T A M 



T A M 



l.emy to the Damnouii or Dumnonii. Mr. Hortley thinks 

 it was Saltafli ; but Mr. Camden and Mr. Baxti-r fiippofc 

 it, more probably, to be Tamertoii, which flill retains its 

 ancient name. 



Tama K A, in Geography, a town of Morocco, on the 

 loaft of the Athintic ; 30 miles W. of Tanidant. — Alfo, 

 a fea-port town on the N.W. coafl of the illand of Soco- 

 tora, and refideiice of the king. 



Tamaba I/les, or //lands of Idols, a duller of iflands 

 near the coait of Sierra Leone. N. lat. ^° 40'. 



TA^(ARA', in Botany, the Hindoo name of a very cele- 

 brated plant. (See our article Cyaml'x, written by the late 

 Rev. Mr. Wood.) The above name fhould feem to origi- 

 nate from the Hebrew "IJ^H, Tamar, a Palm-tree, whence 

 dates are called Tamara by the Spaniards ; and it may 

 allude to the form of the feeds of the Cyamus, rcfembling 

 dates ; or to their llmilar ufe as an oriental article of food. 

 Tamar is alfo the Arabic name of the fame fruit. See 

 Tamarindus. 



TAMARACA, Tamarica, or Itamaraca, in Geo- 

 graphy, a diftrift of Brafil, in the jurifdittion of Fernam- 

 buco. It has its name from an ifland on the coail, near the 

 mouth of the river Tamaraca, which conllitutes the prin- 

 cipal part of its diftrift, though the territory thereof ex- 

 tends inland between 30 and 40 leagues, having Parayba on 

 the north, Fernambnco on the fouth, the ocean on the eail, 

 aiid imfubdued Indians on the weft. It was reckoned one 

 of the moft ancient and flourilhing captainfhips in Bratil ; 

 but Parayba and Fernainbuco have lince exceeded it. The 

 ifland is parted from the main land by a very narrow chan- 

 nel. It is fertile and pleafant enough ; producing large 

 quantities of Brafil wood, cotton, cocoa-nuts, fugar, melons, 

 citrons, &c. befides a good deal of timber for fuel and 

 other purpofes. It is about nine miles in length, and three 

 in breadth, and about Z2 in circuit. It has a commodious 

 haven on the fouth fide, with fome good fprings and rivulets 

 of frefh water. The entrance into the port is by a channel 

 of between 15 and 16 feet water, commanded by a caftle, 

 built on an eminence, and formerly taken by the Dutch : who 

 alfo built Fort Orangj at the moutii of the channel, which 

 was inacceffible, by reafon of the marfhes furrounding it ; 

 fo that the veffels that failed dov/n from the illand were ex- 

 pofed to it, and they had in fome meafure flopped all the 

 avenues from the Portuguefe. This illand, and the terri- 

 tory on the continent belonging to it, pay 3000 ducats to 

 the governor of the captainfhip, and in it are reckoned to 

 be about 22 fugar-mills. The French had formerly a can- 

 ton or fettlement on this coail, ftill called from them " Porto 

 dos Francefe ;" but the Portuguefe obliged them to eva- 

 cuate it. The capital, called " Noftra Segnora de Con- 

 ceizao," or " Da Tamaraca," ilands at the entrance into 

 the river of the latter name ; and near it is a fmall callle 

 with a redoubt, commanding the avenues ; and about four 

 miles N. of the mouth of the river is the famous point de- 

 nominated " Punta Pedro." 



Tamaraca, a river of Brafil, which runs into the At- 

 lantic, S. lat. 7° 52'. 



TAMARIL, a town of Spain, in Catalonia, fituated 

 about a mile from the fea-coaft ; z miles N.E. of Tar- 

 ragona. 



TAMARINDUS, in Botany, the Tamarind-tree, is fo 

 called from Taituir, which is Hebrew for a Palm-tree, (and 

 likewife the Arabic appellation of its fruit, the Date,) com- 

 bined with the Latin word Indus, Indian. The fonn of the 

 pod, and its ufe as an article of food, may well have given 

 rife to the name. (See Tamara'.) — Linn. Gen. 23. 

 Schreb. 450. WiUd. Sp. PI. v. 3. 577. Mart. Miil. 



12 



Dift. Y. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 4. 134. .Tuff. 347. 



Lamarck Illuftr. t. 2y. Grertn. t. 146 Clafs and order, 



Triandria Monogynia, Linn. Monadlphia Tritmdria, Schreb. 

 Willd. Nat. Ord. I.omentaccf, Linn. Leg>imino/<t, Juif. 



Gen. Ch. Cat. Periantli inferior, of one leaf : tube tur- 

 binate, comprelfed, tapering at the bafe, oblique at the 

 mouth, permanent ; limb in four deep, ovate, acute, flat- 

 tifii, reflexed, coloured, deciduous fegmonts ; the upper 

 and lower ones rather the broadeil. Cor. Petals three, 

 ovate, acute, concave, crenate, wavy, reflexed, the length 

 of the calyx, inferted into the mouth of the tube ; the two 

 lateral ones rather the largeft. Stum. Filaments three, in 

 ferted into the mouth of the calyx in the vacancy oppolite 

 to the uppermoft petal, awl-lhapcd, as long as the corolla, 

 connefted in their lower half, curved upwards ; anthers 

 ovate, large, incumbent. There are befides feven rudiments 

 of llamens ; five of them fetaceous threads, capitate, very 

 fhort, alternate with the above, connedled in their lower 

 part, two lower than the reft ; and two minute briftles, pro- 

 ceeding from the calyx beneatli the filaments, and Iving upon 

 them. Pijl. Germen oblong, comprefted, incurved, feated 

 on a ftalk, which fprings from the bottom of the calyx, and 

 is attached longitudinally to the back of its tube within, 

 the projefting part downy along its upper edge ; ftyle awl- 

 fiiaped, afcending, downy at its lower edge, rather longer 

 than the ftamens ; ftigma tumid, obtufe. Perie. Legume 

 oblong, comprefted, obtufe, with a point, fweUing at the 

 feeds, of one cell, not burfting ; its coat double ; the outer 

 dry and brittle ; inner membranous ; a quantity of foft 

 pulp being lodged between tlie two. Seeds few, orbicular, 

 fomewhat angular, flattened, hard, poliflied, with a central 

 circumfcribed di(l< at each fide. 



Eft. Ch. Calyx in four deep fegments. Petals three. 

 Barren filaments feven. Style one. Legume pulpy- within. 

 I. T. indica. Tamarind-tree. Linn. Sp. PI. 48. Willd. 

 n. I. Ait. n. I. Jacq. Amer. 10. t. 10. and t. 179. 

 f. 98. Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 166. (Tamarindus; Rumph. 

 Amboin. v. 2. 90. t. 23. Ger. Em. 1607. Balam-puUi ; 

 Rheede Hort. Malab. v. I. 39. t. 23.) — This tree, a native 

 of Egypt, Arabia, and the Eaft Indies, is generally pre- 

 ferved, rather than cultivated, in both Indies for the fake, 

 both of its ftiade, and its acid, cooling, and highly grateful, 

 as well as falutary, fruit ; the pulp of uliicli, mixed with 

 boiled fugar, is frequently imported into Europe, and highly 

 efteemed. The triini is loftv, and of coniiderable thicknefs, 

 crowned with wide-extended branches, bearing umbrageous 

 tufts of alternate, abruptly pinnate, fmooth, bright-grccen 

 leaves, each conipofed of many pair of elliptic-oblong, 

 feffile, entire leajlets, rather glaucous beneath. Flowers 

 in fimple clufters, terminating tlic ftiort lateral branches. 

 Petals yellow, elegantly veined with red. Fruit pendu- 

 lous, like large beans. Gartner obferves that the Well 

 Indian Tamarind pod is fliorter than what Rheede and 

 Rumphius reprefent, and has fewer feeds. Hence he 

 diftinguiflies two fpccies, which appear from hiftory as 

 well as obfervation to be mere varieties, the plant being 

 more at home in the eaftern than in the weftern fide of 

 the globe, though .-ilmoll perfedlly naturalized in the 

 latter. It is often feen in our lloves, but feldom in bloftom. 

 — As Dr. Woodville lias given an original coloured plate of 

 this interefting plant, drawn by Mr. Sowcrby from a fpeci- 

 men that flowered in Kew garden, and the only one of au- 

 thority extant ; we conceive his work, in this inftancc, if 

 not in every other, might have been cited witli advantage, 

 by our friend Mr. Alton, in tlic Hortus Kcwenfis. 



Tamakinhls, in Gardening, contains a plant of the exotic 

 tree kind, of which the fpecics is the tamarind-trcc (T. in- 

 dica) ; 



