W A I 



pleaTes. The goods of a foreign merchant, though 

 llolen and thrown away in flight, fhall never be waifs. 



Waifs, things loft, and eftrays, are faid to be pecus va- 

 grans, and are titiUius in bonis uhi non apparet dominus. 

 And therefore they belong to the lord of the franchife 

 where they are found ; who muft caufe them to be cried, 

 and publifhed in the markets and churches near about : 

 elfe the year and day do not nin to the prejudice of him 

 that loft them. See Estray. 



Though waif be properly fpoken of things ftolen, 

 yet it may alfo be underftood of goods not ftolen. As, 

 if -a man be purfued with hue and cry, as a felon, 

 and he flies, and leaves his own goods, thefe fhall be 

 forfeited as goods ftolen ; and they are properly called 

 fugitive goods. 



WAJIDA, in Geography, a town of Algiers ; 25 miles 

 S.W. of Tremecen. 



WAIJOO, or Wadjoo, one of the moft confiderable 

 of the Papu?n iflands, fituated at the N.W. extremity of 

 Papua, or New Guinea ; which fee. This ifland is faid 

 to contain 100,000 inhabitants. The land is high, with 

 lofty mountains, and on the N. fide are two excellent har- 

 hours, Piapis and Offak. This illand is called by the 

 natives Ouarido ; it is covered with very large trees, and 

 abounds with mountains of a confiderable height, even at 

 a fmall diftance from the fhore. Cottages of bamboo wood 

 are feen, elevated on ftakes about 1 2 feet above the ground ; 

 and covered with leaves of the macaw tree. The natives 

 are wholly naked, except the parts generally concealed, 

 which a;o covered with a coarfe cloth. Their chiefs are 

 drefled in very large pantaloons, and vi-aiftcoats of cloth, 

 which they buy of the Chinefe, whofe language they fpeak, 

 and like them they wear conical hats made of the leaves of 

 a tree. They have thick and long curly hair ; their (kin 

 is not very dark, and fome of them let their whiflcers grow. 

 They fubfift upon hogs, tortoifes, fowls, Siam oranges, 

 cocoa, papays, pompions, rice, lugar-canes, potatoes, lemons, 

 allfpice, and ears of maize, which they boil when green. 

 Labillardiere found in this ifland the beautiful promerops 

 of New Guinea, o^ Buffbn, the large cockatoo, quite black 

 (pfittacus aterr mus), and a new fpecies of hydrocorax. The 

 wild cock and grouiid-pheafant of the Indies are very com- 

 mon in the woods. 



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

 ftraits of Calais ; 5 miles S.E. of Hefdin. 



WAIN, in Agriculture, a term fometimes applied to an 

 ox or horfe-cart of a particular form, and which, in fome 

 diftriiSs and places, is without any fide-rails, or ladders ; 

 but which in others has (helvings added to it, the body 

 being large and open. The Comifti wain, the writer of the 

 account of the agriculture of that county reprefents as a 

 light ufeful carriage for conveying corn and hay : it con- 

 fifts of a light open long body, borne upon two wheels ; a 

 railed arch put over the wheels prevents the load bearing 

 upon them : it will carry from two hundred to two hun- 

 dred and fifty flieaves of corn, they being fecured by ropes, 

 as in the waggon. Mr. J. Dayman, of that diftnft, con- 

 fiders it alfo as an admirable contrivance for clearing hay or 

 corn-fields ; and that when well conftrufted, it is thought 

 the beft invention for that purpofe yet contrived. That it 

 is likewife cheap, as the ftiafts and wheels of a common cart 

 may be ufed with it, and, of courfe, the only additional ex- 

 pence is the body. Befides the railed wings, which prevent 

 the load from choaking the wheels, it has a roller behind, 

 with a hole in it, in which is fallened the rope which crofles 

 the load, and which, after taking a turn round a crook put 

 for the purpofe, returns again to the back of the carriage, 



10* 



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and then forward to the other fide, where it is faftened ; the 

 whole is then drawn tight by the roller, which is wrought 

 by two iron handles, in the mai.n"r of a fmith's vice. 

 Thefe wains are made either with tongue-trees, or Ihafts, as 

 they may be defigned for oxfn or horfes 



In th > county of GlouceP.er, too, they adapt their wains 

 to harveft-work, it is faid, by fixing ladders and rathes on 

 them. In the lower part of the vale of that diftrift, they 

 are called, it is afferted, dung-pots ; but in the foreft part, 

 where drawn by oxen, waii. '. 



They are a fort of carriage which is not very commonly 

 met with at prefent in many farming diftrifts. See 

 Cart. 



Wain, in Aftrommy. See CHARbTls's Wain. 



VJ wa-HouJe, in Rural Economy, a term made ufe of ia 

 fome diftrifts to fignify a waggon and cart houfe, or 

 lodge. 



WAINFLEET, or Waynflete, in Geography, a 

 market-town in the wapentake of Candleflioe, in Lindfey 

 divifion of the county of Lincoln, England, is fituated in 

 a marfti, on a fmall creek through which the river Limb 

 flows into Bofton deeps, at the diftance of 17 miles N.E. 

 from Bofton, and 132 miles N. by E. from London. Dr. 

 Stukeley affirms it to be the Vainona of Ravennas ; whence 

 he fuppofes the name to be evidently derived. He ob- 

 ferves that Salter's Road, which crofles the fen, was pro- 

 bably the Roman road between Banovallum and Lindum. 

 Leland defcnbcs Wainfleet as " a praty market ftonding on 

 a creke nerc to the fe. To this toune long fmaul veflisls. 

 It hath beene a very godde toune, and yn it 2 paroch 

 chirches. The fchole, that Wainflete bifshop of Win- 

 cheftre made and endowid with xli. lande, is the moft no- 

 table thing. Shippeletes cam in hominum memoria up to 

 the fchole. The haven now decayith." The negleft of the 

 haven was in confequence of the waters of the fens being 

 diverted more foutherly towards Bolton, by which that 

 place became the port town : Wainfleet haven, however, 

 affords fecurity to veflels driven on the coaft in tempeftuous 

 weather. It is probable that the town, previous to the 

 decay of the harbour, ftood higher up the creek, for the 

 church of All Saints ftands at a place called High Wain- 

 fleet. This church is a refpeftable edifice, but apparently 

 not older than the time of bifliop Waynflete : it has a brick 

 tower of modern date, and is rapidly decaying. In the 

 fouth aifle is an alabafter monument, which was erefted by 

 the pious bifliop to the memory of his father. St. Mary's 

 church, in Low Wainfleet, has nothing worthy of note. 

 The fchool-houfe, founded in 1459, is yet ftanding, and has 

 a handfome window, alfo two oftagonal turrets. Four 

 annual fairs are held, and a fmall weekly market on Satur- 

 days. In the return to the population aft of the year 181 1, 

 the number of houfes in Wainfleet is ftated to be 229, in- 

 habited by 1 165 perfons. This town is memorable as the 

 birth-place of that celebrated prelate above-named, who was 

 lord chancellor, and founder of Magdalen college, Oxford. 

 He died Auguft 11, i486. — Beauties of England and 

 Wales, vol. ix., Lincolnfliire : by J. Britton, F.S.A. See 

 Chandler's Life, &c. of Waynflete. 



WAINSCOT, in Budding, the Umber-work ferving 

 to line the walls of a room ; being ufually made in panels, 

 and painted, to ferve in lieu of hangings. 



Even in halls, it is common to have wainfcot breaft-high, 

 by reafon of the natural humidity of walls. 



It was formerly the cuftom to wainfcot rooms up to the 

 ceihng, and to terminate it by a cornice ; but it is now 

 commonly raifed only chair high, or from two to three 

 feet ; the reft of the wall is either covered with paper, 



which 



