A B 1 



fettled hahitalicns and rc;nilar means of fubfiftcncT. They led 

 a wandering Kfe, and cuniid all llieir pon'clTions vvitli thtm 

 in wnjj^Toiis, wliicii were tlnrir lioufes. 'i'lieir food was tlic 

 flcdi of'tlieir fliicks and lierils milk, and thccfc, aiid chiefly 

 marc's milk. They were luiacquaintcd with commerce, and 

 tliougli they polfeQed lands, did not cultivate them. From 

 oliieni, who perl'oniud tliis office, they received a tribute 

 fiilficient to fiipuly them with t'lj mere necefTarics of life. 

 The)- never took arms but to ol.ll^c thole to make good a 

 promife that was violated. They paid tribate to none of 

 the r.iighb juriiig tlUlef ; and d -pcnded on thi ir own ttrength 

 and courage to repel any inv:iiion. They were a people cf 

 great integrity. 'I'lius Homer has deicribcd them, A-?iro; 

 Ti ;.A«;;aTov,- iti' » -rs-j;. Strabo, torn. i. p. 4;4-5. 4^0. 478. 



ADIATHAK, iii S.ripiure Hiflory, the ton of Ahime- 

 lech, and the tcth hiirh-p.ieil of the Jews. V\"aen Saul, 

 rcfenting his f^thtr's landnefs to David, malTacred the 

 priciia, lie alone cfcaped. Having attached himlelf to the 

 intercll of David, he became the liigh-piicft, though 

 Saul conferred the office o!i Zadok. But attcrvfnrds, con- 

 fpiriiig with Adonijuh, Solomon deprived him of his ofiice, 

 aud banilhed him. I Kii.gs, ii. 26. 



A 13 in, in the Heiirriv Chronolii^, the name of the firft 

 month of the ecclefiaftica! year. This month was afterwards 

 called Nif;m, and aiiuvtrs to part of our March and Apn'. 



ABIES. ini?aAj/iy,aSpeciesof the PiNtis. SccFir-tree. 



ABIES marina, or Sia-^r, in Natural Hijhry, a name 

 given to the Sexti;laria alteUna. The Cuprejfm, a fpe- 

 cics of ANTiPATHts, is by fome writers denominated .('/^/Vj 

 rtSa. 



^V>\GA. hcrli, the groutt/i-PtsE or cham*:pitvs. 



ABIOEATU5rt See Abactus. 



ABIHU, one of the fonsof Aarom, who, within eight 

 davs after the confecration of Aaron and his fons, and the 

 dedication of the tdbernaclc, was confumed with fire, for 

 offering incenfe with (Irange fire. Lev. x. 2. 



ABII Scylh^, in jlnciznl Geography, a people, fuppofed 

 by Strdbo (torn. i. p. 454.) to be tiie European Samiatii, 

 bordering on tiie Thracians and Bailarncc ; they are fomc- 

 times CiJled jivii, and are commended by Curtius (de Rebus 

 Gellis AU-x. Magn. torn. ii. p. 525. Ed. Snakenb.) for their 

 love of jiiilice. See Asians. 



ABIJAH, in Scnp:ure Ilijiory, the fon of Jeroboam, 

 who was the firil kiiig of the ten tribes of Ifracl. Ah'tjah 

 predicted, that he would be the only perfon of his family 

 who Ihould receive funeral honours. I Kings, xiv. i ^. 



Abijam was the name of a king of JuJah, who fuc- 

 cecded Rchoboam. After a reign of three yeare, during 

 v.hich he imitated the impiety and bad condiicl of his fa- 

 ther, he died, A. M. 3049, ante A. D. 955. 



ABILA, in Ancient Geography, See A.iii.i.-Keramim, 

 and Abf. L-.9/''i/,iCT, and alfo the next article. 



ABILENE, in Ancient Geography, a fmall province in 

 Ca;Io-Sjrria, between Libanus and Antilibanus, whereof Ly-' 

 fanias » ;.» for fome time tctravch. Abela or Ali'a, the ca- 

 pital of this province", was N. of Dalnafcus and of Paneas, and 

 S. of Hc'.iopoli?. It is mentioned by Polybius, (Ilill. 1. xvi.) 

 Pliny, (Hill. 1. XV. c. iS.) and others. See Luke, iii. i. 

 Gibbi-a (Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Ro- 

 man Empire, vol. ix. p. 400. 8vo.) info.-ms us, that the 

 pr- luce and manufaclures of the country were annually col- 

 itcled in the f \ir of Alyla, about thirty miles from the city, 

 and that they fumidied a rich fpoil to the Sai-acens after the 

 coiKVtcft fif Damali-us, A. D. 634. 



ABILITY n ufed, in La<U), for a capacity of doing 

 certain tluugs, relalin;^ cither to the acquifition of property, 

 or the transferring of it. 



fe 



A B I 



AlHily in this fenfe coincides •with capacity, and ftsnds op- 

 pofed to dijabilily or non-ability. 



Every pcrfon^s fuppofed to be abL,\.e. to have the power of 

 taking and difpofing of effects, whom the law does notdifable. 



Tiie king's ilTue are of abilily to inherit in En- l.-nd whcre- 

 foever born ; and children of fubjects born beyond fea, may 

 inherit, if their birth were within the allegiance of the king. 



ABIMELECH,in&T/S/«rf7/(/?/3rv,thenameoftwok;ng9 

 of Gerar, a country of the Phihftines, one of whom was 

 contemporai-)' with Abraham, who took away Sarah and de- 

 termined to many her, but being warned of his danger, re- 

 ilored her to her huiband. She was Abraham's filter, as 

 Weil as wife, being cf the fame father, but by another mo- 

 ther. He afterwards made confidemblc prefcnts to Abra- 

 ham; and they entered into a mutual covenant at Beerlheba. 

 Geu. ch. XX. xxi. A. M. 2107, ante A. D. 1897. The 

 other Abimeltch was, probably, the fon and fucccflor of the 

 former. Ifaac employed the lame artifice which had been 

 pra6tifed by his father Abraham, iii order to preferve Rebe- 

 kah from the danger to which Ihe was cxpofed. But when 

 AbimeLch, who was captivated by her beauty, difcovered 

 that fhe was his wife, he forbad his fubjeits, upon pain of 

 death, from doing any injury to Ifaac or Rebekah. The 

 fubfequent proiperity of Ilaac excited the envy of the Phi* 

 liftines, up<in which Abimekch ordered him to depart from 

 them. However, he afterward"; formed a covenant with him. 

 A. M. 2200, ante A. D. 1804. 



Abimclech was alfo the name of the natural fon of Gideon, 

 by his concubine. His violent adts and death are recorded 

 in Judges, ch. ix. A. M. 2769, ante A. D. 1235. 



ABINEAU, in Geography, a port of America, on the 

 north fide of the I„»-e Erie, and about 1 3 miles W. S. W. 

 from fort Erie. 



ABINGDON, a market town of Berks, fituatcd on the 

 Thames. It derives its name from an ancient abbey. The 

 affizes, feflions, and county meetings are often held here. It 

 has a good hall for the alTizes, Sec. Here are two churches 

 faid to have been erected by the abbots of AbingJon. The 

 ftrects are well built, and centre in a fpacious corn-market. 

 It fends one member to parliament. Great quantities of 

 malt are made here and fent in barges to London. It is feven 

 miles S. of Oxtord, and ^6 W. of London. This town is 

 faid to have been built by CiiTa, king of Suflex, A. D. 5I7» 

 and fuppofed by Bilhop Gibfon to be the place called in the 

 Saxon annals, Clovtjhoo, where two fynods are faid to have 

 been held, one in 742, and the other in 822. W. long. 

 t' 12'. N. lat. 51° 42'. 



Abimgdon is alfo the name of the chief town of 'Walhing- 

 ton county in Virginia; about 260 miles in a direct line from 

 Richmond. N. lat. 36° 30'. 



Abingdon is alfo a town of Harford county in Mary- 

 land, 1 2 miles S. W. from Havre de Grace, and 20 N. E. 

 from Bdtimore. C .leftuiy college, inflituted by the me- 

 thodifts r- 1789, is in this town. 



AB-INTESTATE, in the Ciw/ Za^t-, is app'Jed to a 

 perfon who inherits fi-om one who died inteftate. 



ABIOSI,^0i!'H, in B:ogrpphy,7xn Italian phyfician and aftro- 

 nomer, whohved towards the end of the 15th century and 

 beginning of the 1 6th. His Dialogue upon Aitrology, 4to, 

 Venice, 1494, has been put into the Index Expurgatorius. 



ABIPONIANS, in lliJlory, a tribe of American Indians, 

 who formerly inhabited the diftridt of Chaks in Paraguay ; 

 but who have nnce been compelled by the hoftihties of the 

 Spaniards to remove fouthward, into the territorv lying be- 

 tween Santa Fe and St. Jago. M. Dobrizhoffer lived feven 

 years in their country, a.-id publiihed an account of them in 

 1785. He fays, their number is fmall, and does not exceed 

 2 jooo, 



