X E B 



X.E K 



XANXUS, in Natural Hiflory, a name given by fome 

 authors to a large fpecies of fea-(hell, fomewhat like that 

 with which the Tritons of old were painted. It is found 

 in great abundance near Ceylon, and is ufed there in medi- 

 cine as an alkali and abforbent in the fame cafes in which 

 we give tne teftaceous powders. 



XAPARACO, in Geography, a town of Mexico, in the 

 province of Mechoacan ; 85 miles W.N.W. of Mechoacan. 

 XARAMA, a river of Spain, which runs into the 

 Tagus, a little below Aranjuez. 



XARAYES, or Zarayos, Laguna de Los, a fuppofed 

 lake of Brafil, formed by the river Paraguay ; about 108 

 miles in length,- and 21 in breadth. This is merely an 

 inundation of the river, and exploded as a lake. S. lat. 

 17° 45'. 



XATHOS, in Ichthyology, a name given by Appian to 

 the fifh called by the generality of authors the erythrlniis, 

 or rubeUio. 



XATIVA, now St. Felipe, in Geography. See St. 

 Felipe, 



XAVIER, a town of Spain, in Navarre, the native 

 place of the celebrated miflionary of that name ; 3 miles 

 E. of Sanguefa. 



Xavier. See Sabi. 



Xavier Gogo, a town of Africa, in the country of 

 Whidah ; 13 miles N.N.E. of Sabi. 

 Xavier, Saint. See Saint Xavier. 

 Xavier Zante, a town of Africa, in the 'country of 

 Whidah ; 14 miles N.W. of Sabi. 



• XAUXA, a town of Peru, in the bilhopric of Gua- 

 manga, containing two churches ; 90 miles E. of Lima. 

 S. lat. 12^. W. long. 75° 30'. See Jauja. 



Xauxa, a river of South America, which rifes in the 

 Andes, about 75 miles N. from Atun Xauxa, and uniting 

 with the Apurimac, forms the Ucayale. 



XAUXAVA, a town of Morocco, on a river, and at 

 the foot of a mountain, both of the fame name ; 15 miles 

 N. of Morocco. 



XEBEC, in Sea Language, a fmall three -mailed veflel, 

 navigated in the Mediterranean fea, and on the coafts of 

 Spain, Portugal, and Barbary. The fore and main mails 

 are called block-mafts, being fhort, and formed fquare at 

 the head, to receive (heaves, to reeve the jeers, &c. The 

 mizen-raaft is fitted with a top-maft, &c. fimilar to a fmall 

 Englifh (hip, and wliich has been lately added, to keep them 

 better to the wind. The xebecs have no bowfprit, but a 

 fort of boomkin, woulded and confined to the prow, nearly 

 horizontal (fee Galley), to the outer end of which lead 

 the bow-hnes. The fore-mad rakes much forward, has no 

 flay, and the (hrouds fet up, fimilar to the runners in Engli(h 

 cutters or (loops, to toggles fixed in the fides. Thefe 

 (hrouds are eafily (hiftcd when the veiTels go about. The 

 main-maft is nearly upright, and rigs as the fore-maft. 

 Each mall carries a latteen-fail, the larged fide of which is 

 bent to a yard that hoifts by a purrel rornid the mad, at 

 about one-third its length ; the yards are worked at the 

 lower end by bow-lines, and the fail extended by a 

 (heet at the clue. The upper lee-yard-arm is worked by 

 a brace, and the drain fupported by vargs nearer the mad. 

 The mizen-mad carries a latteen-fail, fimilar to the main 

 and fore mad. VefTels with latteen-fails will lie one point 

 nearer the wind than a fquare-rigged velTel. Xebecs, par- 

 ticularly in France, have been rigged fimilar to polacres ; 

 but they never fail fo well as they did in their primitive 

 fituation. 



The xebec, generally equipped as a corfair, is con- 

 ftrufted with a narrow floor, to be more fwift in pUrfuit of 

 • Vox,. XXXIX. 



the enemy ; and of a great breadth, to enable her to carry 

 a great force of fail for tliis purpofe, without danger of 

 overturning. As thefe vefTels are ufually very low built, 

 their decks are formed with a great convexity from the mid- 

 dle of their breadth toward the fides, in order to carry olf 

 the water, which falls aboard, more readily by their fcup- 

 pers. But as this extreme convexity would render it dif- 

 ficult to walk thereon at fea, particularly when the veffel 

 rocks by the agitation of the waves, there is a platform of 

 grating along the deck from the fides of the veffel toward 

 the middle, on which the crew may walk dry-footed, whild 

 the water is conveyed through the grating to the fcuppers. 

 When a xebec is equipped for war, (lie is occafionally 

 navigated in three different methods, according to the force 

 or direaion of the wind. Thus, when the wind is fair, and 

 nearly adern, it is ufual to extend fquare fails upon the 

 main-mad, and frequently upon the fore-maft ;. and as thofe 

 fails are rarely ufed in a fcant wind, they are of an extra- 

 ordinary breadth. When the wind is unfavourable to the 

 courfe, and yet continues moderate, the fquare yard and fails 

 are removed from the mads, and laid by, in order to make 

 way for the large latteen yards and fails, which foon after 

 affume their place ; but if the foul wind increafes to a 

 ftorm, thefe latter are alfo lowered down and difplaced, 

 and fmall latteen yards, with proportional fails, are extended 

 on all the mads. The xebecs, which are generally armed 

 as veflels of war by the Algerines, mount from fixteen to 

 twenty-four cannon, and carry from three hundred to four 

 hundred and fifty men, two-thirds of whom are generally 

 foldiers. Falconer. 



XEBEROS, in Geography, a town of South America, 

 in the audience of Quito ; 40 miles S.W. of La Laguna. 



XEJUI, a river of Paraguay, which runs into the 

 Paraguay. 



XEKIAS, in Biography, a name given by the Chinefe 

 and Japanefe to an Eadern philofophcr of mythological 

 origin and charadler, called alfo Buddas among the Indians, 

 Somonacodom in Siam, and after his death Foe or Fotoki, 

 who fafcinated the whole northern and eadern region of 

 Afia, as well as part of the fouthern, with his pantheiftic 

 doftrine. It is probable, as fome have faid, that he lived 

 about 600 years before Chrift ; and having firft appeared in 

 the fouthern part of India, on the borders of the Indian 

 ocean, dideminated his philofophy by means of his dif- 

 ciples to all India. It is faid that he fpent twelve years 

 in folitude, when he was indrufted by the Tolopoin, called 

 by the ancients " hylobii," i. e. fylvan hermits ; and that in 

 his 30th year he devoted himfelf to contemplation, and 

 attained to the intuitive knowledge of the firft principles of 

 aU things, from which he took the name of Foe, which 

 fignifies, " fomething more than human." His mydical 

 philofophy was dehvered to his innumerable difciples under 

 the veil of allegory. The Japanefe add, that in his con- 

 templations, during which his body remained unmoved, and 

 his fenfes unaffefted by any external objeft, he received 

 divine revelations, which he communicated to his difciples. 

 Buddas, or Xekias, in his efoteric doftrine, taught the 

 difference between good and evil ; the immortahty of the 

 fouls of men and brutes ; different degrees of rewards and 

 punifhments in a future world ; and the final advancement 

 of the wicked, after various migrations, to the habitations 

 of the bleffed. Amidas, who, according to the Chinefe, is 

 Xekias himfelf, prefides in thefe habitations, and is the 

 mediator, through whofe interceffion bad men obtain a 

 mitigation of their punifliment. Thefe dogmas are con- 

 tained in an ancient book, called Kio, which all the Indians 

 beyond the Ganges, who follow the dodrine of Xekias, 

 C receive 



