V o u 



extinft and partly mingled with the populace. They were 

 formerly under Tartar proteftion ; hut in changing their 

 old mailers for the Ruffian fovercigjity, they alfo quitted 

 their paftoral life for the occupations of fettled hufbandry, 

 and turned their tents into permanent houfes. Their num- 

 ber is not inconfidcrable : in the government of Ufa, there 

 are about 15,000, and in that of Vixtka, 30,000 males. 

 Tooke's Ruffia, vol. i. 



VOTIVE Medals, are thofe on v/hich the vows of the 

 people for the emperors, or emprcfles, are expreffed. 



The public vows, made every five, ten, or twenty years, 

 are more often found round the edges of medals, than 

 on the faces of it, at leaft under the wellern empire ; for in 

 the eaftern the cafe is different : witnefs the medal of M. 

 Aurelius the younger, where the reverfe reprefents the vows 

 made at the time of his marriage, vota publica. And on 

 Greek medals, AHMOT ETXAI, which they fometimes 

 exprefs by the two initial letters, A. E. according to 

 F. Hardouin's conjefture, which may be admitted in cer- 

 tain medals, where the AHM. E3. that is, AHMAPXIKHS 

 ESOTIIAS, does not well agree. Witnefs alfo the medal of 

 Antonine, vota suscepta decennalia. 



The origin of vows, and votive medals, is given by M. 

 Du Cange thus ; Auguftus feigning himfelf willing to quit 

 the empire, and having twice, at the prayers of the fenate, 

 condefcended to hold it for ten years longer, it grew into a 

 cuftom to make frefh public prayers, facrifices, and games, 

 for his continuing it, at the ten years' end ; and thefe they 

 called decennalia, or -vota decennalia. 



Under the eaftern emperors, thefe vows were repeated 

 every five years : hence it is, that, after Dioclefian's 

 time, we find on medals voTis v. XV. &c. which praftice 

 continued till the time of Theodofius, when Chriftianity 

 being well eftablilhcd, a ceremony that had fome remains of 

 heathenifm in it was fet afide. So that the vOTis MULTis, 

 on a medal of Majorianus, muft be a very different thing ; 

 and no other, doubtlefs, than a kind of acclamation, like 



that PLURA NATALIA FELICITER. 



Votive Mafs. See Mass. 



VOTOKI, in Geography, a town of Japan, in the ifland 

 of Ximo ; 25 miles N.W. of Funai. 



VOTOMITA, in Botany, from Fotomit, the Indian 

 name of the tree, Aubl. Guian. 90. t. 35. Juff. Gen. 

 382. Sec Glossoma. 



VOTUM, Vow. See Vow. 



VoTUM, in our Ancient Lam Booh, is ufed for niiptia, 

 or marriage : fo, dies •votorum is the wedding-day, Fleta, 

 lib. iv. cap. 2. part 16. " Si donatarius ad alia vota convo- 

 laverit, &c." See Marriage. 



VOUACAPOUA, in Botany, the Caribbean name of a 

 tree in Aublet's fupplcmcnt, p. 10. t. 373, thought by 

 that author the fame as the jindira, or jingelin, of Pifo and 

 Marcgravc, in their hillories of Brafil, p. 81. of the for- 

 mer, and 100. of the latter. Juffieu, in his Gen. PI. 363, 

 feems to think both very near to Geopfr^a, fee that 

 article. 



Aublct dcfcribcs his plant as a very lofty tree, whofe 

 trunk is 60 feet, or more, in height, and two feet, at leaf!, 

 in diameter. The wood is ycllowifh-white, deep red at the 

 heart, which turns black in drying. The head is formed of 

 numerous branches, fprcading every way, with alternate, 

 flalkcd, pinnate leaves, compofed of from two to four pair 

 of ovate, pointed, entire leaflets, with an odd one, all 

 finely downy beneath, about four inches long and two 

 broad. Slipulas in pairs, deciduous. Aublet could never 

 meet with the Jloiuers. The fruit grows in large clufters, 

 being an obovate bivalve capfule, or perhaps legume, flcfhy 



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when young, dry, but thick and firm, when ripe ; externally 

 downy ; reddilh within. Seed folitary, large, oval, with a 

 thin brown fkin ; its cotyledons firm, whitifh, bitter. 



The wood is very hard and durable, much ufed in building 

 and fences. The heart is employed in cabinet-work, and 

 ferves even to make pefUcs and mortars. 



VOUAH, in Commerce, a long meafure at Siam, in the 

 Eaft Indies ; which is one inch fhorter than the French 

 toife, and therefore mpafures 6 feet 3} inches Englilh. 

 Two foks make i ken ; two kens i vouali ; 20 vouahs 

 I fen ; 100 fens, or 2000 vouahs, here make i league, called 

 roeneng,. which is 4204 Englifh yards, or 2i miles nearly. 



VOUAPA, in Botany, a Caribbean name, Aubl. Guian. 

 25. t. 7, 8. See Mackolobil'M. 



VOUARANA, a Caribbean name, Aubl. Guian. 

 fiippl. 12. t. 374, a tree whofe flowers have not come under 

 the infpection of botanifls, but whofe fruit is an inverfely 

 hean-fhaped, bivalve capfule, with two cells, and Vifeed'xn each, 

 which is round and fmooth. It appears to belong to Juf- 

 fieu's order of Sapindi ; but whether moll nearly akin, as he 

 fuppofes, to Ornitrophe, ( fee that article, ) or to any other 

 genus, we want materials to decide. The tree is of a mo- 

 derate fize, with large alternately pinnate leaves. 



VOUCH. A perfon is faid to vouch for another, when 

 he undertakes to maintain, or warrant liim in any thing, or 

 paffes his word in his behalf. 



In law, to vouch, is to call fuch a perfon, or vouchee, into 

 court, to make good his warrant. 



VOUCHEE, a perfon who is to warranty, or vouch for 

 another, who, in refpeft hereof, is called voucher. See 

 Voucher and Warranty. 



VOUCHER, in Latv, the tenant in a writ of right, 

 who calls another perfon into court, bound to warranty him, 

 and either to defend his right againfl the demandant, or to 

 yield him other lands, &c. to the value. 



This feems in fome meafure to agree to the contraft in the 

 civil law, by which the vendee binds the vendor, fometimes 

 in the fimple value of the things bought, fometimes in the 

 double, to warrant the fecure enjoying of the thing bought. 

 Yet there is this difference between the civil and common 

 law, in this point, that the civil law binds every man to war- 

 rant the fecurity of that which he fellcth ; which the com- 

 mon law doth not, unlefs it be fpecially covenanted. 



The procefs, by which the vouchee is called, is afum- 



moneas ad luarrantifindum ; and if the fheriff return upon 



that writ, that the party hath nothing by which he may be 



fummoned, then goes out another writ, called fequatur fub 



fuo periculo. 



A recovery with z Jingle voucher, is when there is but one 

 voucher ; and with a double voucher, is when the vouchee 

 voucheth over, and fo a treble voucher. 



There is alio z foreign voucher, when the tenant impleaded 

 in a particular jurifdiftion, voucheth one to warranty in fome 

 other county, out of the jurifdi6\ion of that court, and 

 prays he may be fummoned, &c. This were more perti- 

 nently called a voucher of a foreigner. 



Voucher alfo fignifics a ledger-book, or book of ac- 

 compts, in which are entered the warrants for the accompt- 

 ant's difcharge. 



VOUDSE, in Geography, a town of Arabia, in the 

 province of Hedsjas ; 140 miles W. of Medina. 



VOVES, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Eure and Loire ; 12 miles W.N.W. of Janvillc. 



VOUET, Simon, in Biography, an eminent painter of 

 the French fchool, born at Paris in 1582, was the fon of 

 Lawrence Vouet, a painter of little celebrity. When he 

 was about twcoty ye;u-s old, he accompanied the baron de 



Sanfy 



