184 
M A L 
battle. The Malay may be compared to the animals of 
his country, the buffalo and the tyger. In his domeftic 
date, he is indolent, itubborn, and voluptuous as the for¬ 
mer; in his adventurous life, he is infidious, blood-thirfty, 
and rapacious as’the latter.” Mar/den's Hijl. of Sumatra. 
Daniel's Pidlurefque Voyage to India. Pinkerton's Geography, 
vol. ii. 
MALAC'CA,a feaport town of Afia, on the well coaft 
of the country, and in the (traits of the fame name. 
When the Portuguefe firft became acquainted with the 
country, this city was in the pofleflion of the king of Jo- 
liore, from whom it was taken by them ; and, in a (holt 
time, became famous all over India and Europe, lying al- 
molt in the centre of trade, brought t-hither-by (hipping 
from the rich kingdoms of Japan, China, Formofa, Lugon, 
Tonquin, Cochin-china, Cambodia, and Siam ; befides what 
Johore produced, and Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Macaflar, 
Banda, Amboyna, and Ternate, iflands that abound in 
the mod valuable commodities. After Goa and Ormuz, 
this was by far the richefl city in the Indies, and a great 
market for all the different commodities thefe countries 
produced. It was the fee of a bifhop ; and the cathedral 
church, dedicated to St. Paul, was extremely elegant. 
They had befides five other parifh-churches, and a .noble 
college for the Jefuits, together with a feminary in which 
all new converts to the faith were inflru&ed. The whole 
was encompaffed .with a ftrong (tone wall, regularly forti¬ 
fied with badions, the.place extremely well peopled, and 
the garrifon numerous and well fupplied; becaufe the Pcr- 
•tuguefe confidered it as the eaflern frontier of their do¬ 
minions, which therefore could not be kept too lecure. 
In 1605, the Dutch attacked and deftroysd a fleet of Por¬ 
tuguefe here, confiding of 34 fail, on-board of which were 
3000 men ; but, notwhhflanding this victory, they were 
not able to take the place. Next year the king of Johore 
inveded it, with an army of 60,000 men, in revenge of 
what the Portuguefe had done againdhim three years be¬ 
fore, when they took and deltroyed his capital; however, 
he was obliged to raife the fiege, with great lofs ; but the 
Dutch, well knowing the importance of the place, and 
the vad advantages accruing to the Portuguefe from its 
fituation and commerce, the former affording them an 
opportunity of levying 10 per cent, upon all veflels 
palling through the Straits of Malacca, and the latter an¬ 
nually producing a large revenue, they attacked it in the 
year 4640, fo vigoroufly, that they became maders of it, 
after a-fiege.of fix months. The walls and fortifications 
they prefervedj as alfo the church of St. Paul; but mod of 
the other churches they dedroyed, and the great hofpital 
they turned into a warehoufe. In 1795, this place was 
taken by the Britifh. Lat. z. iz. N. Ion. ioa. iz. E. 
MALAC'CA (Straits of), a narrow fea between the 
ifland of Sumatra and the country of Malacca, extending 
from the equinoftial line to lat. 5. N. 
MALAC'CA PASS'AGE, a channel of the Eaflern 
Indian Sea, between Pulo Way and the coafl of Sumatra, 
about thirteen miles long. 
MALAC'CA STO'NE,/ A name given by many au¬ 
thors to the pedra del porco, or hog-bezoar. 
MALAC'CA-PE'LA. See Psidium. 
MALAC'CA-SCHAMBU 7 . See Eugenia. 
MAL'ACHEL, a river of Spain, which runs into the 
Guadiana five miles fouth-fouth-ead of Merida in Eftra- 
madura. 
MAL'ACHI, the lafl canonical book of the Old Tefta- 
mcnt. Malachi, according to a tradition among the an¬ 
cients, was of the tribe of Zebulun, and born at Sapha, 
after the return from the captivity at Babylon, and who 
died young. He was probably contemporary with Nehe- 
miah, and mud have lived after the time of Haggai and 
Zechariah, becaufe his prophecy fuppofes the temple to be 
rebuilt, and the worlhip of God eltablilhed in it. Uflier 
places him in the year 416, and Blair in 436, B. C. Some 
have doubted whether Malachi was a proper name, or a 
general appellation, fignifying the angel or melTenger of 
M A L 
the Lord. Malachi, 'DNSd. denotes « my angel,” but 
the LXX have rendered the word, “ his angel,” and not 
“ rny ar.gel,” as the original exprefies it ; and feveral of 
the fathers have quoted Malachi under the name of the 
“ Angel of the Lord.” It is the opinion of the ancient 
Hebrews, of the Chaldee Paraphrad, and of St. Jerome, 
that Malachi was Ezra. The chief corruptions which he 
charges upon the Jews are the fame with thofe for which 
they were reproved by Nehemiah ; he forbids them to 
expefl any farther fucceflion of prophets, exhorts them 
to obferve the law of Mofes, and prediifls the coming 
of Elias, or John the BaptiA, as the forerunner of the 
Mefliah. 
Bifhop Lowth, in his Prelefliones, fays, that this book 
is written in a kind of middle ftyle, which feems to indi¬ 
cate that the Hebrew poetry, from the time of the Ba- 
bylonifh captivity, was in a declining date, and, being 
pad its prime and vigour, was then fad verging towards 
the debility of age. 
MAL'ACIIITE, f. See Cuprum arugo, under the ar-* 
tide Mineralogy.— This done is lometimes entirely 
green, but lighter than that of the nephritic done, fo as in 
colour to relemble the leaf of the mallow, j, from 
which it has its name ; though fometimes it is veined 
with white, or fpotted with blue or black. Woodward. 
MALACHODEN'DRUM, /. [fo called by Mitchell 
and Cavanilles, from p.aAaxoj, foft, and a tree, on 
account of its foft or downy leaves. Hence alfo the ori¬ 
gin of podKa.yyi, a mallow.] In botany, a fuppofed genus 
which differs in nothing from Stuartia, to which we 
refer the reader, except in the feparation of its five Ayles, 
which in the other fpecies are combined into one.—M. 
corchoroides, Mart. Mill. Did. is erroneoufly referred 
hither after Forflcall, and is Sida fpinofa, which fee. 
MALA'CHRA, f. [like Malachodendruin and other 
genera, owes its derivation from puhct/.os, foft, or delicate, 
doubtlefs from the foftnefs of its pubefcence.] In bo¬ 
tany, a genus of the clafs monadelphia, order polyandria, 
natural order of columniferse, (malvaceae, JuJJ.) The ge¬ 
neric charaflers are—Calyx : perianthium common, moltly 
five-flowered, three or five-leaved, large; leaflets cordate, 
acute, permanent; chaffs briflle-fliaped, fet round the 
proper perianths. Perianthium proper, one-leafed, beil- 
(haped, (mail, five-cleft, permanent. Corolla: proper; 
petals five, obovate, entire, faflened at bottom to the tube 
of damens. Stamina: filaments many, conjoined below 
into a tube, above loofe, gaping along the whole lurface 
of the cylinder ; antherae kidney-form. Pidillum : germ 
orbicular; dyle cylindric, ten-cleft; digmas globular. 
Pericarpium : caplule roundilh, divifible into five cells, 
comprelfed on one fide, gibbous on the other. Seeds: 
folitary, roundifh, angular.— EJfential Charadler. Calyx 
common, three-leaved, many-flowered, larger; arils five, 
one-feeded. 
Species. 1. Malachra capitata, or heart-leaved malachra ; 
heads peduncled, three-leaved, feven-flowered. Stem 
thick, eredt, two feet high ; rough, as is the whole plant; 
leaves foot-dalked, heart-fhaped; dipules four or fix, 
fubulate. Flowers aggregate, peduncled ; peduncles com¬ 
mon, two, axillary, placed here and there ; each flower 
fertile. Calyx common, of three fubtriangular-auriculated 
leaflets, which are fliff and (harp. Calyx proper. Angle, 
one-leafed, half five-cleft, with the divilions lanced, brifliy 
at the tip with white bridles. Corolla yellow, fpreading; 
petals roundifh. Native of marfliy places in the Caribbte 
iflands. 
2. Malachra radiata, or radiated malachra: heads pe¬ 
duncled, five-leaved, many-flowered ; leaves palmate. Stem 
tender, round, whiti(h-green, coated with rufous pungent 
hairs; as is likewife the whole plant, which is b»anchy, 
and taller than a man. Leaves commonly divided into 
five lobes, which are crenated, hirfute, and bright green. 
Calyx triple ; corolla purplifli, fcarcely an inch in diame¬ 
ter ; tube fcarlet. Native of marfliy places in Domingo. 
3. Malachra bra&eata, or bra&eated malachra; leaves 
palmate; 
