LADRONE or MARIAN islands, a cluster of twelve islands lying in the Pacific Ocean, in about 145° of east longitude, and between the 11th and 21st degree of north latitude. They were first discovered by Magellan, who sailed round the world through the Straits which bear his name. He gave them the name of Ladron Islands, or the Islands of Thieves, from the thievish disposition of the inhabitants. At the time these islands were discovered by the Europeans, the natives were totally unacquainted with any other country besides their own; and having no traditionary accounts of their own origin, they imagined that the author of their race was formed of a piece of the rock of Funa, one of their smallest islands. Many things looked upon by us as absolutely necessary to our existence, were utterly unknown to these people. They had no animals of any sort; and would not even have had any idea of them, had it not been for the birds; and even of them they had but one species, somewhat like the turtle dove, which they never killed for eating, but only tamed them, and taught them to speak. They were much astonished on seeing a horse which a Spanish captain left among them in 1673, and could not for a long time be satisfied with adoring him. But what is most surprising and incredible in their history is, that they were utterly unacquainted with the element of fire till Magellan, provoked by their repeated thefts, burned one of their villages. When they saw their wooden houses blazing, they first thought that the fire was a beast which fed upon the wood; and some of them who came too near, being burnt, the rest stood at a distance, lest they should be devoured or poisoned by the breathings of this terrible animal.
The inhabitants of the Ladrones are olive-coloured, but not of such a deep dye as those of the Philippine islands; their stature is good, and their limbs well proportioned. Though their food consists entirely of fish, fruits, and roots, yet they are so fat, that to strangers they appear swelled, but this does not render them less nimble and active. They often live to 100 years or more, yet retain the health and vigour of men of 50. The men go stark naked, but the women are covered. They are not ill-looking, and take great care of their beauty, though their ideas on that subject are very different from ours. They love black teeth and white hair. Hence one of their principal occupations is to keep their teeth black by the help of certain herbs, and to whiten their hair, sprinkling upon it a certain water for this purpose. The women have their hair very long; but the men generally shave it close, except a single lock on the crown of the head, after the manner of the Japanese. Their language much resembles that of the people called Tagales in the Philippine islands. It is agreeable to the ear, with a soft and easy pronunciation. One of its chief graces consists in the facility of transposing words, and even all the syllables of one word; and thus furnishing a variety of double meanings, with which these people are greatly delighted. Though plunged in the deepest ignorance, Ladrome, ignorance, and destitute of every thing valued by the rest of mankind, no nation ever showed more presumptuous, or a greater conceit of themselves, than these islanders, looking on their own nation as the only wise, sensible, and polished one in the world, and beholding every other people with the greatest contempt. Though they are ignorant of the arts and sciences, yet, like every other nation, they have their fables which serve them for history, and some poems which they greatly admire. A poet is with them a character of the first eminence, and greatly respected.
We neither know at what time nor from what place the Ladrome islands were first peopled. As Japan lies within six or seven days sail of them, some have been induced to believe, that the first inhabitants of the Ladrones came from Japan. But from their greater resemblance to the inhabitants of the Philippine islands than to the Japanese, it is more probable that they came from the former than the latter. Formerly most of the islands were inhabited; and about 90 years ago, the three principal islands, Guam, Tinian, and Rota, are said to have contained 50,000 people; but since that time, Tinian hath been entirely depopulated, and only 200 or 300 Indians left at Rota to cultivate rice for the island of Guam, which alone is inhabited by Europeans, and where the Spaniards have a governor and a garrison: here also the annual Manila ship touches for refreshments in her passage from Acapulco to the Philippines. The island of Tinian afforded an asylum to Commodore Anson in 1742; and the matterly manner in which the author of that voyage paints the natural beauties of the country, hath given a degree of estimation not only to this island, but to all the rest, which they had not before. Commodore Byron, in 1765, continued nine weeks at Tinian, and anchored in the very spot where the Centurion lay; but gives a much less favourable account of this climate and country than the former navigator. The water, he says, is brackish, and full of worms; many of his men were seized with fevers, occasioned by the intense heat; the thermometer, which was kept on board the ship, generally stood at 86°, which is but 10 or 11 degrees less than the heat of the blood at the heart; and had the instrument been ashore, he imagines it would have stood much higher than it did. It was with the greatest difficulty that they could penetrate through the woods; and when they had fortunately killed a bull, and with prodigious labour dragged it through the forests to the beach, it stunk, and was full of fly-blows by the time it reached the shore. The poultry was ill-taught; and within an hour after it was killed, the flesh became as green as grass, and swarmed with maggots. The wild hogs were very fierce; and so large, that a carcass frequently weighed 200 pounds. Cotton and indigo were found on the island. Captain Wallis continued here a month in 1767, but makes no such complaints.
Lady. This title is derived from two Saxon words, which signify loaf-day, which words have in time been contracted into the present appellation. It properly belongs only to the daughter of earls, and all of higher rank; but custom has made it a word of complaisance for the wives of knights and of all eminent women.
As to the original application of this expression, it may be observed, that heretofore it was the fashion for those families, whom God had blessed with affluence, to live constantly at their mansion-houses in the country, and that once a-week, or oftener, the lady of the manor distributed to her poor neighbours, with her own hands, a certain quantity of bread; but the practice, which gave rise to this title is now as little known as the meaning of it; however, it may be from that hospitable custom, that to this day the ladies in this kingdom alone serve the meat at their own table.
Lady's Belflow. See Gallium. Lady's Mistletoe. See Alchemilla. Lady's Smock. See Cardamine. Lady's Slipper. See Cypripedium. Lady's Traces. See Ophrys. Lady-Day, in law, the 25th of March, being the annunciation of the Holy Virgin. See Annunciation.
Lælius (Caius), a Roman consul and great orator, surnamed the Wise, distinguished himself in Spain in the war against Viriathus the Spanish general. He is highly praised by Cicero, who gives an admirable description of the intimate friendship which subsisted between Lælius and Scipio Africanus the Younger. His eloquence, his modesty, and his abilities, acquired him a great reputation; and he is thought to have assisted Terence in his comedies. He died about 126 B.C.
Læna, in antiquity, was a gown worn by the Roman augurs, and peculiar to their office. In this gown they covered their heads when they made their observations on the flight of birds, &c. See Augur.
Laer. See Bambooccio.
Læstrygones, the most ancient inhabitants of Sicily. Some suppose them to be the same as the people of Leontium, and to have been neighbours to the Cyclops. They fed on human flesh; and when Ulysses came on their coasts, they sunk his ships and devoured his companions. They were of a gigantic stature, according to Homer's description. A colony of them, as some suppose, passed over into Italy with Lamus at their head, where they built the town of Formia, whence the epithet of Lætrygonia is often used for that of Formiana.
Laet (John de), a writer in the 17th century, born at Antwerp, was director of the West India company. He acquired great skill in the languages, in history, and geography; and had the management of Elzevir's edition of A Description of most Kingdoms in the World, printed in Latin. He wrote in French, A Description of the East Indies, and other works; and died in 1649.
Laetitia, in botany: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the polyandra class of plants; and in the natural method ranking with those of which the order is doubtful. The corolla is pentapetalous, or none; the calyx is pentaphyllous; the fruit unilocular and trigonal; the seeds have a pulpy arillus or coat. There are two species, both natives of America. One of them, the apetala, or guni wood, Dr Wright informs us, is very common in the woodlands and copses of Jamaica, where it rises to a considerable height and thickness. The trunks are smooth and white; the leaves are three inches long, a little ferrated, and somewhat hairy. The stamens are yellow, without petals: the fruit is as large as a plum; and when ripe, opens opens and shows a number of small seeds in a reddish pulp. Pieces of the trunk or branches, suspended in the heat of the sun, discharge a clear turpentine or balsam, which concretes into a white resin, and which seems to be the same as gum sandarach. Pounce is there made of it; and our author is of opinion, that it might be useful in medicine like other gums of the same nature.
LÆVINUS (Torrentinus), commonly called Vander Beke, or Torrentin, was a native of Ghent, and bred in the university of Louvain. He afterwards made the tour of Italy, where his virtues obtained him the friendship of the most illustrious personages of his time. On his return to the Low Countries; he was made canon of Leige, and vicar-general to Ernest de Baviere, bishop of that see. At length, having executed a successful embassy to Philip II. of Spain, he was rewarded with the bishopric of Antwerp; from whence he was translated to the metropolitan church of Mechlin, and died there in 1595. He founded a college of Jesuits at Louvain, to which he left his library, medals, and curiosities. He wrote several poems that procured him the character of being, after Horace, the prince of the lyric poets.
LÆVIUS, a Latin poet. It is not well known when he lived, but probably he was more ancient than Cicero. He made a poem intitled Erotopagna, i.e. love games. Aulus Gellius quotes two lines of it. Apuleius also quotes five lines from the same poet; but he does not tell from what work he borrowed them. Lælius had also composed a poem intitled The Centaurs, which Festus quotes under the title of Periarum.