M O R 
M O R 
riaceous, alternate, few, a foot long, on a round petiole, 
thickened at the bafe and tip, an inch and a half long. 
Short thick peduncles come out fcatteringly both on the 
old and young branches, having commonly four or five 
flowers on each : thefe are of a dirty white, have fome 
little finell, and are fcarcely an inch in diameter. The 
fegments of the calyx are feldom equal. The flamens are 
about twenty in number. Fruit brown, with ruft-co- 
loured dots: flelh or pulp wliitiih, not eatable. Gxrtner 
defcribes it as a fuperior, fpherical, one-celled, berry, on 
a very long pedicel: rind coriaceous, hard, thick, Ihag- 
reencd with dots : fielh fungous, white. Peduncle twice 
as long as the berry, having callous dots fcattered over it, 
and a fwelling ftriated joint at the bafe, crowned with a 
row of very minute tubercles. Seeds numerous, largifii, 
fomewhat kidney-form, fmooth, whitifn or rufefcent, im- 
rnerfed in all directions in the pulp. Native of South 
America, and the illands of the Weft Indies; flowering 
there in July, and bearing fruit in November. In Mar- 
tinico they call it Bois Mahouia, or Devil’s-wood. 
Linnaeus firft placed this tree in the clafs polyandria, 
but afterwards removed it into the clafs monadelphia. 
Swartz is inclined to reftore it to its former fituation, and 
even to fink it in the genus Capparis, from which it 
differs only in.its two-leaved calyx, and the filaments 
united to the middle. 
MORISO'T (Claude Bartholomew), a French writer, 
was born at Dijon in 1592, and died in 1661. He wrote, 
among other pieces of reputation at the period in which 
heflourifhed, “ Peruviana, or the Secret Hiftory of Cardinal 
Richelieu, Mary de Medicis, and the Duke of Orleans.” 
MOR'ITZBURG, a citadel of Saxony: nine miles north 
of Drefden. 
MOR'KASTORF, a town of Auftria: nine miles fouth 
of Laab. 
MOR'KIN, f. [ murken , Swed. rotten, for murhia, to 
rot.] A wild bead dead through ficknefs or mifchance : 
Not a wild beaft alone, but a fheep, deer. 
Some forry morkin that unbidden dies. Bp. Hall. 
MORLA'AS, or Morlas, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Lower Pyrenees : feven miles ealt-north- 
eaft of Pau, and fixteen weft-north-weft of Tarbe. 
MORLAC'CA, a range of mountain on the coaft of 
Dalmatia, extending from Segna to Fiume, and the bor¬ 
ders of Carniola. 
MORLA'CHIA, a country of Europe, fituated between 
Dalmatia and Croatia, if it be not rather a part of the 
former: it is bounded on the north by Carniola, on the 
eaft by Croatia, on the fouth by Dalmatia, and on the 
weft by the gulf of Quarnero and Iftria. The country 
is mountainous, and extends about one hundred miles 
in length, and twenty-five in breadth. Segna is the chief 
town, belonging to Auftria. Some part of the country 
owed fubjeCtion to Venice, and .fome likewife to Turkey. 
The Morlachi call themfelves in their own idiom Vlajji, 
a national term which fignifies “ men of authority, or 
powerful.” The inhabitants of the maritime towns, de¬ 
scendants of the Roman colonies, are no friends to thofe 
who live more inland ; who, in return, look upon them, 
as well as the inhabitants of the illands, with the greateft 
contempt: which reciprocal diflike no doubt proceeds 
in part from ancient dilcord between the two races. The 
great difference in dialed, drefs, difpofition, and cuftoms, 
between the maritime and tranfalpine inhabitants of 
Dalmatia, feems clearly to prove that they fprung not 
from the fame origin, or at leaft it muft have been at very 
diftant periods, and with circumftances capable of alter¬ 
ing their national chara&er. There is alfo a remarkable 
diverfity among the Molachi themfelves in feveral dil- 
trifts ; derived perhaps from the different countries from 
whence they came : for fome are fair, with blue eyes, 
a broad face and a flat nofe; while others have dark- 
coloured hair, a long face, tawny colour, and a tall fta- 
lure. The qualities of their mind are alfo as different 
811 
as thofe of the body: for the Morlachi about Kolar, are 
generally mild, refpeSful, and tradable; but thofe of 
Vergoraz are furly, proud, bold, and enterprifing. Rob¬ 
beries are frequent; notwithftanding which, a ftranger 
may travel fecurely among them under an efcort, and 
will be hofpitably treated. The greateft danger to be 
feared, is from the Haiduks, of whom great numbers have 
retreated among the woods and caves of thofe dreadful 
mountains on the confines: there a traveller ought to 
get himfelf efcorted by a couple of thefe brave fellows, 
and he is quite fafe, for they are not capable of betraying 
him, although a banditti. 
The Morlachi in general have little notion of domeftic 
oeconomy, and readily confume in a week as much as 
would be fufficien'c for feveral months, whenever any 
occafion of merriment prefents itfeif. “ Friendfliip, that 
among us is fo fubjeft to change on the flighted: motives, 
(fays the abbe Fortis,) is lafting among the Morlachi; 
they have even made it a kind of religious point, and 
tie the facred bond at the foot of the altar. The Scla- 
vonian ritual contains a particular benedidion, for the 
folemn union of two male or two female friends in the 
prefence of the congregation. The male friends thus 
united are called Pobrat.imi, and the females Pojajlreme', 
which mean half-brothers and half-fifters.” 
As the friendlhips of the Morlachi are ftrong and 
facred, fo their quarrels are commonly unextinguifhable : 
they pafs from father to fon, and the mothers fail not to 
put their children in mind of their duty, to revenge their 
father, if he has had the misfortune to be killed, and to 
fhow them often the bloody ftiirt and arms of the de- 
ceafed ; and fo deeply is revenge rooted in the minds of. 
the nation, that all the milfionaries in the world would 
not be able to eradicate it. A Morlach, therefore, who 
has killed another of a powerful family,, is commonly 
obliged to fave himfelf by flight, and to keep out of the 
way for feveral years. If during that time he has been 
fortunate enough to efcape the fearch of his purfuers, 
and has got a fmall fum of money, he endeavours to 
obtain pardon and peace ; and, that he may treat about 
the conditions in perfon, he alks and obtains a fafe con- 
dud! ; which is faithfully maintained, though only ver¬ 
bally granted. Then he finds mediators; and, on an 
appointed day, the relations of the two hoftile families 
are aflembled, and the criminal introduced, dragging 
himfelf along on his hands and feet; the mulket, piftol, 
or cutlafs, with which he committed the murder, hung 
about his neck; and, while he continues in that humble 
pofture, one or more of the relations recites a panegyric 
on the dead, which fometimes rekindles the flame of re¬ 
venge, and puts the poor proftrate in no fmall danger. 
But they generally make up matters at a fmall expenfe; 
and the bufinefs is concluded with a feaft at the offender’s 
charge. 
The Morlachs, whether of the Roman or of the Greek 
church, have very Angular ideas about religion ; and the 
ignorance of their teachers daily augments the evil.. 
They are as firmly perfuaded of the reality of witches, 
fairies, enchantments, nocturnal apparitions, &c. as if 
they had feen a thoufand examples of them ; nor do they 
make the leaft doubt about the exiftence of vampires, and 
attribute to them, as in Tranfylvania, the fucking of the 
blood of infants. Therefore, when a man dies fufpe&ed 
of becoming a vampire, or vuliodlah as they call it, they cut 
his hams, and prick his whole body with pins; pretend¬ 
ing, that after this operation he cannot walk about. 
The women are attentive to their perfons till they are 
married; but afterwards they abandon themfelves to that 
kind of negligence which feems to be a return for the 
contempt with which they are treated. The drefs of the 
unmarried women is the moft complex and whimfical, 
in refpeCt to the ornaments of the head; for when mar¬ 
ried they are not allowed to wear any thing but a 
handkerchief, either white or coloured, tied about itJ 
The girls ufe a fcarlet cap, to which they commonly hang 
