686 D E L 
There is a variety, with the fnout a little truncate, 
teeth pointed, dorfal fin long, bony, called the J'word- 
grampus. 
4. Dclphinus leucas, the beluga, or white-fifh. Spe¬ 
cific chara6ter„ fnout conic obtule inclined upwards, no 
dorfal fin. The beluga, called by the Germans wit-fifch , 
and by the Radians beluga, both dignifying white fifh ; 
but to this the lad add morjkaia, or of the fea, by way of 
didinguifhing it from a fpecies of (largeon fo named. 
The head is (hort, node blunt; fpiracle fmall, of the 
form of a crefcent; eyes very minute ; mouth fmall; in 
each fide of each jaw are nine teeth, (hort, and rather 
blunt; thofe ot the upper jaw are bent and hollowed, 
fitted to receive the teeth of the low.er jaw when the 
mouth is clofed; pedforal fins nearly of an oval form; 
beneath the (kin may be felt the bones of five fingers, 
which terminate at the edge of the fin in five very fen- 
fible projections. This brings it into the next of rank 
in the order of beings with the manati. The tail is di¬ 
vided into two lobes, which lie horizontally, but do not 
fork, except a little at their bafe. The body is oblong, 
and rather (lender, tapering from the back (which is a 
little elevated) to the tail. It is quite deftitute of the 
dorfal fin. Its length is from twelve to eighteen feet. 
It makes great ufe of its tail in fwimming ; for it bends 
that part under it as a lobfier does its tail, and works it 
with (uch force as to dart along with the rapidity of an 
arrow. It is common in all the Anftic feas; and forms 
an article of commerce, being taken on account of its 
blubber. They are numerous in the Gulf of St. Law¬ 
rence, and go with the tide as high as Quebec. There 
are filheries tor them and the common porpoife in that 
river. A confiderable quantity of oil is extracted; and 
of their (kin is made a fort of Morocco leather, thin yet 
(trong enough to refill: a mulket-ball. They are frequent 
in the Dwina and the Oby • and go in fmall families from 
five to ten, and advance pretty far up the rivers in pur- 
fuit of fifii. They are ufually caught in nets, but are 
iometimes harpooned. They bring only one young at a 
time, which is dufky, but grow white as they advance 
in age, the change fird commencing on the belly. They 
are apt to follow boats, as if they were tamed ; and 
appear extremely beautiful, by reafon of their refplend- 
ent whitenefs. 
DELPHI'NUS,y. the Dolphin, a conftellation of the 
northern hemifphere; whofe (lars, in Ptolomy’s cata¬ 
logue, are ten; in Tycho’s, the fame; in Hevelius’s, 
fourteen ; and in Flamftead’s, eighteen. 
DEL'RIO (Martin-Anthony), a learned Flemifh Je- 
fuit, born at Antwerp, in 1551. Having received a 
claffical education in his native place, he went to be in- 
(fruCted in rhetoric and philofophy at Paris, under the 
celebrated John Maldonat; whence he proceeded to 
Douay and Louvain, to (ludy law, and afterwards to 
Spain, where he had the degree of doClor conferred on 
him by the univerfity of Salamanca, in 1574. On his 
return to the Low Countries he became counfellor to the 
parliament of Brabant, and intendant of the army, and 
afterwards filled other civil offices of honour and truft. 
But when the civil wars broke Out in Flanders, he took 
a fecond journey into Spain, where he entered among the 
jefuits at Valladolid, in 1580. Five or fix years after 
that event, his fuperiors ordered him into the Low Coun¬ 
tries, to teach philofophy, tine languages, and theology; 
which he continued to do for a long time at Louvain, 
where he contracted an intimate friendfhip with Juftus 
Lipfius. He alfo taught at Douay, Liege, Mentz, Gratz 
in Styria, and Salamanca. He died at Louvain, in 160S. 
At the age of twenty he publifhed an edition of Solinus, 
■corrected according to the manufeript of Julius Lipfius, 
with notes; and a few years afterwards, notes on Clau- 
dian, and on the tragedies of Seneca, together with fome 
treatifes on law. But the work which drew the mod ge¬ 
neral attention was his Difquifitiones Magic?, in three vols. 
DEL 
quarto, 1599 and 1691. He publilhed befides, Commen. 
taries on Genelis, the Song of Songs, and the Lamenta. 
tions of Jeremiah, in three vols. quarto, 1604 and 1608 ; 
Sacred Adages of the Old and New Teffaments, in Latin, 
two vols. quarto, 1612; three volumes of Explications 
of fome of the mod difficult and important Paifages of 
Scripture ; two treatifes intended to maintain the genu- 
inenefs of the books attributed to Dionyfius the Areo- 
pagite, againd the criticifms of Scaliger, &c. one anony¬ 
mous, under the title of Vindicia Areopagita, 1607; and 
the other, under the name of Liberius Sanga Verinus, a 
Spaniard, and intitled Peniculus Foriaruui Elenchi Scaligeri - 
anipro Socictate Jefu. ; with numerous other pieces. 
DEL'TA, f. [the Greek letter A.] The external 
pudendum muliebre is fo called, from the ffiape of its 
hair. The triangular form of this letter has alfo occa- 
fioned its name to be applied on many occafions, where 
there is a refcmblance in the fhape or figure. 
DEL'TA, a part of Lower Egypt, which includes a 
fpace of ground between the branches of the Nile and 
the Mediterranean Sea: the ancients called it the I/le of 
Delta, becaufe it is in the drape of a triangle, like the 
Greek letter of that name. It extends about 130 miles 
along the epad from Damietta to Alexandria, and feventy 
on each fide from the place where the Nile begins to di¬ 
vide itfelf. It is tire mod plentiful country in Egypt ; 
but its fertility is chiefly owing to the inundations of the 
Nile. The principal towns on the coad are Damietta, 
Rofetta, and Alexandria; within land, Menoufia, and 
Maala or Elmala. 
DEL'TA, a tract of country at the mouth of the In¬ 
dus, one of the principal rivers of Hindooftan. It was 
fo named after the Egyptian Delta, above deferibed. It 
is fituate near the fea, and interfered by innumerable 
dagnant canals and creeks. The little iflands formed by 
thefe channels, were the Infula Sclis of Mela, lib. ii. c.i 1 ■ 
“ fatal (fays he) to all that enter them, by reafon of the 
violent heat of the air.” There certainly is not, in all 
India, a place more fatal to Europeans. Here is a greater 
and a lefler Delta ; the greater begins a few leagues from 
Hydrabad, and the branch called Nala Sunkra, forms its 
eadern fide : the lefler is included in the greater; and its 
northern point is at Aurungabander. This Delta of the 
Indus is of great extent, each fide being 115 miles. 
DEL'TA, a trabl of country at the mouth of the 
Cavery, in Hindoodan, including the whole kingdom of 
Tanjore. This Delta is in the form of an irregular 
rhomb ; meafuring acrofs to Calymere-point about forty 
miles ; and from the point where the land trends due 
north, to Porto-novo, about eighty miles. It is inter¬ 
fered by multitudes of dreams; and is noticed by Pto¬ 
lemy under the title of Chaberis Flu. Ofia. 
DEL'TOIDE, adj. from the Greek 
letter A, and eiJoj, a likenefs.] Triangular, (haped iike 
the Greek delta. In anatomy, it is applied to the deltoid 
mufcle. Sometimes this word means quadrangular, or 
having four (ides ; for the letter delta is the fourth in the 
Greek alphabet, and in numeration dands for four. 
DELTO'TON, f. in adronomy, a condellation of the 
fouthern hemifphere, the triangle. 
DELU'DABLE, adj. Liable to be deceived ; that is 
eafily impofed on : rather deludible. —Not well underhand- 
ing omnifcience, he is not fo ready to deceive himfelf, 
as to falfify unto him whofe cogitation is no ways delu~ 
dable. Brown. 
To DELU'DE, v. a. [delude, Lat.] To beguile; to 
cheat; to deceive; to impofe on. To difappoint; to 
frullrate : 
Let not the Trojans, with a feign’d pretence 
Of proffer’d peace, delude the Latian prince. Dryden. 
DELU'DER,/. Abeguiler; a deceiver; animpoffor; 
a cheat; a falfe pretender.—And thus the fweet deluders 
tune their long. Pope. 
Say, 
