent wine. The scorching heat of summer, and the icy chill of winter, are equally unknown here ; for spring and autumn reign continually, and produce flowers and fruits throughout the year. When the Portuguese discovered this island in 1419, it was with- out inhabitants arid covered with wood : yet there are proofs of its having been inhabited in ancient times. A question then arises, if this island was sometimes inhab- ited, and at other times deserted, what became of its inhabitants ? It must have been some uncommon event which could induce them to abandon so pleasant and fruitful a country without leaving a single family behind. If they perished in the island, it is still more extraor- dinary ; for it is a most singular circumstance that all the inhabitants of any place should be destroyed, and yet the place itself remain. /ffwe, Belknap. 226 MAELSTROOM MAESE MAGELLAN. MAELSTROOM, an extraordinary and dangerous whirlpool on the coasts of Norway : the name Mad- stroom being said to signify the navel of the sea. The body of waters which form this dreadful whirlpool is extended in a circle above thirteen miles in circumfer- ence. In the midst of this stands a rock, against which the tide, in its ebb, is dashed with inconceivable fury $ when it instantly swallows up all things which come within the sphere of its violence. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a mile of it: boats and ships having been carried away, by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise hap- pens frequently, that whales, coming too near the stream, are overpowered by its violence ; and are heard to roar with terror at perceiving themselves drawn to- wards this vortex. Goldsmith. MAESE, a large river which rises in France, passes along the borders of Holland, and empties into the Ger- man Ocean. In 1421, the Maesc having burst its dikes, and being considerably swelled when the tide came in with great violence, the country bordering on Dort was overflowed : seventy-two villages were overthrown, and above a hundred thousand persons perished. In the general calamity of this inundation, an infant miracu- lously escaped 5 it floated in its cradle on the water, a cat belonging to the family sitting on the side of it. When the cradle inclined, the cat, in a panic, leaped on the highest side, and by the counterpoise restored the equilibrium. This was perceived from the land, the cradle was waited for, and the infant was saved. From this infant descended a respectable family, in Holland, by the name of Van der Hoven. Courtenvwix* MAGELLAN, a famous strait in South America; lying between the extreme southern point of the Amer- ican continent and the island of Terra del Fuego, and in about fifty -three degrees south latitude. In the year 1518, tins strait was discovered by Ferdinando Magel- lan, a Portuguese, in the service of Spain, who was the first navigator that sailed round the world. In 1520, ho found a passage through this strait from the Atlantic to MAHOMETANS MAINE. 227 the Pacific Ocean ; and the same year he was murder- ed by the inhabitants of the Mariamne islands. MAHOMETANS, the disciples of the famous im- postor Mahomet, who was an Arab, or a descendant of Ishmael. Mahomet was born at Mecca in Arabia, in the year of our Lord 575 ; and was brought up to the busi- ness of merchandize. When about twenty-five years of age, he married Khadijah, a rich widow. At the age of forty, he betook himself to a cave ; and he pretended to have had in this recess, familiar conferences with the Supreme Being, and with holy angels. Here he com- posed the Koran, or Alcoran., assisted, as has been said, by Boheira, a Nestorian monk. His first care, after emerging from the cave, was to convert his near rela- tions and his domestics to the faith of the Koran : he then became bold and open in spreading his doctrines, which so exasperated the people of his tribe against him, that to escape assassination, he fled to Medina. His followers, nevertheless, rapidly increased ; and v/hen he found himself sufficiently powerful to take the field against his enemies, he declared, in substance, that God had commissioned him to destroy the lives of such as should refuse to submit to the Koran ; promis- ing, at the same time, the voluptuous joys of paradise and eternal scenes of sensuality to such as should fall in battle. Mahomet, having created at Mecca a spiritual and temporal monarchy, died in 632, aged 57; and his followers soon over-ran a great part of Asia, and all that part of Africa which was under the Roman dominion ; and at length they subjugated some of the fairest parts of Europe, now called Turkey. The Holy Land, and the places of the churches to which the apostles wrote their epistles, are all, except Rome, under the dominion of Mahometans. MAINE, a large district, belonging to Massachusetts ; situated between 43 and 48 15' north latitude ; bound- ed by Lower Canada, by the province of New-Bruns- wick, by the Atlantic Ocean, and by New-Hampshire. According to Dr. Morse, its length, on an average, is two hundred miles, and its average breadth two hun- dred miles. Mr. Sullivan, in his history of the district 228 MAIZE MALACCA. or province of Maine, makes its extent, by a straight line on the sea coast two hundred and forty miles, and its average breadth , back into the country, ninety miles. From about the year 1630 to the year 1652 the province of Maine had a separate government: it then came un- der the jurisdiction of Massachusetts^ and was incorpo- rated with it by charter, in 1691. Three hundred and eighty -five thousand acres of land in this district, have been granted by the Legislature of Massachusetts, for the encouragement of learning, and for other benevolent purposes. MAIZE, or Indian Corn, a most excellent kind of grain found originally in North America. " Maize considered in all respects, is the best of all the corns. It is food for most animals, and its plant yields a great increase of grain. As a food to man it is remarkably wholesome and nourishing, and admits of the greatest variety in its preparations ; and its stalks are wholesome fodder. Seasons which injure other crops do not effect maize in the same degree : the raising of it is there- fore the best provision against famine and want." It is an opinion favored by experiments, that a smaller quantity of the meal or flour of maize will sustain life, than that of any other grain which is known. This val- uable grain, which, in past ages, was scarcely cultivat- ed, except in America, has, of late, been introduced in- to the southern parts of Europe, and some other coun- tries, and is fast growing in credit over the world. MALACCA, a peninsula of Asia : bordering on the Southern Ocean 5 extending six hundred miles in length, and two hundred in breadth. It is famed for the supe- rior excellence of its pine apples, and for the largeness of its cocoa-nuts, which have shells that will hold an English quart. The natives of Malacca (an ignorant and barbarous people) are in the practice of eating a great quantity of opium, which sometimes occasions furious intoxication. Those who take too large a dose fall into a paroxysm of rage, from which death alone can relieve them. Such is the fury with which opium in- spires them, that it is no uncommon thing for a Malay- pirate to push nimself forward against the lance that has MAMMOTH. entered his body, in order to be able to get at his ene- my, and stab him with his krist, which is a crooked and poisoned poinard. This species of ferocity obliges ships in danger of falling in with them, to provide themselves with lances that have a guard through the middle of the shaft ; by means of which they hold them at a distance and suffer them to die at the end of the weapon, with- out daring to draw it out till those furious beings havs breathed their last. Grandpre. MAMMOTH, an animal of an extraordinary size. The name Mammoth is said to have been first given to this animal in Russia ; and that it is a corruption from Jlfemoth, a word derived from the Arabic ; its fossil bones have been found in Siberia, and in several parts^of the United States of America, particularly on the Ohio, and in the state of New- York towards the lakes ; some be- ing found lying on the surface of the earth, and some a little below it. Naturalists are not agreed respecting the genus of this animal. According to Dr.Miller, Mr. Peale of Philadelphia, proprietor of the Museum of that city, in the year 1781, succeeded in obtaining two com- plete skeletons of the Mammoth dug out of marl pits, in the state of New -York ; and from inspection ot these skeletons it appears they are the remains of elephants. On the other hand it is stated in Mr. Jefferson's Notes, that the skeleton of the mammoth bespeaks an animal of five or six times the cubic volume 01 the elephant; that the grinders are five times as large, are square, and the grinding surface studded with four or five rows of blunt points, whereas those of the elephant are broad and thin, and their grinding surface flat ; that the native* describe this animal as still existing in the northern and western parts of their country, and affirm him to be carnivorous. It is not easy to conceive how the bones of elephants should be scattered over the cold regions of Siberia, and in North America, unless their carcases were wafted thither by the general deluge ; since these animals are natives of the hot climates of Asia and Af- rica, and if even there were no seas or mountains to prevent their excursions, would hardly wander a vast distance into frozen regions where they cannot live ia winter without a warm shelter, V 230 MARBLEMARS. MARBLE, a kind or stone found in great masses, and dug out of quarries, of so hard and compact a sub- stance, and so fine a grain, that it readily takes a beauti- ful polish, and is used in statues, chimney-pieces, mon- uments, &c. Goldsmith asserts, that in all quarries where marble is dug, if the rocks be split perpendicularly downwards, petrified shells, and other marine substan- ces, will be plainly discerned. The Italian marble is among the best in the known world ; and in that coun- try it abounds in the greatest plenty. The coasts of Italy, it is said, are bordered with rocks of marble of different kinds, the quarries of which may easily be dis- tinguished at a distance from sea, and appear like per- pendicular columns of the most beautiful kinds of mar- ble, ranged along the shore. Vast quantities of white and clouded marble are found in the rough and hilly parts of the county of Berkshire, in Massachusetts: it is sawed into slabs, by water mills ; hundreds of tons are brought yearly to Hudson's River, and thence carried to various sea-port towns in the United States. MARS, a primary planet, whose orbit is"next to that of the earth. Its diameter, according to Bowditch, is four thousand one hundred and eighty-nine miles ; its distance from the sun is a hundred and forty- four mil- lion miles 5 its periodic revolution is performed in six hundred and eighty-seven days; it revolves round its axis in twenty -four hours and forty minutes ; it appears of a dusky reddish hue, and is supposed to be encom- passed with a very great atmosphere. Mars (tlionght to nave been the splendid mansion of the god of war) was a favorite planet among the old Roman warriors ; and obtained formerly a strange kind and degree of respect among soldiers even of some Christian nations. In Dr. Willich's Lectures it is stated, that in the dark ages of superstition, when planets were thought to govern the human destinies, the German soldiers believed, that if the figure of Mars, cast and engraved in the sign of the Scorpion, were worn about the neck as an amulet, it would render them invulnerable, and insure success to their military enterprises; hence, amulets were then found upon every soldier, either killed in battle or taken prisoner. MARTIN MARTIN, ST. 2St MARTIN, a fur animal, abounding in Canada, and found in some parts of the United States, particularly in Vermont. It is from eighteen to twenty inches in length, of a dark brown colour, with tinges of yellow; sometimes the colour approaches to black. These ani- mals, which are more common in North America than in any part of Europe, are found in all the northern parts of the world. In every country they are hunted for their furs, which are very valuable, and chiefly so when taken in the beginning of winter. The most esteemed part of the martin skin, is that part of it which is browner than the rest, and stretches along the back bone. Wil- liams, Goldsmith. MARTIN, ST. an island in the West- Indies, about fifteen leagues in circumference : inhabited by about six hundred families of white people, consisting of French and Dutch, and by more than ten thousand slaves ; it has no streams of fresh water, but abounds with salt lakes and salt pits. There is recorded in the annals of phi- losophy, a very extraordinary event that happened at this island in the last century. On the 18th of Novem- ber, 1755, a terrible earthquake shook New -England \ and about nine hours after this earthquake, (although there was no shock at St. Martins,) the sea withdrew from the harbor, leaving the vessels dry, where there used to be three or four fathoms of water. The sea continued out a considerable time : so that the people retired to the high lands, fearing the consequence of its return ; and when it came in, it ran six feet higher than usual, so as to overflow the low lands. The earthquake in New-England passed off south- east ward into the At- lantic : and the supposition was, that in passing oft* it made an eruption underneath the ocean, which pressing in on all sides to fill up the vast chasm below, caused the sudden retrocession of the waters on the shores of St. Martin ; that by the violent pressure of the sur- rounding ocean towards the chasm, the waters there v, ere at length raised into heaps, and a sudden reflux was the consequence ; and that this reflux occasioned the prodigious tide which inundated the low lands of that island. MARYLAND MASSACHUSETTS PROPER, MARYLAND, one of the United States of America ; lying about Chesapeake bay, which divides it into two parts, called the eastern and western shores, between 37 56' and 39 44' north latitude ; extending one hun- dred and thirty-four miles in length, and one hundred and ten in breadth, according to Dr. Morse, but Walker says, it is one hundred and seventy -four miles long, and one hundred and ten broad ; bounded by Pennsylvania, the state of Delaware, the Atlantic Ocean, and Virgin- ia. Baltimore and Annapolis are the principal towns. Maryland, which received its name in honor of Henri- etta Maria, the consort of king Charles I. was granted by Charles to George Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, in Ireland, in the year 1632. After receiving the charter, Lord Baltimore began to prepare for collecting and transporting a colony to America; and in 1633, he sent over about two hundred persons, of good families and of the Roman catholic persuasion, to which denomina- tion his lordship himself belonged. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Maryland, from that day to the present time, have been Roman catholics. Leonard Calvert, a brother of Lord Baltimore, was governor of this infant colony ; who, by his prudence and humani- ty, so conciliated the affections of the Indian natives, that one of the sachems was heard to say, " I love the English so well, that if I knew they would kill me, I would command my people not to revenge my death ; because I am sure they would not kill me, but through iny own fault." This was one of the numerous instan- ces of the gratitude and affection of the Indians, to- wards such white people as had treated them with jus- tice and humanity. MASSACHUSETTS proper, (which with the dis- trict of Maine constitutes) one of the United States of America, is situated between latitudes 41 13' and 43 5' north. Its greatest length is one hundred and ninety miles, and its greatest breadth ninety miles ; and is bounded north by Vermont and New- Hampshire, east by the Atlantic Ocean, south by the Atlantic, Rhode- Island, and Connecticut ; and west by New- York. In 1797, this state, including the district of Maine, owned more than on third part of the whole shipping that be- MAST-PINE. 233 longed to the United States. Upwards of twenty-nine, thousand tons were employed in carrying on the fish- eries ; forty-six thousand in the coasting business 5 and ninety -six thousand jive hundred and sixty -four in trad- ing with almost all parts of the world. The chief towns in this state, besides Boston, are Salem, Portland, New- buryport, Charlestown, Cambridge, Worcester, Plym- outh, Northampton, and Springfield. More navigation is owned, and more trade is carried on in Salem, than in any port of the commonwealth, Boston excepted.- The fisheries, the trade to the West-Indies, to Europe, to the coasts of Africa, and the freighting business from, the southern states, are here all pursued with spirit and energy. Within ten years from the first settlement of Massachusetts, they rounded a college at Cambridge. In the result of a synod, 1679, are these w r ords, " When New-England was poor, and we were but few in num- ber, there was a spirit to encourage learning, and the college was full of students." In Massachusetts there are no slaves. Slavery there was early prohibited by law ; and in the year 1 645, a negro who had been fraud- ulently brought from the coasts of Africa, arid sold in the country, was by the special interposition of the le- gislature, taken from his master in order to be sent home to his native land. Boston, the capital of this state, and of all New-England, is built upon a peninsu- la at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay : it has seven Free Schools supported at the public expense, in which the children of every class of citizens may freely asso- ciate together; the number of scholars belonging to these free schools, are computed at a^out nine hundred. This respectable town was the cradle of the American revolution. Belknap^ Morse. MAST-PINE, or White Pine, a famous tree that abounds in New-Hampshire and the district of Maine, and often grows to the height of one hundred and fifty, and sometimes two hundred feet. It is straight as an arrow, and has no branches but very near the top ; it is from twenty to forty inches in diameter at its base, and appears like a stately pillar adorned with a verdant top in form of a cone. It is much more durable than the pine of Norway. The Norway pine begins to de- V 3 I 234 MECCA MEDIA. cay iafive or six years ; but the American, with proper care to defend the mast-head from moisture, will last unimpaired for twenty years. JFinterbotham. MECCA, a city of Arabia, seated on a barren spot, in a valley, surrounded by little hills, about a day's jour- ney from the Red Sea. This ancient city was the birth- place of Mahomet ; and had been held in high venera- tion long before Mahomet was born, on account of its temple, called the Kaba, or House of God. The kaba, which, as the Mahometans pretend, was both Abra- ham's house of prayer and the place of his sepulchre, is a square tower, covered on the top with a piece of black gold-embroidered silk stuff. In the kaba is a famous black stone, which the angel Gabriel is said to have brought down from heaven, and which every mus- sulman must kiss, or at least touch, every time he goes round the temple. This stone (wonderful to relate !) was at first of a bright white colour, and, like the orb of day, shone with such resplendent light as dazzled the eyes of beholders at the distance of tour day's jour- ney ; but it wept so long and so much for the sins of mankind, that it became at length opaque and at last of a jet black ! In the kaba there is besides, the well of Zem- xem ; whence Hagar, as they say, filled her bottle with water to quench the thirst of Ishmael* A pilgriniage *fj||Mecca gives a title to a distinguished seat in Ma- fiqSnet's paradise; accordingly, as many as seventy thousand pilgrims every year, coming from every region and country where Mahometanism is professed, visit this city, to worship in the kaba, to kiss the black stone, and to drink of the waters of Hagar's well. The pil- grims for Mecca set out from Constantinople, in a car- avan, in the month of May, and repair to Damascus, \vhere they join the other pilgrims, from Natolia and Asia. Afterwards they urtite with those who come from Persia, and from Egypt, aii'd other parts of the Ottoman empire. MEDIA, an ancient kingdom of Asia, of formidable 1*5 and notorious lor its conquests and cruelties, as acred scriptures, as well as other historical writ- ings, testify. Media was annexed to the kingdom of MEDITERRANEAN. 235 Persia and now belongs to the Russian empire. In the year 1721, Persia being distracted bj civil wars, Peter the Great, emperor of Russia, marched to the assist- ance of the lawful prince Sha Thamas, whose father had been murdered and his throne seized by an usurper. And in return for this seasonable support,, as well as to secure his future protection, the new Sophi of Persia put him in possession of three provinces, which com- pose the greater part of the ancient kingdom of Media. 'Russell. MEDITERRANEAN, a sea encompassed by Asia, Africa, and Europe ; communicating with the Atlantic Ocean by the Straits of Gibraltar, and with the Black Sea by the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora, and the Strait of Constantinople. This sea, though of great ex- tent, has no tide : it seems to lie beneath the level of the Atlantic, which, therefore, constantly flows into it, with a strong current, through the Straits of Gibraltar. The nations which, according to the best authenticated history, appear to have first turned their attention to navigation, were those that dwelt round the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. That sea, by far the greatest inlet in the known world, having no tides, nor consequently any waves except such as "are caused by the winds on- ly, was by the smoothness of its surface, as well as by the multitude of its islands and the proximity of its neighboring shores, extremely favorable to the infant navigation of the world ; when, from their ignorance of the compass, men were afraid to quit the view of the coast, and from the imperfection in the art of ship-build- ing, to abandon themselves to the boisterous waves of the ocean. Round the Mediterranean there lived sev- eral of the most famons nations of antiquity ; as the Egyptians, the parents of agriculture and literature ; the Phenicians, who were the first ship-builders and navigators the Israelites, to whom were committed the Divine Oracles ; the Grecians, famous above all others for excellence in the fine ar*s 5 and the Ro- mans, who, for many ages, were lords of the world. From the shores and borders of the Mediterranean, we have derived our learning, our laws, and our religion. r~Walker 9 4. Smith. 236 MEDUSA MEORIS MERCURY. MEDUSA, one of the Gorgons. These gorgons, according to the fictions of ancient poetry, were three sisters ; their names were Stenyo, Medusa, and Euri/ale. They had great wings, their heads were attired "with vipers instead of hair; their teeth were like the tusks of wild boars, projecting out of their mouths, and they were armed with sharp claws. Medusa, the second sis- ter (as the old poets tell us) was at first very beautiful, but terrible to her enemies. Minerva turned her hair into snakes : and Perseus having cut off her head, fixed it on the shield of that goddess ; the sight of which pe- trified the beholders. If we leave the poets, who by their fictions corrupted, ten-fold, the religion of the pa- gan world, we shall find that Medusa was, in all proba- bility, intended to represent an attribute of Deity. There were two Medusas : the Egyptians had one, and the Grecians the other. The Egyptian Medusa is repre- sented on ancient gems, with wings on her head, snaky hair, and a beautiful countenance, which appears in- tensely thinking, and is supposed to represent divine ivisdoin. The Grecian Medusa, on Minerva's shield, as appears on other gems, has a countenance distorted with rage or pain, and is supposed to represent divine vengeance towards incorrigible offenders. Young, Dan- net. MEORIS, a lake, between the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains of Memphis, in Egypt, extending four hundred and fifty miles in circumference, and be- ing fifty fathoms in depth : this lake was artificial, or at least partly so, and has been ranked among the extraor- dinary works of the ancient Egyptians. They scooped out the bed of this vast lake for the purposes of receiv- ing the superfluous waters of the Nile, when it rose to too great a height, and of furnishing, during the seasons of ebb, moisture to the surrounding country. For these purposes a wide sluice, which was opened and shut as occasion required, admitted the waters of the Nile into the lake ; and numerous canals conveyed them out of it when necessary, in different directions. Russell. MERCURY, the smallest of the primary planets that were known before the discovery of Juno, Pallas, and MERINO SHEEP. 237 Ceres ; and in its orbit passing nearest the sun. It is computed that its diameter is three thousand one hun- dred and eighty-nine miles ; that its mean distance from the sun is thirty-six million three hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred and eighty-three miles ; and that its annual period round the sun, is eighty-seven days and twenty -three hours. Mercu- ry, as well as the other planets, was worhipped by the heathen world, as a god ; or rather they paid their wor- ship to the imaginary spirit that was supposed to inhab- it this planet, and to preside over it. The god Mercu- ry was held to be the messenger of the other gods, to preside over eloquence and trade, to be the inventor of music, the interpreter of the will of the other deities, and the son of Jupiter by Maia. In the fourth book of Virgil's tSEneid, Mercury is described with yellow hair, and the graceful limbs of youth ; with golden sandals bound to his feet ; skimming the air with wings, as a bird ; holding in his hand a potent rod, or magic wand ; by which he gives sleep and takes it away, opens the eyes of the dead, arm bridles the fury of winds and tempests. MERINO SHEEP, a breed of Spanish sheep, fa- mous for their fine wool. None of the superfine cloth made in England, France, or Holland, can be fabricated without the mixture of a certain portion of this wool. The height of the male of the merinos is about the same as that of the ordinary breed in this country. The head appears rather bigger and straighter. The ears are very small ; the eyes remarkably bright ; the horns curved in a spiral turn ; the neck short ; and the chest broad. The members are more compact and thick than those of our common breed of sheep ; and the car- case is thought to have smaller bones. The body, face, and legs, are covered by a delicate fleece, which grows exceedingly thick, without any mixture of coarser locks. This animal is perfectly gentle, but quick, firm, and regular in all his motions. The merinos were first brought from Spain into the United States, by David Humphreys, Esq. It has been the opinion of some in- telligent men, that the general propagation cf this breed 233 MEXICO. of sheep -would add immensely to the wealth of our na- tion. MEXICO, or J\*ew Spalx* a vast district of Spanish America ; situated between 9 and 40 north latitude ; extending two thousand and one hundred miles in length, and sixteen hundred miles in breadth ; bounded on the north, by unknown regions 5 on the east, by Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico ; on the south by the Isthmus of Darien ; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. This country produces precious stones, and abounds with mines of gold and silver ; of the latter of which they reckon no less than a thousand. It produ- ces in abundance, all the vegetables and fruits both of the temperate and tropical climates ; and of medicinal plants, natives of that country, Dr. Hernandez describes in his natural history, about twelve hundred. That part of this country, known by the name of New-Jlfecdco. is so called, because of its having been discovered later than Old Mexico : it lies between Old Mexico on the south, and Louisiana on the east ; but the twentieth part of it is neither cultivated nor inhabited, either by Span- iards or Indians. The city of Mexico is said to have been founded by the natives, about the year 1S25. It is situated in the charming vale of Mexico, on several small islands, in Lake Tetzucco : and is said to have consisted of upwards of sixty thousand houses, contain- ing each from four to ten inhabitants. This city, while it was in, the possession of the natives, was immensely rich in gold and silver ; and it is now the great centre of the commerce of Spanish America. In the year 1521 , Cortez. a Spanish adventurer, sailing from the island of Cuba, with oiilv a few hundred men, invaded and sub- dued the Mexican empire, and by treachery captivated and imprisoned Montezuma the emperor ; who, through fear of death, exhorting his subjects to submission, was overwhelmed and killed by them, with vollies of stones and arrows. Cortez completed the conquest of the em- pi ro ; and thereafter exercised towards the Mexicans the most infernal cruelties ; broiling them on burning coals, to make them confess where they had hid their Si-c FLOATING GAKDKNS. MICHIGAN LAKE MINERAL COAL. 239 MICHIGAN LAKE, a large lake, in the north-west territory of the United States ; lying between latitudes 42 10' and 45 40'; extending about two' hundred and eighty miles in length from north to south, and from sixty to seventy miles in breadth ; it is navigable for ships of a large burden. The hand f nature seems to have pointed out for future generations, a navigable water-course, through this lake, from the Mississippi to Hudson's river. About twenty miles from above the mouth of the Missouri, at the Mississippi, is the entrance of the river Illinois, which is navigable for batteaux to its source 5 and from the source of this river there is a portage only of two miles to Chickago, which is also navigable for batteaux to its entrance into lake Michi- gan, a distance of sixteen miles. Lake Michigan com- municates with Lake Huron, by a strait six miles broad ; and this last lake has communication with Lakes Erie and Ontario, and consequently witli the river St. Law- rence, passing the cataract of Niagara, by a portage of eight miles. It will be found extremely easy to pass through Lake Ontario to and up Wood Creek: and by a portage of about three miles you arrive at a creek, \vhich, with another three miles' portage, brings you to the Mohawk River, a branch of the Hudson River, and navigable for batteaux. Thus it appears, if this state- ment be correct, (which is an abridgment of one in the American Jtfuseum] that, with portages only of sixteen miles in the whole, there is already a navigable water- course for boats, from the Mississippi to the Hudson. MINERAL COAL, or Pit Coal, an invaluable min- eral for fuel, and other uses, that is dug out of the bow- els of the earth, and is found in several parts of the Uni- ted States. Mr. Jefferson says, in his Notes, that the country on James river, in Virginia, from fifteen to twenty miles above Richmond, and several miles north- ward and southward, is replete with mineral coal of a very excellent quality ; that in the western country coal is known to be in so many places, as to have induced an opinion that the whole tract between the Laurel Moun- tain, Mississipi, and Ohio, yields coal ; and that it is also known in many places on the north side of the Ohio. Mr. St. Fond, speaking of the inhabitants of London, who 240 MINES. use nothing for common firing but mineral coal, says " It is to be presumed that this immense quantity of firing (in London) contributes to its salubrity 5 in the first place, by the strong, equal, and constant heat pro^ duced by the coal in an atmosphere naturally impregna- ted with water 5 and in the second place, because so many chimnies, so many manufactories and works of ev- ery kind using fire, occasion currents and changes of air on every side, which carry off the noxious and pu- trescent vapors that always take place when the air is too long stagnant." See NEWCASTLE. MINES, places in the earth containing metals, &c. The following propositions respecting mines of the pre- cious metals, are collected excepting the last, from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. First. Mines of gold and silver in South America, afford less per centage of profit to the proprietors, than the tin mines in England : the whole average rent of the tin mines of Cornwall being to the whole average rent of the silver mines of Peru, as thirteen to twelve. Second. There is known to be a number of mines of gold and silver, in Europe, Asia, St. Domingo, and the American continent, which cannot defray the expenses of digging and refining : so also it is respecting most of the mines of precious stones.' When Tavernier, a jeweller, visited the mines of Gol- conda, in Hindostan, he was informed that the sovereign of the country, for whose benefit they were wrought, had ordered all of them to be shut up, except those which yielded the largest and finest stones. The oth- ers, it seems, were to the proprietor not worth working, though labor there was very cheap. Third. Even in Peru, where there are the richest silver mines in the known world, the business of mining is considered as hazardous and unprofitable ; insomuch that when any person undertakes to work a new mine in Peru, he is universally looked upon as a man destined to bankrupt- cy and ruin ; and mining, it seems, is considered there as a lottery, in which the prizes do not compensate the blanks, though the greatness of some of the prizes tempts many adventurers to throw away their fortunes in such unprosperous projects. Fourth. In the silver mines of Peru, we are told by Frezjer and Ulloa, that iflTr--MINUTE SERPENT. 241 the proprietor frequently exacts no other acknowledg- ment from the undertaker of the mine, but that he will grind the ore at his mill, paying him the ordinary price of grinding ; and yet the undertaker generally loses by the business. Hence fifth, it evidently results, that if any event should ever throw the mines of Spanish America into the possession of the United States, that event would be the death-blow to their prosperity and happiness. Mining has ruined Spain ; and any nation, will be ruined, which, seeking to acquire wealth from the bowels of the earth, should neglect to cultivate its surface. MINT, the place for coining money. In ancient times gold and silver always passed by weight. Abra- ham weighed to Ephron the four hundred shekels of silver which he had agreed to pay for the field of Mach- pelah. They are said however to have been the current money of the merchant; and yet were received by weight and not by tale, in the same manner that ingots of gold and bars of silver are at present. Money was for a long time received at the exchequer in England, by weight and not by tale. The inconveniency and dif- ficulty of weighing those metals with exactness, gave oc- casion to the institution of coins, of which the stamp, covering entirely both sides of the piece, and sometimes the edges too, was supposed to ascertain not only the fineness, but the weight of the metal. Such coins, therefore, are received by tale, without the trouble of weighing. In the mint of the United States, about eleven thousand dollars of the gold coin, in the year 1804, was the produce of virgin gold, found in the county of Cabarrus, in the state of North -Carolina. Jidam Smith, Boudinot. MINUTE SERPENT, a species of serpent' in the East -Indies, sma T l and black, with yellow rings. The corrosive matter contained in the vesicles of this ani- mal is so sharp and violent, that it causes almost instant death. The general opinion of the multitude is, that a person may live just as many minutes after being bitten, as the reptile has rings around his body; hence the name that has been given it of minute serpent. -Grandpre. 242 MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI. MISSISSIPPI, a large river of North America, which forms the western boundary of the United States ; sep- arating them from Louisiana, which, though belonging to these states by purchase, is not yet incorporated with them. This river is the great channel of the waters of the Ohio, the Illinois, and their numerous brandies from the east, and of the Missouri, and other rivers from the west. Its source is unknown ; but its length is suppos- ed to be upwards of three thousand miles, in all its windings, to its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico, in be- tween twenty-nine and thirty degrees of north latitude. From the mouth of the Mississippi to where it receives the Ohio, is one thousand miles by water, but only five hundred by land, passing through the Chickasaw coun- try. From the mouth of the Ohio to that of the Missouri, is"two hundred and thirty miles by water, and one hun- dred and forty by land. From thence to the mouth of the Illinois river, is about twenty -five miles. Its cur- rent is so rapid, that it can never be stemmed by the force of wind alone, acting on sails. During the floods, which are periodical as those of the Nile, the largest vessels may pass down it, if their steerage can be insur- ed. These iloods begin in April, and the river returns into its banks early in August. The inundation ex- tends further on the western than eastern side, cover- ing the lands in some places fifty miles from its banks. The country watered by the Mississippi and its eastern branches, constitute five eighths of the United States ; two of which five eighths are occupied by the Ohio and its waters. Jefferson, Walker. MISSOURI, a large river of Louisiana, which emp- ties into the Mississippi, one thousand two hundred and thirty miles from the mouth of the latter, and two hun- dred and thirty above the mouth of the Ohio. According to Mr. Jefferson's Notes, at the junction of the Missou- ri with the Mississippi, the former is ^e largest stream. It is remarkably cold, muddy, and rapid. Its overflow- ings are considerable ; they happen during the months of June and July. Captains Lewis and Clark, who were sent on an exploring mission from the L T nited States to the Pacific Ocean, inform us, that it is two thousand five hundred and seventy -five miles from the mouth of the Missouri to its greatest falls. MOCCASIN SNAKE MOCHA MOCKING BIRD. 243 MOCCASIN SNAKE, a large and horrible serpent that abounds in East-Florida. They are from three to four and even five feet in length,' and as thick as a man's leg. It is said that their bite is incurable, the flesh for a considerable space about the wound rotting to the bone, which then becomes carious, and a general mortification ensues, which inevitably destroys the pa- tient 5 there being no remedy to prevent a lingering, miserable death, but by immediately cutting away the flesh to the bone, for some distance about the wound. When this snake observes you to take notice of him, af- ter throwing himself into a coil, he gradually raises his upper jaw till it falls back nearly touching his neck, at the same time slowly vibrating his long, purple, forky tongue, and directing his poisonous fangs right at you : his appearance in. this situation is truly terrifying.- JBartrvm* MOCHA, a town of Arabia, in the province of Ye- men. It stands on the eastern bank of the Red Sea, about thirteen leagues from the straits of Babelman- del, in about thirteen degrees north latitude ; it abounds with the most excellent coffee in the world. Since the year 1800, coffee, which used to be monopolised by the English at Mocha, has been imported thence by the Americans directly to the United States. The south and south-east monsoon wind comes to this place charg- ed with all the vapors of Abyssinia, and brings with it even the sand of that country. In consequence, the at- mosphere seems inflamed, the sky looks red, nothing scarcely is to be seen at the distance of a league ; anil the burning sand, carried along by the wind, scorches the vegetation on every side. The Arab of Mocha, in the mean time, is seen placed in a current of air, lolling upon a pile of cushions, imbibing the vapor of perfumes which are burnt by his side, and indolently smoaking his pipe. At the distance of about five hundred paces from Mocha, the Jews who are numerous, have a camp, where they live in straw huts, not being permitted to live in the town. The colour of these Jews is negro black. Grandpre. MOCKING BIRD, a small green bird, which is al- $44 MOHAWKS MOHEGANS. most the only musical one to be found in the island of New Zealand. His melody is so sweet, and his notes so varied, that any one would imagine himself surround- ed by a hundred clifterent sorts of birds, when the little warbler is exerting himself: from this circumstance it \vas named the mocking bird. Cookers Voyage. MOHAWKS, a famous tribe of Indians who inhabit - ,ed along the Mohawk river, in the state of New-York, and were the head tribe of the six nations. The Mo- hawk language, which is the language of the six nations, is wholly destitute of labials, or has no words which re- quire the lips to be closed in pronouncing them. In this respect, it is perhaps different from any other lan- guage. The strength of mind and memory which the Mohawks possessed, wilt appear from the following fact. In the year 1689, commissioners from Boston, Plymouth, and Connecticut, had a conference with the five nations (afterwards six nations) at Albany. A Mo- hawk Sachem in a long oration, answered the English jBessage, and repeated all that had been said the pre- ceding day. The art they had to assist their memories was this. " The Sachem who presided, had a bundle of sticks prepared for the purpose, and at the close of ev- ery principal article of the message delivered to them, gave a stick to another Sachem, charging him with the remembrance of it. By this means the orator, after a previous conference with the other Sachems, was pre- pared to repeat every part of the message, and give it its proper reply. As the Mohawks were strongly attach- ed to the Johnson family, on account of Sir William Johnson, so they emigrated to Canada with Sir John Johnson, about the year 1776. The principal part of the tribe settled on Grand River, in Upper Canada. Dr. Edivards, Smith's History. MOHEGANS, a numerous tribe of Indians, who pos- sessed a considerable part of the present territory of Connecticut, at the time of the first arrival of the Eng- lish. According to Dr. Edwards, their language abound- ed with labials ; had no diversity of gender, either in nouns or pronouns, and no adjectives ; and seemed to be radically diftprent from the language of the Mohawks MOLE MOLOCH. 245 of New- York. Although these nations of Indians lived at no great distance apart, there was not to be found one word in either language, which had any analogy to the correspondent word in the language of the other. The Mohegans were distinguished by their friendship to the white people. The remnant of this tribe, together with the Stockbridge Indians, migrated and settled near lake Oneida, in the state of New- York. MOLE, a common little animal, of a wonderful con- formation 5 which, if we compare with its manner of living, we shall find a manifest attention in Providence to adapt the one to the other. It scarce has eyes, which are not much needed, as a subterraneous abode is allot- ted to it. Its fore feet are broad, strong, short, and in- clined outwards 5 answering the purpose of digging, serving to throw back the earth with greater ease, and if) pursue the worms and insects which are its prey. The form of the body is not less admirably contrived for its way of life. The fore part is thick and very mus- cular, giving great strength to the action of the fore feet, enabling it to dig its way with amazing swiftness, ei- ther to pursue its prey, or elude the search of the most active enemy. Goldsmith. MOLOCH, an horrid idol of the ancient Ammonites and Canaanites, and afterwards of the Carthagenians : it is thought by the Jewish Rabbins to have been Saturn, and was the same as Baal or the idol of the sun^ (see Jeremiah, 19th 5th.) The image of Moloch is said to have been made of brass, hollowed within 5 and being thoroughly heated like iron in a furnace, it was pre- pared to receive its victims, which consisted of children. The idol stood with extended but declining arms, in the act of receiving ; so that when the human victim was presented, it dropt down into the devouring furnace. It was a custom for parents to select the most lovely of their children for this oblation; in the mean time, to drown the cries of the victims, various kinds of musical instruments were sounded during the whole of the shocking scene. In the worship of Moloch, children were sometimes cast into the brazen furnace, and con- sumed, and sometimes were made to pass through or W 2 246 MON ATI MON E Y-POU ND MONK ET. between two fires for purification. Even the Israelites, in the time of Solomon , were infected with this most detestable idolatry. MON ATI, an animal resembling the whale kind, and which lives in the Kamskatkan and northernmost Amer- ican seas. They live in families, one near another ; each consists of a male, a female, a half-grown young one, and a very small one. The females oblige the young to swim before them, while the other old ones surround, and, as it were, guard them on all sides. If the female is attacked, the male will defend her to the utmost, and if she is killed, will follow her dead body to the very shore, and swim for some days near the place it has been landed at. When they are transfixed with the harpoon, they lay hold of the rocks with their paws, and stick so fast as to leave the skin before they can be forced off. When a monati is struck, his companions $\vim to his assistance ; some will attempt to overturn the boat by diving under it ; others will push down the fope, in order to break it ; and others will strike at the harpoon with their tails, with a seeming design of get- ting it out, which they often succeed in. This animal is of an enormous size ; some are twenty-eight feet in length. Winterbotham. MONEY-POUND, a real pound in weight at first, but at length becoming, as at present, only a nominal pound. The English pound sterling, in the time of Edward I. contained a full pound, tower weight, of sil- ver, of a particular fineness ; the tower pound being something less than the troyes pound. The English pound contains at present about a third only ; the vScots pound about a thirty-sixth 5 and a French pound about a sixty-sixth part of their original value. Princes and sovereign states, by ordaining that three or four ounces of silver, or less, should be called a pound, opened the way -for the easy payment of their debts ; private debt- rok advantage of the public cheat, paying nominal pounds of silver for real pounds ; and creditors were defrauded and ruined. A. Smith. MONKEY, an extraordinary animal, which closely MONKS. 47 resembles a man in his shape and appearance. He is always found to inhabit hot countries, the forests of which in some parts of the world are filled with innu- merable bands of these animals. He is extremely ac- tive, and his fore-legs resemble the arms of a man, so that he not only uses them to walk upon, but frequently to climb trees, to hang by the branches and to take hold of his food. He supports himself upon almost every species of wild fruit that is found in those countries ; and is continually scrambling up and down the highest trees in order to procure himself sustenance. Large bands of these animals will frequently sally out to plun- der the gardens in the neighborhood ; and in these pre- datory excursions, some of them are placed as spies to give notice to the rest, in case any human being should approach the garden 5 and should that happen, one of the centinels informs them by a particular chattering,, and they all escape in an instant. In Reid's ingenious essays on the intellectual and active powers of man, the author says : " I have been informed on good authority, that a monkey, having once been intoxicated with strong drink, in consequence of which it burned its foot in the fire, and had a severe fit of sickness, could never after be induced to drink any thing but pure water." Happy were it for thousands of the stock of Adam, if, in this one respect, they had as much prudence and forecast as the aforementioned monkey. Day. MONKS, an order of men in the Romish church, who led a secluded life, under pretence of extraordinary devotion. During the first fervors of monastic rage, the monks ran naked through the lonely desarts, and lodged in gloomy caverns ; or like cattle took their abode in the open air. Many chose their rugged dwelling in the hollow side or narrow cleft of some rock, which obliged them to sit or stand in the most painful and excruciating posture, during the remainder of- their wretched lives ; and not a few, under the name of Stylites or Pillar Saints, ascended the top of ome lofty column, where they remained for years, night and day, without any shelter from the heat or cold. It hap- pened, however, at length, that these contemners of the world used every juggling art to enrich themselves 5 S48 MONONGAHELA MONSOONS. in which they had great success. Beside the wealth and influence gained by them in consequence of the superstitious ignorance of the great, as well as of the vulgar, a popular opinion whicn prevailed towards the end of the tenth century, contributed greatly to aug- ment their opulence. The thousand years mentioned by St. John, in the book of Revelation, were supposed to be nearly accomplished, and the day of judgment at hand. Multitudes of Christians, therefore, anxious only for their eternal salvation, delivered over to the monks all their lands, treasures, and other valuable effects, and repaired with haste to Palestine, where they ex- pected the appearance of Christ on Mount Sion. Mo- sheim, Russd-L MONONGAHELA, a river of the United States $ rising at the foot of the Laurel Mountain in Virginia f thence by a south by east direction passing into Penn- sylvania 5 and thence, winding, proceeds in a north by west course till it joins the Allegany river at Pitts- burgh 5 where the Ohio, at the confluence of these two rivers, begins. On the banks of this river, facing Pitts- burgh, the hills, which are at least three hundred feet high, appear to be one solid body of coal. Six miles from Pittsburgh, on the banks of the Monongaliela, lies JBraddock's Field., or the place where General Braddock, with the first division of his army, consisting of one thousand four hundred men, fell into an ambuscade of four hundred men, French and Indians 5 by whom he was defeated and mortally wounded, July 9, 1755. Col- onel George Washington, at that time twenty -three years of age, was one of the aids-de-camp to General Braddock ; and in a very short time after the action had commenced, he was the only aid remaining alive and unwounded. He had two horses killed under him, and four balls through his hat ; but to the astonishment of all, escaped unhurt, while every other officer on horse- back was either killed or wounded. Dr. Craik, who was an eye-witness, remarked, that " nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the, late of all around him." Marshall. MONSOONS, winds prevailing chiefly in some MONTH 249 parts of the Indian Ocean, and which blow six months in one direction, and then six months from the opposite point. A ship sailing from the Red Sea with the north- east monsoon, in the summer or autumn, would meet with the south-west monsoon, in the beginning of De- cember, which must detain her in some of the harbors on the eastern coast of Africa, till the next April. Then the north-east monsoon would carry her to the southern parts of Africa, into the region of variable winds. This regular course and changing of the monsoons was fa- mi tiarly known to the navigators of Solomon's ships, and was the cause of their spending three years, to and from Ophir. In going and returning, they changed the monsoons six times, which made thirty-six months. They needed no longer time to complete the voyage, and they could not perform it in less. Belknap. MONTH, a space of time measured by the revolu- tion of the sun or moon, and reckoned the twelfth part of the year. A lunar month is the space between twa conjunctions of the moon with the sun, or between two moons. A solar month is the space of time wherein the sun revolves through one entire sign of the eclip- tic. The calendar, or kalendar months consist unequal- ly of thirty and thirty-one days, excepting February, which in leap years has twenty-nine, but in other years only twenty-eight days. The Roman year, from the old institution of Numa, was lunar ; borrowed from the Greeks ; and to fill up the deficiency of the lunar year and extend it to the measure of the solar course, the Romans inserted, or intercalated, after the manner of the Greeks, an extraordinary month of twenty -two days, every second year, and twenty -three every fourth, be- tween the twenty -third and twenty -fourth day of Febru- ary. The Romans began their year with the month of March, which was so called because it was dedicated to Mars, their god of war. April took its name from Aphrodite, or Venus ; May from the goddess Maia ; June from Juventas, the goddess of youth ; July from Julius Csesar, and August from Augustus Csesar, both usurpers and tyrants. September, October, November, and December, derived their names from Latin words, which express the numbers of seven ? eight, nine ? ten 5 50 MOON MOORS. because those four months stood in that numerical or- der in the Roman calendar. The month of January was so called because it was dedicated to the god Janus. February was so called from Februus, a name of the in- fernal god Pluto ; forasmuch as twelve days in this month were spent in sacrifices to Pluto, in behalf of the ghosts of the dead ; these days of atonement being call- ed Februa. See CALENDAR. MOON, a secondary planet, the satellite of our earth. The mean distance of the moon from us, is about two hundred and forty thousand miles ; its diameter is about two thousand three hundred and twenty-six miles : it revolves about the earth in twenty-seven days, seven hours and forty -three minutes ; which is a lunar month. It was a doctrine of antiquity, that the moon possesses a. degree of heat which will not only evaporate water, but also melts ice. " The moon (says Pliny) produces thaw, resolving ice and frosts by the humidity of her influence.*' The truth of this theory of the ancients, as far as it respects the moon producing evaporation, has been proved by the following modern experiment. Two vessels full of water, being situated in the following manner, namely, the one exposed to the light of the moon, and the other placed in the shade ; the water in the first ve,ssel was found to evaporate sooner than that of the second. It is said, that by some movement of the moon, hitherto not accounted for, she appears, in the polar regions, perpetually above the horizon, during the long absence of the sun : this was observed in the year 1596, at Nova Zembla, by the unfortunate Dutch- men, who wintered there, in the seventy-sixth degree of north latitude. Another curious fact is, that the moon shines more brightly on some parts of our globe than on others. In the island of Jamaica, for instance, the moon displays far greater radiance than in Europe ; the smallest print is legible by her light. St. Pierre, Bryan Edwards. MOORS, descendants of the Carthagenians and Arabs, who conquered, and for many centuries, possess- ed a considerable part of Spain. In the year 1 009, Philip III. at the instigation of the inquisition, issued an MOORS. 51 edict, ordering all the Moors to leave the kingdom, \vithin the space of thirty days, under the penalty of death. These remains of the ancient conquerors of Spain were chiefly employed in commerce and agri- culture ; and the principal reason assigned for this bar- barous decree was, that they were still Mahometans in their hearts, though they conformed outwardly to the rites of Christianity. The Moors made some unavail- ing resistance, but being almost utterly unprovided with arms, they were soon obliged to submit, and, to the number of near a million industrious people, were all banished the kingdom ; whence they fled, in the utmost wretchedness, into Africa. The origin of the Moorish tribes in the interior of Africa, seems, according to the account of John Leo the African, to have been this. Before the Arabian conquests, about the middle of the ninth century, all the inhabitants of Africa, who had descended from Numidians, Phenicians, Carthagenians, llomans, Vandals, or Goths, were comprehended under the general name of Jllauri, or JHoors 9 that is, natives of Mauritania, the ancient name of Barbary. All these people were converted to the religion of Mahomet, tin ring the Arabian empire under the Caliphs : and many of them, passing the great desart, settled in the interior of Africa. There is reason to believe that their dominion stretches from west to east, in a narrow line or belt, from the mouth of the Senegal, on the north side of that river, to the confines of Abyssinia. They are a subtle and treacherous race of people, and take every opportunity of cheating and plundering the cred- ulous and unsuspecting negroes. Among these Moors no woman is thought handsome unless she is very cor- pulent ; and in consequence of this prevailing taste for largeness of bulk, the Moorish women take great pains to acquire corpulency early in life ; insomuch that many of the young girls are compelled by their moth- ers to devour a great quantity of Kouskous, and drink a large bowl of camel's milk every morning. It is of no importance whether the girl has appetite or not : the Kouskous and milk must be swallowed, and obedience is frequently enforced by blows. A celebrated travel- ler says, " I have seen a poor girl sit crying with the bowl at her lips, more than au hour 5 and her mother, MOOSE MORAL with a stick in her hand, watching her all the while, and using the stick without mercy, whenever she ob- served that her daughter was not swallowing." Rus- sell, Park. MOOSE, called in Europe, Elk. It is properly an American animal ; but it is sometimes taken in the German and Russian forests. The head of the moose is large, the neck short, with a thick, short, and up- right mane. The ears are a foot long 5 under the throat there is a fleshy protuberance ; the upper-lip hangs over the lower. His horns when full grown are about four or five feet from the head to the extremity, and are shed every year. The hoofs of the moose are cloven ; his gait is a long shambling trot ; his course, very shift, and straight : he leaps over the highest fences. This animal is generally of a grey light brown, or mouse colour. In the winter, they herd together, to the number of twenty or thirty in a company. They prefer the coldest places ; and when the snow is deep, they form a kind oi yard, consisting ol several acres, in which they constantly trample down the snow, that they may more easily range round their yard ; and when they cannot easily come at the grass, they live on the twigs and bark of the trees. Their defence is chiefly with their fore feet, with which they strike with great force. One of these animals in Vermont, was found by measure to be seven feet high. The largest are esti- mated by the hunters to weigh thirteen or fourteen hundred pounds. Williams. MORA I, the plaqe of burial for the dead chiefs, and also for the offering of sacrifices, at Otaheite, and the other Society Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. The Moral is a long pile of stones, about thirteen feet in height, and contracted towards the top, witk a quadrangular area on each side, under which the bones of the chiefs arc deposited. Near the end is the place of sacrifice, where is a very large scaffold, on which the offerings of fruits and other vegetables are placed 5 but the animals arc laid on a smaller one ; and the human sacrifices are interred under the pavement. There is a heap of at one end of the large scaffold, with a. sort of MOREA MOROCCO. platform on one side. On this they deposit all the skulk of the human sacrifices, which they take up after they have remained under ground for some months. It i$ probable, that the horrid custom of offering human vic- tims prevails in most of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, however distant from each other some of them may be. Cookers Voyages. MOREA, anciently called Peloponessus, a peninsula on the southern part of Greece, to which it is joined by the isthmus of Corinth: it is one hundred and- eighty miles in length, and one hundred and thirty in breadth. This peninsula is a part of the European Turkey. The inhabitants oppressed for many centuries by tlie most wretched and tyrannical government in the world, have entirely lost the spirit of their ancestors. No spot on the globe has been more famed for genhis and valor than the ancient Peloponessus. On the isthmus into the peninsula, stood the famous city of Corinth 5 which was tilled with temples, palaces, theatres, porticoes, and private houses equally admirable for their structures 5 and which gave birth to the order named Corinthian, the most superb in architecture. On this isthmus were celebrated, once in live years, the Isthmian Games, which, like the Olympic Games, consisted of running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the quoit, boxing, driving the chariot, arid riding the single horse. Walker, Rus- sell. MOROCCO, an empire of Barbary, in Africa ; bor- tlering upon the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and upon the Mediterranean on the north ; extending^nearly four hundred miles square. The inhabitants are tawny, ro- bust, excellent horsemen, and expert with the lance : they are Mahometans, and hold under their rod a vast number of Christian slaves. Their merchants are Jews, who carry on a great trade, by caravans, over vast de- sarts, from Morocco to the negro countries. Morocco, fanned by the cooling winds from the snowy top of Mount Atlas, enjoys a pure and temperate, but humid air ; so humid as to cover all metals quickly with rust. The soil is extremely fertile ; their desarts abound with lions, tigers, and serpents. The emperor, *vho is ab- JL 254 MOSS MUFTI. solute, is able to bring into the field a hundred thousand fighting men. Walker. MOSS, a vegetable that grows on the bark of trees. In northern Europe the moss vegetates beneath the snow, where the degree of heat is always about forty ; that is, in the middle, between the freezing point and the common heat of the earth $ and is, for many months of the winter, the sole food of the rein-deers, which dig furrows in the snow to find it. And as the milk and flesh of this animal is almost the only sustenance which can be procured during the long winters of the higher atitudes, so this moss may be said to support some millions of mankind. Moss is very hurtful to fruit trees. The mosses which grow on the bark of trees take much nourishment from them ; hence it is observ ed, that trees which are annually cleared from moss with a brush, grow nearly twice as fast. In the cider countries (in England) they brush their apple-trees an- nually. This vegetable loves the shade : it is observed that moss is thickest on the north side of trees. By this mark the savages of America know their course in cloudy weather, and many of our hunters have learned of them to travel without a compass.- Darwin, Winler- botham. MUFTI, the High Priest of the Mahometan religion. The Mufti is sovereign pontiff, expounder of the law of Mahomed, and supreme director of all religious con- cerns. He is regarded as the oracle of sanctity and \visdom ; and having an extensive authority, both over the actions and consciences of men, his office is one of the most dignified and lucrative in the Turkish empire. ~Hunter. About two centuries ago there was a great shaking among the Mahomedans : for Mahomed, hav- ing promised to come and visit his followers, and to translate them to paradise after a thousand years, this term of time being expired, many of them, particularly the Persians, began to doubt and to suspect the cheat 5 till the Mufti told them that it was a mistake in the fig- ure, and assured them, that upon a more diligent sur- vey of the records, he had found it to be two thousand instead of one. MULBERRY TREE-MULLET MUMBO JUMBO. 25$ MULBERRY TREE, a tree of vast importance to mankind ; as its leaves are food for the silkworm, which gives employment and furnishes clothing to millions of people. The white mulberry may be raised from the seed or by layers, which are small shoots of trees, or limbs bent clown and buried in the ground ; in which method they make mulberry hedges of long duration and great use for fences. The growth of this tree is so rapid, that in seven years it will grow from the seed to a trunk of six inches diameter, and bears plenty of fruit, which is rich and nourishing food for hogs, fowls, &c. The timber is very firm, as durable as red cedar, and suitable for ship timber and fence-posts : the tree is fa- vorable to the growth of vegetables under it, and forms a most delightful shade. Miss Rhodes, who made some ingenious experiments on the culture of silk, has taken notice that no animal seems to prey upon the mulberry leaf, except the silkworm alone ; nor did she find (after trying several serts) any other vegetable that \vas wholesome to the silk worm, except lettuce; on which the worm could be kept in perfect health four out of five weeks, that is, feeding on mulberry leaves a fifth part, the residue of the time on lettuce. -Ameri- can Museum, Academy of Arts. MULLET, a fish of a delicious flavour, and which, unlike all other fishes, is charmecl?by noise. The ne- groes of Africa avail themselves of this instinct as the means of catching them. They tie to a piece of wood surrounded with hooks, a sort of cornet with its clap- per : thus furnished, it is thrown into the sea; and the motion of the waves tossing about the cornet, produces a certain noise which attracts the fish, so that in at- tempting to lay hold of the piece of wood, they are caught with the hooks. St. Pierre. MUMBO JUMBO, a strange minister of justice in the Maridingo towns, in the interior of Africa. Here it is common for a man to have several wives ; among whom, of course, there are frequent and bitter coflten- tions ; and when this happens a person disguised in a masquerade habit, announces his coming by loud and dismal screams in the woods near the town. He begins S5S MUMMY MUREX. his yell at the approach of night ; and as soon as it is dark he enters the town, and proceeds to the Bentang, or place of public resort at which all the inhabitants immediately assemble. The wives, however loth, dare not refuse to appear when they are summoned ; and the ceremony begins with songs and dances, which continue till midnight; about which time Mumbo fixes upon the offender. This victim being thereupon immediate- ly seized, stripped, and tied to a post, and severely scourged with Mumbo's rod, amidst the shouts and de- rision of the whole assembly ; the women on these oc- casions being the loudest in their exclamations against their unfortunate sister. Park. MUMMY, an Egyptian embalmed corpse. Of al! nations the ancient Egyptians carried the art of em- balming to the highest perfection. As it was a princi- ple of their religion to suppose the soul continued only coeval to the duration of the body, so they tried every art to extend the life of the one, by preventing the dis- solution of the other. In this practice they were exer- cised from the earliest ages ; and the mummies they embalmed, continue in great numbers to the present day. In the early part of the eighteenth century, mum- mies were purchased from Egypt by the Europeans for medicinal uses. At that time a thousand imaginary vir- tues were ascribed to mummy, for the cure of most disorders; and no physician thought he had properly treated his patient without adding this to his prescrip- tion. Several Jews, both of France and Italy, taking advantage of this fashionable folly, found out the art of embalming murnmy so exactly, that they, for a long time, deceived all Europe. This they did by drying dead bodies in ovens, after having prepared them with myrrh, aloes, and bitumen. Thus, for a time, the poor patients had to swallow not only part of the Egyptian corpses, but also of those in their own neighborhood. At length it was found that mummy did no good iu medicine, but harm. MUREX, or Purpura, a water animal of a wonderful nature and construction. It is said that this animal fore- tees tempestuous weather, and, sinking to the bottom MUSCADINE GRAPE MUSK NANTUCKET. 257 ot the sea, adheres firmly to sea-plants , or other bodies, by means of a substance that resembles the horns of snails. Above twelve hundred of these fillets have been counted, by which this animal fixes itself; and when afloat, it contracts these little fillets between the basis of its points. Dictionary of Jirts. MUSCADINE GRAPE, a grape of unequalled ex- cellence, produced from the famous Constantia Vine, of the Cape of Good Hope. This vine, strarge as it may seem, succeeds perfectly only on a small spot of ground, situated at the bottom of a little hill ; whereas the ad- joining and surrounding vineyards cannot be made to produce the Muscadine Grape of any thing like the same quality. St. Pierre. MUSK, an animal that is found in large herds, in the interior parts of North America, on the west side of Hudson's Bay. It is somewhat lower than a deer, but more bulky. It has short legs, humped shoulders, and red hair, very fine, and so long as to reach to the ground. Beneath the hair, the body is covered with exquisitely fine wool; and the stockings which are made of it are said to be" even finer than^ silk. With hairs from its tail the Esquimaux Indians make caps, which are so contrived, that this long hair, falling round their faces, defends them from the bite of the musquetoes. The horns are two feet long, and two feet round at the base ; and some of them will weigh sixty pounds. Winter ~ botliam. N. an island belonging to the state of Massachusetts ; situated about eight leagues southward of Cape Cod ? extending fifteen miles in length, and eleven in breadth. This island was patented in the year 1671, by twenty-seven proprietors, under the province of New -York, which then claimed all the islands from the Neway Sink to Cape Cod. They found it so uni- X 2 258 NAPTHA NATURE'S DIKES. versa! ly barren and unfit for cultivation, that they mu- tually agreed not to divide it ; as each could neither live on or improve that lot which might fall to his share. They then cast their eyes on the sea : they became fishermen ; and their descendants have been and now are among the most enterprising and expert mariners ia the world. St. John. NAPTHA, an oily inflammable substance that is found floating on waters, particularly in Persia. When the weather is thick and hazy, the Nap tha- Springs (in Persia) boil up the higher, and the naptha often takes fire on the surface of the earth, and runs in a flame in great quantities to a distance almost incredible. In clear weather the springs do not boil up above two or three- feet. In boiling over, this oily substance makes so strong a consistency as by degrees almost to close the mouth of the spring sometimes it is quite closed, and forms hillocks which look as black as pitch. Naptha is used among the poorer sort of people in Persia, as we use oil in lamps ; also for boiling their victuals ; but it is unpleasant to the smell, and gives food that is boiled over it a disagreeable taste. Gentleman's Magazine. NATURE'S DIKES. The Dikes of Holland, for preventing the inundation of the ocean, are justly con- sidered as an astonishing effort of human industry; but they dwindle into nothing in comparison with the ram- parts which for the same purpose, have been raised oil the sea coasts, in various parts of the world, by the hand of the Almighty Creator. These natural fortifications against the inroads of the sea, are chiefly found where they are most needed. Brazil, in particular, opposes to the winds which blow continually from the east, and to. the current of the sea, a prodigious rampart of rocks.* more than three thousand miles long, twenty paces broad at the summit, and of an unknowirthickness at the base, This enormous dike is composed of one solid mass hwise, as has been ascertained by repeated bor- : and it would be impossible for a vessel to get in- -vz.il, were it not for tne several inlets which nature has formed, eipressly? as it would seem, for that pur &t. Pierre, See NORWAY, NAUTILUS NEW-BiUTAIN NEW-CASTLE. 259 NAUTILUS, a wonderful little sea animal that abounds in the Mediterranean, and navigates itself in the manner of a boat or ship. It has a shell, which, seems no thicker nor stronger than a piece of paper. When it is to sail, it extends two arms on high ; and between them supports a membrane, which it throws out on this occasion ; this membrane serves for its sail ; and the two arms it hangs out of the shell, serve as oars ; the tail being the Bidder to steer by. When a storm arises, they draw in their sails and oars, and take in such a quantity of water as makes them sink ; and when they would rise again, they expel this water through holes of which their legs are full. It has been imagined that men first learned the art of sailing in vessels from what they saw practised by this surprising ani in ai . Encyc lopcedia . NEW-BRITAIN, a country in the northern parts of America, inhabited bv the Esquimaux, a species of In- dians who have a sallow, olive colour. It lies round Hudson's Bay and comprehends Labrador and New North and South Wales, and is attached to the govern- ment of Lower Canada. The Esquimaux are a people remarkably different from the Indians who occupy the other parts of the continent of America. There is not much room to doubt that they were derived from the north-west parts of Europe ; that they are the same people with the Greenlanders, Laplanders, Zemblans, and Samojeds ; and that, like them, they were descend- ed from the Tartars in the east. Williams. NEW-CASTLE, a noted town in England, on the river Tyne : it is situated in the centre of the great collieries, which have for centuries supplied London, all the eastern, and most of the midland and southern parts of the kingdom, with coal. The first charter which was granted to this town for digging coal was by Henry III. in 1239 ; but, in 1306, the use of coal for fuel was prohibited in London, by royal proclamation ; chiefly because it injured the sale of wood, great quan- tities of which were then growing about that city. Thi& prohibition, however, did not continue long : and we may consider coal as having been dug and exported 200 NEW-ENGLAND. from New-Castle more than five hundred years. This trade and navigation, which employs fifteen hundred /is, is one of the greatest nurseries of seamen. Walker. NEW-ENGLAND, the northern and eastern portion of the United States ; lying between forty-one and about forty-eight degrees north latitude ; and compre- hending the states of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode-Island, and*Connecticut. The three following things are particularly remarkable respecting New-England, or some parts of it. First, All the in- corporated towns (particularly of Massachusetts and Connecticut) are bound by law to support schools with- in themselves. These schools are supported by the joint expense of the inhabitants of each corporation or town, who are taxed for the maintenance of the same, in proportion to the quantum, of every man's estate. Accordingly a poor man with a large family of children has but little to pay for their schooling ; while a rich man who is childless must pay a considerable annual tax for the education of the children of the poor. Sec- ond, This is the most populous portion of the United States ; although it has had far the least accession to its population from abroad ; as foreigners emigrating to our country? seldom settle in that part of it, unless in some of the principal sea-port towns. Third, A part of New-England, namuly, Massachusetts, is, by reason of the fisheries, the great and perpetual nursery of sea- inen. And of what vast importance this circumstance might be to the whole federal union, in maritime war- fare, provided it had an adequate navy, will appear from what has already happened, as well during the war of revolution, as in the late brilliant achievements of our frigates. It is stated in the American Museum, as a fact proveable by public records, that there were taken, brought in, and libelled in the maritime court of three counties of Massachusetts, during the revolutionary war, one thousand and ninety-eight vessels with their Hiich was discovered in 1495, by John Ca- bot, a Venetian. It extends from the isthmus 01' Dari- en, at about the 10th degree of north latitude, to the north pole, or near it ; and from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific Ocean 5 'most of it is a wilderness inhabited by va- NORTH-CAROLINA NORTH -E ASTERS, &c. 267 rious tribes of savages. The provinces in North Ameri- ca, claimed by European nations, are West Greenland, belonging to Denmark, New Britain, Upper and' Lower Canadas, New Brunswick, and Nova-Scotia, together with the islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, and St. John's, belonging to Great Britain ; and East and West Floridas, and the Mexicos, or New Spain, belong- ing to the crown of Spain. There is probably no kind of fruit or vegetable but may be cultivated and made to flourish in some part of North America. NORTH-CAROLINA, one of the United States of America ; bounded north by Virginia, east by the At- lantic Ocean, south by South-Carolina, and west by the state of Tennessee ;. situated between 33 50' and 36* SO' north latitude ; extending about four hundred miles in length, and one hundred and eighty in breadth. Iti first permanent settlement is said to have commenced, about the year 1710, by a number of Palatines from Ger- many, wlio had been reduced to circumstances of great indigence, by a calamitous war. The coasts are dan- gerous, by reason of three formidable capes, namely, Look-Out^ Hatteras, and Fear. Much of tne country is fertile, the winter is mild, and it is said there is no part of the United States where so little labor is requisite for a livelihood : the county of Cabarrus, in this state, yields pure virgin gold, which has been coined in a considera- ble quantity at the mint of the United States. Morse. NORTH-EASTERS, stormy winds common in the Atlantic seas, on the coasts ana near the seaboard. NORWAY, a country in the north of Europe, the most westerly part of the ancient Scandinavia ; it was formerly an independent kingdom, but is now united to Denmark. The Norwegian peasants are frank, open, and undaunted, yet not insolent ; never fawning, yet paying proper respect : they are extremely attached to their country, which is cold, barren, rocky, and moun- tainous. We are informed by Pont Oppidam, a bishop of that country, that the coast of Norway, which is near- ly three hundred leagues in length, is, for the most part, steep, angular, and pendent 5 so that the sea in many 308 NOVA-SCOTIANYMPHALA NILUMBO OAK. places, presents a depth of no less than three hundred fathoms close in shore. This has not prevented nature from still-ftirther protecting these coasts, by a multitude of isles, great and small. I5y such a rampart, (says the same author) consisting of, perhaps, a million, or more of massy stone pillars, founded in the very depth of the sea, the chapiters of which rise only a few fathoms above the surface, all Norway is defended to the west, equally against the enemy and against the ocean.* Coxe^ St* Pierre. See NATURE'S DIKES. NOVA-SCOTIA, or New Scotland, including the province of New -Brunswick, is four hundred miles in length, and three hundred in breadth ; situated between, 43 SO 7 and 49 north latitude ; bounded by the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, by the Atlantic Ocean, and by a part of Lower Canada and the district of Maine ? it has a sea-coast of ninety leagues. The winter is long- er and the soil not so good, as in the states of New-Eng- land. In the Bay of Fundy, which extends fifty leagues into this country, the ebb and flow of the tide is from forty -five to sixty ket.-~Winterbotbani>, NYMPHALA NILUMBO, an aquatic plant. The surface of the water in some of the southern states, and in the Floridas, is sometimes .covered with the round floating leaves of this plant, whilst these are shadowed by a forest of higher leaves with gay flowers, waving to and fro on flexible stems, three or umr feet high. These "fine flowers are double as a rose, and when expanded are seven or eight inches in diameter, of a lively lemon yellow colour. The stems bear a nut, which,* when full grown, is sweet and pleasant, tasting like chesnuts. -* JBartrcnn. O. I_FAK, a valuable and majestic tree, common in Eu- rope and the United States of America. This tree, which is emiriently useful in building, and particularly OBI OBONNEY. 6$ in naval architecture, is remarkable for the slowness of its growth, its great bulk, and longevity. It has been observed, that the trunk attains, in general only four- teen inches in diameter, in the course of eighty years ; but, after arriving at a certain age, its bulk rapidly in- creases. Dr. Darwin mentions the Swilcar oak, a very large tree growing in Needwood forest, (England) which measures thirty-nine feet in circumference at its base, and which is believed to be six hundred years old. The trunk of an oak belonging to lord Powis, and growing in Broomfield wood, measured in 1764, sixty -eight feet in girth, and twenty-three feet in length ; containing in the whole fourteen hundred and fifty-live feec of timber, round measure. The bark of oak is used in tanning, and its galls in dying, and for making an excellent black ink. Dom. Encyclopaedia. OBI, a word of African origin, signifying sorcery or witchcraft. Among the negroes brought from Africa to the West-Indies, there are Obiah men, who exercise the powers of Obi, or practise the arts of divination. The Obi is composed of a farrago of materials, among which are the following, namely, blood, feathers, parrots' beaks, dog's teeth, alligators' teeth, broken bottles, grave dirt, rum, and egg shells. The negroes generally be- lieve in the power of Obi, and often consult the Obiah men and women. This practice had such pernicious consequences in Jamaica, that severe, and even capital punishments were enacted against it. The Obi magic is thought to have originated in the worship of a serpent in ancient Egypt. t; A serpent, in the Egyptian lan- guage, (says the learned Mr. Bryant) was called Ob ; and Obian is still the Egyptian name for a serpent." Moses in the name of God forbids the Israelites ever to enquire of the demon Ob, which is translated in our bi- ble Gizzard. The woman (or witch) of Endor is called (in the original) Oub or Ob ; and Oubaios was the name of the basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient oracular deity of Africa. Bryan Edwards. OBONNEY, a malicious deity, worshipped by the negroes of the gold coast, in Africa. They Relieve that Obonney pervades heaven, earth, and sea 5 that he is Y 2 OCEAIST. the author of all evil ; and that when his displeasure is signified by the infliction of pestilential disorders, or otherwise, nothing will appease him but human sacri- fices ; which they select from captives taken in war, or if there be none present, then from their slaves. Bryan Edwards. OCEAN, that vast sheet of water which separates the continents, and extends, probably quite from the northern to the southern pole. Strictly speaking, there is but one ocean ; the different parts of which have dif- ferent names. That part of the ocean which lies be- tween America on the west and Europe and Africa on the east, is called the Mantle Ocean, and is about three thousand miles wide. That part which lies between America and Asia is called the Pacific Ocean ; a name given by Magellan, because he found it remarkably placid. This is, in some places, about ten thousand miles over ; but it is stated in Cooke's Voyages, that in the latitude 66 north, where the American and Asi- atic continents are at the nearest approach, there runs between them only a strait, of thirteen leagues across ; thence proceeding north, the two continents diverge, and in the latitude of 69 their distance from each other is about three hundred miles. That part of the ocean: which extends from the eastern shores of Africa to the southern shores of Asia, is called the Indian Ocean, and is three thousand miles wide. That part which stretches from the southern parts of Africa toward the south pole, is called the Southern Ocean, and is about eight thousand and five hundred miles over; and that part which lies northward of Europe and Asia, is called the Northern or Frozen Ocean, and is three thousand miles wide. Although the water of the ocean posseses a kind of saltness, it is not a pickle ; for animal sub- stances quickly dissolve in it, and it is itself as liable as other water to putrification ; from which it is preserved, )iot by its saltness, but by tides, winds, and tempests. The bed of the ocean, like dry land, appears to consist of mountains, hills, plains, and vallies ; its average depth, as far as has been ascertained by numerous soundings, Is about a quarter of a mile. St. Pierre ^ et ceteri. ODIN OHIO RIVER OHIO STATE. 271 ODIN, or Woden, the divinity of the ancient Saxons, Normans, Scandinavians, anc^jDanes, who were the an- cestors of the present British nation and of the Anglo- Americans. They painted him as the god of terror, the author of devastation, the father of carnage 5 and they worshipped him accordingly. They sacrificed to him, when successful, some of the captives taken in \var 5 and they believed those heroes would stand high- est in his favor who had killed most enemies in the field ; that after death, the brave would be admitted into his palace, and there have the happiness of drinking beer (the favorite liquor of the northern nations,) out of the skulls of their slaughtered foes. The fourth day of our week, or Wednesday, took its name from this heathen deity, called Wodin by the Saxons. RussdL OHIO RIVER, a fine river of the United States of America, which has its source in the Allegany moun- tains, and is called the Allegany, till its junction with the Monongahela, at Pittsburgh, where it first receives the name of Ohio. It measures in all its meanders but little short of twelve hundred miles in length, and falls into the Mississippi. It is an excellent river for naviga- tion with large boats, except at the rapids or fails, which are four hundred and eighty -two miles from its conflu- ence with the Mississippi. It is one of the most de- lightful rivers in the world, whether we consider it for its meandering course through .an immense region of forests, for its clean and elegant banks, which aftbrd in- numerable pleasant situations for cities, villages, and improved farms, or for its gentle current, clear waters, and smooth bosom which truly entitle it to the name originally given it by the French, of IAI Belle Reviere; or the beautiful river. It is a quarter of a mile wide at Pittsburgh. OHIO STATE, was admitted into the union in 1803 ; is situated between 39 and 42 north latitude, and lies between the Ohio river on the south, and the lakes Michigan and Erie on the north : it borders on the west line of Pennsylvania. The district called New -Connecticut is comprehended in the state of Ohio 5 and is bounded on the north by lake Erie, and extends 2~2 OLIVE TREEOLYMPIC GAMES. south on the west line of Pennsylvania, to within about four hundred miles of Pittsburgh. The general face of this country is level, and the soil uncommonly rich and deep. The climate of that part of the state called New -Connecticut (according to Volney) corresponds with the climate of Maryland ; although it lies in a con- siderably higher latitude. Mills are erected in various parts of this district ; schools are established, and a charter obtained for a college. OLIVE TREE, a very useful tree that grows not only in Asia, but in the southern parts of Europe, espe- cially Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal ; where it is cultivated to a very considerable extent on account of its fruit, from which the sweet or sallad oil is extracted, and which also, when pickled, forms an article of food. The trees are planted from fifteen to twenty feet apart, and when tolerably good, will yield fifteen or twenty pounds of oil yearly, one with another. Olive oil is used as food ; and medicinally considered, has lately been found an excellent preventive of the plague, when rubbed over the whole body immediately after the con- tagion has taken place. It is also beneficially employ- ed for recent colds, coughs, hoarseness, &c. Willich. OLYMPIC GAMES, games celebrated at Olympia, in ancient Greece, in honor of Jupiter. These games were begun thirty-eight years after the time when Mo- ses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and were continued till after the commencement of the Christian era. They were attended at fixed periods, and with such regularity, that they became the great standard by which the Greeks computed time $ each Olympiad be- ing four years. During the games, wars and animosi- ties between the numerous petty states of Greece, ceas- ed ; and the people came together from the remotest parts of their country, and always met in harmony, how much soever at variance they were at other times. One only of all the competitors could obtain the prize, which was merely a garland or crown of fresh leaves or fiowers ; yet was it sufficient to give the victor im- mortal renown in all the states of Greece. These games consisted of running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the ONION RIVER-ONTARIO LAKE-ORDEAL, 273 quoit, and boxing ; to which were added, in more pol- ished times, the chariot race, and the korse race. There are beautiful allusions to the Olympic and to the Isth- mean Games, in the writings of St. Paul. ONION RIVER, one of the finest streams in Ver- mont. It rises about fourteen miles to the west of Con- necticut river, and thirty miles to the east of the heights of the Green Mountains. It runs through a most fertile country, the produce of which for several miles on each side the river, is brought down to lake Champlain, at Burlington. It was along this river, that the Indians formerly travelled from Canada, when they made their attacks upon the frontier settlements on C onnecticut river.* Williams. ONTARIO LAKE, one of that grand chain of lakes \vhich divide the United States from Upper Canada. It is situated between latitude 43 15' and 44 north ; and is about six hundred miles in circumference. The division line between the state of New-York and Cana- da, on the north passes through this lake, and leaves within the United States two million three hundred and ninety thousand acres of the water of the lake On- tario, according to the calculation of Mr, Hutching. ~ Morse. ORDEAL, an ancient method of trial which pre- vailed in England and other parts of Europe, during the dark ages of popery. The ordeal was practised by the Anglo-Saxons in England, either by boiling water or red hot iron. The water or iron was consecrated by many prayers, masses, fastings, and exorcisms ; after which the person accused either took up with his na- ked hand, a stone sunk in the water to a certain depth, or carried the iron to a certain distance. The hand was immediately wrapped up, and the covering sealed for three days ; and if on examining it there appeared no marks of burning or scalding, the person accused was pronounced innocent 5 if otherwise, he was declared guilty. *74 OROMANES ORKAORLEANS. OROMANES, in pagan mythology, the Good Prin- ciple of the ancient Persians, which they held to be a supreme, eternal, and independent being, who created light and darkness. The Evil Principle of the Persians was *Qrimanus, who, they believed, derived his origin from darkness ; and though opposed in every thing to the purposes of Oromanes, yet, in spite of himself, ministers continually to his glory ; and that thence the mixture of good and evil is derived. This contest they supposed would last to the end of the world ; when the light would be separated from darkness, and the right- eous and the wicked recompensed according to their deserts. Millot. ORKA, a plant that is cultivated in the West-Indies as a substitute for coffee. The seeds are to be drilled in rows, three feet apart, and a foot and a half in the rows. The green pods are fit for culinary purposes, chiefly in soups 5 for which when they begin to harden, they become unsuitable. An acre will produce about fifteen hundred pounds of seed, or Orka Coffee; which some of the West-India planters prefer to the common coffee. It has been tried by way of experiment in New- Jersey, particularly by Mr. Boudinot ; and is said to have surpassed expectation. Bordley. ORLEANS, an ancient city of France, signalised for the following event. In the year 1430, this city was be- sieged by an English army under the command of the Duke of Bedford. When it was on the point of sur- rendering to the besiegers, a country girl, whose name was Joan d'Arc, seized with an unaccountable enthusi- asm, flew to its relief. She entered the city of Orleans, arrayed in a military garb, and displayed a consecrat- ed standard ; and her presence and conduct so animat- ed the garrison and dispirited the English, that the lat- ter were obliged to raise the siege ol that city, after be- ing driven from their intrenchments, and defeated in several desperate attacks. Joan was soon after taken prisoner ; and the duke of Bedford ordered her to be tried by an ecclesiastical court, for impiety, idolatry, and magic. t She was found guilty by her ignorant or iniquitous judges $ and this admirable heroine was cru ORONOKO OSTRACISM. 275 elly delivered over alive to the flames ; and expiated by the punishment of fire, the signal services which she had rendered her prince and native country. ORONOKO, a vast river of $outh America, said to be nearly fourteen hundred miles in length, including its wanderings, and which discharges its waters into the Atlantic Ocean, almost opposite to the island of Trini- dad ; constantly maintaining, b^ the flood poured forth from its mouth, a dreadful conflict with the tide of the ocean. This river annually rises and falls ; in its nar- rowest part, rising to the prodigious height of one hun- dred and twenty teet : but where its bed is very wide, its rise is proportionally less. Travellers have report- ed that the native Indians on the banks of the Oronoko, during the inundation, traverse the country in all direc- tions in their canoes, picking the fruits from the top- most branches at their ease ; and that some of them have acquired the habit of dwelling on the tops of trees, St. Pierre. OSTRACISM, a law in the republic of Athens, which required the banishment of any citizen when six thousand of the people should vote for his expulsion ; the whole number of voters in the republic being about twenty thousand. Each voter wrote the name of the citizen that was to be banished, on a shell, called Gstra- kon, in Greek $ and, after all the shells were deposited together according to law, they were counted by per- sons appointed for that purpose. Envy, jealousy, and intrigue, caused the banishment of several of the most excellent and illustrious citizens of Athens, and such even as had been the defenders and saviours of the re- public ; among whom was Aristides, a most excellent patriot, statesman and general. It happened at the time when this great man and incorruptible patriot was marked as the victim of popular jealousy, that an illite- rate peasant who was unacquainted with his person, pre- sented him with a shell, desiring him to write the name of Aristides upon it. What injury (said the noble Gre- cian to him) has Jlr 1st ides done you ? JV'owe at all (re- plied the peasant) but I am tired of hearing him inces- santly called the just. Aristides without revealing him- OSTRICH OTAHEITE. self, took the fatal shell, wrote on it his own name, and gave it back to the peasant, to be carried to the general repository. He received his sentence of banishment for ten years with resignation ; saying at setting out on his exile, / pray tfte gods may not suffer the Jltlieni- ans to have cause to remember Jlristides. OSTRICH, a native of the hot regions of Africa, and is the largest of all birds, except the Contour of Amer- ica. It is commonly seven feet high from the top of the head to the ground 5 from the back only four feet. Its egg weighs more than fifteen pounds. It seems formed to live in burning desarts ; and no substance is too coarse for its food, or too hard for its digestion. The ostrich cannot fly ; his wings are too small to bear up his body ; but they assist him greatly in running, and no animal runs so swiftly. This is a most stupid bird, and, like the gull, is easily taken by stratagem. The Arabs sometimes clothe themselves for war with the ostrich's skin, which is thick and firm, and they eat its flesh and eggs : its feathers are in great demand. Goldsmith. It is affirmed by Vaillant, that the ostrich separates her eggs, lays three before her, and sits on the rest, and after hatching, that she feeds her young with the contents of the three eggs aforementioned. OTAHEITE, one of the Society Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about ninety miles in circumfer- ence : it was thrice visited by Captain Cooke. Here grow the bread-fruit trees, palms, cocoanut trees, mul- berries, bananas, sugar-canes, &c. The people have mild features and a pleasing countenance. They are about the largest size of the Europeans, of a clear olive or brunette complexion, with fine black hair and eyes. No language seemed easier to acquire than theirs ; ev- ery harsh and hissing consonant being banished from it, and almost every word ending in a vowel. They wear a piece of cloth around their middle, of their own manufacture, and another wrapped about the head, in various picturesque shapes, like a turban. The wo- men, who are accounted very handsome, wear a piece of cloth, with a hole in the middle, through which they pass their heads, so that one part of the garment hangs OTTER. 277 down behind, and the other before, to the knees : a fine white cloth, like muslin, passes over this, in various el- egant turns round the body, a little below the breast, forming a kind of tunic, of which one turn sometimes falls gracefully across the shoulders. Their cloth is made of the fibrous bark of the mulberry tree, which is beaten with a kind of mallet; and a sort of glue is em- ployed to make the pieces of bark cohere together. Some of these pieces are two or three yards wide, and fifty yards long ; and are commonly coloured red and yellow : the red is exceedingly beautiful, and of a brighter and more delicate colour than any known in Europe. It is remarkable that these ingenious artists had not invented any method of boiling water 5 and had no idea that water could be made hot. Their agility in smimming, diving, and climbing trees, is astonishing ; and their general honesty and confidence in each other appear in this, that their houses are left entirely open, without either doors or bars. Nothing so much excited the curiosity and astonishment of the people of Ota- heite, as seeing Captain Cooke and his men riding on horseback. This was to them a novel sight : and it was thought that it conveyed to them a better idea o the greatness of other nations, than all the novelties that the European vessels had carried among them. It is a painful idea, that this people, so gentle, so hospitable, and, in other respects humane, should be so under the influence of a detestable superstition as to offer up, and that frequently, sacrifices of human flesh. Cookers Voyages, Foster. See MORAL OTTER, an animal of great activity and fierceness. When it is full grown it is four or five feet long, with sharp and strong teeth, short legs, and membranes in his feet ; and fitted either for running or swimming. The otter has generally been ranked among the am- phibious animals which can live either in the air or wa- ter; but he is not properly an amphibious animal ; for he cannot live without respiration any more than land animals. The fierceness and strength of the old otters are such, that a dog can seldom overcome them; and when they cannot escape, they will attack the hunter with great rage. The colour of this animal is black, Z -578 OURANG OUTANG OWHYHEE. and its fur is much esteemed. Formerly they abound- ed in the creeks and rivers which empty into lake Champlain ; for which reason one of them bears the name of Otter creek; but the animal is now become scarce. Williams. OURANG OUTANG, an animal of the monkey kind, which, in looks, nearly approaches to the human race. It walks erect ; its height is from three to seven feet. In general, however, its stature is less than that of a man ; but its strength and agility much greater. fci I have seen it (says Mr. Bufifon) give its hand to shew the company to the door. I have seen it sit at table> un- fold its napkin, wipe its lips, make use of the spoon and fork to carry the victuals to its mouth, pour out its drink into a glass, touch the glasses when invited, take a cup and saucer, and lay them on the table, put in sugar, pour out its tea, leave it to cool before drinking ; and all this, without any other instigation than the signs or the com- mand of its master, and often of its own accord." In their wild state they live in tropical climates, particular- ly in the island of Borneo ; they attack even the ele- phant, which they beat with their clubs, and oblige him to leave that part of the forest which they inhabit. Goldsmith. OWHYHEE, the largest of the Sandwich islands 5 situated in the Pacific Ocean, in about 23 degrees north latitude. It was here Captain James Cooke, the cele- brated circumnavigator, fell a victim to the sudden fury of the natives, February 21, 1779. During their first visit the natives used the English with remarkable hos- pitality and kindness 5 but on their return, a short time afterwards, it was plainly visible that the countenances and behavior of these islanders were changed. On the fatal day, Captain Cooke went ashore, with a lieutenant arid nine marines. An unhappy incident occurring, that provoked the Owhyheeans, they were instantly clad hi iheir war mats, arid armed with spears and stones. They rushed on with dreadful shouts and yells, regard- less of the effect of the fire-arms. Four of the ma- rines fell a sacrifice to their fury ; and three others, to- gether with the lieutenant, Vere dangerously wounded* PAGODAS PALLAS PALMA CHRISTI. 279 The captain received a blow on the back and fell with his face into the water ; where he was surrounded by a throng of savages, who soon despatched him, notwith- standing his vigorous efforts to defend himself, which continued to the last. A boat from his ship, filled with armed marines, was within a few yards from him, and he was observed, several times, in his struggles with the savages, to cast a supplicating look towards his friends ; but such was their consternation that they gave him no manner of assistance. Cookers Voyages. P. JL AGODAS, idolatrous temples in the East-Indies* The Pagoda is a small edifice not capable of containing more than an hundred persons. The idol is placed on a little pedestal, ornamented with flowers and exposed to the veneration of the people. They burn before the image of the idol a great quantity of cocoa-oil in a multitude of small lamps : they present it with offer- ings of fruits, milk, grain, oil, and flowers ; and at each offering a number of little bells, fastened to a machine of wood, in the form of a triangle, are rung, -Grand- pre. PALLAS, or Gibers, a primary planet between Mars and Jupiter, discovered by Dr. Gibers, of Bremen in Germany, on the 28th of March, 1802. Its diameter, according to Dr. Herschell, is only one hundred and ten miles; it appears like a star of the eighth magni- tude. Its medial distance from the sun is about two hundred and sixty-six million miles; its periodic revolu- tion is performed in sixteen hundred and eighty-three days, Bowditch. PALMA CHRISTI, the tree that produces the cas- tor oil -nut. This tree is of a speedy growth ; as in one year it arrives at its full height, which seldom ex- ceeds twenty feet. When the bunches of the palma christi begin to turn black, they are gathered, dried in 280 PALMIST PALMIRA PAN. the sun, and the seeds picked out. They are afterwards put up for use, as wanted, or for exportation. An Eng- lish gallon of the seeds or nuts of the palma christi tree yields about two pounds of oil, which is obtained either by expression or decoction : the first method is prac- tised in England, the latter in Jamaica. American Mu- seum. PALMIST, a species of the palm tree. The stem of the palmist is sometimes above a hundred feet high, is perfectly straight, and bears on its summit, all the foliage which it has, a bunch of palms $ from the midst of which issues a long roll of plaited leaves. The trunk of the palmist, though exceedingly hard, may be cleft with the utmost ease from end to end, and is filled, inwardly, with a spongy substance, which may be easi- ly separated. Thus prepared, it serves to form for con- ducting waters, tubes which are not corruptible by hu- midity. In certain islands of the southern or eastern ocean, cloth, for wearing apparel, and carpets, are made of the bark of some kinds ot the palm tree,- &t . Pierre, Perouse, PALMIRA, once a city of astonishing opulence and splendour ; situated in a large sandy plain, ninety miles east of Damascus : and thought by the Asiatics to have owed its origin to king Solomon. Here Zenobia, a wo- man of a surpassing genius, reigned with great glory ; and Longinus, the famous critic, was her secretary. The Roman tyranny becoming insupportable, she waged war with Aurelian the Roman emperor, who took her prisoner, led her in triumph to Rome, and put Longinus her secretary to death, together with her principal no- bility ; afterwards destroying her city, and massacreing its inhabitants. The stupendous grandeur of Palmyra, or Tadmor in the Desart, as the ancients called it, is evident from its ruins which are still to be seen, scatter- ed around for many miles ; among which is a colonade extending four thousand feet in length, and terminated by a noble Mausoleum. PAN, in p^gan mythology, the god of hunters, shep- herds, uad husbandmen. He was painted partly man PANACEA PANDECTS. 281 and partly goat, having a goat's horns, feet and tail, and a chaplet of pine on his red and laughing face, a motley skin covering his body, with a crooked stick in one hand, and a pipe in the other. Pan was said continual- ly to play on his mysterious pipe, composed of seven unequal reeds, but so fitted as to produce together the Hiost perfect melody, metaphorically called the music of the spheres; which results from the sublime and wonderful order of the seven planets, that is, the six primary planets and the moon ; moving in orbits of un- equal dimensions, and performing their revolutions with different degrees of velocity, but all with unerring concord. Young, Russell. PANACEA, a universal medicine. The kind of nostrums which is pretended to cure or prevent diseas- es generally, is called panacea ; others which promise the certain cure or prevention of particular disorders, are called specifics. It is affirmed in Dr. Willich's Lectures on Diet and Regimen, that most of the nos- trums advertised aa cough drops, &c. are preparations of opium, similar to the paregoric elixir of the shops, but disguised and rendered more deleterious, by the ad- dition of aromatic and heating gums ; and that the in- discriminate use of them has pernicious effects. In all the annals of human folly, nothing can exceed the un- reflecting confidence with which people swallow the medicines of advertising impostors. Some well persons take these medicines to preserve their health, or to give it a higher tone. An Italian count did so ; and finding his error had cost him his life, he ordered the following inscription to be placed on his tomb. " / was well ; 1 wanted to be better; 1 took medicine, and here lam." PANDECTS, or Digest, a body of Roman laws, drawn up in the reign and by the order of Justinian the emperor. The pandects were designed to contain all that was useful in the works of the ancient lawyers, which amounted to more than two thousand volumes; they appeared in the year 553; the compilers having been engaged more than three years in the work. In the eastern, Roman empire this great body of laws con- tinued only till the ninth century; 'when the emperor Z 2 282 PANGOLIN -PANTHER -PAPER. BasiJius substituted a code of laws called the Basilica, in its stead. In the western empire the pandects were first abrogated by the laws of the Lombards, and continu- ed in oblivion till the twelfth century, when a copy was found at Amalsi. The pandects were no sooner found than they excited the general attention of the lawyers of Europe; and Justinian's legislation was made in a considerable measure the model and foundation of the laws of modern nations. PANGOLIN, an animal of the scaly kind, and a na- tive of the torrid climates of the eastern continent. The pangolin is defended by thick scales, but has no teeth : it lives on insects, particularly ants. It has a very long tongue, which is doubled in its mouth ; this tongue is round, red, and covered with an unctious and slimy li- quor which gives it a shining hue. When the pangolin* therefore, approaches an ant-hill, in quest of the in- sects on which it chiefly feeds, it lies down near it, con- cealing as much as possible the place of its retreat 5 and stretching out its long tongue among the ants, keeps it for some time quite immovable. These little animals, allured by its appearance and the unctions substance with which it is surrounded, instantly gather upon it in freat numbers; and when the pangolin perceives he as enough of them, he instantly withdraws his tongue and swallows them u^.~Goldsmith. PANTHER, commonly called Catamount, a furious animal of the American forests. The American In- dians lay their male children on the skins of panthers, on account of the communicative principle, which they reckon all nature is possessed of, in conveying the quali- ties according to the regimen followed ; and as the panther is endued with IT any qualities beyond any of his feilow animals in the American woods, as smelling, strength, cunning, arid prodigious spring, they reckon such a bed to be the first rudiment of war. But their female children they lay on the skins of fawns, or buft'a- lo-calves, to render them shy and timorous. History of American Indians. See CATAMOUNT. PAPER, a substance on which we write or print. PAPER MULBERRY PARAGUAY. 83 made of rags ground, macerated in water, and formed into thin sheets by means of a sieve. It took its name from a kind of reed that grows on the banks of the riv- er Nile, called Papyrus. The leaf of this plant was first used for paper : hence we say leaf of a book, as books were first made of real leaves. Afterwards the bark of a species of mulberry tree was used for writing ; whence the Latin word liber signifies a book, and also the bark of a tree ; and so the word library is derived from the aticient practice of making books from bark. Paper made of cotton rags began to be in use, in the eleventh century ; that made of linen rags began to be used, in the fifteenth century. The manufacture of pa- per was introduced into England, in the year 1558. It is lately made of other materials besides rags. In the New London Review, it is said, " There is in posses- sion of the London ^pciety for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, a great variety of specimens of paper made from raw vegetables, thistles, potatoe haumLpoplar, and hop bines." PAPER MULBERRY, a plant which rarely grows more than seven feet in height, and about the thickness of four fingers : it affords clothing to a part of the hu- man species. The female inhabitants of the island of Tongoiaboo, in the South Sea, take the tender stalks of the paper mulberry, and strip the bark, and scrape off the exterior rind ; after which the bark is rolled up, and steeped for some time in water ; it is then beaten with a square instrument of wood, full of coarse grooves. After repeating the operation, it is spread out to dry ; the pieces being from four to six or seven feet in length, and about half as broad. They join these pieces togeth- er with the glutinous juice of a berry, and stain them. with a juice extracted from the bark of a tree, called Jcokka. They proceed, joining and staining by degrees, till a piece of cloth, of the requisite length, is obtained. Voyages. PARAGUAY, a large country in South America ; situated between 12 and 37 south latitude; extending one thousand and five hundred miles in length, and one thousand miles in breadth $ bounded by Amazonia, by 284 PARIS PARROT. Brazil, by Patagonia, and by Chili and Peru. Buenos Ayres, which lies on the river Plata, is the capital. This vast country, of which the Spaniards have subdued only the smaller part, is extremely fertile, producing cotton in great quantities : it has also prodigiously rich pastures, in which are bred such herds of cattle that it is said the hides of the beasts is all that is properly bought, the car- case being in a manner given into the bargain. In 1580, the Jesuits were admitted into these fertile regions ; and in process of time, by the most wonderful address and 'persevering patience, and without the least degree of force, they acquired the most absolute dominion, both ecclesiastical and civil, over the natives, whom they even instructed in military discipline. In 1767, the Spanish court expelled the Jesuits from South America. In the arts of civilizing the American Indians and conciliating their affections, they far surpassed any other missiona- ries, who have hitherto attempted this difficult work. Walker. PARIS, the capital of France, and one of the largest, finest and most populous cities of Europe : the river .Seine runs through it. It is six miles in diameter, and eighteen in circumference, including the suburbs 5 and is computed to contain eight hundred thousand inhabit- ants, eight hundred and seventy -five streets, and twen- ty-four thousand houses, among which are many of five, six, or even seven stories. One of the squares of this city , formerly called Place-de-Louis, XV. but now called flace-de-la-Revolution^ was the place of the execution of the unfortunate Louis XVI. and afterwards of his un- happy consort, Marie Antoinette ; the former on the 21st ot January, and the latter on the 16th of October, 1793. Walker. PARROT, a beautiful and docile bird of the tropical climates, that learns to speak with ease, and is some- times taught to repeat a sonnet or c';r*y of verses with great propriety. The parrots of Era//: I, in South Amer- ica, are much more docile and more beautiful than those ot any other country. A Brazilian ;voman i c reputed* on credible authority, to have hau a parrot that seemed to understand whatever was said to it. It could talk, PASCATAQU APATAGONIA. 285 and whistle, and sing, and dance, and imitate the shout- ings of the Brazilians when they prepared for battle. If, however, the spectators refused to make presents to the parrot's mistress, he seemed to resent tneir stingi- ness, and remained silent and sullen. Goldsmith. PASCATAQUA, or jtiscataqua, a large river, and the only large river, whose whole course is in New- Hampshire. On the south side of this river, about two miles from the sea. is Portsmouth, the largest town in the state. Its harbor is one of the finest on the continent, having a sufficient depth of water for vessels of any bur- den. It is defended against storms by the adjacent land, in such a manner, as that ships may securely ride there in any season of the year. Besides, the harbor is so well fortified by nature, that very little art will be necessary to render it impregnable. Its vicinity to the sea renders it very convenient for naval trade. Morse, Winierbotham. PATAGONIA, the most southern part of South America, where a race of people have been discovered, who leading an unrestrained and savage life, are report- ed to be of a gigantic stature. The companions of Ma- gellan, wintering in St. Julian's Bay, had remained some months without seeing any human creature ; when one day (according to their report) they saw approaching, as if he were dropt from the clouds, a man of enormous stature, dancing, and singing, and putting dust upon his head. His tace was broad, his colour brown, and painted over with a variety of tints : each cheek had the resemblance of an heart drawn upon it : he was clothed in skins, and armed with a bow. Several others of the same stature quickly afterwards appeared ; two of whom the mariners decoyed on ship-board. Nothing could be more gentle than they were in the beginning ; they considered the fetters that were preparing for them as ornaments, and played with them, like children wita their toys ; but when they found for what purpose they were intended, they instantly exerted their amazing strength, and broke them to pieces. Some of the in- habitants seen by Captain Biron, in 1764, were about seven feet in height. They are supposed to be one of 286 PATOWMAC PEACOCK. file wandering tribes, which occupy that vast, but least known region of America, which extends from the river La Plata to the straits of Magellan. PATOWMAC, a large river, which originating in the Allegany mountains, and forming, through its whole course, a boundary between the states of Virginia and Maryland, falls into Chesapeak Bay : being navigable for large ships about three hundred miles, and seven miles and an half wide at its mouth. This river pene- trates through all the ridges of mountains eastward of the Allegany ; its passage through the Blue Ridge, which is higher even than the Allegany, is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. The piles of rocks on each hand, and the evident marks of their dis- rupture and avulsion from their beds, induce a belief that the river having been dammed up by this ridge of mountains, formed an ocean which filled the whole val- ley ; and, continuing to rise, at length broke over at this spot, and tore the mountain down from the summit to its base. Mount Vernon, venerated as the seat of the illustrious Washington, is situated on the Virginia bank of this river, where it is nearly two miles wide, and about two hundred and eighty miles from the sea. PEACOCK, a beautiful bird, but of a horrid voice, and mischievous nature. They are natives of the East- Indies, and are still found in vast flocks, in a wild state, in the islands of Java and Ceylon. So early as the days of Solomon, we find in his navies, among the articles imported from the East, apes, and peacocks. When this bird was first brought into Greece, the Grecians went a great distance to see it, and paid for the sight. Ti:e Romans used it as the greatest of luxuries., at their tables, allured more by its costliness and beautiful plu- mage, than by the flavor of the meat, which is now reck- oned to be very indifferent. That which is called the peacock of Thibet, is the most beautiful of the feather- ed creation, containing in its plumage all the most vivid colours, red, blue, yellow, and green, disposed in almost an artificial order, as if merely to please the eye of the beholder. Goldsmith. PEARL FISHERY PEARL OYSTER PEKIX. 287 PEARL FISHERY, the fishing up of pearl oysters, by divers employed for the purpose. The greatest pearl fishery is in the Persian Gulf. The wretched people who are employed in this service, dive to the depth of fifteen fathom, or ninety feet, drawing in their breath as they go down : when arrived at the bottom, they fill their nets with oysters, and making a signal, are drawn up with a rope. The oysters are brought to shore, and every one of them examined ; a few only containing pearls. Thus a number of human creatures are chain- ed to the bottom of the ocean, to pluck a glittering pebble that may adorn the bodies of the rich. These wretched divers seldom live more than five or six years, after they begin their business. Goldsmith. PEARL OYSTER, a species of oyster that contains pearls. They are found in the, greatest abundance, and of the best kind in the Persian Gulf. That which particularly obtains the name of the pearl oyster, has a large, strong, whitish shell, wrinkled and rough with- out, and within smooth and of a silver colour. The pearl is found, sometimes adhering to the shell, and sometimes within the body of the oyster. The value of this jewel is according to the size and colour : the whit- est and the roundest is the best. What is called Moth- er of Pearl, is the external coat of the shell of the pearl oyster, resembling the real pearl in colour and consist- ence. This substance is separated from the oyster- shell, and shaped into a variety of beautiful utensils. Goldsmith. PEKIN, the capital of the empire of China ; situat- ed in a fertile plain in latitude 39 54' ; with streets as straight as a line, most of them three miles in length, and about a hundred and twenty feet wide, containing about two million inhabitants. The walls of the im- mense palace of the emperor, including that and the gardens, are upwards of four miles in circumference ; and are covered with tiles of a shining beautiful yellow. All the riches and merchandise of the empire are con- tinually pouring into this city ; and the concourse of people in the streets is prodigious. People of distinc- tion oblige all their dependants to follow them. A 288 PELEW ISLANDS. Mandarin of the first rank is always accompanied by his whole tribunal. The nobility of the court, anil princes of the blood, never appear in public without be- ing surrounded by a body of cavalry ; and as their pre- sence is required at the palace every day, their train alone is sufficient to crowd the streets ; it is, besides, the resort of a vast number of strangers, who are car- ried about in chairs or ride on horseback, each one having a guide. Crowds of fortune-tellers, jugglers, ballad-singers, and mountebanks, are seen on every side ; horses, camels, mules, and carriages, are con- stantly crossing one another in every direction. In all this immense concourse no women are ever seen. So strict and active is the police of this city, that it is rare to hear of houses being robbed, or people assassinated. An earthquake which happened here in 1731, buried above a hundred thousand people in the ruins of the houses. The Russians have a seminary at Fekin, for the purpose of learning the Chinese language; since which establishment many interesting publications have made their appearance at Petersburg!!, relative to the laws, history, and geography of China, translated from the originals published at Pekin. Walker, ffinterbot- ham. PSLEW ISLANDS, a cluster of small islands iu the north Pacific Ocean, situated between the 5th and 9th degree of north latitude. In the year 1783, the English ship Antelope, Henry Wilson master, (the whole crew being thirty-four persons) was wrecked on the coral rocks near one of these islands ; to which with great difficulty they all escaped. According to Captain Wilson's journal, Abbe Thulle, the king, as well as all his men, were quite naked ; the sovereign and the nobility being distinguished by no other mark than that of a bone drawn round their wrists. They had never seen a white man ; and seemed to think that the whole globe was bounded by their own horizon. They received and entertained the distressed English- men with the utmost hospitality and kindness. Their unsuspecting confidence, their simple honesty, and their hospitable disposition, formed a striking contrast to the spirit of selfishness, deceit and intrigue, with which a PELICAN PELUS I UM. 289 knowledge of the world too often inspires the human breast. Captain Wilson, whilst at Pelew, was, in a very solemn manner, created Knight of the Bone. His hand having been lubricated with oil, a circular bone was drawn over it so as to sit snug to his wrist. Abbe Thulle, the king, then seriously addressing him, told him that " the bone should be rubbed bright every day, and preserved as a testimony of the rank he held amongst them ; that this mark of dignity must, on eve- ry occasion be defended valiantly, nor suffered to be torn from his arm but with the loss of his life." When Captain Wilson left Pelew, the king committed to his care LeBoo, his second son, a youth of nineteen, great- ly distinguished for native intelligence and amiable manners ; who died in England, six months after hi$ arrival. A Chinese, one of Wilson's crew, described the poverty of Pelew, thus, in broken English. " This have very poor place, and very poor people ; no got clothes, no got rice, no got hog, no got nothing, only yam, little fish, and cocoa nut ; no got nothing make trade, very little make eat/ 5 Happy poverty, that will for ever secure the harmless Pelewans from the effects of European avarice ; a pest, which depopulated His- paniola and Cuba, and destroyed millions in Mexico, Peru and Hindostan ! PELICAN, a remarkable fowl that lives on fish, and is common about some of the rivers of Georgia and the Floridas. The body is larger than that of a tame goose, the legs extremely short, the feet webbed, the bill of a great length, bent inwards like a scythe, the wings ex- tend near seven feet from tip to tip, the tail is very short, the head, neck, and breast, nearly white, the body of a light bluish grey, except the quill -feathers of the wings, which are black. Under the bill hangs a sack, which is capable of being expanded to a prodigious size : it is said that more than half a bushel of bran may be crammed into it. Bartram. PELUSIUM, a city of the ancient Egyptian s> and so situated as to have been the key of Egypt. It is said, that, about five hundred years before the Christian era, Cambysesj king of Persia, invading Egypt and being A a 90 PENANCE PENGUIN PENNSYLVANIA. desirous to take the city of Pelusium by assault, he placed a multitude of cats, dogs, and other animals that were deemed sacred in Egypt, in the first rank of his army, so that the Egyptians, from a fear of wounding their god-8) did not attempt to discharge their weapons against the enemy ; and by this means the place was taken without opposition. All Egypt was quickly con- quered by the Persians ; and was ever thereafter en- slaved by some foreign nation. Millot. PENANCE, mortification suffered in the dark ages of popery, as an atonement for sins. The popish cler- gy, in the twelfth century, among other inventions to obtain money, had inculcated the necessity of penance, as an expiation of crimes. They had also introduced the practice of paying large sums of money, as a sub- stitute for such penances. By these means the sins of the people were become a revenue to the priests ; and the king, Henry II. of England, computed, that, by this invention alone, they levied more money from his sub- jects than flowed into the royal treasury by all the methods of public supply. Russell. PENGUIN, a sea- fowl, which, though no taller than a goose, often weighs sixteen pounds. They live on fish, and swarm over the banks of Newfoundland ; in- somuch that fishermen, when they see these birds hovering over the water, consider it as a sure evidence that they have arrived at their fishing ground. PENNSYLVANIA, one of the United States of America 5 lying between 39 43' 25" and 42 north latitude ; including, of course, 16' 35" equal to one hundred and thirty-seven miles from its southern to its northern boundary, and comprehending, in a due west course, three hundred and eleven miles, exclusive of the territory purchased by Pennsylvania from the United States. It is bounded by Delaware river, which sepa- rates it from New-Jersey ; by New-York and lake Erie, and by a part of Virginia, Maryland, and Dela- ware The settlement of this state was begun in 168% by the celebrated William Perm, who offered to tin tiers an unlimited toleration of all religious denornina- PEQUOTS PERSEPOLIS. 01 fions 5 than which no circumstance, especially at that lime of general intolerance, could more powerfully ef- iect a rapid increase of population. The state of Penn- sylvania is intersected with numerous rivers and moun- tains ; and the soil is diversified by its vicinity to moun- tains and rivers. The vallies and bottoms consist of a black mould, which extends from a foot to four feet in depth: but in general, a deep clay forms the surface of the earth. The climate of Pennsylvania has undergone a very material change. Thunder and lightning are less frequent ; the cold of the winters and the heat of the summers are less uniform ; the springs are much colder, and the autumn more temperate, than formerly. ~ Rush. PEQUOTS, a numerous and warlike nation of In- dians, who possessed a large part of the present terri- tory of Connecticut, at the time of the first arrival of the" English ; and about the year 1630, had extended their conquests over all Long-Island, and a considera- ble part of Narraganset. Their head quarters was at New-London, the ancient Indian name of which was Pequot. Shortly afterwards, however, the Narraganset Indians so prevailed against the Pequots as to threaten their destruction. The Pequots perceiving their dan- ger, and wishing to be at peace, with an enemy too pow- erful for them, requested the English at Hartford to be their mediators, and gave them some wampum to pre- sent to the Narragansets ; standing so much on a point of honor, that they would not offer their enemy any thing directly, how much soever they feared him. Trumbull. PERSEPOLIS, the ancient capital of Persia. When Alexander the Great seized possession of this city, it was the store-house for the Persian wealth. Gold and silver were never seen here but in heaps ; not to men- tion the clothes and furniture of inestimable value in this seat of luxury. There was found in the treasury one hundred and twenty thousand talents, equal to three hundred and sixt^wnillions sterling ; and twenty thou- sand talents, equal to sixty millions, which were de- signed to defray the expense of the war. To this pro- PERSIA PERSIMON TREE. digious sum there was added that of six thousand tal- ents taken from Pasagarda. This was a city which Cyrus had built, and was the place of coronation for the kings of Persia. Alexander, in a drunken frolic, and at the instigation of Thais, a noted prostitute, set fire to this famous city; he, and his drunken companions, singing and dancing, while it was consuming by the flames. >llollin. PERSIA, a large kingdom of Asia; situated be- tween 25 and 44 degrees of north latitude ; extending about thirteen hundred miles in length, and eleven hun- dred in breadth ; bounded, in part, by India, by the In- dian Ocean, by Arabia, and by Turkey in Europe : Is- pahan is its capital. The middle and southern parts uf this country abound with silks, and rich stuffs, and with the finest fruits. The Persian empire was founded by Cyrus, five hundred and thirty-six years before the Christian era. It rose to prodigious power, wealth, and splendor, a.nd continued to be the proud oppressor of the East, for about two centuries ; when it was con- quered by Alexander. A new empire, called the Par- thian, was, however, founded on its ruins by the Per- sians, under Abaces, about eighty years after Alexan- der's conquest. In the year ot the Christian era 651, the Saracens, or Arabs, put an end to that empire ; and Persia afterwards became a pre}- to the Tartars, till Nadir Sha, who assumed the name of Kouli Khan, usurp- ed the government, and once more raised Persia to a powerful kingdom. In 1747, he was assassinated by his own relations ; his horrible cruelties being intolera- ble even to them. Since the death of Kouli Khan, the whole kingdom has been constantly rent with civil com- motions ; and in prosecuting the claims of ambitious rivals, torrents of blood have been shed, and the most shocking cruelties perpetrated, Rollin tells us, that so, profound was the respect of children toward their pa- rents, among the ancient Persians, that a son never clarr-d to seat himself in the presence of his mother, till he had first obtained her leave. PERSIMGN TREE, a valuable" tree that grows spontaneously in some parts of the United States, near PERU. 93 the tide waters, and succeeds in almost any kind of soil. It is of a quick growth, and yields great quantities of fruit in a few years after it is planted. The wood is hard, has a fme^close grain, and may be applied to many mechanical purposes ; and also burns well. A buskel of the fruit of the persimon tree will yield a gallon of wholesome and very agreeable spirit as good as rum. A valuable gum exudes from this tree, and an excellent beer is made from its fruit. Bart-ram* PERU, a district of South America, about eighteen hundred miles in length, and about five hundred in breadth : its western borders are on the south Pacific Ocean. In this district is that immense chain of moun- tains, the Andes, which separate it from Amazonia and Paraguay. Gold, and especially silver, are produced in great abundance; and Peru is almost the only place that produces quicksilver, or mercury, an article of im- mense value, which was first discovered there in 1507. It is a singular fact, that it scarce ever rains in Peru ' but this want is amply compensated bv a soft refresh- ing dew, which generally falls every night. The Peru- vians were the most civilized of any of the American Indians : they were richly dressed, and their arms glit- tered with gold and precious stones. Pizarro, a Spaniard, invaded and conquered them in the year 1532. Atalm- alpa, the inca or sovereign of Peru, alarmed at the rava- ges of the Spaniards, agreed to an interview with the Spanish general, in order to settle the conditions of peace. He came to the place of meeting, carried upon a throne of gold, and attended by upwards often thou- sand men. While the negociation was pending, the word of command was given by Pizarro ; the artillery played; the musquetry fired; the cavalry spread con- fusion and terror : in the mean time Pizarro advanced, at the head of a chosen band, and seized the person of Atahualpa the inca. The slaughter was dreadful, and the pillage immense ; the blow was final, and Peru ceased to be an empire. After draining Atahualpa of his treasures, under pretence of a ransom for his liber- ty, Pizarro condemned him to be burnt alive ; but af- terwards changed the inca's sentence to strangling, on condition that he should die in the Christian faith ! A a 2 294 PHENICIANS-PHlLADELPHIA-PlCttlNCA, PHENICIANS, an ancient people of Asia, who in- habited the sea-coasts, in the neighborhood of the Is- raelites, and particularly Tyre and Sidon. The first navigators of whom we have any account, were the Phe- nicians, who were scattered along the coasts of the Mediterranean and of the Red Sea. As early as the days of Moses, they had extended their navigation be- yond the Pillars of Hercules, on the western coasts of Africa, toward the south ; and as far northward as the island of Britain, whence they imported tin and lead, which, according to the universal testimony of the an- cients, were not then found in any other country. Selknap. The Phenicians are said to have been the first who applied astronomy to navigation. PHILADELPHIA, the metropolis of Pennsylvania. It was laid out by William Penn, in the year 1683 5 and is intersected by a great number of streets crossing each other at right angles, the buildings being large, and mostly of brick. This city lies in latitude 39 57', iifty miles west from the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated about four miles due north from the confluence of the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill. The land near the rivers, between the city and the conflux of the rivers, is, in general, low, moist and subject to be overflowed. The land to the northward and westward, in the vicini- ty of the city, is high, and, in general, well cultivated. The air is much purer to the north, than at the south end of the city : hence the lamps exhibit a fainter flame in its southern than in its northern parts. The spot on which Philadelphia stands evidently appears to be made ground. The different strata through which they pass in digging to water, the acorns, leaves, and sometimes branches, which are found above twenty feet below the surface, all seem to demonstrate this.- Dr. Hush, Ch. Thompson. PICHINCA, a volcanic mountain, almost three miles perpendicular height above the surface of the sea. It is one of the highest peaks of the Andes, and is situa- ted in Quito 1 , a province of Peru. " On the top of this mountain, (says Ulloa) was my station for measuring a degree of the meridian 5 where I suffered particular PIGEONPIMENTO TREE. 295 hardships from the intenseness of the cold, and the vio- lence of the storms. The sky around was, in general, involved in thick fogs, which when they cleared away, and the clouds by their gravity moved nearer to the face of the earth, appeared surrounding the foe t of the moun- tain, at a vast distance below, like a sea encompassing an island in the midst of it. When thig happened, the horrid noises of tempests were heard from beneath, dis- charging themselves on Quito and the neighboring country. I saw (continues he) the lightnings issue from the clouds, and heard the thunders roll far beneath me e All this time, while the tempest was raging below, the mountain top where I was placed, enjoyed a delightful serenity, and a clear sky." PIGEON, a bird bred tame in cotes or houses : of these birds there is a variety of species. Tame pigeons, in Europe, have been used to carry letters. They are first brought from the place where they are bred, and whither it is intended to send them back with informa- tion. The letter is laid under the bird's wing, and it is then let loose to return. When it finds itself at liberty, it soars up into the clouds to an amazing height, and continues flying aloft till it gets home, and then darts down with the utmost exactness, and brings the letter to those for whom it was intended. In an hour and an half they will perform a journey of forty miles. At the ex- ecution of criminals at Tyburn in England, when the cart began to be drawn away from under the gallows, it was a custom to Jet a pigeon fly into the air, to give no- tice to people at some uistance that the culprits were dying. Goldsmith PIMENTO TREE, a tree that bears a kind of spice, of a round figure, named Jamaica pepper, or alspice : thev grow spontaneously in great abundance in the isl- and of Jamaica. This tree is purely a child of nature, and seems to mock all the labors of man in his endeav- ors to extend or improve its growth ; for where it is not fovmd growing spontaneously, it cannot be propagated from seeds or from the young plants. The trunk, which is of a grey colour, smooth and strong, rises to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. It then branches out on all 296 PIN PINNA. sides, richly clothed with leaves of a deep green, con- trasted by an exuberance of white flowers. They form the most delicious groves that can possibly be imagin- ed; filling the air with fragrance. As this tree which is no less remarkable for fragrance than beauty, suffers no rival plant to flourish within its shade, so these groves are not only clear of underwood, but there is beneath a close, clean, and smooth turf, of a fine bright colour. Over this beautiful surface the pimento spreads itself, here in extensive groves, there in groups : some crown- ing the hills, and others scattered down the declivities. Bryan Edwards. PIN, a short piece of brass wire, with a sharp point and round head, used in fastening the female dress. Pins were first brought from France into England, in the year 1543. Previous to that time they used rib- bons, laces and skewers, for fastening clothes. In man- ufacturing pins in England, one man draws out the wire, another straights it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head : to make the head requires two or three distinct operations ; to put it on is a peculiar business, to whiten the pins is another ; it is even a* trade by itself to put them into the paper ; and the important business of making a pin, is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct ope- rations, which in some manufactories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them. In conse- quence of such a division and combination of the differ- ent operations, they are able to make more than two hundred fold the number of pins., which they could make if they all wrought separately and independently. Jldam Smith. PINNA, or faa-Wing) a surprising little animal of the deep. The pinna is contained in a two-valve shell, weighing sometimes fifteen pounds, and emits a beard of fine long glossy silk-like fibres, by which it is sus- pended to the rocks twenty or thirty feet deep beneath the surface of the sea. In this situation it is so success- fully attacked by the eight-footed polypus, that the spe- cies, perhaps could not exist but for the exertions of the PINNOTHERIS PLAGUE PLANETS. 297 pinnotheris, which lives in the same shell, as a guard and companion. *Darwin. PINNOTHERIS, a small crab, naked, but furnished with good eyes, and lives in the same shell with the pinna. When they want food the pinna opens its shell, and sends its faithful ally to forage ; but if the crab, or pinnotheris sees the polypus, their common enemy, he returns suddenly to the arms of his blind hostess, who, by closing the shell, avoids the fury of the enemy ; oth- erwise, wnen it has procured a booty, it brings it to the opening of the shell, where it is admitted, and they di- vide the prey. This was observed by Hallequist, in hia voyage to Palestine. Darwin. PLAGUE, a contagious and fatal disorder, that has often depopulated extensive regions of the earth. In the year 1798, there was so terrible a plague at Rome^ as to carry off ten thousand people in a day. The plague which spread itself in a manner over the whole world, in the year 1346, as we are told by Mazeray, was so contagious that scarce a village, or even a house es- caped being infected by it. Before it had reached Eu- rope, it had been two years travelling from the great kingdom of Cathay, where it began by a vapor most hor- ribly fcetid : this broke out of the earth like a subter- ranean fire, and upon the first instant of its eruption, consumed and desolated above two hundred leagues of that country. In 1611, about two hundred thousand persons died of the plague, in Constantinople. The great plague, as it was emphatically called, at London, was brought thither in some Levant goods, which came from Holland about the close of the year 1664; the deaths there amounted to between eight and ten thou- sand a week. (See article LONDON.) The great plague of Marseilles, in France, was brought thither from Syria* in May 1720 ; the deaths were estimated at between fifty and sixty thousand. In 1792, the plague carried off about three hundred thousand people in Egypt. Goldsmith, et ceteri. PLANETS, heavenly bodies which revolve round the sun as the centre of their motion ; they consist of pri- 289 PLANT PLANTANE. mary planets, satellites or moons, and comets. There are ten primary planets, which reckoned in order from the sun, are as follows : Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Juno, Pallas, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, and Ilers- chel. The orbits of Mercury and Venus are within that of the earth ; but the orbits of the seven other planets include the earth's orbit within theirs. The earth has one satellite or moon ; Venus one ; Jupiter four ; Sat- urn seven ; and Herschel six. Planets receive their light from the sun ; but each fixed star is thought to be itself a sun, and to shine with its own light, upon worlds revolving round it. The ancients had knowledge only of seven planets including the moon ; which they sym- bolically represented by the seven strings to Apollo's lyre. Kepler was the first who discovered the great and universal law of the motion of planets ; namely, that a line drawn from the centre of the sun to the planet, and revolving with it, would always describe equal areas in equal times ; insomuch that, however swiftly a planet moves when nearest the sun, or how slowly soever when farthest from it, the space contained within the angle it makes with the sun is exactly the same in any given time. See COMETS. PLANT, an organical body, destitute of sense, pro- duced by the earth, to which it adheres by its roots, and receives its nourishment from it. The catalogue of plants enumerated by Linnseus, the great botanist of Sweden, amounted to about ten thousand. The number since discovered and added to the lists by botanists, cir- cumnavigators, and travellers, is so very great, that the species now known and described considerably exceed twenty thousand. Miller. PLANTANE, a vegetable that grows spontaneously in all parts of this country, and is an excellent antidote to poison. Some years ago the Assembly of South Caro- lina purchased the negro Ccesar's freedom, and gave him an annuity of one hundred pounds, for discovering the efficacy of plantane, together with that of hoarhound, as a 'cure for poison. Though the plantane, or hoar- hound, will either of them have a good effect alone, they are most efficacious together. Cresar's cure for PLATA PLATINA. 99 the bite of a rattlesnake is as follows. Take of the roots of plantane and noarhound (in summer roots and branch- es together) a sufficient quantity; bruise them in a mor- tar, and squeeze out the juice, of which give as soon as possible, one large spoonful, repeating the dose an hour after, unless the patient is perfectly relieved. It the roots are dried they -must be moistened with a little warm wa- ter. This remedy is said never to fail. American Mu- '~seum. PLATA, a river in South America, and one of the largest in the whole world. Patanco, a Jesuit, who sail- ed up this river, gives the following account of it. " While I resided in Europe, (says Patanco,) and read in books of history and geography that the river La Plata was an hundred and fifty miles in breadth, I con- sidered it as an exaggeration, because in this hemis- phere, (that is, in tie eastern continent) we have no ex- ample of such vast rivers. When 1 approached its mouth, I had the most vehement desire to ascertain the breadth with my own eyes, and I have found the matter to be exactly as was represented. This I deduce par- ticularly from one circumstance ; when we took our de- parture from Monte Video, which is situated more than a hundred miles from the mouth of the river, and where its breadth is considerably diminished, we sailed a com- plete day before we discovered the land on the. opposite bank of the river; and when we were in the middle of the channel we could not discover land on either side, and saw nothing but the sky and water, as if we had been in some great ocean." This river empties ^into the south Atlantic Ocean, at about 35 degrees south la- titude. PLATINA, a metal found in Peru. It is white, but darker and not so bright as silver. It is heavier than gold, consequently the heaviest of all known bodies. Its hardness is inferior only to that of iron ; and its tena- city, which is more than thirteen times that of lead, is inferior to that of iron and copper alone. Exposed to the lire, it is very nearly as fixed as gold ; neither wa- ter nor air occasions any alterations in it. Platina is a metal valuable for its great hardness, the high polish of 300 PLEIADESPLUMMET POISONED ARROWS. which it is susceptible, and its unalterability. It will not tarnish in the air, neither will it rust. It can be forged and extended into thin plates ; and when dissolv- ed in aqua regia^ it may be made to assume an infinite diversity of colours. Brisson. PLEIADES, a constellation in the heavens, mention- ed in the book of Job. The ancients had observed seven stars in the Pleiades. Six only are now perceptible ; the seventh disappeared at the siege of Troy. Ovid the Roman poet says, it w r as so affected at the fate of that unfortunate city, as from grief, to cover its face with its hand. St. Pierre. In this constellation wherein seven stars formerly appeared, and since only six, Herschel has observed seventy with his telescope. PLUMMET, a weight of lead on a string, by which the depths of the sea are measured ; it is generally made of a lump of lead of about forty pounds weight, fastened to a cord. By frequent soundings with the plummet it has been found that the bottom of the ocean (which on an average, is judged to be about a quarter of a mile from the surface of the water) is unequal ; consisting of dales and hills, deep valleys and lofty mountains, like the dry land. M. Buaclie has actually given us a map of that part of its bottom, which lies between Africa and America, taken from the several soundings of mariners. In it we find the same uneven surface that we do upon the land, the same eminencies, and the same depres- sions. Goldsmith. POISONED ARROWS, implements of war which are used only by barbarians, and particularly by some of the tribes of Africa ; who have the art of injecting their weapons with such a deadly poison, that if they only pierce the flesh, death inev itably ensues. Mr. Park tells us, that among the Mandingo negroes the deadly poison for their arrows is prepared from a shrub called koona, which is very common in the woods. The leaves of this shrub, when boiled well with a small quantity of water, yield a thick black juice, into which the negroes clip a cotton thread ; this thread they fasten round the iron of the arrow in such a manner that it is almost im- POLAND. 301 possible to extract it, when it has sunk beyond the barbs, without leaving the iron point and the poisoned thread in the wound. POLAND, a large country in Europe; extending (before its partitions) 700 miles in length, and 680 in breadth ; situated between 46 30' and 37 35' north latitude ; bounded, in part, by Hungary, Germany, the Baltic, Russia, and the territories wrested by that pow- er from the Turks. " The common mode of salutation in this country is to incline the head and strike the breast with one of the hands, while they stretch the other to- ward the ground ; but when a common person meets a superior, he bows his head almost to the earth, waving at the same time his hand, with which he touches the bottom of the leg, near the heel, of the person to whom he pays his obeisance." The government of the Poles was an elective monarchy ; almost the whole power be- ing in a proud and factious nobility, who held the peo- ple in the lowest state of vassalage. Internal divisions brought destruction upon Poland, and were the means of subjecting it to the neighboring powers. The first par- tition of this country was effected, in 1772, by the king of Prussia, the empress of Russia and the emperor of Germany. The second partition was made by the em- press of Russia, and king of Prussia, in 1795, when the Russians, under general Suwarrow, exercised towards the unfortunate Poles, the most detestable and shocking cruelties. An article in the Polish constitution, called Liberum Veto, produced infinite distraction among the nation, as well as opened a wide door to foreign in- fluence 5 it was probably borrowed from the Roman tri- bunate. The Liberum Veto gave each nuncio or re- presentative at a Polish diet, a power not only of putting a negative to any law, but even of dissolving the assem- bly by his single vote. This extraordinary power in every individual representative, commenced about the middle of the 1 7th century, in the reign of John Casi- mer ; and within the space of a hundred and twelve years from its commencement, forty-eight diets or na- tional assemblies were precipitately dissolved by its ope- ration. This absurd privilege or power, which the representatives who enjoyed it termed the most invalua- Bb 302 POLAR BEAR POLE STAR, able palladium of Polish liberty, was one great source of the anarchy that constantly agitated Poland, and at last brought it to ruin. POLAR BEAR, or Great White Bear, found in the polar regions. This animal (Winterbotliam says) dif- fers greatly from the common bear in the length of its head and neck, and grows to above twice the size. Its limbs are huge and of great strength ; its hair long, harsh, and disagreeable to the touch, and of a yellowish white colour, and its teeth are large. It has been sel- dom seen farther south than Newfoundland, but abounds chiefly on the shores of Hudson's Bay, Greenland, Spits- bergen, and Nova Zembla: these inhospitable regions seem adapted to its sullen nature. The greatest admi- ral that ever commanded a British fleet, begun, it would seem, his career of heroic adventures by an encounter with one of these bears. In the year 1773, the admin- istration of Great Britain sent two vessels, commanded by Captains Phipps and Lutwidge, to the regions of the north pole, on a voyage of discovery \ which proceeded to the eighty-first degree of latitude, where they were in the utmost danger of being locked in by the ice. Horatio Nelson (afterwards the celebrated lord Nelson) belonged to one of these ships ; and was at that time on- ly about fifteen years old. One night it happened, while the vessels were jammed in by the ice, that young Nel- son was missing, and no small fears were entertained for his life ; but early next morning he was seen, at a con- siderable distance from the ship, pursuing a bear on the ice. He was armed only with a musket, which, by rea- son of some injury that had happened to the lock, was rendered of no farther service to him than as a club ; yet, thus poorly equipped, he had the resolution to pur- sue the formidable animal all night, in hopes of tiring it out, and knocking it down with the but-end of his gun. On his return to the ship, and receiving reproof from the captain, who sternly demanded the reasons for so rash an undertaking, the young hero replied, ;i I was in hopes, sir, of getting a skin for my father." Charnock* POLE STAR, a very bright star that is situated ex- actly or almost exactly at the north pole. There are two POLES. 303 immoveable points, the one at the north and the other at the south ; round which points the stars in their neigh- borhood seem to turn, and have the singular property of neither rising in the east or setting in the west. To a man standing at the equator both the poles are in the horizon. If he travel southward, the south pole rises 5 and the further he travels, the greater will be its eleva- tion : but the southern polar point is not exactly desig- nated by any particular star; nor are there so many stars near it as the northern. If a person travel north- ward from the equator, the northern pole rises, and the pole star is more and more elevated the further he goes in that direction. Towards the north there is a constel- lation consisting of seven stars, called Charles's Wain, from its supposed resemblance to the four wheels of a waggon and a file of three horses ; and the pole star is almost in the range of the two stars which compose the hinder wheels of this wain or waggon; but is placed higher up in the sky. The pole star is not only of in- valuable use to mariners, but is also capable of direct- ing the benighted traveller. If a person be bewildered in the night, provided the sky be clear, he may easily find the points of compass. For while he faces the pole star, the north is before him, the east at his right hand, the west at his left, arid the south behind him : on the other hand, if he turn his back to the pole star, the north will be behind him, the south in front, the west on his right hand, and the east on his left. POLES, in geography, the extreme points of an im- aginary line passing from north to south through the centre of the earth ; which line is called the earth's axis. The earth is thought to be nearly in the shape of an or- ange, largest at the equator, and flatted at the poles. Hence the poles are nearer the centre of this terrestrial ball than the equator is ; hence also its diurnal motion round its axis, as it respects bodies on its surface, is much slower towards the poles than at and near the equator. Experiments prove, as is said, that a pendu- lum which vibrates seconds near the poles, vibrates slower near the equator ; which shows that it is less attracted at the latter than in the former latitude. Bodies near the poles are heavier than those towards the equa- 304 POLYPUSPOPE. tor, because they are nearer the earth's centre, when? the whole force of the earth's attraction is accumulated. They are also heavier, because their centrifugal force is less, on account of their diurnal motion being slower. We are told by the learned that if the world turned round its axis in eighty-four minutes and forty -three seconds, the centrifugal force would be equal to the power of gravity at the equator, and all bodies there would entirely lose their weight ; and that if the earth revolved still quicker, they w'ould all fly olf and leave it. POLYPUS, an extraordinary water animal, shaped Jike the finger of a glove, open at one end. and closed at the other. This astonishing creature may be multipli- ed to any number of living poly pusses by cutting it in pieces. Though cut into a thousand parts, each retains its vivacious quality, each shortly becomes a distinct and complete polypus ; whether cut lengthways, or cross- ways it is all the same. Goldsmith. POPE, the bishop of Rome. At an early period of the Christian era, the bishop of Rome had claimed pre- eminent rank in the church, by reason, as he pretended, that he was the successor of St. Peter, and had the keep- ing of the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and in pro- cess of time he began to usurp civil as well as ecclesi- astical power. Pope St. Gregory, who died in the year 604, had negociated with princes upon several matters of state, and his successors divided their attention be- tween ecclesiastical and political objects. The usurpa- tions of the bishop of Rome, afterwards called the pope, continued gradually to increase till at length he estab- lished all over Christendom, an ecclesiastical and civil tyranny the most horrible the world ever beheld. The papal power had risen to its summit, about the middle of the twelfth century, when Louis king of France, and Henry II. king of England, meeting pope Alexander III. near the castle of Torci, they both dismounted to re- ceive him, and holding each of them the reins of his bri- dle, walked on foot by his side, and conducted him in that submissive manner into the castle. The spirit of this pretended vicar of the meek and lowly Saviour, may be seen in the bull, or sentence of excomiuunica- POPLAR. 305 lion, which pope Clement VI. fulminated against Louis V. emperor of Germany, in the year 1346 : it was in these words. " May the wrath of God, and of St. Peter and St. Paul, crush him in this world, and that which is to come ! May the earth open and swallow him alive ; may his memory perish, and all the elements be his ene- mies ; and may his children fall into the hands of his adversaries, even in the sight of their father I" Even at the close of the fifteenth century, the kings of Spain and Portugal petitioned of the pope a deed of the coun- tries, in America and Africa, which had then been late- ly discovered by their subjects. Accordingly by a bull of pope Alexander VI. signed on the second day of May, 1498, he (Alexander) by an imaginary line drawn from pole to pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues west of the Azores, divided between the crowns of Spain and Portugal, all the new countries already discovered or to be discovered ; giving the western part to the former, and the eastern to the latter. Hume, Russell) Belknap. POPLAR, a tree that grows in plenty throughout the United States of America ; and is too well known to need a description. Dr. Young, of Philadelphia, in a letter to governor Clayton of Delaware, remarked, that the bark of the poplar possesses the qualities of a bitter, and an astringent ; that the bitter quality is greater, the astringent less, than in the Peruvian bark ; that it likewise possesses an aromatic acrimony ; and hence he infers it is highly antisceptic, and powerfully tonic. The species called Lombardy Poplar, (being brought from Lombardy, in Italy) is planted in the United States merely for ornament ; but in Italy it is sawed at mills whilst green into boards, from a quarter and an half to one inch thick, and into plank from two to three inches thick ; and is much used for making packages for mer- chandise. The nails are not apt to draw in these pack- ages: and the wood being tender is easily cut into thin boards with handsaws. Boxes of it made strong for the use of vineyards, last there thirty or forty years. This tree forms excellent masts for small vessels ; and it af- fords a dye of as delicate a lustre, and equally durable, as the finest yellow wood. The dry branches are pre* B b 2 306 POPPYPORCELAIN. $o\ those in a green state 5 nor should they be cut or bruised : they are possessed of the quality of fix- ing the colours obtained from Brazil and log wood. . The Lombardy poglar in Italy, grows, in twenty years, to be tw r o feet in diameter, and thirty feet long. Jlmer. Museum, Bordley, Willich. POPPY, or Papaver, the plant that produces opium, It is cultivated in Persia and Arabia, where it attains the height of twenty or thirty feet. The plants of this class are almost all of them poisonous; the finest of opium is procured by wounding the heads of the large poppies with a three-edged knife, and tying muscle-shells to them to catch the drops. In small quantities this opium exhilirates the mind, raises the passions, and invigor- ates the body : in large ones it is succeeded by intoxica- tion, languour, stupor, and death. It is customary in In- dia for a messenger to travel above an hundred miles without rest or food, except an appropriate bit of opium, and a larger one for his horse at certain stages. The emaciated and decrepit appearance, with the ridiculous and idiotic gestures of the opium eaters in Constantino- ple, is well described in the Memoirs of Baron Tott. Darwin. PORCELAIN, or China Ware, a most refined spe- cies of earthen ware, which is manufactured not only in China, but likewise in England, France, Holland, and Germ any. After a piece of porcelain has been proper- ly fashioned by the Chinese, it passes into the hands of the painters. This labor of painting is divided among a great number of artists. The business of one is en- tirely confined to tracing out the first coloured circle, which ornaments the brims of the vessel ; another de- signs the flowers ; and a third paints them ; one deline- ates waters and mountains ; and another, birds, and other animals. The Chinese have porcelain -painted with colours of every kind. The art of manufacturing this article in Europe, was found out seemingly by acci- dent. John Frederick Hottger, a German, about the year 1706, having been long engaged in fruitless at- tempts to transmute various substances into gold, and, at hist imputing his want of success to the crucibles not being of a proper quality, he attempted to make these PORCUPINE PORTUGAL. S07 crucibles himself, of a hard and durable kind ; and in this attempt he accidentally produced porcelain ; which has since been commonly manufactured in several king- doms of Europe, but in the greatest quantity, and of the best quality, in France. In the year 1 800, Guirhard and Dell, of France, completed a human figure in porcelain, of four feet high. The advantages to be derived from adopting this kind of statuary, are durability, cheapness, and expedition and ease of production. These figures may be prepared in a mould, by which means the statues of great men may be multiplied with little labor and at small expense. Winterbotham^ Miller. PORCUPINE, commonly called Hedge-Hog, a little animal of a grey colour, and of extremely slow motion. What is singular and most distinguishing in this ani- mal, is the quills with which it is armed. These quills are about four inches in length, and of the size of the quills of a pigeon. When the porcupine is attacked by an enemy, he places his head between his fore feet, and erects these quills all around, in the form of a hem- isphere. He has no power to eject them from his body, or to dart them against his enemy, as has been fre- quently said. But they are so loosely inserted in his flesh, and of such a particular construction, that they are easily extracted, and like a barbed dart stick fast, and work themselves into the flesh of any animal that touches their extremities 5 nor can they be easily drawn \vithout tearing the flesh, but by incision. I Williams. PORTUGAL, the most western country of Europe 5 extending about four hundred miles in length, and one hundred and thirty in its mean breadth : bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and by Spain. It abounds with ex- cellent wines, with which it supplies England 5 and as it receives annually from the Brazils a greater quantity of gold than can be employed in its domestic commerce, a' large share of it goes annually to England, in return either for English goods, or for those of other Europe- an nations that receive their returns through England. The Poi^fguese, who are now so small in the scale of nations, Kave had their day of enterprise, wealth* and power. They had been endeavoring^ during the course 308 POTATOE. of the fifteenth century, to find out by sea a way to the countries from which the Moors brought them ivory and gold dust across the desart. They discovered the Madeiras, the Canaries, the Azores, the Cape de Verd islands, the coast of Guinea, and finally, the Cape of Good Hope. They had long wished to share in the profitable traffic of the Venetians, and this last discov- ery opened to them a probable prospect of doing so.^ In 1497, Vasco de Gama sailed from the port of Lisbon \vith a fleet of four ships, and after a navigation of elev- en months, doubled the Cape, and arrived upon the coast of Indostan, and thus completed a course of dis- coveries which had been pursued with great steadiness, for near a century together. Mam Smith. POTATOE, a most valuable root, which is gener- ally supposed to have been found originally in North America. This root was, for many years, expressly proscribed in France, by reason that its introduction into that kingdom happened to be succeeded by an epidem- ical disorder. It was not much cultivated in Europe till the close of the seventeenth century ; and even then was chiefly confined to Great Britain and Ireland, and seldom seen, except in gardens, in some parts of Ger- many, until within a few years past, the inhabitants would almost consent to starve, rather than eat this pleasant and wholesome vegetable. Count Rumford exerted himself to bring it into favor in Bavaria, arid at length succeeded ; at first he found much difficulty in bringing the poor people there to use it. The act of boiling alters and meliorates the nature of pota- toes 5 and, according to Count Rumford, the best way of boiling them is as follows. Put them into a vessel not of boiling water, like greens, but into a pot with cold water, not sufficient to cover them, as they will produce, of themselves, before they boil, a considerable quantity of fluid. During the boiling, throwing in a lit- tle salt occasionally is found a great improver. When boiled, pour oft' the water, and evaporate the moisture, by placing the vessel in which the potatoes were boiled once more over the fire. Boiling potatoes m'$t^ain, in the opinion of Count Rumford, is less eligible ; because immersion in water causes the discharge of a certain POWDER PLOT POWHATANS. 309 substance, which the steam alone is incapable of ef- fecting, and by retaining which the flavor of the root is injured. POWDER PLOT, an horrible popish plot to blow up the parliament-house, in England. In the year 1605, and in the reign of James I. some of the most zealous of the popish party, under the direction of Garnet, the superior of the Jesuits in England, conspired to exter- minate, at one blow, the most powerful of the protes- tants in that country, and to re-establish the catholic faith. Their conspiracy had for its object the destruc- tion of the king and parliament: and for this purpose they lodged thirty -six barrels of gun- powder in a vault beneath the house of lords. The time fixed for the ex- ecution of the plot, was the fifth of November; which was the day appointed for the meeting of the parlia- ment, when the kin^, queen, and prince of Wales, were expected to be in the house, together with the principal nobility and gentry. Guido Fawkes. a Spanish officer, who was sent for that purpose from Flanders, was en- trusted with the most trying part of the enterprise; and when arrested, the matches, and* every thing proper for setting fire to the train, were found in his pocket. This shocking conspiracy was discovered by an anonymous letter, directed to lord Monteagle, which solemnly warned him against entering the parliament-house on that day.- Russell. POWHATANS, a powerful nation of Indians, which occupied the whole tract of country (now called Virginia) between the sea shore and the falls of the riv- ers : the nation consisted of thirty tribes 5 and the chief sachem was called Powhatan, at the time of the first effectual settlement from Europe, in 1610. In the ear- ly progress of the settlement, Captain John Smith, a distinguished founder of the colony of Virginia, was cap- tured by the savages, and brought before their old sa- chem Powhatan, who received him in royal state. He was seated on a kind of throne, elevated above the floor of a large Jyjt, in the midst of which was a fire : and was clotheer in a robe of racoon skins. On each hand of the sachem sat his daughters, two beautiful girls; 310 PROSCRIPTION. and along each side of the house, a row of his counsel* lors, painted, and adorned with feathers and shells. Upon the entrance of Smith, a great shout was made : water was brought to wash his hands, and he was serv- ed with a buut.li of feathers for a towel. Having feast- ed him after their manner, along consultation was held, which being ended, two large stones were brought in, on one of which his head was laid, and clubs were lifted up to beat out his brains. At this critical moment, Pocahontas, a girl about sixteen, and the favorite daugh- ter of the sachem, sprang from her seat at her father's side, flew to the prisoner, took his head in her arms, and laid her own upon it. Her tender intreaties pre- vailed ; the old sachem consented that Smith should live to make hatchets for him, and ornaments for her. In 1613, Pocahontas was married to Mr. John Rolle, an Englishman, who soon after visited England with his wife, where she publicly professed the Christian faith, was baptised, and died in 1617, aged 22; leaving a daughter, from whom some of the most respectable fa- milies of Virginia are descended. Belknap. PROSCRIPTION,* a most horrible method of assas- sination, which was practised in the Roman Republic, bj the leaders of the predominant factions. The manner of proscribing was, to write down the names of those who were doomed to die, and expose them on tables fixed up in the public places of the city, with the prom- ise of a certain reward for the head of each person so proscribed. The first author and inventor of the pro- scription, was Sylla, a Roman general, who entering the city with an army, about eighty years before the Chris- tian era, proscribed the most distinguished adherents to the opposite party, not only at Rome, but through all the towns of Italy ; and also proscribed many rich men, merely for the sake of confiscating their estates. An- other proscription was afterwards made by the Trium- virate, Octavius, Mark Antony, and Lepidus ; three ge- nerals of armies, who usurped the government of the republican joint partnership among themselves. The last proscription comprehended three hundoul senators, and more tlian two thousand knights. It was forbidden under pain of death, to conceal or assist any proscribed PROTESTANTS PRUSSIA, 3 1 1 person ; a reward was ottered to whoever would kill them, and even the freedom of the city to slaves who assassinated their masters. This proscription included Cicero, one of the greatest men and best patriots that ever Jived. Cicero fled, on receiving notice that he was proscribed. He was pursued and murdered by Popilius Laenas, a tribune or colonel of the army, whom Cicero had formerly defended and preserved in a capital cause. Cicero's head, and both his hands were cut off', and car- ried to Rome, and the. head was ordered to be fixed, be- tween the two hands, upon the rostra ; where his unri- valled powers of eloquence had often been employed in defence of the lives, the fortunes, and the liberties of the Roman people. The murderer of this great and excellent man received about eight thousand pounds sterling, as the re ward of his villany. Jlfiddleton, Mil- lot. The Roman proscription was copied by Marat, Robespierre, and some other bloody Jacobins of France; wiio seemed ambitious to exceed all preceding usurpers and murderers, in deeds of cruelty. PROTESTANTS, dissenters from the church of Rome. In the year Io29, the emperor of Germany .appointed a diet, or assembly of princes, at Spire*, on the river Rhine, in order to take into consideration the state of religion. The diet, after much dispute, issued a decree reprobating the doctrines preached by Martin Luther, and prohibiting all innovations in religion. Against: this decree, as unjust and impious, the elector of Saxony, the landgrave of Hesse, the duke of Luuen- burg, the prince of Anhait. together with the deputies of fourteen imperial or free cities, entered a solemn protest. On that account they were called Protestants ; an appellation which has since become common to all the Christian sects, of whatever denominations, that have revolted from the church of Rome.- Russell. PRUSSIA, a kingdom of Europe, bordering on the Baltic Sea, about five hundred miles in length, and one hundred in breadth in the narrowest part. This king- dom was scarcely known among the nations at the be- ginning of the eighteenth century. Frederick Wil- liam, the father of Frederick called the Great, is repre- 312 PRUTH PTARMIGAN. sented to have been an unpolished and brutal tyrant. ~ He used to walk from his palace, clothed in an old blue coat, with large copper buttons half way down his thighs ; and if he happened to meet a woman, he would sternly say to her, get home, you lazy drab! in honest woman has no business over the threshold of her own door: which words he would accompany with a box on the ear, a kick, or some strokes on the shoulders with his huge cane. This royal brute died in the year 1740; and soon after the commencement of the reign of his son, the Great Frederick, the Prussians began to have a taste for the conveniences and elegancies of life. Some people then began to have furniture in their hou- ses, and some even to have shirts : formerly, like their iron-hearted monarch, they only wore sleeves and fore- bodies, tied on with packthread. Voltaire. PRUTH, a river of Poland, which passes through Moldavia, a province of Turkey in Europe, and falls into the Danube. On the banks of the Pruth, Peter the Great, emperor of Russia, with his army, was sur- rounded in the year 1711, by two hundred and fifty thousand Turks ; and there was seemingly no possibili- ty of escaping death or captivity. In this dreadful ex- tremity, Peter, having formed the desperate resolution of attempting to force his way through the enemy with fixed bayonets, retired to his tent, at the approach of night, in violent agitation of mind : giving positive or- ders that no person whatsoever should be admitted to disturb his privacy. Catharine, a Livonian captive, of low condition, whom Peter had married and raised to the throne, and who accompanied him in this expedi- tion, ventured for once, to disobey him. Entering the melancholy abode of her husband, and throwing her- self at his feet, she entreated permission to offer, in his name, proposals of peace to the grand visier. Peter, after some hesitation, consented 5 and Catharine, by the most consummate prudence, succeeded in her mission : a peace was made ; and Peter was allowed to retire with his army. Russell. PTARMIGAN, a fowl or bird peculiar to the barren, frozen regions of Lapland. It never migrates to the PYRAMID QUADRUPEDS. 313 south. It seems to have been made for the particular use of the habiters of that climate, and clothed and for- tified purposely for the endurance of its rigors ; its verj claws being covered with feathery bristles. It lives under the snow, for months together, on the suds of the dwarf-birch, and supplies the Laplander with a consid- erable part of his food during autumn and winter. The hand of Providence was scarcely more evident in send- ing quails to the camp of Israel, than in providing the Laplander with the Ptarmigan, PYRAMID, a solid edifice, in the form of a sugar- loaf, with a large base, and terminating in a point at the top. The largest of the pyramids of Egypt, according to Herodotus, was built by Cheops. This prince, he tells us, reigned fifty years, twenty-two of which he em- ployed in building the pyramids. The third part of the inhabitants of Egypt were employed, by forced service, in hewing, transporting, and raising the stones. This pyramid is near five hundred feet in perpendicular height, but if measured obliquely to the terminating point, seven hundred feet; it is six hundred and sixty feet square at the base, covering exactly ten English acres $ and sixteen feet at the top. It contains a room, thirty -four feet long, and seventeen broad, in which is a marble chest, without cover or contents, supposed to have been designed for the tomb of the founder. The pyramids of Egypt, those monuments of human pride and tolly, have probably stood almost three thousand years. From the relations of modern travellers, they seem to be nearly in the same state as when they were viewed by Herodotus, above two thousand and two hun- dred years ago. Volmy, Russell. Q. C^UADRUPEDS, four footed animals. According to Mr. Button's latest conclusions in his JBpopues de, la JVoftcre, there are three hundred species or quadru- peds ; and America, according to the Abbe Clavigero, C c 314 QUAIL QUEBECQUICKSILVER. contains about one half of these. There may, howev- er, be many species yet unknown, in those parts of the earth which have not yet been explored : nor is the enumeration complete, in those countries which are known." QUAIL, a well known bird. The quails which an- nually take their departure from Europe, on their way to Africa, have such a perfect knowledge of the autum- nal equinox, that the day of their arrival in Malta, where they rest for twenty-four hours, is marked in the al- manacks of the island, about the 22d of September, and varies every year as the equinox. &. Pierre. QUEBEC, a city of Lower Canada, and the capital of all British America ; built upon a steep rock on the northern bank of the river St. Lawrence ; lying about three hundred and twenty miles from the sea. This r the increase of the population of Russia appeared to be as follows : In the year 1722, fourteen millions; 1742 sixteen millions^; 1762, twenty millions ; 1782, twenty- eight millions ; 1788, thirty millions. So that it seems the population of Russia has more than trebled in ninety years, and has increased by more than one third in the last twenty-tour years. In the ratio of the increase of the population of Russia in the last twenty-four years, it will amount to a hundred millions in a little more than half a century hence. i5 ABLE, a small animal, valuable for its fur. About the beginning of October, the Chinese Tartars take their departure to hunt sables, clad in short close gar- ments of wolf skins ; their heads are covered with caps of the same, and their bows are suspended at their backs. They take with them several horses loaded with sacks of millet and their long cloaks made of foxes' or tigers' skins, with which they defend themselves from the cold during the night. The sable skins of this country are valuable ; but the obtaining them exposes the hunters to extreme dangers and fatigues. The most beautiful skins are put apart for the emperor ; the rest are sold 328 SAHARA SALMON SALMON TROUT. high, even in the country, being immediately bought up by the Mandarins and merchants. Winterbotham* SAHARA, called the Great Desart, an ocean of sand* in Africa, presenting a surface equal in extent to about one half Europe. The great body, or western division of this sand ocean, comprised between Fezzan and the Atlantic, is from north to south, from seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred miles, and double that extent in length. It is without doubt the largest desart in the world : it abounds with salt-mines, whence the neigh- boring nations are supplied with salt. On the edge of this great desart, wells are dug to an amazing depth, and water mixed with fine sand, springs up suddenly, and sometimes fatally to the workmen. The people call this abyss of sand and water, the sea below ground. -Park. SALMON, a fish of superior quality. These fish are chiefly found in high northern latitudes; they are plenty in the north-easterly parts of Massachusetts, and particularly in the district of Maine ; but are now found in no river" of the United States, whose mouth is south- wardly of that of Connecticut river. Indeed we are told that when Captain Henry Hudson first discovered the river in New -York that bears his name, he found in it a plenty of salmon ; but it must have been a long time since these fish made their last visit to the waters of the Hudson. In the rivers of Kampschatka, as relat- ed in Cooke's voyages, their numbers are immense, and they swim with such velocity that the water is greatly agitated with their motion. Three feet and an half is their usual length in those rivers, and they are more than proportionably deep ; their average weight being from thirty to forty pounds. It is credibly reported that salmon, in ascending rivers, will leap to the top of catar- acts of several feet in height ; a circumstance in which they exceed perhaps every other fish that swims. SALMON TROUT, a fish that in its form, dimen- sions, and appearance, very much resembles the sal- mon; but the meat is of a finer grain, and of a more delicate taste and flavor. This trout is found in lake Champlain, and in the rivers and ponds which are con- SALT MINES SAMIEL SANDWICH ISLANDS. 329 nected with it. They are taken with the hook and line 5 and are commonly from seven to ten pounds weight. Some have been taken which weighed twenty -five pounds 5 others have been seen leaping out of the wa- ter, which the fishermen supposed would weigh from thirty-five to forty pounds. Williams. SALT MINES. In Hungary there is a mine of salt- rock that has been worked for six hundred years past, and is dug to the depth of 743 feet. But the salt mines in Poland, near the city of Cracow, are more extraordi- nary. These are wonclerful caverns, several hundred yarcls deep, at the bottom of which, are several intricate windings and labyrinths ; and on one side of the mine is a stream of salt water, and on the other, one of fresh. The bottom of these mines is a spacious plain, scooped out of the vast bed of salt, which is all a hard rock, as bright and glittering as crystal, and tinged with all the colours of precious stones, as blue, yellow, purple and green. Many lights are constantly burning ; and the blaze of these, reflected from every part of the mine, gives a more glittering prospect than any thing above ground can exhibit. Here is a kind of subterraneous republic, of men, women, and children, with houses, villages, roads, horses, and carriages. Many hundreds of people are born and live all their lives here ; never seeing the sun, nor any object above ground. Morse. SAMIEL, hot and suffocating winds of Asia: they are most dangerous between twelve and three o'clock, when the atmosphere is at its greatest degree of heat. Their force entirely depends on the surface over which they pass. If it be over a desart where there is no vege- tation they extend their dimensions with amazing ve- locity, and then their progress is sometimes to wind- ward. If over grass, or any other vegetation, they soon diminish and lose much of their force. If over water, they lose all their electrical fire, and ascend.- Jac&son, SANDWICH ISLANDS, a cluster of islands, situ- ated in the Pacific Ocean, about the 21st and 22d de- grees of north latitude. The natives of these islands are remarkable for an astonishing expertness in swini- D d 330 SANSCRITSARACENS. 51 OTIS ming. They leave their canoes on the most frivolom occasions, dive under them, and swim to others, though at a considerable distance. Women, with infants at their breasts, when the surf is so high as to prevent their landing in the canoes, are frequently seen to leap overboard and swim to the shore, without endangering their infants. Cookers Voyages. SANSCRIT, the ancient and sacred language of Hindostan ; understood, formerly, only by a few of the most learned among themselves ; but f latterly, acquired and translated by Mr. Wilkins, and Sir William Jones. " The Sanscrit language, (says Sir William Jones) what- ever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure ; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either ; yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs, and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident ; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine them all, without believing^ them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists." SARACENS, a people celebrated some centuries ago, who came from the desarts of Arabia. They pro- ceeded from Ishrnael, whose descendants have been the wildest and fiercest race of men ever known on the earth ? and have lived by rapine and plunder for more than four thousand years : thus fulfilling the prediction concern- ing Ishmael, namely, that he would be a wild man ; and lhat his hand would be against every man, and every man-s hand against him. The Ishmaelites were called Arabi- ans, from the name of their country, and Hagarenes as descending from Hagar 5 some say that they called themselves Saracens, in pretence that they sprung from Sarah, Abraham's wife ; but others suppose that their name originated from the word Sarra, which in the Ara- bic language signifies a desart. The Saracens were among the first disciples of Mahomet; and, within six- ty years after his death, conquered a great part of Asia, Africa, and Europe. They maintained a war in Pales- tine a long time against the western Christians, and, at length, drove them out of it. To this people the Euro SARAN A SARD AMSATURN. 331 peans are indebted for the numerical figures, and for several discoveries in the arts and sciences. See ARA- BIA. SARANA, a plant that grows at Kamptskatka, and is a substitute for bread in that dreary country, where no grain can be raised ; the stem grows to the height of about five inches, and has a bulbous root like that of garlic. This plant grows wild, and in great quantities 5 and about the beginning of August the Kampts chad ale women are employed in collecting the roots, and drying them. The root of the Sarana, when roasted in embers, is a better substitute for bread than any thing the coun- try produces ; and when baken in an oven and pounded, it supplies the place of flour and meal, and is mixed in all their soups and in many of their other dishes. Cookers Voyages. SARD AM, a sea-port town of Holland, where for- merly were vast magazines of timber for building ships, and a prodigious number of shipwrights. Here is still seen the hut in which Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, resided, while he worked as a shipwright in this town. This wonderful man, about the beginning of the eigh- teenth century, left his throne in order to obtain a know- ledge of the useful arts, and residing at Sardam, he served a kind of apprenticeship at ship-building ; la- boring with his own hands in the ship-yard like a common mechanic, associating with the workmen, con- forming to them in apparel, and partaking of their fare, SATURN, a heathen god. As the god of time, or rather as time itself personified, Saturn was usually painted by the heathens holding a scythe in one hand, and in the other a snake with its tail in its mouth, the symbol of perpetual cycles and revolutions of ages : he was often represented in the act of devouring years, in the form ot children, and sometimes, encircled by the seasons appearing like boys and girls. Sir W. Jones. SATURN, a primary planet, which was reckoned the most remote from the sun of all the planets in our sys- tem, before the discovery of the planet HerschelL It 332 SAVANNAH CRANE SCHEIK. shines but with a pale and feeble light. Its diameter is seventy-nine thousand and forty-two miles ; its distance from the sun nine hundred million miles, and its pe- riodic revolution in its orbit is performed in about twenty-nine years and one hundred and sixty-seven days : all this space of time making only a year t at that planet. Saturn has seven satellites or moons ; and is also surrounded by a broad flat ring. We are told by astronomers that the \vidth of this rin; is about twenty-five thousand miles ; forming around the planet a beautiful arch, which may be designed, among other purposes, to increase its light and heat, by reflecting upon it, like a concave mirror, the sun's rays ; of which, by reason of its great distance from the sun, it would not otherwise have had a sufficient quantity. Bowdoin, Bowditch. SAVANNAH CRANE, a stately bird common in Georgia and the Floridas. It is about six feet in length from the toes to the extremity of the beak when ex- tended, and the win^s expand eight or nine feet. They are above five feet high when standing erect ; the beak is very long, straight, and sharp-poinfed ; the crown of the head bare of feathers, of a reddish rose colour; the legs and thighs are very long, and bare of feathers a great space above the knees ; and the plumage is of a pale ash colour, with shades of pale brown and sky blue. When these birds move their wings in flight, their strokes are slow and regular, and even when at a considerable distance in the air, the creaking of the shafts and web of their pin feathers upon one another, is plainly heard. Bartram. SCHEIK, or Old Mm of the Mountain, the chief of ii most formidable tribe of assassins, who had their re- sidence on Mount Lebanon, between Antioch and Da- mascus. In the Kast the name Sclieik was given to this monarch ; but the Europeans generally called him. the Old Man of the Mountain. The first chief of this remarkable clan, was Hassan Sabah, a subtle impostor, who by his artifices made fanatical and most obedient slaves of his subjects. Their religion was compounded of that of the magi, the Jews, the Christians, and the SCORPION. 333 Mahometans ; and the capital article of their creed was, that the Holy Ghost resided in their chief, and that all his orders proceeded from God himself ; implicit obe- dience to which would insure to them the joys of para- dise. Accordingly they were accustomed to prostrate themselves at the foot of his throne, and, at his com- mand, would stab themselves, or throw themselves headlong down frightful precipices ; not only without murmuring, but with the utmost alacrity ana satisfac- tion. Some of his subjects had learned every language, and could conform themselves to the manners of every nation ; and thus prepared they were sent abroad in disguise, to the courts of princes, not only through Asia and Africa, but also in Europe. Any prince that had refused tribute to the Scheik, or in any wise offend- ed him, was in danger every moment of receiving death at the hands of his assassins. Philip Augustus. King of France, on being told that the Old Man of the Mountain intended to have him assassinated ; he immediately in- stituted a new body guard, and never appeared without a club fortified either with iron or gold. The Scheik, darting abroad his thunderbolts from the summit of Mount Lebanon, and sending death to monarchs and noblemen who offended him, held the world in terror, for more than a century ; most sovereigns paid him a private tribute ; and all beheld him with dread and dis- may. The Mogul Tartars overthrew and completely conquered this tribe of assassins, in the year SCORPION, one of the largest animals of the insect tribe, arid not less terrible from its size than from its malignity. It resembles a lobster somewhat in shape, but is infinitely more hideous. The tail is armed with a crooked sting ; that being the fatal instrument which renders this insect so formidable : it is long, pointed, hard and hollow ; it is pierced near the base by two small holes, through which, when the animal stings, it ejects a drop of poison, which is white, caustic, and fatal, in some countries. It is the more dangerous, as it has a propensity to shelter itself in houses, hiding among the furniture. In some of the towns of Italy, and in France, in the province of Languedoc, it is one of the greatest pests that torment mankind $ but its $34 SCOTLAND SEA-APE. malignity in Europe is trifling, when compared to what the natives of Africa, and the East, are known to suffer. In Batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no removing any piece of furniture, without the ut- most danger of being stung by them. In Europe the general size of this animal does not exceed two or three inches ; and its sting is seldom found to be mor- tal ; though said to be inevitably mortal along the gold coast in Africa. Goldsmith. SCOTLAND, or North Britain, the most northern of the two kingdoms into which the island of Great .Britain was formerly divided. It is bounded on all sides by the sea, except towa'rds the south and south-east, where it is joined to England. It lies between 54 and 59 north latitude ; and extends from north to south about tvvtf- hundred and seventy miles in length, and from east to west one hundred and fifty miles in some parts, but in others only thirty. The northern extremi- ty of Scotland is in the same latitude with some parts of Norway ; but, by reason of its insular situation, is J*Cv vCr IHMSIJOCIJ ^invi tnc. ffwuiiJCMi uivi^i'jii ims a gr82fS resemblance to England, both with respect to the gene- ral aspect of the country and to the progress of culti- vation. The Scots are distinguished for a love of literature, a spirit of enterprise, and a strong attach- ment to their country : though they frequently emigrate for the sake of improving their circumstances, yet they seldom lose their partiality for their native land. Scot- land was an independent kingdom till the year 1603 ; when the crowns of England and Scotland were united in the person of James Stuart, called James I. SEA-APE, a marine animal, called by this name by Steller, on account of its monkey tricks : it has been noticed on the western coasts of America. The head resembles that of a dog, with sharp and upright ears, and large eyes. The tail is forked ; the body round, and covered with thick hair, grey on the back, reddish on the beliy. The one described by Steller, sometimes swam on one side, sometimes on the other side of the ship, and gazed at it with great admiration. It would often stand erect for a considerable space, with one third of its body above water; then dart beneath the SEA-HORSE SEA-OTTERSEAL. 335 hip, and appear on the other side ; and repeat the same thirty times together. It would frequently arise with a sea plant, toss it up and catch it in its mouth, playing with it numberless fantastic tricks. Encyc. SEA-HORSE, an animal common on the coasts of the Frozen Ocean. It somewhat resembles a seal ; but is incomparably larger ; weighing eight or nine hund- red pounds. Its tusks are very large, and it some- times attacks, and fights with great fury ; it roars with a very loud voice. They lie upon the ice in herds of many hundreds, huddling like swine, oi.e over another; yet the whole herd is never found sleeping ; some of them being constantly on the watch. When fired at they plunge into the sea, one over the other, in the utmost confusion. The female will defend her young one to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether upon the ice or in the water. Nor will the young one quit the dam, even after she has been killed ; so that, if you destroy one? you are sure of the other. The dam, when in the water, holds her young one be- tween her fore fins. Cookers Voyages. SEA-OTTER, an animal of the fur kind, found at Nootka Sound, on the north-west coast of North Ameri- ca. They are of various colours ; changing their colour as is most probable^ at the different gradations or peri- ods of life. Some of them are of a glossy black, with a part of the hair tipt with white ; some are of a deep brown ; some of a chesnut brown ; and some of a perfect yellow. The fur of these creatures is finer than that of any other animal in the known world. Some of the best skins have been sold in China for one hundred and twenty dollars each. Cookers Voyages. SEAL, an amphibious animal, found in vast numbers on the coasts in some northern climates, and feeds on fish. The seal, in general, resembles a quadruped in some respects, and a fish in others. The head is round, like that of a man ; the nose broad like that of the otter; the teeth like those of a dog ; the eyes are large and sparkling ; the body is thickest where the neck is joined to it ; thence the animal tapers down to the tail 556 SEDGEMOOR. like a fish : and the feet resemble fins. The whole body is covered with a thick bristly shining hair, which looks as if it were entirely rubbed over with oil. In their colours, some are black, others spotted, some white, and many are yellow. On some northern shores, they are seen by thousands, like flocks of sheep, bask- ing on the rocks, and suckling their young : when alarmed, they instantly plunge all together into the water. They delight in tempests : amidst the fury of the elements they are seen in multitudes sporting along the shore, seemingly pleased with the universal disor- der. The seal is taken for the sake of its skin, and for the oil its fat yields. Goldsmith. SEDGEMOOR, a place in England, near the river Severn, famous for the battle fought, July 5, 1685, be- tween the army of James II. and that of the Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II. ; who claimed the crown of England, but was defeated and beheaded. After the defeat of Monmouth, the military executions of Colonel Kirk, an officer in King James's army, were attended with circumstances of most wanton cruelty and barbarity. On his first entry into Bridge-water, a town that lies near Sedgemoor, he not only hanged nineteen prisoners without the least inquiry into the nature of their guilt : but ordered a certain number to be executed while he and his company should drink the king's health ; and observing their feet to quiver in the agonies of death, he commanded the drums to beat and tlie trumpets to sound, saying he would give them music to their dancing. One story, commonly told of Kirk, is memorable in the history 'of human treachery and barbarity. A beautiful young girl, bathed in tears, threw herself at his feet, and pleaded for the life of her brother. The brutal tyrant, inflamed with desire, but not softened into pity, promised to grant her request, provided she would yield to his wishes. She reluc- tantly complied with the base demand ; and after passing the ni-ht with him, the monster shewed her in the morning, from the bed-room window, that beloved brother for whom she had sacrificed her honor, hanging on a gibbet, which he had secretly ordered to be erect- ed for the purpose ! Rage and despair took at once SEGOSENEGAL- SENNAR. 357 possession of her soul, and deprived her forever of her senses. Russell. SEGO, the capital of the negro kingdom of Bam- barra. It consists of four distinct towns, two on the northern banks of the Niger, and two on its southern banks. They are all surrounded with high mud walls ; the houses are of clay, of a square form, with flat roofs ; some are two stories high, and many are whitewashed. Sego, which is the constant residence of the king of Bambarra, is supposed to contain about thirty thousand people. The Niger, on which it stands, is a considera- ble large river of Africa, which runs towards the rising sun, and annually overflows its banks, fertilizing the adjacent country. Park. SENEGAL, a majestic river of Negroland, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. It annually overflows like the Nile. On its beautiful banks, where the lion and the elephant are seen roaming, flowering shrubs perfume the air, and the songs of innumerable birds charm the ear. This river was once explored by a number of Frenchmen, to the distance of one thousand miles ; they underwent such hardships, that, of thirty men, only five returned alive. Park. SENNAR, or Nubia, a kingdom of Africa ; border- ing on Egypt and the Red Sea; extending; about nine- hundred miles in length, and six hundred in breadth. It produces great quantities of gold, and supplies Egypt with slaves. The children are quite naked ; and the grown people, except the higher class, have only a wrapper of linen cloth about their bodies. Their houses have low mud walls, which are liable to be de- molished by a heavy shower of rain ; but it seldom rains in this country. Here the clouds of sand, raised by the wind, sometimes overwhelm travellers, and even whole caravans : here too there is frequently experi- enced that insupportable wind, called Simoon. Volney says that this wind may be compared to the heat of a large oven at the moment of drawing out the bread ; and that when it blows, the sun loses his splendor, and appears of a violet colour. The capital of this king- Ee 338 SENSITIVE PLANTSERPE NERA. dom, which is also called Sennar, lies on the banks of the Nile, between Egypt and Abyssinia : it is five miles in circumference, and very populous, containing near a hundred thousand inhabitants. SENSITIVE PLANT, a remarkable plant that shrinks at the touch. Naturalists have not explained the cause of the collapsing of the sensitive plant. The leaves meet and close in the night, or when exposed to much cold in the day -time, in the same manner as when they are aftected by external violence ; folding their upper surfaces together, and in part over each other, like scales or tiles, so as to expose as little of the up- per surface as may be to the air. Another plant that seems to be endowed with a degree of sensation is the Sun-Flower, which follows the course of the sun by nutation, not by twisting its stem. Damvin. SERPE NERA, a snake common in Italy, which is so fond of milk as to make its way into the dairies, and even suck the cows ; twining round their legs, and spunging their teats with such avidity as to draw blood Avhen their milk is exhausted. Dr. Gabriel Ansel mi, professor of anatomy at Turin, gives us the following account of a fact of this nature, of which he was an eye-witness. " Walking, according to custom, (says he) one morning, on the road called the Park, bordered by pastures, containing a great number of sheep and horned cattle, I observed an old but vigorous cow, separate froAi the others, and lowing, with her head raised in the air, her ears erect, and shaking her tail. After going into a pond to drink, she came out, and waited on the brink for a black snake, which crept from among the bushes, and approaching her, entwined himself round her legs, and began to suck her milk. I observed this phenomenon two successive days without informing the herdsman. The third day I acquainted him with it, and he told me that for some time the cow had kicked at the approach of her calf, and that she could not without difficulty, be compelled to suffer it to suck. We took away the snake, which we killed. On the succeeding day the cow, after having in vain waited for her suckling, ran about the meadow in SHARK SHEA TREE. 359 such a manner that the herdsman was obliged to shut her up." SHARK, the leviathan of the deep. He is some- times found from twenty to thirty feet long : the head is large and somewhat flatted ; the snout long, and he has great goggle eyes. The mouth is enormously wide ; as is the throat, which is capable of swallowing a man with great ease. He has a horrible furniture of teeth, consisting of six rows, extremely hard, sharp- pointed, and of a wedge-like figure ; so that the animal he seizes dies, pierced with a hundred wounds in a moment. No fish can swim so fast as he. Such is his. swiftness, and so insatiable his cruelty, that if he could seize his prey instantly, and had also clearness of sight, he would quickly destroy almost all creatures in the ocean ; but to prevent his making universal destruction, his upper jaw is so formed that he is obliged to turn on one side to seize his prey ; and while he is doing this, the animal he pursues flies from him and often escapes. The shark is a fish so voracious, that he will not only devour his own species, when pressed by hunger, but he swallows, without distinction, every thing that drops from a ship into the sea, cordage, cloth, pitch, wood, iron, nay, even knives. It is nevertheless well known, that, however urged by famine, he never touches a kind of small fish, speckled with yellow and black, called the pilot fish, which swims just before his snout, to guide him to his prey, which he cannot see till he is close to it; for nature, as a counterbalance to his ferocity, has rendered him almost blind. Goldsmith, St. Pierre. SHEA TREE, a tree of Africa, from the fruit of which they make vegetable, butter. These trees grow in great abundance in the kingdom of Bambarra. The tree itself very much resembles the American oak, and the fruit, from the kernel of which the butter is pre- pared, has somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive. The kernel is contained in a sweet pulp under a thin green rind, and the butter produced from it, besides the advantage of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, firmer, and of a richer flavor, than the 340 SHEPHERD SHETLAND. best butter made of cow's milk. The shean butter constitutes a main article of the inland commerce of Africa. Park. SHEPHERD, a feeder of sheep; an employment which, in the early ages of the world and in the eastern countries, was followed by young women of the first families as well as men. Goldsmith tells us, that in some parts of the Alps, and even in some provinces of France, the shepherd, as in ancient times, leads his flock by the sound of his pipe. The flock is regularly penned every evening, to preserve them from the wolf; and the shepherd returns homeward at sun-set, with his sheep following him, and seemingly pleased with the sound of the pipe, which is blown with a reed, and resembles the chanter of the bag -pipe. There are two great nations of shepherds and herdsmen which have subsisted in this way for some thousands of years, and sometimes have poured themselves upon other coun- tries like an irresistible torrent; these are the Tartars and Arabs. " The inhabitants of the vastly extensive plains of Scythia or Tartary, have been frequently uni- ted under the dominion of the chief of some conquer- ing horde or clan ; and the havoc and devastation of Asia have always signalized their union. The inhabi- tants of the inhospitable desarts of Arabia, the other great nation of shepherds, have never been united but once, namely, under Mahomet and his immediate suc- cessors; and their union w;as signalized in the same manner. If the hunting nations of America should ever become shepherds, their neighborhood would be much more dangerous to the European colonies (and to the United Stafes) than it is at present." The reason is obvious : an army of hunters can keep together but a few days, for want of provisions; but an army of shepherds and herdsmen, carrying their flocks and herds along with them, have always the means of sub- sistence at hand : such armies, in Asia, are said to have consisted, sometimes, of two or three hundred thousand. SHETLAND, the general name of a cluster of islands which lie north of Scotland. In the Shetland SHINING MOUNTAINS SHIP- WORM. 341 islands the Aurone Boreales are very remarkable. They are the constant attendants of clear evenings, and * prove great reliefs amid the gloom of the long winter nights. They commonly appear at twilight near the horizon, of a dun colour, approaching to yel- low : sometimes continuing in that state for several hours, without any apparent motion ; after which they break out into streams of stronger light, spreading into columns, and altering slowly into ten thousand different shapes, varying their colours from all the tints of yel- low, to the most obscure russet. They often cover the whole hemisphere, and then make a most brilliant appearance. Walker. SHINING MOUNTAINS, a part of a range of mountains, beginning at Mexico, and continuing north- ward, between the sources of the Mississippi and the rivers that run -into the Pacific Ocean, and ending in about 47 or 48 degrees of north latitude : they are cal- culated to be more than three thousand miles in length. Among the mountains of this range, those that lie to the west of the river St. Pierre, are called the Shining Mountains, from an infinite number of crystal stones, of an amazing size, with which they are covered, and which, when the sun shines full upon them, sparkle so as to be seen at a very great distance. These mountains, probably, in future ages, may be found to contain more riches in their bowels, than those of Hindostan, or even of the Peruvian mines. 'Carver. SHIP-WORM, a destructive little animal that has two calcareous jaws, hemispherical, flat before, and an- gular behind. The shell is taper, winding, penetrat- ing ships, and submarine wood. These insects were brought from India to Europe : they bore their pas- sage in the direction of the fibres ot the wood, which is their nourishment, and cannot return or pass ob- liquely, and when two of them meet together, with their stony mouths, they perish for want of food. In the years 1731 and 1752, the United Dutch Provinces were under a dreadful alarm concerning these insects, which had made great depredations on the piles which support the banks of Zealand ; but it was happily dis- 542 SIAM SIBERIA, covered a few years afterwards, that these insects had totally abandoned that island. The celebrated Lin- nseus saved the Swedish navy by finding out the time in which the ship-worm laid its eggs, and recommend- ing the immersion in water of the timber of which the ships were to be built, during the season that the worms deposited their eggs. Darwin, American Museum. SIAM, a kingdom of Asia, bordering on the bay of Bengal ; extending eight hundred miles in length, and from two hundred to three hundred and fifty in breadth. It is a flat country, which in the rainy season is over- flowed ; insomuch that the inhabitants have no commu- nication for some months but by means of boats. The natives, both men and women, go almost naked, except the wealthy, who wear costly garments. The king, \vho is the proprietor of all the lands in the country, keeps a numerous army, among which are a thousand elephants: he shows himself but once a year to the common people. It is a commercial country ; but no one can buy any kinds of merchandise till the king has had his choice of them. The women are the only mer- chants in buying goods ; the men being generally maintained by the industry of their wives. It is ac* counted a great honor for the nobles who attend the palace, ladies as well as gentlemen, to be whipt on their naked backs by the king ; and, as they walk the streets,, they strip their backs, and show the marks of the rod with no small degree of pride. Walker. SIBERIA, a country extending two thousand miles in length, and seven hundred and fifty in breadth ; be- ing the most northern part of the Russian empire in Asia, and approaching so near to China, that the Chi- nese merchants frequently attend the annual fairs in Siberia. Thither criminals, and persons under the dis- pleasure of the court, are sent into banishment from Russia. Ledyard, the celebrated American traveller, gives the following account of the cold, in a part of Siberia: "Mercury, he says, freezes in the thermome- ter, even in the month of November. The atmosphere is frozen : the air being so condensed as to appear like a thick fog. Water freezes to the depth of sixty feet SICILY SIERRA LEONE. 343 from the surface of the ground. People of these re- gions therefore are obliged to use ice and snow, and they have also ice windows. Glass is of no use to the few who have it, the difference of the state of the air, within and without, is so great, that the glass is covered withinside with several inches of ice, and in that situa- tion is less luminous than ice. The timber of the hous- es splits, and opens with loud cracks ; the rivers thun- der and open with broad fissures ; all nature groans be- neath the rigorous winter." Providence has supplied a warm clothing to the animals of this country, which abounds with excellent furs; by means whereof the in- habitants carry on a commerce with China. SICILY, an island of the Mediterranean sea, almost in the form of a triangle ; extending one hundred and sixty miles in length, and one hundred and twelve in breadth : the soil is the most excellent in the known world. The finest species of corn, which is wheat, might be referred to Sicily, where, in fact, they pretend it was originally found. Fable has immortalised this discovery, by making this island the seat of the amours of Ceres, the goddess of harvest. This much is certain, that corn [or wheat] is no where indigenous but in Sici- ly, if, however, it still perpetuates itself there spontane- ously, as the ancients affirm it did. This island, now weak, was once exceedingly powerful. The Carthage- nians, several centuries before the Christian era, sent for the reduction of Sicily, an army of three hundred thousand men, with a fleet composed of two thousand ships of war, and three thousand transports. A hun- dred and fifty thousand of this army the Sicilians killed in battle, and took all the rest prisoners ; and of all their ships only eight escaped. St. Pierre, Encyclopaedia. SIERRA LEONE, a great river of Africa, in the country ot Guinea: its mouth is in latitude 8 15" north, and is eight miles wide. In 1721, an act of the British parliament was obtained for incorporating a company, called the Sierra Leone company, for the express pur- pose of cultivating West-India and other tropical pro- ductions on the banks of this river, on land purchased of the prince of the country. The first settlers amount- 344 SILK SILK INSECT. ed to about two hundred white persons, besides a num- ber of free blacks from Nova- Scotia. The native chiefs and the people have been extremely friendly; and the company's schools were regularly attended by upwards of three hundred children, who appear to have made full as much improvement as is common in European schools under similar circumstances. The rice, cotton and oth- er articles in the company's plantations have thriven exceedingly. Walker. SILK, a fine thread, spun by a worm. Silk was manufactured from time immemorial, in China and Ilindostan ; and the culture of this article was introduc- ed into Italy many centuries past. In the year 160Q, Henry IV. introduced the culture and the manufacture of silk into France. During the bloody persecution of Louis XIV. of France, many of the silk manufacturers of that kingdom fled, and took refuge in England : those French refugees set up their business in London, and were the ancestors of the Spitlelields silk weavers in that city. In the year 1719, Mr. Lombe erected at Derby in England, the famous silk-throwing machine, which contains twenty-six thousand five hundred and eighty-six wheels, and in each time it is going round, twists seventy -three thousand seven hundred and twen- ty-eight yards of silk. SILK-INSECT, a spinner of silk, but quite a differ- ent creature from the silk-worm. These insects resem- ble catterpillars, and are found in great numbers on the trees and in the fields of the province of Chang- Tong, in China. They are reared without any care, and they feed indiscriminately on the leaves of the mulberry and on those of other trees. They do not spin their silk, circularly and in the same manner as common silk- worms, which form theirs in balls : they produce it in filaments, or long threads, which, bein; carried away by the winds,' are caught by the trees and bushes. The Chinese collect these threads, and make a kind of stuff of them, inferior in lustre to those manufactured of common silk ; yet much esteemed in China, and sold there sometimes for more than the richest satin. This stuff is closely woven, lasts very long, washes like linen, SILK-WORM SILVER. 345 and, when manufactured with care, is scarcely suscepti- ble of being spotted even with oil. Winterbotham. SILK- WORM, the worm whose wonderful labors supply the world with silk : it is a native of China and Hindostan. This worm is hatched from yellowish eggs, the size of which is rather smaller than that of mustard seed ; and which are laid by a species of white moth, resembling a butterfly. When the egg is hatched, after being exposed to a warm temperature for a few days, a small black worm bursts forth, which is very eager for food, and requires to be supplied with the most tender mulberry leaves. These will be greedily eaten for about eight days, at which period the worm is seized with a lethargic sleep, for three days ; when it changes its skin. The creature now begins to eat again for five or six days, till it becomes subject to a second sickness or sleep, of a similar duration. In about thirty -two or thirty- six days, the silk- worm, after passing through several lethargic stages, attains its full growth, being from one to two inches in cool climates ; in warmer countries, from three to four inches in length. The cone on which it spins is formed for covering it while it continues in the aurelia state ; and these cones pro- perly wound off, and united together, form strong and beautiful threads of silk. It has been thought that silk- worms were not brought into Europe till the beginning of the twelfth century; when Roger of Sicily, brought workmen in this manufacture from Asia Minor, after his return from his expedition to the Holy Land, and settled them in Sicily and Calabria. SILVER, a white, shining hard metal, next in price to gold. Its proportional value to that of gold is differ- ent in different countries. In Europe the proportion between fine silver and fine gold, according to Adam Smith, is as fourteen or fifteen to one ; whereas in Chi- na, and the greater part of the markets in India, it is but as ten, or at most as twelve to one. Hence it is that silver is sent to the eastern markets, rather than gold. Thither the silver mines of America are constantly- draining off*, nor are their proceeds at present more than sufficient to supply that drain. The best silver mine 346 SIMINOLES SINAI. in the known world, is in a mountain near Potosi, a town of Peru ; by reason of which, silver has been as common in that town as iron is in Europe. The mines of this mountain were accidentally discovered in the year 1545, in the following manner : An Indian, named Hualpa, one day following some deer, which made directly up the mountain, he came to a steep craggy part of it, and to help himself in climbing, seized hold of a shrub, which came up by the roots, and laid open a mass of silver ore. The American Museum recommends the following method for burnishing plate and other silver utensils. Dissolve a quantity of all um in water, so as to make a strong brine, which you must scum very carefully ; add some soap to it, and when you wish to use it, dip into it a linen rag, and rub it over your silver 5 which will add much to its lustre. SIMINOLES, or Lower Creeks, a tribe of Indians inhabiting East and West Florida. They enjoy a super- abundance of the necessaries of life ; contented and un- disturbed, they appear as blithe and free as the birds of the air, and like them as volatile and active, tuneful and vociferous. The visage, action and deportment of a Si- minole is the most striking picture of happiness in this life. Joy, contentment, love, and friendship without guile or affectation, seem inherent in them, or predomi- nant in their vital principle ; for it leaves them but with the last breath of life. On one hand, you see among them troops of boys ; some fishing, some shooting with the bow, some enjoying one kind of diversion, and some another : on the other hand are seen bevies of girls, wandering through orange-groves and over fields and meadows, gathering flowers and berries in their baskets, or lolling under the shades of flowery trees, or chasing one another in sport, and striving to paint each others faces with the juice of their berries. Bartram. SINAI, a mountain, or range of mountains, with two remarkable peaks, the one peak called Sinai, and the other lloreb'5 situated in Arabia, on the peninsula, form- ed by the two arms of the Red Sea. This mountain is celebrated in sacred history, and is revered by Chris- tians and Jews, and even by Mahometans. From the SKIN SKY-LARK. 34? top of Sinai there may be seen the valley of Raphidim, where the children of Israel murmured for water, and received a supply from the flinty rock ; also mount Nebo, now called mount Catharine, where Moses died. There is a small plain on the top of this mountain, where stand a Christian church and a Turkish mosque : the winding ascent to this plain, is by fourteen thousand stone steps. SKIN, a natural covering of animal bodies. The skin is the organ of touch or feeling ; it is lli channel of perspiration, the principal means which nature em- ploys to purify the fluids ; and it is also able to absorb certain salutary particles of the surrounding atmosphere. In a curious and entertaining treatise on perspiration is an observation of the eminent Lewenhoek, who asserts, that the vessels through which perspiration is perform- ed, are so inconceivably small that the mouths of a vast multitude of them might be covered with one grain of sand. It has been proved by exact calculation, that the most healthy individual daily and insensibly perspires upwards of three pounds weight of superfluous and im- pure humors ; and according to this ratio, in a city con- taining a hundred thousand persons, there would daily ascend fifteen tons of mephitic vanor, merely from the pores of the skin. Willich, American Museum. SKY-LARK, a bird common in England, loud in song, and soaring in flight. Nothing can be more pleasing than to see the lark warbling upon the wing ; raising its note as it soars, until it seems lost in the immense heights above ; the note continuing, the bird itself un- seen ; to see it then descending with a swell as it comes from the clouds, yet sinking by degrees as it approach- es its nest, the spot where all its affections are centered. The lark builds its nest upon the ground, and it is while the female is setting that* the male thus entertains her with his singing; and while he is risen to an imper- ceptible height, yet he still has his beloved partner in his eye, nor once loses sight of the nest either while he ascends or is descending. This harmony continues several months, beginning early in the spring on pair- ing. Goldsmith. 348 SLAVE-TRADE. SLAVE-TRADE, a pernicious traffic which was begun in the year, 1442, when Anthony Gonsalez, a Portuguese, took from the coast of Africa, called the Gold Coast, ten negroes, and a quantity of gold dust, with which he returned to Lisbon. In 1481 , the Portu- guese built a fort on the Gold Coast ; and so early as the year 1502, the Spaniards began to employ a few ne- f-oes in the mines of Hispaniola. In the year 1517, the mperor Charles V. of Spain, granted a patent to cer- tain persons, for the supply of four thousand negroes annually, to the islands of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Porto Rico. Of the English, the first who is known to have been concerned in this commerce, was John Hawkins, who was afterwards knighted by Queen Eliza- beth. He got into his possession, partly by the sword, and partly by other means, three hundred negroes, and sold them in the- West-Indies. Hawkins's second voy- age was patronized by Queen Elizabeth, who partici- pated in the profits : and in 1618, in the reign of James I. the British government established a regular trade on the coast of Africa. In the year 1620, negro slaves be- gan to be imported into Virginia: a Dutch ship bring- ing twenty of them for sale. From this small and most unhappy beginning, the United States are now loaded with a black population of almost a million. -The total import of negro slaves into all the British colonies of America and the West-Indies, in a little more than one century, that is, from 1680 to 1786, may be put at two million one hundred and twenty thousand. A celebrated French writer, about thirty or forty years ago, stated the total exportation from Africa, since the beginning of the slave-trade, at nine million of slaves. A large propor- tion, sometimes one third of those wretched beings, have died in the passage and in what is called the sea- soning, after their arrival. Among the numerous instan- ces of horrible barbarity exercised toward that unhap- py people, the following is a well attested fact. In a late trial, at Guildhall, in London, it appeared, that a ship freighted with slaves, being reduced to a want of water, one hundred and thirty-three negroes were hand- cufted and thrown into the sea ! The further importa- tion of slaves to any part of the British dominions, has lately been prohibited by act of parliament. Bryan Ed- wards, et ceteri. SLEEP SLOTH SMALL POX. 349 SLEEP, that state wherein the body seems perfectly at rest, and external objects act on the organs of sense, without exciting their usual sensations. Sleep is ne- cessary not only to animals, but even some of the vege- table tribes have the faculty of assuming, during the night, a position essentially different from that which they bear throughout the day. This change takes place principally towards the approach of night, in leaves and flowers ; the appearance of which often varies so con- siderably, that the same plants can scarcely be recog- nized. During the night, their leaves are observed to rise or curl up, and sometimes to be pendent, according to the nature and genus of the plant, in order to protect the flowers, buds, and young stems. This period of rest is absolutely necessary to vegetables ; their irritability being exhausted by the light and warmth of the day. Dom. Encyclopaedia. SLOTH, an ill-formed animal, that takes its name from the extreme slowness of its motion. It lives on the leaves, fruit, flowers, and bark of trees. Though it is formed by nature for climbing a tree with great pain, and difficulty, yet it is utterly unable to descend ; and is therefore obliged to drop from the branches to the ground, and feels no small shock in the fall. It moves not above three feet in an hour; and it often takes a week in crawling to a tree not fifty yards distant. At every step it takes, it puts forth a most plaintive melan- choly cry ; its look is so piteous as to move compassion ; it is also accompanied with tears, that dissuade every one from injuring so wretched a creature. The sloth chews the cud, has a coarse fur, and is so strong that if it hap- Eens to take hold of a dog with its claws, it holds him ist. Goldsmith. SMALL POX, a contagious disease, consisting of a: general eruption of pustules tending to suppuration, and accompanied with a fever. Dr. Waterhouse, in a pub- lication that recommends the substitution of the Cow Po,r, makes the following statement. " No less than forty millions of people die of the small pox every cen- tury. The Europeans have carried the small pox over the globe. The Danes carried it to Greenland, and tm* F f S50 SNAKE BIRD SNOW. Spaniards to South America, where one hundred thou- sand perished with it in the single province of Quito. When the number of annual births in London was six- teen thousand two hundred and ninety-one, the number who died annually with the small pox was two thousand five hundred and fifty-four; and still greater in some other large cities of Europe." According to Mavius, an ancient bishop of the Christian church, the small pox, when it first appeared in the world, in the year 570, prin- cipally attacked horned cattle ; hence there is a strong probability that the cow pox is, in fact, no other than the small pox, only having undergone certain changes by passing through the system of the cow ; nor is it a lit- tle remarkable that the same animal which first had the disease, should furnish man with the best preventative of this dreadful malady. See the articles INOCULATION, VACCINATION. SNAKE BIRD, a very curious and handsome bird that is found in great plenty about the waters of theTlor- idas. The head and neck are extremely small and slen- der, the latter being remarkably long. The lower part of the belly and the thighs are as black and as glossy as a raven ; the breast and upper part of the belly are covered with feathers of a cream colour; the tail is very long, of a deep black, and tipped with a silvery white. They are frequently seen sitting on the dry limbs of trees, hanging over the water; and when they perceive themselves approached, they drop off from the limbs into the water, as if dead, and for a minute or two are not to be seen ; when on a sudden, at a distance, their long slender head and neck oniy appear, and have the appearance very much of a snake. Bartram. SNOW, an aqueous meteor formed of vapors in the middle regions of the air; and whose parts are there congealed and descend to the earth in white flakes. It has been a prevailing opinion that snow communicates to the earth some enriching substance which tends to increase its fertility ; and in order to ascertain the truth of this opinion the following experiment was tried in Vermont, January 30, 1792. There was collected as much snow which lay next to the earth in an open field. SNOW BIRD SOCIETY ISLANDS SOUND. 351 as produced six gallons of water : this snow had lain up- on the ground fifty -nine days. Upon evaporating the water there remained a quantity of oily matter. The oil was of a dark brown colour, not inflammable, and weighed four pennyweights and nine grains, Troy weight. To this oily substance is probably to be im- puted that dirty or sooty appearance, which the snow is generally observed to have, after it begins to thaw. It was found that the same quantity of snow, collected as it was falling, produced only five grains of the oily sub- stance. Williams. SNOW BIRD, a beautiful, active, sprightly little ani- mal. They are generally of a grey colour, and less than a sparrow. Flocks of them appear as soon as the snow begins to fall in any considerable quantity ; and generally a day or two before. They perch on the spires of vegetables above the snow, on the bushes and trees ; and collect on the spots of bare ground. In the most severe storms of snow, these birds appear to be the most active and lively. They feed on the seeds of vegeta- bles, and are extremely fat and delicious. They all dis- appear as soon as the snow goes oft*. Williams. SOCIETY ISLANDS, a cluster of isles, discovered by Captain Cooke, in 1769, and so named by him, be- cause they lie almost contiguous to one another. They are situated in the Southern Ocean ; and abound with cocoa-nut, bread-fruit trees, and sugar-cane. So high- ly did the natives of these islands prize iron, after they had begun to know the use of it, that one of their chiefs who had gained possession of two nails, received no small emolument by letting them out to his neighbors for boring holes. >Cooke's Voyages. SOUND, a perception raised by means of the air put in motion, and vibrating on the drum of the ear. Denser bodies propagate vibration or sound better than rarer ones. If two stones be struck together under the water they may be heard a mile or two by any one. whose head is at that distance under the same body of water. If the ear be applied to one end of a long beam of timber, the stroke of a pin at the other end becomes 35 SOUTH AMERICA SOUTH CAROLINA. sensible ; and if a poker be suspended in the middle of a garter, each end of which is pressed against the ear, the least percussions on the poker give great sounds. The organs of hearing belonging to fish, are for this reason much less complicated than those of quadrupeds, as the fluid they are immersed in so much better con- veys its vibration. Darwin. Sound proceeds at the rate of about thirteen miles in a minute ; and its pro- gress is the same whether it goes with the wind or against it. ' SOUTH AMERICA, a great division of the Amer- ican continent ; extending from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific Ocean, and from the Isthmus of Darien, at about the tenth degree of north latitude, to the fifty-sixth degree of south latitude, at the extremety of Cape Horn. Of this division, Terra Firma, Peru, Chili, and Paraguay, belong to Spain ; Brazil belongs to Portugal ; Cayenne to France, and Guiana to the Dutch. Amazonia and Patagonia are in the possession of the natives, or In- dians. SOUTH CAROLINA, one of the United States of America ; lying between 32 and 35 north latitude ; bordering on North Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean, and divided from Georgia by Savannah river ; it is about two hundred miles in length, and a hundred and twen- ty-five in breadth. The sail is excellent hi most parts of this state ; and the plantations yield rice, indigo and cotton. Dr. Chalmers, of Charleston, in a sketch of the climate, water and soil of South Carolina, says : " I doubt not but South Carolina produces all sorts f me- tals ; as gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead, have already been discovered. We also have antimony, allum, tale, black lead, marl, and very fine white clay, which is fit for making porcelain. 1 likewise have seen emeralds, that were brought from the country of the Cherokee Indians, which,when cut and polished, fell nothing short of those which are imported from India, in lustre ; and rock-crystal abounds in several places." Charleston, the metropolis of this state, is situated at the confluence of the rivers Ashley and Cooper, about seven miles from the ocean. Its situation is admirable, being built at the SPAIN. 353 confluence of those two large rivers, which receive in their course a great number of inferior streams ; all navigable, in the spring, for flat boats, This is said to be the gayest city in the United States, and the richest in proportion to its size. SPAIN, a kingdom of Europe ; lying between about 36 arid 44 north latitude 5 extending seven hundred miles in length, and five hundred in breadth; bounded by Portugal and the Atlantic, by the Mediterranean, by the Bay of Biscay, and by the Pyrenean Mountains, which separate it from France. It enjoys a fine climate and soil ; but is thinly inhabited, and bears the evident marks of decay and poverty. A little more than two centuries ago, this was a most powerful kingdom. No European prince ever possessed such vast resources as Philip II. of Spain, in the sixteenth century. Besides his Spanish and Italian dominions, together with those of Portugal and the Netherlands, he enjoyed the whole East India commerce, and reaped the immensely rich harvest of the American mines. The following things have reduc- ed the Spanish nation to its present impotent and ab- ject state. First, the horrible inquisition, together with prodigious numbers of idle monks. Second, the long bloody, expensive, and fruitless war with the Dutch, Third, the loss of the Armada, a fleet that was equipped at immense expense. Fourth, the emigrations to Ameri- ca, in quest 01 the precious metals. Fifth, the expul- sion of the Moors, to the number of a million industri- ous people, which left a great part of the kingdom in a manner desolate. Sixth, the indolence and luxury pro- duced by the vast influx of wealth from the mines of America and from the India commerce. Seventh, the contempt in which agricultural and mechanical labor- has been held. Owing to these causes, Spain, though constantly replenished with golden showers, has been cons an 4 ly decaying; for her outgoes have exceeded her incomes. This country, in ancient times, abounded with rich mines of the precious metals; and thence the Carthagenians drew the greater part of the silver and gold which they used in carrying on their vast com- merce. Spain is renovated. Her glorious and success- ful struggles for independence, afford reasonable hopes* F f 2 354 SPANIEL SPANISH BROOM, &c* that under the mixed government, suited to the genius of the people, she will hold a very respectable rank among the nations of Europe. SPANIEL, a dog remarkable for its docility. The land-spaniel probably had its name from Spain : and there are two varieties of this kind, namely, the slater, used in hawking to spring the game, and the setter, which crouches down when it scents the birds, till the net be drawn over them ; the water-spaniel was another species used in fowling. The spaniel seems to be the most docile of all the dog kind ; and this docility is par- ticulary owing to his natural attachment to man. Many other kinds will not bear correction ; but this patient creature, though very fierce to strangers, seems unal- terable in his affections ; and blows and ill usage seem only to increase his regard. Goldsmith. SPANISH BROOM, a useful shrub, the seeds of which are sown in the most dry spots, on the steepest declivities of hills, in a stony sod, where hardly any other plant could vegetate. In a few years it grows up to a vigorous shrub. Insinuating its roots between the interstices of the stones, it binds the soil, and retains the small portion of vegetable earth, scattered over those hills, which the autumnal rains would otherwise wash away. There are two uses to which this plant is applied; its branches yield a thread, of which they make linen ; and, in winter, they serve as food for sheep and goats. SPICE ISLANDS, or the Moluccas and Banda Isl- and*, in the Indian Ocean; they produce the finest spicery, particularly nutmegs, mace, cinnamon, and cloves. These islands are owned by the Dutch ; who are said to burn all the spiceries which a fertile season produces beyond what they expect to dispose of ia Europe, with such a profit as they think sufficient. In the islands where they have no settlements, they give a premium to those who collect the young blossoms and green leaves of the clove and nutmeg trees which na- turally grow there, but which this savage policy has 0\v, it i saidj almost completely extirpated, Even if* SPIDER. 355 the islands where they had settlements, they have very much reduced, it is said, the number of those trees. If the produce of their own islands should be much greater than what suited their market, the natives, they suspect, might find means to convey some part of it to other nations ; and the best way, they imagine to se- cure their own monopoly, is to take care that no more shall grow than what they themselves carry to market. By different acts of oppression, they have reduced the population of several of the Moluccas nearly to the number which is sufficient to supply with fresh pro- visions and other necessaries of life their own insignifi- cant, garrisons, and such of their ships as occasionally come there for a cargo of spices. Jl. Smith. The spice islands have changed owners ; being at the pre- sent time held by the government of Great Britain. SPIDER, an animal detested wherever seen; yet the finest spinner perhaps on the globe. The spider is a genus of insects comprehending eight species. The common house spider is generally of a black colour ; has eight legs, each terminating in a crooked claw ; has also eight eyes ; and, in the fore part of the head, there is a pair of pinchers, with which it kills flies. Nature has furnished this little animal with a glutinous liquor, which it spins to what size it pleases, either by opening or contracting the sphincter muscles. In or- der to spin its thread, as soon as it begins its operations? it presses out a drop of the liquor, which, as it dries., forms the thread it draws out as it diverges from itsr first position. When it reaches its intended distance, it draws this thread with its claws to stretch it properly, and fix it to the wall, as it did the other end before it set off. Thus it secures many threads parallel to each other, which serve as a warp for its web : to form its woof it does the same thing transverse ; securing those parts which are most subject to be torn, by doub- ling them several times. The spider's thread (ac- cording to Dr. Rittenhouse) is not one tenth of the size of the thread of the silkworm, and is rounder and more evenly of a thickness. Herschell and other Eu- ropean astronomers had made use of single filaments of silk foF the cross hairs of certain optical instruments^ S56 SPINNING SP1TZBERGEN. Dr. Rittenhouse had done the same ; but finding that 'a single filament of silk would totally obscure, for several seconds of time, a small star, if the star be near the pole; he placed the thread of a spider in some of his instru- ments ; and found it both lasting and far surpassing any thing else that had been used in point of convenience/ SPINNING, a female employment of great utility and importance ; and which in former times was thought honorable for the daughters even of the great- est monarchs. Alexander the Great said to Sysigam- bis, the mother of Darius king of Persia, " Mother, the stuff in which you see me clothed, was not only a gift of my sisters, but wrought by their fingers." Plutarch said, in way of reproach of Fuivia, a woman of exalted rank, that she could neither spin nor stay at home. Of the daughters of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, emperor of France, in the eighth century, there is this notice in the old historian EginharcL " He (the emperor) ordered his daughters to be accustomed to dressing of wool, to the spindle and distaff ; to at- tend their work, and to be taught every useful art, that they might not slumber in idleness." The skill of the East-Indian women in the article of spinning, is well known : the delicate textures with which they furnish us are a proof of it. Some cotton it is said, is spun so exquisitely fine, that the force of the air alone is suffi- cient to break it : in this case it is worked over the steam of boiling water, which, by moistening the cot- ton, renders it more ductile and less liable to break, than when it is dry. SPITZBERGEN, the most northern country of Eu- rope, consisting of an island or islands ; situated be- tween Greenland arid Nova Zembla, and from 76 to 70 north latitude. The coast is beset with craggy mountains, and in the months of June, July, and August, the sun never sets ; for the rest of the year it is hardly seen. The inland parts are uninhabited, and the coasts are frequented only for the purpose of catching whales. Here there is such a constancy of cold, that bodies ne- ver corrupt, nor suffer any apparent alteration, even though buried for thirty years. Nothing corrupts or STARS. AST putrifies in this climate : the wood which has been employed in building those houses where the train oil is separated, appears as fresh as on the day it was first cut. Walker , Goldsmith., STARS, the heavenly bodies which are supposed to shine with unborrowed light. They are called fixed stars, as they never change their situations with respect to each other, and in contradistinction to the planets and comets, which constantly move round the sun in their respective orbits ; and they are distinguishable from the planets by their twinkling. The ancients thought the stars to be only a few thousand miles distant from the earth. Homer, imagining the seats of the gods to be above the fixed stars, represented the falling of Vulcan from thence to the isle of Lemnos, to continue during a whole day. A number of stars that appear to lie in the neighborhood of one another, is called a Constella- tion ; these constellations are eighty in number. Three of the constellations, namely, Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, are mentioned in the book of Job. Several of the constellations are mentioned by Hesiod and Homer, the two most ancient writers among the Greeks, who lived from eight to nine hundred years before our Saviour's nativity. Hesiod directed the farmer to regulate the time of sowing and harvest by the rising and setting of the Pleiades ; and Homer in- forms us, that observations from the Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, were used in navigation. The construc- tion and improvement of telescopes added prodigiously to the number of visible stars ; which has been won- derfully increased, for the two last centuries. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel made a catalogue of four hundred stars ; and near the same time, Tycho Brache, a cele- brated Danish astronomer, made a catalogue of seven hundred and seventy. About the middle ofthat century, [the construction of telescopes having been greatly improved,] Mr. Flamstead, of England, gave a cata- logue of three thousand stars. Mr. Le Lande, a Frenchman, in the eighteenth century, made a cata- logue of fifty thousand stars. Mr. Herschell's great discovery of augmenting the power of the telescope. 358 STATURE STEAM. opened at once a new and amazing scene in the hea- vens ; rendering innumerable stars visible which had always before been hidden from the sight of mortals* Mr. Herschell, calculating from the fields of stars, which he had surveyed and numbered, supposed that there are millions within the telescopic view ; and these perhaps not the ten hundredth part of the whole that are scattered over the universe. The fixed star nearest of any to us, is Sirius ; whose distance is sup- posed to be not less than four hundred thousand times greater than that of the sun from us, or thirty-eight millions of millions of miles. Some of the fixed stars are at least six hundred times the distance of Sirius from us ; and the light of a star placed at this extreme boundary, supposing it to fly with the velocity of twelve millions of miles a minute, must have taken three thousand years to reach us. Astronomers suppose every one of the innumerable multitude of fixed stars to be a sun attended by planets, each of which is an habitable world like our own. How great and marvel- lous are the works of God I British Encyclopaedia. STATURE, the height of an animal. It is a knowii fact that people in younger life are taller in the morn- ing than at night, owing to the pressure of the upper parts in the day-time while the person is hi aft upright posture, on the cartillage between the verteber of the neck and back ; which cartilages, by, their spring, re- sume their tone and former dimensions in the horizon- tal position of the body during sleep ; the incumbent weight or pressure, being, for that interval, arid during that posture removed. But it is not so with the aged : the cartilages in them are grown dry, and thin, arid springless ; by reason whereof their stature will con- stantly continue at the lowest pitch. And as the in- terstices of the verteber are consequently enlarged, the head, by its weight, will moreover naturally fall for- ward, and a bending in the back ensue. Hence old persons are never so tall as they were in their prime. Ilowe. STEAM, the vapor arising from boiling or hot li- quids. There is no doubt that machines impelled by STEEL STOCK DOVE. 359 the force of steam are the most powerful ever formed bj the art of man. One of these machines or engines, employed for draining the deep mines of Cornwall in England, works a pump of eighteen inches in diameter, and upwards of six hundred feet high, at the rate of from ten to twelve strokes, of seven feet long each, in a minute. The power of this engine may be more easily comprehended, by saying that it can raise a weight equal to eighty-one thousand pounds, eighty feet high in a minute ; which is equal to the combined action of two hundred good horses. Darivin. Steam is now employed in several important uses, in the Uni- ted States : particularly in navigating the Hudson and some other rivers, and also Lake Champlain. STEEL, iron purified in the fire with other ingredi- ents, which render it white, and its grain closer and liner. It is probably owing to a total deprivation of vital air, which it holds with so great avidity, that iron, kept many hours or days in ignited charcoal, becomes converted into steel, and thence acquires the faculty of being welded, when red hot, long before it melts, and also the power of becoming hard when immersed in rold water. Some artists plunge edge tools into very cold water as soon as they are completely ignited, and moving them about, take them out as soon as they cease to be luminous beneath the water ; they are then rubbed quickly with a file, or on sand, to clean the sur- face ; the heat which the metal still retains soon begins to produce a succession of colours. If a hard temper be required, the piece is dipped again, and stirred about in cold water as soon as the yellow tinge appears ; if it be cooled when the purple tinge appears, it becomes fit for graver's tools, and is used in working upon metals ; if cooled while blue, it is proper for springs.- STOCK DOVE, a species of dove from which all the varieties of pigeons are supposed to derive their origin. This bird, in its natural state, is of a deep bluish ash colour ; the breast dashed with a fine changeable green and purple ; its wings marked with two black bars ; the back white, and the tail barred near the end with black. The stock dove is easily tamed, breeds 360 STORK STALSUND. every month, lays two white eggs, from which are commonly hatched a male and female. The old pair take turns in setting. The female sets from three or four o'clock in the evening till nine the next day 5 the male then sets from nine to three. If the female neg- lects coming at the fixed time, the male follows her, and drives her along to the nest : so also if he keeps away when he ought to be setting, she goes after him and scolds him home. When the birds are hatched, the old male usually feeds the young female, and the old female feeds the young male. Among the varie- ties proceeding from the stock dove, the species called the turtle dove, is very remarkable. This kind of pi- geon is distinguished from others by a crimson circle round the eye-lid, and is noted for its surprising con- stancy and fidelity to its mate ; a pair of turtle doves being put together in a cage, if one dies, the other grieves itself to death, Goldsmith. STORK, a bird of the crane kind, of a white and brown colour. It preys upon frogs, fishes, and ser- pents; and always lives near towns and populous places. Storks are birds of passage ; but it is hard to say whence they come or whither they go. When they withdraw from Europe, they all assemble on a particular day, and never leave one of their company behind them. They take their flight in the night, and they generally return, into Europe in the middle of March, and make their nests in the tops of chimnies and houses, as well as of high trees. The old Dutch republicans were very solicitous for the preservation of the stork in every part of their territory ; having an opinion that it would live only in a republic. This bird seems to have taken refuge among their towns ; building on the tops of their houses without any molestation : it was seen rest- ing familiarly in their streets, and was protected as well by their laws as by the prejudices of the people. The ancient Egyptians paid adoration to this bird, by reason of its usefulness in destroying serpents. Goldsmith. STRALSUND, a strong town in Pomerania, situated between the Baltic and the Lake of Franken. In 1715, Charles XII. of Sweden, with a small number offerees, STROMBOLO STURGEON. 361 -was besieged in this town bj the combined armies of Danes, Russians, and Germans. The bombs fell upon the houses as thick as hail, and half the town was re- duced to ashes : but all this seined to make no im- pression on the mind of Charles. One day while he was dictating some letters, a bomb bursting very near his apartment, his secretary dropped his pen. " What is the matter," said Charles. " The bomb, sir," re- plied the astonished secretary. " Write on," said Charles, with an air of indifference; " What relation has the bomb to the letter I am dictating ?" STROMBOLO, a volcanic mountain, five hundred fathoms in height; situated on one of the Lipari islands* in the Mediterranean. Of all the volcanoes recorded in history, Strombolo seems to be the only one that burns without ceasing. Etna and Vesuvius often lie quiet for many months, and even years, without the least appearance of fire ; but Strombolo is ever at work, and, for ages past, has been looked upon as the great light-house of the Mediterranean Sea. Notwith- standing its incessant fires, the mountain is inhabited .at some distance from the crater. Mam. STURGEON, a fish of great curiosity, as well as great importance. His mouth is placed under the head, without teeth, like the opening of a purse ; which he has the power to push suddenly out. or retract. Before the mouth under the beak, or nose, hang four tendrils, some inches long, and which so resemble earth-worms, that at first sight they might be mistaken for them. This clumsy toothless fish is supposed by this contri- vance, to keep himself in good condition ; the solidity of his flesh evidently shewing him to be a fish of prey. The flesh of tlie sturgeon was so valued at the time of the Roman Emperor Severus, that it was brought to table by servants with coronets on their heads, and pre- ceded by music ; which might give rise to the custom of presenting it by the lord mayor of London to the king of England. At present it is caught in the Da- nube, the Don, and other large rivers, for various pur- poses. The skin makes the best covering for car- nages; isinglass is prepared from parts of the skin. 362 SUBMARINE PLANTS SUEZ SUGAR. {"and from the sounds 5] cavear from the spawn ; and the flesh is pickled, or salted, and sent all over Europe. Darwin. SUBMARINE PLANTS, vegetables growing at the bottom of the sea. The bottom of the sea is pas- turage for innumerable multitudes of living creatures which dwell there. The whole bottom of the Red Sea, in particular, is, literally speaking, a forest of subma- rine plants, and corals, formed by insects for their habi- tations. Here are seen the madrepores, the sponges, mosses, sea-mushrooms, and other marine productions, covering every part of the bottom. Such submarine productions are also found in great quantities in the Persian Gulf, along the coasts of Africa, and those of Provence and Catalonia. Goldsmith. SUEZ, an isthmus or neck of land, by which Africa is joined to the continent of Asia. It extends about sixty miles from the Mediterranean, or mouth of the Nile, to the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea. About six hundred years before our Saviour's nativity, Necho, king of Egypt, attempted to dig a canal, through the Isthmus of Suez from the mouth of the Nile to the Red Sea; in which work, it is said, above twentj thousand Egyptians perished. Such a canal, from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, if completely navigable, would shorten the voyage from Europe to India nearly two thirds : yet by reason of the monsoons, it could take no less than three years to perform that voyage.- See MONSOONS and RED SEA. SUGAR, a substance of a sweet and very agreeable nature, made of the juice of the sugar-cane. Sugar was first brought from Arabia into Europe 5 and for many centuries was used not for food, but for medicine only. Among the Romans it was unknown before the reign of Nero. According to Ramsay's Review, the quantity of this article used in England, more than three- doubled from the. year 1700 to the year 1790. A cen- tury ago, even the rich considered it as a luxury, and d it sparingly at their tables ; now the poorest peg^ pie think it a necessary of life. SUGAR CANE SUGAR MAPLE SULPHUR. 363 SUGAR CANE, a pointed reed terminating m leaves or blades, whose edges are finely and sharply serrated. The body of the cane is strong but brittle, and when ripe of a fine straw colour, inclinable to yellow ; and it contains a soft pithy substance, which affords a copious supply of juice of a sweetness the least cloying and most agreeable in nature. The length of the cane, in very strong lands, is sometimes twelve feet ; its general length, however, is from 3 and an half to 7 feet: and in very rich lands the root has been known to put forth upwards of an hundred suckers or shoots. A pound of sugar from a gallon of the raw liquor of the cane, is reckoned in Jamaica very good yielding. A sugar plantation well conducted, and in a favorable soil, is computed to yield as many hogsheads of sugar annually, of sixteen hundred pounds weight, as there are negroes belonging to it. The average annual profits of sugar plantations in the West-Indies, is not more than three and an half per cent on the capitals. Bryan Edwards. SUGAR MAPLE, a handsome clean tree whick gives a deep shade, and is excellent for fuel : it grows readily from seeds. The largest of these trees are five ard an half or six feet in diameter ; and will yield five gallons of sap in one day ; and from twelve to fifteen pounds of sugar, during the season. The younger and smaller trees afford sap or juice, in a still greater pro- portion. It is only during four or five weeks in the spring, that the juice can be collected. While the trees are frozen at night, and thawed in the day, the sap runs plentifully; but as soon as the buds come on, the sap ceases to flow in such a manner as that it can any longer be collected. Williams. SULPHUR, or Brimstone, a hard inflammable mine- ral of a yellow colour ; it is found most frequently and plentifully in the vicinity of volcanoes, and is generally cast in rolls for sale. Sulphur is of great utility in the arts. It is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of gun-powder: when converted into an acid by combus- tion in he open air, it affords that extensively useful liquid, vulgarly termed oil of vitriol; considerable 364 ^UMACH SUMATRA. quantities of which are consumed in dissolving metals? especially iron, and in other useful arts. It is further advantageously employed for whitening silk, wool, or other articles, by exposing them to its fumes, during combustion. In medicine, sulphur is almost a specific in cutaneous diseases, whether administered internally with honey or molasses, or employed externally in the form of ointment. Willich. SUMACH, a plant that grows spontaneously in many parts of the United States; bearing a small red berry, which is useful as a dye, and has been discovered to be possessed of very powerful antiseptic qualities. It has long since been the practice among the natives of this continent, to substitute the sumach berry for tobacco, and the secret has been transmitted to Europe ; in con- sequence of which it became so universally esteemed there by the people of fashion and fortune, that largQ sums were offered to persons of mercantile professions, for this valuable but common production of nature. It has been preferred to the *best manufactured Virginia tobacco. The method to be pursued in preparing the sumach to a state proper for smoaking, is, to procure it in the month of November, expose it some time to the open air, spread it rery thin on canvass, and then dry it in an oven, one third heated. After having completed the progress of cure thus far, spread it again on canvass, as before ; and there let it r'emain twenty -two hours, when it will be perfectly fit for use. The branches of the elm-leaved sumach, when dried and reduced to a powder, are used in tanning Turkey or Morocco leather. SUMATRA, a large island of Asia; extending nine hundred miles in length, and from a hundred to a hundred and fifty in breadth; situated on each side of the equator, which divides it, lengthwise, nearly into equal parts : it abounds with tigers of a monstrous size and ferocity, which often destroy the inhabitants, and sometimes in a manner depopulate a whole village. It is from tins qountry, says Walker, that most of the cassia sent to Europe is produced. The cassia tree grows to fifty or sixty feet, with a stem of about two feet diameter, and a beautiful and regular spreading SUN SUN DEW. 365 head. The quantity of pepper produced in the British East-India company's district on this island, is annu- ally twelve hundred tons ; of which the greater part goes to Europe, and the rest is sent to China. Sumatra produces so much gold, that it has been thought by some to have been the Ophir mentioned in scripture. J, that vast body which communicates light and the earth, and to "all the other planets belonging SUN, heat to to our solar system. The sun is placed near the centre of the orbits of all the planets, and turns round its axis in twenty-five days and a quarter ; its diameter is eight hundred and eighty- three thousand miles, and its me- dial distance from the earth is ninety -five million miles. This body is not luminous in all parts, but has a num- ber of dark spots, of vast extent, which are plainly seen by the help of glasses. Dr. Alexander Wilson, professor of astronomy at Glasgow, published a paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 1 774, demonstrat- ing that the spots in the sun's disk are real cavities, or excavations through the luminous material which cov- ers the other part of the sun's surface. One of these cavities he found to be about four thousand miles deep, and many times as wide. Ke'il observes, in his Astro- nomical Lectures, that he frequently saw spots in the sun which are larger and broader not only than Eu- rope and Africa, but which even equal, if they do not exceed, the surface of the whole terraqueous globe. Bow ditch) Darwin. SUN DEW, or Drosera, a plant of wonderful pro- perties, growing in marshes. The leaves of this marsh- plant are purple, and have a fringe very unlike other vegetable productions. And, what is curious, at the point of every thread of this erect fringe, stands a pellucid drop of mucilage, resembling a ducal coronet. This mucus is a secretion from certain glands, and prevents small insects from infesting the leaves ; as the ear-wax, in animals, seems to be in part designed to prevent fleas and other insects from getting into their ears. Mr. Wheatley, an eminent surgeon, in London, observed these leaves to bend inwards, when an insect settled on them, and pointing all their globules o r* ,-% ,366 SUN FLOWER SUPERIOR LAKE, &c. mucus to the centre, so as completely to entangle and destroy it. Darwin. SUN FLOWER, a genus of plants consisting of several species : it has its name from its following the course of the sun. The common sun flower is easily propagated in any common soil, either by sowing the seeds, or by parting the roots in the month of March, The young flower-cups of this plant may be dressed and eaten like artichokes. It has appeared from ex- periments made in Pennsylvania, that a bushel of sun flower seed yields a gallon of oil, and that an acre oi ground planted with the seed, at three feet apart, will yield between forty and fifty bushels of the seed. This oil is as mild as sweet oil, and is equally agreeable with it in salads, and as a medicine. It may also be used with advantage in paints, varnishes, and oint- ments. The seed is raised with little trouble, and grows an land of moderate fertility. -Jlmerican Museum. SUPERIOR LAKE, a vast lake that forms a part of the northern boundary of the United States ; and is sup- posed to be the largest body of fresh water on the globe. According to the French charts, it is fifteen hundred miles in circumference 5 and is situated between 46 and 50 north latitude. A great part of the coast is bounded by rocks and uneven ground ; and storms are more dreadful ia this lake than in the ocean. There are many islands in Lake Superior; two of them have each land enough, if proper for cultivation, to form a considerable province : forty rivers empty into this lake. Providence doubtless made use of this inland sea to furnish the interior parts of the country with that supply of vapors, without which, like the interior parts of Afri- ca, they must have been a mere desart. Morse. SUSQUEHANNAH, a river in Pennsylvania. This r/tvcr begins at or near the northern boundary of Penn- sylvania, twelve miles from the river Delaware, and tvinding several hundred miles through a variegated Country, 'enters the state of Maryland, fifty-eight miles westward of Philadelphia. It falls into the iiead of Ches- ipeake Bay, and is a mile wide at its mouth, 1 but is ttavl^ SWALLOW. 367 gable only twenty miles. In 1784, the thaw of this river produced dreadful effects. The winter of 1783-4 was extremely cold, and the ice very thick. In the month of January a thaw came on suddenly, which set the ice afloat : suddenly again the weather became intensely cold, so as to obstruct the floating ice, which was form- ed into heaps, or dams, across the river. About the middle of March, a thaw became general ; and while the upper dams were set afloat by the warm weather, the lower ones, which were the largest, and in which, of course, the ice was most impacted, remained fixed. In consequence of this, the river rose, in a few hours, in many places above thirty feet ; rolling upon its surface large lumps of ice, from ten to forty cubic feet in size. Nothing could withstand its fury ; whole farms were overwhelmed by the deluge ; barns, stables, horses, cat- tle, fences, and mills, were sw r ept oft*, and carried down [he stream. Rush. SWALLOW, a common summer-bird that seeing ever on the wing. They fly in circles, seemingly in play, but actually in pursuit of little insects of the air which form their food. When the weather is fine these insects venture aloft, and the swallows follow r them : but when the air is filled with vapor the insects and their pursuers fly near the earth. It has been doubted by some able naturalists, whether it is possible for the swal- low to live inclosed with water ana mud. " I saw an instance, says Dr. Williams, which puts the possibility of the fact beyond all doubt. About the year 1760, two men were digging in the salt marsh at Cambridge, in Massachusetts ; on the banks of the Charles river, about two feet below the surface, they dug up a swallow, wholly surrounded and covered with mud. The bird was in a torpid state, but being held in their hands, it revived in about half an hour. The place where this swallow was dug up, was every day covered with the fcalt water ; which at every high tide, was four or five feet deep. The time when this swallow was found, was the latter part of the month of February." The 'species of this bird called the Chimney Swallow, has been found during the winter, in hollow trees. This fact lias been put beyond all doubt^ in Dr. 568 SWAN SWEDEN. Haras's history of Vermont 5 which particularly describes- two swallow trees, the one at Middlebury, and the oth- er at Bridgport. In those trees, the swallows used to have their winter residence 5 issuing out about the first of May like swarms of bees. SWAN, a constellation in the heavens. Astronomers had observed a new star in the heart of the swan, which from time to time disappeared. In the year 1600, it was equal to a star of the first magnitude ; it greatly diminished and at length disappeared. M. Cassini per- ceived it in 1655. It increased for five years succes- sively ; it then began to decrease, and re-appeared no more. In 1670, a new star wis observed near the head of the Swan. It disappeared, and became again visible, in 1672; from that period, it was seen no more till 1709, and in 1713 it totally disappeared. St. Pierre. SWAN, a large water fowl, with a long neck, and re- markably white : some say that this bird hves three hundred years. Swans were formerly held in such great esteem in England, that, by an act of Edward the fourth, none, except the son of the king, was permitted to keep a swan, unless possessed of five marks a year, liy a subsequent act, the punishment for taking their eggs, was imprisonment for a year and a day, and a fine at the king's will ! The swan is the most graceful swimmer in ail nature. As Milton has it. -" it proudly rows in slate, With arched neck, between its white wings mantling." Goldsmith. SWEDEN, a northern kingdom of Europe ; border- ing upon Lapland, the Ocean, Russia, the Gulf of Fin- land, and Norway ; extending 800 miles in length, and S50 in' breadth. In the early part of the sixteenth cen- tury, Sweden was tributary to Denmark. The Swedes revolted ; and Christian II. king of Denmark, who was rvedly called the Nero of the North, marched a formidable army towards Stockholm the capital, in the year 1528 : and the city was burrendered to him. There SWIMMING. 369 lie was crowned by the archbishop as king of Sweden, and swore to govern the Swedes with equity and mild- ness. Soon after this, the Danish king having formed a scheme for extirpating the Swedish nobility, he in- sidiously invited the senators and nobles to a sumptu- ous entertainment that lasted for three days. On the last day of the feast, the hall was filled with armed men, who secured the guests ; and a scaffold was erected before the palace gate, on which ninety-nine distinguish- ed persons were publicly executed for defending the liberties of their country. In the mean time the rage of the soldiers was let loose against the citizens, who were butchered without mercy. Gustavus Vasa, a no- ble young Swede, who was at that time a prisoner in Denmark, made his escape from prison ; and having lived a while in disguise, sometimes among peasants and shepherds, and sometimes working for bread under ground among miners, he, at length, at an annual festi- val, made himself known, and quickly liberated his countrymen, and avenged their wrongs. Gustavus Yasa was chosen king of Sweden, and his posterity to the present time have succeeded to the Swedish throne. Russell. In the general overthrow of the gov- ernments of Europe, the dynasty of Gustavus was abol- ished ; and Bernadotte, a general of the armies of France, succeeded to the throne. SWIMMING, a necessary and life-saving art, which is commonly learned far more perfectly by savages than by civilized people. Some savage islanders are so ac- customed to swimming from their very infancy, that the water seems as natural to them as to fishes. In Cooke's Voyages, it is related that a canoe, belonging to the Sandwich islanders, in which was a woman with her children, happening to overset, one of the children, of about four years old, appeared to be highly delighted with the incident ; swimming about at its ease, and play- ing a number of tricks, till the canoe was brought to its former position. As the human body is specifically lighter than water, its sinking in that element seems to be commonly owing to a wrong position or wrong man- agement. We have lately seen published, the following Directions to prevent sinking in the water. " If a per- :o BWISSERLAND. son fall into deep water, he will rise to the surface by iiotage, and continue there, if he do not elevate his hands ; keeping them down being essential to his safe- ty. If he move his hands under the water, any way he pleases, his head will rise so high as to aiiow*him Tree liberty to breathe; and if, in addition, he move his legs exactly as in the action of walking up stairs, his shoul- ders will rise above the water, so that he may use the less exertion \v ith his hands, or apply them to other pur- poses." In some desperate cases it is necessary for persons to plunge into the surf or swell of the sea on the coasts : here skill is to be used. This surf is com- posed of a number of waves, driving towards the shore ; of which every third wave is observed to be considera- bly larger than the rest, and to flow higher up on the land : while the others break in the intermediate spaces. Accordingly, expert swimmers, aiming at the shore in a high surf, make it their first object to place themselves on the top of the largest surge, which drives them along with astonishing rapidity. SWISSERLAND, a country in Europe ; extending one hundred and eighty miles in length, and one hun- dred and forty in breadth ; bounded by the Tyrolese and Austrian Swabia, by Savoy and Italy, and by France. It is the highest land in Europe ; and some of the princi- pal rivers of that continent have their sources here. It abounds with lofty mountains and frightful precipices, composed of rocks piled on rocks, some of them to the height of more than ten thousand feet. The Swiss, for- tified by their natural situation, amidst stupendous mountains and torrents, had been free from tiine imme- morial ; and when any of their nobility attempted to ty- rannize, they were either altogether expelled, or reduced within bounds by the people. But although they were extremely jealous of their liberties, they had always been submissive to the German empire, whose empe- rors had treated them with paternal indulgence, ac- knowledging and defending their rights. It was about the beginning of the fourteenth century, when Albert, emperor of Germany, attempted to govern the Swiss as an absolute sovereign. He sent governors to tyrannize over them ; one of these governors, named Goisler, or- SWORD FISH SYMPATHETIC INK. 37i tiered his hat to be placed on a pole in the market-place : and every passenger was commanded, on pain of death, to pay obeisance to it. William Tell, a noble minded Swiss, refused to pay this absurd homage, and the gov- ernor ordered him to be hanged ; but remitted the pun- ishment on condition that he should strike an apple from the head of his son, with an arrow. Tell struck oft" the apple without hurting his son. Geisler then per- ceiving another arrow under this marksman's coat, en- quired for what purpose that was intended. " It was designed for thee (replied the Swiss) if 1 had had the mis- fortune to have killed my son." A general revolt imme- diately ensued ; and the swiss established their freedom ; which they purchased by above sixty battles against the Austrians. In the year 1797, these people, for so many centuries safe and independent, were conquered hy the French republicans ; who, according to Mallet du Pan, destroyed in Swisserlaml one hundred and thirty-three villages, and seventeen towns. SWORD-FISH, an animal of the deep, that lias a beak, sharp, and pointed like a sword : it is the whale's most terrible enemy. At the sight of this little animal the whale seems agitated, in a most extraordinary man- ner leaping from the water as if in affright : whenev- er it appears the whale perceives it at a distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction. The whale has no instrument of defence except the tail ; with that it endeavors to strike the enemy ; and a single effectual blow would destroy it. But the sword fish is as active as the other is strong, arid easily avoids the stroke ; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its great subjacent enemy and endeavors not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges. The sea all about is seen dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds of the whale. Anderson. SYMPATHETIC INK, a kind of ink or paint which has this singular property, that it will appear when brought near the fire, and disappear when withdrawn from it. To make this ink, take Zaffre, or Regulus of Cobalt, as sold by the druggists, and digest it in aqua regia $ which solution must be diluted by a little com- 372 SYRIA. inon water, to prevent it from making too strong on im- pression on the paper ; the colour, when the paper is heated, becomes a fine green-blue. If Zaffire, or Reg- ulus of Cobalt, be dissolved in the same manner in spi- rit of nitre, or aqua-fortis, a reddish colour is produced on exposing the paper to heat : these colours vanish on their being withdrawn from the fire, unless the heat has been too great. Fire-screens have been thus painted, which, in the cold, have shown only the trunk and branches of a dead tree, together with a sandy hill ; but on approaching the fire, the dead tree puts forth green leaves and red flowers, and the sandy hill appears cov- ered with verdant grass. Sympathetic ink has been used in secret correspondence ; and is said to have been used by General Washington, during the American War. SYRIA, a country of Turkey, in Asia, bordering on Palestine or the Holy Land. Syria has suffered a suc- cession of most terrible revolutions, occasioned by the invasions and ravages of foreign nations. The Assyrians of Nineveh obtained the possession of almost the whole of this country, about seven hundred and fifty years be- fore the Christian era. Next the Chaldeans, or Babylon- ians, having broken the power of the Assyrian empire, completed me conquest of Syria, except only the isle of Tyre. The Chaldeans were followed by the Persians, under Cyrus ; and the Persians by the" Macedonians, under Alexander. The Macedonian power being at length broken, Syria yielded to the arms of Pompey, and became a province ot the Roman empire. Five centu- ries after it was annexed to the empire of Constantino- ple ; and such continued its situation, till in the year 622 the Arabians seized it, and laid it waste. Since that period, after having been torn to pieces by civil wars, invaded by the European crusaders, and ravaged by the Tartars, under Tameilane, it at length fell into the hands of the Turks, who have been its masters for al- most three hundred years. Even now the insecurity of the Syrians discourages them from sowing and cultivat- ing their fields ; as bands of Arabian robbers often rush iu and bear oft' their harvests. Volney. TALIPOT TALLOW TREE TAPIER. 373 T. JL ALIPOT, a remarkable tree that grows in the greatest luxuriance in the island of Ceylon. Robert Knox, who is said to have given th best account extant of Ceylon, tells us, that one of the leaves of the talipot is capable of covering ten persons. When it is dry, continues he, it is at once strong and pliant, so that you may fold and unfold it at pleasure, being naturally plait- ed like a fan. In this state it is not bigger than a man's arm, and extremely light. The natives cut it into tri- angles, though it is naturally round, and each of them carries one of those sections over his head, holding the angular part before, in his hand, to open for himself a passage through the bushes. The soldiers use this leaf as a covering to their tent. They consider it, and with good reason, as one of the greatest blessings of Provi- dence, in a country burnt up by the sun, and inundated by the rains, for six months of the year. St. Pierre. TALLOW TREE, an extraordinary tree that grows in China. It is of the size of a cherry tree ; its branch- es are crooked ; its leaves are shaped like a heart, and of a bright red colour ; it has a smooth bark, a short trunk, and a round bushy top. Th-e fruit is contained in a husk when it is ripe, and discovers three white grainy of the size of a small walnut. In each of these is a stone, and the pulp with which these stones are covered, has all the properties of tallow, and its colour, smell, and consistence, are exactly the same. The Chinese make candles of it, mixing it only with a little linseed-oil, to render it softer and sweeten -Winterbotham. TAPIER, an animal that inhabits the woods and riv- ers on the eastern side of South America, from the Isthmus of Darien to the river of the Amazons. It is a solitary animal, sleeps during the day, and goes out in the night in search 01 food : it lives on ^rass, sugar- cane, and fruits. If disturbed it takes to the water, swims with great ease, or plunges to the bottom, and, like the hippopotamus, or river horse, walks there as on dry ground. It is about the size of a small cow $ its fio-se is long and slender, and extends far beyond the Hh 374 TARTARY -TAURUS .TEAS. lower jaw, forming a kind of proboscis. It ha? an arch- ed back, short legs, four hoofs on each foot, a small tail, short hair, arid is of a dusky brown colour. It is an in- offensive timid animal. The Indians make bucklers of its skin, which is very thick and hard. Winterbotham. TARTARY, a vast country of Asia ; lying between the Frozen Ocean, Persia, Hindostan, and China. From Tartary have issued the Turks and other hordes of seini- savages, which have made Asia and Europe tremble. In the early part of the thirteenth century Genghis- Kan, at the head of the Moguls, or western Tartars, ex- tended his dominions, in a few years, from a small ter- ritory to more than eighteen hundred leagues, from east to west, and above a thousand from north to south. He conquered Persia, and pushed his conquests as far as the Euphrates; subdued Hindostan, and a great part of China, and the frontier provinces of Russia. Russell. TAURUS, a vast chain of mountains, running through Africa and Asia. The chain of mountains known by the names of Taurus and Imaus, commences in Africa, at Mount Atlas, toward the thirtieth degree of north- ern latitude. It runs across all Africa and all Asia, be- tween the thirty-eighth and fortieth degree of north lati- tude 5 having its summit covered, for the most part, through that immense extent, with snows that never melt. Mount Ararat, which makes part of this chain, is, perhaps, more elevated than any mountain of the New World, if we form a judgment from the time which Tournefort, and other travellers, took to perform the distance from the basis of that mountain, up to the commencement of the snow which covers its summit; and which is more conclusive, from the distance at which it may be seen, and that is, at least, six days jour- ney of a caravan. St. Pierre. TEAS. The teas of China are of the following kinds : The Song-lo tea, being the same which we call Gr?en tea, takes its name from the mountain Song-lo, which is entirely covered with the shrubs that produce this kind of tea. It is cultivated almost like vines, and is crop- ped at a certain height, to prevent it from growing. The TEMPERATE ZONES TENERIPF. 373 flower which it bears is white, and shaped like a small ruse composed of live leaves. The Von-y tea, being the same that is known in Europe and America by the names of Bohea and Souchong, takes its name from a mountain, in China, called Vou-y. This is the tea the in Oat esteemed throughout the Chinese empire ; as u<>reein; better with the stomach, being in their estima- tion lighter, sweeter, and more delicate to the taste than the Son^-lo or- Green tea. The Imperial tea, which is called by the Chinese Mao tcha, contains only the ten- der leaves of the shrub. This is the most delicate of all the teas, and is that which is transported to court for the use of the emperor. It is seldom ever distributed but in presents ; but it may sometimes be bought on the spot where it grows for twenty pence or two shillings the pound . Winterbotham. TEMPERATE ZONES, the spaces contained be- tween the tropics and polar circles ; or all those parts of the terraqueous globe which lie between the latitudes 23 SS' and 66 32', both in the northern and southern hemisphere. The southern temperate zone is mostly ocean : it contains no known country except the south part of New-Holland and the southernmost parts of Africa and of South America. The northern temperate zone comprehends almost all Europe, the greatest part of Asia, part of Africa, particularly Egypt and Barbary, the United States of America, the British colonies, tlie Florid as, Louisiana, California, and a large part of Mex- ico. History informs us of no nation south of the equa- tor, that had ever risen to great eminence in the arts and sciences. The Peruvians who were the most dis- tinguished in the whole southern hemisphere for civil- ization and improvements, had no knowledge of the manufacture and use of iron ; consequently their im- provements in arts must have been comparatively small. The tropical climates, as well as the polar re- dons, are unfavorable to the full growth either of the human body or mind. It is in the northern temperate zone that the arts have chiefly flourished, and the great- est men and most powerful nations been produced. TENERIFF, one of the Canary Islands, The raoun- 3f6 TENNESSEE THIBET THORN PLANT. tain in this island, called the Peak, is fifteen thousand three- hundred and ninety-six feet above the level of the sea, and may be seen one hundred and twenty miles, in a clear day. Smoke continually issues from near the top of the Peak, which is a volcano ; but they have had no eruption since 1704, when the port of Garrachia was destroyed, being filled up by the rivers of burning lava that flowed into it ; and nouses are now built where ships formerly lay at anchor. This vast mountain, cov- ered with ice. is situated directly opposite to the great sandy desart, in Africa, called Sahara, and contributes, undoubtedly, to refresh the shores and atmosphere of it, by the effusion of its snows, which takes place even in the midst of summer. Mouat Atlas is also placed as a cooler of that burning desart } as also Mount Ida, in the island of Crete, is aptly situated for cooling the at- mosphere of the desart of Barca, which coasts along- Egypt from north to south.- CooAreV Voyages, St. Pierre* TENNESSEE, one of the United States of America ; 360 miles in length, and 100 miles in breadth ; lying be- tween 35 and 36 north latitude ; bounded east by North Carolina ; north by Virginia and Kentucky ; west by the Mississippi, and south by the Mississippi territory, Georgia, and teouth Carolina, Knoxville is its capital. Tennessee was erected into an independent state, and received into the union, in 1796. THIBET, a large country of Asia, bordering upon China and Hindostan. It is one of the most elevated countries in Asia 5 and gives rise to some of the rivers not only in China and Hindostan, but also of Siberia and Tartary. The Thibetians have a profound veneration for the cow, and also for the waters of the Ganges, be- lieving the source of that river to be from heaven. They pay religious homage to their Grand Lama, as to a di- vinity. See LAMAS. THORN PLANT, a plant used for hedges. The European method of raising quicks from thorn is as fol- lows. Gather the haws when full ripe, perhaps in the month of November ; dig a hole in a dry hill, trom two to three .feet deep $ put in the bottom a layer of dry TIDE. srr straw ; throw your haws upon the straw and cover them with the same 5 then fill in the earth, and do it up neatly, so as to prevent the water soaking to them. Take them up in March or April, and sow them in beds of well prepared ground, nearly in the same manner as parsnips are sowed, leaving a sufficient space between for a person to pass to weed them. They will come up as soon as any garden seeds ; and, if kept clean and weeded, may be transplanted into hedges in two years. American Museum. TIDE, the periodical rising and falling of the water of the sea. The water of the sea flows about six hours from south to north ; during which period it gradually swells, so that it enters the mouths of rivers, and coun- teracts the natural current from their sources. It then remains stationary for about a quarter of an hour ; after which it ebbs for six hours, and then again remains, for a quarter of an hour stationary. If the moon be in the iirst and third quarters, or when it is new a.ndfull 9 the tides are high and swift, being then called spring-tides ; on the contrary, when that luminary is in the second and last quarter, they neither rise so high, nor flow with such rapidity ; and are termed neap-tides. In open seas the tides rise to a very small height in proportion to what they do in wide -mouthed rivers, opening in the direction of the stream of the tide. For in channels growing narrower gradually, the water is accumulated by the opposition of the converging banks. Some rivers, creeks, and bays, are so situated as to raise the tide-waters into mountains : thus, in the Bay of Fundy, the tide rises from forty to sixty feet. The ancient Grecians were ignorant of the phenomena of tides $ inasmuch as their navigation did not extend beyond the Mediterranean, which has no tide. Therefore, when Alexander, after his conquest of Persia, sailed down the river Indus in order to see the ocean, its ebbing and flowing terrified his pilots. The principal cause of the tides is believed to be the attraction of the moon. The honor of discovering this cause has been attributed to Kelper ; yet Cicero, more than seventeen hundred years before, imputed the ebbing and flowing of the tide to the moon's influence. Some moderns* II h 2 378 TIGER. among whom is Bernardino St. Pierre, attribute the. tides to the liquification of the snow and ice in the polar regions; but this is generally thought to be a visionary theory. Why there is no tide in the Mediter- ranean, Lake Superior, and some other vast bodies of water, is hard to explain on the commonly received principles of gravitation or attraction. TIGEH, a most ferocious and terrible animal of the cat -hind. Goldsmith remarks that a cat, magnified in imagination to the size of several hundred pounds weight, would give a perfect idea of the form and ap- pearance of a tiger. The skin is of a darkish yellow colour, striped with long black streaks ; the hair is short, excepting on the sides of the head, where it is about four inches long; the point of the tail is black, and the rest of it is interspersed with black rings. The woods of Sondry in the East-Indies, are famous for the enormous size of the tigers which aie found there, and with which they are filled. This species are called the Royal Tiger. These animals are extremely formidable by their strength and activity : some of them are as large as oxen. They are so eager and ferocious in pursuit of their prey, that they have been known to throw themselves into the water, and swim to attack boats on the river Ganges. About the year 1790, twelve men landed on the shore of the Ganges from the vessel of M. Graudpre, in order to take in some dry wood. They were at the distance of about three hundred yards from the vessel, and had scarcely begun their work, when we saw them (says Grandpre) run- ning to the water side with the strongest marks of ter- ror. They were pursued by a small tiger of the size of a common calf; which rushed out of the woods, seized r iie hindmost of these men, and carried him off in an instant. The following instance of escape from the fangs of this dreadful animal, is very remarkable. "I was infornimed (says Mr. Pennant) by very good au- thority, that in the beginning of the eighteenth century, some gentlemen and ladies being on a party of plea- sure, under a shade of trees, on the banks of a river in Bengal, observed a tiger preparing for its fatal spring j \vhen one of the ladies, with amazing presence of mind. TIGRIS TIN .TOBACCO. 379 laid hold of an umbrella, and furled it full in the face of the animal, which instantly retired, and gave the company an opportunity of removing from so terrible a neighbor." TIGRIS, a river of Turkey, in Asia, which rises in or near Mount Ararat, and, uniting with the Euphrates, about twenty leagues from its mouth, empties into the Persian Gulf. Ancient Nineveh stood on its banks, and Babylon at no great distance from its waters. Be- tween the Tigris and the Euphrates, near their junc- tion, (which is at about 33 or 34 north latitude) many suppose the garden of Eden to have been situated. Of all the streams of the east this is the most rapid ; it is named Tigris by reason of its prodigious rapidity ; an arrow being so called in the Persian tongue. There are shallows in this river. Alexander with his cavalry, passed it on horseback, the water coming up to the horses' breasts. Rollin. TIN, one of the imperfect metals, being the lightest and most fusible of all metals. It is of a greyish white, and is remarkably malleable. It unites with copper, forming the compositions known under the names of Bronze, and Bell-metal ; and by immersing thin plates of iron into melted tin, they become coated, and are then termed Block-tin, which is manufactured into tea- canisters, and various kitchen utensils. Tin is obtained principally from Cornwall, in England, where it is sometimes dug up in a native or pure state, though more frequently mixed with a large proportion of arse- nic, sulphur, and iron. Anderson says, in his history of commerce, that tin mines have no where been found but in the British island ; and that the Phenicians, or* Canaanites, resorted to the coasts of Cornwall in Eng- land, for tin, probably as early as the times of Joshua. We read, in the sacred writings, that the Hebrews had tin, in Joshua's time ; which in all probability, they had taken, as a prey, from the Canaanites. TOBACCO, a plant greatly in use, which was first found among the natives of America. In the year 1534, James Cartier^ a Frenchman, was commissioned S80 TQ&BERONGS TOMBUCTOO; to explore the coasts of North America, with a view to find a place for a colony. He observed that the natives of Canada used the leaves of an herb which they preserved in pouches made of skins, and smoked in stone pipes. It being very offensive to the French, they took none of it with them on their return. Ralph Lane, at his retun in 1586, carried it first into Europe ; and Sir Walter Raleigh, who was a man of gaiety and fashion, not only learned the use of it himself, but in- troduced it into the polite circles. It is related that a servant of Sir Walter, bringing a tankard of ale into his study as he was smoking his pipe and reading, was ^0 alarmed at .the appearance of smoke issuing out of his mouth, that he threw the ale into his face, and run to alarm the family, crying out that his master was on fire. Bdknctp. TOMBERONGS, a species of bread-fruit, in the interior of Africa. They are small mealy berries of a yellow colour and delicious taste. These berries are much esteemed by the natives, who convert them into a sort of bread, by exposing them for some days to the sun. and afterwards pounding them gently in a wooden mortar, until the mealy part of the berry is separated from the stone. This meal is then mixed with a little water and formed into cakes ; which, when dried in the sun, resemble in colour and flavor the sweetest ginger- bread. The stones are afterwards put into a vessel of water, and shaken about so as to separate the meal which n-ay still adhere to them : this communicates a sweet and agreeable taste to the water, and, with the addition of a little poundetl millet, forms a pleasant gruel, which makes a common breakfast during the months of February and March. Park. TOMBUCTOO, the capital of a kingdom of the same name in Negroland. This is a large and wealthy commercial and manufacturing city, situated south-east of the great desart of Sahara, and near the river Niger, Tombuctoo is reckoned the mart of the Mandingo gold : whence it is distributed over the northern parts of Africa, by the merchants of Tunis, Tripoli, Fez, and Morocco, all of whom resort to Tvmfructoo, Most of TONQUIN TORMENTIL. 381 this gold, no doubt, afterwards finds its way into Eu- rope. The kingdom of Tombuctoo is so powerful, that in the year 1540, the prince of that country met the emperor of Morocco with three hundred thousand men, and drove him across the desart. Kennel. TONQUIN, a kingdom of Asia ; bounded on the north by China, and "extending about three hundred and fifty miles in length, and two hundred and twenty in its greatest breadth. The soil is excellent, the cli- mate is of a mild temperature, the country is thick set with villages, and has a great trade, which is carried on chiefly by the Chinese, English, and Dutch. The Ton- quinese are of a middling stature and tawny complex- ion : their faces are oval, their hair is black, long, lank, and coarse, and hangs down their backs. They are at great pains to dye their teeth black. They buy all their wives, and In hard times the men will sell both their wives and children, to purchase rice to maintain themselves. They are so addicted to gaming, that? when every thing is lost, they will stake their wives and children. The Christian religion was planted here in 1626, by the Jesuit Baldinoti ; and in 1639, there were eighty thousand converts, who had built two hundred churches at their own charge : it was utterly proscribed however, in 1722, after several dreadful persecutions, attended with the imprisonment, torture, and death of the missionaries and their disciples. Walker. TORMENTIL, a common plant sometimes called septfoil. This plant, and also the great bistort, or snake weed, were found by the Prussian chymist Hermbstadt to be far preferable to oak bark for tanning. One pound and an half of tormentil, or three pounds of bis- tort, will tan a pound of dry hide, which requires seven pounds of oak bark. Mr. Yolger has discovered a method of making, by means of this vegetable, a fine black ink, which has the smell of roses. In an earthern. vessel he boils seven ounces of rain water, with an ounce and an half of dried tormentil roots. When it has boiled sufficiently he pours oft* the liquid, and adds ro it a solution of three drams of copperas, and one dram 38S TORNADO TORPEDO TORRID ZONE. of gum-arabic ; he then stirs the whole with a stick j \V!K-II it has grown cold, the ink is ready for use,- American Museum. TORNADO, a hurricane of the whirlwind kind. The winds, in a tornado, seem to blow from ever/ quarter, and settle upon one distinct place, with such fury, that nothing can resist their vehemence. When they have all met in their central spot, the whirlwind begins with circular rapidity. The sphere every mo- ment widens as it continues to turn, and catches every object that lies within its attraction. This is preceded by a flattering calm : the air is every where hushed ; and the sea is as smooth as polished glass. All along the coasts of Guinea, beginning about two degrees north of the lina and so downwards, lengthwise, far about a thousand miles and as many broad, the ocean is unnavigable, on account of these tornadoes. Gold' sndtk. ^ TORPEDO, a fish that gives to those who touch it a kind of electric shock. The body of this fish is almost circular ; the skin is soft, smooth, and of a yellowish colour, marked with large annular spots 5 the tail taper- ing to a point. Such is that unaccountable power it possesses, that, the instant it is touched, it numbs not only the hand and arm, but sometimes also the whole body. The shock received most resembles the stroke of an electrical machine ; sudden, tingling, and painful. Even if one treads upon it with the shoe on, it affects not only the leg, but the whole thigh upwards. The nerves are so affected, that the person struck imagines all the bones of his body, and particularly those of the limb that received the "blow, are driven out of joint. All this is accompanied with an universal tremor, a sickness of the stomach, a general convulsion, and a universal suspension of the faculties of the mind. Goldsmith. TORRID ZONE, that portion. of the earth over every part of which the SUM is vertical, or perpendicu- lar, at some time of the year. It extends from twenty- three degrees and twenty-eight minutes north latitude TRAFALGAR. 383 to twenty-three degrees and twenty-eight minutes south. This zone comprehends the East and West-Indies, the Philippine islands, the greater part of South America and Africa, and almost all Captain Cooke's discoveries, including the northern parts of New Holland. In or- der to prevent its being burnt up by the rays of the sun. Providence has placed in the torrid zone, the largest diameter of the South Sea, and the greatest breadth of the Atlantic Ocean ; and there it has collected the freatest quantity of islands in existence. Farther, it as planted in the breadth of the continents, the great- est bodies of running water that are in the world, all issuing from mountains of ice ; such as the Senegal and the Nile, which issue from the mountains of the Moon in Africa ; the Amazon and Oronoko, which have their sources in the Andes. Again, it is for this reasan that Providence has multiplied in the torrid zone, and in its vicinity, lofty chains of mountains covered with snow, and that it directs thither the winds of the north pole and of the south pole, of which the trade winds Always partake. St. Pierre. TRAFALGAR, a Cape of Spain, at the entrance of the Straits of Gibraltar. It was off this Cape the me- morable battle was fought, October 21, 1805, between the British fleet, commanded by Lord Nelson, and the combined ileets of France and Spain, under the com- mand of Admirals Villeneuve and Gravina ; when Lord Nelson fell in the arms of victory. The fortune of the day being nearly decided, his lordship was standing 011 the quarter deck of his ship, moving the stump of his right arm up and down with great rapidity, as was his custom when much pleased. Captain Hardie, stand- ing near him, and perceiving his danger, exclaimed, u change your position, my lord ! I see a rascal taking aim at you :" the same instant Nelson received the wound that in a few hours terminated his earthly exist- ence. Lord Nelson, on receiving his wound, was im- mediately sensible it was mortal ; and said with a smile to Captain Hardie, " They have done it for me at last." On being told, a few minutes before he expired, that twelve of the enemy's ships had certainly struck, he said, " What, only twelve ! there should at least have 3$4 TRANSFUSIONTRANSMIGRATION. been fifteen or sixteen, by my calculation : however, twelve is pretty well !" He now said that " he felt death fast approaching, and that he had but a few minutes to live : he could have wished to survive a little longer to have seen the fleet in safety ; but as that was impossible, he thanked God that he had outlived the action, and had been enabled to do his duty to his country." Charnock. TRANSFUSION, in surgery or medicine, the in- troducing of the blood of one animal body into that of another. This scheme for prolonging human life, (first recommended, in the year 1615,' by Andreas Li- bavius, professor of medicine and chymistry, in Ger- many,) excited hopes in Europe of a kind of immortal- ity in this world, by means of renewing the blood. The operation was performed in the following mariner. The blood of the young, healthy, and vigorous, was transfused into the old and infirm, by means of a deli- cate tube, placed in a vein opened for that purpose: into this vein a small tube was placed in a perpendicular direction ; at the same time a vein was opened in a young and healthy animal, commonly, a lamb, or calf, into which another tube was forced in a reclining di- rection ; both the small tubes were then slidden into each other, and in that position the delicate act of transfusion was safely performed. In some instances, the good effects of these experiments were evident and promising; but the increasing abuses practised by b^ld and inexpert adventurers, together with the great number of cases wherein it proved unsuccessful, in- duced the different governments of Europe to put an entire stop to the practice by the strictest prohibitions. Willich. TRANSMIGRATION, in pagan mythology, the passing of human souls into other bodies. This doc- trine originated among the East-Indians, and is of great antiquity. The Indians believed that the soul transmigrated from body to body, for a long succession of ages ; that the punishment of crimes would be to have the souls of the criminals thurst into some unclean or detested brute animals after death 5 that the cruel TRENTON TRIPOLI, S85 and tyranical, for instance, would suffer in other bo- dies trie same kinds of distress and tortures that they had inflicted; aad that after a course of trials and transmigrations, the soul would be reunited to its ori- ginal body, in order to enjoy eternal happiness. Ac- cordingly -they scrupulously abstained from eating flesh and from spilling the blood of any of the inferior animals, lest they should eat or kill some near relation. Pythagoras, in his travels in India learned this doctrine, of the Indian Brachmans, and taught it in Greece. TRENTON, a pleasant town of New- Jersey ; situ- ated on the east bank of the river Delaware : and distinguished for being the site of a brilliant victory, achieved at the most gloomy period of the American revolutionary war; when General Washington, with the remnant of an army, re-crossed the Delaware (De- cember 25, 1776) and attacking Colonel Rawle, posted at Trenton, made prisoners of one thousand of his troops. Twelve years after this action, when General Washington was passing toward the seat of govern- ment, to be inaugurated as president of the United States, a numerous party of the respectable matrons of Trenton, assembled together at the bridge, v holding by the hand their daughters, who were dressed in white, and had baskets of flowers on their arms ; and upon the arrival of the general at the bridge, the young misses, with voices sweet, chaunted an ode, the last stanza of w T hich was as follows : *' Virgins fair and -matrons grave, " Those thy conquering arms did save, " Build for t/iee iriufnphant bowers ; " Straw, ye fair, his way with flowers, " Srew your hero's way with flowers." , At the last line the flovv.ers were strewed before him. TRIPOLI, a country of Africa, in Barbary ; bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea; *on the west by Tunis ; and on the east by Egypt. It is about nine hundred and twenty-five miles along the sea coast, but the breadth is various. This piratical state is governed I i 386 TRIUMVIRATE. by a Dey, who is. under the control of the grand Seigu- ior of Turkey. Tripoli, the capital of the state of the same name, "is situated on the coast of the Mediterra- nean, in a sandy soil surrounded by a wall, in 3 34' north latitude. This city was taken by Charles V. who settled the knights of Malta there ; but they were driven away by the Turks in 1551. The Tripolitans derive their chief gain from the Christian slaves ; on whom they set high ransoms, and make them perform all kinds of drudgery. TRIUMVIRATE, the union of three most power- ful citizens of Rome, in usurping the whole manage- ment of the republic. The first Roman triumvirate consisted of Pompey, Ceesar, and Crassus, Those three men, by their nefarious union for that purpose, subvert- ed the constitution of the Roman republic, and divided among themselves the whole power of the state ; yet, as a solemn lesson to usurpers, they all came to a miserable end. Crassus, together with his army, was cut off by the Parthians, now called Tartars. After the death of Crassus, Csesars unquenchable thirst for em- pire, and wild ambition of being the greatest man in the world, prompted him to employ his arms to the de- struction of Pompey, his son-in-law, who was his only remaining rival. Pompey, defeated by Csesar on the plaitis of Pharsalia, fled to Egypt : where he was sen- tenced to die by a council of slaves, was murdered by a base deserter, and cast out naked and headless on the Egyptian strand ; and when the whole earth had scarce been sufficient for his victories, could not find a spot upon it at last for his grave. Csesar having made more desolations in the world than any other man, perhaps, that ever lived in it ; having destroyed about a million and two hundred thousand lives by his con- quests in Gaul, and nearly as many more in the civil wars ; having at last advanced himself to an unrivalled and astonishing height of power, through a perpetual course of faction, violence, rapine, and slaughter, he was assassinated in the senate-house, after enjoying the quiet possession of empire only Jive months. The next year after the death of Julius Cresar, a new triumvinife was formed by young Octavius, Cesar's nephew, to- TROY TUNIS. 387 gcther with Murk Anthony and Lepidus ; which termi- nated in the disgrace and ruin of Lepidus, the destruc- tion of Anthony, and the enthronement of Gctavius, as the first Roman emperor, under the name of Augustus C?esar. The Saviour of the world was born in the reign of Tiberius, the adopted heir and successor of Augustus Caesar, and was condemned to crucifixion by one of his provincial governors, namely, Pontius Pilate. TROY, formerly called liium, a wealthy and famous ancient city of Asia, near the Archipelago, at the foot of Mount Ida, and opposite to the isle of Tenedos. The first irruption of the Europeans into Asia, was against this city. About twelve hundred years before the nativity of our Saviour, Paris, a son of Priam king of Troy, travelling through Greece, seduced and car- ried away Helen, the wife of Menelaus, a Grecian prince ; and the whole Grecian states united to revenge this affront. With a fleet consisting of twelve hundred small vessels and a numerous army under the command of several petty kings, they besieged Troy, and con- tinued the siege ten years 5 when the city was taken by stratagem, and laid in ruins. About three hundred years after the Trojan war, Greece gave birth to Homer, a prodigy of genius, whose poems immor- talized Troy, as well as contributed to exalt his own country. TUNIS, a country of Africa; bordering on the Me- diterranean Sea and the state of Tripoli ; and extending three hundred miles in length, and t\yo hundred and fifty in breadth. This country was formerly a monar- chy ; but a difference arising between a king and his son, one of whom was for the protection of the Chris- tians, and the other for that of the Turks, the inhabi- tants, in 1574, shook oft* the authority of both. From this time it became a republic under the protection of the Turks, who receive thence an annual tribute. Some parts of this country are very fertile ; but the woods and mountains abound with lions ; and the inroads of the Arabs oblige the inhabitants to sow their grain in the suburbs, and to inclose their gardens with walls. The city of Tunis is seated on the point of the Gulf of 588 TURKEY TURKS. Croletta, a few miles from the place where the city of Carthage stood. The walls are very lofty, and flanked with strong towers : it is said to contain three hundred thousand inhabitants, of whom thirty thousand are Jews. In the city of Tunis alone there are said to be above three thousand clothiers and weavers ; in the whole state there are generally about twelve thousand Christian slaves. British Encyclopaedia. TURKEY, a vast empire, extending over some of the finest parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa ; and com- prehending all the islands belonging to ancient Greece, which are called the Archipelago. Turkey in Europe is situated between thirty-six and forty-nine degrees of north latitude ; is a thousand miles long, and nine hun- dred broad ; and is bounded, in part, by Russia, Poland, and the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey in Asia is situated between twenty-eight and forty-five degrees of nortli latitude 5 is a thousand miles long, and eight hundred broad ; and is bounded, in part, by Persia, Arabia, and the Mediterranean. In Africa, the Turkish empire has an acknowledged sovereignty over Egypt? and receives the homage of the Barbary states. This empire com- prehending Egypt, the cradle of science, and all Greece the celebrated seat of the fine arts, extends over Syria and Palestine, and over a great part of the ancient As- syrian and Babylonish dominions. It has blasted every country that has been subjected to its power ; the arts, the sciences, and genius itself, have faded and withered Under its baneful influence. TURKS, the descendants of the various hordes of shepherds dispersed to the east, and to the north, of the Caspian Sea, in Asia. Those wandering tribes, the ancestors of the Turks, were the same people who were known to the ancient Greeks and Romans by the name of Parthians and Scythians, for which we have substituted that of Tartars. They have shewn them- selves in every age, brave and formidable warriors, whom neither Cyrus nor Alexander were able to sub- due. In the beginning of the thirteenth century, cer- tain hordes who had lived to the east of the Caspian, began their march under Soihnan their chief, to th? TWILIGHT TYRE. 389 numbe*M)f fifty thousand horsemen, driving their herds before them. Sbliman being drowned, in 1220, in en- deavoring to pass the Euphrates on horseback, Erto- grul, his son, took the command of the hordes, and advanced into the plains of Asia Minor. Ertogrul was succeeded by his son Osman, from whom the Turks took the name of Ottomans ; which new name soon became formidable to the Greeks of Constantinople.^ from whom Osman conquered a sufficient extent of territory to found a powerful kingdom. He sjoon be- stowed on it that title, by assuming, in 1300, the dignity of Sultan* which signifies absolute sovereign. Volney. TWILIGHT, the li^ht appearing before sun-rise and after sun- set ; occasioned by the refraction of the solar rays by the atmosphere. The region of the at- mosphere where the light of the sun ceases to be refracted to us, is estimated by philosophers to be between forty and fifty miles high ; and the rarity of the air is supposed to be from four thousand to ten thou- sand times greater at the summit of the atmosphere than at the surface of the earth. The duration of twilight, which commonly lasts till the sun is about eighteen degrees below the horizon, differs in different seasons and in different latitudes. In England the shortest twilight is about the beginning of October and of March ; in more northern latitudes, where the SUR never sinks more than eighteen degrees below the horizon, the twilight continues the whole night. The time of its duration may also be occasionally affected by the varying height of the atmosphere. ^Darwin. In tropical climates or in the torrid zones, there is scarce any twilight ; the darkness of night commencing almost immediately after sun-set. TYRE, an ancient city, seated on an island of the Mediterranean Sea, about a quarter of a mile from the continent. It was surrounded with a strong wall, a hundred and fifty feet high, which the waves of the sea washed. It was a city of immense commerce and wealth ; but now, according to scripture prediction, is only inhabited by a few wretched fishermen. About three hundred and thirty years before our Saviour'? I i 2 390 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, &c birth. Alexander besieged Tyre ; which wa~ takeu after- a siege of six months; though the inhabitants used every measure to defend it, which ingenuity could devise, or resolution execute. After the city was taken, Alexander ordered two thousand Tyrians to be fixed en crosses along the sea shore. Roltin. U. JNITED STATES OF AMERICA, situated be- tween the 46th and Slst degrees of north latitude ; ex- tending about twelve hundred and fifty miles in length, and one thousand and forty in breadth ; containing, as is supposed, about five hundred and ninety million acres of fast land ; bounded north and east by the British provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and New-Bruns- wick ; southeast by the Atlantic Ocean ; south by East and West Florida ; and west by the river Mississippi. The population of the United States has more than doubled since the year 1774. Our seamen are more than four times as numerous ; and domestic produce has increased six fold. In 1801, our exports exceeded fifteen times the proportion of 1774. The tonnage of merchantmen is almost five times as great. The aver- age price of labor has increased three told, that of wheat has more than doubled, and the quantity of metallic me- dium is more than four times as great. The resources which may be derived from the future sales of lands, will in all probability surpass five hundred million dol- lars. Coxe, Blodget. Since the time of writing the above, to wit, in 1807, the condition and prospects of the United States have been lamentably changed for the worse. f ACCINATION, the act of inoculating with the cew pock ; this being an eruptive disease, which attacks VAPOR VARNISH TREE. 391 the udders of cows, and which when transferred to the human system, secures it from the small pox. This mode of inoculating for the small pox, discovered by Dr. Jenner of Great Britain, in the year 1798, may per- haps be justly considered as the most memorable im- provement ever made in the practice of physic. An in- stitution in Great Britain, for the purpose of preserving and communicating the vaccine infection, and particu- larly for inoculating the poor, has been formed since the publication of Dr. Jenner's discovery. For this the public are principally indebted to the enlightened and benevolent exertions of Dr. Pearson, of London. A similar institution has been more recently formed in the city of New-York. The first person who inoculated with the vaccine virus, in the United States, was Dr. Waterhouse, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, in the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts > Miller. VAPOR, small particles which, being separated from fluids, rarified, and rendered specifically lighter than air, ascend to a considerable height in the atmosphere, and are at length totally dissipated. The aqueous va- pors, exhaled from the earth and water by the solar rays, compose the clouds ; from which those humidities are precipitated in the form of rain. But there are other vapors arising from metals, extremely pernicious to animal life ; such, for instance, are those disengaged by the smelting or refining of lead, which communicate a deleterious quality to even the grass in their vicinity ; so that the cattle feeding on it frequently perish ; and, if any stagnant water be impregnated with these fumes, it proves equally fatal to fish. There are likewise me- phitic vapors, discharged from the bowels of the earth ; and which are peculiarly injurious both to men and cat- tle : other poisonous vapors are generated in wells. Willich. Scarce a year passes without hearing of the loss of lives, by venturing down into wells whose waters have been long stagnant ; and this should never be at- tempted without previously cleansing the air in the well, by ventillation, or by other eftectual means. VARNISH TREE, or Tsi-chu, a valuable tree that 392 VEGETABLE DIET VENICE. grows only in China, and the best in the southerly parts of that empire. It is a reddish gum, distilling from this tree, that gives an incomparable lustre and beauty to some of the Chinese manufactures. The tsi-chu, the bark and leaves of which resemble the ash, bears ^ei- ther fruit nor flowers. It is, when full grown, about fifteen feet in length ; and the circumference of its trunk, about two feet 5 the gum is obtained by making several rows of incisions round the trunk. A thousand trees yield, on an average, in one night, near twenty pounds * f i *r^- ' t i i . * VEGETABLE DIET, a pleasant and wholesome kind of sustenance, the use or disuse of which forms one trait of difference between the civilized man and the savage. The savage state is the most carnivorous. The shepherd who occupies a middle rank between the savage and the husbandman, uses in his diet, milk and butter, as well as flesh. In the agricultural state vege- tables are cultivated for food : by means of commerce and travels the useful vegetables belonging to countries distant from one another, are transplanted 5 and as any people improve in agriculture, commerce and the arts of life, esculent vegetables are multiplied, and their use in human diet is proportionably increased. According- ly Sir John Pringle affirms, that the quantity of vegeta- bles used in and near London, at the time of the revo- lution, in 1688, was not more than one sixth of what was used in the same place in 1750. VENICE, an aristocratical republic of Italy, founded in the fourth century, comprehending fourteen provin- ces, and containing about a quarter of a million people. This republic was fraudulently taken by the French, and by them was bartered away to the German emperor, to whom it was confirmed by the treaty of Luneville, in 1 801. In the 4th century, when Attila, king of the Huns, ealied the scourge of God, ravaged the north part of Italy, many of the inhabitants abandoned their country, and retired into the islands of the Adriatic Gulf. As these islands were near each other, they found means to join them together, by driving piles on the side of the cajaals, and on which they built houses $ and thus the VENUS. 393 superb city of Venice had its beginning. It stands on seventy -two islands ; and has been one ot the most cel- ebrated cities in the world for wealth and commerce. The Venetians, during the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- turies, carried on a very profitable trade in spiceries? and other East-India goods, which they distributed among the other nations of Europe. They purchased them chiefly in Egypt, at that time under the dominion of the Mamlouks, the enemies of the Turks, of whom also the Venetians were the enemies; and this union of interest, assisted by the money of Venice, gave the Venetians almost a monopoly of this rich commerce. After the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese, in 1497, the trade of the Venetians began, to decline, and at last sunk into insignificance. Walker^ Jl. Smith. The ruin of Venice was completed by its an- nexation to France. According to credible reports, its streets are filled with beggars ; among whom are the descendants of its ancient nobility and wealthiest citi- zens. VENUS, ^a heathen goddess, feigned to be the patron- ess of love/ and the graces, by the Grecian and Roman poets ; who pretended the place of her nativity was Cyprus, a large and beautiful island in the Mediterra- nean Sea, belonging now to the Turkish empire. Here this goddess was worshipped, of old, by lewd rites and shameless prostitutions; and although by the gospel, \vhich was preached and planted here by St. Paul him- self, the professed worship of Venus was abolished and many converts to Christianity made ; yet the Cypriots, or people of Caramania^ as the island is now called, con- tinue, in general, even to the present time, to be im- mersed in lewdness and debauchery. VENUS, the brightest of all the planets. Its diam- eter is seven thousand six hundred and eighty -seven miles ; its medial distance from the sun is sixty-eight million miles ; and its periodical revolution is perform- ed in two hundred and twenty-four days and seventeen hours. When this planet is in that part of its orbit which is west of the sun it rises before him in the morningv and is called the Morning Star ; when it is in the east- 594 VERMONTVESUVIUS. ern part ofits orbit, it shines in the evening after the suit sets, and is caS'^d the Evening Star. This primary planet has one WK>II. In some parts of the globe, and particularly in the island of Jamaica, the planet Venus in a manner supplies the light of the moon in her ab- sence. This planet appears there like a little moon, and glitters with so effulgent a beam as to cast a shade from trees, buildings, and other objects making full amends for the short stay and abrupt departure of the twilight. Bowdit0h) "Bryan Edwards. ^ VERMONT, [Green Mount,] one of the United States of America. It is altogether an inland country ; surrounded by the states of New-Hampshire, Massa- chusetts, New-York, and the province of Canada ; that part of the state of Vermont which is nearest to the sea coast, being at the distance of seventy or eighty miles from any part of the ocean. The length of the state from tlie southern to the northern boundary is about one hundred and fifty-seven miles, and the mean width from east to west is about sixty-five miles. It takes its name from the range of mountains, called Green Mountains, which run through it. Among* 8 these moun- tains, all the streams and rivers of Vermont have their origin : most of them have an easterly direction, and empty into Connecticut river ; some run westerly, and discharge themselves into lake Champlain : two or three, running in the s;tine direction, fall into Hudson's river, Williams* VESUVIUS, a famous volcano of Italy, six miles east of the city of Naples. The first eruption on histo- rical record, attended with a terrible earthquake, was in the year 79 ; when its lava overwhelmed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum ; the ruins of which were discovered in the 17th century, sixty feet below the sur- face. It is said that at the time of this eruption and earthquake, the sun was totally eclipsed. There have been many eruptions of this mountain since that time ; one of winch, in 1158, destroyed four thousand people and a large tract of land. One of the most terrible erup- tions of Vesuvius happened in 1779 : when it was at -d with many violent shocks of earthquakes, and VIENNAVINE. 395 with a prodigious loss of lives. Vesuvius is about three thousand and nine hundred feet above the level of the sea : its declivity towards the sea, is every where plant- ed with vines and fruit-trees ; and its neighborhood is covered with populous towns and villages, built upon the surface of the lava which overwhelmed the former inhabitantss. VIENNA, the capital of the German empire, situat- ed at the place where the river Wien falls into the Da- nube. In the year 1683, Vienna was besieged by an ar- my of Turks consisting of fifty thousand Janizaries, thir- ty thousand Spahis, and two hundred thousand common soldiers. The whole German empire was thrown into consternation. The siege lasted from July till Septem- ber ; but at the moment when the besieged expected an assault, as a breach in the wall had been made, John Sobieski, king of Poland, descended from the mountain of Calemberg, with an army of sixty -four thousand men. He suddenly attacked and routed the Turkish army, which fled with such terror and precipitation, that they left behind them their tents, artillery and baggage. Russell. VINE, the plant that produces the grape which yields wine, and which, dried in the sun or in ovens, be- comes raisins : it is propagated from layers or cuttings. The vine is more effected by the difference of soils than any other fruit tree. From some soils it derives a flavor which no culture or management can equal, upon others. Thus, the Muscadine grape, of the Cape of Good Hope, succeeds perfectly only on a particular spot of ground ; and degenerates when it is transplanted to even but a small distance. The vine flourishes only in temperate climates ; too much heat as well as too much cold de- stroys it. In countries where the principal cultivation is that of the vine, individuals become richer, but the peo- ple generally are poorer than in other agricultural coun- tries ; because the management of a vineyard requires a great capital, which but few possess. Adam {Smith informs us- that the inhabitants of the wine countries, particularly the Spaniards, the Italians, and the inhabi- tants of the southern provinces of France, are the most 396 VIRGINIA VOLCANOS. temperate people in Europe. Where wine is as plen- ty and cheap as cider is with us, the people as seldom intoxicate themselves with it. VIRGINIA, one of the United States of America 5 lying between 56 30' and 40 30' north latitude; ex- tending four hundred and forty -six miles in length, and two hundred and twenty-four in breadth ; bounded by Maryland, part of Pennsylvania, and Ohio river, Ken- tucky, North-Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean : it is divided into 82 counties. After several unsuccessful attempts, Virginia was settled permanently, in the year 1 610 5 being the oldest of the English colonies in Amer- ica. In about ten years after the permanent settlement of this colony, the Virginia company in England were constrained by the arbitrary orders of James I. to send to Virginia, at their own expense, one hundred dissolute persons, convicted of crimes, who should be delivered to them by the knight Marshal. The contamination, disgrace, and disorders, occasioned by sending ship- ments of convicts from time to time, to this infant colo- ny, Mr. Stith* an early historian of the colony, thus be- wailed : " I cannot but remark (said he) how early that custom arose of transporting loose and dissolute per- sons to Virginia ; it hath laid one of the finest coun- tries in America, under the unjust scandal of being an- other Siberia, fit only for the reception of malefactors, and the vilest of the people." Richmond, lying on the north side of James river, is the seat of government; and Norfolk, situated on the east side of Elizabeth river, is the first town in point of commerce. VOLCANOS, burning mountains. Newton ascribed the origin of Volcanos, and their support, to caverns of sulphur inclosed in the bowels of the earth. To this it is objected, that Vesuvius alone, which has burned al- most continually for more than seventeen hundred years, would have consumed a mass of sulphur larger than the whole kingdom of Naples where it stands. A more mo- dern theory is, that a supply for keeping up volcanos is not in the earth, but in the sea ; that it is furnished by the oils* the bitumens, and the nitres of vegetables and animal* which the rains and the rivers convey off from WALES. 397 every quarter into the ocean, where the dissolution of all bodies is completed by its lixivial water; that nature purifies the waters by the* tires of volcanos, as it purifies the air by those of thunder ; that as thunder storms are more common in hot countries, so in these likewise, vol- canos are multiplied, and for the same reason. In sap- port of this theory it is alledged, first, that the saltness -of the sea does not prevent its water from putrefaction, as is vulgarly believed ; but it is liable in hot countries, to putridity ; and therefore needs some powerful engine of nature to prevent its corrupting. Secondly, there is not a single volcano in the interior of continents, unless it be in the vicinity of some great lake, such as that of Mexico. They are situated, for the most part, in isl- ands, at the extremity, or at the confluence of the cur- rents of the sea, and in the counter tide of their waters. Thirdly, another proof that they owe their support to (lie sea is, that, in their eruptions, they frequently Tomit out torrents of salt water. &. Pierre. W. V f ALES, a principality in the west of England ; extending one hundred and eighty miles in length, and eighty in breadth ; bordering on the north and west up- on the Irish Sea, and St. George's Channel. It is the country to which the ancient Britons i/ed, at the time of the Saxon invasion. They are now called Welsh, and continue to preserve their own language, which has a strong, affinity with the Attic orPhenician. Whales was subdued by Edward I. of England, in 1282; and David their prince, falling into the hands of Edward, was bar- barously hanged by his orders, who also caused the Welsh bards to be massacred. In 1284, the queen of England happening to be brought, to bed of a son at Car- narvon, Edward styled him the Prince of Wales, which title the heir apparent to the British crown has borne ever since. The Welch lay claim to the discovery of some part of North America, as early as the year 1170; by Madoc their priiice. Kk 398 WALNUT TREEWAR BELTSWATER. WALNUT TREK, a valuable tree, which, in its sev- eral varieties, is a native of the United States of Amer- ica. The walnut is valuable for fuel, for timber and for fruit. Its wood has been often employed in the manu- facture of household furniture ; but being very brittle, it is at present superceded by mahogany and other for- eign timber. Nevertheless, it is highly prized .by join- ers and cabinet-maker, for tables, gun-stocks, and oth- er light articles ; as it is beautifully veined, and admits of a fine polish. The fruit of the walnut tree, is used at two periods of its growth, namely, when green, for pickling, and in a ripe state, at the desert. According to Bartram, the Creek Indians store up the she!i bark hickory or walnuts, sometimes to the amount of an hun- dred bushels to a family. They pound them to pieces, and then cast them into boiling water ; which, after pass- ing through fine strainers, preserves the most oily part of the liquid : this they call by a name which signifies hickory milk. It is as sweet and rich as fresh cream, and is an ingredient in most of their cookery, especially homony and corn cakes. WAR BELTS. The Indian war belts are mostly black wampum, painted red. They also use for the purpose of notifying war. a number of sticks, about six inches long, very slender, and painted red. These belts and sticks they send from tribe to tribe, as a declaration of hostilities. Likewise an axe, or hatchet, painted on the belt, always imports war ; the taking it up. being a declaration of war ; and the burying it a token of peace, /Sir Win. Johnson. WATER, a substance that was believed by the an- cients to be one of the four elements of which every other body is composed. The opinion that it is a simple substance seems generally to have prevailed until the year 1781, when Mr. Henry Cavendish, of Great Bri- tain, discovered by several experiments, that it is a com- pound, and formed by the union of oxygen and hydrogen. Subsequent experiments have fully confirmed this theo- ry ; insomuch that, during the last fifteen or twenty years, the composition of water has been generally con- sidered as one of the best established facts in chymistry. WATER CHESNUT -WATER FOWLS. 399 It has been decomposed and recomposed, and found to con- sist of eighty -five parts, by weight, of oxygen^ and fifteen of hydrogen. Since it has been found that water is not a simple element, but a compound^ and capable of being decomposed, much light has been thrown upon many operations of nature, which formerly were wrapped up in obscurity, in vegetation, for instance, it has been rendered extremely probable, that water acts a much more important part than was formerly assigned to it by philosophers : that it serves not merely as {he vehicle of nourishment, but constitutes at least one part, and probably an essential part, of the food of plants ; that it is decomposed by them, and contributes materially to their growth 5 and that manures serve rather to pre- pare the water for decomposition, than to form of them- selves, substantially and directly ', the nourishment of the vegetables.- Miller, Rumford. When persons have overloaded their stomachs with food, artificial liquors, whether distilled or fermented, increase the load ; be- cause they must themselves undergo a process of di- gestion, or decomposition. Whereas water, and that liquid only, gives the digestive faculties no labor, and even assists them in digesting other substances. WATER CHESNUT, an aquatic plant of China. The Chinese cultivate even the bottom of their waters ; and the beds of their lakes, ponds, and rivulets, produce crops that to us are unknown. Their industry has found out resources in a number of aquatic plants, among which the pitsi or water chesnut, is one of the greatest delicacies of a Chinese table. The government has caused this plant to be cultivated in all the lakes, marsh- es, and waste grounds, covered with water, which be- long to the state. And the emperor has ordered all the lands which ornament his gardens, to be planted with it, and the greater part of the ditches round his palace are full of it : the flowers and verdure of this plant cover those two vast sheets of water in the centre of Pekin, which are adjacent to the gardens of the imperial pal- ace. Winterbotkam. WATER FOWLS, a class of fowls which are sur- prizingly conformable in the structure of their bodies^ 400 WATER SPOUT. to their destination and manner of life. It must be ob- vious to every observer, that Providence has given these a different formation from that of the land fowls; as their legs and feet are formed for the purposes of wad- ing in water, or swimming on its surface. In those that wade, the legs are usually long and naked ; in those that swim, the toes are webbed together, as we see irt the feet of a goose, which serve like oars, to drive them forward with great velocity. Goldsmith. WATER SPOUT, a column of water either rapidly ascending from the sea into an overshadowing cloud, or breaking and falling down from the cloud. Water spouts are said to be accompanied with the following appearances. First, there is a previous calm, or if the air is in motion, it is not uncommon for ships to sail within hail of each other, with different winds. Second- ly, there is a black cloud above, from which there goes a compact visible vapor, in some instances, of the shape and proportion of a speaking-trumpet ; the small end bt'ing downwards and reaching the sea, and the large end terminated in a cloud: in other instances they are described as having the appearance of a sword pointing downwards, sometimes perpendicularly, towards a col- umn of water or froth, which seems to rise out of the sea to meet it, attended with a violent ebullition or per- turbation at the surface. Thirdly, there is a gyrating or whirling appearance in the large spouts ; the fluid seeming to be carried swiftly round like leaves in a whirlwind. We are informed in a Magazine, that, on the 26th of September, 1806, Captain Sendry, in a three- masted schooner, between the mouth of the Mississippi and the island of Cuba, perceived the whole canopy of heaven to exhibit a frightful appearance, he then lying becalmed ; that presently there was seen the appear- ance of an eye, of a large dimension, out of which came a water spout which immediately made an abundant discharge, about one league from the vessel ; that he perceived with consternation, that the continuing spout attracted his vessel towards it, to the length of half a league in the space of six minutes ; and that the provi- dential occurrence of a sudden shift of wind attended with a violent gale, prevented his being drawn to in- evitable destruction within its vortex, WATER WYTHE WAX TREE-^WEEK. 401 WATER WYTHE, a native plant of Jamaica. It has a trunk as thick as a man's leg, and in most respects resembles a common vine. But what renders it par- ticularly worthy of notice, is, that, growing on dry hills, in the woods where no water is to be found, its trunk, if cut in pieces two or three yards long, and held by either end to the mouth, affords so plentiful a limpid inno- cent water, or sap, as greatly refreshes the thirsty hun- ter or traveller. WAX TREE, a beautiful ever-green shrub, growing in wet sandy ground about the edges of swamps, in the Floridas. It rises erect nine or ten feet, dividing itself into a multitude of nearly erect branches, which are adorned with many deep green leaves. The branches produce abundance of large round berries, nearly the size of bird cherries, which are covered with a coat of white wax. It is in high estimation with the inhabi- tants for the production of wax candles, for which pur- pose it answers equally well with bees wax, or pre- ferable, as it is harder, and more lasting in burning.' Bartram. WEEK, a division of time consisting of seven days. As this division of time had its origin from the positive command of God ; so it has been known and observed by those only who have been aco A uainted with divine revelation. Besides the incalculable moral and religious advantages resulting from a dedication of the seventh part of time as a Sabbatical rest, it is of no small impor- tance that this wise and benevolent institution has miti- gated the rigor and eased the burden of slavery. The slaves of the ancient pagan nations, for instance, the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, had no sabbath, no sev- enth day of rest. " The whole week, the whole year, was, in general, with but few exceptions, one uninter- rupted round of labor and oppression." But, among the Israelites of old, arid among Christian nations since, the divine prohibition of labor on the sabbath, a prohi- bition that mercifully names in particular the man-ser- vant, and the maid-servant, has brought no inconsidera- ble relief, even in a temporal point ot view, to this wretched class of people. The French government, in K k 2 402 WEREGILD WEST-INDIES. 1685 5 enacted laws which obliged every planter in their West-India islands, to have his negroes properly in- structed in the doctrines and duties of Christianity ; and allowed the slaves for these purposes, and for days of rest, not only every Sunday , but every festival usually observed by the Romish Church. And it is said that a similar regulation was made by the Spanish government, a long time ago ; and that obedience has been paid to it, particularly in the Havanna. It had been well if protest- ant nations had always treated their slaves in a manner correspondent with these examples. WEREGILD, the statute price of heads, establish- ed by the laws of the Saxons in England. The price of the king's head, or the Were^ild, as it was then call- ed, which the man must pay that should murder him, was near thirteen hundred pounds of the present ster- ling money. The price of a bishop's or alderman's head was rather more, than a fourth ; that of a sheriff's a lit- tle more than an eighth; and that of a common clergy- man's only the fifteenth part of the aforementioned sum. The price" of the head of a ceorle, or vassal, was two hundred shillings. The price of all kinds of wounds \vas likewise fixed by the Saxon laws ; a wound of an inch long under the hair, was paid with one shilling; one of the like size in the face two shillings ; thirty shillings for the loss of an ear. Hume. See ERIC. WEST-INDIES, a number of islands of the Ameri- can sea, stretching almost from the coast of Florida North, to that of the mouth of the river Oronoko, in South America. Columbus had formed the project of sailing to the East-Indies by the westward. According- ly when he discovered these islands, he entertained no doubt but that they were nigh the East-Indian territories. In consequence of this mistake of Columbus, he called these islands the Indies ; which name has stuck to those . tries ever since : and when it was at last discover- :at the new were altogether different from the old Indies, the former were called the West, in contradis- tinction to the latter, which were called the /fosi-lndies. From the same mistake of Columbus, the natives of the American continent were called Indians ; as he con- WHALE WHEAT WHITE MOUNTAINS. 403 ceived them at first to be the same people with those of Hindostan. #. Smith. WHALE, the largest animal of the deep; unless we except the Krajcen, whose existence is perhaps doubtful. The head of the whale is equal to one third of its length ; in the middle are two orifices, through which it spouts water to a considerable height ; and towards the back, there are two small eyes, protected by eye-lashes, like those in quadrupeds .; the tail has the form of a crescent. The farnale produces one. or not exceeding two young whales at a time, which she suckles. The following are the names of the various species of whales. The River St. Lawrence whale; the Greenland ditto. The right whale, or seven feet bone, about sixty feet long. The spermaceti ichale ; the longest are sixty feet, and yield about a hundred bar- rels of oil. The hump-backs, on the coasts of New- foundland, are from twenty to forty feet in length. The fin-back, an American whale, is rarely or never killed, as being too swift. The sulphur -bottom, ninety feet long ; they are seldom killed, as being extremely swift. The grampus* thirty feet long, never killed on the same account. The thrasher, about thirty feet; they often kill the other whales, with which they are at perpetual war. The black -fish ivhale, twenty feet 5 yields from eight to ten barrels. Willich, St. John. WHEAT, the finest and most delicate of all bread- grains. It is said to be a native of the island of Sicily, where it grew spontaneously, or without culture. Among the varieties of this excellent grain, the red straw wheat holds a distinguished rank. Its excellence consists in repelling the fly, and suiting the most indif- ferent soils better than the generality of wheat. Its produce likewise is abundant. This wheat was first cultivated in this country on the Mount Vernon estate, from seed that was sent over to General Washington. WHITE MOUNTAINS, famous mountains of New-Hampshire ; being the highest part of a ridge, which extends north-east and south-west to an un- known length. They are the highest lands in New- 404 WILD ASS WILD BOAR. England, and are discovered in clear weather by ves- sels coming on the eastern coast, before any other land ; but by reason of their bright appearance, are frequently mistaken for clouds. They are seen on shore, at the distance of sixty or eighty miles, on the south arid soii-h-east sides, and are said to be plainly visible in the neighborhood of Quebec. Generally these mountains begin to be covered with snow and ice, either in the latter part of September, or the beginning of October, and it never wholly leaves them till July. During this period of nine or ten months, they exhibit more or less of that bright appearance, from which they are denomi- nated White. May we not ascribe the piercing cold of our north-west winds to the vast ranges of frozen mountains rather tban to the lakes and forests ? Bielknap, WILD ASS. These animals are found in great numbers in the desarts of Lybia and Numidia, and in the islands of the Archipelago : they run with such amazing swiftness, that scarce even the swiftest horses of the country can overtake them. When they see a man, they set up a horrid braying, and stop short alto- gether, till he approaches near them ; they then, as if by common consent, fly off with great speed ; and it is upon such occasions that they generally fall into the traps which are previously prepared to catch them. They have all the swiftness of horses, and neither declivities nor precipices stop their career. When attacked, they defend themselves with their heels and mouth with such activity, that without slacking their pace, they often maim their pursuers. If a horse happens to stray into the place where they graze, they all fall upon him 5 and without giving him the liberty of flying, they bite and kick him till they have left him dead upon the spot. Such is this animal in its natural state, swift, fierce, and formidable ; but in a state of tameness, the ass is the most gentle and quiet of all animals : he entirely loses his ferocity, and becomes patient, dull, and stupid. Goldsmith. WILD BOAR, a ferocious and formidable animal of the forest. He is always found of an iron-grey, incliir* WILD GOOSE. 405 >ng to black : his snout is much longer than that of the tame hog 5 his tusks also are larger, some of them be- ing seen almost a foot long. When he is come to a state of maturity, he walks the forest fearless, dreading no single creature. He does not seek the lion to attack, but will not fly at his approach. We are told of a com- bat of a lion and a wild boar, in a meadow near Algiers, which continued for a long time with surprizing obsti- nacy. At last, both were seen to fall by the wounds they had given each other; and the ground all about them was covered with their blood. When this crea- ture aims at the hunter nothing will avail but courage and agility ; if the hunter flies for it, he is surely over- taken ami killed. If the boar comes straight up, he is to be received at the point of the spear 5 but if he makes doubles and windings, he is to be watched very cautiously, for he will attempt getting hold of the spear in his mouth : and if he does so, nothing can save the huntsman but another person attacking him behind. Goldsmith, Encyclopaedia. WILD GOOSE, a bird of passage. From the beginning of April to the middle of November, this fowl resides chiefly in the northern and north-easterly parts of America. In those parts they produce their young, and are to be found in the rivers and harbors, in immense numbers. In November they come in large flocks from the north and north-east, and pass oft" ta the south-west. In March and April, they return from the south-west, in a contrary direction, and go back to their summer habitation. ' These flocks frequently con- sist of fifty or sixty ; they fly at a great height, and appear to observe great regularity in their passage. They sometimes follow one another in a straight line, but are more generally drawn up in the form of a wedge, and appear to be led by one of the strongest and most active ; and while they keep together they seem to understand their course perfectly well." The goose, though a despised animal, is to a high degree necessa- ry, both for carrying on business by day, and for com- fortable repose at night. So useful are the quillx n;id feathers of this creature, that, if all the Other feathered tribes were struck out of existence, it would not, per- 1 406 WILD HORSE WILD MEN. haps, be so great a loss to the civilized world, as the loss of the goose alone. WILD HORSE. In the boundless plains of .Tarta- ry and Arabia, wild horses are often seen feeding in droves of five or six hundred. Whenever they sleep in the forests they have always one among their number that stands as sentinel to give notice of any approaching clanger ; and this office they take by turns. If a man approaches them while they are feeding by day, their sentinel walks up boldly near him, as if to examine his strength, or to intimidate him from proceeding ; but, if the man approaches within pistol shot, the sentinel then thinks it high time to alarm his followers : this he does by a loud kind of snorting; upon which they all take the signal, and fly oft' with the speed of the wind ; their faithful sentinel bringing up the rear. As they go together, they will not admit any strange animals among them, though even of their own kind. When- ever they find a tame horse attempting to associate with them, they instantly gather round him, and soon oblige him to seek safety by flight. Goldsmith. WILD MEN, human creatures left in childhood among wild beasts, and brought up with them. There have frequently been found in the woods of Poland and Germany, wild men, who went generally upon all fours though sometimes they stood upright. They had not the use of speech at first, but were taught to speak when brought into towns and used kindly; retaining thereafter no memory of their former savage lives. The frequent incursions of the Tartars and other savage nations, who often bore oft' whole villages of people into slavery, probably forced the women to carry their children into the woods for safety, and, in case of fur- ther pursuit, to leave them behind ; for they are often found among bears and other wild beasts, by which they are nourished, and taught to feed like them. - Jlforse. In these wretched objects there is seen what man is when entirely destitute of education. Savages who live in society among themselves, have always so. m-. degree of education, as they learn much from one another and from the experience of their ancestors : WILD PINE WILLOW. 407 -and the most ignorant tribes of such savages are, per- haps, as much superior in knowledge to the wild man, as they are inferior to the most learned and polished nations. WILD PINE, a native plant of Jamaica ; which is so contrived by the Author of Nature, as to be of the utmost use to the inhabitants of that hot climate, where there is frequently a scarcity of water. The wild pine is a plant so called, because it somewhat resembles the bush that bears the pine-apple. They are commonly supported or grow from some bunch, knot, or excres- ence of a tree, where they take root and grow upright. Tiie root is short and thick, whence the leaves rise up in folds, one within another, spreading oil* to the top. They are of a good thick substance, ten or twelve inches long. The outside leaves are so compact, as to contain the rain water as it falls 5 they will contain a pint and a half and sometimes a quart. The thirsty traveller sticks his knife into the leaves, just above the root ; and this lets out the water, which he catches in his ha,t.~~Dampier. WILLOW, a genus of trees comprising forty-two species. The Sallow Willow has a soft, white and smooth wood, and furnishes shoe-makers with cutting and whetting -boards, on which they cut leather, and sharpen the edges of their knives. The shoots of the Golden-Yellow -Willow are used by cradle and basket- makers : the wood surrounding its seed vessels, when mixed with cotton, affords excellent yarn for various manufacturing purposes. From the great ease of pro- pagation and rapid growth of the yellow willow, it may be made a cheap fence, by setting the slips very close, in double or even treble rows. These may be taken from even the smallest branches, as well as from the largest : all will grow, and may be set at any time of the year. When at a sufficient height, they should be cut oft', lest they blow up by the roots. In some parts of Germany, many of the inhabitants are supplied with fuel entirely from the branches and tops taken off their willow hedge-trees. Dom. Encyclopaedia, American Museum. 408 WIND WINTER'S CINNAMON WIRE, WIND, a sensible agitation of the atmosphere, oc- casioned by a quantity of air flowing from one place to another. Monsoons, or trade winds blow six months in one direction, and six months in the opposite, the changes happening about the time of the equinoxes. In all maritime countries between the tropics, the wind blows during a certain number of hours every day fnnn the sea, and during a certain number toivards the sea from the land ; these winds are called the sea and land breezes. Tiie sea breeze generally sets in about ten in the forenoon, and blows till six in the evening ; at seven the laad breeze begins, and continues till ei