W A F 



WAG 



thefe reafons : i ft, Being more attached to the head of the 

 tribe than any other defcription of men, they were appointed 

 the officers of the clan, when an expedition was undertaken ; 

 2d, The fcarcity of money made it more convenient for the 

 needy nobihty or chieftains to borrow or raife money in this 

 way than in any other, or to give their children a patri- 

 mony, when about to fettle in hfe ; and 3d, When every 

 man's occupation was war, or farming and grazing, before 

 the fpirit of adventure in going abroad to acquire wealth 

 ■was known, the youth remained at home, on wadfctts or 

 leafes of ground at a moderate rent. In this manner, it is 

 faid, a clan, during the patriarchal no lefs than the feudal 

 fyftem or ftate, were in fail a battaUon of armed men, liv- 

 ing clofely together, and united by the moll powerful ties 

 of confanguiuity and intereft. Accordingly, it is faid, we 

 find the Highland tribes fettled in clufters, in the fame 

 valley or ilrath, unmixed with any other people ; nor was 

 it at one period, it is thought, very fafe for a flranger to 

 attempt fettling amonglt them. A few, and but very few, 

 of thefe redeemable rights now exiil, it is afferted, in any 

 part of the Highlands ; and that if the wadfetter continue 

 in the fame pofteffion, the right of wadfett is changed into 

 an ordinary leafe. See Tenure. 



WADSOE, in Geography, an iflaiid in the Frozen ocean, 

 N. lat. 70° 6', with a copious hot fpring, the heat of which 

 is about 367;° of Fahrenheit. 



WADSTENA, a town of Sweden, in Eaft Gothland, 

 on the Wetter lake, with a caftle, built by Guftavus Vafa 

 in the year 1544, and defended at its four corners by 

 round towers, covered with fmall domes. In the year 

 1567, this town was burned by the Danes ; 20 miles W. of 

 Liiikioping. N. lat. 58° 25'. E. long. 14° 59'. 



WADSWORTH, a town of New York, on the Genefe 

 river; 90 miles W.N.W. of Chenango. 



W^ADAVORTH, a townfhip in the Weft Riding of 

 Yorkfhire ; 5 miles N.W. of Hahfax. 



WAELHEIM, a town of France, in the department 

 of the T.WO Nethes ; 3 miles N.W. of Malines. 



WAELWYK, a town of Brabant ; 10 miles W.N.W. 

 of Bois-le-Duc. 



WAER, a town of Hindooftan, in the country of Agra ; 

 20 miles AV.S.W. of Fattipour. 



WAERDER, a town of Holland; 5 miles N.E. of 

 Gouda. 



WAERFLIET, a town of Germany, in the county of 

 Delmenhorft ; 8 miles N. of Delmenhorft. 



WAERTH, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Lower Rhine; 9 miles S.S.W. of WiflTemburg. 



WAES, a diftria of Flanders fo called, fituated on the 

 bank of the Scheldt, between Ghent and Yfendick. 



WAFE. See Waif. 



WAFERS for fealing letters are made by mixing fine 

 flour with glair of eggs, ifniglafs, and a little yeaft, and 

 beating the mafs into a pafte ; then fpreading it when thiruied 

 with gum-water, on even tin-plates, and drying it in a ftove, 

 and cutting it for ufe. The dilFerent colours may be given 

 by tinging the pafte with brazil or vcrmillion for red ; in- 

 digo, or verditcr, &c. for blue ; fallron, turmeric, or gam- 

 boge, &c. for yiUow, &c. 



WAFT, in Sea Language, a fignal difplayed from the 

 ftern of a Ibip for fome particular pnrpole, by hoilling the 

 enfign, furled up together into a long roll, to the head of its 

 ftaft". It is particularly ufed to fummon the boats off from 

 the dune to the (liip to whicli they belong ; or as a fignal for 

 a (lilot to repair aboard. Falconer. 



'I'd ii'iift a Jhip, is to convoy her fafe, as men of war do 

 by merchants' Ihips. 



Vol. XXXVII. 



WAFTERS, Waftores, conduAors of vefTels at fea. 



King Edward IV. conftituted a triumvirate of officers 

 with naval power, whom the patent ftyles cajlodes, con- 

 dudores, and waftores ; their bufinefs chiefly was to guard 

 our fiftiermen on the coafts of Norfolk and Suffolk. 



WAGA, or Vaga. See Weigh. 



Waga, in Botany, H. M. a filiquous Indian tree, with 

 a tetrapetalous ftcUatcd flower, and flat pods, three inches 

 in length. It is very hke the intfia, but without fpines, 

 and chmbs about high trees. The pods are two inches in 

 breadth, thin, and very flat ; when dried, of a reddifh co- 

 lour, and have a cortex of a fnow-white colour on the in fide. 

 The beans are aftringent, bitter, round, and fmooth, a little 

 flattifh, lying in a tranfverfe pofition with refpeft to the pod, 

 and of a green, inchning to a chefnut colour. It is ever- 

 green, and grows in Malabar. 



The juice of this tree, together with lemons and green 

 turmeric, boiled for a confiderable time in cocoa-nut oil, is 

 a good ointment for the leprofy, and of great ufe in inveterate 

 ulcers. Raii Hift. Plant. 1766. 



WAGEERAH, iti Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in Balana ; 20 miles W.N.W. of Nan"uck. 



WAGENAAR, John, in Biography, a Dutch writer, 

 diftingnifhed by his moral qualities as well as literary ac- 

 quirements, was born in 1709 at Amfterdam, of which he 

 was appointed hiftoriographer in 1758. He died in 1 773. 

 His princij)al work, which is reckoned one of the chief 

 ornaments of Dutch literature for depth of refearch and 

 purity of llyle, is a " Hillory of Holland from the earliefl 

 Period till 1751," in 21 vols. 8vo. ; of which a fecond edi- 

 tion with engravings, both maps and portraits, was printed 

 at Amfterdam in 1752 — 1759. Among his other per- 

 formances are enumerated, " An Hiilorical Defcription of 

 the City of Amfterdam," Amft. 1760, 3 vols, folio ; " The 

 Character of John De Witt placed in its true Light ;" and 

 " Hiftorical and Political Mifcellanies," Amft. 8vo. 1776. 

 Gen. Biog. 



WAGENDRISL, in Geography, a town of Hungary j 

 J miles S. of Kapfdorf. 



WAGENINGEN, a town of Holland, in the depart- 

 ment of Guelderland, fituated in a marftiy country, on the 

 north fide of the river Leek, fuppofed to be the Vada of 

 Tacitus, which was fo ftontly defended by Julius Briganticus 

 againll his uncle Civilis, the famous Batavian general. On 

 one iide there is a large barren heath, and on the other are 

 pleafant meadows and arable lands. It is tolerably well built, 

 »nd reckoned the third town of that part of Guelderland 

 called the " Veluwe." Its inhabitants have a pretty good 

 trade in cattle and tobacco ; 7 miles W. of Arnheim. 



WAGENIZ, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 

 Konigingr.-itz ; 12 miles E. of Konigingratz. 



WAGENSEIL, John Christoi-her, in Biography, 

 was born at Nuremberg in 1633, and having ftudied at f^c- 

 veral univerfities, lie became tutor to the fon of a nobleman 

 at Altdorf, and accompanied him in his travels through a 

 great part of Europe. At Turin he difcovered in the 

 cabinet of tlie duke of Savoy the famous Ifiac Table, which 

 had been loft ever fiiice the pillage of the duke of Mantua's 

 cabinet. In the progrefs of his hfe he acquired a high de- 

 gree of reputation, and was diftingnifhed among other fo- 

 reign literary perlons by the muiiilicence of Lewis XIV., 

 Having been honoured with the degree of LL.D. at Or- 

 leans, lie became profelfor of law ami hillory in the univerfity 

 of Altdorf in 1667, and afterwards was advanced to the 

 chair of Oriental languages, and the flation of public li- 

 brarian. He was alio a member of the academies at Turin 

 and Padua ; and died at Altdorf, at the age of 72, in the 

 4 K year 



