This bird has been classed, by most natural ists, among the vultures, because it is not only possessed of the same habits, but, like the rest of this genus, has the head and neck naked of feathers. The wrinkled skin with which these parts are covered is variegated with blue, white, and red colours, somewhat resembling that of a turkey-cock; a circumstance from which these birds have been called gallinassos by the Portuguese and Spaniards. It is about the size of a wild goose; its wings, when folded, extend beyond the extremity of the tail: the feathers of the whole body are blackish, with a shade of dark green and purple. The beak is white, the legs and feet of a fleshy

colour.

This bird is an inhabitant of Brazil, Guiana, Peru, and some of the West India islands. In its manners it is more cowardly, foul, and voracious, than perhaps any of the vultures. If its high and rapid flight were attended with a proportionable degree of courage, it might live by the chace; incapable, however, of facing danger, it contents itself with carrion, and every kind of filth, and will not attack an animal even when wounded or asleep, unless able to overpower it, by assembling a great flock of those of its kind.

The Brazilian vultures are generally seen in large flocks, fly very high in the air, and pass the night upon the tallest trees, or on the most inaccessible rocks, from which they repair by day to the neighbourhood of towns, where they alight on some eminence to watch their prey. Their sight and smell are remarkably penetrating; they discern their food at a great distance, which, as soon as discovered, they all fall upon it at once, and devour it in silence, till they are frequently so glutted that they are unable to rise from the ground. As often as this is the case, they are said to have the power of vomiting their food, till their bodies are sufficiently lightened, for the purpose of making their escape. In some parts of South America, where the hunters destroy beasts merely for the skin, the vultures follow in their train in vast numbers. The numberless carcases which are flayed, and exposed to the air, would soon render these parts unhealthy by their putrefaction, were it not for the ministry of the vultures. No sooner do they observe a carcase abandoned, than, by a general call, they all alight upon it, and instantly devour it to the bones, which they leave as bare as if they had been scraped with a knife. The Spaniards and Portuguese, who carry on a trade in hides from these quarters, take these vultures under their protection, from the beneat they render them in preserving the purity of the air, which the putrefaction of so many carcases could not fail to corrupt. They eat in conjunction with the dogs.

From this circumstance, in Guiana, Brazil,

and New Spain, they are extremely numerous; but their flesh is altogether useless for food. From the foul nature of their subsistence it contracts a putrid flavour which nothing can remove, In vain the natives try to conquer it, by taking away the entrails and the rump, or by washing and applying spices; their hard, skinny, and fibrous flesh has imbibed a stench which nothing can either remove or render supportable.

It is curious to be a spectator of the hostilities between the crocodile and the Bra ilian vultures: of all animals they are perhaps most at enmity. The female crocodile, which in the rivers of America grows to the size of twenty-seven feet, lays her eggs, to the num ber of two or three hundred, in the sands, by the side of the water, where they are chiefly hatched by the heat of the climate. The crocodile takes every precaution, while depositing her burden, to conceal the place from every other creature; but is unable to elude the penetration of the vulture. A number of them sit silent and unseen among the branches of a neighbouring forest, while she is employed in burying her eggs, and view her operations with the eager expectation of succeeding plunder. They wait patiently till the croco dile has completed the number, covered them carefully under the sand, and has retired to a distance then, as Goldsmith describes, they attack all together, encouraging each other with their cries, hook up the sand in a mo ment, lay the eggs bare, and devour the whole brood without remorse.

This bird is to be found also on the continent of Africa, whence, probably, it has found its way into the New World. Their manners at the Cape of Good Hope are described by Kolben, who had often been a spectator of their mode of anatomising the dead bodies of cows, oxen, and wild animals. "These birds," says he, "separate the ficsh from the skin and the bones with such art, that they leave only the bare skeleton, covered, however, with the skin so entire and unbroken, that it is impossible to perceive that the carcase is empty, without a narrow examination. In performing this operation, they first make an aperture in the belly of the animal, from whence they tear out the entrails, and devour them: they then enter the empty space thus formed, and separate the flesh from the skin and bones, without discomposing either. They attack their prey by surprise; if an ox, who is left to return from the yoke to his stall alone, should chance to lie down and rest by the way, he is no sooner perceived by the vultures, than they inevitably fall upon him, and devour him. When they attack an ox in the fields, they generally assemble to the number of an hundred, and sometimes more, and thus overpower him by a general onset."

In Egypt vultures are held in great veneration, because they destroy the serpents and other noxious animals with which it is infest

ed. Dr. Shaw informs us that they are to be

seen in great numbers in the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo; and that, from the harmlessness of their nature, they are regarded as sacred by the Mahometans. The pacha orders two oxen every day for their maintenance; perhaps from superstitious motives, or probably in consideration of their services, in removing the carrion and filth from that great city.

In Europe there are several of these birds; as, the ash-coloured, the golden, the brown, and the crested. There, however, they are far from being numerous; they produce young only once in a year, and, according to Aristotle, lay only one or two eggs. They build their uests commonly in such high and inaccessible Situations, that it is but rare to detect them. They inhabit, from choice, the most deserted and mountainous countries during summer: it is not till the frost and snow compel them that they retire into lower and warmer situations. They seem more sensible of cold than the generality of eagles, few of them being found in the northern countries. Linuéus, who enumerates the birds of Sweden, takes no notice of the vulture. Buffon, however, mentions one he had sent him from Norway.

4. V. cristatus. Crested vulture. Body blackish-red; head crested; breast rufous; legs naked. This vulture is inferior in size to the preceding; its magnitude, however, has been deemed sufficient to entitle it to a place among the vultures. Its bill is black, and hooked at the end; the feathers of a brownish black, and the legs yellow. When upon the ground, it raises two tufts of feathers on the sides of its head, resembling horns; which, while the bird is on wing, are not perceptible. The wings of this bird, when extended, are six feet; his flight is more rapid than the rest of the vulture tribes, as his courage and activity are greater. He pursues and preys upon almost every species of bird; but is most successful in chasing hares, rabbits, young foxes, fawns, and fishes. When pursuing his prey, his flight seems to be the effect of much effort; and it is attended with a great noise. His favourite food is the entrails of animals, whether dead or alive; and though remarkable for voracity, he can endure an abstinence of fourteen days. Gesner relates, that two of this species were caught in the province of Alsace, in a nest constructed upon a tall oak not far from the tower of Misen.

5. V. percnopterus. Aquiline vulture. Quillfeathers black, the outer edges, except of the outermost, hoary. Another variety with the body reddish-ash, spotted with brown, the legs naked. Inhabits Egypt, Syria, and Persia; is encouraged in Cairo to devour dead carcasses, and in Palestine to destroy the vast multitudes of mice that swarm in the fields. In Egypt it was formerly a capital crime to destroy one. See Nat. Hist. Pl. CLXXXIX.

VULTURE, in ornithology. See VULTUR and FALCO.

VULTURINE. a. (vulturinus, Lat.) Belonging to a vulture.

VULVA. Pudendum muliebre. The parts of generation proper to women.

VULVARIA. (from vulva, the womb; sa named from its smell or use in disorders of the womb.) See ATRIPLEX OLIDA.

VURLA, a seaport of Turkey in Asia, in Natolia, situated on the S. side of the gulf of Smyrna, on a bay to which it gives name, 21 miles W. of Smyrna. Lon. 27. 58 E. Lat. 38.27 N.

UVULA. (dim. of uva, a grape.) Columella. The small conical fleshy substance hanging in the middle of the velum pendulum palati, over the root of the tongue. It is composed of the common membrane of the month, and a small muscle resembling a worm, which arises from the union of the palatale bone, and descends to the tip of the uvula. It was called palato staphilinus by Douglas, and staphilinus epistaphilinus by Winslow. By its contraction the uvula is raised up.

UVULARIA. (from uvula, because it cured diseases of the uvula.) The plant which bears this epithet in some pharmacopoeias is the ruscus hypoglossum of Linnéus it was formerly used against relaxation of the uvula, but now laid aside for more adstringeut reme dies.

UVULARIA, in botany, a genus of the class hexandria, order monogynia. Corol sixpetalled, erect; petals with each a nectariferous cavity at the base; filaments very short. Six species, natives of the East or West Indies; one of Bohemia.

UXBRIDGE, a corporate town in Middlesex, with a market on Thursday. The Coln runs through it in two streams, and over the main stream is a stone bridge. A treaty was carried on here between Charles I. and the parliament, in 1644; and the house in which the plenipotentiaries met is still called the Treaty House. Near this town are the remains of an ancient camp. Uxbridge is 15 miles W. by N. of London. Lon. 0. 23 W Lat. 51.31 N.

UXO'RIOUS. a. (uxorius, Lat.) Submis sively fond of a wife; infected with connubial dotage (Milton).

UXO'RIOUSLY. ad. (from urorious.) With fond submission to a wife (Dryden).

UXO'RIOUSNESS. s. (from uxorious) Connubial dotage; fond submission to a wife.

UZBEC TARTARY. See TARTARY.

UZEDA, a town of Spain, in New Castile, capital of a duchy of the same name, with a castle. It is seated on the Cogolludo, 20 miles N. by W. of Alcala, and 26 N.N.E. of Madrid. Lon. 3. 13 W. Lat. 40. 46 N.

UZEL, a town of France, in the department of the North Coast, 17 miles S.W. of St. Brieux. Lon. 2. 52 W. Lat. 48. 16 N.

UZES, a town of France, in the department of Gard, seated in a country abounding in corn, oil, silk, and good wine, 12 miles N. of Nismes, and 20 S.W. of Orange. Lon. 4. 27 E. Lat. 44. 2. N.

W,

WAC

A letter peculiar to the northern languages and people; as the English, Dutch, Polish, and others of Teutonic and Sclavonic original.

The form and the sound of w are excluded from all the languages derived from the Latin; though it is not improbable, says Dr. Johnson, that by our wis expressed the sound of the Roman, and Eolic f. However, the w is sometimes admitted into the French, Italian, &c. in proper names, and other terms borrowed from the languages in which it is originally used.

In English, the w is usually a consonant; and as such, may go before all the vowels, except u; as in want, weapon, winter, world, &c.

It is sometimes also a vowel; and, as such, follows any of the vowels, a, e, o; and unites with them into a kind of double vowel, or diphthong; as in law, ewe, sow, &c. The English w is sounded as in Latin u, in quantum, suadeo, lingua. Its sound is also commonly like the gross, or full u, rapidly pronounced. In French, the sound of the w does not differ from that of the single u, or rather ou. See U.

WAAG, a river of Hungary, which rises in the Carpathian mountains, and falls into the Danube, opposite to the island of

Schut.

WAAL, a river of the United Provinces, being the S. branch from the Rhine below Emmerick. It runs from E. to W. through Guelderland, passes by Nimeguen, Tiel, Bommel, and Gorcum, and falls into the Maese, at Briel.

To WABBLE. v. n. (a low barbarous word.) To move from side to side; to change direction (Moron).

WACHENDORFIA, in botany, a genus of the class triandria, order monogynia. Corol six-petalled, unequal, inferior; capsule threecelled, superior. Five species, natives of the Cape. The three following are cultivated:

1. W. thyrsiflora. Simple-stalked wachen. dorfia. With a thick tuberose root; flowers in shape like those of the yellow asphodel, forming a loose spike, the upper almost upright, the lower nodding; hairy, and saffron without, smooth, bright yellow within.

2. W. paniculata. Panicled wachendorfia. Root perennial, creeping; stalk a foot high; flowers racemed, downy, all directed down

wards.

3. W. hirsuta. Hairy wachendorfia. DifVOL. XI.-PARTII.

WAF

fers from the last chiefly in having hairy leaves.

WACHENHEIM, a town of Germany, in the palatinate of the Rhine, 15 miles W. of Manheim, and 31 E. of Deux Ponts. Lon. 8. 16 E. Lat. 49. 20 N.

WACHOVIA, a tract of land in N. Carolina, situate between the rivers Dan and Yadkin, 10 miles S. of Pilot Mountain, in the county of Surry. It consists of 100,000 acres, purchased by the Moravians, in 1751, and named by them from an estate of count Zinzendorf's in Austria. In 1755, by an act of assembly, it was made a separate parish, called Dobb's parish, and it now contains several flourishing settlements, of which Salem is the principal.

WACHTENDONCK, a town of Prussian Guelderland, seated in a morass, on the river Niers, five miles S. of Gueldres. Lon. 6. 7 E. Lat. 51. 23 N.

WACKE, or WACKEN, in mineralogy, a species of BASALTES, which see.

WADD, or WADDING, in gunnery, a stopple of paper, hay, straw, old rope-yarns, or tow, rolled firmly into the form of a ball, and forced into a gun upon the powder, to keep it close in the chamber; or put up close to the shot, to keep it from rolling out, as well as to prevent the powder, when fired, from dilating round the sides of the ball, by its windage, as it passes through the chace, which would considerably diminish the effort of the powder.

WADD. See PLUMBAGO.

WA'DDING. s. (from wad, vad, Islandic.) A kind of soft stuff loosely woven, with which the skirts of coats are stuffed out.

To WA'DDLE. v. n. (wagghelen, Dutch.) To shake, in walking, from side to side; to deviate in motion from a right line (Pope).

To WADE. v. n. (from vadum, Latin.) 1. To walk through the waters; to pass water without swimming (More). 2. To pass dif ficultly and laboriously (Addison).

WADSTENA, a town of Sweden, in the province of E. Gothland, remarkable for its castle, built by Gustavas Vasa, in 1544, and inhabited by his son Magnus, who was insane. It is seated on the E. side of the lake Wetter, 160 miles S. W. of Stockholm. Lon. 15. 37 E. Lat. 58. 18 N.

WAFER. s. (wafel, Dutch.) 1. A thin cake (Pope). 2. The bread given in the eucharist by the Romanists (Hall), 3. Paster made to close letters.

B

WAFERS for sealing letters are made by mixing fine flour with glair of eggs, isinglass, and a little yeast, and beating the mass into a paste; then spreading it, when thinned with. gum-water, on even tin plates, and drying it in a stove, and cutting it for use. The different colours may be given by tinging the paste with brazil or vermilion for red; indigo, or verditer, &c. for blue; saffron, turmeric, or gamboge, &c. for yellow, &c.

To WAFT. v. a. (probably from wave.) 1. To carry through the air, or on the water (Pope). 2. To buoy; to make Hoat; to hinder from sinking (Brown). 3. To beckon; to inform by a sign of any thing moving.

To WAFT. v. n. To float (Dryden). WAFT. s. (from the verb.) 1. A floating body (Thomson). 2. Motion of a streamer. WAFTAGE. s. (from waft.) Carriage by water or air: not in use (Shakspeare). WA'FTER. s. (from waft.) A passage boat (Ainsworth).

WA'FTURE. s. (from waft.) The act of waving not in use (Shakspeare).

To WAG. v. a. (pazian, Saxon; waggon, Dutch.) To move lightly; to shake slightly (Swift).

To WAG. v. n. 1. To be in quick or ludicrous motion (Shaks.). 2. To go; to pack off (Shakspeare). 3. To be moved (Dryden) WAG. S. (pogan, Saxon, to cheat.) Any one ludicrously mischievous; a merry droll (Addison).

WAGE. s. the plural wages is now only used. (wagen, German.) 1. Pay given for service (Shaks.). 2. Gage; pledge (Ains.).

To WAGE. v. a. (waegen, German, to attempt any thing dangerous.). To attempt; to venture (Shaks.). 2. To make; to carry on (Dryden). 3. (from wage, wages.) To set to hire: not in use (Spenser). 4. To take to hire; to hire for pay; to hold in pay: obsolete (Davies). 5. (In law.) When an action of debt is brought against any one, the defendant may wage his law; that is, swear, and certain persons with him, that he owes nothing to the plaintiff in manner as he hath declared. The offer to make the oath is called wager of law (Blount). See WAGER.

WA'GER. s. (from wage, to venture.) 1. A bet; any thing pledged upon a chance or performance (Bentley). 2. Subject on which bets are laid (Sidney).

To WAGER. v. a. (from the noun.) To lay; to pledge as a bet (Shaks.).

WAGER of law, a particular mode of proceeding, whereby, in an action of debt, brought upon a simple contract between the parties, without any deed or record, the defendant may discharge himself by swearing in court, in the presence of compurgators, that he owes the plaintiff nothing, in manner and form as he has declared, and his compurgators swear, that they believe what he says is true. And this waging his law is sometimes called making his law. It being at length considered, that this waging of law offered too great a temptation to perjury, by degrees new reme

dies were devised, and new forms of action introduced, wherein no defendant is at liberty to wage his law, as in assumpsit and trover Also when a new statute inflicts a penalty, and gives an action of debt to recover it, it is usual to add, in which no wager of law shall be allowed.

WAGERS. In general a wager may be considered as legal, if it be not an incitement to a breach of the peace, or to immorality, or if it do not affect the feelings or interest of a third person, or expose him to ridicule; or if it be not against sound policy.

WAGES. Sec WAGE.

WAGGERY. s (from wag.) Mischievous merriment; roguish trick; sarcastical garety (Locke).

WA'GGISH. a. (from wag.) Knavishly merry; merrily mischievous; frolicsome (L'Es trange).

WA'GGISHNESS. s. (from waggish.) Merry mischief (Bacon).

To WAGGLE. v. n. (wagghelen, Ger.) To waddle; to move from side to side (Sidney).

WAGON. s. (poegan, Saxon; whaeghens, Dutch; vagn, Islandic.) 1. A heavy carriage for burdens (Knolles). 2. A chariot: not in use (Spenser).

WA'GONER. s. (from wagon.) One who drives a wagon (Dryden).

WAGTAIL, in ornithology. See Mo

TACILLA.

WAHABEE, the name of a new sect in Arabia, which is said to threaten the extirpation of the faith of Mahomed. This sect com. menced little more than 40 years ago; its author being Abdul Waheb, a private individual, who, after having devoted himself many years to science, proclaimed himself the reformer of the Mahomedan religion. In substance, however, he adhered to it, acknowledg ing Mahomed as the prophet of God; but forbidding to invoke him to intercede with God, and enjoining that prayer be made to God alone. He held that the koran was a book of divine inspiration; but denied its having existed externally in the essence of the Deity. He condemned the worshipping of saints, and a few other abuses. But he propagated his opinions principally, by adding to the inducements of religious zeal, the temptation of plunder; declaring that all the property those who did not become proselytes to his opinions was unholy, and became confiscated for the use of his followers. In 1802 the Wahabees amounted to about 90,000: and since that period they are said to have increas ed. See Lord Valentia's Travels, vol. i. p. 385, &c. Waring's Travels in Persia, &c.

of

WAHLBOMIA, in botany, a genus of the class polyandria, order tetragynia. Calyx fourleaved; petals four; fruit oblong; styles per manent. One species only, a native of Java.

WAID. a. Crushed (Shakspeare).

WAIFS are goods which are stolen and waved by a felon in his flight from those who pursue him, which are forfeited; and though

waif is generally spoken of goods stolen, yet if a man be pursued with hue and cry as a felon, and he flee and leave his own goods, these will be forfeited as goods stolen; but they are properly fugitive's goods, and not forfeited till it be found before the coroner, or otherwise of record, that he fled for the felony. See ESTRAYS.

WAIGATS, straits between Nova Zembla and Russia, through which the Dutch attempted to find a N.E. passage to China, and sailed as far as 75 E. lon. in lat. 72. 25 N.

To WAIL. v. a. (gualare, Ital.) To moan; to lament; to bewail (Pope).

To WAIL. v. n. To grieve audibly; to express sorrow (Ezekiel).

WAIL. S. Audible sorrow (Thomson). WAILING. s. (from wail.) Lamentation; moan; audible sorrow (Knolles). WAI'LFUL. a. (from wail and full.) Sorrowful; mournful (Shakspeare).

WAIN. s. (contracted from wagon.) A carriage (Spenser).

WAIN (Charles's), in astronomy. The vulgar name given to the figure formed by seven of the most remarkable stars in the constellation of Ursa major.

WAINFLEET, a town in Lincolnshire, with a market on Saturday. It is seated near the sea, in a fenny part of the country, and on the river Witham, 14 miles N.E. of Boston, and 130 N. by E. of London. Lon. 0. 20 E. Lat. 53. 10 N.

WA'INROPE. s. (wain and rope.) A large cord, with which the load is tied on the wagon; cartrope (Shakspeare).

WAINSCOT. 3. (wageschot, Dutch.) The inner wooden covering of a wall (Arbuthnot). To WAINSCOT. v. a. (waegenschotten, Dutch.) 1. To line walls with boards (Bacon). 2. To line buildings with different materials (Grew).

WAIR. s. A piece of timber two yards long, and a foot broad (Bailey).

WAIST. s. (gwase, Welsh.) 1. The smallest part of the body; the part below the ribs (Milton).

WAIST, in ship-building, that part of a ship which is contained between the quarterdeck and forecastle, being usually a hollow space, with an ascent of several steps to either of those places. When the waist of a merchani-ship is only one or two steps of descent from the quarter-deck and fore-castle, she is said to be galley-built; but when with six or seven steps, she is called frigate-built.

WAISTCOAT. s. (waist and coat.; An inner coat ; a coat close to the body.

WAISTERS, in naval affairs, people stationed in the waist in working the ship. As their business requires only strength, without art or judgment, they are commonly selected from the strongest landsmen and ordinary

seamen.

To WAIT. v. a. (wachten, Dutch.) 1. To expect; to stay for (Shuks.). 2. To attend; to accompany with submission or respect (Dryden). 3. To attend as a consequence of

something (Rowej. 4. To watch as an enemy (Job). To WAIT. v. n. 1. To expect; to stay in expectation (Job). 2. To pay servile or submissive attendance (Denham). 3. To attend (Shaks.). 4. To stay; not to depart from (South). 5. To stay by reason of some hinderance. 6. To look watchfully (Bacon). 7. T lie in ambush as an enemy (Milton). 8. To follow as a consequence (Decay of Piely).

WAIT. S. Ambush; insidious and secret at tempts (Numbers).

WA'ITER. s. (from wait.) An attendant; one who attends for the accommodation of others (Ben Jonson).

WAITING GENTLEWOMAN. WAʼITING MAID. WAITING WOMAN. s. (from wait.) An upper servant who attends on a lady in her chamber (Swift).

WAIVE, in law, a woman that is put out of the protection of the law.

She is called waive, as being forsaken of the law; and not outlaw, as a man is; by reason women cannot be of the decenna, and are not sworn in leets to the king, nor to the law, as men are; who are therefore within the law; whereas women are not, and so cannot be outlawed, since they never were within it.

In this sense we meet with waviaria mulieris, as of the same import with utlegatio viri.

WAIVER, signifies the passing by of a thing, or a refusal to accept it: sometimes it is applied to an estate, or something conveyed to a man, and sometimes to plea, &c. and a waiver on disagreement as to goods and chattels, in case of a gift, will be effectual.

To WAKE. v. n. (wakan, Gothic; pacian, Saxon; waecken, Dutch.) 1. To watch; not to sleep (Locke). 2. To be roused from sleep (Milton). 3. To cease to sleep (Den.). 4. To be quick; to be alive (Dryden). 5. To be put in action; to be excited (Milton).

To WAKE. v. a. (peccian, Saxon; wecken, Dutch.) 1. To rouse from sleep (Dryden). 2. To excite; to be put in motion or action (Prior). 3. To bring to life again, as if from the sleep of death (Milton).

WAKE OF A SHIP, is the smooth water astern when she is under sail. This shews the way she has gone in the sea, whereby the mariners judge what way she makes. For if the wake be right a-stern, they conclude she makes her way forwards; but if the wake be to leeward a point or two, then they conclude she falls to the leeward of her course. When one ship, giving chase to another, is got as far into the wind as she, and sails directly after her, they say, she has got into her wake. A ship is said to stay to the weather of her wake, when, in her staying, she is so quick, that she does not fall to leeward upon a tack, but that when she is tacked, her wake is to the leeward; and it is a sign she feels her helm very well, and is quick of steerage.

WAKE is the eve-feast of the dedication of churches, which is kept with feasting and rural diversions. The learned Mr. Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, has given a par