w o o 



Woody IJland, an idand in the Eaft Indian fea. N. lat. 

 1*46'. E. long. 106° 5'. See ViCTOiRE. 



Woody Point, a cape on the well coaft of North Ame- 

 rica. N. lit. 50°. W. long. 128=' 5'. 



WOODYCUTTY, a town of HinJoollan, in Canara ; 

 8 miles E. of Onore. 



WOOF, among Manufaaurers, th- threads which the 

 weavers (hoot acrofs, with an inftrument called the _/2a«/f, 

 between the threads of the warp, to form the web. 



The woof is of different matter, according to the piece 

 to be wrought. In tafFety, both woof and warp are fdk. 

 In mohairs, the woof is ufually flax, and the warp iilk. In 

 fattins, the warp is frequently wool, and the woof filk. 



WOOFE, a name given in fome parts of England to the 

 lea-wolf, or lupus marinus ; which fee. 



WOOGINIOOS, in Botany. See Brucea ^ntUy- 

 fenterica. 



WOO-HOO-SHIEN, in Geography, a town of China, 

 in the province of Kiang-nan, near the river Yang-tfe-kiang, 

 a narrow cut leading from the river to the city, and flowing 

 through the fubnrbs. This is a place of confiderable trade ; 

 in the fuburb there are feveral good dwelling-houfcs, appa- 

 rently belonging to perfons of dillinttion ; and in the city 

 itfelf there are many (hops, which, it is faid, would not 

 difgrace the Strand or Oxford-ftreet in London. Thefe 

 (hops are fpacious, confiding of an inner and outward com- 

 partment, and well fupplied with articles of all kinds, both 

 of raw and mauufaitured produce. The porcelain (hops 

 are particularly large, and contain great varieties of the 

 manufaAure. The main ilreet leading diredlly through the 

 city is not lefs than a mile in lengtii. Several llreets 

 branch off from this, which are all paved, and contain good 

 houfes. The number of (hops that are filled with lanterns 

 of all defcriptions, both horn and paper, indicate manu- 

 faftories of thofe articles. The principal wall of the city 

 extends on the north face ; and the other is fo overtopped 

 with houfes, that it almoft efcapes notice in pafling down 

 the main ftreet, which it crolTes. On the declivity ot a hill 

 to th^ northward are the temple and ancient tower. The 

 temple, to which there is an afcent by a very lleep (tone 

 ftair-cafe, refembles that at Nankin, the god Fo being re- 

 prefented by the fame attributes, and the principal hall 

 being furrounded by fimilar figures of fages, in the fame 

 ftyle. In another temple in the fuburb there was a greater 

 refemblance to that of Nankin. Woo-hoo-fhien does not 

 feem to be populous in proportion to the number of (hops, 

 and the quantity of accumulated produce expofed for fale. 

 The fuburb near the city contains feveral good iTiops, which 

 were crowded with people. Ellis's Journal of the late 

 Embaffy to China, vol. ii. Lond. 18 18. 



WOOJEDA, a town of Algiers, in the province of 

 Tremecen, anciently called Guagida ; 20 miles W.S.W. 

 of Tremecen. 



WOOL, in Natural Hijlory and ManufaHures, Latin 

 lana, lanic'mm, Fr. la'ine, fignifies foft hair or down, more 

 particularly that of iheep, but is applied to the foft hair of 

 other animals, as of the vicunna, commonly called Vigonia 

 wool, that of the yak of Tartary, &c. ; and alfo to fine 

 vegetable fibres, as cotton. The Romans applied the 

 term extenfively to the foft hair or down of all quadrupeds, 

 and even to that of birds, as lana anferina, the wool or 

 down of the goofe ; lana caprina, goat's-wool. 



They alfo applied the term to vegetable fubftances : 



" Nemora ^thiopium molli canentia lana." 



Virg. Georg. ii. 120. 



" The trees of Ethiopia, white with foft wool, or cotton." 



w o 



The dillmaion between wool and hair is rather arbitrary 

 than natural, confifting in the greater or leffer degrees of 

 finenefs, foftnefs, and pliability of the fibres. When they 

 poliels thefe properties fo far as to admit of their being 

 Ipun and woven into a texture fufficiently pliable to be ufed 

 as an article of drefs, they are called wool. The gradations 

 between wool and hair on the (Icins of fome animals are often 

 too minute to admit of accurate dillinftion. The fleeces of 

 many (heep contain fibres fo hard and coarfe, that they may 

 moll properly be called hair ; and fome hairy animals produce 

 on part of their fliins fibres polfelfing all the properties of 

 wool ; even in fleeces from the (heep, we may fometimes 

 obferve the very fame fibre to be a coarfe hair at one end, 

 and at the other end a comparatively foft wool. The power 

 of words, when inaccurately applied ia retarding the pro- 

 grefs of improvement, may frequently be traced in the moft 

 common occurrences of life, and we are perfuaded it has 

 had no inconfiderable effeft in this inftance, in preventing 

 the cultivation of wool, in Europe, on the fliins of other 

 animals befides ftieep. No one will deny that it is impolTible 

 to produce wool on the backs of the ox or the afs, if we 

 reltrid the term wool to the fleece of the flieep ; but if by 

 wool we mean a foft fine hair, poflijfling all the properties 

 which render it fuitable to be fpun, woven, and fulled, 

 to make cloth, the oxen of Thibet and the afles of Chili do 

 produce and have for centuries produced fuch wool. Many 

 of the aflfes and oxen even in this kingdom have foft woolly 

 tufts of hair on fome parts of their fliins, and if fuch cattle 

 were felefted, and the breed cultivated, it is probable we 

 might obtain from them a valuable addition to the materials 

 on which national induftry might be profitably employed. 



Sheep's-wool appears to be the produft of cultivation ; 

 we know of no wild animal which refembles the wool- 

 bearing (heep. The argali, from which all the varieties of 

 flieep are fuppofed to be derived, is covered with fliort 

 hair, at the bottom of which, clofe to the flcin, there is a 

 fofter hair, or down. (See Argali and Sheep.) This is 

 not peculiar to the argali ; almoll all quadrupeds inhabiting 

 cold chmates are covered in the fame manner with a foft 

 hair or down, which is proteded by a coat of longer 

 and coarfer hair. By removal to a temperate climate, 

 or when placed under the foftering care of man, and pro- 

 tected from the inclemencies of the weather, and fupplied 

 regularly with food, the coarfe long hair falls off, and the 

 animal retains only the fofter and (horter hair, or wool. 

 It is alfo oblerved that European flieep, removed to tropi- 

 cal climates and much expoled, foon become languid and 

 fickly, and lofe their fleece, which is fucceeded by a co- 

 vering of (hort coarfe hair. Sheep in expoled fituations in 

 Europe often produce fliort coarfe white hairs called kemps, 

 intermixed with the finer wool ; on removal to a warmer 

 fituation, and to a richer pallure, the coarfe hairs fall off, 

 and do not grow again. Thefe fads are fufficient to prove 

 the efi'eft of cultivation on the fleece ; and it muft be ob- 

 ferved that fheep's- wool of a good quahty is never found but 

 in thofe countries which have been the feats of the arts, and 

 where a confiderable degree of luxury or refinement exifts, 

 or has once prevailed. This is a ftfong prefumptive proof 

 that fuch wool has been originally obtained by a careful and 

 long-continued attention to the feleftion of thofe (heep 

 which produced the finell and moft valued fleeces. 



Angora, the ancient Ancyra, the former feat of arts and 

 manufaftures, ftill retains its breed of fine-wooUed animals, 

 among which the goat at the prelent time produces a fleece 

 nearly equal to filk in lullre and finenefs ; and the cat and 

 the rabbit of that dift.rift yet produce fine long wool. Da- 

 mafcus, and the other aucient cities of Afia Minor, prelierve 



