42 
M E L 
Ptolemy in Arabia Petrsea; fuppofed by Jerome to be 
thole that are called in fcripture Sinai and Oreb. 
MELAN'IDA, a furname of Venus. 
MELA'NION, the fame as Hippomenes, who married 
■ Atalanta according to fome mythologifts. 
MELANIPTE, a daughter of Aiolus, who had two 
children by Neptune, for which her father put out her 
eyes, and confined her in a prifon. Her children, who had 
been expofed and preferred, delivered her from confine¬ 
ment, and Neptune reftored her to her eye-fight. She af¬ 
terwards married Metapontus. Hi/gi'n. fab. 186.—A nymph 
rvho married Itonus, fon of Amphidiyon, by whom Ihe had 
Boeotus, who gave his name to Bceotia. Pauf. 9. 
MELANIF'PIDES, a Greek poet about 520 years be- 
.fore Chrift. His grandfon, of the fame name, fiourilhed 
.about fixty years after, at the court of Perdiccas II. of 
Macedonia. Some fragments of their poetry are extant. 
ME L A'N IUM , f. in botany. See Lythrum and Viola. 
M E L A N O G IE T' U LI, Nigri'tje, or B lack Gain Hans, 
in ancient geography, a people of Africa, placed by 
Ptolemy between the mountains Sagapola and Ulargala, 
in a diftridt louth-eaft of Gretulia Propria, to which it is 
contiguous, and north of the river Niger. (See G^etulia, 
vol. viii.) The Melanogaetuli were a people without doubt 
-different from the Ga;tulians, and fo confidered by Pto¬ 
lemy?, though Cellarius thinks they were a tribe of that 
.people. Their complexion (hows, that their progenitors 
were different from thofe of the Gastulians. The modern 
.diftridt of Wad-reag, in the province of Conftantina, con¬ 
taining a collection of twenty-five villages ranged in a 
north-eaft and fouth-weft direction, correfponds with a 
part of the country of the Melanogaetuli, according to 
Dr. Shaw. This learned traveller likewife fuppofes, that 
the country of the Beni-Mezzab, lituated thirty-five 
leagues to the feuth of the mountains of the Ammer, fup¬ 
pofed to be part of the Mons Phraraefus of Ptolemy, the 
large village of Engoufah, thirty leagues to the fouth-weft 
by weft of Tuggart, the capital of Wad-reag, and the po¬ 
pulous city ofWurglah, with their dependencies, even to 
the banks of the Niger, were included in Melanogtetulia. 
As Ptolemy places the Melanogaetuli next to the Pharufii 
in a fouthern direClion, fixing his Nigritian Ethiopians in 
.a traCt lying to the north of the Niger ; and as Mela, Pliny, 
and Strabo, give the Nigritae exaCtly the fame fituation 
with regard to the Pharufii and the Niger, but are quite 
fdent as to the Melanogaetuli; it is very probable, that 
the Melanogaetuli and Nigritae were the lame people. If 
this fuppofition be admitted, it will appear very credible, 
that their territories extended to the Niger, and that they 
had fome remarkable places in thofe parts ; fince, accord¬ 
ing to Ptolemy, many towns flood not far from that river, 
of which the principal were Paffide, Saluce, Negira, Thige, 
Cuphe, Thammdicana, and Vellegia. The moll celebrated 
rivers of this part were the Gir and Niger. If any credit 
be given to Leo and the African hiftorians, Sabtecha, the 
fon of Culh, firft peopled the Sahara, between the moun¬ 
tains of Atlas and Nigritia, and therefore probably Ni- 
gritia itfelf, or at leaft part of it. From the fame author 
it appears, that the various Nigritian dialeCts bear an affi¬ 
nity to the Chaldee, Arabic, and Egyptian, tongues; and 
confequently to the Ethiopic, which does not differ widely 
from them. The Carthaginians had undoubtedly fome 
knowledge of the Nigritae, fince it appears probable from 
.JFrontfinus, that one part of their army confifted of Nigri¬ 
tian troops. This circumftance will enable us to account 
fcrfeveral antique coins with a Negro’s or Nigritian’s head 
upon them. The Nigritae nfed chariots in their wars, and 
were armed after the manner of the weftern Ethiopians 
with bows and arrows, as we learn from Strabo. Accord- 
'ing to the fame author, the Pharufii, and therefore pro¬ 
bably the Nigritae, travelled in caravans through the de- 
ferts to Cirta, and kept open a communication with the 
Maurufii. On thefe occafions they carried bottles filled 
with water tied to their horfes’ bellies, left they ffiould 
.perilh from thirlt in the vaft deferts through which they 
M E L 
were obliged to traverfe. Hence it is'undeniably clear, 
that thefe PharufiaU and Nigritian merchants lived at a 
great diftance from Cirta, and thofe places of Mauritania 
to which they reforted; and alfo that the Negroes or 
Blacks held an early correfpondence with the ancient 
Mauritanians, Numidians, and Carthagenians. Anc. Univ. 
Hijl. vol. xvi. 
MELANOM'PHALE, f. in botany. See Ornithoga- 
LUM. 
MELANOSCHCE'NUS. See Schcenus. 
MEL AN OSY'-R I, in ancient geography, a name given 
to thofe who inhabited Syria between the Euphrates and 
the Mediterranean Sea, by way of contradiftinftion to the 
Leuco-Syri, who lived in Cappadocia, towards the Euxine 
Sea. The former are black Syrians, and the latter white, 
as their refpedtive appellations import. 
MELAN'THIUM, J. black, av^oc, Gr. a flower.] 
In botany, a genus ot the clafs hexandria, order trigynia, 
natural order of coronariae, (junci, Juff.) Generic cha¬ 
racters—Calyx: none, uniels the corolla be fo called. 
Corolla : petals fix, ovate-oblong, fpreading, with linear 
longer claws, permanent. Stamina: filaments fix, filiform, 
erect, the length of the corolla, into which they are inferted 
above the claws ; anthers globular. Piftillum: germen 
conical, ftriated'; ftyles three, diftinct, curved; ftigma 
blunt. Pericarpium: capfule ovate, three-cornered, three- 
grooved, three-celled, compofed of three capfules united 
within. Seeds : very many, compreffed, half-ovate.— 
Effential Character. Corolla fix-petalled ; filaments from 
the elongated claws of the corolla. There are ten fpecies. 
1. Melanthium Virginicum, or Virginian melanthium : 
flowers panicled ; petais with claws, hirfute on the outfide. 
Flower-ftalks from fix to eight inches high, branching at 
top into three or four divifions, with two or three linear 
leaves below the flowers ; corolla of a dulky colour, rarely 
fucceeded by feeds in England. Native of Virginia and 
other parts of North America. Cultivated by Mr. Miller 
in 1768. It flowers in June and July. 
2. Melanthium lsetum, or ipear-leaved melanthium : 
raceme oblong ; petals leffile ; leaves Imooth, lanceolate- 
linear ; ftem-leaves remote. Native of North America j 
flowers in June. 
3. Melanthium Sibiricum, or Siberian grafiy melan¬ 
thium : panicle very long ; petals feffile ; leaves fmooth, 
acuminate. Root bulbous, oblong. Leaves radical, half 
a foot long. Stem naked, a foot high, round, furrounded 
by a Angle linear ffiort leaf. Flowers panicled ; peduncles 
alternate, one-flowered ; the loweft peduncle longer, with 
alternate pedicels. It differs from the firft lpecies in hav¬ 
ing the petals leffile, and the filaments not rigid and per¬ 
manent. The appearance however is quite the lame with 
that. Native of Siberia. 
4. Melanthium Capenfe, or fpotted-flowered melan¬ 
thium : petals dotted ; leaves lanceolate, cowled. Native 
of the Cape of Good Hope. 
5. Melanthium Indicum, or Indian melanthium : petals 
linear-lanceolate; leaves linear. Native of Tranquebar 
in the Eaft Indies. 
6. Melanthium Cochinchinenfe, or Cochinchinefe me¬ 
lanthium : petals feffile; leaves three-fided; flowers lo- 
litary, axillary. Stem fix feet high, Ihrubby, round, flen- 
der, branched, procumbent, with Ihort fcattered prickles. 
Flowers white, on one-flowered peduncles. Frequent in 
dry hedges in China and Cochinchina. It is allied to the 
preceding. 
7. Melanthium viride, or green-flowered melanthium : 
leaves ovate-lanceolate ; corolla reflex. Stem half a foot 
high, leafy, lubpubefeent. Flowers drooping, yellow. 
Found at the Cape of Good Hope by Thunberg and 
Maifon. 
8 . Melanthium ciliatum, or fringe-leaved melanthium : 
leaves enfiform, cowled ; flowers in fpikes; petals with 
claws. Petals white, lanceolate. Found at the Cape by 
Thunberg. 
9. Melanthium triquetrum, or rulh-leaved melanthium : 
leave* 
