762 M O R 
12. Morasa plicata, or plaited moraa: fcape round; 
leaves petioled, oblong, nerved, plaited; racemes bifid. 
Bulb ovate, covered with red membranaceous coats, 
yellow in the middle. Leaves radical, from two to three 
feet long, enfiform, broad, narrower, and as it were pe¬ 
tioled at the bafe, purple, longitudinally fix-nerved, fold¬ 
ing over each other, very fmooth. Scapes rather longer 
than the leaves, roundifh or comprefl'ed a little, fomewhat 
Undated, fmooth, nodding a little at top, terminated by a 
fpathe-fhaped lanceolate upright nerved leaflet, from the 
Iheafhing bale of which ifl'ues a peduncle, two inches long, 
and bifid; each pedicel has a fmall leaflet under it. 
Flowers white, fpathaceous, in a fort of head, rifing gra¬ 
dually on very fhort pedicels. Native of the Weft Indies, 
as in the mountainous paftures of Jamaica on the weft 
fide; flowering the whole year, opening at four o’clock 
in the afternoon, one flower only coming out at a time. 
13. Moraea umbellata, or umbelled morsea: fcape 
round, Undated ; fpikes of flowers umbel-panicled ; in¬ 
volucres two-leaved, very long. Scape fmooth, upright, 
Ample, a foot high. Flowers terminating, one, two, or 
three, peduncled; blue. Native of the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
14. Morseacrifpa, orcurled moraa: fcape round jointed; 
leaf convoluted curled reflex. Scape a fpan high : one 
leaf next the root linear, the length of the fcape : flowers 
few, and of a blue colour. Native of the Cape. 
15. Moraa iriopetala: fcape round; leaves linear, ftigma 
multifid. Of this there are two varieties. 
a.. Bulb fmall, a little comprefl'ed on the fides, with a 
fmooth dark-coloured ikin. Leaves three or four, awl- 
fhaped, pale green, from five to feven or eight inches in 
length, and about half an inch broad, terminating with 
three angles. Scapes about fix inches high, generally 
bending at the lower joint; with a fmall leaf at each 
joint, the bafe of which almoft furrounds the fcape. 
Flowers two, terminating, encompafled by a withered 
fpathe; corolla orange; the parts pretty broad at top, 
connected at the bafe. 
(S. Bulb with fcales connected at the bafe, bifid ; de- 
prefl'ed, but not comprefl'ed. Roots fibrous, like thofe of 
the flag-leaved Iris, whence arifemany fmall fword-fhaped 
leaves, five or fix inches long, and half an inch broad 
in the middle, diminifhing towards both ends, of a deep 
green colour, lying over each other at the bafe. Scape 
about eight inches high, having one fmall leaf at each 
joint, and terminated by one flower, covered with a 
two-valved fpathe. Corolla dirty white, each part having 
a blufli of purple towards the upper part, and a pretty 
broad fpot of yellow towards the claw. 
Both varieties are natives of the Cape of Good Hope. 
They flower in June, and the feeds ripen at the end of 
July. It was to thefe that Mr. Miller gave the name of 
Morasa from Robert More, efq. who, as he fays, was well 
(killed in botany and other parts of natural hilfory. He 
cultivated them in 1758. 
16. Morasa iridioiaes, or fword-leaved morasa: fcape 
round ; leaves diftich, linear ; flower lubfolitary, termi¬ 
nating. Root fibrous. Scape a fpan or foot high, round- 
ifli or fcarcely comprefl'ed, jointed, fmooth. Ample or 
little branched, upright, the length of the leaves. Leaves 
enfiform, narrowed at the inner bafe, nerved, fmooth, 
acuminate, upright. Flowers from the uppermoft axils 
of the leaves, fometimes three, but often only one; ftyle 
ftiort, thick; ftigmas petaloid, fpreading, blue, bifid as 
in Iris. Capfule oblong, obloletely three-cornered, co¬ 
riaceous, black-brown, very finely ftriated. Seeds nu¬ 
merous, varioufly angular, depreifed, with two flat fides, 
the others curved with the fides of the cells; they are 
thick, black brown with confluent fpots. Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope, according to Miller and the Kew 
Catalogue ; but of the Levant, according to Thunberg. 
Cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1758. 
17. Morasa Chinenfis. The ftyle is inclined. The co- 
M O R 
rolla being lix-petalled, it is a fpecies of Morasa; the Ixias 
having a tube. This has already been fufficiently de- 
fcribed under Ixia Chinenfis. Mr. Curtis thinks that 
it has fcarcely any affinity with Morasa. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants are propagated 
by feeds, offsets, or parting the roots; all which opera¬ 
tions are bed performed in Auguft. Sow the feeds in 
fmall pots, plunged into a bed of old tanner’s bark, under 
a common frame. The plants alfo require this fort of 
flielter in winter, being apt to draw up weak when placed 
in the dry ftove. If they can enjoy the free air, even in 
winter, when the weather is not cold, and are fecured 
from froft and hard rain, they flower and ripen their feeds 
better than with more tender management. In fummer 
they ftiould be fully expofed to the open air till OCtober, 
when they fhould be removed into flielter. See Aristea 
and Iris. 
MORAGAT'CHA, a town of Bengal: eighteen miles 
fouth of Calcutta. Lat. 22. 17. N. Ion. 88. 18. E. 
MORA'I, f. The name given at Otaheite, in the South 
Sea, to the burying-grounds, which are alfo places of 
worlhip. The principal objeCl of ambition among the 
natives is to have a magnificent morai. The male deities 
(for they have them of both fexes) are worlhipped by the 
men, and the female by the women; and each have morais 
to which the other fex is not admitted, though they have 
alfo morais common to both. See Otaheite. 
MORA'I-JE', mountains of Africa, on the road from 
Angela to Mourzouk. 
MORALS AH, a feaport of Africa, in the kingdom of 
Tunis, with a fmall harbour, in the bay of Tunis, an¬ 
ciently called Maxula: twenty-four miles eaft-fouth- 
eaft of Tunis. 
MOR'AL, f. Morality ; pra&ice or doCtrine of the 
duties of life: this is rather a French than Englilh fenfe: 
Their mural and oeconomy 
Moft perfectly they made agree. Prior. 
The doCtrine inculcated by a fiction ; the accommodation 
of a fable to form the morals.—The moral is the firft bu- 
finefs of the poet, as being the ground-work of his in- 
ftruCtion; this being formed, he contrives fuch a defign 
or fable as may be moft fuitable to the moral. Dryden's 
Dvfrefnoy. —I found a moral firft, and then ftudied for a 
fable; but could do nothing that pleafed me. Swift to Gay. 
To MOR'AL, v.ji. To moralize; to make moral re¬ 
flections. Not in uje. 
When I did hear 
The motley fool thus moral on the time, 
My lungs began to crow like chanticleer, 
That fools fhould be fo deep contemplative. Shahefpeare. 
MOR'AL, adj. [Fr, from moralis , Lat.] Relating to 
the practice of men towards each other, as it may be vir¬ 
tuous or criminal; good or bad.—Laws and ordinances 
pofitive he diftinguifheth from the laws of the two tables, 
which were moral. Hooker .—In moral actions, divine law 
helpeth exceedingly the law of reafon to guide life ; but, 
in Jupernaiural , it alone guideth. Hooker. 
Now, banifh’d weapons glitt’ring in their hands, 
Mankind is broken loole from moral bands. Drydcn. 
Reafoningor inftruCting with regard to vice and virtue: 
France fpreads his banners in our noifelefs land, 
With plumed helm the flay’r begins his threats, 
Whillt thou, a moral fool, ilt’ft Hill and crieft. Shahefpeare. 
Popular ; cuftomary; fuch as is known or admitted in the 
general bufmefs of life.—Phyfical and mathematical cer¬ 
tainty may be Itiled infallible; and moral certainty may 
properly be ftiled indubitable. Wilkins. —A moral uni.ver- 
fality, is when the predicate agrees to the greateft part of 
the particulars which are contained under the univerfal 
fubjeCt. Watts's Logick. 
