LAN 



LAN 



tion of such words : so that in the early 

 languages all compounds would be form- 

 ed by the combination of simple articula- 

 tions. 5. The greater part of consonant 

 sounds cannot be sounded singly without 

 vowels, nor together, without vowels in- 

 tervening. In many cases this is evident 

 to the ear ; and where it is not perceived, 

 it often is the fact, though the acquired 

 rapidity of utterance may render it very 

 little perceptible. 6. Some languages do 

 not admit of an}- two consonant sounds 

 tog-ether. The Tartar language always 

 requires a vowel between two conso- 

 nants The Russian, we believe, does 

 the same. The Chinese never join two 

 consonants, unless we must except tig ; 

 but this appears to be only a simple 

 sound, though represented by two of our 

 letters. VA ith respect to the Chinese 

 the point is of consequence ; because 

 there is great reason to believe that they 

 came from the stock of the Egyptians, 

 before there had been any considerable 

 addition to their vocabulary by combina- 

 tions of sounds, and before the transition 

 had been made from hieroglyphical to al- 

 phabetical writing. It is true, many of 

 the Chinese words end in consonants, 

 which seems to render improbable the 

 position advanced: but it is to be observ- 

 ed, that in such cases the words should be 

 considered as of two syllables ; for it is 

 impossible, in continued speaking, to 

 utter a complete consonant sound at the 

 end of a word, without emitting a vowel 

 sound. /.That the Hebrew, which is to 

 be considered as a representative of all 

 the cognate eastern languages, never 

 sounded a consonant without a vowel, 

 may be inferred from this circumstance, 

 that those who invented denotements of 

 vowel sounds, while at least the leading 

 features of the pronunciation remained, 

 thought it necessary to add, or suppose 

 understood, a vowel sound afier every 

 consonant. 



Respecting the Chinese language, our 

 readers will find many particulars in the 

 article before referred to, viz. WB.ITIXG, 

 origin of, alphabetical. 



LANIARD, a short piece of rope or 

 line fastened to several machines in a 

 ship, and serving to secure them in a par- 

 ticular place, or to manage them more 

 conveniently; such are the laniards of the 

 gun-ports, the laniard of the buoy, the 

 laniard of the cat-hook, &c. 



The principal laniards used in a ship 

 are those employed to extend the shrouds 

 and -stays of the rnasts by their communi- 

 cation with the dead-eyes and hearts, so 



as to form a sort of mechanical power, re- 

 sembling that of a tackle. 



LANUJS, the shrike, in natural histo- 

 ry, a genus of birds of the order Pico?. 

 Generic character: bill straight! sh, with 

 a tooth or notch near the end of the upper 

 mandible ; the tongue jagged at the end ; 

 outer toe connected with the middle one 

 so far as the first joint. These birds are 

 ranked by Gmelin with the Accipitres, 

 and have been by others placed in the or- 

 der Passeres ; according to Kramer, Sco- 

 poli, and Pennant, however, they most 

 appropriately attach to the Picae. There 

 are, according to Gmelin, fifty-six spe- 

 cies. Latham enumerates forty-nine, of 

 which it will be sufficient to notice the 

 following : L. excubitor, the great shrike, 

 is about the length of ten inches, and 

 found in France in great numbers, but 

 rare in England. It subsists on insects 

 and small birds, seizing the last by the 

 throat and strangling them, and then fix- 

 ing them (as some naturalists have re- 

 ported) on a thorn, from which it tears 

 them piece-meal and devours them. To 

 decoy them within its reach, it imitates 

 the songs of many birds, which approach, 

 delighted by the sounds, and unsuspi- 

 cious of the danger. It is a favourite 

 bird with husbandmen, as it is consider- 

 ed by them a mortal enemy to rats, mice, 

 and other species of vermin. It, how- 

 ever, prefers mountainous and secluded 

 situations to the neighbourhood of man- 

 kind. It appears contented in confine- 

 ment, but is completely silent in it with 

 respect to any song. It may often be 

 perceived to hang its food, before de- 

 vouring it, on the wires of its cage. See 

 Aves, Plate VIII. fig. 4. 



L. colluris, or the reel-backed shrike, is 

 much more frequently to be met with in 

 England than the last species. It is par- 

 ticularly fond of grass hoppers and bee- 

 tles, which, as indeed various other arti- 

 cles of its food, it will stick upon a thorn. 

 The manners of this species and the last 

 are, in fact, extremely similar. It imi- 

 tates the sounds of other birds, to decoy 

 them to destruction. During incubation, 

 the female discovers herself to any per- 

 son approaching her nest by violent cla- 

 mours of alarm. In St. Domingo there is 

 a species of these birds daring in, the ex- 

 treme, particularly in the breeding sea- 

 son, in which they will attack every bin! 

 that approaches, without hesitation or 

 distinction. In Carolina there is another 

 species equally intrepid and ferocious. 

 They will assail the crow, and even the 

 eagle, if it attempts to intrude upon thtir 



