WAS 



W A S 



WASSAIL, or Was-heal, the falutation of our an- 

 cellors on occallon of drinking to eav;h other, fignifying 

 " health be to you." 



The term ii purely Saxon ; and though it is now ufed 

 in a very limited fenle, and only at the time of Chriftmas, it 

 anciently i'lgnified mirth and fL-lHvity in general ; and in this 

 fenfe it occurs in Shakfpeare's Hamlet and Macn-^th. Dr. 

 Percy alfo ufes it in a general f^nfe ; and Ben Jonfon per- 

 foniSes Waffel, as " a Songller," &c. In the " Ordinances 

 for the Royal Houlhold," pubhlhed by the Society of 

 Antiquaries, there is a curious account of the ceremony 

 of vvafrellnig at court on twelfth night in the reign of 

 Henry VII. " When the fteward cometh in at the doore 

 with the waffel, he mull crie three times, ' waffel, waffel, 

 waffel,' and then the chaplain was to anfwere with a good 

 fonge." 



In the ill vol. of the Antiquarian Repertory is an account 

 and engraying of an oaken chimney-piece in a very old 

 houfe at Bexley in Kent, on which is carved a waffel-bowl, 

 felling on the branches of an apple-tree. On one fide is 

 the word Cffllafsfjcil, and on the other Scincbeil:. This is at 

 lead as old as the 14th century. 



Grofe, in his Provincial Glolfary, fays, that the cuftom 

 of throwing toad, and pouring out libations to apple-trees 

 for proving a fruitful year, which feems to be a relic of the 

 heathen facrifice to Pomona, was called "Waffel:" the 

 term is ftill applied to the drinking-fongs fung in the cyder- 

 counties on the eve of Epiphany, when that ceremony is 

 performed. 



In Holderneffe, and other parts of Yorkfhire, and pro- 

 bably in other counties, it is the cuffom to carry about 

 with the vvaffel-cup an image of our Saviour, together with 

 a quantity of roafted apples. The image feems to have 

 been conntfled with waffelling originally, and to have 

 become an appendage to the vvaffcl-cup. Hence this ancient 

 cuflom has been reffrided to the convivial feafon of Chrift- 

 mas. But the apples feem to have been connefted with it 

 at a much earlier period. The cuftom alfo of roalUng 

 apples on Chriftmas eve ftill continues in fome diftridls. 

 The origin of the term waffel is traced to the ftory of Vor- 

 tigern and Rowena, the daughter of Hengift. On their 

 firft interview, ffie kneeled before him, and prefenting a 

 cup of wine, faid, Hlaford Kyning, IVaes-heil, i. e. Lord 

 king, health be to you ! The king being unacquainted 

 with the Saxon language, a&ed the meaning of the terms, 

 and being told that they wiflied his health, and that he 

 fnould aniwer by faying drinc heil ; he did fo, and commanded 

 her to drink : then taking the cup, he kiffed the damfel 

 and pledged her. From this time the cuftom long remained 

 in Britain, that whoever drank to another at a feaft faid 

 Wacht he'll, and he that received the cup anfwered drinc hell. 

 The ivaffsl-fongs were lung during the feftivities of Chrift- 

 mas, and in earlier times by the itinerant minftrels ; of 

 whom, with the praftice, fome remains may be traced in our 

 prefent ivaits and carols. One of them is preferved in the 

 Britifti Mufeum. ( Bib. Reg. 16. 1. viii.) It is an Anglo- 

 Roman drinking-fong, probably older than the 13th cen- 

 tury, and compofed when the Norman language was fami- 

 liar in this country. See Archasolog. vol. xi. p. 411. 



WASSAiL-i^oW. See Grace-Ci'/. 



WASSANAH, in Geography, a city of Africa, within 

 fight of the river Zolibib (^the Joliba of Park), whither the 

 king of TombuCtoo fent a caravan, accompanied by Sidi 

 Hamct ; and where they were welcomed by the king, and 

 lodged in a fquare inclofure, remaining there two moons, 

 and exchanging their goods for Haves, gold, elephants' 



2 



teeth, Sec. The river, as Sidi Hamet informs us, which 

 paffes by Waffanah, is called Zadi ; it flows nearly fouth, 

 and is fo broad, that a man can fcarcely be feen on the 

 oppofite bank. On each fide is a ridge of mountains, but 

 feparated by an interval on both fides from the river. The 

 city appeared to contain twice as many inhabitants as Tom- 

 budloo ; it was furrounded by a very large wall, built of 

 great ffones loofely piled up ; and a whole day was required 

 to walk round it. The country around it is highly culti- 

 vated. The houfes are conftrucfed of ftones without ce- 

 ment, and roofed with reed and palm-leaves. The king of 

 Waffanah is called Oleekov ; he is tall and young ; his 

 palace is very large, fquare, aud high, built of ftone, with a 

 fpecies of cement. He was faid to have 150 wives, and 

 10,000 flaves ; he has alfo a large army, which fight with 

 guns, fpears, bows, and arrows. When he goes out he 

 rides on a huge beaft called il femeni (elephant), and is 

 attended by 200 guards. The people are not Muffulmans, 

 but addided to various Pagan fuperftitions ; for vvhicL 

 reafons, though they are honeft, hofpitable, and kind-hearted, 

 Sidi Hamet allows the pious wifn " that they may foon be 

 driven out of the goodly land." The inhabitants catch 

 many fifti ; they have boats made of large trees, hollowed 

 out, and capable of holding ten, fifteen, or twenty negroes ; 

 and the king told Sidi Hamet that he was foon to take 

 fixty boats and 500 flaves to the great water, where he 

 ftiould fell them to a pale people in large boats, with 

 mufquets, powder, tobacco, blue clolh, knives, &c. He 

 faid it was a long way, and would take him three moons 

 to get there, and that he (liould be gone twenty moons 

 before he could return, but that he ffiould then be very 

 rich. Some perfons wh.o had feen thefe pale people, and ufed 

 to deal with them for flaves and teeth, faid, that they lived 

 in great boats, and had guns as big as their bodies, that 

 made a noife like thunder, and would kill all the people in 

 100 negro boats, if they went too near them. Sidi Hamet 

 ftaid in this place during the months of March and April ; 

 and it rained inceffantly. Sidi Hamet's narrative, if au- 

 thentic, is important, in a variety of refpefts. The de- 

 Icription of Tombuftoo 'which lee) correfponds to that of 

 Adams. We may fay the fame of the name Zolibib, anfwer- 

 ing to the Joliba of Park, Gallu, or Julbi, of Horneman. 

 Horneman alfo ftates, that this river on the eaftern part of 

 Its courfe is called Zad, and it there turns rapidly north- 

 wards. On the whole, the prcfumption feems to be in 

 favour of the narration, and it certainly opens very interefting 

 views of the interior of Africa. See Riley's Narrative of 

 his Capture and Adventures in 1815, in Murray's Hif- 

 torical Account of Difcoveries and Travels in Africa, vol. i. 

 8vo. 18 1 7. 



WASSAW Island, Great, an ifland in t!ie Atlantic, 

 near the coaft of Georgia, 16 miles in circumference. N. 

 lat. 32° 52'. W. long. 81° 8'. 



Wassaw IJland, Little, an ifland in the Atlantic, near 

 the coaft of Georgia, to the fouth-weft of Great Waffaw. 



Wassaw Sound, a bay on the coaft of Georgia, between 

 Great Waffaw ifland and Tybee ifland. 



WASSELA, a country of Africa, bounded on the 

 north and weft by Mandinga and Bambarra, on the eaft by 

 Kong, and on the fouth by Guinea. N. lat. 10'^ 50' to 

 12" to'. W. long. 4° 50' to 5^ 45'. 



WASSEMBERG, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Roer, on the Roer ; 9 miles E.S.E. of Ruremond. 

 N. lat. 51° 4'. E. long. 6° 6'. 



WASSEN, a town of Switzerland, in the canton of 

 Uri ; 13 miles S. of Altorff. 



Wassex'/ 



