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TAB 
TABARRA, a small town in the west of Spain, in Leon; 
16 miles north-by-west of Zamora. 
TABAS, a city of Korassan, in Persia, on the road from 
Herat to Yezd; 337 miles from the former, and 150 from the 
latter. It is the only city which occurs between these two 
places, and is thus the scene of some commercial intercourse. 
It is situated amid a range of mountains, and contains a po¬ 
pulation of about 20,000. 
TABASCO, formerly a province of Mexico, now in¬ 
cluded within the limits of Yera Cruz, of which it occupies 
the southern portion, and is 100 miles long by 60 broad. 
The soil is not very fertile, neither is the air healthy, as the 
country is in general flat and marshy, filled with small 
lagoons or lakes; and as it rains during greater part of the 
year, the climate is very damp. The coast is subject, from 
September to March, including both those months, to dread¬ 
ful slorms, the northerly gales prevailing during that period, 
which renders navigation dangerous and difficult. In Fe¬ 
bruary, March, and April, the heats prevail, which are insup¬ 
portable, and accompanied with infinite swarms of mosqui¬ 
toes and other venomous insects. 
TABASCO, the chief town of the above province, and 
one of the oldest in New Spain, called also Nuestra Senora 
de la Victoria, on account of a great victory which Cortez 
gained here on his first landing. The town is not large, but 
is well built, and is considerably enriched by a constant re¬ 
sort of merchants and tradesmen at Christmas. It stands on 
an island at the mouth of the Rio Guijalva, which divides 
itself near the gulf into two arms ; 197 miles east-south-east 
of Vera Cruz. Lat. 18. 34. N. long. 93. 36. W. 
TABASCO, an island, or rather a neck of land, in the 
south-west part of the gulf of Mexico, and at the bottom of 
the gulf of Campeachy, on which is built the town of Ta¬ 
basco. It is about 36 miles in length, and 7 or 8 broad. 
Near it on the continent, are great plains abounding in cattle, 
sheep, &c., and a wild animal called the mountain cow, or 
tapir, which subsists on the moss that accumulates on trees, 
near the great rivers, in marshy situations. It is separated 
from the continent by the river. 
TABASCO RIVER, a river of North America, which 
runs into the bay of Campeachy. Lat. 18. 15. N. long. 93. 
40. W. On the banks of this river are some of the largest 
cabbage and cotton-trees supposed in the world. 
TABAY, a settlement of New Granada, in South America, 
in the province of Maracaibo, near the city of Merida. 
TABBAY, one of the Western islands of Scotland, near 
the east coast of Skye. Lat. 57. 16. N. long. 5. 51. W. 
TABBY, s. [t.abi, tabino, Italian.] A kind of waved 
silk.—Brocades, and tabbies, and gauses. Swift. 
TA'BBY, adj. Brinded ; brindled; varied with different 
colours.—A tabby cat sat in the chimney-corner. Ad¬ 
dison. 
To TA'BBY, v. a. To pass a stuff under a calender to 
make the representation of waves thereon, as on a tabby.—It 
is usual to tabby mohairs, ribands, &c. Chambers. 
TABEFACTION, s. {tabefacio, Lat.] The act of 
wasting away. 
To TA'BEFY, ». n. [ tabefacio , Lat.] To waste; to 
extenuate.—Meat eaten in greater quantity than is conve¬ 
nient tabefies the body. Harvey. 
TA'BERD, s. See Tabard". 
TABERG, a post village of the United States, in Oneida 
county, New York. 
TABERNA, a town in the east of Spain, in the province 
of Valencia, on the great road leading along the coast in the 
direction of Catalonia. Population 4000; 4 miles north- 
north-east of Valencia. 
TABERNACLE, s. [tabcrnaculum, Lat.] A tempo¬ 
rary habitation ; a casual dwelling. 
They sudden rear’d 
Celestial tabernacles, where they slept 
fann’d with cool winds. Milton. 
A sacred place; a place of worship.—The greatest con¬ 
queror did not only compose his divine odes, but set them to 
music: his works, though consecrated to the tabernacle, 
TAB 
became the national entertainment, as well as the devotion of 
his people. Addison. 
To TA'BERNACLE, v. n. To enshrine; to house.— 
He assumed our nature, and tabernacled among us in the 
flesh. Scott. 
TABERNA'CULAR, adj. Latticed.—The sides of every 
street were covered with cloisters, crowned with rich and 
lofty pinnacles, and fronted with tabernacular oropen work. 
Wart on. 
TABERNfEMONTANA [so named by Plumier, in 
memory of James Theodore, surnamed Tabernaemontanus,] 
in Botany, a genus of the class pentandria, order mono- 
gvnia, natural order of contortae, apocinese (Juss.) — 
Generic Character. Calyx: perianth five-cleft, acute, con¬ 
verging, very small. Corolla : one-petalled, funnel-form: 
tube cylindric, long: border five-parted, flat; segments 
obtuse, oblique. Nectary: glands five, bifid, standing 
round the germ. Stamina: filaments five, very small, from 
the middle of the tube. Anthers converging. Pistil : germs 
two, simple. Style awl-shaped. Stigma oblong, headed. 
Pericarp: follicles two, horizontally reflexed, ventricose, 
acuminate, one-celled, one valved. Seeds numerous, ovate- 
oblong, obtuse, wrinkled, immersed in pulp, imbricate.— 
Essential Character. Contorted. Follicles two, hori¬ 
zontal. Seeds immersed in pulp. 
1. Tabernsemontana citrifolia, or citron-leaved tabernse- 
montana.—Leaves opposite ovate; flowers lateral glomerate- 
uinbelled. This rises with an upright woody stalk to the 
height of fifteen or sixteen feet, covered with a smooth gray 
bark, abounding with a milky juice, and sending out several 
branches from the side, which grow erect, and have many 
joints.—Native of Jamaica, Martinico, &c., and the island 
of Namoka in the South Seas. 
2. Tabernsemontana laurifolia, or laurel-leaved tabernse- 
montana.—Leaves opposite, oval, bluntish. This rises with 
a shrubby stalk twelve or fourteen feet high, sending out a 
few branches towards the top which grow erect. The 
flowers are produced in a sort of umbel from the side of the 
branches; they are small, yellow, and have an agreeable 
odour.—Native of Jamaica, St. Domingo, and other islands 
of the West Indies. 
3. Tabernsemontana echinata, or rough-fruited tabernse¬ 
montana.—Leaves opposite, ovate-oblong, acuminate; 
flowers glomerate-umbelled, fruits echinate. A shrub, send¬ 
ing out from its root several stems of the length of five or 
six feet: they are woody and branched ; flowers corymbose 
and terminal, situated between the forkings of the branches; 
they are of a yellow colour and of an agreeable smell.— 
Native of Guiana. 
4. Tabernsemontana heterophylla, or various-leaved Ta- 
bernaemontana.—Leaves elliptic-lanceolate and subcordate, 
somewhat waved, acuminate, smooth on both sides; 
branches dichotomous, flowers racemed.—Native of Cay¬ 
enne. 
5. Tabernsemontana grandiflora, or great-flowered taber¬ 
nsemontana.—Leaves opposite, stem dichotomous; calyxes 
unequal, very loose.—Native of Carthagena in Spanish 
America: flowering there from July to September. 
6. Tabernsemontana cymosa, or cyme-flowered tabernse¬ 
montana.—Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate; flowers 
cymed.—Frequent in the woods and coppices about 
Carthagena in New Spain : flowering in July and August. 
There are thirteen other species, as follows:—Tabernse¬ 
montana amygdalifolia, Tabernsemontana discolor, Ta¬ 
bernsemontana undulata, Tabernsemontana persicarisefolia, 
Tabernsemontana neriifolia, Tabernsemontana elliptica, Ta¬ 
bernsemontana alternifolia, Tabernsemontana amsonia, Ta¬ 
bernsemontana angustifolia, Tabernsemontana odorata, Ta¬ 
bernsemontana alba, Tabernsemontana bufalina, Tabernse¬ 
montana bovina. 
Propagation and Culture. —These plants, being mostly 
natives of the West Indies, will not live in this country, un¬ 
less they are placed in a warm stove: they may be propa¬ 
gated by seeds, which must be procured from the countries 
where the plants grow naturally. 
TA'EIB, 
