LAP 
the weft. The rice is preferred to that of other oriental 
countries. Tire ’ivory is beautiful j but the horn of the 
rhinoceros is particularly efteemed from a fuperftitious no¬ 
tion, that the polfefl'or, who keeps it, infures his felicity. 
The fields, abounding with flowers, afford food for nu¬ 
merous fvvarms of bees, which fupply excellent wax and 
honey. In the province of Laos, whence the kingdom 
derives its name, is a deep mine, which fnrnifhes rubies 
and beautiful emeralds, one of which, in the royal trea¬ 
sury, is faid to be as large as a common orange. The in¬ 
habitants of this kingdom are celebrated for their honelty 
and fidelity ; and fo anxious are they to maintain their re¬ 
putation in this refpedt, that, if a traveller be robbed, the 
neared town or village is obliged to indemnify him. At 
the fame time they are indolent and luxurious, and ad- 
difted to the ftudy and practice of magic. The army of 
Laos is eilimated by Turpin at 500,000 combatants; but 
he adds a circumflance which fomewhat aftefts his credi¬ 
bility, that a numerous army might be raifed of men who 
have lived a century. The people of this country are not 
very diftinguiflied for their fobriety and temperance, as 
they eat daily four reparts of rice, fifh, and theflefh of the 
buffalo; the buffalo and venifon being common in their 
markets. Marriages are eafily contracted, and no lefs ea- 
fily dill'olved; and the rich entertain many concubines; 
but one very impreffive and curious circumrtance attends 
their marriages, which muft not be omitted: they Select 
the oldeft married couple they can find, who have lived 
in perfeft agreement together, and promife before them 
to follow their example till death. A funeral refembles a 
feftival ; and a fum of money is depofited in the tomb, 
which is circulated, after a certain period, by the priefts. 
The commerce of this country was chiefly carried on in 
former times with Siam ; but, after the irruption of the 
Birmas, it palled to Pegu; at a later period, the trade of 
Laos has been transferred to Cambodia. The inhabitants 
of Laos boaft that the Siamefe borrowed the art of writing 
on palm-tree leaves from them. The tongue and charac¬ 
ters are the fame; but it is faid, that the Laofian cannot 
pronounce the letters L and R. 
The ancient worfhip of tliefe people is faid to have been 
directed to one God, the creator of all, who was only to 
be pleafed by the exercif'e of virtue, and not by facrifices, 
ceremonies, and the obfervance of certain days. But the 
purity of their faith has been corrupted by their inter- 
courfe with the Chinefe. They believe in regular reno¬ 
vations of the univerfe ; and that our earth has attained 
the age of 18,000 years; Polygamy is one of the pro- 
mifed joys of paradife, and the women are allured, that 
if they lead a virtuous life they fhall be changed into 
men. The priefts take comfort, under the privations of 
celibacy, from a perfuafion which they indulge, that in 
another world they {hall be able, by the privilege of their 
order, to create females at their pleafure. Some of their 
ceremonies, like thofe of Thibet, feem to have been de¬ 
rived from the Neftorian Chriltians. To the rich they 
fell difpenfations and pardons ; while the poor alone are 
condemned to perpetual mifery. The king of Laos is 
faid to be an abfolute independent prince, and to ac¬ 
knowledge no fuperior, either in temporal or Spiritual con¬ 
cerns. In him is verted the whole property of lands, and 
lie difpofes at pleafure of the effects of his fubjefts; nor can 
any family in the kingdom inherit or poflefs any thing 
left by will. Cruttwell's Gaz. Pinkerton s Geogr. 
LAONOME'NE, a daughter of Thelpius, by whom 
Hercules had two Tons, Teles and Menippides, and two 
daughters, Lyfidice and Stentedice. Apollodorus. 
LAOTH'OE, a daughter of Altes, a king of the Le- 
leges, who married Priam, and became mother of Lycaon 
and Polydorus.- Homer — One of the daughters of Thefpius, 
mother of Antidus, by Hercules. Apollodorus. 
LAOU'R, a towm of Hindooftan, in Bengal: forty 
sides north-weft of Silhet. Lat.^5. 7. N. Ion. 91. 20. E. 
LAP,/, [lasppe, Sa x. lappc, Ger.] The loofe part of a 
garment, which . may be doubled at pleafure.—If a joint 
't A P 
of meat Falls on the ground, take it up gently, wipe h 
with the lap of your coat, and then put it into’ the difh. 
Swift. —The part of the clothes that is Spread horizontally 
over the knees as one fits down, fo as any thing may lie 
in it.—Men expeft that religion (hould colt them no pains, 
and that happinefs fhould drop into their laps. Tiliotfon. 
He ftruggles into breath, and cries for aid; 
Then, helplefs, in his mother’s lap is laid. 
He creeps, he walks; and, ifluing into man, 
Grudges'their life from whence his own began. Dryden% 
To LAP, v. a. To wrap or twill: round any thing.—He 
hath a long tail, which, as he defcends from a tree, he 
laps round about the boughs, to keep himfelf from falling. 
Grew. —To involve in any thing.—Here was the repofitory 
of all the wife contentions for power between the nobles, 
and commons, lapt up fafely in the bofom of a Nero and. 
a Caligula. Swift> 
Indulgent fortune does her care employ. 
And, finding, broods upon the naked boy; 
Her garment fpreads ; and laps him in the folds,. 
And covers with her wings from nightly colds. Drydent 
To LAP, v. a. To be fpread or turned over any thing. 
—The upper wings are opacous; at their hinder ends,, 
where they lap over, tranfparent like the wingofa fly. Grew. 
To LAP, v n. [lappian, Sax. lappen, Dut.] To feed by 
quick reciprocations of the tongue—The tongue lervts 
not only for tailing, but for maltication and deglutition; 
in man, by licking; in the dog and cat kind by lapping 
Ray on Creation. 
To LAP, v.a. To lick up: 
For all the reft 
They’ll take fuggeltion', as a cat Taps milk. Shakefpeare . 
LAP'-DOG, f. A little dog, fondled by ladies in the 
lap.—One of them made his court to the lap-dog , to im~ 
prove his interell with the lady. Collier. 
Thefe, if the laws did that exchange afford. 
Would lave their lap-dog l’ooner than their lord. Dryden , 
Lap-dogs give themfelves the roufing fhake. 
And fleeplefs lovers juft at twelve awake. Pope. 
LA'PA, one of the Sooloo Illands. Lat. 5. 25. N» 
Ion. 120. 42. E. 
LA'PA, a town of Circafiia, on the Cuban. Lat. 44. 
50. N. Ion. 58. 34. E. 
LAPAC'TICS,/ [from 'Ka.rrafto, Gr. to evacuate.] A 
term ufed by the old writers in medicine to exprefs luch 
things as gently.loofened the belly. It was fometimes ap¬ 
plied to the cathartic medicines, and fometimes to thofe 
foods which were of this tendency. 
LAP'ARY, a town of Hindooftan, in Allahabad: fe- 
ven miles north of Jionpour. 
LAP'ATA, a chain of mountains of Africa, called the 
Backbone of the World, extending from north to fouth about 
600 miles. Lat. 12. 30. to 20. S. Ion. 27. to 33. E. 
LAPA'THIOS, in ancient geography, a town of the 
ifland of Crete, on the northern coaft. 
LAP'ATHUM, f. in botany. See Chenopodium, 
Polygonum, Potamogeton, Rheum, Rumex, and 
Spinacia. 
LAP'ATHUS. See Lapitha. 
LAPAU', a river of Weftpnalia, which runs into the 
Luhe eight miles weft-fouth-weft of Luneburg. 
LAPEYROU'SIA, f. [fo named by the abbe Pourret,- 
of Narbonne, in honour of M. Picot Lapeyroufe, author 
of a fplendid botanical book on the genus Saxifraga, and 
who paid great attention to the natural hiftory of the Py¬ 
renees.] In botany, a genus of the clafs triandria, order 
monogynia, natural order enfatas, Linn, (irides, fuff.) 
The generic characters are—Calyx: fpathainferior, ihorter 
than the corolla ; of two, rarely but one, folded valves. 
Corolla: of one petal, fuperior, falver-ftiaped, nearly or 
quite equal j tube long, {lender, triangular 5 its throat 3 
littl® 
