Z A M 



Linnsus, downy ; with age, the plant acquires, like the 

 palm tribe, a thick fcaly_^«n, as tall as a man. The leaves 

 are from a fpan to two feet long, of rather numerous and 

 crowded leaflets, each two or two and a half inches in length, 

 and one-quarter or one-third of an inch in breadth ; fmooth 

 and even above ; ftriated beneath ; the younger ones, or 

 rather thofe of young plants, tipped with a fliarp tooth or 

 two, befides the terminal fpine. Common Jlalks fmooth. Cat- 

 kins ftalked, ovate : the male a fpan long ; \Ufcales fomewhat 

 triangular, very obtufe, rugged, fmooth ; flat on the upper 

 fide ; keeled underneath, and covered with anthers the fize 

 of millet-feed : female catkin larger than the male, near a foot 

 long, green and fmooth ; its fcales ftalked, with a quadran- 

 gular, peltate, thick termination, lodging a pair of ovate 

 angular drupas, with a red pulp. Nut of each the fize of 

 an acorn, not very hard, with a white folid kernel. Thun- 

 berg fays, the older plants, which have acquired ^Jlem, are 

 broken off, or cut down, by the Caffres and Hottentots ; and 

 the pith, which is of confidorable thicknefs, being tied up 

 in the ficin of a fheep or calf, previoufly well rubbed with 

 greafe, is buried in the ground. After remaining there a 

 month, or longer, it is taken up in a putrefying itate, and 

 being bruifed between two ftones, and moiftened with water, 

 forms a fort of pafte, which is made into little round cakes, 

 about an inch in thicknefs. Thefe are baked in wood-aflies, 

 and are efteemed a great luxury ; though, as the author ob- 

 ferves, not very tempting to people of more renned habits, 

 efpecially if they happen to have witnelTedthe whole procefs 

 of preparation. 



We are not without a fufpicion that Willdenow's Z. tri- 

 dentata (feen. 3.) may_be this very fpecies. This is more 

 probable, at lealt, than his own conjefture, of Jacquin's 

 lanuginofa, n. 13, being Z. cycadis. 



Authors, even the moll intelligent, ufe the term frond, 

 inftead of leaf, in their defcriptions of this genus, becaufe 

 Linnseus confidered Zamia as either a Palm, or a Fern. But 

 its fructification is by no means cryptogamic, or obfcure ; 

 nor do the leaves bear the flowers of either fex. There is a 

 curious coincidence of ftrufture and appearance between its 

 anthers, and the fuppofed capfttles of fome of the fpiked or 

 racemofe Filices, efpecially of Botrychium (the Ofmunda 

 lunarla, &c. of Linnseus) ; indeed the likenefs is fo great, 

 that we can fcarcely perfuade ourfclves that the two parts 

 in quelllon are not deftined to anfwer the fame purpofe. 



Zamia, in Gardening, comprifes fome low plants of the 

 tender palm kind, among which the fpecies chiefly cultivated 

 in this climate are, the dwarf pinnated palm (Z. pumila), 

 the thorny dwarf palm (Z. fpinofa), and the entire leaved 

 palm (Z.integrifolia). 



The firlt is the finefl; fort, but the other two are occa- 

 fionally preferved in fome ftove collections among other 

 plants of the fame clafs. 



Method of Culture. — They may be raifed from feed?, and 

 by other means,' in pots plunged in the bark-beds of hot- 

 houfes and ftoves, where they muft conftantly be kept in 

 light rich earth or mould, having the management of other 

 exotics of limilar kinds. 



They afford variety in all fuch colleftions of tender 

 plants. 



ZAMIANSK, in Geography, a fort of Ruffia, on the 

 Volga ; 20 miles N.W. of Aft;rachan. 



ZAMIN, a town of Grand Bucharia ; 50 miles N.E. 

 of Sam.arcand. — Alfo, a river of Afia, which rifes about 

 70 miles S. of Kogend, and after a N.W. courfe of about 

 J 50 miles, lofes itfelf in the earth. 



ZAMIRiE, in Ancient Geography, a people of India that 

 were Anthropophagi, near mount Mcecander. Ptol. 



Z A M 



ZAMOLXIS, in Biography, a celebrated perfon among 

 the Scythians, was, as fome have fuppofed, a flave of Py- 

 thagoras, who, having attended him into Egypt, obtained 

 his freedom, and taught his mailer's doftrine among the 

 Getz. It has been alfo faid, that in order to enforce the 

 belief of the immortality of the foul, he dug a fubterraneous 

 apartment, and concealed himfelf in it for three years ; but 

 re-appearing as one rifen from the dead, he there ellablifhed 

 his authority as a teacher. But Herodotus, who relates 

 this fabulous ilory, as a common tradition, gives it no 

 credit, but exprefsly fays, that fo far from being a Pytha- 

 gorean, he ^flouriflied at a much earlier period than Py- 

 thagoras. The general teftimony of the ancients furnilhes 

 reafon for concluding, that Zamolxiswas a Thracian, v.ho, 

 at a very remote period, taught the Scythians the doctrine 

 of the immortality of the foul, and that after his death, 

 they enrolled his name among the divinities, with whom 

 they affiircd themfelves they ihould affociate in the invifible 

 world. Herodotus relates, that at certain feftivals, they 

 chofe feveral perfons by lot, who were to be deputed as 

 meffengers to Zamolxis ; and that they put them to death, 

 by throwing them up into the air, and catching them, as 

 they fell, upon the points of their fpears ; and this (lory is 

 thought to be the more credible, becaufe it is well known, 

 that the praftice of offering human facrifices prevailed 

 among the Scythians and the Thracians. Herodotus. 

 Brucker by Enfield, vol. i. 



ZAMORA, iu Geography, a town of Spain, in the pro- 

 vince of Leon, on the Duero ; the fee of a bifhop, fuf- 

 fragan of Compoilella. In the year 967, this town was 

 taken by the Moors and deftroyed ; but afterwards rebuilt 

 and fortified. It is now a frontier town againfl Portugal, 

 and place of arms. The ftreets are narrow, and the general 

 appearance of the town is gloomy; 120 miles N.W. of 

 Madrid. N. lat. 41-' 50'. W. long. 6°.— Alfo, a town of 

 Algiers, fouudrd in honour of a Mahometan faint. Here 

 is a fmall garrifon ; 28 miles W. of Seteef. — Alfo, a town 

 of Mexico, in the province of Guadalajara ; 80 miles N.W. 

 of Mechoacan. N. lat. 20° 54'. W. long. 103° 40'. — Alfo, 

 a town of South America, in the audience of Quito, on a 

 river of the Amazons. In the neighbourhood are fome 

 gold-mines ; 20O miles S. of Quito. S. lat. 4°. W. long. 

 78° 46'. 



ZAMOSCIE, or Samostzic, a town and fortrefs 

 of Aiillrian Poland, in Galicia, built by the famous great 

 chancellor, John Zamoyfici. It has a ftately cathedral, 

 and feveral other churches, a decayed univerfity, a chari- 

 table foundation called Mons Pietatis, and feveral valuable 

 privileges ; but the fortifications are now in a bad condition. 

 The proprietor of this town, &c. tliled himfelf prince 

 Zamofcic. It now belongs to Auftria ; 60 miles N.W. of 

 Lemberg. N. lat. 50° 3 1'. E. long. 23° 15'. 



ZAMPAL A, a river of Mexico, which rifes in the pro- 

 vince of Tlafcala, and runs into the gulf of Mexico, N. 

 lat. 1 9° 40'. 



Zampala, Chempoalla, or Zempoala, a city of Mexico. 

 When Cortez landed in the year 1519, the chief or lord of 

 this place, who was tributary to Montezuma, offered his 

 fervice to the Spaniards. It was at that time a large city 

 and exceedingly populous, the loweft account reckoning the 

 inhabitants at 20,000 or 30,000. It was the capital of a 

 country called Totonacapan, now the N.E. part of the pro- 

 vince of Tlafcala ; 90 miles E. of Puebla de I03 Angelos. 

 N. lat. 20° 10'. W. long. 97° 50'. 



ZAMPERINI, Anna, in Biography, of Venice, arrived 

 in England in 1767, as a buffa finger, 7^ parte cguak, with 



the 



