W A L 



W A L 



inliabitants of the country, are defcended from the old Ro- 

 man colony fettled here by the emperor Trajan. They 

 profefs the Eallern Greek religion ; and as in writing they 

 ufe the fame letters with the RulTians, fo they agree with 

 them in all their religious ceremonies. According to the ac- 

 count given of them by Jackfon (Journey from India), they 

 feem to be very fnpcrftitious. They eredl crucifixes, fome 

 of ftone and others of wood, near the roads ; all of tliem 

 are painted ; fome having Jefus Chrift, fome the Virgin Mary, 

 others the twelve apoilles, fome the ten commandments, 

 prayers, Sec. depifted upon them. Thefe crucifixes are 

 very numerous, and mod of the country-people pay refpeft 

 to them as they pafs. The commonalty are mod wretchedly 

 ignorant ; and even the highcil attainments which the eccle- 

 fiaftics themfelves aim at, feldom go beyond reading and 

 fmging well. Bucharell is a kind of univerfity to them, 

 whither they go to learn a polite deportment, the elegancies 

 of the Walachian language, and ceremonies of the church. 

 The peifons of rank among the Walachians are fo fond of 

 the Italian language, that they apply themfelves to it more 

 than their mother-tongue, and generally fend their fons to 

 ftudy at the univerfity of Padua. Great numbers of Ma- 

 hometans live alfo intermixed with the Walachians; fome 

 Jews, and alfo Germans. The Romans, after their decifive 

 viftory over Decebalus, king of Dacia, made themfelves 

 mailers of his kingdom. Trajan fent hither feveral Roman 

 colonies, who not only cultivated the land, but built them 

 towns, which they embellifhed with fine edifices. His fuc- 

 ceflbr, however, in the empire, tranfplanted the greatell 

 part of them into Mcefia and Thracia, where, minghng with 

 the Bulgarians, Thracians, Servians, and Ligurians, they 

 came to fpeak a new language or jargon. Thefe kingdoms, 

 which lie on the Danube, afterwards conftituted part of the 

 dominions of the emperors of the Eaft. In procefs of 

 time, the Walachians moved farther north, to the borders of 

 Podolia and Ruffia, where they applied themfelves to agri- 

 culture and the breeding of cattle. The converfion of the 

 Bulgarians and their neighbours to Chriftianity was followed, 

 in the ninth century, by that of the Walachians, who em- 

 braced the Grecian doftrines. Towards the beginning of 

 the twelfth century, a numerous colony of Walachians, 

 under the conduft of one Nigers, or Negrovot, for the 

 fake of pafturage, religion, and other motives, paffed on 

 towards the fouth, and fettled in the modern Walachia, 

 founding the towns of Tergovifta, Bucharell:, and Pitefti. 

 They choofe their own princes, whom they Ilyle waywodes, 

 or defpots. The kings of Hungary, becoming powerful, 

 made feveral attempts on the Walachians ; and, in the four- 

 teenth century, obliged them to pay tribute. But in the 

 year 1391, and 1394, they were greatly haraffed by the 

 Turk?, who, in the year 1415, alfo laid the whole country 

 wafte with fire and fword, compelling Dan, the waywode, 

 to pay them an annual tribute. It was in the year 1608, be- 

 fore the Walachians could rid themfelves of this burthen, 

 when they put themfelves under the proteiftion of the em- 

 peror of Germany. But the treaty of Carlowitz refigned 

 them up again to the Tuvkifh dominion. In the beginning 

 of the feventeenth century, they fuffered various calamities 

 by the plague, war, and the many revolutions among their 

 princes. At the treaty of Pafiarowitz, in 1718, the weftern 

 part of Walachia, as far as the river Alaut, was ceded to 

 the emperor, but loft again in the year 1739. Walachia is 

 governed by a waywode, or prince, flyled alfo the hofpo- 

 .dar, who is a vaffal af the Ottoman Porte, and whofe 

 yearly tribute generally amounts to 58 or 60,000 ducats. 



WALADIA, El, a town of Morocco, fituated in an 

 extenfive plain, 35 miles S. of Mazagan. Annexed to it is 



9 



a fpacious harbour, capable of containing 500 fail of tha 

 line, but the entrance is obftrufted by a rock or two, which 

 might, it is faid, b- eafily blown up ; otherwife this would 

 be one of the fin. it liarbours for (hipping in the world. 

 The coaft of El Waladia is lined with rocks, at the bottom 

 of which, and between them and the ocean, is a table land, 

 almott; even with the furface of the water, abounding with 

 fprings, where every neceffary and luxury of life abound. 

 The view of the land from the plains above the rocks is ex- 

 tremely beautiful and pifturefque. The town of El Wa- 

 ladia is fmall, and encompafied by a fquare wall, and con- 

 tains but few inhabitants. Its name teems to indicate that 

 it was built by Muley El Walad, towards the middle of the 

 feventeenth century. Jackfon's Morocco. 



WALRUS, John, in Biography, a celebrated anato- 

 mift, was born in 1604, near Middleburg, in Zealand, and 

 ftudied phyfic at Leyden, where he graduated in 1631. In 

 1632 he was nominated a medical profeflTor extraordinary, 

 and in 1648 he obtained a chair in ordinary. His praftice 

 was extenfive, and his academical duties numerous ; and 

 yet he employed himfelf much in the difieftion of living 

 animals, and was enabled to illuftrate the funftions of di- 

 gellion, the dillribution of the chyle, and the attion of the 

 heart. He firft taught publicly the Harveian do£lrine of 

 the circulation of the blood ; though from jealoufy of the 

 honour of the inventor, he was difpofed to announce vef- 

 tiges of the facl which he dilcovered in the writings of the 

 ancients. He died at Leyden in 1649. His Anatomical 

 Obfervations, which are reckoned excellent, are contained 

 in " EpiftolcE dux de Motu Chyli et Sanguinis ad T. Bar- 

 tholinum," Lugd. B. 1641. Haller. Eloy. 



WALAFRIDUS, furnamed Strata, or Strabus, from 

 a fquint in his eyes, was born in Swabia in 807, and edu- 

 cated in the monallery of Reichcnau, whence he proceeded 

 to Fulda, to receive further inftrudtion from Rabanus. 

 After his return to his monallery he became director of its 

 fchool, and very much contributed to its reputation. Being 

 fent on an embaffy by king Louis to his brother Charles the 

 Bald, he died in the year 849. Of his works, which are 

 numerous, thofe moft worthy of notice are his " Glofia or- 

 dinaria," or fhort obfervations on the whole text of the 

 Bible, chiefly derived from the expofition of Rabanus, and 

 annexed to many editions of the Vulgate, printed in the 

 fifteenth and fixteenth centuries ; " De Exordiis et Incre- 

 mentis Rerum Ecclefiafticarum ;" " De Vita beati Galli 

 Confefforis, lib. ii.;" " Vita Otmari Abbafis S. Galli ;" 

 " Poemata," among which are, " Hortulns," or a delcrip- 

 tion of the garden which he cultivated, with its herbs and 

 flowers, and their medical ufe. Gen. Biog. 



WALAJABAD, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in the Carnatic ; 10 miles E. of Conjevcram. 



WALAKA, a low, infalubrious, but fertile, province 

 of Abvffinia, fituated between the two rivers Gefhen ai)d 

 Samba, having to the S. of it Upper Skoa. This province 

 is furrendered by the reigning prince to the Galla, who, at 

 his defire, have furrounded Skoa on every fide. But as it 

 is full of the braveft and beft horfemen.and bell accoutered 

 of any in Abyffinia, they can, whenever they pleafe, dif- 

 polfefs the Galla. 



WALAN, in Botany, Rumph. Amboin. v. 3. 214. 

 t. 139. Poiret in Lamargk Dift. v. 8. 783, the Amboyna 

 name of a tree, which Rumphius alfo calls IchthyoBonos mon- 

 tana, from its ufe in killing filh, but of whofe botanical cha- 

 rafters little or nothing is known. 



This tree has a ftraight and lofty trunk, whofe bari is 

 thick, dry, brittle, reddilh, of a bright fiery red towards 

 the root ; the wood white, and of Iktle value, except the 



heart 



