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THE
CYCLOPADIA;
OR,
Universal Dictionary
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND LITERATURE.
VOL. Gy.
Printed by A. Strahan, New-Street-Square, London.
THE
CYCLOPAEDIA;
OR,
UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY
OF
Arts, Sciences, and Literature,
BY
ABRAHAM REES, D.D. F.R.S. F.L.8. S. Amer. Soc.
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF
EMINENT PROFESSIONAL GENTLEMEN.
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS,
BY THE MOST DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS.
ro
IN THIRTY-NINE VOLUMES. VOL. II.
rr i —_—_—_
LONDON:
Printep ror LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, & BROWN, PaternostTER-Row,
F.C. AND J« RIVINGTON, A. STRAHAN, PAYNE AND FOSS, SCATCHERD AND LETTERMAN, J. CUTHELL, CLARKE AND SONS, LACKINGTON HUGHES HARDING MAVOR AND JONES, J. AND A- ARCH, CADELL AND DAVIES, S. BAGSTER, Je MAWMAN) JAMES BLACK AND SON, BLACK KINGSBURY PARBURY AND ALLEN, R. SCHOLEY, J. BOOTH, J- BOOKER, SUTTABY EVANCE AND FOX, BALDWIN CRADOCK AND JOY, SHERWOOD NEELY AND JONES, R. SAUNDERS, HURST ROBINSON AND CO.) J. DICKINSON, J. PATERSON, E. WHITESIDE, WILSON AND SONS, AND BRODIE AND DOWDING,
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CYCLOP A DLA:
OR,
UNIVERSAL
A NEW
DICTIONARY
OF AR Y §and-S:Gaek N:C-E S.
(SECOND EDITION.)
AMARANTHUS.
MARANTHUS, epxeolos, Formed from a, porerntve
and as$os, or from # and p.xeasw, and denoting incorrup-
tible, becaufe the flower being cropped does not foon wither, in Botany, a genus of the monoecia pentandria clafs and order, of the triandria trigynia of Gmelin’s Linnzus, of the mifcellanea of Linn. and amaranthi of Jufl.; its characters are, that thofe fpecies which have male flowers on the fame plants - with the females have a ca/yx, which is a five or three leaved perianthium, upright, coloured, and permanent, the leaflets lanceolate and acute; no corolla; the /famina have five or ‘three capillary filaments, from upright patulous, of the length of the calyx, the anthers oblong and verfatile: of thofe which have female flowers in the fame raceme with the males, the calyx is a perianthium the fame with the former ; no corolla; the piflillum has an ovate germ, ftyles three, fhort and fubulate ; itigmas fimple and permanent ; the fericar- pium is an ovate capfule, fomewhat comprefled, as is alfo the calyx on which it is placed, coloured, and of the fame fize, three-beaked, one-celled, cut open tranf{verfely ; the /eed is fingle, globular, comprefled, and large. Martyn reckons 29, and Gmelin 22 fpecies. Thofe with three /flamens compre- hend, 1. A grecizans, pellitory-leaved amaranth, “ with glo- merules axillary, and leaves lanceolate, repand and obtufe.’? The them is a {pan high, fmooth, grooved, and whitifh, ex- cept at the bafe, where it is purplifh ; leaves fmooth, green, and marked with lines ; petiole very fhort ; the glomerules in pairs, green, four or five-flowered ; and the calyx both of the male and female flowers is compofed of three fubulate, mu- cronate leaflets: a native of North America; cultivated in Chelfea-garden in 17233 flowers from July to September. 2. A. albus, white A. “ with glomerules axillary, leaves round- ifh ovate, emarginate, and {tem four-corvered and fimple.”’ The ftem is a {pan high, greenifh white, decumbent and fmooth ; the leaves petioled, green, fmooth, marked with lines, ending in an herbaceous, reflex, minute, whitith point ;
Vox. II.
Strahan and Prefion, New-ftreet Square, Loudon
the petioles winged and channelled, and almolt the length of the leaves; glomerules in pairs, feffile, and few-flowered ; leaflets of the calyx oblong-lanceolate and whitifh, with a green nerve, and at the end a fubulate, herbaceous point ; nearly related to the firft {pecies; a native of Pennfylvania, whence it was brought to Italy, introduced here in 1778 by M. Thouin; flowers in July and Auguft. 3. A. d- fiexus, “with fpike very fhort with few flowers, leaves rhomb-lanceolate, and capfules not gaping ;” the ftem weak, filiform, decumbent, divided at the bafe into a few branches, green, except at bottom, where it is brownifh, round, flightly dtreaked and fmooth; leaves green and fmooth; petioles channelled and green; {pike folitary, compofed of only five or fix flowers; no lateral glomerules, but a flower or two {cattered in the axils of the leaves; the calyx five-leaved ; leaflets diaphanous, white, oblong, and edged with green; diftinguifhed from the reft by the capfules not open- ing tran{verfely, but being entire. Its native place is un- known. 4. A. polpgonoides, {potted-leaved A. blitum of Brown, Jamaic. and chenopodium of Burm. Zeyl. “ with three-leaved glomerules, female flowers funnel-fhaped, and leaves rhomb-ovate, emarginate.’”? The ftem is red and {mooth; the leaves fmooth and green; the petioles green and channelled ; the glomerules axillary, with from fix to eight flowers in each ; the calyx of the female flower one- leafed and ventricofe; the five fegments fpreading much, and tranfparent white; the capfules falling with the calyx when the feed is ripe; the calyx of the male-flower three- leaved, membranaceous and tran{parent; the leaflets oblong and obtufe, with a green nerve. This fpecies varies in dif- ferent fituations, it refembles the fecond, but differs from it in haying the ftem round, and the calyx of the female flow- ers one-leafed and funnel-fhaped: it is found wild by way- fides and among rubbifh in the tropical countries of Afia, Africa, and America, as in Jamaica, Guiana, Senegal, Gui-
L neds
AMARANTHUS.
nea, Ceylon, &c. introduced here in 1778 by M. Thouin ; and flowers in Auguit. 5. A. po/ygamus, hermaphrodite A. “with glomerules two-ilamened, fub{piked and ovate, flowers hermaphrodite and female ; leaves lanceolate;”’ the lem 14 foot high, green, ftreaked and {mooth, leaves petioled and naked ; from the axils proceed a branch and a head, con- fitting of a many-flowered peduncle, with a branch on each fide at the bafe converging into a green head ; fpike fhort, ovate, and {mall ; the hermaphrodite flowers with two f{ta- mens and two ftyles, the female with three ftyles ; a native
of Guiana, China, Cochin, and Amboina: the leaves and.
ftalks boiled are eaten with oil and pepper by the inha- bitants, and much liked ; it was introduced here by Sir Jo- feph Banks in 1780; and flowers in July and Augult. 6. A. mangoflanus, with glomerules fub{piked, axillary and folitary, and leaves rhomb-roundilh ;” the item ts above a foot high, {treaked, green, {mooth, and decumbent ; the leaves {mooth and green, witha fmall briltle, almoit as broad as long ;_ pe- tioles as long as the leaves, {mooth and channelled; the flowers in large, roundifh glomerules, from the axils, on fhort peduncles, and forming at the top a clofe, nodding {pike ; the calyces five-leaved, the leaflets white-membrana- ceous, tranfparent, oblong, witha green nerve, terminating in a briltle of the fame colour: a native of the Eaft Indies. 7. A. inamenus, “with glomerules fubf{piked, three-leaved, axillary, geminate, and leaves rhomb-lanceolate.”? This {pecies very much refembles the laft, but differs in having a three- leaved calyx, the glomerules axillary and in. pairs, the {pike terminating, ereét, and more flender, the leaves rhomb-lan- ceolate, and the petioles fhorter than the leaves: fuppofed to.be a’native of Japan. 8. A. melancholicus, two-coloured A. «with glomerules axillary, peduncled, roundifh, and leaves ovate-lanceolate and coloured.’ This fpecies varies in the colour of the leaves; being in the open air of a dingy pur- ple on their upper furface, and the younger ones grecn; in a {love the whole plant is purple-coloured; but it is eafily dif- tinguithed in all {tates by its colour, leayes, and the latenefs of its flowering after all the others are pal: it is joined by La Marck with A. tricolor; a native of Guiana and the Eatt Indies, and cultivated in 1731 by Miler. The obfcure purple and bright crinifon of the leaves are fo blended as to fet off each other, and, in the vigorous flate of the plants, to make a fine appearance. 9. A. gangeticus, oval-fpiked A. ‘* with glomerules in very ‘hort {pikes, ovate, and leat vs ovate- lanceolate, emarginate.”” Mr. Martyn fugyeits, that this may be a variety of the preceding fpecies, but differs from it in having a terminating fpike, axillary, feffile glomerules, leaves lefs waved or wrinkled, and alfo in its: cclour: its ftem being dark red, leaves green ahove and red below, petioles red, and glomerules of a reddifh green colour; it is a native of Bengal and the Society ifles; was introduced here in 1778 by M. Thouin, and flowers from July to September. 10. A. oleraceus, eatable A. “with glomerules axillary, branching, and leaves wrinkled, oblong, very obtufe and emarginate.” It refembles the next {pecies, but differs from it in the great bluntnefs of the leaves, deeply emarginate, in the edge of the leaf being neither red nor waved, it the glo- merules being branched and folitary, and in the peduncles and pedicels not being flexuofe: a native of Guiana, the Eaft Indies, and Egypt. This, which deferves no place in a garden on account of its beauty, and the next fpecies, are in fome parts of India ufed as efculent herbs; they are ga- thered young, and dreffed like {pinach, but much inferior to it: cultivated in 1768, by Mr. Miller; flowers in July. 11. A. viridis, green A. “ with glomerules axillary, germinate trifid male flowers, ovate, emarginate leaves, and erect ftem.”’
This fort is diftin& from all the reft in having the brates
not furrounding the flowers, but fcattered along the rachis of the glomerule ; a native of Janaica and Brafil; confounded by European botanilts with a variety of A. blitum; culti- vated in 1768 by Miller; flowers in Auguft and September. 12. A, tricolor, three-coloured A. “ with glomerules feflile, roundifh, ftem-clafping, and leaves lanceolate-ovate, coloured.” This has been long cultivated, being in the garden of Ge. rard in 1596, for the beauty of its variegated leaves, int which the colours are clegantly mixed; thefe, when the plants are vigorous, are large and clofely fet from the bottom to the top of the ftalks, and the branches form a kind of py- ramid, and therefore there is not @ more handfome plant when in full luftre; a native of Guiana, Perfia, Ceylon, China, Japan, the Society Ifles, &c. 13. A. dividus, livid A. “with glomerules fubfpiked, rounded, leaves elliptic, retufe, and upright ftem.”? This {pecies is a native of Virginia and Guiana; was cultivated in 1768 by Miller, and flowers from July to September. 14. A. triflis, round-headed A. * with glomerules in loofe fpikes, leaves fubcordate-ovete, emargi- nate, fhorter than the petioles.” This fpecies is nearly re- lated to the laft, but may be eafily diftinguifhed by its up- right ftalk, more loofe and flender {pike, rhomboidal leaves, and, five-leaved calyx: it is a native of China, Cochin, Am- boina and Brafil, and ufed as we do fpinach ; cultivated in 1759 by Miller, and flowers from June to Augult. 15. A. Blitum, leat A. or blite, “with glomerules fubfpiked, three- leaved flowers, leaves ovate-retufe, and diffufed ftem.”” There are three varieties, viz. blitum album majus, bl. majus ru- brum, and bl. rubrum minus. This is a native of all Europe, except the very cold parts, Japan, &c. in cultivated grounds, on dunghills, banks, among rubbifh, &c. 16. A. /candens, climbing A. “ with {pikes interrupted, compound, {pikelets, bent in, leaves ovate, and ftem weak.’? It refembles the foregoing fpecies, and is a native of America.
he f{pecies with five flamens are, 17. A. hedlicus, “ with flowers in fimple {pikes, axillary, and glomerate, and leaves ovate, acute.” It is doubtful whether this be a diftin@ fpe- cies, or merely hybridous; it conneéts, in point of outward form, the three-ftamened and five-itamened amaranths, varies much, and its native place isnot known. 18. A. hybridus, cluftered A. “ with racemes decompound, heaped, erect, and Jeaves ovate-lanceolate.”? Wiildenow enumerates four varie= ties: 1. wholly green; 2. witha red ftalk; 3. with the ra- cemes reddifh, the rett green 5 4. with red racemes. Thefe differ in appearance, but are produced by the fame feed. This fpecies is found wild in Virginia and Arabia Felix ;
‘was cultivated in 1656 by Mr. J. Tradefcant, jun. and
flowers from June to September. 19. A. frricius, “ with ra- cemes compound, erect, firi¢t, and leaves ovate, concave.” This differs from the five-ftamened fpecies in its uprignt ra- cemes preffed clofe to the ftalk, and the {tiffnefs of the whole habit. Its native place is not known. 20. A. /etus, * with racemes compound, ere¢t, and leaves ovate, obtufe, and mu- cronate.”’ It much refembles A. hybridus, but is diftinguifhed from it by having the leaves blunt at the end, and being much {maller in ftature, the ftem never rifing more than a foot high. 21. A. eruentus, various-leaved A. ‘ with racemes decompound, naked, patulous, and leaves lanceolate-ovate.”” This fpecies varies, of a shining red colour, witha red ftalk, with pale leaves, with a green ftalk, with variegated leaves, &e. When firft cultivated in England in 1728, the ftem was wholly red and {mooth, the petioles, ribs, and nerves of the leaves underneath purple; the fpikes purple, much fpread- ing, and a littlenodding. ‘They were very beautiful for the firit two years, but the feeds degenerated, and the plants had little beauty. It is a native of the Eaft Indies and of China, and flowers from June to Auguit. 22. A. hypochon-
5 ‘ driacusy
AMARANTHUS.
driacus, prince’s feather A. “ with racemes compound, crowded, ereét, andleaves oblong-lanceolate, and mucronate.’” This approaches very nearly in ftructure and variablenefs of colour to A. hybridus, and is diitinguifhed from it, but not without difficulty, by the greater rednefs of the racemes, and fharpnefs of the leaves at the end, and by the bafe of the leaves running far down along the petiole ; upon the whole, fays Mr. Martyn, it feems to be only a variety of that. It is a native of Virginia, and flowers from July to September ; was cultivated by Miller in 1739, but is now becomea com. mon weed, frequently growing upon dunghills, and abun- dantly {catering its feeds, 23. A. fanguineus, {preading or bloody A. “ withracemes compound, erect, branches {preading and {mooth, and leaves oblong and acute.”? The feeds were fent to Mr. Miller from the Bahama ifland before 1755, asan efculent plant, bearing fine flowers; and he defcribes it as growing three feet high, with purple falks and leaves, the {pikes fhort and {welling out in the middle, and at the extre- mity of the ftalk arifes a large clufter of {pikes tranfverfely, with one upright ftalk in the middle; and thefe are ofa bright purple colour at firit, but become darker as the iceds ripen; it flowers from the middle of June to September. 24. A. paniculatus, * with racemes compound, branches {pread- ing, pubefcent, and leaves ovate-lanceolate.”? This differs from A\, fanguineus in its pubefcent branches, pointed calvxes, clofer glomerules, and the whole habit: it is a native of America. 25. A. retroffexus, hairy A. ‘with racemes fuper- decompound, creét, branches pubefcent, aud leaves ovate, waved.” It approaches to the laft fpecies in the pubefcence of the racemes, but differs in having green {pikes, fetaceous- {ubulate braétes, and leaves waved about the edge: it is a native of Pennfylvania, flowers from July to September, was cultivated by Miller in 1759, and is now become a common - weedin many gardens near London. 26. A. chloroftachys, “with racemes compound, nodding, and lanceolate leaves.”” It refembles A. retroflexus, but differs from it in its fmooth ftalk, lanceolate, flat leaves, glomerules in more diftant ra- cemes, and in being much more flender: its native place is not known. 27. A. flavus, pale A. “ with racemes compound, nodding, and leaves ovate-lanceolate.”” It differs from the laft in the form and waving of the leaves, in the red lines on the flalk, in the red rachis of the flowers, and in the greater clofenefs of the racemes ; and from A. retroflexus, in having the leaves lefs waved, ovate-lanceolate, and much lefs obtufe, the {tem at bottom and the petioles fmooth, and the colour in the ftem, rachis, and veins of the leaves red. The flowers, notwithitanding the epithet flavus, are always green, and only turn yellow as the feed ripens: it isa native of the Eatt Indies, and cultivated by Miller in 1768. 23. A. caudatus, pendulous A. or love-lies-bleeding ; there is a ,variety, which is A. maximus, or tree A. the blitum maximum of many authors. This lalt is made by Mr. Miller a diftin& fpecies ; it rifes to the height of feven or eight feet ; the {pikes are feldom half as long as the other, which are 24 feet, but much thicker. This degenerates gradually into the f{maller ; and the feeds, which are at firlt white, become red. It flowers in Auguft and September, and was cultivated in” 1683 by Mr. James Sutherland: it is a native of Perfia, Ceylon, Guiana, Peru, &c. 29. A. /pinofus, prickly A. ‘with racemes terminating, compound, andaxilsthorny.”’ This varies, with the fpikes and ftem reddifh: a native of the Eaft and Welt Indies, Guiana, Guinea, &c.; in the former it is eaten as a green boiled with bafella cordifolia ; it was cultivated in 1683 by Mr. J. Sutherland, and flowers from July to September. %
- The amaranths are annual, herbaceous plants, and moft of the fpecies are ufed as culinary plants in hot countries.
Culture of Amaranths. Thofe moh worthy of a place in the pleafure-garden arethe Sth and rath; but they are tender and require attention. ‘They are ufvally difpofed in pots, with cocks-combs and other fhowy plants for adorning court-yards, and theenyirons of the houfe. Next to thele are the 23d and 28th forts, forthe ornaments of the principal borders in the pleafure garden or parterres. I’be feeds of thefe fhould be fown in a taoderate hot-bed, about the end of Marchi ; and when the plants come up, they fhovid h much air in mild weather. When they are fic for tran they fhould be removed to avother noderate hot- placed at fix inches dillance, watering and fhading them tll they have taken new root ; afterwards they fhould have free air, and frequent but gentle waterings. In the beginning of June they fhould be taken up with large balis of earth to their roots, and planted either in pots or the borders of the pleafure-garden, fhaded till they have taken root, and efters wards frequently watered in dry weather. he tree Ama- ranth mutt be planted in a rich light foil, and if it be allowed room, and well wetertd in dry weather, it will grow to 4 large fize, and make a fine appearance. The 2iftis a tender plant, and fhould be treated like the 23d and 28th.
r
-The other forts are fufficiently hardy to bear the. open air,
and may be fown on asbed of light earth, in the Spring, and when the plants are fit to remove, tran{planted into any part of the garden, where they will thrive and produce plenty of feeds. ‘I'he 23d-and 25th forts muft be fown ona good hot-bed ia February, or at the furthett ia the beginning of March ; and they will rife in about a fortnicht ; foon after which another hot-bed mutt be covered with good, rich, light earth, abovt four inches deep ; and the plants carefully raifed and pricked out into this bed, at the diftance of four inches every way, and gently watered. In the middle of the day let them be fecured with mats from the heat of the fun, and raife the glaffes to give them air; the glaffes fhould be kept dry, for the moifture exhaled by the fermenting dung and perfpiring plants is very injurious. When the plants are firmly rooted give them air every day, more or lefs, as the weather iscold or hot. In about three weeks ora month thefe plants will have grown fo. as to meet, and muft be removed into another hot-bed, with the fame rich earth, about fix inches thick ; obferving to take as much earth about their roots as poflible, and to plant them at the diltance of fix or feven inches every way, watering them, fo as to fettle the earth about their roots. In the heat of the day let them be fhaded ; refrefh them often with gentle wa- tering ; and give them air according to the heat of the weather, and cover the glaffes every night with mats. In three weeks more, the plants will have acquired a confider- able fize and {trength, and fhould be expofed more and more to the open air, when the weather will permit, and thus they will become fufficiently hardened to bear being removed into the places where they are to continue the whole feafon ; but they fhould not be placed in the open air till after the firft week in July, and this fhould be done, when the air is perfectly foft, and, if poffible, in a gentle fhower of rain,
Thefe plants, when grown to a good ftature, perfpire ver freely, and fhould, therefore, be every day refrefhed with water, if the weather be hot anddry. By this management fine amaranths may be obtained ; and thefe plants, when properly reared, are the greateft ornament to a good garden, for upwards of two months in the latter part of the
fummer. : Amaranths are very prolific. Willdenow fays, that he faved eight ounces of feed from one plant of A. caudatus. The feeds retain their germinating quality for feveral years, but continue longer in the ground than frefh feeds, which B2 "germinate
AMA germinate in eight days. Gmelin’s Linn, Martyn’s Miller. Wiltdenow.
AMARANTHUS. See AcnyranTuHes, Turecenrum, Inesine, and Rivina.
AMARANTHUS /utens. See GNAPHALIUM. :
Amarantuus marinus, Valent. ind. 3. t 52. f. C. C. Tius is alfo the fungus lapideus. undulatus of Sloane, Catal. p: 2. Jam. inp. 50: the mycedium cavatum undulatum of Hill. plant. p. 3, and cere brites of Knorr. delic. tom. A. xi. f. 1. 2.—Linnwus deferibes it under the f{pecific name of areola, as a madrepore. See AREOLA.
AMARDUS, in Aucient Geography, a river of Media, which difcharged itfelf into the Cafpian fea.
AMARELLA, in Botany. See Gentiana.
AMARGURA, in Geography, an ifland in the Southern Pacific Ocean, lying in S. lat. 17° 57’. W. long. 175° 16! 54”. This was the firft ifland difeovered by Maurelle, in approaching the Friendly iflands in 17843 he called it Amargura, i. e. bitternefs, on account of his fevere difap- pointment of obtaining refrefhments from it; no landing place being found even for boats, and the ifland itfelf having a fingular appearance of barrennefs. In 1791, ‘Captain Ed- wards coafted the north-weft fide of this ifland, obferved much fmoke upon it, and called it Gardner’s ifland.
AMARIACA, in Ancient Geography, a people of Afia, in the interior part of Media, near the Mardi, according to Ptolemy.
AMARISCOGGIN River, in Geography. DROSCOGGIN.
AMARISPII, in Ancient Geography, a people of Afia, in Ba@triana, according to Ptolemy.
AMARNA, or Amargusa, a town placed by Ptolemy in Hyrcania. ut
AMARULA, in Conchology, a f{pecies of HE 1x, that inhabits the rivers and frefh waters in India: fhell imperforate, or without umbilicus, oblong ; whorls befet with f{pinous teeth. Linneus adds to this concife defcription, that the fhell is black, without fpots, the fpiral ftrie fub-convex, and the number of whorls either five or fix, each armed along the upper edge with ten fharp fpines: the aperture or mouth widely gaping and white, the exterior lip acute, the interior one thick. This fhell is likewife defined by another author, buccinum tefta fubovata nigra; anfra¢tibus furfum muni- catis; Mull. Hift. Verm. ii. p. 137, n. 330, and is fuppofed to be the voluta fluviatilis of Rumpf. Muf. tom. xxxiii. f, F, F.—Length from nine to 1g lines.
AMARUMAYE, in Geography, a river of America, which rifes in the Cordelier mountains, and after a courfe of 400 leagues, joins the river of the Amazons, in S. lat. 5°.
AMARUS, in_Jchthyclgy, a fpecies of the Cyrrt- xus, that inhabits the clear ftreams of Germany. Its fpecific character is taken from the number of bony rays in the pectoral and ventral fins, of which there are feven in each : as a fecondary charater the dorfal fin is fatd to contain ten rays, the anal eleven, and the caudal twenty rays. .‘The head is {mall and cuneate or wedge-fhaped, the eyes minute, with the iris red and yellow; the jaws equal, gill covers yellow. The body is pellucid, filvery and finely fpeckled with black ; above the lateral line yellow, back greenifh, chaly- beate-black near the tail. Upper fins reddifh, lower fins
reenifh.
AMARYLLIS, derived either from the name of a fhepherdefs, mentioned by Theocritus and Virgil, or from apeevypa oF apapvyn, fplendor, lilio-narcifus of Tournefort, in Botany, a genus of the hexandria moncgynia clafs and order, of the natural order of /ilia or liliacee, the fpathacee of Linn. and zarciffs of Jufl.; its characters are, that the calyx is a fpathe, oblong, obtufe, comprefied, emarginate,
CELosIA,
See An-
AMA
gaping on the flat fide and withering 3 the corolla has fix petals, lanceolate, the neétary has fix very hort {eales without the bafe of the filaments; the famina have fix awl-fhaped filaments, with oblong, incumbent, rifing anthers ; the pif tillum has a roundifh, furrowed inferior germ, the flyle fil’ form, almoft of the length and inthe ficuation of the ftamens, the {ligma trifid and flender; the pericarpium is a fubovate, three-celled, three-valved capfule; and the feeds are feveral. The inflection of the petals, ftamens, and pillil is very various in the different fpecies of this genus; and the corolla in moft of the fpecies is rather hexapetaloid than fix-petalled. oa reckons 27, Mr. Martyn 29, and Willdenow 38 pecies.
Thofe with a one-flowered fpathe ave as follow: 1. A. lutea, yellow A. or autumnal narciffes, colchicum luteum-majus of Bauhin, with an undivided obtufe {pathe, feffile flower, bell-fhaped corolla erect, fhortly tubular at the bafe, and erect {tamens, alternately fhorter;”’ the flowers feldomrifeabove three or four inches high ; the green leaves come up at the fame time, and when the flowers are palt, the leaves increafe through the winter. This {pecies recedes a little from the genus. It is anative ofthe fouth of France, Spain, Italy, and Thrace, was cultivated by Gerard in 1596, and flowers in Sep=_ tember. 2.A. Pumilio, dwarf A. ‘* with two-leaved, one-flower- ed {pathe, corolla funnel-fhaped, equal, fegments revolute, and ftamens bent in and alternately fhorter.”” This is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, was introduced here in 1774, and flowers in November. 3. A. A/amafco, atamafco lily, ‘* with fpathe bifid, acute, flower pedicelled, corolla bell-fhaped, nearly equal, ereét, fhortly tubular at the bafe, ftamens bent down and equal.’”? The flowers are at firlt of a fine carnation colour on the outfide, but fade till they are almoft white ; they appear at the end of May or beginning of June, and fometimes in Auguft. This is a native of Virginia and Ca- rolina, where it grows plentifully in the fields and woods, and was cultivated here by Mr. Charles Hatton in 1680. 4. A fermofiffima, jacobea lily, fo called, becaufe fome imagined that they difcovered in it a likenefs to the badge of the order of the knights of the order of St. James, in Spain, the lilio-narciffus and narciffus of others, ‘* with a fpathe undivided, flower pedicelled, corolla two lipped, nodding, deeply fix- parted, ftamens and piitil bent down.”” The flowers are pro- duced from the fides of the bulbs, are large, of a deep red, aud make a beautiful appearance; it is a native of America, firft known in Europe in 1593, fome roots of it having been found on board a fhip, which had returned from South Ame- rica, by Simon de Tovar, a phyfician at Seville; he fent a defcription of the flowers to Clufius, who publifhed a drawing of it in 1691, called by Parkinfon, by whom it was figured in 1629, the Indian dafiodil, with a red flower ; culti-” vated in the Oxford garden in 1658. 5. A. tubifpatha, “ with fpathe one-leaved, tubular, bifid and one-flowered, and pe« duncle twice as long as the fpathe ;” found at Buenos Ayres, by Commerfon. 6. A. zubiffora, ‘* with fpathe one-flowered, two-leaved, corolla funnel-fhaped, with a very long tube 3” found in the fandy lands of Lima. 7. A. maculata, “with {pathe one-flowered, two-leaved, linear, flower peduncled, {tamens and ftyle bent down ;” found in Chili by Dombey. 8. A. chilenfis, “ with {pathe one or tsvo-flowered, one or two- leaved, lanceolate, flowers peduncled, and leaves linear.” The flowers, which are thofe of A. belladonna or regingz, are of a purple colour ; found in Chili by Deombey. 9 A. clavata, ‘‘ with {pathe one-flowered, two-leaved, fubulate, and corolla club-fhaped :” native of the fouthern part of Africa.
The fpecies with a ¢wo-flowered /pathe are, 10. A. req gine, Mexican lily, “¢ with fpathe, having about two flowers, pedicels divaricating, corollas bell-fhaped, fhortly tubular, nodding, throat of the tube hirfute, and leaves lanceolate,
patulous ;”
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patulous ;” the bulb is green, corolla {carlet, and at the bot- tom whitifh green, the ftyle red, the flowers large, of a bright copper colour, inclining to red: it flowered in Fair- child’s garden, at Hoxton, in 1728; and Dr. Douglas wrote a folio pamphlet upon it, giving it the title of Jilium regina, becaufe it was in full. beauty on the 1/t of March, the queen’s birth-day: the roots were brought from Mexico, and therefore Mr. Fairchild called it Mexican lily, the name which it has retained: it flowers in the fpring in a very warm {tove ; is in beauty in Tebruary, and in a moderate temperature of air, will flower in March or. April. 11. A. purpurea, purple flowered A crinum fpeciofum of Linn. Suppl. “ with fpathe, having about two flowers, co- rollas fornewhat ere&t, tubular at the bafe, throat of the tube fmooth, and leaves linear-lanceolate :” nearly allied to the laft: the corolla large, and of a blood-red purple co- lour ; a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and introduced here in 1774. 12. A. dinearis; crinum lineare of Linn. Suppl. * with linear leaves, bell-fhaped corollas, two and nar- rower fegments;’? the flowers are large and white; found at the Cape of Good Hope. 13. A. eguefiris, Barbadoes lily, A. dubia of Linn. Ameen. Acad. “with fpathe having about two flowers, pedicels ereét, fhorter tlan the fpathe, tube filiform and horizontal, border fpreading, open ob- liquely and curved upwards, and throat hairy ;”’ a native of the Wett Indies ; introduced by Dr. W. Pitcairn in 1778. 14. A. reticulata, flat-italked A. ‘with fpathe having about two flowers, corollas tubular at the bafe, and nodding, throat of the tube {mooth, fcape compreffed, leaves oblong and attenuated at the bafe ;”’ diftinguithed by the tranfverfe yeins of the petals and {maothnefs of the throat ; a native of Brafil; and introduced by Dr. IX. W. Gray in 1777. 15. A. tatarica, ‘* with fpathe having about two flowers, co- rolla_fub-campanulated, and deeply fix-parted, fegments fuperior, very narrow, inferior obovate acuminate, and leaves linear, longer than the feape,’” found in Siberia.
The fpecies with a many flowered /pathe are, 16. A. Belladonna, Belladonna lily, ** with corollas fomewhat ered, fix-petalled, petals flat, {cape compreffed, leaves fharply channelled, bluntly keeled, and very fmooth.’”’? This fpecies differs from the A. reginz, by having the the edges of the pe- tals waved, and-not reverfed at the tip: was firft brought to England about 1712, from Portugal, abounds about Florence, and fold under the name of Narciflus Belladonna ; ufually flowers in England about the end of September or beginning of Odiober, and the ftem rifes upwards of two fectan height ; in a favourable feafon, and, when fcreened from *frofts, high winds, and heavy rains, will continue in beauty a month or longer, and is an ornamental plant, when other flowers are fcarce ; a native of the. Welt Indies, on fhady hills, by the fide of ftreams, 17. A. vittata, fuperb or ribband A. “ with flowers pedicelled, corollas wedge-fun- nel fhaped, the rachis of the outer fattened to the edge of the inner petals, {cape round, and fligmas grooved.’”? It is ftriped with red on a white ground, whence its name vittata or ribband A-; in perfect bloflom, it deferves the name of fuperb, given to it by Aiton, its ftem iifing to the height of three or more feet, and producing from two to five beautiful flowers; ufually bloffoms in April or May ; is probably a native of the Cape: and introduced into Eng- land by Mr. W. Malcolm, in 1769. 18. A. falta, fickle- leaved A. or crinum, ‘ with corollas peduncled, erect, lix- petalled, feape compreffed, of the length of the umbel, leaves flat, prefled to the ground, about the edge fickle-fhaped, white, cartilaginous and crenate.”’? It is a native of the Cape, and introduced here in 1774, by Mr. F. Maffon. 19. A. ornata, cape coatt lily or A. ‘ with flowers feffile, co- rollas tubular at the bafe, tubes lorger than the {pathes, and
-
- who fent roots to feveral of his friends.
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border, curved, fesments of the border oblong, awned, loweft fegment divaricate and concave.’? It is a native of Guinea, probably cultivated by Lord Petre, in 1740, and flowers with us in June and July. 20. \. /ongifolia, long- leaved A. ‘ with flowers pediceiled, 12—20 in a {pathe, co- rollas tubular at the bafe, tube curved, fhort, fegments of the borders lanceolate, obtufe, leaves broad fubulate, chan- nelled, and flaccid at the tip.”? It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, introduced in 1773, by Mr. F. Maffon, and flowers in July. 21. A. montana, ‘ with many-flowered fpathe, leaves linear-fubulate, petals alternate, mucronate, {tamens and flyle ere& 3” or, according to Willdenow, “ with bell-fhaped equal corollas, fegments alternate, awned, fta- mens and ftyle ftraight, and twice fhorter than the corolla, foliofe feape and linear léaves.”? This isa native of the higher parts of Mount Lebanon. 22. A. zeylanica, Ceylon lily, Javan tulip of Rumphius, ‘¢ with many-flowered f{pathe, co- rollas reclining, tube filiform, very long, and fegment unci- nate.” ‘This is a native of the Eaft Indies. 23. A. revo- luta, revolute A. ‘ with flowers pedicelled, corollas tubular, at the bafe, tube filiform, fhort, curved, leaves linear, narrow, channelled, long, flaccid from their origin.” It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, introduced-here in 1774, and flowers in September. 24. A. /atifolia, crinum. latifcliam of Linn. Miller, and Rheed, ‘ with many-flowered {pathe, flowers pedicelled, fomewhat reclining, tubular at the bafe; and leaves oblong-lanceolate.”? It isfound in the fandy foil of the Eaft Indies. 25. A. aurea, golden A. * with flowers pedicelled, fomewhat ere&, corollas funnel-form club-fhaped, almott fix-petalled, fegments linear, lanceolate, ftamens and ftyle ttraight, leaves linear, ereét, channelled, with a reflex, fmooth margin.”? It is a native of China, introduced in
1777, by Dr. Fothergill, and flowers in Auguft and September. 26. A. orientalis, broad-leaved African A.
“with many-flowered fpathe, flowers pedicelled, fix-parted, confiderably fhorter than the peduncles, irregular, germs wedge. fhaped and angular.” It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, whence Mr. Miller received the roots which fucceeded in the Chelfea garden; in the Kew catalogue, faid to be introduced in 1767, by Mr. W. Malcolm. 27. A. farnienfis, lilium farnienfe of Douglas, who publifhed a defeription of it in 1725, Narciflus of others, Guernfey lily, fo called by Mr. Ray in 1665, ‘with petals lineas, flat, fla- mens and piftil {traightifh, longer than the corolla, ftigmas parted and revolute.’ The bulbis an oblong {pheroid ; the leaves are dark willow green; the number of flowers is commonly from eight to twelve, and circumference of each about feven inehes ; the corolla, in its prime, has the colour of a fine gold tiffue wrought on a rofe-coloured ground, . and when it begins to fade, it is a pink; in full funfhine, it feems to be fludded with diamonds, but by candle-light the {pecks or fpangles appear more like fine gold dutt; . when the petals begin to wither, they aflume.a deep crim- fon colour. The flowers begin to come out at the end of Augult, and the head is ufually three weeks in gradually expanding. This beautiful plant is a native of Japan, and has been long naturalized in Guernfey. It is faid to have: been brought from Japan to Paris, and cultivated in Mo- - rin’s garden before 1634. It was cultivated at Wimble- don, in England, by general Lambert, in 1659, and in 1664 became more common: it does not feem to have. been in Holland before 1695. The plants are reputed to owe their origin in Guernfey to the fhipwreck of a veffel returning from Japan, probably before the middle of the 17th cen- tury. The bulbs, it is faid, being caft on fhore, took root in that fandy foil, and preduced beautiful flowers, which engaged the attention of Mr. Hatton, the governor’s fon, A variety of this’ found
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found at the Cape of Good Hope is deteribed by Jacquin, «with a many-flowered (pathe, corollas very patent, and reflex at the apex, ftamens and piflil fomewhat tkraight, longer than the corolla, and leaves enfiform-linear.”? 28. A. mar ginata, “with oblong ‘revolute petals, (lamens and pillil fomewhat {traight, longer than the corolla, lingulated leaves prefled to the ground, cartilaginous-marginate 5” or, accord. ing to Jacquin’s defcription, * with a many-flowered fpathe, corollas very broad, and reflex at the apex, erect pedicles, fublingueform and: proftrate leaves, terminated with a mar- gin coloured, and undulated towards the apex.”? his is a native of the Cape of -Good Hope. 29. A. turvifilia, “‘with oblong, waved, revolute petals, {tamens and piflil fomewhat {traight, and longer than the corolla, with leaves {tiff, linear-enfiform and canaliculated ;” or, according to Jacquin, * with many-flowered fpathe, revolute, undulated corollas, ereét pedicles, and leaves ‘fublinear, widely chan- nelled, and fubfoliated”’ This is a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 30. A. undulata, waved flower African A. « with linear channelled, waved petals, ftamens and piitil bent down, fhorter than the corolla, and obfolete ftigma.’”” The flowers have no fcent, and expand from November to the beginning of January: a native of the Cape of Good Hope, introduced about 1767, by John Blackburne, efq, and flowers here from April to June. gr. A. radiata, foow-drop leaved A.‘ with lanceolate; waved petals, {tamens and piltil bent down, diverging, twice as long as the co- rolla, and obfolste ftigma.”” he native place of this {pecies is unknown, cultivated by Miller in 1758, and flowers m June. 32. A. humilis, “ with three or four-flowered fpathe, lanceolate, fubringent-patent petals, waved-reflex at the apex, with the loweft divaricated, the ftamens and piftil afcend- ing, fhortertkan the petals, and leaves linear, obtule, {mooth, naked and flat ;” or, according to Jacquin, ‘ with few-flower- ed fcapes, patent petals, the lowelt divaricated, and leaves h- near, obtufe, and flat.”” It much refembles the next {pecies, but the fcape and leaves are twice lefs ; a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 33. A. flexuo/i, * with many-flowered {pathe, petals lanceolate, fubringent-patent, waved-reflex at the apex, the loweft divaricated, the ftamens and piftil af- eending, fhorter than the pz-tals, and leaves linear, fome- what obtufe, concave, and puftulate dotted:”’ or, according to Jacquin, ‘ with many-flowered fpathe, patent petals, theloweit divaricated, and linear, pointed leaves.” The younger leaves are marked with white pultules ; the more adult pointed, and when dry the points vanith ; a native of the Cape of Good Hope .34. A. radula, ** with many-flowered {pathe, petals lan- ceolated, fubringent-patent, flat, the loweft divaricated, the ftamens and piitil afcending, of the length of the petals, with leaves elliptic, preffed to the ground, and roughly puftuled :” anative of the Cape.of Good Hope. 35. A. flriata, ** with many-flowered {pathe, corollas bell-fhaped, fhortly tubulous, fegments_fiat, reflex at the apex, ftamens and piftil afcend- ing, and the leaves elliptic-ovate, ere, and marginated ;”’ or, according to Jacquin, “ with many-flowered {pathe, corollas bell-fhaped, equal, and reflex at the apex, fub ovated leaves, and ftriated on the back 2’ a native of the Cape of Gocd Hope. 36. A. crifpa, “ with few-flowered {pathe, petals very patent, oblong, obtufe, and waved, itamens divaricated and fhorter than the corolla, ftraight ityle, and leaves linear-fili- form, and lax ;”’ or, according to Jacquin, “ with few-flowered f{pathe, petals very patent and crifp, and leaves linear and every narrow.’”? The flowers are very fmall: a native of the Cape of Good hope. 37. A. /fel/aris, with many-flowered {pathe, corollas patent and flat, a very fhort tube, {tamens unequal, divaricated, fhorter than the corolla, ftraizht ftyle, and leaves linear and ereét ;” or, according to Jacquin, ‘* with many-flowered fpathe, very patent petals three, alternate,
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and barbated below the middle ;”? a native of the Cape of Good Hope. 38 A. ca/pia, crinum cafpiem of Pallas, “with many-flowered {pathe, bell-fhaped corollas, very fhort tube, filaments ereét, longer than the corolla, and leaves lan- ceolated and waved ;”” found near the Cafpian Sea, in the be- ginning of Spring. 39. A. /piralis, “ with {pathe two-leaved, ew-flowered, peduncles filiform, very long, and leaves fubulate.”’ I,’ Heriticr.. This fpecies was difcovered by Bruguiere in fandy grounds near the Cape of Good Hope. , 40. A. cinnamomea, ‘with many-flowered {pathe, corollas fub-hexapetalous, lanceolate, waved, ftamens and piftil ereét, fhoiter than the corolla.” L’Heritier. This {pecies is allied to Hemanthus: was found by Bruguiere at the Cape of Good Hope. 41. A. alba, “with flowers declining, and leaves linear-lanceolated.”” Forfk. Fl. Aig. Arab. p. 209. Martyn. Gmelin’s Linnaeus. - Willdenow.
Culture and Propagation. Mott of thefe {pecies have very beautiful flowers, and merit the attention of the botanift and florift.. ‘he firft, or yellow autumnal A. is very hardy, and increafes by offsets. he feafon for tranfplanting thefe roots is from May to the end of July, when the leaves are decayed. ‘They will grow in any {oil or fituation ; but they will thrive beft ina freth, light, dry foil, and open fituation, and will keep flowering from the beginning of September to the “niiddle of November, provided that they efcape fevere frofts; and a fucceffion of flowers will {pring from the fame root. The third, or Atamafco lily, may be propagated by offsets from the bulbs, and will thrive in the open air on a dry foil, and in a warm fituation, The 4th, or Jacobzea lily, is propagated by offsets, which are taken off every year; and the beft time for fhifting and parting the roots is Auguft. They fhould be planted in middle-fized pots, and they will produce flowers two or three times in a year, and from March to September, when the roots are vigorous. The roth, or Mexican lily, is lefs hardy, and mult be placed in a warm ftove, or the pots fhould be plunged into a hot-bed of tanner’s bark, and may be increafed by offsets. It flowers ufually in the beginning of Spring and makes a fine appear« ance in the ftove. The 16th, or Belladonna lily, is culti- vated by preparing a border near a wall, with a fouth-weft afpect, about fix feet wide ; and for this purpofe the earth fhould be removed to the depth of three feet, fix inches of rotten dung laid at the bottom, and covered to the depth of about twenty inches, with light garden mould: the roots fhould then be placed at the diltance of fix inches every way, and covered over with light fandy earth, fo as.to bury the upper part of the roots about five or fix inches ; and in the Winter the border is to be covered with rotten tanners’ bark to the depth of three inches, in order to guard againit the froits: and in fevere frofts mats or ftraw fhould be laid over the leaves, to prevent their being killed. Thus managed, the roots will greatly increafe, and produce flowers every year, which make a fine appearance during the month of O&ober. The green leaves will abide ull June, and then decay, after which the roots fhould be tran{planted. The 17th {pecies may be eafily propagated by feeds. The zoth may be treated in the fame manner as the Jacobeza lily ; will increafe by offsets ; and ufually flowers in Winter, when the pots are placed in a moderate flove; and as there are few flowers in Winter in the open air, it is on this account the more valued. The 26th mu be placed during Winter in a {tove of moderate warmth, aud lefs watered than the Jacobza » lily. The 27th, or Guernfey lily, has been cultivated for many years in the gardens of Guernfey and Jerfey, whence the roots are fent to moft parts of Europe. The bulbs are commonly brought over in June and July, and they fhould then be pianted in pots filled with frefh, light, fandy earth, mixed with a {mall quantity of very rotten dung, placed in
a warm
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a warm fituation, and occafionally refrefhed with water. About the middle of September the ftronger roots will fhew their red-coloured flower-ftem ; and then the pots fhould be removed into a fituation where they may have the full benefit of the fun, and be sheltered from flrong winds ; but not placed under glaffes, or too near a wall, which would draw them up, and render them lefs beautiful. When the flowers begin to open, the pots fhould be put under fhelter, fo as to be fecure from too much wet, but not kept too clofe or too warm. The flowers will continue in beauty for a month; and though without fcent, their rich colour entitles them to the firlt rank in the flowery tribe. _ After the flowers are decayed, the Jeaves will grow through the Winter, and they will be beft fheltered in a common hot- bed frame. The roots fhould be tranfplanted every fourth or fifth year, toward the latter end of June, and planted into frefh eaith. The offsets, planted in feparate pots, will in three years time produce flowers; thefe roots will fur- nith a ftock, which will fupply blowing roots without the trouble and expence of obtaining them from Guernfey ; and the roots preferved here will flower more ftrongly than thofe that are ufually brought from thence. In order to preferve a large number of thefe roots without pots, a bed may be prepared in a well-fheltered part of the garden, by mixing a third part of frefh virgin-earth from a pafture ground with equal parts of fand, of rotten dung, and fifted lime rubbifh. Of this, when it has been well incorporated, there fhould be made a bed about two feet thick, raifed in dry ground four or five inches above the furface, and if the giound be moift eight or nine inches higher. In this bed the roots fhould be planted, about the beginning of July, about fix or eight inches afunder each way; and inthe Winter, when the froft fets in, covered with mats and ftraw ; but in the Spring the covering may be removed, and during the Sum- mer kept clear from weeds, and the earth occafionally ftirred ; and every year, when the leaves are decayed, a lit- tle freth earth fhould be fifted over the beds, in order to en- courage the roots. Here the roots may remain till they are {trong enough to produce pees and then removed to pots, or fuffered to remain in the fame bed to flower. The roots of thefe plants often flower twice in the compafs of three years; after which the fame root will not flower again in fe- veral years, but only the offsets from it. ‘The 22d, or Cey- lon lily, is tender, and mult be treated like the Mexican lily. It flowers ufually in June and July, and fometimes the fame root will fiower again in Autumn; -and if the pots are plunged into a bed of tanners’ bark, the roots gene- rally flower twice every year; but the flowers are not of long duration. The 24th may be increafed by off. fets from the roots, or by the bulbs which fucceed the flowers ; and it muft be treated like the Crinums.. The beft time for tran{planting the roots is about the beginning of Au- guft, when the leaves are quite decayed. Martyn’s Miller. AMARYLLIS Capenfis. See Hvrox:s Stellata. Amarviuis Ciliaris. See Hemantuus Ciliaris. Amaryuuis diflicha. See HAMANTHUS toxicarius. Amarytuis umbrella. See Cyrvranruus obliguus. AMARYNTHUS, in Ancient Geography, a {mall ifland of Eubcea, according to Steph. Byz.; but, according to Strabo and Paufanias, a {mall place in the ifland, famous for a temple of Diana, where fhe was worfhipped, and hence called Amarynthia. AMAS, a mountain of Peloponnefus in Laconia, accord- ing to Paufanias, near Las and Gythium. — AMASENUS, /a Toppia, a river of Italy. Alfo an- other river of Italy, which ran into the Liris.
AMASIUS, Romutus, in Biography, a profeffor of
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Greek and Latin at Bologna, and fecretary to the fenate, was born at Udine, in Friuli, in 1489. Paul ETL. invited him to Rome, made him preceptor to his grandfon Alexander Farnefe, and employed him on feveral embaffies to the em- peror, the princes of the empire, and the king of Paland. He taught rhetoric at Bologna with an annual falary of 300 crowns, and at Rome, where he was much efteemed for his learning, and had a penfion of 600 crowns a years He tranflated Paufanias, which tranflation was correéted by Sylburgius, and Xenophon’s’ Expedition of Cyrus the Younger, He alfo wrote a volume of ‘ Orsticns,’? and * Scholas duas de Ratione Inftituendi.”? Tworbooks, in which he fhews that the Latin tongue is preferable to the Italian, were never printed. Huetius, “de claris Inter- pret.” reprefents him as a great admirer of perfpicuity and politenefs of ftyle, and fays of him that he evilarged what was too concife, abridged what was too prolix, and eluci- dated obfcure paffages. He died about the year 1552, and left one fon, named Pompilius, who taught Greek at Bo- logna, and tranflated two fragments of the Oth book of Polybius. Gen. Did.
AMASIA, in Entomology, a fpecies of Faritio in the nympvales feftion. Wings indented, of a green colour, with a row of black {pots along the margin of the potterior pair : underfide marked with ocellated fpots: Found in Surinam. Fabricius.
Amasi4, a fpecies of Puaramna, of the ns@ua family. Wings varied with cinereous, and whitifh, with a fulvous flreak :-lower-ones yellow, with two black bands, the outer one interrupted. Abbot Inf. Georgia, by Dr. © .nith.
Amasia, in Ancient Geography, a dillri& or divifion of Anatolia Natolia, or Afia Minor, in Afiatic Turkey, bounded on ‘the nerth by the Euxine Sea, on the eatt by Armenia, on the weft by: Anatolia Proper, and oa the fouth by Caramania and Aladulia. ‘The capital of this country is Amafia, called by the Turks Amnofan and Amafich, which is an ancient town, fituate among mountains, three miles diftant from the river Iris, or Caflalmack, and the re- fidence of the governor of Cagherbag. It has been cufto- mary for the eldelt fon of the Grand Signior to refide here till he is called to the throne. ‘The city was formerly the feat of the kings of Cappadocia, and fome remains of its ancient magnificence are {ill exilling. It gave birth.to the famous geographer Strabo, and in Chrittian times it has been the fee of an archbifhop, Its wine and fruits are excel-. lent. It is 12 leagues fouth of the Euxine Sea, and-200 miles caft of Contlantinople. N. lat. 40° 31’, E.long. 36°.
AmasiaA, or Amist1a, in Ancient Geography, atown of Germany, fuppeled by fome to be the prefent Embden, and by others Marpurg. It was near this town that Drufus:- vauquifhed the Bructeri.
AMASIS, in Biography and Hifory, king of Egypt, was of plebeian extraétion, and by his meritorious fervices obtained the confidence of Apries, his fovereign, whom he fucceeded in the throne, B.C. 569, and foon after put te death. Upon his acceffion he was affiduous in the exercife of his pubic duties, devoting his mornings to bufinefs, and his evenings to focial amufement. Under his reign Egypt was fingularly profperous and happy, and is faid to have contained 20,000 populous cities. For the prefervation of order and the encouragement of induftry, he ena¢ted a law which required every perfon to inform the governor of the province once a year how he earned his living, and thofe who were not able to givé a fatisfa@ory account of them. felves were punifhed with death. 'To the Greeks he was a great friend, inviting them into Egypt, and granting them. places where they might ereét altars and temples to their
own
AMA
own deities; and it is faid that he was vifited by Solon; he alfo married a Greek woman. Such was the liberality of his difpofition, that he contributed a thoufand talents of alum to the Delphians for their relief when their temple was burnt, and he granted to the Greeks feveral valuable dona- tions. In his own’country he erected feveral magnificent buildings, and ata very great expence enriched the principal temples with gifts and ornaments. Amatis was the firlt per- fon who fubdued Cyprus, and extorted tribute from its in- habitants. The clofe of his reign, however, was very dif- ferent from its commencement and progrefs. Having by fome means or other, probably by refufing to pay the fame homage and tribute to Cambyfes which he had been accul- tomed to render to Cyrus, incurred the difpleafure of the Perfian fovereign, Cambyfes prepared to invade Egypt, and derived effetual affiftance from Phanes of Halicarnaffus, who commanded the Greek auxiliaries in the pay of Amalis, and who, leaving Egypt in difguft, embarked for Perfia. Amatfis was alfo deferted by Polycrates of Samos, who, after having been his ally and friend, joined Cambyfes againft him.. Thus deferted by a prudent and valiant gene- ral, and by a powerful ally, and apprehending the formida- ble invafion of Cambyfes, Amafis was refcued from the evils that threatened him, and that beclouded the clofing fcenes of his life, by death, B.C. 525, after a reign of 44 years. His dead body was embalmed, and depofited in a fepulchre which he had built for himfelf in the temple at Sais. The reign of his fon and fucceflor, Pfammenitus, was fhort and calamitous ; and the victorious Perfians, after his defeat. cap- ture, and death, took the body of his fatl:er Amafis from the tomb, mangled it ina fhocking manner, and then burnt it. Thus terminated the ancient {plendour and liberty of Egypt. Herodotus. Diodorus Siculus. Un. Hitt. vol.i. p. 314—323- Rollin’s Anc. Hitt. vol.i. p. 99— IOL.
Amasis, in Entomology, a fpecies of PHarzena, of the Bombyx family. Wings deflected ; anterior pair whitith, dtreaked with black, pofterior pair yellow, with black fpots. Abdomen black, belted with red. It is further defcribed as having the head and thorax whitifh, with black {pots. The red or fanguineous marks that encircle the abdomen are five in number, and the three black flreaks on the anterior wings areangulated. A native of Surinam. Fabr. Ent. Sytt.
AMASIUS, in Aacient Geography, a river of Germany, the prefent Ems.
AMASONIA, fo called from Amafon, a traveller into America, in Botany, a genus of the didynamia angio/permia clafs and order. Its characters are, that the ca/yx 1s a pe- rianthium, one-leafed, bell-fhaped, femi-quinquetid, acute, equal, and permanent : the corolla is one-petalled, tubulous, longer than the calyx; border quinquefid, {ub-egual, {pread- ing, and {mall; the mina have four filaments at the upper fide of the corolla, and longer than it, bending in at the end, two of them fhorter, the anthers oval and incumbent: the piftillum has an ovate germ, ftyle in the fituation and form of the ftamens, ftigmas two and fharp, no fericarpium. The feeds are an ovate, one-celled nut, of the fame length with the calyx. This agrees with the Zaligala of Aublet ‘in every thing except the fruit, which, according to him, is a drupe, longer than the calyx, one-celied, and containing two fmall hemifpherical one-celled nuts. There is one fpecies, wiz. A.ereGa. It is a native of Surinam, with an herba- eeous ftem, three feet high, round and fimple: the leaves are alternate, petiolate, remote, eiliptic-lanceolate, fubfer- rate, and fcabrous ; the flowers in a fimple terminal raceme, a foot long, with about three flowers on a pedicle: the
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bragtes ovate, felfile, a little longer than the flowers, which are yellow, nodding, and grow all on one fide of the ftalk. Martyn.
AMASSEA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Pelopon- nefus, in Achaia.
AMASSI, a people of the Afiatic Sarmatia.
AMASTRA, a town of Sicily, the fame with Amef- tratus.
AMASTRIS, now Amafiro, a town of Afia Minor, in Paphlagonia, upon a {mall ifthmus which joined the penin- fula Sefamus to the continent. It was built by Amaltris, the wife of Lyfimachus, who gave it to his wife Arfinoe, and by her the government of it was entrufted with Hercu- les, Soon after it became very confiderable, and put itfelf under the prote&ion of Ariobarzanus, the fon of Mithri- dates. When the Romans carricd their arms into Afia, Amattris was taken by Triarius, the lieutenant of Cotta. From the Romans it paffed co the Greek emperors: it was afterwards taken by the Venetians: from them it became the poffeflion of the Turks; and, having loft its commerce, it is now almoft annjhilated.
AMATA, in ELxtomology, a fpecies of Parixso, in the fe&tion Danai Candidi, with rotund fulvous coloured wings, bordered with black on the upper fide; beneath greenifh ; is found in India. Linn. Syft. Nat.
AMATARIA, a fpecies of the Puatzna, of the Geo- metra family, that inhabits Europe. The wings are angu- lated, of a pale brown, flightly fpeckled, with an obfolete darker-waved flreak, and a ftraight purple line acrofs the middle. It is produced from a green larva, with yellow rings, that feeds on the leaves of oaks. Linnzus. Don. Brit. Infeéts, tab. 33. fig. 2.
AMATEUR, in the rts, is a foreign term introduced and now. pafling current amongft us, to denote a perfon un- derftanding, and loving, or praétiling, the polite arts of painting; fculpture, or architecture, without any regard to pecuniary advantage. Such have been found in the revivals of painting, &c. in moft countries. Amateurs who prac- tife were never perhaps in greater number or of fuperior ex- cellence than at prefent, and thofe who delight in and en- courage the arts have been the means of raifing them in this country to that eminence to which-they are arrived. It isto be regretted, however, that the great works of formerages, collected by amateurs in this kingdom, are not fo acceffible to our profeffors as they are in foreign countries, which would tend to accelerate the progrefs of the arts, and that the encouragement given by thefe amateurs is in general upon too limited a fcale.
It may occafion fome furprife to the next generation, that Royal Patronage has “not roufed to emulation in this parti- cular more of the noble amateurs who furround the throne, and induced them to encourage the greater works, as they do fuch as are of an inféricr nature; for thus our repu- tation in hiftoric art would be elevated fo as to be equal, if not fuperior, to that of any of the neighbouring na- tions, ard even to rival the jultly celebrated pictures pro- duced in the 14th and 15th centuries, and our fculptors might be equally efleemed with thofe of ancient Greece cr Rome.
Amareor, in Mujic, is equal, in French, to the term Dilet- tante, Ytal. implying a lover and cultivator of mufic, not pro- feflionally, but for his amufement—a gentleman performer. In the Encyclopedie Methodigue we have a long article on the fubje@, by M. Guinguerié, in which he divides /es Amateurs into three claffes, which he defcribes in the following candid and fair manner. ‘The firft is compofed of fuch as are born with delicate organs and much fenfibility to the beau-
ties
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fies of mufie, and who, not having had leifure, inclination, or the means of cultivatmg their natural propenfity, -conti- nue through life to cherifh their paffion for the art 5 eagerly attending all concerts and mufical dramas ; and, finally, by frequent and impartial parallels, didtated by nice and accu- rate difcrimination, becoming, fomctimes, better judges of compofition and performance than.trained profeffors, poffeffed neither of tafte nor impartiality.
«“ The fecond clafs comprehends thofe who have had the means of developing, and confirming by fludy, the gifts of nature, and who have fublimed their difpofitions into talents. OF thefe the number is at prefent confiderable. Mulic is become fo interefting a part of a gvod education, and vocal and inftrumental mufic have made fo great a progrefs, and are fo generally cultivated, that there are few private con- certs in which more talents are not difplayed by amateurs of both fexes than the molt celebrated profeffors poffeffed in France 20 years ago. Concerts entirely compofed of gentle- men and lady performers are not uncommon; but perfons at all difficult are much diffatisfied if the principal parts at leaft
: t guided by able profeffors.
the "pie third als is a moft numerous and the moft dif- tinguifhed, though they are lefs ambitious of fhining than ~ the fecond: it is compofed of amateurs, who, not content with learning to read and execute mufic, have tried to pene- trate into the fecrets of the art, and enable themfelves to account for the pleafure they receive, by analyfing their fen- fations and, ltudying the theory of mutic, to enable them. felves to judge more accurately of the praétice, and to unite ‘intelleétual pleafure with that of fenfe and the leart. Maf- ters are fortunate who have fuch for judges, where their knowledge is incorporated with natural fenfibility and can- dour; and {till more happy, a thoufand times, the true amateur, who has neither the rage of decifion, of difputation, nor the arrogant pretenfions of fettling raaks; who, know- ing the arcana and refinements of the art, difcovers and taltes beauties unknown to vulgar hearers; who, preferving his primitive fenfibility, enlightens it by meditation and ftudy ; and who finds himfelt impelled, both by judgment and feeling, to treat with regard the artilt to whom he owes his pleafure, without diftinétion of nation or party.
AMATH, in Ancient Geography, a town of Syria, called by the Greeks Eme/a.—Alo, a borough of Palettine, near Gadara, the fame with Amgtha.—Alfo, a town of Ceelo- fyria, called by the Greeks Lpiphania.
AMATHA, a country of Arabia—Alfo, a town of Pheenicia, prebably the fame that was founded by the 13th fon of Canaan, called Chamati in the Book of Genefis, and by the Septuagint dmathi, According to Jofephus, it was the capital of the Amathzans, and fome have fuppofed it to be the fame with Lme/a.—Alfo, a place of Judea, in that part of it that was allotted to the half-tribe of Ma- naffeh, on the eatt of Jordan. ; ;
AMATHAELI, a people of Arabia Felix, according to Pliny.—Alfo, a people who inhabited the Land of Promife before the [raelites, and.who occupied part of the tribe of Nephtali, towards Mount Libanus. _Thefe people were vanqnifhed by the Ifraelites, and retired into Phoenicia, where they built Amath, or Emath, on the banks of the river Orontes.- According to Jofephus, they fent forth a colony, who built the town of Amath, near the Lake of Genne- fareth.
AMATHEA, in Entomology, a {pecies of Parirto, in ‘the Nymphales feStion, that inhabits South America. The wings are angulated, brown, with white fpots; a red band, and undulated black line. Linn. Syft. Nat.
AMATHO. See Amato.
AMATHUS, or Amatnonre, in Ancient Geography,
“Vox. II,
AMA
atown of the fouthern part of the iand of Cyprus, near Ly- cus, between Curtum tothe weft and Citium to the eaft. It was founded by the Pheenicians, and owed its celebrity partly to the fertility of the adjacent country, and partly to the tem- ple and worthip of Venus in this place. Strangers, it is faid, were facrificed on heraltars. The goddefs was difpleafed, and punifhed the inhabitants by changing the men into bu'ls, and by defpoiling the women of their modetly, fo that they prof- tituted themfelves without fhame. Agrecably to this opi~ nion, Ovid reports that the firft courtefans appeared in this town. The ftatue of Venus in this place was that of an her- maphrodite. ‘The ftatue was allegorical ; and probably the men facrificed to her in female habits, and the women in thofe of males. ‘There was another temple in this place, as we are informed by Paufanias, confecrated to Venus and Adonis. Amathus was afterwards cailed Limaffol; but it is now utterly deflroyed.
Amaruus was alfo a town of Peloponnefus, in Laconia, according to Strabo.—Alfo, a river of Peloponnefus, in Meffenia, called Pamifus.—Alfo, a town of Paleftine, be- yond Jordan, north-eaft of Mount Abarim, ruined by Alexander Janneus.
AMATHUSA, one of the epithets of the ifle of Cy- prus, and the inhabitants were called Amaihy fi, from Ama- thus above mentioned.
AMATI, Anton and Hirronimo, in Biography, two brothers, celebrated inftrament makers in Cremona, fiou - rifhed in 1662. Nicolo Amaii, the fon of Geronimo, was living in 1682. All thefe were fuch admirable fabricators of violins, as to render valuable every initrument that was fuppofed to come from Cremona. See Strapuagius and STEINER.
AMATILLAN, in Geography, a town of Mexico, in the province of Guatimala; 10 miles S. E. of Guatimala. N. lat. 14° 20’. W. long. g2° 26’.
AMATIQUES, a fea-port town, at the mouth of Guanacos river, which difcharges itfelf into the Amatique gulf, or gulf of Honduras, in the province of Vera Paz, in Mexico. The inhabitants are chiefly logwood-cutters, and on the fouth of the gulf isa tract of land, called Ama- tique land. The gulf is formed by the peninfula of Cape Three Points, and that which lies. between it and Dolce gulf, and between thefe it runs far into the land. N. lat. 15° 23’. _ W. long..89°,
AMATISSA, Amesssr, in Ancient Geography, a {mall river of Gaul, which runs from the S. FE. to the N. E. eaitward of Ambacia, and difcharges itfelf into the Loire.
AMATITUE, in Geography, a river of North America, in New Spain, which difcharges itfelf into the Pacific Ocean, upon the confines of the province of Guaxaca.
AMATKINAK Isvanp is,-with Ulak, the largeft of the third group of iflands between Afia and America.
AMATO, a town of Naples, in the province of Calabria Citra, on a river of the fame name, 7 miles S..E. of Nicaftro.
Amato, or Amatuo, anciently Lamerus, a river of Naples, which {preads itfelf over a large flat, in 50 different channels, antl would overflow a great extent of country if its devaftations were not reltrained by high cliffs on each fide of its bed. Its waters are of a muddy white colour, It difcharges itfelf into the fea, three miles fouth of St. Eufemia, on the weft coalt of Calabria Ultra.
AMATORII, Muscuus, in Anatomy, an appellation given to thofe mufcles of the eye, which give them a caft fideways, and affift in that particular look, by fome called ogling. When the abduétor and humilis aét together, they give to the eye this oblique motion.
AMATORIUS, in Ornithology, a {pccies of the Paaus genus, of a deep blue flate ve with a longitudinal {pot in
the
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the middle of the wings, half rufous, half yellow.—It is the mefange amoureu/e of Buffon, and amorous titmoufe (parus amo- rotus) of Latham. The length is five inches and a quarter, bill two thirds ofan inch, bleck at the bafe, tip orange.
This bird inhabits the northern parts of Afa, and is re+ markable for the affeGtion each fex fhews the other. When paired in cages its carefles are fearcely interrupted ; a cir- cumitance that has impofed the emphatic names of ama- torius, amarofus, and amorous upon this {pecies, to diftin- guith it from others of the parus genus,
AMATRICE,. in Geography, a {mall town of Naples, in Abruzzo, with the title of a principality.
AMATTA po Brasit, a town of South America, in the country of Brafil, and government of Pernambuco,
AMATTA Foa, or Tooroa-ama, or Kama, [stanp, an iflandin the Southern Pacific Ocean, difcovered by Cap- tain Cook, in 1774, about rf or 12 leagues diftant from Anamooxka, N.N.W. 3 weit. It is about five leagues in circuit, confiderably elevated, and probably has a volcano; it is inhabited, but not very fertile. Betwixt this and ano- ther ifland, called Oghao, is a fafe channel, about two miles broad, without any foundings.
AMAUROSIS, in Surgery, a privation or obfeurity of fight, from auevpow, more commonly named Gutra Se- RENA. This diforder is either complete, when total blind- nefs exifts, or incomplete, when vifion is uot perfeétly deftroyed. It is diftingyifhed from the Graucoma or Cataract, inas much as the latter is a difeafe of the cryf- talline lens, whereas the former is generally feated in the opticnerve. Amaurofis may be produced by various caufes, and admits of different modes of treatment ; but the confi- deration of thefe particulars is referred to the article gutta ferena.. See Ambriyopia and Dysopta.
AMAXIA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia Minor, in Cilicia Trachea or Cilicia Montana.
AMAXITUS, a borough of Afia Minor, in the Troas, and territory of the Alexandrians. In this place there was a temple of Apollo, in which the prieft Chryfes, mentioned by Homer, is fupofed to have facrificed.
AMAXOBII, a people who, according to Ptolemy, in- habited the interior parts of Scythia, in Europe. Their name, derived from Awata, a chariot, refers to the practice which prevailed amongtt thefe people and other Tartarian nations, of placing their tents on carriages for their more eafy removal from one place to another. See Hamaxonit.
AMAYA, in Geography, a town of Spain, at the foot of a rocky mountain, in the county of Leon, four leagues from Aquilar del Campo.
AMAZIAH, in Scripture Hijlory, the eighth king of Judah, was the fon of Joath, and fucceeded his father in his 25th year, A.M. 3165, B.C. 539. He adhered to the worlhip of the trae God, but not without a mixture of idolatry ; and therefore, he is faid (2 Chron. xxv. 2.) to have done “ that which was right in the fight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart.”” We are further informed (Ch. xxv. 3, 4.) that, after his acceffion to the throne, he put to death the murderers of his father, and in conformity to the humane reftriction of the Mofaic law, (Deut. xxiv. 36.) he preferved their children alive. With a large army, formed of his owm fubjeéts, and other hired troops from Ifrael, he marched againft the Edomites, who had revolted from Judah, in the reign of Joram, about 54 years before ; but having difmiffed the Ifraehte auxiliaries, he led forth his own people to battle, and defeated the enemy in the valley of Salt, with great flaughter. The auxiliaries on their return ravaged the country, killed 3000 men, and carried off a great booty, as a compenfation for the advantage which they expected to have derived from their expedition
AMA
again’ Edom. Amaziah, after his vitory, took home the gods of the children of Seir, and paid them divine honours. Prefuming on his fuccefs, and imagining -himfelf to be invincible, he fent a hollile challenge to Joath, king of Ifrael, exprefled by the words (Chron. xxv. 17.) * come, let us look one another in the face.” Joafh, by the fable of the cedar and thiltle, endeavoured to diffluade him from his hottile purpofe; but he perfilted, and the adverfe armies met at Bethfhemefh, where that of Amaziah was routed, and he himfelf taken prifoner. Joafh led the captive king with him to Jerufalem ; and having made a breach in the wall, he entered the city, plundered the temple and royal palace, and then returned to Samaria. After this difaftrous event, the reign of Amaziah was prolonged 15 or 16 years; but a confpiracy having bec formed againft him at Jerufalem, he fled to Lachifh, where his enemies overtook and affafiinated him, A.M. 3194. B.C.810. 2 Kings, ch. xiv. 2 Chron. ch. xxy.
AMAZON, ina General Senfe, denotesa bold, courageous woman, capable of daring and hardy achievements. AMAZONS infra.
Amazon, or the river of the Amazons, called alfo Maragnon, in Geography, a river of South America, is one of the largeft rivers in the world. Its fource is in Peru, in alake near Guanuco, about 30 leagues from Lima, where the Maragnon rifes, and at the head of the river Napo, near
uito ; its firft direGtion in Peru is from fouth to north ; it afterwards runs a courfe from welt to eaft, of about 3000 miles, acrofs South America, and receives near 200 other rivers, many of which have a courfe of 5 or 600 leagues, and fome of them not inferior to the Danube or the Nile. Thefe rivers rufh down with amazing impetuofity from the eaftern declivity of the Andes, and uniting in a {pacious plain, form this immenfe river. The chief of thefe, from the fouth and fouth-welt, proceeding from the mouth wett- ward, are Araguaya, Paratinaa, Madeira, Eurus, Yulay, Yulacina and Ucagai rivers. From the north and north-weit, advancing from its mouth, are Parma, Negro, Yupura, Ifla and Napo, which laft-rifes near the town of Archidano, about 150 miles eaftward of Quito. ‘The Amazon is inter- fperfed with a great number of iflands, which are too often overflowed to admit of culture. It falls into the Atlantic Ocean, almoft under the equator, by feveral channels, and its breadth at its mouth is 150 miles, and at the diltance of 1500 miles from hence it is 30 or 40 fathoms deep. In the rainy feafon it overflows its banks, watering and fertilizing the adjacent country. M. de la Condamine, who made a voyage down this river in 1743, found its defcent in a ftraight courfe of about 1860 miles, to be about 1020 Englifh feet, or 64 inches in a mile. The tides are perceptible at 600 miles from its mouth, but at an elevation only of go feet. Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixxi. p. 93. 109.
Befides Orellana, who made this voyage from motives of ambition, and de la Condamine, who was prompted to it from a love of fcience, Madame Godin des Odonais, undertook it in 1769, from conjugal affection. The narrative of the hardthips which fhe fuffered, of the dangers to which fhe was expefed, and of the difafters which befel her, is one of the molt fingular and affecting itories in any language, and exhibits in her conduct a ftriking picture of the fortitude which diftinguifhes the one fex, blended with the fenfibility and tendernefs peculiar to the other. Lettre de M. Godin a M. de la Condamine. :
AMAZONA, in Ornithology, a {pecies of AucEpo, firft defcribed by Dr. Latham, in his Syn. Av. Sup. p. 116, under the name of Amazonian KinGsFisHer. Itinhabits Cayenne, and is about thirteen inches in length. The colour above is glofly green, beneath white, pafling backwards in
arnng
See
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aring to the nape; the fides are variegated with green: the wings and tail {potted with white. ‘Thefe particulars conftitute the fpecific character; it may be further added, that the bill is three inches long, narrow, ftraight, and black ; the under mandible yellow at the bafe; the thighs mottled with green, and the breaft clouded with the fame ; tail feathers green, {potted on each fide of the web with white, except the two middle feathers which are paler than the reit ; legs black.
Amazona, a fpecies of Emscriza, defcribed by Lin- neusand Gmelin. The generai colour is brown, crown of the head fulvous, vent whitifh, It inhabits Surinam, and is about the fize of the titmoufe. The underfide of the wings white at the bafe.—Buffon calls this L’? Amazone, tom. iv. p- 394, and Latham gives it the Englifh name of Ama- zon’s BunTING.
AMAZONE, in Sculpture, a very fine antique ftatue, in Parian marble. It was about two hundred years at the Villa Mattei, wpon Mount Coelius, at Rome; from whence it was removed to the mufeum of the Vatican, by pope Clement XIV. ; and is now in the gallery of antiques at Paris. There is alfo a beautiful flatue of a queen of the Amazons at Wilton ; reprefented in a warlike ation; being on one knee; as under a horfe, defending herfelf in battle. Her fhield is in the form of a half moon ; behind the lower part of which, the feulptor has executed a horfe’s foot ; in order to illuftrate the attitude. ‘This ftatue was executed by the celebrated Cleomenes.
AMAZONIA, in Geography, a large country of South America, 1460 miles long, and goo miles broad, is fituated between the equator and 20° S. lat., and bounded on the north by Terra Firma and Guiana, on the eaft by the At- lantic Ocean and Brafil, on the fouth by Paraguay, and on the weft by Peru. This country was firft difcovered by Francifco Orellana, about the year £541, who, ina bark, manned with 50 foldiers, was borne down by the ftream of the river Napo into the channel of the Maragnon ; and who, after making frequent defcents on both fides of the river, fometimes feizing by force of arms the provifions of the fierce favages, feated on its banks, and fometimes procuring a {upply of food by a friendly intercourfe with more gentle tribes, reached the ocean. This bold and magnanimous adventurer pretended to have difcovered along the banks of this river, nations fo rich, that the roofs of their temples were covered with plates of gold; and he defcribed a re- public of women fo warlike and powerful, as to have ex- tended their dominions over a confiderable traét of the fertile plains which he had vifited. From this community of warlike women, who, with arms in their hands, oppofed his paffage, he called the country Amazonia, or the land of the Amazons, and he gave the name of Amazon to the river, which had formerly been denominated Ma- ragnon.
The Spaniards have made feveral attempts to plant this country, but always met with fo many difficulties and dif alters, as to render their defigns abortive. ‘lhe Portuguefe have fome {mall fettlements on that part of the coaft which lies betwixt Cape North and the mouth of the river Amazon ; but thefe excepted, the natives are in the fole poffeffion of the whole country. The air in this country is cooler than might be expected, confidering its fituation in the middle of the torrid zone; which is owing partly to the heavy rains, which caufe the inundations of the rivers for one half of the year, and partly to the cloudinefs of the weather, fo that the fun is obfcured, during the greateft part of his {tay above the horizon. The fair feafon is about the time of the
AMA
folftices, and the wet or rainy feafon is about the equinoxes, The foil of Amazonia is very fertile, and produces corn, grain, and all kinds of tropical fruits ; befides a variety of timber, as cedar, brafil-wood, oak, ebony, iron-wood, log- wood, and other dying woods; and allo cocoa, tobacco, {ugar canes, cotton, caflava root, potatoes, yams, farfas parilla,- gums, railins, balfams of various forts, pine apples, guavas, bananas, &c. ‘he forefts abound with wild honey, and alfo with tigers, wild boars, buffaloes, deer, parrots, and game of various kinds. ‘Fhe rivers and lakes afford an ample fupply of fith, fea-cows, and turtles; but the alli- gators and water-ferpents render fifhing a dangerous employ- ment. The trees, fields, and plants, are verdant throughout the year. The natives are of good ftature, with agreeable features, long black hair and a copper-coloured com- plexion, and are very difierent from the natives of Africa, in the fame latitude, on the oppofite fide of the Atlantic. Condamine fays, that they have a tafte forthe imitative arts, efpecially fculpture and painting, and that they frequently excel in mechanical profeflions. ‘They {pin and weave cotton cloth. Their houfes are built with wood and clay, and thatched with reeds. Their arms, in general, are darts and javelins, bows and arrows, with targets of cane or fifh fkins. The feveral nations, on both fides of the river Amazon, which are very numerous, are governed by chiefs or ca- ziques 3 for it is obfervable, that the monarchical form of government has prevailed almoft univerfally, in both ancient and modern times, in a rude and unrefined fiate of fociety. The regalia, by which the chiefs are diftinguifhed, are a crown of parrot’s feathers, a chain of tiger’s teeth or claws, which hang round the wailt, and a wooden fword. They are all idolaters, and worfhip the images of their an- cient heroes; and in their various expeditions they carry their gods along with them.
As to the Amazonian race, if it ever exifted otherwife ~ than in the imagination of the original adventurer Orellana, or in the exaggerated reports of travellers and voyagers, it is now wholly extinct ; and probably the notion was at firft
. fuggefted by the activity and courage which the females of
this country exerted, in the defence of their privileges, again{t the encroachment of foreigners.
AMAZONS, in Geography and Hiffory, denote an ancient nation of warlike women, who founded an empire in Afia Minor, upon the river Thermodon, along the coafts of the Black Sea; and who are faid to have formed a {tate out of which men were excluded. What commerce they had with that fex, was only with ftrangers, whom, after occafional intercourle at ftated times, they put to death; hence, as Herodotus informs us, they have been called AZorpata, or murderers of their hufbands. They alfo killed all their male children, or, as fome authors fay, broke their legs, or dif- jointed their knees, and thus rendered them incurably lame, by luxations, as Diodorus Siculus, Hippocrates, and Galen affert, that they might be the more eafily reduced to a ftate of dependence and flavery. Moreover, they nurfed their females, and trained them up to war; and that they might ufe their arms more readily, and be more fit for the combat, they cnt off, or feared with a plate of hot brafs, their right breafts, apprehending that there would be otherwife fome impediment in the ufe of the bow. Hippocrates and Galen allow that this fact was reported ; but they allege, that this operation was performed, not on account of any impediment in the ufe of the bow, but to render the right arms ftronger by an addition of aliment, as that which would have gone to the breaft would be thus reftrited to the arm. In reference to the excifion of their breafts, Penthefilea, one
Ca of
AMAZONS,
of ‘their queens, is reprefented by Virgil, /En. lib. i. Vv. 402. « Aurea fubne&tens exferte cingula mamme.”
From this la(t circumftance it is, that they are fuppofed to take their name, vz. from the privative « and peasy mamma, breaf.
Others have fnggefted, that the amputation performed on the brealts of the females was invented by the Greek ety- mologilts, in order to explain the name of the nation. Others again have eonjectured, that the name was derived from the Cireaflian word maza, the moon, which is faid to have been a favourite deity among the mountaineers of Caucafus, in the vicinity of which the Amazons were fettled. Dr. Bryant (uli infra) traces the etymology of the appellation to zon, the fun, which was the national object of w orfhip. Some have maintained, that the defcription of the Amazons, given by the ancient writers, is purely allegorical ; the am- putation of one of the breafts fignifying, that the female only was nourifhed by the mothers; and the killing of the boys denoting, that they were committed to the care of itrangers.
It is, however, a point that has been controverted, even among the ancient writers, as well as the moderns, whether fuch a nation as the Amazons are defcribed to be, have ever exifted. Strabo, Palephatus, and others, abfolutely deny it; whilft, on the contrary, Herodotus, Paufanias, Dio- dorus Siculus, Trogus Pompeius, Jultin, Pliny, Mela, Plutarch, &c. exprefsly affert it. ai
Herodotus, in his hiltory of the Scythians (lib. iv. c. 110. p- 330—332. ed. Weffeling.), informs us, that the Grecks, who had obtained a fignal vittory over the Amazons, near the river Thermodon, were carrying off the refidue that had efeaped the flaughter in fhips into their own country. While they were at fea the Amazons confpired azainit them, and killed all. the men whom they had on board ; but being un- acquainted with the art of navigation, even with the ufe of the rudder, fails, and oars, they were driven by the wind and tide to the precipices of the Palus Mezotis, in the territories of the free Scythians. Here they went afhore, and marching up into the country, they feized the firft horfes they found, and began to plunder the inhabitants. ‘The Scythians un- aequainted with their language, fex, and drefs, took them at firit to be youths ; but aftera {kirmifh or two, in which fome of them were taken prifoners, they found that they were women. Accordingly all hoftilities ceafed, and they formed conneétions with them as their wives. But when the Scy- thians invited thefe women to accompany them to their own country, they declined accepting the invitation; alleging, that they had been always ufed to draw the bow, dart .a javelin, mount a horfe, and fuch warlike exercifes, to which they fuppofed the Scythian women were altogether unaccuitomed, and that they could not confent to exchange their military mode of living for a life of eafe and indolence. They therefore exhorted their hufbands, if they. {till retained the fame con- jugal affeGion for them, to vilit their parents and friends, and to return with the feveral portions affigned them. They complied with the advice ; and upon their return, were in- formed by their wives, that fince they had deprived them of their parents, and committed feveral depredations in that country, they thought it much fafer to. fix their habitation on the other fide of the Tanais. This fcheme was approved and executed. After three days march to the eaft of that river, and three more northward from the lake Mzotis, they arrived and fettled in-the country of Sarmatia, where they continued, fays Herodotus, to his time,. Hence, continues
the hiftorian, the wives of the Sarmatians purfue their ancient mode of life, hunting on horfeback either alone, or in the company of their bufbands, marching with their armies, and wearing the fame drefs with the men. The Sarmatians ufed
-the Scythian language, corrupted by the Amazons, who had
never learned to fpeak it corretly. Their marriages were
attended with this peculiar circumitance, that no virgin was
allowed to marry till the had killed an enemy in the field, and . therefore fome of them were old before they married, accorde - ing to the requifition of the law.
From Diodorus Siculus (lib. ii. c. 45. p. 156—158. ed, Wefleling.), we learn, that there was formerly a nation who. dwelt near the river Thermodon, in which women governed and conducted all their military expeditions. Among thefe, one excelled all the reft in dtrength and valour. By her an army was affembled, and trained up in military difcipline, fo as to fubdue fome of the neighbouritig nations. Her fame increafing with her fuccefs, fhe ftyled herfelf the daughter of Mars, and ordered the men to {pin wool, and to perform - the domettic fervices of the women. | She promulgated lawa, which required the women to engage in-warlike exercifes, and the men to remain at home in an-abje¢t condition, and to be employed in the moft fervile offices. The male children that were born were debilitated in their legs and arms, fo as to be unfit for war ; and the females had their right breafts feared, fo that they might be no impediment to them in fighting ; and hence, fays the hiftorian, this nation obtained the name of Amazons. The queen, diftinguifhed by her military flall, built at the mouth of the Thermodon a large city, called Themifeyra, and adorned it with a famous palace. In her warlike expeditions fhe maintained ftri& difcipline and order ; and thus reduced to fubjeétion all the neighbouring nations, as far as the river Tanais. Having finifhed thefe exploits, fhe clofed her life in the field like.a hero, and fell in a battle, in which fhe had difplayed fin- gular courage. She was fucceeded- by her daughter, who eraulated the valeur of her mother, and in fome refpe&s furpaffed her. She caufed the young women to be inured to hunting in early life, and alfo to military exercifes. She inftituted feafts and facrifces to Mars and Diana, which were denominated ‘Vaurepoli, carried her arms beyond the Tanais, and fubdued the people of all thofe countries as fay as Thrace. Upon her return with rich fpoils, fhe caufed temples to be ere&ted to the above-mentioned deities, and gained the love of her fubjeéts by her mild.and gentle go- vernment. She afterwards reduced a great part of Afia, and extended her conquefts as far as Syria. The fucceeding: queens of the fame race aequired renown by their govern- ment, and greatly enlarged the dominion of the: Amazonian nation. The fame of the Amazons continued for feveral ages, till at length Hippolyta was vanquifhed and captured by Hercules, the fon of Jupiter and Alcmena; and by de+ grees the Amazonian name became totally extin@. The laft queen of the Amazons was Penthefilea, who affifted the Trojans, after the death of Heétor, and was flain by, Achilles. So fignal and extraordinary were the charaéter and exploits of this queen, and others of. the Amazonians, that Diodorus acknowledges, that in later ages, the relations. of them lave been regarded as fabulous.
Diodorus’ elfewhere (viz. lib. tii. p. 220.) mentions an- other race of Amazons, mech more ancient than thofe of Pontus, in the vicinity of Thermodon. Thefe inhabited the weftern parts of Libya; they were under the government. of women; and as long as they continued fingle, they per- formed the duty of foldiers in the field; and after a ftipu- lated period they affociated with the men, and bore children ;
8 but
AM AZ O:N S,
but the magiftracy and all public offices were retained by the females, and the men were employed in domettic offices, and were altogether fubje&t to their wives, who would not allow them any: participation of authority inthe ftate, or any con- cern in military affairs. Their. females-had their breafts feared, that they might not be any hindrance to them as they grew up, and engaged in martial exercifes. One of the principal queens of this nation was Myrina, who is fuppofed to have lived in the time of Orus, the fon of Is, and to have conquered Africa and the greater part of Afia, but. was at laft flain in Thrace.
Jultin (ex Trog. lib. ii. cap. 4.) traces the origin of the Amazonian republic: in Scythia. About the time of the firft irruptions of the Scythians into Afia, in the reign of Sefoftris, king of Egypt, two princes of the royal blood, named Hylinos and Scolopytus, were compelled by an adverfe fa€tion to retire into Cappadocia with their wives and families. By the affiftance of the youths they brought with them, they obtained poffeffion of Thermofciria, on the river Thermodon, whence they made incurfions into the adjacent nations for feveral-years, till at laft they were all treachcr- oufly murdered. Their wives, partly from revenge and partly from~a dread of flavery, put themfelves under the condué& of fome of their chief heroines, and prepared for a bloody war with the murderers. In order to give full feope to their fury, they rencunced all future marriages, and deftroyed thofe of their bufbands, who had efcaped the flaughter ; and then proceeded with fuch vigour and fuch fuccefs againit their enemies, as totally to overthrow them, and to compel them to fue for peace. One of their ftipu- lations was, that they fhould yearly have a month’s inter- eourfe with each other, for the propagation of their fpecies; after which they brought up all their girls in their own way, deprived them of their right breafts, that they might be no obitruétion to them in drawing their bow ; and as for the boys, they either killed them, as Jultin fays, or difabled them for martial exercife, or fent them to their fathers, ac- cording to Herodotus and others. Thefe furprizing exploits were achieved under the government and conduét of two queens, Lampeto and Marphelia, who pretended to be the daughters of Mars; and who, having extended their con- quefts into Afta, built cities there. The former of thefe females was left behind, with an army to fecure their con- queft, and the latter, on her return home, with her {poils, was furprifed and cut off, with the reft of her female war- riors, by fome bands of barbarians. After a fucceffion of female queens, Penthefilea is faid to have come to Troy for the affiltance of Priamus, as we have already mentioned. This queen, it is added, was the inventrefs of the battle-axe, and was killed by Pyrrhus, the fon of Achilles. Another of their queens, named Tomyris, had a bloody encounter with Cyrus, king of Perfia; and the famous queen Tha- leftris had an amorous intercourfe with Alexander the Great. Under this laft queen it is faid, that the Amazonian kingdom and race were ultimately deftroyed,
Quintus Curtius (De Rebus Geftis, A. M. lib. vi. c. 5. tom. 1. p. 400. ed. Snakenburg.) bas given a particular ac- count of this intercourfe between Thaleltris and Alexander. He fays, that the nation of the Amazons were fituated upon the borders of Hyrcania, and that they inhabited the plains of Themifcyra, near the river Thermodon. Thaleltris, their queen, who governed the whole country between Mount Caucafus and the river Phafis, being defirous of feeing Alexander, fent meffengers to requeft an interview with him. Having obtained permiffion to vifit him, fhe advanced with 390 of her female warriors ; and when fhe approached his
prefence, fhe leaped from her horfe, with two javelins in her right hand. The apparel of the Amazons, fays Curtius, does not’cover the whole body ; but the left fide is naked 10 the breaft, and the fkirts of their garments, which are tied up ina knot, reach below the knees. Their left breaft is preferved, that they may fuckle their female offspring ; but the right breaft is feared, that they may the more eafily bend the bow, and fhoot their arrows. Thaleflris, after oblerving Alexander for fome time with an undaunted countenance, was difappointed, as his perfonal appearance did not correfpond to the ideas fhe had previoufly formed of him, from the report of his fignal exploits. When the king afled her, whether fhe had any thing to defire of him, Thaleftris with- out hefitation replied, that fhe wifhed to have children by him, and that fhe was worthy of the honour of giving heirs to kis dominions. The female fhe would referve for herfelf, and the male fhould be delivered to him. When Alexander interrogated her, whether fhe would accompany him in his wars, fhe declined, alleging, that fhe had left her kingdom without a guardian. Alexander, after renewed folicitations on her part, and a delay of 13 days, complied with her wifhes ; and Thaleftris returned to her kingdom,
Plutarch, in his life of Pompey, (Oper. tom. i. p. 638.) fays, that the Amazons inhabit thofe parts of Mount Can- cafus, that lie towards the Hyrcanian fea, that they are fe- parated from the Albanians by the Getule and Leges, and that they annually, for two months, accompany thefe people, and cohabit with them near the river:Thermodon. They then retire to their own habitations, and live apart for the reft of the year. In his life of Thefeus, (Oper. tom: i. p- 13.) Plutarch,. after reciting fome particulars relating to the hiitory of the Amazons, acknowledges, that the accounts of them which had been preferved were partly fabulous and partly true. The arms of the Amazons were bows-and arrows, javelins, and a kind of battle-axes, denominated the axe of the, Amazons, the invention. of which is aferibed by the elder Pliny to their queen, Penthefilea. On medals, the buft of the Amazons is ufually armed with a fmall twos edged axe, called bipennis or fecuris, borne on the fhoulder; and a buckler, in the form of a half moon, by the Latins . called pelta, on the left arm. Hence Ovid’s.defcription . Ex Pont.
“ Non tibia Amazonia eft pro-me fumenda fecuris, . Lut excifa levi pelta gerenda manu.”
And Virgil, {peaking of. the queen..Penthefilea.in Aineid: hb... v. 490, fays, « Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis.”?
Befide the Amazons of Africa, which formed the moft ° confiderable body of thefe female warriors, and thofe of Mount Caucafus, near Colchis and Albania, and likewife near the Palus Mzotis, of whom we have already given an account, Polyenus fpeaks of Amazons in India, who are alfo mentioned by Nonnus. They likewife oceur in A&thi- opiaw They at one time, fays Dr. Bryant, poffeffed all Tonia ; and there were traditions of their being at Samos, and in Italy, where they had a town in Meflapia, towards - the lower part of the country, called Amazonia. . Even the - Athenians and Beotians were of the fame family ; hence it is faid, that Cadmus had.an Amazonian wife, when he went to, Thebes, and that her name was Sphinx. The Colchians and Iberians, as well as the Cimmerians and Mzote, according to this learned writer, were Amazonians ; and fo were all the Ionians, and.the Atlantians ef Mauritania. Philoftratus, .
psy
AMAZONS.
in his Hereicis, mentions Amazonians on the Danube, and in Lucius Florus we read of German Amazons.
Among the ancient writers, who conlider the peculiar hiltory of the Amazons as fabulous, we have already men- tioned Palwphatus, who was complimented for his dillin- guifhed underltanding, by the appellation ‘© ¢ soPwlxlos,”’ and who gave it no credit. Strabo alfo, although born at Amattris, in Cappadocia, an Amazonian region, could obtain no evidence to countenance the hillory. He fays, (Jib. i. tom. i, p. 770.) that many legendary {tories have a mixture of truth, and molt accounts admit of fome variation. But the hiftory of the Amazons has been uniformly the fame ; the whole a monttrous and abfurd detail, without the leait appearance of probability. For who can be perfuaded, that a community of women, either as an army, or a city, ora flate, could fubfifl without men? and not only fubfift, but make expeditions into other countries, aud gain the fove- reignty qver kingdoms; not merely over the Tonians and thofe who were in their neighbourhood, but pafs the feas and carry their arms into Europe; to accede to this were to fuppofe, that nature varied from her fixed principles ; and that in thofe days women were men, and men women. It may be added, that if fuch a people really exifted, fome traces of them would have been found, either in Iberia and Albania; or in the country upon the Thermodon, where they are fuppofed chiefly to have refided. But Procopius (De Bell. Gothic. lib. iv. c. 3. p. 570.) fays, that there was no mark, no tradition to be obferved concerning them.
Amonglt the moderns, who have maintained the exiftence of Amazons in ancient times, we may mention M. Petit, a French phyfician, who publifhed a Latin differtation, in 1685, in order to eftablifh the faét. This differtation contains abundance of curious inquiries, relating to their habit, their arms, the cities built by them, &c. Dr. Bryant (Analyfis of Ancient Mythology, vol. ili. p. 457, &c.) explodes the account of the exiltence of fuch a nation as fabulous ; and he fays, that the whole of this ttrange hiftory has been owing to a wrong etymology of the appellation Amazon. The Greeks, who were fond of deducing every thing from their own language, imagined, that by the term Amazon was fignitied a perfon without a breaft. This perfon they inferred to be a female ; and, in confequence of it, as the Amazors were a powerful people, they formed a notion, that they were a community of women, who fubfilted by themfelves ; and every abfurdity, with which this hiftory is attended, took its rife from the above-{ftated mifconception. They did not confider, that there were many nations of the Amazons widely feparated from each other; nor did they know, that they themfelves were of Amazonian race. Dr. Bryant is of opinion, that the Amazons were in general Cuthite colonies from Egypt and Syria; and as they wor- fhipped the fun, they were called Azones, Amazones, and Alazones, which are names of the fame import and bear refer- ence to the national objet of worfhip. To this purpofe Pau- fanias (lib. iii. p. 274.) mentions Apollo Amazonius, who was worfhipped in Laconia. The moft noted of them in- habited the region of Pontus, near the river Thermodon ; and they were alfo called Chalybes, and Alybes, and occu- pied part both of Cappadocia and Armenia, being fituated near Sinope, and extending towards Colchis. They are men- tioned by Homer (Iliad. hb. v. v. 856.) among the allies of the Trojans. One of the principal cities of thefe Chalybes, befides Sinope, was Amifon, or as Pliny expreffes it more juftly (lib. vi. p. 303.) Amazon, and he mentions a mountain near it of the fame name. Thefe people had different utes in the countries where they fettled, and often in the fame
region 5 and therefore their hiftory has been confufed. They were called not only Amazonians, but Syri, Affyrii, Chal- divi, Mauri and Chalybes, and were flill further diverfified. They were the fame as the Ionim, and in confequence of it, they are faid to have founded the chief and moft ancient cities in Tonia, and its neighbourhood, Accordingly the coin of the cities in Afia Minor, and particularly of thofe in Phrygia, Tonia, and Myfia, has often an Amazon for its device. ‘he Amazons, according to the learned writer now cited, were Arkites, and one of their chief cities was called Archeopolis, who came from Egypt, and worfhipped the fun, and Selene, the chief deities of the country, from whence they came. They are fliled by Herodotus A%or- pata, not as he conceives from killing their hufbands, becaufe, according to their hitory, they had not any, but from their worthip; and this name was given to their priefts. It fignifies a prielt of 488 or Orus; and thefe priefts ufed to facrifice {trangers, who accidentally came upon their coaft, and hence they were ftyled, * Avdpoxros,” murderers. The Egyptians, it is alleged, admitted the fillrum among their military in- {truments of mufic, and made ule of it when they went to war, The fame praétice prevailed among the Amazonians, who worfhipped the Ifs of Egypt, and made ufe of her fillrum, when they engaged in battle. The Amazonians of Colchis and Armenia were not far removed from the Minyz, near Mount Ararat, and were of the fame family. They were Arkites, as we may learn from the people of Pontic Theba, and followed the rites of the ark, under the name of Meen, Baris, and fona. Hence it is, that they have been reprefented with lunar fhields ; not that they were of a lunar fhape, but the lunette was a device taken from their worfhip. It was the national enfign, which was painted upon their fhields ; whence it is faid of them, “ pictis bellantur Ama- zones armis.” ‘Che Amazonian fhield approached nearly to the fhape of a leaf, as did alfo the fhields of the Gothic nations ; and upon thefe fhiclds they had more lunettes than one; and from them the cuftom was tranf{mitted to the Turks and other Tartar nations. One of the moft extra- ordinary circumftauces in the hiftory of the Amazons is their invafion of Attica. They are reprefented as women, who came from the river Thermodon, in revenge for the infult offered them by Hercules, who had plundered their country. Their attack is defcribed as violent; and the confliét for a long time doubtful. At latt, having loft many of their companions, they were obliged to retreat and en- tirely to leave the country. Of this invafion the Athenians pretended to have had many evidences ; they exhibited the tombs of the Amazons, who fell in the conteft ; the place of engagement was called Amazoneum; and near it was an ancient pillar, faid to be ereéted by this people But the hiftory abounds with inconfiltencies, though Plutarch (ubi fupra) feems to credit it, and adduces feveral circums {tances, with a view of eftablifhing its certainty. Sucha people, however, as the Amazonians, had certainly been in Attica; the Athenians, as well as the Beeotians, were in a great meafure defcended from them. ‘The rites to which Plutarch refers, in proof of hoftility between the Ama- zonians and Athenians, afford no conclufive argument to this purpofe ; becaufe they confilted originally in offerings made to the deity, from whom the Amazons derived their name, He was called Azon, and Amazon, and was the fame as Ares, the fun. They worfhipped both Ares and Harmon, changed by the Greeks to a feminine Harmonia ; and in con- fequence of this worfhip, the Amazons were faid to be the offspring of thofe deities. Hence it is, that the wife of Cadmus was faid to be Harmonia; for the Cadmians were
2 undoubtedly
AMAZONS.
undoubtedly Amazonians. What became of thefe female warriors after their repulfe from Attica, the Grecians have not hittorically afcertained. Some fay that they retreated into Magna Grecia, and founded the city Cleite. Ifocrates (in Panegyr. p. 93.) acknowledges, that none of them re- turned into their own country ; and Lyfias (Funeb. Orat.) fays, that their nation was wholly ruined by this expedition, that they loft their territories, and that they were no more
_heard of. Upon which Plutarch (ubi /upra) obferves, that we muft not wonder, when tranfaGtions are of fuch antiquity, if hiltory fhould prove contradictory and ob- fcure.
The Amazons are faid'to have always fought on horfeback, (Ariftoph. Lyfiftrata, v.680.); and yet the ufe of cavalry was not known in Greece, till long after this era; for, according to Homer, the Afiatic nations at the fiege of Troy were equally unacquainted with this advantage. As forthe tombs, which have been adduced as evidence of this invafion, they were probably high altars, raifed in ancient days. The whole of this hiltory relates to old rites and cuftoms ; and not to any warlike expedition. The pillar, called Amazonium, indicates, that the Amazons might have been once in this country, and that they probably eref&ted it; but this was the objet to which they paid their adoration, as they lived in an age, when ftatues were not known. Such a one the Argonauts are faid to have found in the temple of Arez, when they landed upon the coaft of Pontus, and made their offerings to the deity, thus defcribed by Apollonius, (Ar- gonaut. lib. ti. v. 1174.) according to the Englifh tranflation of the original
« Now to the grove of Arez they repair, And while the vi&iims bleed, they take their ftand Around the glowing altar, full in front Of a fair temple. Here of ebon hue Rifes in air a lofty antique ftone. Before it all of Amazonian name Bow low, and make their vows.’”’
That thefe fuppofed tombs were altars, is alfo inferred from their fituation in the middle of the city, and in many different places. Every circumftance of this invafion is at- tended, fays our author, with fome abfurdity. It is owing,
we are told, to the injuftice of Hercules, who ftole the_
girdle of Hippolyte, and attacked the nation, of which fhe was queen, fo as quite to ruin it. The Amazons, thus de- feated and weakened, and not able to withftand their next neighbours (fee Diod. Sic. lib.iv. p.229. tom.i. p. 262.) determined to wage war with the Greeks, and particularly with Thefeus of Athens. They began their march, but inftead of proceeding dire&tly to Greece, they purfued a contrary route, pafling north-eaft in order to arrive at the fouth-weft, and ranging round the whole Euxine fea, by Mount Caucafus and Colchis, to the Cimmerian Bofphorus, and traverfing many hills and rivers, they at laft arrived at Athens, pitched their camp in the precinéts of the city, clofe to the Acropolis, fought a fevere battle, retired, and not being able to return home, were difperfed and annihilated. And yet fo far is this female hiftory from terminating, the Amazons are introduced again by the poets, Homer, Vir- gil, &c. at the fiege of Troy, and are to be met with in the wars of Cyrus. Some ages after, in the time of Alex- ander, an interview is faid to have paffed, as we have al- ready related, in which the queen of the Amazons makes propofals to that monarch about fharing, for a night or two, his bed. And even in the time of Pompey the Great, during the Mithridatic war, they are fuppofed to exilt ; for
after a victory gained by that general, the Roman foldiers are faid to have found many boots and bufkins, which Dion Caffius (in Bell. Mithrid.) thinks were undoubtedly Ama- zonian. Such, fays Bryant, after a long and learned detail of various particulars, of which the above is merely a concife abftra&t, was the credulity of the ancients about one of the mott improbable ftories that was ever feigned: and this learned writer concludes upon the whole, ‘* that the Amazonians were a manifold people, and denominated from their worfhip. They were fome of the Titanic race, who fettled in Colchis, Tonia, Hellas, and upon the Atlantic in Mauritania; they were alfo to be found in other parts, and their family charateriftic may in all places be feen. They were the fame as the Cadmians; and the ftruétures which bore their names were not ereéted to them, but were the work of their own hands.” Eumolpus, fays Plato (Menexenus, vol. ii. p. 239.), led the Amazons, when they invaded Attica ; and he is fuppofed to have been the princi- pal perfon who introduced the rites and mytteries, which were obferved by the Athenians. His fons were the priefts, who officiated at the temple of Ceres in Eleufis. From all cn'cumftances it is concluded, * that what has been repre- fented as a warlike expedition, was merely the fettling of a colony, and thofe who had the condu& of it were Ama- zonians, who had been reprefented as women. And fo far is probable, that there were women among them, who of- ficiated at the religious ceremonies which were in{tituted.” —Among barbarous nations women have often combated by the fide of their hufbands ; but it is almoft impoffible, fays Mr. Gibbon, (Hift. vol.xi. p. 46.) that a fociety of Amazons fhould ever have fubjifted either in the old or new world.
Later geographers and ‘travellers fpeak of Mingrelian and Georgian Amazons; Amazons in America, in Mono- motapa, in the Philippine iflands, in Denmark, &c. John de los Sanétos, a Portuguefe capuchin, in his defeription of Ethiopia, mentions a race of Amazons in Africa; and fEneas Sylvius gives us a very precife account of a republic of real Amazons in Bohemia, which lafted nine years, founded by the valour of a young woman, named Valafca. That there have been females of fingular talents and very extraordinary firmnefs and refolution, in all ages and in all nations, no one can difpute; and if we compare the war- like genius of the Scythian women in general, and more particularly that of the Sarmatians, in whofe neighbour- hood the Amazons are faid to have lived, with the occafion which is reported to have given birth to their ftrange kind of government, namely, the treacherous murder of their huf- bands, and their being in danger of becoming a prey to their murderers, and in a ftrange country ; we may incline to give fome credit to the brave and mafculine method which they took to fave themfelves from flavery, and to re- venge the flaughter of their hufbands. The Scythian, as well as the Celtic women, were anciently held in great efteem and veneration, for their fkill in divination above the men, infomuch that the latter are upbraided by ancient authors for fuffering women to affift at and dire& their councils and to have even prefided in their courts of judicature, and other affemblies; in which their judgment was reckoned decifive, becanfe they were fuppofed to be divinely infpired. Being, therefore, inured to council, execution, and warlike exploits, exafperated by the barbarous brutality of their hufbands, and rendered, as it were, defperate by the pro- {pect of impending flavery, we’ need not wonder, that they fhould adopt effeétual means of infli€ing vengeance, and of defending themfelves; and, with this view, raid
ou
AM A
fhould feleét one or two of the flrongelt and mof valiant to lead them in an offenlive war againtt their enemies, and ‘that they fhould carry it on with courage and conttancy, and of courfe with fuch aftonifhing fuccefs. warlike temper, their government, cultoms, valour, conduct, and achievements, have been exaggerated beyond credi- bility, it may be alleged, that this has been done with. re- {pect to other nations, governments, and conquerors, which have attracted: unufual attention, and which it would be sabfurd to reject as. altogether fabulous on that account. The fame allowance fhould be made in both cafes: and this is much more reafonable than to fuppofe that the various hiftorians who have given an account of them, have been guilty of forgery or of too great credulity.
The true hiilory of the ancient, and even of the modern Amazons, has, without doubt, been blended with much fable, with many marvellous and improbable, not to fay alto- gether incredible relations; bat the teltimony upon which it is tranfmitted to us deferves regard, and it would manifeit a degree of {cepticifm, which, applied to other cafes, would be not only unwarrantable, but dangerous and pernicious, alto- gether to difeard-it. ‘The empire of the Amazons.was cer- -tainly of a different kind from that which properly belongs to “the female fex. The empire of the woman,”’ fays Rouf- feau, ‘‘is.an empire of -foftnefs, of addrefs, of compla- cency. Her commands are carefles; her menaces are tears.” ‘Fhe character of the ancient Amazons,” fays Dr. Johnfon, * was rather. terrible than lovely. The hand could not be very delicate-that was only employed in draw- ing -the bow, -and brandifhing the battle-ax. Their power was maintained by cruelty ; their courage was deformed by ferocity ; and their example only fhews, that men and -women live beft together.”
Amazon -is applied, in a figurative fenfe, to bees, be- caufe among thefe infects the females alone are commonly f{uppofed to bear fway.
Ariftotle, treating of the breeding of bees, profeffes himfelf ignorant of their fex; and therefore, willing to keep up the prerogative of the males, calls their governor “Bacsrzvs, rex, in which he has been followed by the generality of authors.
‘An ingenious writer of our own country, takes the li- berty to {train the ordinary fignification of the word rex, and in fuch places tranflates it gueen, this being an Amazo- z/an, or female kingdom.
Mr. Warder has publifhed a work under the title of the Trve Amazons, or the Commonwealth of Begs.
AMAZONIAN, fomething relating to, or refembling -AMAZONS.
Amazonian kingdom, is particularly ufed for a feminine one, or that wherein the females alone bear rule.
Amazonian habit, in Antiquity, denotes a drefs formed in imitation of the Amazons.
Marcia, the famous concubine of the emperor Commo- dus, had the appellation Amazonian, becaufe fhe charmed him mott in a habit of this kind.— Hence alfo that prince himfelf engaged in combat, or at lealt intended to engage, in the amphitheatre, in an Amazonian habit; and of all titles the Amazonius was one of thofe he moft delighted in. In honour either of the gallant, or his miftrefs, the month of January was alfo denominated Amazonius. Some alfo apply Amazonian habit to the hunting drefs worn by many ladies among us.
AMAZONIUS is an appellation given toa kind of paftil, or troche, anciently ufed againit rifings of the fto- mach, and vomitings.—The ingredients of which it is com-
A ss
And if their.
AM B
pofed, are fmallage, anife-feed, wormwood, myrrh, pepper, cafloreum, opium, and cinnamon.
AMAZONUS, in Entomology, a {mall Species of Sca- RABUS, found in Surinam. It is teltaceous, with two black marks on the thorax, and a brown callus on the exterior margin of the wing-cafes. Linn. Syit. Nat.
AMBA, in Botany, a name by which fome arthors have called the magna Indica, or ManGo-tree, called'allo amlalam, and ambe.
AMBACHIT, in Topography, denotes a kind of jurifdic- tion, or tenitory, the poffeflor whereof has the adminiftra- tion of juflice, both in ako and Lafo; or of what is called in the Scots law a power of pit and gallows, 7. ¢. a power of drowning and hanging.
In fome ancient writers ambacht is particularly ufed for the jurifdiction, government, or chief magitracy of a city.
“The word is very ancient, though ufed originally in a
ferfe fomewhat different. Ennius calls a mercenary, or flave hired for money, ambadus; and Cxfar (De Bell. Gallic. vi. 14+) gives the fame appellation to a kind of dependents among the Gauls, who, without being flaves, were attached to the fervice of great lords.
AMBAGES, in Rhetoric. See CrncumtLocurion.
AMBAITBA, the name of a tree in Brafil, called by the Indians, tipioca. Ray’s Hilt. Plant. See Ceckopta.
AMBAITINGA, the name of a tree, whofe leaves are fo rough that they may be ufed to polifh hard wood. Ray’s Hitt. Plant.
AMBAPAYA. See Carica.
AMBAR (feed, in the Materia Medica, a name by which fomie have called mufk feed.
AMBARES, in Geography, a town of France, in the department of the Gironde, and chief place of a canton, in the diftri& of Bourdeaux, five miles north-ealt of Bour- deaux.
AMBARVALIA, in Antiquity, a fealt, or ceremony, among the Romans, celebrated avnually, in honour of the goddefs Ceres, in order to procure a happy harvett.
At thefe fealts, they facrificed a bull, afow, and a fheep ; which, before the facrifice, were led in proceffion thrice around the fields; whence the fealt is fuppofed to have taken its name: from the Greek a1. about: or the La- tin ambio, I go round; and arvum, jfield——TVhough others write it ambarbalia, and ambarbia, and deduce it from ambire urbem, to go round the city.
From the beatts offered in facrifice, the ceremony was alfo called suOVETAURILIA.
Some will have the ambarvalia to have been held twice a year: the firft time towards the end of January, or, as others think, in April; and the fecond time in July, or as Rofinus imagines, in Augult; at the time when the harveft was ripe, maturis frugibus. Which opinion is the more probable, in that Ovid, who, in his Fatti, deferibes the fealts of the firt fix months of the year, from January to June inclufive, fays nothing of the ambar- valia. ; The facrifice offered on this occafion was hence called ambarvale facrum, and hoftia ambarvalis.
The ambarvalia were of two kinds, public and pri- vate. : y
The private were thofe folemnized by the mafters of fa- milies, accompanied with their children and fervants, in the villages and farms out of Rome.—They walked three times round the grounds, every one being crowned with teaves of oak, and finging hymns in honour of Ceres. After the proceffion, they went to faerifice. oe
e
AMB
The ambervale carmen waa a prayer preferred on this oc- eafion; whereof we have the formula preferved in Cato. “ De re ruftica.” c. 142.
The public ambervalia were thofe celebrated in the boun- daries of the city 3 and in which the twelve fratres arvales officiated pontifically, walking at the head of a proceffion of the citizens, who had lands and vineyards at Rome.
The prayer, or formula, here ufed, as it is given by Feftus, in voc, * pefailas,” was avertas morbum, mortem, tabem, ne- bulam, impetiginem, pofeflatum. . Virgil has defcribed the am- bervaiia iu the firft book of his Georgies, v. 343, &c.
Some make a quinquennial as well as an annual ambervalia, the one performed once every /u/rum, the other once a year.
The priefts. who chiefly officiated at this folemnity, were called fratres ARVALES.
AMBERVALIS fos, in Botany, a name given, by fome authors, to the polyea/a, or milkwort.
AMBASSADOR. See Empassanor.
AMBAZAC, in Geography, a town of France, in the department of the Upper Vienne, and chief place of a can- ton, in the diftri& of Limoges, 10 miles north-eaft of Li- moges. he place contains 2783, and the canton 7342, inhabitants ;, the territory includes 2024 kiliometres, and 7
* communes.
AMBE, in Anatomy, a fuperlicial jetting out of a bone.
Ambe, or Amat, in Surgery, an inftrument employed for the reduétion of a diflocated fhoulder, efpecially when the head of the.os brachii refs in the axilla. Various im- provements have been made in the conftrudtion of the ambi fince Hipysocrates’s time; but its ufe is rarely wanted, asa dexterous furgeon can generally replace the fhoulder bone by more fimple means. Sce Distocations. ¢
AMBEEZES, Amsorses, or Amzozes, in Geography, an ifland of Africa, in the Atlantic Ocean, near the cuait of Benin. N. lat: 4°15’. E. long. 10° 50’.
AMBEL, in Botany. See Nympuza.
AMBELANIA. See Wittucusera.
AMBER, Hamsew, Gr.—L£leGrum, fuccinum, Lat.— Succin, carabé, ambre jaune, Fr.— Bernflein, agtflein, glas Firnflein, wafch-amber, Ger. —Gileffum, ancient German, according to Pliny. — Barnflen, raf, glys, Sweed. — Berafteen, Dan.—Succino, ambra_ gialla, Ital—Enyoko, Hung.—Fantar, Roff—
: - Sacal, Egypt.—Bitumen fuccinum, Werner.
The colour of amber is generally fome fhade of yellow, as wine yellow, wax yellow, honey yellow, hyacinth red, ycllowifh white ; it is alfo found oceafionally @reen or brown. Zt occurs amorphous, and in detached pieces. Is thining, or little fhining, with a waxen Iv4re. f Its fracture is con- choidal, and when broken it flies into indeterminate not par- ticularly fharp fragments. It is commonly tranfparent, more rarely femitranfparent or tranflucid. Is brittle, and its fp. grav. varies from 1.065 to 1.1. ;
By rubbing, it readily becomes cletric. When applied toa lighted candle it takes fire, {wells confiderably, but does not run into drops, and exhales a white fmoke of a pungent penetrating odour. :
It is fometimes confounded with copa: and HONEY- stone, but may be diftinguifhed from each without much difficulty. Copal is fofter than amber, and when inflamed melts into drops. Honey- ftone is much weaker in its elec- trical properties, and when laid on a hot coal becomes white.
The only proper mines of this fub{tance that are as yet known, are in ducal Pruffia, near the fea coaft. They are worked in the ufual way by fhafts and galleries to the depth of about a hundred feet. he amber is imbedded
Vor. Il.
AMB
in a ftratum of foffil or carbonated wood, and occurs in now dules from a few grains in weight, to three or even five pounds : {pecimens alfo are occafionally met with confifting of the wood penetrated by veins of amber. The upper and under ftrata are fand and fandftone. Amber is alfo found along the whole fhore of the German fea, and of the fouth coaft of the Baltic. The projecting eaflern fhore of Eng-
‘land too, and the coaft at the entrance of the channel from
the north affords many fpecimens. Rounded nodules have been occafionally met with in the beds of gravel near Lon- don. It is not, however, exclufively, though principally a northern product : the coatt of the Adriatic fea and the Sici- lian fhores furnith a {mall quantity, and occalionally pieces have been dug up near Sifteron in Provence.
The property of amber, when rubbed, to attra& hair, ftraws, and other light fubftances, was firft ob{erved by Thales one of the Greek philofophers, who on this account attributed a certain kind of life to it; and from the Greek name of amber, eleGtron, is detived the modern term elec- tricity, being-the {cience of én important clafs of faéts, the firll known of which was the attracting power of amber. On this account, and alfo from the real beauty of the fub- ftance, it was held in high eftimation among the Romans, who made it into bracelets, necklaces, and other articles of female ornament. Thofe pieces that contained infe€ts, &c. then as at prefent were the moft yalued, and we meet with many allufions in the Roman poets to this circumftance: thus Martial fays,
“Cum Phetontea formica vagatur in umbra, Implicuit tenuem fuccina gutta feram.”
They allo held the idle opinion, which till lately was gene- rally received among us, that acollar of amber tied round an infant’s neck, would enable it to cut its teeth with fafety.
When amber was more in requeft than it is now, as an ornament, and an article of Materia Medica, great attention was paid to it by the Pruffian miners, and many experiments were made by the artifts to remove its defeéts, and improve its beauty. The coarfer and {mallet pieces were called ftanditein or fchlug, thofe that were a little larger and cleaner had the name of firnifs or varnith amber, and the larger and better pieces were called, from the particular works to which they were applicable. Of the tranfparent ambers the moft valuable was the bright golden yellow, of the opaque varieties the moft efteemed were the flaky, or {caly. Methods were difcovered, efpecially by Gottlieb Samuelfon of Breflau, of making opaque amber tranfparent, and of tinging it red, blue, violet, green, and white. Moft of thefe fecrets have perifhed with the inventors, but the two following were the ufual methods of rendering amber tranfparent. Firft, by furrounding it with fand in an iron pot, and cementing it with a gentle heat for forty hours, fome {mall pieces being occafionally taken out té judge of the progrefs of the operation. Secondly, which was the molt ufual method, by digelting and boiling the amber. about twenty hours with rapefeed oil, when it became harder and clearer ; linfeed oil has not the defired effe&. Amber, however, thus clarified, is always harder and lefs ele&tric than in its natural ftate. The value of amber depending on its fize, numerous attempts, but conftantly without fuccefs, were made to folder together ~or melt down feveral {mall pieces, fo as to convert them into one large piece.
The origin of amber has exercifed the imagination of poets and chemifts from the days of ancient Greece to the prefent, nor is it worth while to enter into an examination of any of thefe opinions, except thofe which are held by modern inquirers. Amber is by fome confidered as a pro= per mineral bitumen analogous to petroleum, perhaps origi-
b nating
AM B
nating from this, and flightly altered by the action of the air or an acid. By others it is reckoned as a vegetable re- fin, which, by being buried in the earth in contact with car- bonaceous and pyritical matters, has become hard, and eX- perienced other modifications of its original properties.
That whenever it is found in real mines, it is always ac- ~
companied with ftrata of foffil wood and peat, is a ttrong prefumption of its vegetable origin ; and the ants and other infeéts which it is fo frequently found to contain, fhew that amber mult formerly have beén fluid, and when in that {tate have been in places acceffible to thefe animals, and therefore upon, or at leaft very near the furface of the earth. It might alfo be mentioned upon the authority of Girtanner, if the uncorroborated authority of this chemilt was of any value, that pieces of turpentine have been found in the large ants’ nefts, that abound in pine forefts, penetrated by the acid of ants, and thus partly converted into amber, but full of a duétile confiltence like wax.
The chemical properties of amber have been as yet but little examined. Few menflrua will diffolve without in fome degree altering it. According to Hoffman, one part of powdered amber, and two of oil of almonds, are capable of combining with each other into a clear gelatinous mals, by being moderately heated for about an hour in a Papin’s di- gefter. It is alfo, according to the fame author, totally foluble in cauftic potafh. Alcohol extraéts the colouring part with fome refin, but is not a complete folvent. It is faid alfo, that fulphuric acid is a menftruum for amber, but probably not without confiderably changing its properties. When expofed to dry diftillation in a glafs retort, it melts and {wells greatly, and gives out firft a watery acid liquor fmelling ftrongly of amber, then a concrete acid falt which eryftallizes in yellowifh needles in the neck of the retort, and is the succinic acid; after which there paffes a light coloured odorant oil, which, as the diftillation goes on, be- comes of a darker colour and thicker confiftence, a {mall quantity of the acid alfo rifes at the fame time. When all the volatile parts are thus feparated, there remains in the retort a {pungy intenfely black fhining coal, the balis of the fine black varnisa. ‘The oil is afterwards reétified by dif- tillation with water, when only the light fragrant colourlefs part comes over. The relative proportions of oil and acid vary according to the purity of the amber ufed and the care of the operator. From fixteen ounces of the common dark brown amber of the fhops. Neumann obtained eleven ounces, fix drams of oil, four drams and a half of acid, an ounce and a half of acidulous water, and about an ounce of carbonace- ous-refidue. From thirty-two ounces of the fmall granular kind, or fandftein, he obtained nine drams of acid, and twenty-four ounces of oil. :
The ufe of amber as 2 fumigatory is nearly laid afide, as is alfo the medical employment of its acid. ‘The oil is ufed as an antifpafmodic, both externally and internally, and when combined with ammonia forms EAU DE Lucs.
By the change of fafhion, amber is little ufed as an oria- ment in Europe. Trinkets of this fubftance are, however, fill valued in Turkey, and the Eaft. The fineft fpecimens are in the cabinet of the king of Pruffia: as to the column ten feet high in the Florentine mufeum, an account of which authors have copied from each other for a century paft, it is probably artificial. : oe!
~ Fourcroy Syft. des Connaiffl. Chim. vol. viii. Bomare,
Dia. d@ Hit, Nat. vol. i. 250. Neumann’s Chemiftry, vol. 1.
p. 362. Macquer’s Chemifches Worterbuch, vol. i. p. 463.
Hany,. Traite de_ Mineralog. vol. iii. 327. Weidenmann,
pandbuch der Mineralog. p.637. Lenz, Verfuch, &c. p. 511. Beane, black, gagates. See Jer.
AMB
Anmper, Jiguid, aud balfam of. See Bavsam.
Amssr, in Geography, a river of Germany, in Bavaria, which rifes two leagues from Faxfen, aed joins the LIfer, near Landthut.
Amuer Bay, is fituated on the peninfula of Yucaten, in the bay of Honduras, and lies north of Ascension Bay.
Amper-séxp, or mu/k fied, is a feed that is fomewhat like the millet, of a bitterifh talte, and brought dry to us from Martinico and Egypt. The Egyptians ufe it inter- nally, as a cordial, to fortify the heart, {lomach, and head, and provoke lutt.——It gives a grateful feent to the breath, after eating ; but it is not proper for thofe who are inclinable to vapours.
AMBER-TREE, in Botany. See ANTHOSPERMUM.
AMBERBOI. Sce Cenraurea.
AMBERG, in Geography, a city of Germany, in the circle of Bavaria, and Upper Palatinate, 32 miles north of Ratifbon, and 32 eaft of Nuremberg. It is the capital of the duchy and refidence of the eleétor’s governor ; it is feated on the river Vils, which runs through it, is well fortified, and is the largelt place in the Upper Palatinate. It has an eleCtoral palace, a cathedral, and acollege of Jefuits. It is faid to have been raifed from a village to a town in 12975 and was taken by the Imperialifts in 1703. On a mountain near it ftands the pilgrimage-church, called Mary’s-help, and in its vicinity is an iron-mine, which furnifhes it with a con- fiderable trade. N. lat. 49°25’. E..long. 11° 55’. *
AmBERG, a mountain of Sweden, in Eaft-Gothland, about two Swedifh miles from Wadiftena. Its height is fo confiderable, that from the fummit of it a perfon may fee 50 churches. Upon this mountain is a flat flone, under which one of the ancient kings is faid to be interred. An- timony is found in this mountain near the Wetter-lake.
AMBERGER, Curistopner, in Biography, an emi- nent painter of portrait and hiftory, was born at Nuremberg, and refided at Augfburg, where he died im 1550. He was a difciple of Hans Holbein, whom he imitated fo exa@tly,. that his pictures were fometimes taken for thofe of his matter. He principally excelled in portraits, and acquired great reputation by his hiltory of Jofeph, in 12 pictures, and by the portrait of Charles V., for which the emperor paid him three times as much as he expected, befides a pre- fent of a rich chain of gold and a medal. Amberger was alfo an engraver, though his works are not {pecified. Pil- kington and Strutt.
AMBERGREESE Key, in Geography, an ifland in- Hanover Bay, on the eaft fide of the peninfula of Yucaten, in the bay of Honduras. It runs along the mouth of the bay, and is feventy miles in length, but very narrow.
AMBERGRIS, from amder and gris, AMBERGREASE, AMBRAGRISEA, fuccinum grifeum, in Natural Hiflory, a light, indammable, greyifh, variegated fubftance, fulible and fragrant with a gentle heat, and ufed as a_perfume and a cordial. Its colour is grey, brown, or yellowifh brown, {potted with black ; ‘its hardnefs and coniitence are thofe of wax ; its fpecitic gravity from .780 to .926, fo that it fwims both in water and reCtitied {pirit; its fraéture is earthy and rugged, and exhibits bones of fifh or beaks of birds; it has fcarcely any particular tafte, and unlefs heated, or much handled, very little fmell;. but in fuch circumftances its odour is very fragrant, refembling that of burning amber, and to moft perfons agreeable. It. foftens between the fingers, melts ina {mall degree of heat like wax; in a ftronger inflames, and if pure, leaves no refiduum ; cold water has no effe& upon it, but to boiling water it communicates its fmell, and being: partially melted, falls to pieces. It is fcarcely af- fe€ted by fpirit of wine, which diffolves it fparingly with the
; affiftance
AMBERGRIS,
affittance of a boiling heat, or fat oils: but by the effential, as that of turpentine, it is diffolved almoft entirely, and by ether moft perfectly. It has been found foluble in cauftic fixed alkalis, ftill more fo in oil of vitriol, and precipitable by water, Diftilled it yields an aqueous phlegm, a brown- coloured acidulous fpirit, a deeper coloured oil, at length, a thick balfam, and as fome fay, a volatile falt, leaving a black fhining refiduum. The fpirit, oil, balfam, and falt, are fimi- lar to thofe obtained from amber; but the oil is of a more grateful {mell. Its chemical produéts refemble thofe of bi- tumens, among which fome have ranked it.
It is found on the fea-coafts, floating on the furface of
“the fea, adhering to rocks, or thrown out upon the fhores, in feveral countries ; as along the, fouthern and eaftern parts of . Africa, Madagafcar, the Maldives, fome parts of the Me- diterranean, and in the Weft Indies, about the iflands of Bermudas and Jamaica, and the Bahama iflands, alfo on the coafts of Carolina, and the weftern coafts of Ireland. It is likewife faid to be found on the coa{ts of Norfolk, and in the iflands of Orkney. It has alfo been found in the fto- machs of whales, of various fizes and fhapes. We have feveral inftances in authors of large pieces of this matter: one of the largeft that has keen known in Europe was bought by the Dutch Eaft India Company, of the king of Tidore, for 11000 dollars, in 1693, and fent to Amiterdam ‘in 1694; and kept in their houfe for fome years. It was almoft round; meafured two feet in diameter, and weighed a hundred and eighty-two pounds. The great duke of Tufcany offered fifty thoufand crowns forit. We are told, however, that one was taken up, near the Cape of Good Hope, which weighed three hundred pounds ; and another, if we may credit the relation, fifteen thoufand pounds, Phil. ‘Tranf. N° 263. N° 232.
There has been a great variety of opinions among natura- lifts with regard to the origin and preduétion of this fub- flance: to rehearfe them all, would make a volume. Klobius recites eighteen, to which we could add half as many more. The principal may be reduced to thefe which follow.
1. Some take it for the excrement of a bird, called in the Madagafear language a/chibobuch, and by the Maldives Ana- cangrifpafqui; which being melted by the heat of the fun, and wafhed off the fhore by the waves, they fay, is {wallow- ed up by whales, who return it back in the condition we find it. :
2. Others, and particularly many of the orientals, imagine it fprings out of the bottom of the fea, as naphtha does out of fome fountains.—They add that the only fprings of it are in the fea of Ormus, between the Arabian and Perfian Gulfs. Edriffi, who is of this opinion, in the firft climate of his Geography, mentions pieces of ambergris on thofe coalts, weighing a full quintal. Paludanus and Linfchotten alfo fpeak of it as a fort of bitumen, gradually working up from the bottom of the fea and hardening in the fun.
3. Others take it for a fea-mufhroom, torn up from the bottom by the violence of tempetts ; it being obferved, that ambergrisis never found but during the fouth-weft monfoons, after ftorms.
4. Others affert, that it is a vegetable production, iffuing out of the root of a tree, whofe roots always fhoot toward the fea, and difcharge themfelves into the fame. This ac- count we have in the Philofophical TranfaGtions, from one of the Dutch faftors at Batavia; and the fame is confirmed by Mr. Boyle. Others take it for a kind of wax or gum, which diftils from trees, and drops into the fea, when it congeals, and becomes ambergris. Mr. Magellan mentions an undoubtedly vegetable ambergris, gathered from the tree
by M. Aublet, and examined by Rouelle. Cronftett’s Mi- neralogy, p. 458.
§. Others {uppofe it a fpcngious kind of earth, which the working of the fea wafhes off the rocks, where, being lighter than water, it floats,
6. Others maintain, that ambergris is made from the honéy-combs which fall into the fea from the rocks, where the bees have formed their nefts. Tris opinion feems to have fomethinge of experience on its Gde; feveral perfons having feen pieces that were half ambergris, and half plain honey-comb ; and others, again, having found large pieces of ambergris, in the middle of which, when broken, they difcovered both honey-comb and honey. But the error of this hypothefis may be deteéted by chemical experiments ; as honey likewife admits of a folution in aqueous men/lrua, but refifts the moft highly reétified f{pirit of wine.
7. Others are of opinion, that it is a bituminous matter ; that it is at firft liquid, and runs into the fea: and that it is there condenfed, and reduced intoa mafs. To this purpofe Mr. Neumann, chemift to the king of Pruffia, after an ample recital of all the different opinions advanced by others, gives us his own ; which is, that ambergris is a bitumen, iffuing out of the earth into the fea; at firft of a vifcous confiftence, but hardening, by its mixture with fome liquid naphtha, into the form wherein we findit. Phil. Tranf. N° 433, N° 434. N° 435. Mr. Cartheufer is of the fame opinion.
This opinion has been confidered as the beft founded, ard ftrengthened by this circumftance, that ambergris is found in the greateft quantities in the fea, about the ifland of Ma- dagafcar, where the fubterranean parts are {uppofed to be impregnated with bituminous matter.
The pieces are frequently feen compofed of divers ftrata, laid one over another, with ftones and other bodies inclofed therein, and the ftrata are fometimes full of little hells, which feem a fpecies of concha anatifera ; whence it may be conjectured, that the ambergris has originally been in a fluid ftate, or, at leaft, that it has been diffolved and in that ftate has formed itfelf afrefh, and inveloped fuch bodies as hap- pened to be in its way.
Neumann gives the chemical charaéters of this bitumen, and its analytis, by diftillation. He diftinguifhes the fophif- tications of ambergris, and obferves, that it is totally foluble in oils and vinous {pirits, and that it yields the fame produ, as AMBER. See the particulars and the proofs of this in Neumann’s Works, p. 239. & feq.
8. Dr. Boylfton, and Mr. Dudley, in the Philofophical TranfaGtions, affert, that the ambergris is a true, animal concrete, formed in balls, in the body of the male fpermaceti whale, and lodged in a large oval bag, over the tefticles, at the root of the penis. Phil. Tranf. N° 385. and 387. vol. xxili.
It is certain the whale-catchers have divers times found ambergris in their {permaceti whales, and that chiefly in the large and older fort; and it is from the information of Mr. Ar- kins, and other whale catchers, that Mr. Dudley chiefly drew his account. But it is added, that it is not one fpermaceti whale in an hundred that is found to have ambergris, and that it isfound only in the male. To this account it has been ob- jected, that ambergris is frequently found in females as well as in males;and that the beaks of the fepia, which are fo conftantly found in ambergris taken out of the whale, could not have been abforbed from the inteftines by the la¢teals or lymphatics, and colle&ted with the ambergris in the above mentioned bag.
g. Others have approached nearer to the truth, who re= prefent ambergris as the excrement of a cetaceous fifh ; becaufe it has been fometimes found in the inteftines, and
D2 fometimes
AMBERGRIS.
fometimes in the faeces themfelves of fuch animals. Not- withftanding this fuggeftion, it was long thought, that am- bergris, after having been fwallowed, and in fome mode or other changed in the ftomach and bowels of the whales, from which it was obtained, was afterwards found among its excrements. But the real animal origin of ambergris has been fatisfactorily afcertained by Dr. Swediar, in the Phi- lofophical Tranfaétions, vol. Ixxiii. art. 15.
In the accounts given of ambergris by various writers we have been told, that claws and beaks of birds, feathers of birds, parts of vegetables, fhells, filh, and bones of fifh, have been found blended with it. But Dr. Swediar, after examining many fragments of this fubftance, found no fuch materials mixed with it; and though he allows that fuch may occafionally occur, yet the black {pots which he difco- vered in the various pieces, found in the fea or in the whale, a were examined by him, appeared upon accurate ferutiny, to be the beaks of the /pia ofopodia ; and he apprehends, that thefe beaks were miltaken for claws or beaks of birds, or for hells. From the exiftence of thefe beaks in amber- gris he infers, that this fub{tance in its origin muft have been of a very foft or liquid nature. _In order to inyelli- gate the true nature of this fubftance, he premifes, that am- bergris has been found upon the fea and fea-coaft, and alfo in the bowels of whales; but he obferves, that it has never been determined; whether the ambergris found in thefe different fituations be of the fame kind, and pofleffed of the fame or fimilar properties. He alfo fuggetts as afubjet of previous inquiry, whether ambergris is found in all forts of whales, or only in a particular fpecies ; whether it is con- itantly to be met with inthofe animals; and if this be the cafe, in what part of their body it is to be found. In dif- cufling thefe fubje&s of examination, Dr. Swediar confulted the moft intelligent perfons concerned in the fpermaceti whale fifhery, or in procuring and felling ambergris; and from their information it appeared, that this fubflance is fometimes found in the belly of the whale, but only in that {pecies which is called the fpermaceti whale, and which feems from its defcription and delineation to be the phy/eter macrocephalus of Linneus. The New England fifhermen, having been long apprized that ambergris is to be found in the fpermaceti whale, conclude, that whales of this {pecies frequent thofe feas where ambergris is found. They na- turally expect to find ambergris in the f{permaceti whales which they catch; but they are generally difappointed. Whenever they took a fpermaceti whale, they obferved, that it conftantly not only vomits whatever it has on its ftomach, but alfo generally difcharges its feces at the fame time; and if this circumftance occurs, they feldom find ambergris in its belly. But whenever they difcover a fpermaceti whale, male or female, which feems torpid and fickly, they com- monly find ambergris, as the whale.in this late feldom voids its feces upon being hooked. They likewife generally find it in the dead fpermaceti whales, which they find floating upon the fea. Befides, thofe whales which yield ambergris have a morbid protuberance, or a kind of gathering, in the lower part of the belly, in which, when it is opened, they find ambergris. ‘The whales, that yield this fubftance, are not only torpid and fick, but always leaner than others; and hence it is inferred, that a larger colleGion of amber- gris in the belly of the whale is a fource of difeafe, and probably fometimes the caufe of its death. As foon asa whale, that is torpid, fick, or emaciated, or one that does not dung on being hooked, is caught, they immediately cut the protuberance already mentioned, if there be any, or rip open its bowels from the orifice of the anus, and find the amber-
gris, fometimes in one lump, fometimes in different lumps,
encrally from three to 12 and more inches in diameter, and on one to 20 or Zo lbs. in weight, at the diltance of two, but moft frequently of about fix or feven feet from the anus, and never higher up in the inteftinal canal ; which, according to their defcription, is probably the inteftinum cecum, hitherto miftaken for a peculiar bag formed by nature for the fecretion and colleétion of. this fingular fub- ftance. That this is the inteftinal canal is certain, becaufe they conftantly ‘begin their incifion at the anus, and find the cavity every where filled with the feces of the whale, which, from their colour and {mell, it is impoflible for them to miftake. The ambergris found in the inteftinal canal is not fo hard as that which is found on the fea or fea-coaft, but foon hardens in the air. When firft taken out, it has nearly the fame colour, and the fame unpleafant {mell, though not fo ftrong, as that of the mere liquid dung of the whale; but, on ex poling it to the air, it gradually not only becomes greyifh, and its furface covered with a greyifh dutt like old chocolate, but it alfo lofes its difagreeable {mell, and when kept for any long time, acquires the peculiar odour which is fo agreeable to moft people. In confidering whether, there be any material difference between ambergris found on the fea or fea-coaft, and that found in the bowels or among the dung of the whale, Dr. Swediar refutes the opinion, that ambergris found in whales is of an inferior quality, and therefore of much lefs value in price. Ambergris, he obferves, is valued on account of its purity, lightnefs, com- pattnefs, colour and fmell. On the different coatts pieces of ambergris are found of a very inferior quality ; and thofe found in whales are of a fuperior quality ; and different pieces in the fame whale, are, according to the above f{pe- cified teft, of greater or lefs value. When ambergris. is firft taken out of the inteftines of the whale, it has nearly the fame fmell with that of the hquid excrements, .and alfo the fame blackifh colour; and it is found of different degrees of compactnefs, but never fo liquid as the natural feces of that animal. After being taken out and kept in the air, alk ambergris becomes harder and whiter, and gradually lofes its fmell, and affumes fuch an agreeable one, as that in ge= neral has which is found {wimming on the fea, and therefore the goodnefs of ambergris feems rather to depend on its age. By being accumulated after a certain length of time in the inteftinal canal, it feems even then to become of a white colour, and lefs heavy, and to acquire its agreeable {mell. The only reafon why ambergris floating on the fea generally pofleffes the above mentioned qualities in a fuperior degree is, becaufe it is commonly older, and has been longer expofed to the air. :
It is more frequently found in males than in females; thofe pieces that are found in females are generally fmaller,and thofe in males feem cenftantly to be larger and of a better quality ; and therefore the high price in proportion to the fize is not merely imaginary on account of its rarity, but in fome refpect well-founded, becaufe fuch large pieces appear to be of greater age, and poffefs the above-mentioned qua- lities in a higher degree of perfection than fmaller pieces.
It is known, continues our author, that the fepia o€to- podia, a little fifh, is the conftant and natural food of the {permaceti whale, or phyfeter macrocephalus. Of this the fifhermen are fo well convinced, that whenever they dif- cover auy recent relics of it {wimming on the fea, they con- clude that a whale of this kind is or has been in, that part. Befides, the fpermaceti whale, on being hooked, generally vomits up fome remains of the fepia. Hence it is ealy to account for the many beaks, or pieces of beak, of the fepia
that
AMBE
that are found in ambergris, The beak of the fepia isa black horny fubftance, and therefore pafles undigefted through the ftomach into the inteftinal canal, where it is mixed with the feces; after which it is either evacuated with them, or, if thefe latter be preternaturally retained, form concretions with them, which render the animal fick and torpid, and produce an obftipation, that terminates either in.an. abfcefs of the abdomen, or becomes fatal to the animal; whence, in both cafes, on the burfting of its belly, that hardened fubftance, called ambergris, is found {wimming on the fea, or thrown upon the coatt.
From the circumttances-above recited, and from having ob-
' ferved the above-mentioned pieces of fepia in all fragments of ambergris of any fize, Dr. Swediar concludes with great pro- bability, that all ambergris is generated in the bowels of the phyfeter macrocephalus, or {permaceti whale, and then mixed with the beaks of the fepia o¢topodia, which is the principal food of that whale. He therefore detines ambergris to be the preternaturally hardened dung or feces of the phyfeter oe mixed with fome indigeftible relics of its
ood.
Many of the preceding obfervations, with regard to the produGtion of ambergris, have been confirmed by the examination of Alexander Champion, Efq. a princi- pal merchant concerned in the Southern whale fifhery, and of the captain of a fhip, employed by him, in the faid fifhery. This fhip brought home about 360 ounces of ambergris, which the captain took out of the body of a female fpermaceti whale, on the coaft of Guinea. This was obferved to proceed from the fundament of this fifh, and whilft they were cutting the blubber, a piece of it was feen to fwim on the furface of the fea. Some of this fubftauce was obferved in the fame paflage, and the reit was contained in a {mall bag, a little between the paflage, and communicating withit.. The whale feemed fickly, was lean and very old. The fpermaceti whale, it was obferved, feeds almoft wholly ona filh called fquids; and when the whale is dying, fhe throws up a quantity of f{quid, fometimes whole, .and fometimes in pieces. The bills of the fquid were found, fome in the infide, and fome on the outfide of the ambergris, flicking to it. The fpermaceti whale, when {truck, voids her excrement; and if fhe does not, it is conjectured that fhe has ambergris in her. It was concluded by the intelli- gent captain, who communicated this information to the council of trade and foreign plantations, that ambergris is molt likely to be found in a fickly fifh; and that it is the eaufe or the effect of fome diforder. ‘The whole quantity of ambergris found in the whale, of which the above ac- count was given, was 362 ounces troy, and it was fold for 1ys. gd. per ounce ; half of it having been bought for ex- portation to Turkey, Germany, and France, and the other half having been purchafed by the draggifts intown, Phil. Tranf. for 1791. vol. Ixxxi. art. 2.
Ambergris is of confiderable ufe among perfumers, who melt it over a gentle fire, and make extracts, eflences, and tinctures of it. It is one of the moft agreeable perfumes. the leaft apt to diforder weak conilitutions, or fuch as are liable to be offended by fubltanices of that clafs. It would be of more ufe in phylic too, were not its fmell apt to occa- fion vapours.
There is a preparation, however, recommended by Hoff- man, which is faid not to be attended with thefe ill confe- quences. The preparation is made in the following manner: Let the fpirit of roles, perfectly dephlegmated, be, not only once, but twice, at leat, drawn off from the falt of tartar, which is burnt, or calcined, in a vehement fire. By this means there is produced a {pirit, which, by its penetrating
8
RGRIS,
quality, enters into the inmoft fubftance of the ambergris, and fo feparates and refolves its oleous contexture. This, we are aflured, will not excite commotions and agitations in a weak body, as does the common preparation of ambergris, which is made with a mixture of mufk orcivet. Hoffman. Obfery. Phyf. Chem. lib. i. c. 18.
Ambergris enters into the compofition of many cordial, fudorific, and alexiterial waters. But its chief virtue confifts in its antifpafmodic and fedative qualities, fimilar to thofe of mu(fk and ca{tor, and its power of relieving certain hyfterical, convulfive, and other nervous affetions. It may be taken inwardly from half a grain to ten or twelve grains, or more ; for as to dofes, there can be no fixed rules about remedies and difeafes of thefe kinds. Dr. Lewis fays, that taken in- ternally, from two or three grains to a fcruple, it is accounted a-high cordial, corroborant and antifpafmodic ; and with this view it is prefcribed by Riverius, in hypochondriacal affeGtions. Dr. Swediar obferves, that we cannot expect any medicinal effeéts from this fub{tance in dofes of two or three grains, but that it fhould be adminiftered in the quantity of as many feruples for a dofe; though even then it could not be expected to produce any great effect, as he himfelf took 30 grains of pure unadulterated ambergris in powder at once, without any fenfibleeffe@. A failor once took half an ounce, and found ita good purgative. The faculty of Paris directs atinture to be drawn by digefting two fcruples of ambergris in two ounces of a highly reétified {pirit, impregnated with rofes. They have alfoa compound tin€ture made from the fame quantity of ambergris, with half as much mufk, ten grains of civet, fix drops of oil of cinnamon, and four drops of oil of rhodium, digefted together in four and one-half ounces of a {pirit impregnated with rofes, and orange flowers. This compound tincture is a very high perfume ; and a few drops of it will give a fine {cent to a large proportion of inedorous matter. In preparing thefe tinctures, the fpirit fhould be made to boil or fimmer with it firft, that this in- gredient may be completely diffufed before the more foluble ones are added. The orientals are faid to loole upon it as an aphrodifiac, and fuppofe that the frequent ufe of it con- tributes to longevity. In Afia and part of Africa, amber- gris is ufed not only as a perfume and a medicine, but as an article of cookery ; in which it is added to difhes in lieu of allfpice. A great quantity of it is bought by the Mecca pilgrims, probably to ufe it for the purpofe of fumigation and facrifice, as the Catholics ufe frankincenfe. With us it is ufed by the perfumers to {cent pillars, candles, balls, bottles, gloves, and hair-powder ; and it is mixed with po- matums for the face and hands, either alone or compounded with mufk, &c.
Ambergris is very commonly counterfeited and adulterated. The firlt generally confilts of mufk, civet, ftorax, laudanum, and aloes wood, mixed together; the latter of a large quan- tity of bullock’s blood, duly flavoured with mufk and civet. It is one of the moft agreeable perfumes; but mutt be pro- portioned fo {paringly, as that while it improves the fmell of what it is added to, its own may not be perceived.
It may be known to be genuine by its fragrant fcent, when a hot needle or pin is thruit into it, and its melting like fat, of an uniform confiftence. Whereas the counterfeit will not yield fuch a {mell nor prove of fuch a fat texture. One. thing, however, is very remarkable, that this drug, which is the molt fweet of all the perfumes, fhould be capable of being refembled in fmell, by the preparation of one of the moft odious of all feetid fubftances.. Mr. Homberg found that a veflel in which he had made a long digeftion of the human feces, acquired a very ftrong and perfeét fmell of ambergris,
infomuch that any one would have thought a great apannty °
AMB
of effence of ambergris had been made in it. The perfume was fo ttrong and offenfive, that the veffel was forced to be removed out of the laboratory. Mem. Acad. Roy. 1700.
AMBERIEUX, in Geography, a town of France, in the department of the Ain, and chief place of a canton, in the diltri& of Belley, S leagues north-eait of Lyons. ‘The place contains 2850, and the canton 7275 inhabitants. The ter- ritory comprehends 105 kiliometres, and 5 communes. N. lat: 4.5° 58! I. long. 5°'15’.
AMBERING is ufed, by fome writers, to denote the giving a fcent or perfume of amler to any thing, This is otherwife called enambering. Dr. Hooke mentions an ex- traordinary method of ambering in infinilum, i.e. with a fmall quantity of amber, and other requilites, enambering a hundred or a thoufand pounds of fugar, or the like, fo as the firlt matter {till remains undecayed, to be ufed again. Hooke’s Phil. Colle&. N° 4.
AMBERT, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- partment of Puy de Dome, and chief place of a diftri&, fituate on the rivere Dore, rot leagues fouth-eaft of Clermont. It has a manufacture of camblets and woollen ftuffs, and alfo of excellent paper and playing-cards, &c. ‘The place con- tains 5926, and the canton 16,376%nhabitants. ‘Lhe terri- tory includes 265 kiliometres and 8 communes. N, lat.
5° 33’. E. long. 3° 30’.
AMBETTUWAY, in Botany, the local name of a tree, the leaves of which are faid, when boiled in wine, to create an appetite, and ufed by the people of Guinea, for that pur-
ofe.
AMBIA, in Ancient Geography, an epifcopal city of Africa, in Mauritania.
AMBIANI, a people of Gaul, in Belgia Secunda, men- tioned by Czfar, Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy. They were fituated between the Morini to the north, the Atrebatii and Veromandui to the eaft, the Bellovaci to the fouth, and the Caleli to the weft, and had the fea on the north-weft. Their principal river was Samara, and their capital Samarobriva, witich afterwards took the name of the people. Thefe people were diltinguifhed among the ancient Belgians. We learn from Czfar that they furnifhed 5000 men for the fiege of Alefia, and their cavalry are much commended.
AMBIANUM, now -dmiens, the capital of the Am- biani.
AMBIBARI, « people of Gaul, fuppofed to be the Ar- morice of Czfar; and fince his time the Aprincatur. M. D’Anviile does not know where to place them.
AMBIDRANI, a people placed by Ptolemy in No- rica.
AMBIDEXTER, compounded of ambo, both, and dexter, right hard; by analogy to the Greek, apide§sos, which fignifies the fame ; one who ufes both hands alike, the left as well as right, orin cafes where only the ufe of one is neceffary. .
Women, according to the obfervation of Hippocrates, are never ambidextrous. But this is denied by fome moderns, who give inftances of the contrary ; though it is owned, they are but few in comparifon of thofe that are found in the other fex. It may be imputed to education and habit, that men as well as brutes are not allambidexters, there being no difference of right and left in the nature of things. Nurfes are even forced to be at fome pains to enure the infants under their care to forego the ufe of their left hand. How far it may be our advantage to be deprived of half our natural dexterity, may be doubted. It is certain there are infinite occafions in life, when it would be better to have the equal ufe of both hands. Surgeons and oculifts are of neceffity obliged to be ambidexters; bleeding, &c. in the left-arm or
AMB
left-ankle, and operations on the left-eye, cannot be well performed but with the left-hand. Divers inflances occur in hiltory, where the ufe of the left-hand has been cultivated preferably tothe right. But by the laws of the ancient Sey- thians, people were enjoined to exercife both hands alike, without partiality either for the right or left; and Plato enjoins ambidesterity to be obferved and encouraged in his republic. In the Grecian armies their more diftinguifhed foldiers, their pikemen and halberdeers, as thofe who formed the firit line of their battalions, were to be able to fight in- differently with the left hand or right. We find it mentioned in Scripture, that, on an extraordinary occafion, the fingle tribe of Gad produced 700 brave men, who fought with the left hand as well as the right; and the Roman hiftorians affure us, that they had gladiators who were trained up to the fame exercife. An ingenious French writer is furprifed, that among all the modern refinements in the art of war, none have thought of reftoring the ancient practice of forming ambi- dexters, which, it 1s certain, might be of confiderable fer- vice in the way of flratagem. In performing on keyed in- {truments, the harp, the dulcimer, and fuch as have a fepa- rate part for each hand, ambidexterity is neceflary. On the piano forte, organ, harpfichord, or clarichord, tevo right hands are fo neceffary, that a child rigidly prohibited the ufe of the left hand in the common offices of life, can never have a powerful left hand in performing on the inftruments jult mentioned; but in rapid divifions, fugues, and imita- tions, the clumfinefs with which difficult paffages are per- formed with the left hand difgraces the player and injures the compofition. In'the ferious {tudies and pra¢tice of the ftudent on the piano forte intended for the profeffion, it might be neceflary for him perhaps to try to execute all kinds of feeble paflages, fhakes, beats, and trills with the left hand, till they can be played with fo much eafe and brilliancy, that a diftant hearer, out of fight of the inftrument, fhall not be certain which hand has been employed.
AmpipexTer, in Law, denotes a perfon who takes mo- ney from both of the contending parties to aid them in their caufe. In this fenfe the word may be applied toa judge, juror, a folicitor, or the like. The penalty on a juror, in fuch a cafe, is to forfeit DEcIES TANTU™M, .ten times as much as he receives.
AMBIEGNA, in Antiquity, an appellation given to a victim, which was furrounded, or attended at the time of offering it, with other leffer ones. In this fenfe the word is alfo written ambegui. We read of ambiegne oves, uled - in facrificing to Juno; which were fheep, having brought forth twins, and offered up with two lambs faltened o either fide. f
ABIENT, formed of ambire, to encompa/s, a term ap- plied to fuch things as encompafs others round about; called alfo circumambient bodies. The whole body of air, becaufe it encompafles all things on the face of the earth, is often by phyfical writers called, by way of eminence, the ambient, or ambient air.
AMBIERLE, in Geography, a town of France, in the department of the Rhone and Loire, and chief place of a canton, in the diftri& of Roanne, eight miles north-weft of Roanne. i
AMBIGENAL Ayperbola, in Conics, a name given by Newton in his “ Enumeratio Linearum tertii Ordinis,’’ to one of the triple hyperbolas, EGF (Plate I. Conics, fig. 1.) of the fecond order, having one of its infinite legs, as K G, falling within the angle AC D, formed by the afymptotes AC, CD, and the other leg GF falling without- that angle. See Hypersova.
AMBIGU denotes a kind of mixed entertainment, where-
in
AMB
in both flehh and fruit are ferved together; fo that it feems doubtful whether to denominate ita mere collation, ora meal. AMBIGUA, in Conchology, a {pecies of Butta. Shell fomewhat tapering, flight!y comprefled, pale flefh colour, with two remote bands, one broad and brown, the other biue. Gmelin. Country unknown. — It is uncertain whether this fhell belongs to the Linazan genus, in which Gmelin places it. : : Amsicua, in Entomolozy, 2 {pecies of Cicapa, that in- kabits China. Its colour is olive. _ Wing cafes clear, an- terior margin teftaceous. Donov. Inf, China. : Ampicua, a fpecies of Puarana, of the nofua family. Thorax fmooth; wings defl , greyifh, fpeckled with black ; behind the middie a black ftreak. Inhabits Auftria ; and is produced from a larva with a brown head and body, variegated with ferruginous and brown. Lower wings whitifh, with a black fpot in the middle. . Fabricius. AMBIGUOUS, fomething dubious, obfeure, or which may be taken in different fenfes. See Equivocar. _ The word is formed of ambo, both, and ago, [ drive ; q. d. that which keeps the mind wavering, or in fufpence, not knowing which fide to choofe. The anfwers of the an- cient oracles were always ambiguous. An anonymous writer has publifhed a di€ionary of ambiguous words. Lexicon Philofophicum de dmbiguitate Vocabulorum. Francoff. IS97, 4to. g ee mse is occafioned either by a wrong choice of words and the ufe of equivocal terms, or by an improper ar- rangement ofthem. Ambiguities of the laft kind are either where the arrangement leads to a wrong fenfe, or where the fenfe is left doubtful. Dr. Campbell expreffes the former by the term equivocation, and appropriates that of ambiguity to the latter.. See Elem. of Criticifm, vol. ii. p. 20—54. and Campbell’s Philofophy of Rhetoric, vol. ii. p. 28—38. See PERSPICUITY. ess, be AMBIL, in Geography, one of the fmaller Philippine iflands, with a volcano, near the ifland of Luban. AMBILATRI, in Ancient Geography, a people of Gaul, fuppofed by Martin to be the fame with the dmbiliates, who are called by Orofius Ambivarites. Sampfon places them ia Brittany, towards Lamballe. F AMBILICI, a people of Norica, according to Ptolemy. AMBISNA,.a town of Spain, affigned by Ptolemy to the Murgobi. f AMBISONTHI, or Amarissuntes, a people fo called by Pliny, and placed by Ptolemy in Norica. : AMBIT of a figure, in Geometry, denotes the perimeter, or the line or fum of ali the lines by which it is bounded. Ifaac Voffius has a particular inquiry concerning the am- bit, or circumference of ancient Rome. ‘That of the city he makes to be 60} miles, or mi/le paffus, and that of the city and fuburbs together 72 miles; exceeding ancient Babylon, whofe ambit was only 60 miles. : Amait, ambitus, called allo angiportus, was particularly ufed, in Antiquity, to denote a {pace of ground to be left va- cant betwixt one building and another. By the laws of the Twelve Tables, houfes were not to be built contiguous, but an ambit or {pace of 25 fect was to be left about each for fear of fire. This was ulually a thorough-fare, but fometimes not. For when Rome was crowded with houfes, thefe is- terftices were only left between fome houfes. Nero, after the dreadful fire which happened in his time, reftored the an- cient mode of building houfes feparate from one another. Tacit. Annal. xv. 43. . The ambitus of a tomb, or monument, denoted a certain number of feet, in length and breadth, around the fame, within which the fanctity affizned to it was limited, The I
AM B
whole ground wherein atom) was ere&ted was not to be fen parated from the common ufes: for this reafon, it was fre- quent to infcribe the améit on it, that it might be known how far its fanétity extended: thus, in fronte pedes tot, in agrum pedes tot.
AMBITIANUS Vicus, in Ancient Geography, the place in which Caligula was born, and in w hich, acording to Pliny, there were altars ereéted in honour of that prince, Cluvier makes it the village of Capella, near Coblentz. M.d’Anville places it on the Rhine, between Confluentes on the north-weft, and Baudebrica to the fouth.
AMBITION, in Lrhics, is the paffion which prompts men to value or to {eek any kind of eminence or diftin@tion, as well as to avoid degradation and reproach. It isakind of compound of admiration and defire, and becomes either a vir- tue or a vice, honourable or dilgraceful, ufeful or pernicious, according to its dire€tion or degree. The opinions of others concerning us, when exprefled by words or ations, are prin- cipal fources of happinefs or mifery. The pleafares of this kind are ufually referred to the head of honour; the pains to that of fhame; but as it is moft convenient to havea fingle word, to which to refer both pleafure and pain of this clafs, Dr. Hartley felects ambition for this purpofe. He clafies the feveral particulars which perfons, under the influ- ence of ambition, wifh to have known to others, or concealed from them, in order-to obtain praife or difpraife, under four heads; viz. external advantages or difadvantages, of which the principal are fineclothes, riches, titles, and high birth, with theiroppolites, rags, poverty, obfcurity, and low birth; bodily perfections and iraperfeCtions, of which the chief are beauty, itrength, and health on the one hand, and on the other, de- formity, imbecility unfitting a perfon for the offices of life, and difcafe ; intelleétual accomplifhments or defeéts, fuch as fagacity, memory, invention, wit, learning, and their Oppo- fites, folly, dulnefs, and ignorance ; and moral qualities, 7. e. virtue or vice. This ingenious writer inveftigates, in con- formity to his propofed theory, the affociations by which the pleafures and pains of ambition are produced. Obfervations on Man, § 2. prop.g5. p. 262, &c. Ed. 17QI.
The RomansereGted a templeto Ambition; andthiswas the divinity to which they offered the greateft number, or at Jeaft a very confiderable number of facrifices. It was reprefented with wings on its back, and naked feet, to exprefs the extent of its defigns, andthe promptitude with which they wereexecuted. « A being of the nature of man,’ fays an elegant hiftorian, at the clofe of his account of the Byzantine princes, “ en- dowed with the fame faculties, but with a longer meafure of exiftence, would calt down a {mile of pity and contempt on the crimes and follies of human ambition, fo eager, in a nar~ row f{pan, to grafp at a precarious and fhort-lived enjoyment. In a compofition of fome days, in a perufal of fome hours, 600 years have rolled away, and the duration of a life or reign is contraéted to a fleeting moment ; the grave is ever befide the throne; the-fuccefs of a criminal is almoft in- {tantly followed by the lofs of: his prize ; and our immortal reafon furvives the 60 phantoms of beings who have pafled before our eyes, and faintly dwell on our remembrance. The obfervation, that in every age and climate ambition has pre- vailed with the fame commanding energy, may abate the fur- prife of a philofopher; but while he condemns the vanity, he may fearch the motive of this univerfal’defire to obtain and hold the feeptre of dominion.” Gibbon’s Hitt. vol. ix. p. 10.
AMBITNI, in Ancient Geography. a people of Galatia.
AMBITUS, among the Ancient Romans, the att of foli- citing, or making intereft, for offices or honours.
‘The candidates, in this cafe, went about the city, and into all publick places and affemblies, to. beg votes ; which
was
AMB
was called ambitus: from am, in the ancient Latin, fignifying circum, about, and ire, to go. .
Among the Romans, it differed from ambition, as the former lies in the a&, the latter in the mind. wdmbiius wes of two kinds, one lawful, and even laudable ; the other in- famous. The firll, called alfo ambitus popularis, was when a perfon offered his fervice to the public frankly, leaving it to every body to judge of his pretenfions as they found rea- fonable. This kind was not prohibited by any law, but always approved aad pradtifed by the beft and greateit men.
Themeans and inflruments here made ufe of were various : 1. amici, or friends, under divers relations, including cegnati, affines, neceffarii, familiares, wicini, tribules, clientes, municipes, fodales, college. 2. Nomenclatura, or the calling and faluting every perfon by his name; to which purpofe the candidates were attended with an oflicer, under the denomination of m- terpres, or nomenclator. 3. Blanditia, or obliging perfons by ferving them, or their friends, patrons, or the like, with their vote and intereft on any other occafions. ' 4. Pren/atio, the fhaking every perfon by the hand, offering him his fer- vice, friendfhip, &c. 5. “fiduitas. 6. The toga candida, worn loofe. 7. Benignitas; the diftributing largeffes, congiaria, &c.
The fecond kind was that wherein force, cajoling, money, er other extraordinary influence was made ufe of. This was held infamous, and feverely punifhed, as a fource of corruption and other mifchiefs. his kind of ambiius was at one time the great trade of Rome, and demanded a conftant fupply of great fums of money. Tully affizns this as the caufe of the high rate of intereft, and telis us it had raifed it from 4 to 8 per cent. Bribery was come to the pitch of So729l. per tribe; and there being uo lefs than 35 tribes, it is obvious how expenfive this corrup- tion was grown. It is alfo well known where it ended. Several laws were made againit it; as the Lex dcilia, or Calpurnia, A.U. 686, dufidia, A. U. 692, Bebia, A. U. 571, Emilia, A. U. 675, Cornelia, A. U. 672, Cecilia Didia, Fabia, Fulia Augufli, Fulia Czjaris, Licinia, A. U. 698, Maria, Petelia, A.U. 397, Pompeia, A. U. 701, Tullia Ve- tus, A. U. 960,
In the year of Rome 321, the ufe of the ¢aga candida was prohibited. In the year 397, the candidates were forbid to go to the markets and mectings in the neighbouring towns. In 571, fevere penalties were laid on the givers of largeffes. In 594, this was made punifhable by banifhment. In 692, by the lex Aufidia, it was enacted, that if a candidate pre- fented money to a tribe, and did not pay it, he fhould be exempt, but if he did pay it, he fhould be obliged to pay to every tribe a yearly fine of 3000 feftertii as long as he lived. In 697, heavy fines were tmpofed. By the Lex Tullia, made in the confulfhip of Cicero, the candidates were forbidden to beftow any combats of gladiators on the people, to make any publick feafts, or to caufe themfelves to be followed by a crowd of clients fortwo vears before they offered themfelves forany place. A fenator, who was guilty of a breach of this Jaw, was punifhed with ten years banifhment ; others were fined, and rendered incapable of any dignity for ever.
Ambiius was not only practifed at Rome and in the forum, but in the mectings and affemblies of other towns in Italy, where numbers of citizens were ufually found, on account of trade and bufinefs. ‘The practice ceafed in the city from the time of the emperors, becaufe pofts were not then to be had by courting the people, but by favour from the prince. Perfons who had caufes dependmg praétifed the fame, going about among the judges to implore their favour and mercy. ‘They who prattifed this were called ambitiofi. Hence we allo meet with ambitiofa decreta, and ambitiofa
AMB
juffa ; wled for fuch fentences and decrees as were thus pro~ cured from the judges, contrary to reafon and equity, either fratuitoufly or for money.
Amnitus, in Mufic, a name fometimes appropriated to fignify the particular extent of each tone, or modilication of
rave and acute.
AMBIVARETI, in Ancient Geography, a people of Belgic Gaul, placed by Cwfar beyond the Meufe. Martin places them between the Scaldi to the weft, and Mofa to the eaft; and to the fouth of the Menapii, near the fituation of the prefent Brabant. _
AMBIX, in Aazctent Writers, denotes a veffel of glafs or fhell. Hence the origin of the word alembic, which we fome- times alfo find denoted by the word ambix.
AMBULADA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia Mi- nor, in Pifidia, according to Stephan. Bye. but in Caria, ac- cording to Strabo, who fays, that the wine of Amblada was uleful in medicine.
AMBLAU, in Geography, one of the Molucca iflands, is the fmalleit of thofe that are fubjcé& to the governor_of Amboyna, and diftant three leagues from Bouro.
AMBLE, Amutine, in Lorfemanfbip, a peculiar kind of pace, wherein a horfe’s two legs, of the fame fide, move at the fame time.
The ambling horfe changes fides at each remove; two legs of a fide being always in the air, and two on the ground at the fame time: an amble is ufually the firft natural pace of young colts, which, as foon as they have ftrength enougly to trot, they quit. There is no fuch thing as an amble in the manege; the riding-mafters allowing of no other paces be- fide walk, trot, and gallop ; their reafon is, that a horfe may be put from a trot to a gallop, without {topping him; but not from an amble to a gallop without ftoppirg, which lofes time, and interrupts the juitnefs and cadence of the manege. This movement, which is very laborious to the horfe, and in which he ought not to be indulged, except on fmooth ground, is very eafy to the rider ; it has not the hardnefs of a trot, becaufe the hind leg moves along with the fore one, and creates no refiftance to the motion. Connoiffeurs fay that horfes which naturally amble never trot, and that they are much weaker than thofe which have no fuck movement.. Colts, indeed, often aflume this mode of moving, when forced to go quick, and when they have not ftrength enough to trot or to gallop; and even good horfes, after being fa~ tigued, or when they begin to decay, are apt, when pufhed, to amble fpontaneoufly. ‘The amble may, therefore, be re- garded as a motion occafioned by weaknefs or defect. But there are two other movements afflumed fpontaneoufly by weak or decayed horfes, which are {till more defective than that of the amble, and they are known by the name of broken ambles. The one is a motion between walking and ambling, and the other between trotting and gallopping. Both proceed from great fatigue or weaknefs in the loins, and are confpicuous in many of our hackney and poft- horfes. - :
There are various practices and methods of difcipline for - bringing a young horfe to amble ; fome choofe to toil him in his foot-pace through new-ploughed lands, which natu- rally inures him to the ftroke required in the amkle. But its inconveniences are, the weaknefs and lamenefs that fuch diforderly. toil may bring on a young horfe.
Others attempt it by fudden {topping or checking him in the cheeks when in a gallop, and thus putting him into an amazednefs, between gallop and trot, fo that lofing both he | neceflarily ftumbles upon anamble. But this is aprto fpoil a good mouth and rein, and expofes the horfe to the danger of a hoof-reach, or finew ftrain, by over-reaching, Xe.
Others
AMB
“Others prefer ambling by weights as the helt way ; and ‘to this end fome overload the horfe with exceffive heavy Yhoes, which is apt to make him interfere or ftrike fhort with ‘his hind feet. Others fold leaden weights about the fetlock ‘patterns, which are not only liable to the mifchiefs of the former, but put the horfe in danger of incurable ftrains, crufhing of the coronet, and breeding of ring-bones, &c. “Others load the horfe’s back with earth, lead. or the like mafly fubftance ; but this may occafion a {waying of the ‘back, over-{lraining the fillets, &c.
Some endeavour to make him amble in hand before they -mount his back, by means of fome wall, {mooth pail or rail, and by checking him in the mouth with the bridle hand, and correcting him with a rod on the hinder hoofs, and ‘under the belly, when he treads falfe. But this is apt to drive a horfe to a defperate phrenfy before he can be made to underftarid what they would have of him, and to rear, {prawl out his legs, and to make other antic poftures, which are not eafily quitted again. Others think to effeét it by a pair of hind fhoes, with long fpurns or plates before the toes; and of fuch length, that if the horfe offers to trot ‘the hind-foot beats the fore-foot. But this occafions wounds of the back-finews, which often bring on an incur- able Jamenefs.
Some attempt to procure an amble by folding fine foft lift ftrait about his gambels, in the place where he is gartered for a ftiffle-ftrain, and turn him thus to grafs for two or three weeks, and afterwards take away thelift. This is a Spanith method, but difapproved; for though a horfe cannot then trot but with pain, yet the members mutt be fufferers; and though the amble be gained it mult be flow and unfightly, becaufe attended with a cringing in the hind-part. In effeét, ambling by the trammel, as praétifed by us, appears the near- eft to nature, and beft and moft affured way.
There are divers errors, however, ufually praétifed in this method; as, that the trammel is often made too long, and fo gives no ftroke, but makes a horfe hackle and fhuffle his feet confufedly ; or too fhort, which makes him volt and twitch up his hind feet fo fuddenly, that by cuftom it brings him to a ftring-halt, from which he will fcarce ever be recovered. Sometimes the trammel is mifplaced, and, to prevent falling, put about the knee and the hind-hoof. In which cafe the beaft cannot give any true ftroke, nor can the fore-leg compel the hind to follow it; or if, to evade this, the trammel be
‘made fhort and ftraight it will prefs the main finew of the,
hind-leg and the flefhy part of the fore-thighs, fo that the horfe cannot go without halting before and cringing behind.
As to the matter of the trammel fome make it all of leather, which is inconvenient, in that it will either ftretch or break, and thus confound the certainty of the operation. In atrue trammel the fide ropes are to be fo firm as not to yield to a hair’s breadth; the hofe foft, and to lie fo clofe as not to move from its firft place ; and the backband flat, no matter how light, and to defcend from the fillet fo as not to gall.
When the horfe, by being trammelled on one fide, has at- tained to amble perfetly in the hand, it is to be changed to the other fide, and that is to be likewife brought to rule. :
When by this changing from one fide to another with a half-trammel, the horfe willrun and amble in the hand readily and {wiftly, without{nappering and {tumbling, which is ordi- aarily done by two or three hours labour; the whole trammel is to be put on, with a broad, flat, backband, and both fides trammelled alike. See TRAMMEL.
This pace is now generally difufed, and not admitted in xhe regular fyftem of the Manege.
Vou. If
AMB AMBLAUW, or Berauw, in Geography, one of the
Molucca iflands, about four leagues in circumference, two leayues fouth of Bourro.
AMBLESIDE, an old irregular town of Weftmoreland, near the lake of Windermere or Winandermere. It is 274¢ miles from London, and its weekly market is on Wed- nefday.
AMBLETEUSE, a fea port town of France, in the de- partment of the {traits of Calais, in the Englifh channel, eight miles north of Boulogne, and twelve fouth-weft from Calais, It is defended with a battery of cannon. King James 1. on his departure from England, in 1688, landed in this place. At this port, called Ambletonienfis portus, Cefar embarked his cavalry when he paffed over into England. N. lat. 50°
8’, E.-long. 1° 37/.
AMBLYGON, or AmBryconium, formed of opGrvs, obtuje, and yous, angle, and denoting obtufe-angular ; in Geo- metry, denotes a triangle, one of whofe angles is obtufe, or confilting of more than ninety degrees.
AMBLYOPIA, Amstyopy, in Surgery, dulnefs of fight, from apCaus dull, and wl the eye: vifa debilis of Atius ; vifa hebitudo of Boerhave. By this term Paulus and A Ctuartus denote the Gurra Serena, or AMAuRosis. See Dy- sopia and Gutta SERENA.
AMBO, or Amnon, a kind of pulpit or defk in the an- cient churches, where the priefts and deacons ftood to read or fing part of the fervice, and preach to the people ; called alfo analogium.
The term is derived from avaGaiveivy fo mount. The ambo was mounted upon two fides, whence fome alfo derive the application from ambo, both. ‘The ambo was afcended by fteps, which occafioned that part of the office performed there to be called the gradual. The Gofpel was read at the top of the ambo, the Epiftle a ftep lower.
The modern reading deflcs and pulpits have been gene-~ rally fubftituted inftead of the ancient ambos, though, in fome churches, remains of the ambos are ftill feen. In that of St. John de Lateran, at Rome, there are two moveable ambos. M. Thiers inveighs againft the difufe of the ancient ambo. Thofe by whom this innovation has been effected he calls by a new word ambonoclafies. At was in the ambo that publication was made of feafts, falts, proceffions, &c. Here were read the atts of the martyrs, the /anda Janis, the diptychs, or -commemoration of the dead; the letters of peace and communion, which one church fent to another. Here new converts made their public confeffion of faith, and bifhops their defence againft accufations brought againft them. Here treaties of peace were fome- times alfo concluded, and coronations of kings and emperors performed, &c. ;
Several antiquaries hold that the ambo was anciently the place from whence the bifhops and prefbyters made their {ermons ; pulpits for that purpofe having only been intro- duced by the mendicants at the beginning of the thirteenth century. A late writer combats this opinion, and fhews, that the ufual place from whence the ancients preached was the fleps of the altar; not but St. Chryfoftom and St. Auguttine both appear to have preached from the ambo, but this was looked on as a thing fomewhat extraordinary.
AMBOES, or Amuus, in Geography, a people of Lower Guinea in Africa.
AMBOHITSMENE, or VonitsanGHomBE, a pro- vince of Madagafcar, fituate weft and north of Antavare, derives its appellation from the red mountains of the fame name, lying in 20° of fouth latitude. The high mountains refemble the Tafelberg of the Cape of Good Hope, and
E
are
AMB
are {een froma great diftance at fea, On one fide of this long and lofty ridge of mountains, which extends fifteen leagues inland, is the fea, and on the other a flat country, abounding in pondsand marfhes. Here is alfoa lake fifteen leagues long, and of the fame breadth, that contains feveral {mall iflands. ‘The people that inhabit thefe mountains are called Ambehitfmenes.
AMBOINENSE, in Conchology, a fpecies of Carpium. This fhell is rather oblong, white, with blackifh fpots, and the ribs very convex. It inhabits the fhores of Amboyna, is an inch and three quarters in length, and the ribs are ufually about twelve in number.
AMBOINENSIS, in Ornithology, a {pecies of CerTHIA that inhabits Amboyna ; it is of a cinereous colour above, beneath green, head and neck yellow, breaft red, and wings black. Gmelin’s Linn. This bird is remarkably brilliant and glofly, the length is about two inches and three quarters, bill half an inch long, and yellowifh, and the edges of the wings and quills yellow.
This isthe Tfioei, or Kakopit of Seba. Muf. or Avis Am- boinenfis ; and Polytmus Amboinenfis of Briffon. Dr. La- tham calls it the Amboina Creeper, obferving, that ‘* both Edwards and Buffon fay, that 4umming-birds are peculiar to South America, and that none are found on any part of the old continent. It is mo{t probable that the three laft-men- tioned (viz. the Macaflar, Indian, and Amboinan creepers) may belong to the creeper genus on our better acquaintance with them ; which is the more to be fuppofed, as the whole defcription has been taken from Seba, who lived in an age not fufficiently enlightened in thefe matters.
Amsoinensis, a f{pecies of psirracus, or parrot. It is of a fine fcarlet, with a blue back, and a green fpot in the wing. Gmel. Linn. This is the Pfittaca Amboinen- fis coccinea (red Amboyna parrot) of Briffon, and Lori Perruche tricolor, (three-coloured Lory parrot) of Buffon, as well as the Perruche rouge d’Amboine, Pl. enl. of the latter author.
The length of this bird is fifteen inches and an half, the bill red, with a black tip; the head, throat, neck, and under parts {carlet ; back, rump, upper tail, leffer underwing co- verts, and the edge of the wings fine blue; under tail co- verts violet in the middle, furrounded with red ; the two middle tail feathers nine inches and an half in length, and of a violet brown ; the exterior feathers decreafe gradually in length, the outer one on each fide being only four inches and an half long, and is diftinguifhed from the reft by hay- ing the interior margin red. The legs and claws are red. It isa native of Amboyna, as its {pecitic names imply.
AmBornensis, a fpecies of rurpDus, rather bigger than alark ; it inhabits Amboyna, and is remarkable for its fine finging, and for flirting up its tail, which reflects on the back in the breeding feafon.—The colour is ferruginous or reddifh-brown, beneath yellow; the fecondary quill-fea- thers from the bafe to the middle yellowifh, tail cuneiform or wedge-fhaped, and fulvous beneath. Gmel. Linn. Seba calls this Ayicula Amboinenfis cinerea. It is the Merula Amboinenfis of Briffon, Le Merle d?Amboine of Buffon, and Amboina thrufh of Latham. |
AMBOISE, Georce D’, in Biography, a French car- dinal and minifter of {tate, was born of an ancient and noble family in 1460. As he was a younger fon he was deftined for the church, and at the age of 14 obtained the bifhopric of Montauban. He was appointed almoner to Lewis XI. and raifed by Lewis XII., to whofe intereft, whilit he was duke of Orleans, he attached himfelf, and for whom he f{uf- fered imprifonment, to the archbifhopric of Narbonne, which
8
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he changed for that of Rouen. In the fituation of lieute- nant-general, under the duke of Orleans, who was governor of Normandy, he was inftrumental in reftoring vullice and order to that province, Upon the acceflion of Lewis XII. he was made cardinal and prime minifter, and acquired po- pularity by diminifhing the impolts. After the conqueft of the Milanefe in 1.4099, he recovered the people who had re- volted to their allegiance. As the pope’s legate in France he attempted the reformation of the ecclefiattical orders, and: promoted it by his own example; for he held only one be- nefice at atime, and devoted two-thirds of the revenue of his archbifhopric to the relief of the poor and the repair of religious edifices. He afpired to the papacy with a view of more effectually accomplifhing his fchemes of reform, but he was counteraéted and outwitted by the Italian car- dinals. As a minifter of {tate he contributed fo much to the welfare of the nation, that he was honoured with the appellation of ‘the father of the people.” For the purpofe of reforming the courts of judicature, and fupprefling par- tiality and bribery in the adminiftration of juftice, he caufed to be compiled a new code of regulations, and exercifed his authority in Normandy, where he was governor, in reducing them to practice. The difappointment of his views with regard to the papacy, induced him to recommend a war with the Venetians, fo whom he conceived it was owing. Con- {cious of fome errors and faults into which his ambition had led him, he expreffed his concern in the review of his cone du to an infirmary brother, who attended him at the con- vent of the Czleltines, at Lyons, where he was taken ill, in the profecution of his journey for the Venetian war.— “ Brother John! why have not I been all my life-time bro- ther John.” He died in this place, A.D. 1510, in the 50th year of his age. During the whole of his adminiftration he
_caufed the f{ciences and trade to flourifh. He wasa munifi-
cent patron and encourager of literature; and fuch was his general condué in the various ftations which he occupied, and efpecially as prime minifter, that he was as much beloved by the people as by his mafter. Gen. Did.
“AMBOISE, Francis D’, was the fon of a furgeon to Charles IX. of France, and maintained by his liberality in the college of Navarre, where he ftudied rhetoric and phi- lofophy. In 1572 he was made folicitor of the French na- tion, and afterwards applying to the ftudy of the law, be- came one of the beft advocates of the parliament of Paris. From this employment he was advanced to that of counfellor in the parliament of Bretagne, and then to be a maiter of requefts and counfellor of {tate. He publifhed feveral pieces chiefly of a poetical kind, and others containing an account of his travels into various countries. He took great pains in colleGing the MSS. of Abelard, and he prefixed an apologetical preface to the edition of 1616. His two bro- thers, Adrian and James, arrived at confiderable literary - and profeffional eminence; the former as an ecclefiaftic and the latter asa phyfician. Gen. Did.
Amsoist, Ambafia, or Ambacia, in Geography, a town of France in the department of the Indre and Loire, and chief place of a canton, in the diftri@ of Tours; fituate at the con- flux of the Loire and Amaffe. The place contains 5100, and the canton 14,415 inhabitants: the territory comprehends 3224 kiliometres and 16 communes. It has two parifh churches, four convents, and a hofpital ; and near it isa large caftle featedon a high rock, and difficult of accefs, in which are fhewn the ftatues of CharlesVIII. and of his confort Anne. In this place the proteftants confpired in 1560, and the civil war commenced in 1561, and here it is faid the name of Hu- guenot had its origin. In the caftle of this town Lewis XI. in-
ftituted
AMB
ftituted the order of St. Michael, in 1469; and Charles VIII. was born in 1470, and died in 1498, at Amboife. N. lat. 49° 247 51”. W. long. 0° 59! 7”.
AMBOISES, fee AmBEezes.
AMBON, a town of France, in the department of the Morbihan, three leagues S.E. of Vannes.
AMBONUM, in Natural Hiflory, a term ufed by fome old writers, to exprefs the prominent tubercles on certain {tones.
AMBORA, in Botany. See Miruripartea.
AMBOTE, in Geography, a town of Poland, in Samo-
itia, on the river Wardana, 28 miles north north-eait of Pr auink,
AMBOTEN, a town of the duchy of Courland, eight leagues fouth of Goldingen.
AMBOULE, valley of, a province of Madagafcar, is fitu- ated fomewhat more northward than 23° fouth latitude, at the mouth of the river Manampani, which waters the whole valley. In this valley ftands a large town of the fame name. The country produces abundance of plants and fruits, particularly yams, and the fefame herb, whofe feeds yield by expreffion the oil called menachil; the oxen and cows are very fat, and their flefh excellent. It has alfo iron mines. Near the town of Amboule isa fountain of hot water, within 20 feet of a {mall river whofe fand is almoft burning. The water of this fountain is faid to boil an egg hard in two hours, and to be a fovereign remedy againft the gout. he inhabitants of the country are employed in dif- ferent preparations of-iron and fteel, which they obtain from their own mines, and forge darts and various other in- ftruments, with confiderable fill. The voadziri, or chief go- yervor of the courtry is honoured with the title of great lord, or rabertau ; and he is the richeft and moft powerful of the chiefs in this country. He exercifes fovereign authority, and abfolute power; but in times of public diltrefs his fubjeéts often affemble in great numbers, feize his perfon, and threaten him with death, unlefs they are relieved; and this he dees, by iffuing orders for diftributing provifions among them. ‘The people are reprefented as licentious, dif- honelt, and indolent. Mod. Un. Hilt. vol. xi. p. 404.
AMBOURNAY, or Amsronay, a town of France, in the department of the Ain, and chief place of a canton, in the diftri& of St. Rambert. It is fituated in the road from Lyons to Geneva; has a parifh church, a hofpital, and an abbey of Benedictine monks, founded about the year Sco; nine leagues north-eaft of Lyons,*and one mile and an half north-weft of St. Rambert. N. lat. 46° 1’. E. long.
Yr i0e
AMBOUTNOSSI, a {mall ifland on the coaft of Mada- gafcar, near the bay of Galemboule ; and alfo a river of the dame name.
AMBOY. See Pertu-Amnoy.
-AMBOYNA, one of the Molucca or fpice iflands, in the Eaftern Indian Ocean, lies in S. lat. 4° 25’, and E. long. 327° 25'. This ifland is about 6o miles in length from north to fouth, and is divided on the weft fide, by a large bay into two parts or peninfulas, one of which, being about 12 leagues long, and two and a half broad, is called Hetou ; and the other about five leagues in length, and one and a half broad, is called Leytimor. On the eaftern fide is another bay, with a bad harbour, where the Portus guefe erected their chief fortrefs Victoria. The town of Amboyna, which is the capital of the ifland, is neatly built, and ftands near the fouth-weft extremity. As the ifland is fubjeét to frequent earthquakes, the houfes generally con- fift only of one ftory; but the ttate-houfe is a more lofty
AM B
edifice of two ftories. ‘The face of this ifland is beautiful ; as woody mountains and verdant’ vales are interfperfed with hamlets, and enriched by cultivation. ~The foil is chiefly a reddifh clay, but in the vales it is blackith and fandy. The chief produce of the ifland, in confeqnence of the reftric- tions impofed by the monopolizing avarice and defpotifm of the Dutch, is cloves; and the clove-tree grows to the height of about 40 or 50 feet, with f{preading branches, and long pointed leaves. Some of thefe trees, that are fituated in deep fheltered yales, yield annually thirty pounds weight, and the chief crop is from November to February. The Dutch governor, in order the more effeftually to fecure this monopoly, makes an aunual progrefs through the {pice iflands, for the purpofe of enforcing the obfervance of exilting treaties, and of preventing the culture of cloves beyond the limits to which it is reftrided. About elevog years ago, indeed, nutmegs were allowed to be cultivated in Amboyna, becaufe Banda did not fupply a fufficient quantity. The growth of indigo is prohibited, left the na- tives fhould become rich and turbulent; but the fugar and coffee are excellent, and among many delicious fruits, which the ifland produces, is the mangufteen of Hindoftan. Cattle, grain, &c. are imported from Java, and they have a variety of curious woods, but thefe are chiefly brought from Ce- ram. The plants of the ifland have been defcribed by Rumphius. The principal animals are deer, and wild hogs, and among their birds is the caffowary, Amboyna, with its dependencies, contained in 1796, when it was taken by the Englifh, 45,252 inhabitants, of whom 17,813 were pro- teftants ; the reft were Mahometans, except a few Chinefe, and favages. As this is the next fettlement to -Batavia, with refpeét to wealth and importance, the Dutch are tole- rably polifhed ; but the natives are {till rude and uncultivat- ed. They refemble the other Malays, and when intoxicated with opium they will commit any crime. ‘Their drefs is a loofe fhirt or frock of cotton cloth; the men wear large whifkers, and leave a little hair upon the chin; the women tie the hair in knots; wives are bought of their fathers, and if they prove barren, the marriage is diffolved. Their houfes are made of bamboo canes and fago-trees ; they fleep on mats; and their weapons are bows and arrows, javelins, feymetars, and targets ; and their chicfs are called Rajas.
The iflands that are immediately fubje& to the Dutch governor of Amboyna are ten, comprehending an extent of about five degrees of longitude, that of Amboyna being far- theft to the fouth: thefe iflands are Ceram, Ceram-Lavut, Bouro, Amblau, Manipa between Bouro and Ceram, Ke- lang, two leagues north-eaft of Manipa, Bonva farther north, Orna two leagues eaft of Amboyna, Honimoa, a league eaft of Orna, and Noufla-Laout, a league fouth-eaft of Honimoa. The three laft iflands are denominated Uli- affers. The culture of cloves is reftrifted to thefe three iflands, and Amboyna; but they formerly grew in all the iflands, more efpecially in Ceram. Amboyna is the centre of this rich commerce, and the Dutch have taken care to deftroy all the clove-trees in the adjacent iflands, and it is faid that even in Amboyna, when the harveft is very large, part of the produce is burnt. Soon after the fruit is ga- thered from the tree, the cloves are colle&ted and dried on hurdles before the fire ; and thus their natural and beauti- ful red colour is changed into a deep purple or rather black, to which their being fprinkled with water probably contri- butes. |The reafon afligned for this fprinkling is to pre- vent the worm from getting into the fruit ; but it has been generally fuppofed that the ase reafon is to add weight a
2 the
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the cloves. The cloves are carefully gathered by the hand ; and the produce is very different in different feafons ; but at a medium of feven years it has been eftimated at a million of pounds,
Amboyna was fir difcovered by the Portuguefe ad- venturers Diego d’Abreu and Ferdinand Magellan, about the year 1515, and taken pofteffion of in 15643 it was conquered ‘by the Dutch about the year 1605 5 but it was fome time before they became complete matters of the whole ifland. The Englifh were at this time in poffeffion of feveral fatories, that were protected by the Dutch cattle, but differences having arifen between the Englith and Datch colonifts, they were terminated, or rather fufpended, by a treaty concluded in 1619 between Great Britain and @be States General of the United Provinces. In confe- quence of this treaty, the’Enzlith lived in fecurity at Am- boyna, and enjoyed one-third part of its cloves, whilft the Dutch were -in poffeffion of the other two-thirds. In the year 1622, frefh occafions of difcord arofe , thele were re- ferred to the council of defence eftablifhed at Jacatra, in the ifle of Java; and the council, not being able to decide to the fatisfa&tion of all parties, the flate of the cafe was tran{mitted to Europe to be fettled by the att India Com- sa of both nations, or, in the laft refort, by the king of
ogland and the States General. During the deliberations in Java and Europe, the diffenfion at Amboyna increafed, and the Dutch contrived, by a feigned plot, to get poffef- fion of the whole ifland. ‘This plot, as it was pretended, was confefled by two foldiers in the Dutch fervice, one a Japanefe, and the other a Portuguefe, who, upon a ground of fufpicion, trivial and even imaginary, had been put to the torture ; and, by the teftimony of thefe two unhappy wretches, confirmed by that of an Englifh prifoner who was alfo fentenced to the rack, the Englifh were accufed of be- ing confederates in a confpiracy again{ft the Dutch fettle- ment. Upon. this extorted confeffion, the Englifh were feized; fome of them were imprifoned, and others loaded with irons and confined on board the {hips in the harbour : and their books and property were feized. By a procefs of varied torture of the moft favage kind, the governor and fifcal conftrained fome ofthe wretched fufferers, after pro- teftine their own innocence and total ignorance of the pre- tended confpiracy, to acknowledge the truth of charges that were altogether unfounded. Some were racked, drenched with water, and feorched with fire; others were compelled to {wallow fuch quantities of water as caufed their bodies to be diftended to more than twice their ufual dimenfions, and then made to difgorge, by violence, the water which they had {wallowed; and others were con- fumed by burning them gradually from the foles of the feet upwards. But humanity fhudders. at the recital of fuch acts of barbarity. Of thofe who efcaped or furvived this favage treatment, ten Englifhmen, with one Portuguefe, and eleven Japanefe were executed, though all of them protefted their innocence with their expiring breath. ‘The day following that of the execution was {pent, by order of the governor, in public rejoisings and thankfgivings for fo fignal an efcape and deliverance from a pretended con- fpiracy, and for the iniquitous. extirpation of their rival traders. "That the confpiracy was a mere pretence on the part of the Dutch for gaining the fole poffeflion of the Hand, is evident from various concurring circumftances. They had, at this time, a garrifon of 300 men in the fort, and feveral other garrifons in the ifland; whilft the num- ber of the Englifh did not amount to 20 perfons, who were unprovided with arms and ammunition for effecting the pur-
AMB pofe with which they were charged. The a had
not one veffel in the harbour, whereas the Dutch had eight fhips near the town. When the boxes of the faétors were opened, and their papers rifled, no trace of any fuch confpi- racy could be difcovered ; and, befides, the fufferers on this occafion perfifled in ayowing their innocence, The Eng: lith fa&ory was withdrawn from the ifland; and the Dutch governor retained the effeéts that had been feized, amount- ing, as fome fay, to the value of 409,009 pounds. When the Englith council at Jacatra demanded juftice, the con- du&t of the governor was vindicated, and his proceedings were declared to be juft and indifpenfably neceffary ; aud from all the fubfequent proceedings of the Dutch, it fuf- ficiently appears, that the plot was of their own invention,, and that their objet was to monopolize the whole trade of the {pice iflands ; for, after the cataftrophe at Amboyna, they feized all the Englith factories in,thefe iflands, and dif-- polleffed the Englifh, to their incredible lofs and damage.
When the news of this tranfaétion reached England, and fufficient proof was adduced of the treachery and cruelty of the Dutch, it was natural to expect that reparation’ would, be demanded and obtained.. If, indeed, king James 1. had ated with becoming fpirit,.and made proper reprefentations. to the States General, jultice would probably-shave been, done; for fuch atrocious villanies could not have been abet- ted by any civil community. But James fubmitted to the national injury even without requiring fatisfaétion, and con- tented himfelf with merely telling the Dutch ambaflador, « That he never heard nor read a more cruel or impious act, than that of Amboyna.” But he adds, “I forgive them, and I hope God will, but my fon’s fon fhall revenge this blood, and punifh this horrid maffacre.’’ Charles I. finding remonftrances, letters of requelt, and memorials inef- fe€tual, was preparing to. increafe his fhipping, and to call the Dutch to an aecount ;. but he was prevented from ac- complifhing his defign by the civil war which enfued, Crom- well, in this inftance, avenged the wrongs of the Britifh na- tion ; for among the conditions on which he gave peace to the Dutch, in April 1654, it was inferted, * That they fhould deliver up the ifland of Polerone in the Eaft Indies,” which they had taken from the Englifh in the time of king ‘James, and where they had ated a tragedy fimilar to that at Amboyna, “ into the hands of the Englifh Eaft India Company ; and pay a good fum of money (300,000/.) for the old barbarous violence exercifed fo many years fince at Amboyna, for which the two laft kings could never ob- tain fatisfaction and reparation.’ The Dutch, however,. have long retained unmolefted pofleffion of this ifland.— But both Amboyna and Banda were taken without refift- ance in February and March, 1796, by the Englifh admiral Rainier ; however they have been reftored to their Batavian matters by the treaty with France in the year 1801. Mod.. Un. Hit. vol.. viii. p. 288—3or. vol. ix. p. 70. Afiatic Regifter for 1800. p. 200. | ;
AMBRA, or Amsra, Cape, in Geography, fometimes called Cape Natal, is the north point of Madagafcar ifland. S. lat. 12° 15’. E. long. 49° rol.
AMBRACIA, in Ancient Geography, was one of the moft confiderable cities of Epirus, and fituated in the terri- tory of Thefprotia, near the mouth of the river Arachthus. or Arethon, and the gulf to which it gave its name. It was built, according to Polybius, (lib: iv.) by Ambrax, fon of Thefprotus; probably when the territory of his father had been ravaged by the Dryopes, and afterwards by Her- ‘cules ; and thus the origin of the Ambracians is traced to an wra about 50 ycars before the laft war of Troy. Strabo
4 (lib. vii.)
AM B
(lib. vii.) fays,. that Ambracia: was the work of Tolgus, the fon or the brother of Cypfelus, who was tyrant of Co- rinthy and lived abc ut 620 years before the Chriftian era. A colony from Corinth under the conduét of Cypfelus ar- rived in Epirus, and delivered the Ambracians from the ty- ranny of Phalecus, and reduced them into fubjeCtion to him- felf: and Ariftotle informs us, that they drove away Peri- ander the fon of Cypfelus, and recovered their ancient li- berty, for it was originally a free city. It was afterwards reduced by the Aacida kings of Epirus, who chofe it for the place of their refidence. In procefs of time, the A2to- lians made themfelves matters of it, and held it till the year before Chrift 189, when they were fubdued by the Ro- mans, who found at Ambracia a great number of pictures and’ ftatues belonging to the magnificent palace of Pyrrhus.
At this time it was a place of great ftrength, defended on one fide by the river Arachthus, and on the other by fteep and eraggy. hills ;: andit was furrounded by a high and thick wall, about three miles in circuit. It was vigoroufly befieged by the Romans and their allies; the Epirots, under the con- duét of the Roman conful Mareus Fulvius, ahd as, bravely defended by the /tolian garrifon. It was at length com- pelled to capitulate; and Felvius was prefented with a crown of gold, which is faid to have weighed 150 pounds. Paulus Emilius alfo deprived its inhabitants of their privi- leges and effets. Livy (lib. xxviii. c. 4.) has given a par- ticular defcription of Ambracia. It is now reduced to a {mall place of Turkey in Europe,. called Ambrachia, on the lower part of the gulf of Larta in the fouthern Albania.
AMBRACIUS Sinus, the gulf of Ambracia, now the gulf of Larta, was fituated between the country of the Moloffi in Epirus, to the north, and Acarnania:to the foath, and communicated with the Ionian Sea, by a ftrait called that of Atium.
AMBRARIA, in Botany. See Antuosprrmum.
AMBRAS, or Omsras, in Geography, a town of Ger- many, in the county of ‘lyrol,; four miles eaft of Inn- fpruck. :
AMBRAVETTY, a river of Hindoftan, which runs Into the Cauvery, eight miles eaft-north-eat of Carroor.
AMBREADA, thus they call the falfe or fadtitious amber, which the Europeans ufe in their trade with the Ne- groes on the coaft' of Africa, and particularly on the river Senegal. There are fome large and red pieces of it, a thou- fand of which making twenty ropes of ftrings- weigh three pounds. There are others {mall, and alfo red, which weigh but two pounds and a haif.
AMBRES, in Geography, a fmall town of France, fituate on an eminence, in the department of Tarn and diocefe of Caftres.
AMBRESBURY, or Amessury, a town of England, in the county of Wilts, pleafantly fituate in a‘{mall valley on the banks of the Upper Avon, and confifting of two ftreets. The town is indifferently built, and has all the appearance ‘of decay. Whether it derived its name from Ambres’ confe- crated ftone, as ‘Toland fuggefts—from its*heighbouring monument, Stonehenge, being ere&ted by Aurelianus Am- brofius, who is fuppofed to have been flain near this place— or from Ambni, a Britifh monk, who founded a monattery in this place—it is not eafy to determine. In former times it was a place of importance. Some have fuppofed that, «when the Britons reforted to the general Gorfedd at Stone- henge, Ambrefbury might have been ufed as a refting-place, or place of Affembly, and that Ambri founded a monaftery here for the benefit of future devotees. At this town a nunnery was founded by Elfrida, widow of king Edgar, in expiation, as it.has been faid, of the atrocious and unpro-
AMB
voked murder of her fon-in-law, Edward the Martyr, at Corfe Caftle. Queen Eleanor, widow of Henry III. re- tired to Ambrefbury, took the veil, and died a nun in 1291 5 and her grand-daughter Mary, the fixth daughter of Ed- ward.I. followed her example, and in company with 13 children of the Englifh nobility reforted hither, and took the veilin 1285. The eftates belonging to this nunnery, after its diffolution, and in procefs of time, became the pro- perty of the Queenfbury family. To the weit of the river Avon is a camp, occupy