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LAD 
LADO'DA, a town of Hindooftan, in the fubah of 
Agimere: twenty miles fouth-eaft of Roopnagur. 
LADO'GA, or Ladoz'skoi, a lake of Ruffia, in the 
government of Vyborg, between the gulf of Finland and 
the lake of Onega; its fouth-weft extremity lying about 
thirty miles ealt from Petersburg. In ancient times it is 
faid to have been called Nebo. Being in length 130 miles, 
and in breadth near 80, it isreckoned one of the larged 
lakes in Europe. It produces a great number of feals. 
On account of the ftorms to which it is liable, and the fe- 
veral fand-banks that are ever Ihifting their pofition, Pe¬ 
ter the Great, in 1718, caufed the famous Ladoga canal 
to be dug along its Ihore, from the Volkhof into the Neva. 
It was begun by order of Peter, and finiftied under the 
reign of the emprefs Anne. This canal is 78 miles long, 
and has twenty-five fluices. By the Neva the Ladoga is 
connected with the Baltic; by the Svir, with the Onega; 
and by the Volkhof, with the Ilmen. Into the canal flow 
the rivers Lipke, Nafia, Sheldika, Lava, and Kabona; 
into the lake the rivers Pallia, Sias, Oiat, &c. whereas the 
Neva alone runs out of it. Both fliores of the lake be¬ 
long to Ruflia, which have every-wliere a flat coaft and a 
fandy beach. On this fliore it has alfo a few low fifhery- 
iflands, and a fandy bottom. That part of the northern 
fide which lies in the government of Olonetz has marble 
on its coaft, whence fome of thefe beautiful kinds of Fin- 
nifli marble are brought to St. Peterfburg. As the bed of 
this lake, for a great extent, is in the loweft part of the 
country, it receives, befides the above-mentioned rivers, 
the waters that come from the Alum hills ; all of which 
have no other outlet than the Neva. Tooke's Ruff. Emp. 
LADO'GA (New), a town in the Ruffian government 
of Peterfburg, feated on the Volkhof, between the canal 
and lake of Ladoga : feventy miles eaft of Peterfburg. 
Lat. 60. o. N. Ion. 30. 32. E.—Old Ladoga is higher up 
the river, and a place of no great extent. 
LADOG'NA. See Lacedogna. 
LA'DON, in ancient geography, a river of Arcadia 
falling into the Alpheus. The metamorphofis of Daphne 
into a laurel, and of Syrinx into a reed, are fabled to have 
happened near its banks. 
LA'DON, a town of France, in the department cf the 
Loiret: nine miles weft of Montargis, twenty-feven eaft- 
north-eaft of Orleans. 
LA'DOS, a fmall ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sea. Lat. 
6.11.N. Ion. 99. 40. E. 
LADRO'NES, or Mariana Islands, a clufter of 
iflands in the North Pacific Ocean, difcovered by Magel¬ 
lan, which occupy a fpace of 430 miles in extent. Ma¬ 
gellan is faid to have firft called them Las [[las de las Velas, 
i. e. The Iflands of Sails; or de las Velas Latinos , i. e. of 
Triangular Sails, from the appearance of their prows; but 
afterwards Las IJlas de las Ladrones, or The Iflands of 
Thieves; becaufe the Indians who firft vifited him ftole 
every thing that w'as made of iron within their reach. 
The latter end of the feventeenth century, they obtained 
the name of the Mariana, or Marianne Iflands, from the 
queen of Spain, Mary-Anne of Auftria, the mother of 
Charles II. at whofe expence miflionaries were fent over 
thither to propagate the Chriftian faith. 
In the year 1564 or 1565, Andreas Miguel Lopes Legafpi 
took poffeffion of thefe iflands in the name of the crown 
of Spain; but he neglebted them as unworthy of his at¬ 
tention, and purfued his voyage to the Philippines. The 
Ladrones were then forgotten till the zeal of a celebrated 
jefuit, Santevores, interefted the devotion of queen Mary- 
Anne of Auftria, regent during the minority of her fon 
Charles II. and excited her to caufe thegofpel to be carried 
jiito thefe iflands, which Magellan had found means to an¬ 
nex to the poffeffions of Spain, by difeoveringa new route, 
that eluded the ridiculous line of demarcation eftablifhed 
by the fee of Rome in the plenitude of its power. In 
1688, the Spaniards prefented themfelves at the Mary-Anne 
iflands, with the crofs in one hand and the fword in the 
other 5 and with thefe two weapons, which lent oneano- 
L A D 
ther mutual aid, their pretended right to the poffeffion of 
thefe iflands could not fail to be acknowledged. They had 
no difficulty in making themfelves matters of Guahan, or 
Guaham, now called Guam, the principal of thefe iflands, 
and the molt fouthern of the Archipelago; and by de¬ 
grees they fubdued all the others. Pigafetta, who accom¬ 
panied Magellan, deferibes the people of thefe iflands as 
naked, their hair and beards long, tall and well-propor¬ 
tioned, with an olive complexion. Till the arrival of the 
Spaniards, the inhabitants of thefe iflands confidered them¬ 
felves as the only men in the world, being allured that 
the firft man was made of a piece of rock taken from Funa, 
a little ifland near Guam ; but, according to others, he 
W’as made of earth in the latter ifland. When they were 
vifited by the Spaniards and Dutch, they inferred that 
thefe ftrangers were brethren who had loft the primitive 
Guamefe language. In colour, fpeech, manners, and 
government, they much refemble the Tagals, or people of 
the Philippines, before the Spaniih conqueft. They were 
then very populous; Guam, which is forty leagues in cir¬ 
cuit, having 30,000 inhabitants. The women employed 
themfelves in dyeing their teeth black, and their hair 
white. 
Many things looked upon by us as abfolutely neceffary 
to our exiftence; were utterly unknown to thefe people. 
They had no beafts of any fort; and they had but one 
fpecies of birds, fomewhatlike the turtle-dove, which they 
never killed for eating, but only tamed them, and taught 
them to fpeak. But, what is more furprifing and incredi¬ 
ble in their hiftory is, that they were utterly unacquaint¬ 
ed with the element of fire till Magellan, provoked by 
their repeated thefts, burned one of their villages. When 
they faw' their wooden houfes blazing, they at firft thought 
that the fire was a beaft which fed "upon the wood; and, 
fome of them who came too near being burnt, the reft 
flood at a diftance, left they fliould be devoured or poi- 
foned by the breathings of this terrible animal. 
Though Guam is the largest of the Ladrone iflands, Ti¬ 
nian has attradled the greateft degree of attention, in con- 
fequence of the romantic defeription given of it in An- 
fon’s voyage. See Tinian. The number of thefe iflands 
has been differently ftated from nine to fixteen; but it 
does not appear that above three or four are inhabited. 
Their failing veffels, called proas, evince confiderable Skill 
in naval architecture. In thefe veffels, before they had 
any acquaintance with the Europeans, they made confi¬ 
derable voyages from one ifland to another; and, when 
overfef, Showed great prefence of mind in turning them, 
refitting, and getting again on-board; fo that, taking all 
circumftances together, they might be efteemed as brisk 
and bold Seamen as any in this part of the world. 
La Percufe leads us to conclude that thefe iflands are 
volcanic ; but their natural hiftory is little known. They 
cultivate various feeds and fruit, and particularly the 
bread-fruit. In fir George Staunton’s Account of the 
Embaffy to China, we have fome information of a recent 
and authentic kind with refpeft to thefe iflands. The 
Grand Ladrone he reprefents as a high-peaked ifland; and 
he mentions another near it, whofe fummit is fomewhat 
lower and more level. The latitude of the Grand Ladrone 
appeared to be 21. 52. N. and the longitude 113. 36. E. of 
Greenwich. The latitude of another ifland, called Chook- 
tchoo was 21.55. N. and the longitude 113.44. N. The 
obfervations from which thefe latitudes and longitudes are 
deduced were carefully made, and therefore they may be 
deemed correct; though they differ from thofe ftated by 
other geographers. The margins, or rocks, of the La¬ 
drone Iflands next to the feaareof a black or dark-brown 
colour, owing to the aftion of the fait water; and the 
fpray and dalhing of the waves have corroded their fur- 
face, fo as to give them a honey-comb appearance. Some 
fprings are found on thefe iflands; and the water is nei¬ 
ther brackifh nor chalybeate, nor in any refpeft mineral 
iii its tafte. The foil upon the furface appears to be of 
the fame nature with the component parts of the rocks 
below 3 
