148 RI A I 
yield by diftillation a ftrong fpirit, which the people here 
fell fo very cheap, that for one pice (about a halfpenny) 
may be purchafed no lefs than a cutcha-feer (above a pint 
Englifh), with which any man may get completely drunk. 
Thefe flowers make an article of trade; being exported 
from this country to Patna and elfewhere in no inconti- 
derable quantities. The oil yielded by the fruit, as be¬ 
fore mentioned, refembles ghee fo much, that, being 
cheaper, the natives often mix it with that commodity. 
They ufe it the fame as ghee in their victuals, and in the 
compofition of fome forts of fweetmeats; and burn it in 
their lamps. It is alfo regarded as a falutary remedy, ap¬ 
plied exteriorly to wounds and all cutaneous eruptions. 
It is at firfl of the confidence of common oil, but foon 
coagulates; after being kept for fome time, it acquires a 
bitterifh taite and rancid fmell, which renders it fomewhat 
lefs agreeable as an article of food ; but this is an incon¬ 
venience which, by the oil being properly clarified and 
prepared at firfl, might be perhaps avoided. This oil is 
alfo exported both in its adulterated and original date to 
Patna and other parts of the low country. The gum has 
not been applied to any ufe; but might be collected in 
large quantities in the months of March and April, about 
the time the flowers come out. 
The wood, from what has been already faid of it, can¬ 
not be expelled to be often had in beams of any confi- 
derable length, fo as to make it fo very ufeful, in building, 
as it would otherwife be, from its not being liable to be 
eaten by the white ants. Butin many other refpeCts it is 
a mod ufeful wood ; and, as it is tough, and of a flrong 
texture, it might, perhaps, be employed to advantage in 
fhip-building ; in which cafe, if properly cultivated in 
many grounds that feem well adapted for it, and fit for 
little elfe, it might thus in time become a valuable article 
in that branch at Calcutta ; whither it could eafiiy be 
tranfported during the rainy feafon, from almofl any part 
of thefe countries, by feveral rivers that are then fufh- 
ciently full to float it down. The tree will grow in the 
nod barren ground, even amongtt ftones and gravel, 
where there is the lead appearance of a foil; and it feems 
to dedroy all the fmaller trees and brufhwood about it. 
It does not require much moidure, Teeming to produce 
nearly as well in the dried as in mod favourable years ; 
and in every Situation ; and is therefore admirably fitted 
for the convenience of the inhabitants of thefe hilly coun¬ 
tries, which are peculiarly fubjeCl to long and fevere 
droughts during the hot months. It ought to be fovvn 
about the beginning of the rains, either in beds (to be 
afterwards tranf'planted) or at about thirty or forty feet 
difiance, in the ground defigned for it. It is faid that, 
in feven years, the trees will give flowers and fruit; in 
ten, they will yield about half their common produce ; 
and that in twenty years they come to their full growth; 
after which, they will lad nearly a hundred years. As 
this tree will yield nearly its ufual quantity of flowers and 
■fruit in feafons when, for want of rain, every other crop 
fails, it would afford the inhabitants a fure and certain 
refource, under the mod dreadful, and what has hitherto 
been, to them, the mod deftruCtive, of all calamities, fa¬ 
mine. It is well known that the rice, and other forts of 
grain, which form the chief part of their fudenance, re¬ 
quire a confiderable degree of inoidure to bring them to 
perfection. An unufually-dry feafon deftroys the harveft 
in thofe articles, and reduces the ryots in general to the 
utmod mifery; a predicament into which they could 
hardly fall, even in the fevered dearth of grain, whild 
they had plenty of the flowers and fruit of the mahwah to 
depend upon. For thefe reafons, Lieut. Hamilton lirongly 
recommends the cultivation of this tree about Chatra, in 
the diftriCl of Ramgur. 
MA'I, a town of Perfia, in the province of Lariftan ; 
forty miles wed of Lar. 
MAI'A, in fabulous hidory, the daughter of Atlas and 
Pleione. She was the mother of Mercury by Jupiter, 
^she was one of the Pleiades, and the molt luminous of 
M A I 
the feven Alters; (Tee Pleiades.)— Alfo, a furname cf 
Cybele. 
MAI'A, a river of Rufiia, which rifes in lat. 59. 50, 
Ion. 139. 10. It takes a fouth-weft courfe to lat. 57.40. 
when, uniting with the Maimaken, it changes its courfe to 
north-north-wed,and runs into the Aldan in lat. 60.20. N, 
Ion.133.40.E. 
MAIABAGADU'SE, a fort of North America, in the 
diftriCl of Maine, in Penobfcot Bay, built by the Britifli 
in the American war. 
MAIAK', an oflrog of Ruflia, on the coad of the 
Frozen Ocean : 340 miles north-north-weft Anadirlkoi. 
Lat. 71.16. N. Ion. 169. 14. E. 
MAIAKAR', a town of Ruflia, in the government of 
Perm: fixteen miles north of Obvinlk. 
MAIAN', a town of Perfia, in Farfiftan : eighteen 
miles fouth of Ifpahan. 
MAJA'NAH, a town of Algiers, in the province of 
Condantina, lituated at the entrance of an extenfive plain, 
to which it gives name : fifty miles fouth-fouth-weil of 
Boujeiah, and eighty-four wed-fouth-wed of Conftantina. 
MAIAN'THEMUM, f. [from Mas®-, the month of 
May, and a flower.] A name given by fome 
thors to the lily of the valley. See Convallaria. 
MAIAR', a town of Perfia, in Chufiltan : twelve mile£ 
north of Komlha. 
MAJA'RES, a town of Tranfilvania, on the Maras : 
feventeen miles ealt of Bidricz. 
MAID, or Ma'iden,/ [maegben, Sax. maegd, Dut.j 
An unmarried woman; a virgin.—She employed the re- 
lidue of her life to repairing of highways, building of 
bridges, and endowing of maidens. Carew. 
Down on the bridal bed a maid Ihe lay, 
A maid Ihe rofe at the approaching day, 
A woman fervant: 
Her clofet and the gods lhare all her time. 
Except when, only by fome maids attended. 
She feeks fome lhady folitary grove. 
A thoufand maidens ply the purple loom. 
To weave the bed, and deck the regal room, 
A fpecies of lkate-filh. See Raia. 
MA'IDCHILD, f. A female child.—If fhe bear a maid* 
child. Lev. xii. 5. 
M AID-MA'RIAN, f. A kind of dance, fo called from 
a buffoon drefled like a woman, who plays tricks to the 
populace.—A fet of morrice-dancers danced a maid-marian 
with a tabor and pipe. Temple. 
Others make Maid-Marian really a woman; which ac¬ 
cords with the following paflage : 
Yet old Queen Madge, 
Though things do not fadge, 
Will ferve to be Queen of a May-pole, 
Two Princes of Wales 
For Whitfuo ales. 
And her grace Maid-marian Claypole. Butler's Remains* 
MA'ID-PALE, adj. Pale like a fick virgin : 
Change the complexion of her maid pale peace 
To fcarlet indignation. SAake/peare. 
MAID-SER'VANT, f. A female fervant.—It is per¬ 
fectly right what you fay of the indifference in common 
friends, whether we are fick or well ; the very maid-fervants 
in a family have the fame notion. Swift. 
M A I'D A, a town of Naples, in Calabria Ultra. In the 
year 1805, the French were defeated here by the Britifh, 
under Gen. Stuart: nine miles weft-north-welt of Squiilace 
MA'IDEN. See Maid. 
MA'IDEN, f. An edged inftrument ufed in fome coun¬ 
tries, and formerly in Scotland, for the beheading of cri¬ 
minals. The maiden is a broad piece of iron, of a foot 
fquare, /harp on the lower part, and heaviiy loaded above 
with lead. At the time of execution, it is pulled up t© 
the top of a narrow wooden frame ten feet high, with a 
groove 
Dry dm. 
Rowe. 
Priar. 
