MEL 
57 
M E L 
pointed, very obfcurely and irregularly crenate, rather 
thickened or bordered at the margin, tapering af the bate, 
fingle-ribbed, with a few oblique forked veins, quite 
fmooth, of a pale green when dry, full of fmall, pellucid, 
refinous, dots; the terminal leaflet larger than the reft. 
Common foolftalk about an inch long, linear, channelled, 
fmooth. Flower-ftalks axillary, folitary, Shorter than the 
leaves, fomewhat corymbofe, fmooth, fiightly angular, 
with a pair of minute concave braftes at each fubdiviflon : 
whenever any of the Stalks fall off, a broad pale peltate 
fear is left behind on the branch. Flowers about a quarter 
of an inch in diameter, white or yellowifh, each on a qua¬ 
drangular partial ftallc, a quarter of an inch long, dilated 
upwards under the calyx ; capfules l'preading in four di¬ 
rections, fomewhat leathery, fmooth, each a quarter of an 
inch long. Gathered by Forfter in New Zealand, and 
given by him to Linnaeus. 
MELICRA'TUM, f. [from the Gr. honey ; and 
xfocToi, a mixture.] A kind of mead; a kind of wine made 
of honey and rain-water. 
MELICUC'CA, a town of Naples, in Calabria Ultra: 
ten miles weft-fouth-weft of Oppido. 
MELICY'TUS, f. [fo named by Forfter, from the Gr. 
/re?u, honey, and xv to?, a cavity or hollow ; the antherae 
being faftened to the cavity of the neftary.] In botany, a 
genus of the clafs dioecia, order pentandria, natural order 
euphorbias. Generic characters—Male. Calyx : perian- 
thium five-toothed, very Short. Corolla: petals five, 
ovate, acute, horizontal, longer than the calyx ; neftary, 
feales five, clubbed, cup-!haped, excavated at top, ftami- 
niferous on the infide, upright. Stamina : filaments none, 
antheras five, ovate-roundifh, four-grooved in front, faf- 
.tened longitudinally to the neftaries within, and a little 
longer. Female. Calyx and corolla as in the males ; nec¬ 
tary, five feales, triangular, acute, incumbent on the germ, 
fhorter than the calyx. Piftillum: germ ovate ; ftyle very 
ihort; ftigma fiat, four or five lobed ; lobes rounded, fmall. 
Pericarpium : capfule berried, globular, fmooth, coriace¬ 
ous, one-celled, four or five valved. Seeds : about five, 
convex on one fide, angular on the other, neftling in the 
pulp.— EJfential Character. Calyx five-toothed ; corolla 
five-petalled, three times as long as the calyx; neftary five 
feales. Male : antherse five, without filaments, faftened 
to the infide of the neftary. Female : ftigma flattened ou t, 
four or five-lobed; capfule berried, one-celled; feeds 
neftling. 
Melicytus ramifiorus, the only fpecies. It is a native 
of the neighbourhood of Queen Charlotte’s Sound, New 
Zealand, flowering there in November 1774. It is a Shrub, 
or tree, with round fmooth leafy branches. Leaves deci¬ 
duous, fcattered, on fhort fmooth footftalks, elliptic- 
lanceolate or obovate, obtufe, bluntly ferrated, fmooth on 
both fides, with one rib and numerous interbranching 
reticulated veins, each leaf an inch and a half or two inches 
long, and nearly one broad. Flower-ftalks feveral together, 
from fcattered lateral or axillary buds, each about a quarter 
of an inch long, (welling upwards, Ample, fmooth, bearing 
about the middle a minute fringed concave braftes, fin- 
gle-flowered. Flowers very numerous, whitifh. 
MELI'DA, or Meli'ta. See Meleda, p. 52. 
MELI'DES, a town of Portugal, in the province of 
Eftramadura : eighteen miles north of Sines, and twenty- 
one louth of Setuval. 
MELIGNA'NO. See Marignano, vol. xiv. p. 364. 
MELIL'LA, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of Fez, 
fituated on the coaft of the Mediterranean, belonging to 
the Spaniards. It is an ancient town, and was probably 
founded by the Carthaginians. Its name proves that 
honey was plentiful in its environs. The Goths, who 
had pclTeHcd themfeives of it, abandoned it when the 
Arabs invaded the country. It was forfaken in like 
manner by the Moors, and feized on by the Spaniards, 
about the beginning of the fifteenth century. Sidy Ma¬ 
homet ineffectually laid fiege to this place in 1774: 140 
miles eait of Tetuan. Lat. 35. 24. N. Ion. 2. 54. W, 
Vol. XV. No. 1023. 
MELIL'LI, a town of Sicily, fituated on mount Hy« 
bla, famous for its excellent honey, to which it owes its 
name; as well as alfo to the fertility of the adjacent 
territory, or the fugar-canes once cultivated there, but 
now abandoned. 
MELILO'BUS, f. in botany. See Gleditsia. 
MEL'ILOT, or Melilo'tus, J. in botany. See Medi- 
cago, Trifolium, and Trigonella. 
ME'LIN, a town of Croatia : twelve miles fouth-fouth- 
weft of Varafdin. 
MEL'IN-Y-COU'RT. See Mei.loncourt. 
MELI'NA, or Merlina, a river of Bohemia, which 
runs into the Elbe : five miles weft of Nimburg. 
MELIN'DA, a kingdom of Africa, fituated near the 
coaft of the Indian Sea. This country is for the molt 
part rich and fertile, producing almoft all the neceflaries of 
life, except wheat and rice, both of which are brought 
thither from other parts; and thofe who cannot pur- 
chafe them, make ufe of potatoes in their ftead, which a:se 
here fine, large, and in great plenty. They likewife 
abound with great varieties of fruit-trees, roots, plants, 
and other efculents, and with melons of exquifite tafte. 
The country is covered with citron-trees, with whole 
ftnell the air is agreeably perfumed almoft all the year. 
They have alfo great plenty of venifon, game, oxen,, 
(beep, geefe, hens, and other poultry ; and one breed of 
Iheep, whofe tails weigh in general between twenty and 
thirty pounds. The men are black, fwarthy, tawny, 
and white; the women moftly of an olive ; their drefs is 
elegant, for they never ftir out but in fine filks, girt with 
rich gold or fiiver girdles, collars, and bracelets of the 
fame, orfomething more valuable, and their heads co¬ 
vered with veils. The men wear a kind of turban ; in 
other relpefts their drefs confifts of a piece of cotton 
wrapped about the middle, and defeending a little below 
the knees; their legs, feet, and the reft of the body, 
quite bare. As to the meaner fort, as well as thofe who 
live farther from the coafts, they wear little elfe than a 
piece of cloth about their middle, if we except their fliield 
and weapons, which are the bow and arrows, the feymetar, 
and the javelin. Their religion is varioully deferibed by 
authors ; Come reprefenting the people as altogether Ma¬ 
hometans, and others as idolaters. The truth is, there 
are fome of both religions. The government is monar¬ 
chical ; and in fuch veneration is the king held by his 
lubjefts, that, whenever he ftirs out of his palace, he is 
carried on a fedan, on the (houlders of four or more of 
the greateft nobles of the kingdom ; and incenfe and 
other perfumes are burned before him as he goes along 
the ftreets of any city, by a great number of ladies, who 
come to welcome him with longs in his praife, accom- 
f >anied with feveral kinds of nautical inftruments. This 
arge country was for many years governed by a prince 
tributary to the Portuguefe ; but the circumftances are 
now reverfed, for the Portuguefe are obliged to pur- 
chafe, by annual prefents, permiftion to trade, and to 
explore the country for gold; a revolution probably 
caufed partly by the declenfion of the Portuguefe power, 
and partly by the advancement of the nation in the 
arts of commerce and policy, which made them fenfible 
both of their intereft and of their own Strength. 
Adjoining to Melinda are five other kingdoms, ail 
tributary to the fame nation; • fo that in this part of Af¬ 
rica alone tlie Portuguefe in the zenith of their power 
might have been faid to hold the fovereignty of a country 
as large as Sp.ain and Portugal together. The natives 
however carry on fome trade with their own veflels, in 
which they frequent the Red Sea and the ports of Arabia; 
they are alfo feen in the. Indian'Seas, especially at Cam- 
baya, a maritime town in the territories of the Great 
Mogul. The Indians, and Arabians, on the other hand, 
fometimes bring them goods to Melinda; yet the Por¬ 
tuguefe ultimately tranfaft all the trade of Melinda, 
which is but little inferior to that of Mozambique. Gold 
from Sofala; ivory, copper, quickfilver, all forts of filks, 
Q and 
