MAG 
MAF'FAH (Old), a town of the ifland of Madagafi 
car, fituated near the north- weft coaft. Lat. 51. 22. S. 
Ion. 51. E. 
MAF'FAH (New)> 3 town of the ifland of Madagaf- 
car : twenty-five miles fouth-eaft of Old Maffah. 
MAF'FERSDORF, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Bolefiaw : ten miles north of Turnau. 
To MAF'FLE, v.n. To Hammer. Ainfworth. 
MAF'FLER,/! A Hammerer. Ainfworth. 
MAF'FRA, a town of Portugal, in the province of Ef- 
tremadura, containing about 1040 inhabitants. Near this, 
in a fandy and barren place, king John V. erefled a build¬ 
ing of extraordinary magnificence. This was done in pur¬ 
suance of a vow, made in a dangerous fit of illnefs, to found 
a convent for the uleof the pooreft friary in the kingdom. 
Upon inquiry, this pooreft of convents was found at Maf- 
fra, where twelve francifcans lived togetherin a hut. The 
king procured from Rome the draught of a (Iruffure, 
which fhould far exceed the Efcurial. The building is 
eonftrufted of a kind of white marble; it contains thirty- 
feven windows in front, and is nearly a fquare of 728 feet; 
the church is placed in the centre of the fabric, having the 
palace on one fide, and the convent on the other. The 
architect ot the whole fabric was a German, John Frederic. 
It was begun in the year 1717, and finilhed in 1742: 
there are 300 cells in the convent, each of 20 palms or teet, 
by 18 ; tht kitchen is 96 palms by 42 ; the library is 381 
palms in length, and 43 in breadth. In the whole building, 
the printed account allures us that there are 870 rooms, 
and 5200 windows. The floors are ot bricks nicely laid. 
The palace is not furnifhed, as the king leldom rcfides 
liere. It is only five miles north-welt of Lilbon. 
MAF'MALA, a lmall ifland in the Indian Sea, near 
the coalt ot Africa. Lat. x6. 20 S, 
MAFRAGG', a river of Africa, in the country of Al¬ 
giers, which runs into the Mediterranean near Cape Rofa. 
It was anciently called Rubricalus. 
MAFU'MO, or English River, a river of Africa, 
which runs into Dtlagoa Bay, navigable for large vefiels 
with four fathom water on the bar at fpring. tide ; the 
channel of the river is about a mile acrofs, with depth of 
water for vefiels drawing twelve feet 30 or 40 miles, and 
for large boats, it is imagined, feveral hundred. - Ships lie 
commonly two miles up the river, where is good depth of 
water, perfectly fafe from all winds, with plenty of pro- 
vifions, fuch as beef, goats, fow ls, filli, lemons, oranges, 
feveet potatoes, and other vegetables, with plenty of good 
water on both tides the river. Lat. 26. S. 
MAGACADAWA', Magego'devick, or Eastern 
River, a river of. America, which forms part of the 
boundary between the United States and New Brunf- 
wick, and runs into Paflfaniaquoddy Bay. This is fup- 
pofed to be the true river St. Croix. 
MAGACE'L A, a town of Spam, in Eftremadura: eigh¬ 
teen miles eail-fouth ealt ot Merida. 
MAGA'DA, in mythology, a title under which Venus 
was known and worfhipped in Lower Saxony ; where this 
goddefs had a famous temple;, which was treated with re- 
lpeff even by the Huns and Vandals when they ravaged 
the country. It is (aid to have been deltroyed by Charle¬ 
magne. 
MAGAD'INO, a town of Italy, in the bailiwic of Lo¬ 
carno, on the lake of Locarno; five miles fouth of Belin- 
zona. 
MAG'ADIS, f. [from magas, a word ufed in the anci¬ 
ent mufic to denote the bridge of a Itringed inftrument; 
®rfrom ptscyaSiffw, Gr. to fing or play in unilon or oflave.j 
The name ot a Itringed iniirument, formed of twenty 
chords, arranged in pairs, and tuned to unifon or oc¬ 
tave, fo thai they yielded ten lounds ; the invention of 
which is afcribed by fome to Sappho, by others to the 
Lydians, and by lume to Timotheus of Miletus. It w.,s 
st leaft improved by Timotheus ot Miletus, but who isfaid 
to have been impeached ot a crime, becaufe, by increafing 
the number of chords, he fpoiled and diferedited the -an¬ 
cient mufic. 
M AG *7 
Among all obfGure terms in the ancient Greek nvafie, 
whiGjb have bewildered modern inquirers, few have per¬ 
plexed them more than this; and its meaning is till fo far 
from fettled, that we have yet to Earn whether it was a 
wind or a Itringed inftrument ; or, indeed, wiieth r it was 
any inftrument at all,orany thing more than a monochord, 
or the bridge of an inftrument. Rondeau affures us, that 
the verb, to magadize, in the Greek mufic, implied to fing 
in the octave, as a man and a woman, or a boy, natu¬ 
rally do ; and adds, that, as the word comes from ma«ar, 
the bridge of an inftrument, by extenfion it was apptied 
to an inftrument with double lirings tuned oftaves to each 
other, like the unifons and o&ave in our old double harp"-" 
fichord. 
MAGADOX'O, Magado'sho, or Maldos'cho, a 
kingdom of Africa, fituated along the coaft of the Indian 
Sea, from the river Jubo, near the equinoftial line, to be¬ 
yond the fifth degree of north latitude. Its name is derived 
from its capital, which is fituated in a large f> 3 y, formed by 
the mouth of a river of the fame name, called by the Arabs, 
the Nile of Magadoxo,on account of its annual overflow¬ 
ing. The fource of this river is not afeertained ; but its 
courfe is concluded to be long, from its confiderable 
channel and large bay, and alfo from its extenfive inun¬ 
dations, which iupply various canals, and fertilize the 
country through which it runs, fo that it produces in 
abundance wheat and barley, and a variety of f ruits, and 
fupplies food for numbers of horfes, oxen, fheep, and other 
animals, which are bred near its banks —The city of Ma¬ 
gadoxo is a place of great commerce, and valt refort from 
Aden and other parts ; whence their merchants bring 
cotton, filk, and other cloths, fpices, and drugs; which 
they exchange with the inhabitants for gold, ivory, wax, 
and other commodities. The inhabitants are chiefly Ma¬ 
hometans, among whom are many Bedouin Arabs, who 
retain their ancient fuperftitions ; and farther inland there 
is a greater number of Abytfinian Chriftians, fubjebt or 
tributary to that empire. The king and his court are 
Mahometans; his fubjefts, of whom fome are white, others 
tawny and olive, and others black, all ipcak the Arabic 
tongue. They are ltout and warlike ; and ule, among 
others, poifoned arrows and lances. The town is fituated 
in lat. 2. 6. N. Ion. 45. 50. E. 
MAG'ALAS, a town of France, in the department of 
the Herault: feven miles north of Beziers, and eight fouth 
of Bedarrieux. 
MAGALAW AU'K, a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore ; 
ten miles weit-louth-weft of Punganore. 
MAGALHA'ENS, See Magellan. 
MAGAL'LON, a town ot Spain, in the kingdom «f 
Arragon ; tour miles fouth-eaft of Borja. 
MAGALOPn (Count Laurence), an eminent Ita¬ 
lian philolopher and mathematician, was defeended from 
a noble family originally of Florence, and born at Rome 
in the year 1637. At thirteen years of age, he was placed 
under the tuition or thejefuits.with whom he went through 
a courfe of philofophy. In the year 1656, he was lent to 
the univerfity ot Piia, chiefly for the purpofe of ftudying 
jurifprudcnce; in which fcience he made lb rapid a profi¬ 
ciency as altonilhed his tutors, who in fixteen months pro¬ 
nounced his farther attendance on their lectures to be un- 
neceilary At the fame time, he ftudied anatomy, attending 
the lectures of Malpighi and Bo-relli; but the bent of his ge¬ 
nius led hun to devote his particular attention to the ma¬ 
thematics and philolopby Thefe branches of fcience he 
cultivated at Florence, during three years, under the ce¬ 
lebrated Vincent Viviani, who palled a high eulogium oil 
his talents and acquirements. "Scarcely could Magalotti 
be fa id to have arrived at years of manh iod, when, on the 
recommendation ot Viviani and Borelli, he was made fe- 
cretary to the academy del Cimento, which had been efta- 
blifhed, 1111656, tor the putpole of elucidating philofo- 
phical fcience by a feries ot experiments. The duties of 
this appointment Magalotti dilcharged with the utmoft af- 
fiduity and care; and, being directed by the prince, who 
was both patron and pretident of the academy, to draw 
* up- 
