M A U 
cull* him, taught them the ufe of the fword. Sir Ifaac 
Newton makes this Belus to have been the fame perlon 
■with Sefoftris king of Egypt, who overran a great part of 
the then known world. All perfons of diftinCfion in 
Mauritania went richly attired, wearing much gold and 
filver in their clothes. They took great pains in cleanf- 
ing their teeth, and curled their hair in a curious and 
elegant manner. They combed their beards, which were 
very long ; and always had their nails pared extremely 
clofe. When they walked out in any numbers, they ne¬ 
ver touched one another, for fear of difconcerting the 
curls into which their hair had been formed. The 
Mauritanian infantry, in time of a&ion, ufed fliields made 
of elephant’s (kins ; being clad in thole of lions, leopards, 
and bears, which they kept on both night, and day. 
The cavalry of this nation was armed with broad lhort 
lances, and carried targets or bucklers, made likewife of 
the (kins of wild beads. They ufed no faddles : their 
horfes were fmall and fwift, had wooden collars about 
their necks, and were fo much under the command'of 
their riders, that they would follow them like dogs. The 
habit of thefe horfemen was not much different from that 
of the foot above mentioned, they condantly wearing a 
large tunic of the (kins of wild beads. The Phutsei, of 
whom the Mauritanians were a branch, were eminent for 
their Ihields, and the excellent ufe they made of them, 
as we learn from Homer, Xenophon, Herodotus, and 
Scripture. Nay, Herodotus feems to intimate, that the 
Ibield and the helmet came from them to the Greeks. 
Notwithdanding the fertility of their foil, the poorer fort 
of the Mauritanians never took care to manure the ground, 
being drangers to the art of hulbandry ; but roved about 
the country in a wild favage manner, like the ancient 
Scythians or Arabes Scenitae. They had tents, or mapa- 
lia t fo extremely fmall, that they could fcarcely breathe in 
them. Their food was corn, herbage, &c. which they 
frequently ate green, without any manner of preparation, 
being deditute of wine, oil,and all the eleganciesas well as 
many neceffaries of life. Their habit was the fame both 
in fumtner and winter, confiding chiedy of an old tattered, 
though thick, garment, and over itacoarle rough tunic ; 
which anfwered probably to that of their neighbours the 
Numidians. Mod of them flept upon the bare ground ; 
though fome Itrewed their garments thereon, not unlike 
the prefent African Kabyles and Arabs, who, according 
to Dr. Shaw, ufe their hykes for a bed and covering. 
If the mod approved reading of Horace may be admitted, 
the Mauritanians (hot poifoned arrows ; which clearly in¬ 
timates, that they had fome (kill in the art of preparing 
poifons, and were excellent dartmen. This lad obferva- 
tion is countenanced by Herodian and AJlian, who en¬ 
tirely come into it, affirming them to have been in fuch 
continual danger of being devoured by wild beads, that 
they durd not dir out without their darts. Such perpe¬ 
tual exercife mud have rendered them exceedingly fkilful 
in hurling that weapon. The Mauritanians lacrificed 
human victims to their deities, as the Phoenicians, Cartha¬ 
ginians, Sc c. did. 
The country people were extremely rude and barbarous ; 
but thofe inhabiting cities mud undoubtedly have had al 
lead fome (mattering in the literature of the feveral na¬ 
tions they deduced their origin from. That the Mauri¬ 
tanians had fome knowledge in naval affairs, feems pro¬ 
bable, not only from the intercourfe they had with the 
Phoenicians and Carthaginians, as well as the fituation of 
their country ; but likewife from Orpheus, or Onoma- 
critus, who afferts them to haVe made a fettlement at the 
entrance into Colchis, to which place they came by fea. 
JMagic, forcery, divination, See. they appear to have ap¬ 
plied themfelves to in very early times. Cicero and Pliny 
fay, that Atlas was the inventor of altrology, and the doc¬ 
trine of the (phere 5 i. e. he fil'd introduced them into Mau¬ 
ritania. This, according to Diodorus Siculus, gave rife 
to the fable of Atlas’s bearing the heavens upon his fiioul- 
ders. The fame author relates, that Atlas iniinnfted Her¬ 
cules in the do&rine of the fpliere and aftrology, or ra- 
Yol.XIV. No. 395. 
M A U 581 
ther afftonomy ; who afterwards brought thofe fcience* 
into Greece. 
MAURITA'NIA CA 2 SARI_EN'SIS, or Cjf.saria'xa, 
a part of Mauritania, fo denominated under the reign of 
Claudius. This province had been feparated from Nu- 
midia: it extended from Mauritania Tingitana, from 
which it was feparated by the river Malva on the wed, as 
far as the Ampiagee. See Geography, ut fupra. 
MAURI'TIA,yi [fo named by the younger Linnaeus, 
after the appellation by which it is known to the Dutch 
fettlers in Surinam, Mauritii-booni, or Maurice-tree. Whe¬ 
ther this appellation originated in any compliment to the 
memory of their great prince Maurice, or of any other 
perfon of the fame name, or whether the tree were thought 
to have been brought from the idand of Mauritius, we are 
not informed.] The Gingko, or Maidenhair-tree ; in 
botany, a genus of the clafs dioecia, order bexandria, na¬ 
tural order palmas, or palms. Generic characters—Male, 
an oblong feffile catkin, covered entirely with clofely- 
crowded flowers, having obtufe feales between them. Ca¬ 
lyx : perianth of one leaf, cup-fhaped, abrupt, entire, tri¬ 
angular, ffiort. Corolla : of one petal ; tube fhort, the 
length of the calyx, with three futures, by which the di- 
vifions of the limb are eafily continued down to the bafe ; 
limb in three deep, equal, flightly-fpreading, lanceolate, 
obtufe, channelled, rigid, and almolt-woody,, fegmer.ts. 
Stamina: filaments fix, thick and very fiiort, in(ei;ted into 
the mouth of the tube ; antheras linear, angular, the length 
of the corolla, three of them fpreading horizontally be¬ 
tween its fegments, the alternate three ereCt, clofely preffed 
to the channel of each fegment. Female unknown.— Ej- 
fential CkaraSler. Male, an oblong feffile catkin ; calyx of 
one leaf, cup-fhaped, undivided ; corolla of one petal, with 
a^fhort tube, and three-cleft limb ; filaments fix. 
Mauritia flexuofa, the only fpecies. This is a fingular 
tree, alinod without leaves. Branches angular, flexuofe, 
fmooth ; with fhort joints, thickening upwards, fomewhat 
recurved, terminated by embracing (heaths; with a cup- 
fliaped and (harper knee-joint. From the axils of thefe 
come out over the whole (tern drobile-fhaped aments, in 
two rows, fpreading very much, fedile, with two larger 
upright feales, fickle-fiiaped upwards, at the bafe. Ament* 
ovate-oblong, cylindric, covered with clofely-approximat- 
ing ferruginous flowers, fpreading very much; falling 
off, and leaving the ament with its feales. The younger 
Linnaeus laments that he was not acquainted with the fe¬ 
male flowers or fruit, which are prelumed to be borne on 
a diftinCt individual. This plant was lent from the woods 
of Surinam by Dalberg, being a part of the botanical col¬ 
lection, preferved in fpirits of wine, which king Gnfla- 
vus III. of Sweden prefented to Linnaeus. See Gustavia. 
Propagation and Culture. , It may be increafed by laying 
down the young branches in the Cummer leafon, and, when 
they have (tricken root fully, taking them off and plant¬ 
ing them with earth about their roots in pots filled with 
light frefh mould, placing them in the greenhoufe, where 
they mud be kept. The cuttings of the young (hoots 
may alfo be planted in pots in the fame manner, plung¬ 
ing them in a moderate hot-bed till they have taken root, 
when they may be managed as the other plants are direct¬ 
ed to be. This plant affords variety in the greenhoufe, 
and when trained againd the walls ; but in the lad cafe mult 
be (heltered by mats, in fevere weather in the winter leafon. 
MAURl'TIO (St.), a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Po: (even miles north-north-wed of Turin. 
MAURI'TIUS, an idand of Africa, about 400 miles 
call of Madagafcar, lying in lat. 20. 12. S Ion. 58. 27. E. 
In the year 1505 it was dilcovered by the Ponuguefe, who, 
knowing that Pliny and other ancient writers had men¬ 
tioned the illand of Cerne in thefe feas, took it for granted 
that this mud be it; and accordingly we find it dyled 
Cerne, or Sirne, in their maps: but, notwithdanding this, 
they did not think fit to fettle it. However, according 
to their laudable cudom, they put fome hogs, goats, and 
other cattle, upon it, that, in cafe any of their (hips, either 
going to the Indies or returning to Portugal, fliould be 
7 A obliged 
