Kutuf or Orache, which is usually considered to be the A triplex marinum, now A. halimus, Bochart, indeed, remarks that Dioscorides describes the halimus as a shrub with branches, destitute of thorns, with a leaf like the olive, but broader, and growing on the sea-shore. This notice evidently refers to the liXif^iotj (Dioscor. i, 121), which, as above stated, is supposed to be the A tri- plex hcdimus of botanists, and the Kvtvf buhuri of the Arabs, while the arpcKpa^ii; of the same author (ii, 145) is their kutuf axvl A triplex hortensis, Linnreus. Bochart quotes Galen as describing the tops of the former as be- ing used for food when j-oung. Dioscorides also says that its leaves are emploj-ed for the same purpose. (Comp. Theophrast. Plant, iv, 17 ; Athen. Deipn. iv, 161 ; Horace, Ep. i, 12, 7; Pliny, xxi, 55; Tournefort, Trav. I, 41.) What the Arab writers state as to the tops of the plants being eaten corresponds to the description of Job, who states that those to whom he refers cropped upon the shrub — which by some is supposed to indicate that the malluach grew near hedges. These, however, do not exist in the desert. There is no doubt that spe- cies of Orache were used as articles of diet in ancient times, and probably stiU are so in the countries where they are indigenous; but there are many other plants, similar in nature, that is, soft and succident, and usually very saline, such as the tScdsolas, Salicortnas, etc., which, like the species of A triplex, belong to the same natural family of Chenopodew, and which, from their saline na- ture, have received their respective names. Many of these are well known for yielding soda by incineration. In conformity with this, Mr. Good thinks that '• the real plant is a species of Salsola, or ' salt-wort ;' and that the term c'iXipa, employed in the Greek versions, gives ad- ditional countenance to this conjecture." Some of these are shrubby, but most of them are herbaceous, and ex- tremely common in all the dry, desert, and saline soils which extend from the south of Europe to the north of India. Most of them are saline and bitter, but some are milder in taste and mucilaginous, and are therefore em- ployed as articles of diet, as spinach is in Europe. <S'((/- sola Indica, for instance, which is common on the coasts of the Peninsida of India, Dr. Roxburgh states, saved the lives of many thousands of thio poor natives of India during the famine of 1791-2-3; for, while the plant lasted, most of the poorer classes who lived near the sea had little else to eat; and, indeed, its green leaves ordi- narily form an essential article of the food of those na- tives who inhabit the maritime districts. For other
Sea-purslane {Atn'plex Halimris).
MALLUACH
685
MALVENDA
interpretations, see Rosenmliller (ad loc. Job.)- — Kitto. Mr. Tristram {Xat. Uiaf. of the Bible, p. 466) decides in favor of the above species of sea-purslane {A irijilex hu- limus), wliich he says "grows abundantly on the sliores of the Mediterranean, in salt marshes, and also on the shores of the Dead Sea still more luxuriantly. We found thickets of it of considerable extent on the west side of the sea, and it exclusively supplied us with fuel for many days. It grows there to the height of ten feet— more than double its size on the jMediterranean. It forms a dense mass of thin twigs without thorns, has a very minute purple flower close to the stem, and small, thick, sour-tasting leaves, which could be eaten, as is the Atriplex hortensis, or Garden Orache, but it would be very miserable food."
Malluach. See Mallows.
Mal'luch (Heb. Malluh', Tykr:, reigned over, or from the Syr. a counsellor), the name of several men.
1. (Sopt". MoXwx? ^'"Ig- Muloch.') A Levite of the familv of Merari, son of Hashabiah and father of Abdi (1 Cliron. vi, 44). B.C. much ante 1014.
2. (Sept. Ma/\oyx,Vulg. Melluch.) An Israelite of the descendants (or residents) of Bani who renounced his Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra x, 29). B.C. 459.
3. (Sept. MaXot'X V. r. Bn\o(7x,Vulg. .1/afoc/i.) An- other Israelite of the descendants (or residents) of Ha- rim, who did the same (Ezra x, 32). B.C. 459.
4. (Sept. MaXoi'x, Vulg. Melluch.) One of the priests who returned from 13abylon with Zerubbabel (Neh. xii, 4). B.C. 530. The associated names would appear to indicate that he was the same with one of those who signeil the sacred covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x, 4) ; although that would imply a very advanced age. B.C. cir. 410. He is probably the same with the son of Jon- athan, elsewhere called Melicu (Neh. xii, 14, ^Dlpp, Sept. MaXot'X,Vulg. Milicho).
5. (Sept. MaXoi'/x, Vulg. Melluch.) One of the chief Israelites who subscribed the same covenant (Neh. x, 27). B.C. cir. 410.
Malmesbury, William of, an English monastic and historian of the early period of his country's histo- ry, was born near the close of the lltli century, probably in Somersetshire, was educated at Oxford, and afterwards entered the Benedictine monastery whence he derived his name, and of which he became librarian. He died some time after 1142, but the exact date is not known. He wrote (in Latin) De Gestis Recjum, a history of the kings of England from the Saxon invasion to the twen- ty-sixth year of Henry I (translated into English by the Kev. ,Iohn Sharpe [Loud. 1815] ; also in Bohn's Li- brary, edited by Dr. Giles [1847]): — Ilistorim Novellce, extending from the twenty-sixth year of Henry I to the escape of the empress Maud from Oxford ; and De Gestis Puntificum, containing an account of the bishops and principal monasteries of England from the conversion of Ethelbert of Kent by St. Augustine to 1 123 : — .4 ntiq- vities of Glastonhun/, and Life of St. Wnlstan (printed in Wiiarton"s Anf/lia Sacra). ]\Ialmesbury gives proof in his writings of great diligence, good sense, modesty, and a genuine love of truth. His style is much above that of his contemporaries. See AUibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Aitth. (s. v. William of Malmesbury) ; Lond. Qunrt. Rev. 185G (.Jan.), p. 295 sq. ; Hoefer, Nour. Biog. Gmerale, s. v. ; Chambers, Cyclopmdid, s. v.