king of Mauritania, a great astronomer, contemporary with Moses. From his taking observations of the stars from a mountain, the poets feigned him to have been turned into a mountain, and to sustain the heavens on his shoulders. Being an excellent astronomer, and the first who taught the doctrine of the sphere, they tell us that his daughters were turned into stars; seven of them forming the Pleiades, and other seven the Hyades.

a chain of mountains in Africa, lying between the 20th and 25th degree of north latitude, and supposed almost to divide the continent from east to west. They are said to have derived their name from Atlas king of Mauritania, who was a great astronomer. They are greatly celebrated by the ancients on account of their height, insomuch that the abovementioned king, who is said to have been transformed into a mountain, was feigned to bear up the heavens on his shoulders. We are assured, however, by Dr Shaw, that the part of this chain of mountains which fell under his observation could not stand in competition either with the Alps or Apennines. He tells us, that if we conceive a number of hills, usually of the perpendicular height of 400, 500, or 600 yards, with an easy ascent, and several groves of fruit or forest trees, rising up in a succession of ranges above one another; and that if to this prospect we add now and then a rocky precipice, and on the summit of each imagine a miserable mud-walled village; we shall then have a just idea of the mountains of Atlas.

According to M. Chenier*, this mountain is formed by an endless chain of lofty eminences, divided into different countries, inhabited by a multitude of tribes, whose ferocity permits no stranger to approach. "I have not been able (continues he) to obtain a sufficient knowledge of these mountains to describe them accurately: What Leo Africanus has said of them is very vague; and his account is the least to be regarded at present, as it is now about three centuries since he wrote, and the face of the country has been in that time totally changed. Nothing perhaps would be more interesting to the curiosity of the philosopher, or conducing more to the improvement of our knowledge in natural history, than a journey over mount Atlas. The climate, though extremely cold in winter, is very healthy and pleasant; the valleys are well cultivated, abound in fruits, and are diversified by forests and plentiful springs, the streams of which uniting at a little distance, from great rivers, and lose themselves in the ocean. According to the reports of the Moors, there are many quarries of marble, granite, and other valuable stone, in these mountains: It is probable there are also mines, but the inhabitants have no idea of these riches; they consider their liberty, which their situation enables them to defend, as the most inestimable of all treasures."

in matters of literature, denotes a book of universal geography, containing maps of all the known parts of the world.

in commerce, a silk-satin, manufactured in the East Indies. There are some plain, some striped, and some flowered, the flowers of which are either gold or only silk. There are atlases of all colours; but most of them false, especially the red and the crimson. The manufacture of them is admirable; the gold and and silk being worked together after such a manner as no workmen in Europe can imitate; yet they are very far from having that fine gloo and lustre which the French know how to give to their silk stuffs. In the Chinese manufactures of this sort, they gild paper on one side with leaf-gold; then cut it in long slips, and weave it into their silks; which makes them, with very little cost, look very rich and fine. The same long slips are twisted or turned about silk threads, so artificially, as to look finer than gold thread, though it be of no great value.