Fig. 1.Fig.1.—Bambusa arundinacea, an Indian bamboo. 1, Leafy shoot. 2, Branch of inflorescence. 3, Spikelet. 4, Flower.
Fig.1.—Bambusa arundinacea, an Indian bamboo. 1, Leafy shoot. 2, Branch of inflorescence. 3, Spikelet. 4, Flower.
BAMBOO,the popular name for a tribe of grasses,Bambuseae, which are large, often tree-like, with woody stems. The stems spring from an underground root-stock and are often crowded to form dense clumps; the largest species reach 120 ft. in height. The slender stem is hollow, and, as generally in grasses, has well-marked joints or nodes, at which the cavity is closed by a strong diaphragm. The branches are numerous and in some species spiny; the narrow, often short, leaf-blade is usually jointed at the base and has a short stalk, by which it is attached to the long sheath. The spikelets are usually many-flowered and variously arranged in racemes or panicles. The flower differs from that of the majority of grasses in having usually three lodicules and six stamens. Many species bloom annually, but others only at intervals sometimes of many years, when the individuals of one and the same species are found in bloom over large areas. Thus on the west coast of India the simultaneous blooming ofBambusa arundinacea(fig. 1), one of the largest species, has been observed at intervals of thirty-two years. After ripening of the seed, the leafless flowering culms always die down.
TheBambuseaecontain twenty-three genera and occur throughout the tropical zone, but very unevenly distributed; they also extend into the sub-tropical and even into the temperate zone. Tropical Asia is richest in species; in Africa there are very few. In Asia they extend into Japan and to 10,000 ft. or more on theHimalayas; and in the Andes of South America they reach the snow-line.
The fruit inBambusa,Arundinariaand other genera resembles the grain generally characteristic of grasses, but inDendrocalamusand others it is a nut, while rarely, as inMelocanna, it is fleshy and suggests an apple in size and appearance. The uses to which all the parts and products of the bamboo are applied in Oriental countries are almost endless. The soft and succulent shoots, when just beginning to spring, are cut off and served up at table like asparagus. Like that vegetable, also, they are earthed over to keep them longer fit for consumption; and they afford a continuous supply during the whole year, though it is more abundant in autumn. They are also salted and eaten with rice, prepared in the form of pickles or candied and preserved in sugar. As the plant grows older, a species of fluid is secreted in the hollow joints, in which a concrete substance once highly valued in the East for its medicinal qualities, calledtabaxirortabascheer, is gradually developed. This substance, which has been found to be a purely siliceous concretion, is possessed of peculiar optical properties. As a medicinal agent the bamboo is entirely inert, and it has never been received into the European materia medica.
Fig. 2.Fig.2.—Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris), very much reduced. Grows 20 to 50 ft high.
Fig.2.—Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris), very much reduced. Grows 20 to 50 ft high.
The grains of the bamboo are available for food, and the Chinese have a proverb that it produces seed more abundantly in years when the rice crop fails, which means, probably, that in times of dearth the natives look more after such a source of food. The Hindus eat it mixed with honey as a delicacy, equal quantities being put into a hollow joint, coated externally with clay, and thus roasted over a fire. The fleshly fruit ofMelocannais baked and eaten. The plant is a native of India, but is sometimes cultivated as in Mauritius. It is, however, the stem of the bamboo which is applied to the greatest variety of uses. Joints of sufficient size form water buckets; smaller ones are used as bottles, and among the Dyaks of Borneo they are employed as cooking vessels. Bamboo is extensively used as a timber wood, and houses are frequently made entirely out of the products of the plant; complete sections of the stem form posts or columns; split up, it serves for floors or rafters; and, interwoven in lattice-work, it is employed for the sides of rooms, admitting light and air. The roof is sometimes of bamboo solely, and when split, which is accomplished with the greatest ease, it can be formed into laths or planks. It is employed in shipping of all kinds; some of the strongest plants are selected for masts of boats of moderate size, and the masts of larger vessels are sometimes formed by the union of several bamboos built up and joined together.
The bamboo is employed in the construction of all kinds of agricultural and domestic implements and in the materials and implements required in fishery. Bows are made of it by the union of two pieces with many bands; and, the septa being bored out and the lengths joined together, it is employed, as we use leaden pipes, in transmitting water to reservoirs or gardens. From the light and slender stalks shafts for arrows are obtained; and in the south-west of Asia there is a certain species of equally slender growth, from which writing-pens or reeds are made. A joint forms a holder for papers or pens, and it was in a joint of bamboo that silk-worm eggs were carried from China to Constantinople during the reign of Justinian. The outer cuticle of Oriental species is so hard that it forms a sharp and durable cutting edge, and it is so siliceous that it can be used as a whetstone. This outer cuticle, cut into thin strips, is one of the most durable and beautiful materials for basket-making, and both in China and Japan it is largely so employed. Strips are also woven into cages, chairs, beds and other articles of furniture, Oriental wicker-work in bamboo being unequalled for beauty and neatness of workmanship. In China the interior portions of the stem are beaten into a pulp and used for the manufacture of the finer varieties of paper. Bamboos are imported to a considerable extent into Europe for the use of basket-makers, and for umbrella and walking-sticks. In short, the purposes to which the bamboo is applicable are almost endless, and well justify the opinion that "it is one of the most wonderful and most beautiful productions of the tropics, and one of Nature's most valuable gifts to uncivilized man" (A. R. Wallace,The Malay Archipelago).
A number of species of bamboo are hardy under cultivation in the British Isles. A useful and interesting account of these and their cultivation will be found in theBamboo Garden, by A. B. Freeman-Mitford. They are mostly natives of China and Japan and belong to the generaArundinaria,BambusaandPhyllostachys; but include a few Himalayan species ofArundinaria. They may be propagated by seed (though owing to the rare occurrence of fruit, this method is seldom applicable), by division and by cuttings. They are described as hungry plants which well repay generous treatment, and will flourish in a rich, not too stiff loam, and for the first year or two should be well mulched. They should be sheltered from winds and well watered during the growing period. When being transplanted the roots must be disturbed as little as possible. The following may be mentioned;Arundinaria simoni, a fine plant which in the bamboo garden at Kew has reached 18 ft. in height, and not infrequently flowers and fruits in Britain;A. japonica, a tall and handsome plant generally grown in gardens under the nameBambusa métaké;A. nitida, "by far the daintiest and most attractive of all its genus, and remarkably hardy";Bambusa palmata, with leaves a foot or more long and three inches broad;B. tesselata;B. quadrangularis, remarkable for its square stems;Phyllostachys mitis, growing to 60 ft. high in its native home, China and Japan; andP. nigra, so called from the black stem, a handsome species.
BAMBURGH,orBamborough, a village in the Berwick-upon-Tweed parliamentary division of Northumberland, England, on the sea-coast, 2½ m. E. of Belford station on the North Eastern railway, and 54 m. N. of Newcastle. It was a royal borough previous to the Norman Conquest and returned two members to parliament in the reign of Edward I. Its ancient castle occupies a magnificent position close to the sea on an almost perpendicular rock, 150 ft. in height, accessible only on the south-east side.
The first erection is ascribed by the Saxon chronicles to King Ida of Northumberland. The castle buildings are of various dates from the Norman period and are of great strength and dignity. They include a massive keep and the remains of an apsidal chapel dedicated to St Peter. In the village, the church is dedicated to St Aidan, who was bishop of Lindisfarne or Holy Island, which lies off the coast to the north, about 634. It is a fine cruciform building, mainly of Early English date, with a crypt beneath the chancel. In the churchyard is a monument to Grace Darling (1815-1842), the brave rescuer of some of the crew of the ship "Forfarshire" in 1838. The Longstone Lighthouse, where her father was keeper, stands on an outer rock of the Farne Islands, which stretch north-eastward for 6 m. from the coast at Bamburgh.
The town of Bamburgh (Bebbanburgh) sprang up round the ancient castle. During the struggle for the crown between William Rufus and Robert of Normandy, Bamburgh was besieged by William, who, finding the defence too strong, erected and garrisoned a new castle before Bamburgh called"Malveisin" or "Evil neighbour." Earl Robert of Northumberland, who was in command of Bamburgh, having been defeated in a sally, the castle surrendered to William in November 1095. The first mention of Bamburgh as a borough does not occur until 1169, when the men paid 2½ marks to an aid. Henry III. by charter of 1254-1255 granted the burgesses their town at an annual fee farm rent of 26 marks, of which they were acquitted in 1318 and 1327 "on account of the robberies and fires inflicted on them by the Scots." Edward III. in 1332 confirmed the charter of Henry III., and granted further that the town should be a free borough governed by four bailiffs, that it should be enclosed by a wall and that the burgesses should have a gild merchant. He also altered the market-day from Sunday to Wednesday, and gave licence for the fairs, which had been held "from time immemorial" on the feasts of SS. Oswald and Aidan, to continue for three extra days. During the Scottish wars of the reign of Henry V., Bamburgh again suffered severely, so much so that in 1439 the burgesses had decreased in number from 120 to 13. These again petitioned for a remission of their farm, which in 1446 was reduced to £10 yearly. Bamburgh was twice taken by the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses and twice recovered by Queen Margaret. In 1463, after it had been recovered a second time by the queen, Henry VI. stayed there for a year, but after the battle of Hexham it was again taken by the Yorkists, and the castle and town were then so much injured that from that time there is no mention of the burgesses or their privileges. Bamburgh returned two members to parliament in 1295 and again in Edward III.'s reign, but since then has never been represented. In 1384 Lord Neville received licence to dig for sea-coal in Bamburgh, and mines of coal and lead existed there as late as 1681.
BAMBUTE(sometimes incorrectly calledBatwa), a race of pygmies of the Semliki Forest, on the western borders of the Uganda Protectorate between Albert Nyanza and Albert Edward Nyanza. They probably form merely a branch of the pygmy race of Equatorial Africa, represented farther west by H. von Wissmann's Batwa (q.v.). Their complexion varies from reddish-yellow to brownish-black, with head-hair often of a russet-brown, and body-hair, black and bristly on upper lip, chin, chest, axillae and pubes, yellowish and fleecy on cheeks, back and limbs. Their average height is 4 ft. 9 in. Even when forced to keep clean, their skins give out a rancid odour, something (Sir H. H. Johnston says) between the smell of a monkey and a negro. Their faces are remarkable for the long upper lip, and the bridgeless nose with enormous alae (the cartilage of the nose above the nostrils). Like the Batwa they are nomad hunters, building only huts of sticks and leaves, and living in the forest, where they hunt the largest game with no weapon but a tiny bow from which they shoot poisoned arrows. Sir H. H. Johnston states that the Bambute have a good idea of drawing, and with a sharpened stick can sketch in sand or mud the beasts and birds known to them. The Bambute do not tattoo or scar, nor have they any love of ornament, wearing no ear-rings, necklets, anklets, &c. The upper incisors and canines are sharpened to a point. In the forests they go quite naked. They speak a corrupted form of the dialects of their negro neighbours. They have a peculiar way of singing their words. Their voices are low and musical and the pronunciation is singularly staccato, every syllable being separately uttered. They show no trace of spirit or ancestor worship, but have some idea that thunder, lightning and rain are manifestations of an Evil Power, and that the dead are reincarnated in the red bush-pig. They have no tribal government, accepting as temporary lawgiver some adept hunter. Marriage is by purchase; polygamy seems to exist, but the domestic affections are strong. The dead are buried in dug graves, and food, tobacco and weapons are often placed with the corpse. The Bambute are very musical, though they are uninventive as regards instruments. They have many songs which they sing well and they dance with spirit.
See A. de Quatrefages,The Pygmies(Eng. edit. 1895); Sir H. H. Johnston,Uganda Protectorate(1902).
BAMFORD, SAMUEL(1788-1872), English labour politician, was born at Miston, near Middleton, Lancashire, on the 28th of February 1788. Himself a stalwart weaver, he was opposed to physical force movements and did all he could to restrain the violent resistance to trade oppression which was so common; yet through attending and speaking at the meeting (1819) at Peterloo, Manchester (q.v.), which was intended to be a peaceful gathering to petition for Parliamentary reform and a repeal of the Corn Law but ended in a massacre, he was arrested for a breach of the law, convicted and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. He was the author of several widely popular poems (principally in the Lancashire dialect) showing sympathy with the conditions of his class, and hisPassages in the Life of a Radical(1840-1844) is an authoritative history of the condition of the working classes in the years succeeding the battle of Waterloo. He died at Harpurhey on the 13th of April 1872, and was accorded a public funeral, attended by thousands.
BAMIAN,a once renowned city of Afghanistan, situated about 80 m. N.W. of Kabul. Its remains lie in a valley of the Hazara country, on the chief road from Kabul towards Turkestan, and immediately at the northern foot of that prolongation of the Indian Caucasus now called Koh-i-Baba. The passes on the Kabul side are not less than 11,000 and 12,000 ft. in absolute height, and those immediately to the north but little inferior. The height of the valley was fixed at about 8500 ft., and the surrounding country carefully surveyed by Major Pelham J. Maitland and the Hon. M. G. Talbot, during the progress of the Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission in November 1885. The river draining the valley is one of the chief sources of the Sarkhab (Surkhab) or Aksarai, an important tributary of the Upper Oxus. The prominences of the cliffs which line the valley are crowned by the remains of numerous massive towers, whilst their precipitous faces are for 6 or 7 m. pierced by an infinity of ancient cave-dwellings, some of which are still occupied. The actual site of the old city is marked by mounds and remains of walls, and on an isolated rock in the middle of the valley are considerable ruins of what appears to have been the acropolis, now known to the people as Ghulgulah. But the most famous remains at Bamian are two colossal standing idols, carved in the cliffs on the north side of the valley. They are 173 ft. and 120 ft. high respectively. These images, which have been much injured, apparently by cannon-shot, are cut in niches in the rock, and both images and niches have been coated with stucco. There is an inscription, not yet interpreted, over the greater idol, and on each side of its niche are staircases leading to a chamber near the head, which shows traces of elaborate ornamentation in azure and gilding. These chambers are used by the amir as store-houses for grain. The surface of the niches also has been painted with figures. In one of the branch valleys is a similar colossus, somewhat inferior in size to the second of these two; and there are indications of other niches and idols. Chahilburj, 28 m. from Zari, on the road to Balkh by the Balkhab, at the east end of the Sokhtagi valley; Shahr-i-Babar, about 45 m. above Chahilburj; and Gawargin, 6 m. above Shahr-i-Babar, are all fortified sites of about the same age as the relics at Bamian. At Haibak there is a very perfect excavation called the Takht-i-Rustam (a general name for all incomprehensible constructions amongst the modern inhabitants of Afghan Turkestan), which consists of an annular ditch enclosing a platform, with a small house about 21 ft. square above it, all cut out of the solid rock. There are hundreds of caves in this neighbourhood, all pointing to a line of Buddhist occupation connecting Balkh with Kabul. As seen from the rock of Ghulgulah, Bamian, with its ruined towers, its colossi, its innumerable grottos, and with the singular red colour of its barren soil, presents an impressive aspect of desolation and mystery.
That the idols of Bamian, about which so many conjectures have been uttered, were Buddhist figures, is ascertained from the narrative of the Chinese pilgrim, Hsüan-Tsang, who saw them in their splendour inA.D.630, and was verified by the officers above named, who discovered other Buddhist caves and excavations in the valleys of the Balkhab and Sarikol.
Still vaster than these was a recumbent figure, 2 m. east of Bamian, representing Sakya Buddha enteringNirvāna,i.e.in act of death. This was "about 1000 ft. in length." No traces of this are alluded to by modern travellers, but in all likelihood it was only formed of rubble plastered (as is the case still with suchNirvānafigures in Indo-China) and of no durability. For a city so notable Bamian has a very obscure history. It does not seem possible to identify it with any city in classical geography;Alexandria ad Caucasumit certainly was not. The first known mention of it seems to be that by Hsuan-Tsang, at a time when apparently it had already passed its meridian, and was the head of one of the small states into which the empire of the White Huns had broken up. At a later period Bamian was for half a century, endingA.D.1214, the seat of a branch of the Ghori dynasty, ruling over Tokharistan, or the basin of the Upper Oxus. The place was long besieged, and finally annihilated (1222) by Jenghiz Khan, whose wrath was exasperated at the death of a favourite grandson by an arrow from its walls. There appears to be no further record of Bamian as a city; but the character of ruins at Ghulgulah agrees with traditions on the spot in indicating that the city must have been rebuilt after the time of the Mongols and again perished. In 1840, during the British occupation of Kabul, Bamian was the scene of an action in which Colonel William H. Dennie with a small force routed Dost Mahommed Khan, accompanied by a number of Uzbeg chiefs.
See Hon. M. G. Talbot, "The Rock-cut Caves and Statues of Bamian,"Journal R. Austral. Soc.vol. xviii. part 3; and J. A. Gray,At the Court of the Amir(1895).
(T. H. H.*)
BAMPTON, JOHN(c.1690-1751), English divine, was a member of Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. in 1712, and for some time canon of Salisbury. He died on the 2nd of June 1751, aged 61. His will directs that eight lectures shall be delivered annually at Oxford in the University Church on as many Sunday mornings in full term, "between the commencement of the last month in Lent term and the end of the third week in Act term, upon either of the following subjects:—to confirm and establish the Christian faith, and to confute all heretics and schismatics; upon the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures; upon the authority of the writings of the primitive fathers, as to the faith and practice of the primitive Church; upon the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; upon the divinity of the Holy Ghost; upon the articles of the Christian faith as comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds." The lecturer, who must be at least a Master of Arts of Oxford or Cambridge, was formerly chosen yearly by the heads of colleges, on the fourth Tuesday in Easter term, and no one can be chosen a second time. The series of lectures began in 1780, and is still continued, though since 1895 elections are only made in alternate years through a depreciation of the revenue of the fund. The endowment provides £120 for each lecturer, and the lectures have to be published within two months of their delivery. Among the lecturers have been Heber in 1815 (The Personality and Office of the Christian Comforter); R. Whately in 1822 (Party Feeling in Religion); R. D. Hampden in 1832 (The Scholastic Philosophy in relation to Christian Theology); E. M. Goulburn in 1850 (The Resurrection of the Body); H. L. Mansel in 1858 (The Limits of Religious Thought); H. P. Liddon in 1866 (The Divinity of our Lord); E. Hatch in 1880 (The Organization of the Early Christian Churches); C. Bigg in 1886 (Christian Platonists of Alexandria); C. Gore in 1891 (The Incarnation); W. Sanday in 1893 (Inspiration); J. R. Illingworth in 1894 (Personality, Human and Divine); W. R. Inge in 1899 (Christian Mysticism), &c. A complete list is given in theOxford Historical Register. The institution has done much to preserve a high standard in English theology; and the lectures as a whole form a historically interesting collection of apologetic literature.
BAMPŪR,a town of Persia, in the province of Baluchistan, 330 m. S.E. of Kerman, in 27° 12′ N., 60° 24′ E., at an elevation of 1720 ft. Pop. about 2000. It is the capital of the province and situated on the banks of the Bampūr river which flows from east to west and empties itself about 70 m. W. into ahamun, or depression, 50 m. in length, and called Jaz-morian. The old citadel of Bampūr which crowned an elevation about 100 ft. in height, 3 m. north of the river, having completely fallen in ruins, a new fort called Kalah Nāsseri, was built at Fahraj, 15 m. further east, in the eighties; and Fahraj, which now has a population of about 2500, has become more important than Bampūr. Fahraj, which is also known as Pahura, Paharu, Puhra, is by some identified as the Poura where Alexander the Great halted on his march from India, but others are more in favour of another Fahraj near Bam, or even of Bampūr itself.
BAMRA,a feudatory state of India, in the province of Bengal. Area 1988 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 123,378; estimated revenue £5000; tribute £100. Most of the country is forest, producing only timber and lac but said to be rich in iron ore. The northern border is touched by the Bengal-Nagpur railway, with a station at Bamra town. The state is one of the five Uriya feudatories, which were transferred from the Central Provinces to Bengal, on the reconstitution of that province in October 1905. The capital is Deogarh.
BAN,a word taken from the root of a verb common to many Teutonic languages and meaning originally "to proclaim" or "to announce." The Late Lat. form of the word isbannum.
In the laws of the Franks and kindred tribes the word had three main uses: first in the general sense of a proclamation, secondly, for the fine incurred for disobeying such proclamation, and thirdly for the district over which proclamations were issued.
It was the frequent use of proclamations or bans, commanding or forbidding certain actions under a threat of punishment, which caused the second of these uses to arise out of the first, as the idea of wrong-doing became associated with the proclamation or ban. Thisbannum dominicum, as it was called, was employed by all feudal lords, from the king downwards, against offenders, and played an important part in the administration of justice in feudal times. It usually took the form of an order to make some amend for wrong-doing, which, if not complied with, was followed by the withdrawal of all protection from the offender,i.e.by outlawry.
After the break-up of the Carolingian empire another use of the word arose in France. "Ban" had occasionally been used in a restricted sense referring only to the summons calling out the host; and as France became separated from the Empire, French law and custom seized upon this use, and soon the men liable to military service were known as "the ban." A variant form of this word washeribanorariban, and it is possible that some confusion between the early syllables of this word and the wordarrièreled to a distinction between thebanand thearrière-banorretro-bannum. At all events this distinction arose; thebanreferring to the vassals called out by the king, and thearrière-banto the sub-vassals called upon by the vassals in their turn. As in England, the liability to military service was often commuted for a monetary payment, and there were various exemptions. In the 17th and 18th centuries the ban and arrière-ban were lacking in discipline when called out, and were last summoned in 1758. Local levies, however, called out between this date and the Revolution were sometimes referred to by these names.
In the medieval Empire and in Germany the word "ban" retained the special sense of punishment. The German equivalent of ban isAcht, and the sentence soon became practically one of outlawry. Connected possibly with the power enjoyed in earlier times by the assemblies of freemen of outlawing an offender, it was frequently used by the emperor, or German king, and the phrase "under the ban" is very common in medieval history. The execution of this sentence of placing an offender under the imperial ban, orReichsacht, was usually entrusted to some prince or noble, who was often rewarded with a portion of the outlaw's lands. It was, however, only a serious punishment when the king or his supporters were strong enough to enforce its execution. Employed not only against individuals but also against towns and districts, it was sometimes divided into theAchtand theOberacht,i.e.partial or complete outlawry. Documents of the time show that the person placed under the imperial ban drew down absolute destitution upon his relatives and frequently death upon himself. At first this sentence was the act of theemperor or king himself, but as the Empire became more German, and its administration less personal, it was entrusted to the imperial aulic council (Reichshofrat), and to the imperial court of justice or imperial chamber (Reichskammergericht). These courts were deprived of this power in 1711, retaining only the right of suggesting its use. The imperial ban had, however, been used for the last time in 1706, when Maximilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, was placed under it.
There are many other uses of the word in the sense of a prohibition. In earlier French law the ban of wine orbannum vini, was the exclusive right of a lord to sell wine during a stated number of days, and the ban of March and April forbade the pasturing of cattle in certain fields during these months. There were also other similar uses dating from feudal times. In modern French law the phraserupture de bandescribed, previous to 1885, the departure without notice of any released criminal living under the special surveillance of the police. The French government still retains the rights of appointing an obligatory place of residence for any criminal, and any escape from this place is arupture de ban. A Scandinavian use of the word gives it the sense of a curse. This usage mingling with the use which spiritual lords shared with temporal lords of issuing the ban over their dependents, has become in a special sense ecclesiastical, and the sentence of excommunication is frequently referred to as "under the papal ban." The word is also used in this way by Shakespeare and Milton. The modern English use of the phrase "under the ban" refers to any line of conduct condemned by custom or public opinion. In its earlier and general sense as a proclamation, the ban may be said to have been suspended by the writ. The word, however, survives in the sense of a proclamation in the "banns of marriage" (q.v.).
The Persian wordban, meaning lord or master, was brought into Europe by the Avars. It was long used in many parts of south-eastern Europe, especially in southern Hungary, to denote the governors of military districts calledbanats, and is almost equivalent to the Germanmargrave. After enjoying very extensive powers the bans were gradually reduced, both in numbers and importance. Since 1868, however, the governor of Croatia and Slavonia has been known as the ban of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, but his duties are civil and not military. He is appointed by the emperor of Austria, as king of Hungary, and has a seat in the upper house of the Hungarian parliament.
See Du Cange,Glossarium, tome i. (Niort, 1883); H. Brunner,Grundzuge der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte(Leipzig, 1901); E. P. Boutaric,Institutions militaires de la France(Paris, 1863); Père G. Daniel,Histoire de la milice française(Paris, 1721).
BANANA,a gigantic herbaceous plant belonging to the genusMusa(nat. ord. Musaceae). It is perennial, sending up from an underground root-stock an apparent stem 15 or 20 ft. high, consisting of the closely-enveloped leaf-sheaths, the corresponding blades, each sometimes 10 ft. in length, forming a spreading crown. A true stem develops at the flowering period; it grows up through the hollow tube formed by the sheaths, emerges above and bears a large number of inconspicuous tubular flowers closely crowded in the axils of large, often brightly-coloured, protecting bracts. The fruits form dense clusters.
Banana plant.Banana (Musa sapientum).
The genusMusacontains about 40 species, widely distributed throughout the tropics of the Old World, and in some cases introduced into the New World. In many parts of the tropics they are as important to the inhabitants as are the grain plants to those living in cooler regions. They are most successfully cultivated in a hot, damp, tropical climate. The northern limit of their cultivation (usuallyMusa Cavendishii) is reached in Florida, south of 29° lat., the Canary Islands, Egypt and south Japan, the southern limit in Natal and south Brazil. There has been considerable discussion as to whether the banana was growing in America before the discovery of the New World. It has been suggested that it may have been carried by ocean currents or in some earlier intercourse between the Old and New Worlds. The evidence, however, of its existence in America at the time of the discovery of the new continent is not very definite. The unripe fruit is rich in starch, which in ripening changes into sugar. The most generally used fruits are derived fromMusa paradisiaca, of which an enormous number of varieties and forms exist in cultivation. The sub-speciessapientum(formerly regarded as a distinct speciesM. sapientum) is the source of the fruits generally known in England as bananas, and eaten raw, while the name plantain is given to forms of the species itselfM. paradisiaca, which require cooking. The species is probably a native of India and southern Asia. Other species which are used as fruits areM. acuminatain the Malay Archipelago,M. Fehiin Tahiti, andM. Cavendishii, the so-called Chinese banana, in cooler countries; the fruit of the last-named has a thinner rind and a delicate, fragrant flesh. The species, the fruits of which require cooking, are of much greater importance as an article of food. These often reach a considerable size; forms are known in East Africa which attain nearly 2 ft. in length with the thickness of a man's arm. A form ofM. corniculata, from Cochin China and the Malay Archipelago, produces only a single fruit, which, however, affords an adequate meal for three men. The hardly-ripe fruit is stewed whole or cut in slices and roasted or baked.
Banana-meal is an important food-stuff; the fruit is peeled and cut in strips, which are then dried and pounded in a mortar. In East Africa and elsewhere, an intoxicating drink is prepared from the fruit. The root-stock which bears the leaves is, just before the flowering period, soft and full of starch, and is sometimes used as food, as in the case of the Abyssinian species,M. Ensete.
The leaves cut in strips are plaited to form mats and bags; they are also largely used for packing and the finer ones for cigarette papers. Several species yield a valuable fibre, the best of which is "Manila hemp" (q.v.) fromM. textilis.
The following is the composition of the flour, according to Hutchison: water, 13%; proteid, 4%; fat, 0.5%; carbohydrates, 80%; salts, 2.5%. It would require about eighty bananas of average size to yield the amount of energy required daily, and about double that number to yield the necessary amount of proteid. Hence the undue abdominal development of those who live mainly on this article of diet (Hutchison). In recent years the cultivation of the banana in Jamaica for the American and also for the English market has been greatly developed.
BANAS,orBunas, the name of three rivers of India. (1) A river of Rajputana, which rises in the Aravalli range in Udaipur, drains the Udaipur valley, and after a course of 300 m. flows into the Chambal. (2) A river of the Shahabad district of Bengal, which forms the drainage channel between the Arrah canal and the Sone canals system, and finally falls into the Gangi nadi. (3) A river of Chota Nagpur in Bengal, which rises in the state of Chang Bhakar and falls into the Sone near Rampur.
BANAT(Hungarian Bánság), a district in the south-east of Hungary, consisting of the counties of Torontál, Temes and Krasso-Szörény. The term, in Hungarian, means generally a frontier province governed by abanand is equivalent to the German termMark. There were in Hungary several banats, which disappeared during the Turkish wars, as the banat of Dalmatia, of Slavonia, of Bosnia and of Croatia. But when the word is used without any other qualification, it indicates the Temesvár banat, which strangely acquired this title after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), though it was never governed by aban. The Banat is bounded E. by the Transylvanian Alps, S. by the Danube, W. by the Theiss and N. by the Maros, and has anarea of 11,260 sq. m. It is mountainous in the south and south-east, while in the north, west and south-west it is flat and in some places marshy. The climate, except in the marshy parts, is generally healthy. It is well-watered, and forms one of the most fertile districts of Hungary. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, flax, hemp and tobacco are grown in large quantities, and the products of the vineyards are of a good quality. Game is plentiful and the rivers swarm with fish. The mineral wealth is great, including copper, tin, lead, zinc, iron and especially coal. Amongst its numerous mineral springs, the most important are those of Mehadia, with sulphurous waters, which were already known in the Roman period as theThermae Herculis. The Banat had in 1900 a population of 1,431,329 inhabitants. According to nationality there were 578,789 Rumanians, 362,487 Germans, 251,938 Servians and 170,124 Magyars. The chief town is Temesvár (pop. 53,033), and other places of importance are Versecz (25,199), Lugos (16,126), Nagybecskerek (26,407), Nagykikinda (24,843) and Pancsova (19,044).
The Banat was conquered by the Turks in 1552, and remained a Turkish sanjak (province) till 1716, when Prince Eugene of Savoy liberated it from the Turkish yoke. It received the title of Banat after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), and remained under a military administration until 1751, when Maria Theresa introduced a civil administration. During the Turkish occupation the district was nearly depopulated, and allowed to lie almost desolate in marsh and heath and forest. Count Claudius Mercy (1666-1734), who was appointed governor of Temesvár in 1720, took numerous measures for the regeneration of the Banat. The marshes near the Danube and Theiss were cleared, roads and canals were built at great expense of labour, German artisans and other settlers were attracted to colonize the district, and agriculture and trade encouraged. Maria Theresa also took a great interest in the Banat, colonized the land belonging to the crown with German peasants, founded many villages, encouraged the exploitation of the mineral wealth of the country, and generally developed the measures introduced by Mercy. In 1779 the Banat was again incorporated with Hungary. After the revolution of 1848-1849, the Banat together with another county (Bács) was separated from Hungary, and created into a distinctive Austrian crown land, but in 1860 it was definitely incorporated with Hungary.
See Leonhard Böhm,Geschichte des Temeser Banats(2 vols., Leipzig, 1861); Johann Heinrich Schwicker,Geschichte des Temeser Banats(Pest, 1872).
BANATE(a corruption of Panaiti, their real name), orBannock, as they are now usually called, a tribe of North American Indians of Shoshonean stock. They were sometimes known as "Robber Indians." Their former range was southern Idaho and eastern Oregon. They are now divided between the Fort Hall and Lemhi reservations, Idaho. They were generally friendly with the whites, but in 1866 and in 1877-78 there were serious outbreaks. They number about 500.
BANBRIDGE,a town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the west parliamentary division, on the Bann, 23 m. S.W. of Belfast on a branch of the Great Northern railway, standing on an eminence. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5006. To mitigate a steep ascent, a central carriage-way, 200 yds, long, is cut along the main street to a depth of 15 ft., the opposite terraces being connected by a bridge. Banbridge is an entirely modern town. It is the principal seat of the linen trade in the county, and has extensive cloth and thread factories, bleachfields and chemical works. A memorial in Church Square commemorates the Franklin expedition to the discovery of the North-West Passage, and in particular Captain Francis Crozier, who was born at Banbridge in 1796 and served on the expedition.
BANBURY,a market-town and municipal borough in the Banbury parliamentary division of Oxfordshire, England, on the river Cherwell and the Oxford canal, 86 m. N.W. of London by the northern line of the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 12,968. The canal communicates northward with the Grand Junction and Warwick canals, and there are branch lines of the Great Central railway to the main line at Woodford, and of the London & North-Western railway to Bletchley. The town is the centre of a rich agricultural district, and there is a large manufacture of agricultural implements; while other industries include rope and leather works and brewing. Banbury cakes, consisting of a case of pastry containing a mixture of currants, have a reputation of three centuries' standing. A magnificent Gothic parish church was destroyed by fire and gunpowder in 1790 to make way for a building of little merit in Italian style. The ancient Banbury Cross, celebrated in a familiar nursery rhyme, was destroyed by Puritans in 1610. During the 17th century the inhabitants of Banbury seem to have been zealous Puritans, and are frequently satirized by contemporary dramatists. At a somewhat earlier period the grammar school, now extinct, was of such repute as to be chosen as the model for the constitution of the school of St Paul's. A school of science was erected in 1861, and there is a municipal secondary and technical school. Some fine old timbered houses remain in the streets. Of the castle built in 1125 there are only the barest traces. Wroxton Abbey, 2 m. N.W., shows slight remains of the original Augustinian priory; but the present beautiful gabled building, picturesquely situated, dates mainly from 1618. Broughton Castle, 2½ m. S.W., is the most noteworthy house in the county. The oblong block of buildings, fronted by lawns, is surrounded by a moat and protected by a gate-house, part of which dates from 1301, at which date the chapel and a part of the house were also built. There is also work of the 15th century and the Elizabethan period. The house is the seat of Lord Saye and Sele, having been in the Fiennes family since the reign of Henry VII. (1485-1509). Here Pym and Hampden and other leaders of the Parliamentarians were wont to meet in 1640. Without the gate is a fine Decorated church. Banbury is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 4633 acres.
In the year 556 Banbury (Beranbyrig, Banesberie) was the scene of a battle between Cynric and Ceawlin and Britons. It was assessed at 50 hides in the Domesday survey and was then held by the bishop of Lincoln. Allusions to the market occur as early as 1138, and Henry II. by charter confirmed a market on Thursday and granted a fair at Whitsun. The first charter of incorporation was granted by Queen Mary in 1553, and instituted a common council consisting of a bailiff, 12 aldermen and 12 chief burgesses; a court of record, one justice of the peace, a Thursday market and two annual fairs. James I. confirmed this charter in 1608. with some additions, including a weekly wool-market, a horse-market and two additional annual fairs. Both these charters were surrendered in 1683 in favour of a new charter, but were resumed in 1688. In 1718 George I. granted a new charter, which held until the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. From the date of Queen Mary's charter until the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 the borough was represented by one member in parliament.
See Alfred Beesley,History of Banbury(London, 1841).
BANCHIERI, ADRIANO(c.1557-1634), Bolognese composer for church and stage, organist, writer on music and poet. He founded the Accademia Florida of Bologna. Like Orazio Vecchi he was interested in converting the madrigal to dramatic purposes. He disapproved of the monodists with all their revolutionary harmonic tendencies, about which he expressed himself vigorously in hisModerna Practica Musicale(Venice, 1613), while systematizing the legitimate use of the monodic art of thorough-bass.
BANCROFT, GEORGE(1800-1891), American historian and statesman, was born in Worcester, Mass., on the 3rd of October 1800. His family had been in America since 1632, and his father, Aaron Bancroft, was distinguished as a revolutionary soldier, clergyman and author. The son was educated at Phillips Academy, Exeter, at Harvard University, at Heidelberg, Göttingen and Berlin. At Göttingen he studied Plato with Heeren, New Testament Greek with Eichhorn and natural science with Blumenbach. His heart was in the work of Heeren, easily the greatest of historical critics then living, and the forerunner of the modern school; it was from this master that Bancroft caught his enthusiasm for minute pains-taking erudition. He concluded his years of preparation by a European tour, in thecourse of which he received kind attention from almost every distinguished man in the world of letters, science and art; among others, from Goethe, Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Byron, Niebuhr, Bunsen, Savigny, Cousin, Constant and Manzoni. Bancroft's father was a Unitarian, and he had devoted his son to the work of the ministry; but the young man's first experiments at preaching, shortly after his return from Europe in 1822, were unsatisfactory, the theological teaching of the time having substituted criticism and literature for faith. His first position was that of tutor in Harvard. Instinctively a humanist, he had little patience with the narrow curriculum of Harvard in his day and the rather pedantic spirit with which classical studies were there pursued. Moreover, he had brought from Europe a new manner, full of the affections of ardent youth, and this he wore without ease in a society highly satisfied with itself; the young knight-errant was therefore subjected to considerable ridicule. A little volume of poetry, translations and original pieces, published in 1823 gave its author no fame. As time passed, and custom created familiarity, his style, personal and literary, was seen to be the outward symbol of a firm resolve to preserve a philosophic calm, and of an enormous underlying energy which spent itself in labour, "ohne Hast, aber auch ohne Rast." He found the conventional atmosphere of Cambridge uncongenial, and with a friend he established the Round Hill school at Northampton, Mass. This was the first serious effort made in the United States to elevate secondary education to the plane on which it belonged.
Although born into a Whig family, yet Bancroft's studies carried him irresistibly into the Democratic party. While a teacher in his own school he was elected to the state legislature as a Democrat, but under pressure from the family of his first wife, who were ardent Whigs, he refused to serve. In 1831 he likewise declined the nomination of the Massachusetts Democrats for secretary of state. By this time he was influential in the councils of his party, and President Van Buren appointed him collector of the port of Boston, a position which he filled with success. Two of his appointees were Orestes Brownson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. In 1844 he was the Democratic candidate for the governorship, but he was defeated. In 1845 he entered Polk's cabinet as secretary of the navy, serving until 1846, when for a month he was acting secretary of war. During this short period in the cabinet he established the naval academy at Annapolis, gave the orders which led to the occupation of California, and sent Zachary Taylor into the debatable land between Texas and Mexico. He also continued his pleadings for the annexation of Texas, as extending "the area of freedom," and though a Democrat, took high moral ground as to slavery; he likewise made himself the authority on the North-Western Boundary question. In 1846 he was sent as minister to London, where he lived in constant companionship with Macaulay and Hallam. On his return in 1849 he withdrew from public life, residing in New York. In 1866 he was chosen by Congress to deliver the special eulogy on Lincoln; and in 1867 he was appointed minister to Berlin, where he remained until his resignation in 1874. Thenceforward he lived in Washington and Newport, dying at Washington on the 17th of January 1891. His latest official achievements were the greatest. In the San Juan arbitration he displayed great versatility and skill, winning his case before the emperor with brilliant ease. The naturalization treaties which he negotiated successively with Prussia and the other north German states were the first international recognition of the right of expatriation, a principle since incorporated in the law of nations.
In spite of the exacting and severe routine of the Round Hill school, Bancroft contributed frequently to theNorth American Reviewand to Walsh'sAmerican Quarterly; he also made a translation of Heeren's work onThe Politics of Ancient Greece. In 1834 appeared the first volume of theHistory of the United States. The second followed in 1837, and others as the exigencies of public life permitted. Supplementary to the first volume was an article published by him in theNorth American Reviewfor 1835 on "The Documentary History of the Revolution." This article not merely brought the new method to the notice of the reading public, but revealed to it the wealth of material available. The nature and extent of his studies, the solidity of his work, and the philosophic spirit which animates both, explain the enthusiasm with which the earlier volumes of Bancroft were received. Their sale at home was very large; they were reprinted in England and translated immediately into Danish, Italian, German and French. The latest volumes were considered by all competent judges quite as important as their predecessors. When the author was preparing to return from Berlin, the Royal Academy made him their guest at a public dinner, an unprecedented honour; and the universities of Berlin, Heidelberg and Munich united in a testimonial of regard. At Washington he was the confidential advisor of statesmen to the end of his life and the unofficial dean of the best society.
Bancroft's historical creed is best set forth in the address he delivered on the semi-centennial of the New York Historical Society in 1854. In philosophy he found the basis for positing a collective human will, revealing in its activities the materials for determining ethical laws. Since there must be the same conservation of energy in morals as elsewhere, the eternal reason is the divine Logos. History, therefore, is God working in examples. It must be a unit, its forces constant and its totality an organic whole. Within this the individual moves and acts with liberty and responsibility; for each, in will, affection and intellect is consubstantial with the rest. Truth, morals and justice are subject to no evolution; but the collective man evolves better forms of knowledge and behaviour. The organization of society, therefore, produces successive states, in each of which the principle of freedom is better established than in the antecedent. Permanency in republican government is, therefore, based upon corresponding experience and culture, and its possibilities grow ever stronger. The relation of American democracy to the systems which have preceded it forms the latest proof of these contentions. As Heeren's pupil, he laid enormous stress on the importance of original authorities. In dealing with documentary evidence he sought to apply very stringent rules:—(1) Carefully distinguish between original authority and historical memorials or aids; for example, between a fact recorded at first- or second-hand knowledge, and a decision of principle by authority. (2) Represent every man from his own standpoint; judge him from your own. His collections of original materials were vast; beginning with his residence in England, he brought together at enormous pains and expense the authenticated copies of archives, family papers, and personal journals written by historic personages, which now constitute an invaluable treasure in the New York public library. They are from every land and from every people with which American origins are connected. His use of this material was not always according to accepted standards. To avoid dryness and prolixity he condensed quotations, and occasionally employed the Thucydidean method of abridgment or representation in place of fact catalogues. During his long life enormous strides were made by others in collecting the materials of American history, and while in the main he kept pace with them by ruthless revision, yet even the latest edition of his work disregards some minor facts which others knew for the insertion of much which the author alone knew.
Bancroft's imagination and enthusiasm were alike exuberant. His pages abound in fine and acute insight. His generalizations are vivid and enlightening. He spared no pains to acquire true style, frequently rewriting his chapters, and sometimes testing passages of philosophy and description in eight different forms. Yet to a certain extent he lacked the representative power and often failed to conceal his art, many pages ringing with artificial tones. But, after making all allowances, it remains true that he had aperfectsense of proportion, sound maxims and thorough common-sense. He was of that greatest human type: a man of the present, valuing justly the past and no dreamer. In the nature and extent of his studies, in the solidity of his work, and in the philosophic spirit which animated his life he ranks as the foremost historian of the United States, and as an American historian second to none of his European contemporaries inthe same line. He displayed the heroic, epic value of American history, its unity with the great central stream, and dispelled for ever the extravagant conceptions of a sentimental world just emerging from the visionary philosophy of the 18th century.
See M. A. de Wolfe Howe,The Life and Letters of George Bancroft(New York, 1908).
(W. M. S.)
BANCROFT, HUBERT HOWE(1832- ), American historical writer, was born at Granville, Ohio, on the 5th of May 1832. From 1852 to 1868 he was a bookseller in San Francisco. During this period he accumulated a great library of historical material, and at last gave up business in order to devote himself to the publication of hisNative Races of the Pacific States(5 vols. 1874-1876),History of the Pacific States of North America(21 vols. 1882-1890), and other works. For the collection of data he necessarily relied upon the labours of a corps of assistants, and the publications named represent, properly speaking, an encyclopaedia rather than a unified history; but as a storehouse of material their value is great and is likely to be enduring. In 1905 Bancroft's vast collection was acquired by the university of California. An account of his methods of work is given in hisLiterary Industries(1890).
BANCROFT, RICHARD(1544-1610), archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Farnworth in Lancashire in 1544. He was educated at Cambridge, first at Christ's College and afterwards at Jesus College. He took his degree of B.A. in 1567 and that of M.A. in 1570. Ordained about that time, he was named chaplain to Richard Cox, then bishop of Ely, and in 1575 was presented to the rectory of Teversham in Cambridgeshire. The next year he was one of the preachers to the university, and in 1584 was presented to the rectory of St Andrew's, Holborn. His abilities, and his zeal as a champion of the church, secured him rapid promotion. He graduated B.D. in 1580 and D.D. five years later. In 1585 he was appointed treasurer of St Paul's cathedral, London, and in 1586 was made a member of the ecclesiastical commission. On the 9th of February 1589 he preached at Paul's Cross a sermon on 1 John iv. 1, the substance of which was a passionate attack on the Puritans. He described their speeches and proceedings, caricatured their motives, denounced the exercise of the right of private judgment, and set forth the divine right of bishops in such strong language that one of the queen's councillors held it to amount to a threat against the supremacy of the crown. In the following year Bancroft was made a prebendary of St Paul's; he had been canon of Westminster since 1587. He was chaplain successively to Lord Chancellor Hatton and Archbishop Whitgift. In June 1597 he was consecrated bishop of London; and from this time, in consequence of the age and incapacity for business of Archbishop Whitgift, he was virtually invested with the power of primate, and had the sole management of ecclesiastical affairs. Among the more noteworthy cases which fell under his direction were the proceedings against "Martin Mar-Prelate," Thomas Cartwright and his friends, and John Penry, whose "seditious writings" he caused to be intercepted and given up to the lord keeper. In 1600 he was sent on an embassy, with others, to Embden, for the purpose of settling certain matters in dispute between the English and the Danes. This mission, however, failed. Bancroft was present at the death of Queen Elizabeth. He took a prominent and truculent part in the famous conference of prelates and Presbyterian divines held at Hampton Court in 1604. By the king's desire he undertook the vindication of the practices of confirmation, absolution, private baptism and lay excommunication; he urged, but in vain, the reinforcement of an ancient canon, "that schismatics are not to be heard against bishops"; and in opposition to the Puritans' demand for certain alterations in doctrine and discipline, he besought the king that care might be taken for apraying clergy; and that, till men of learning and sufficiency could be found, godly homilies might be read and their number increased. In March 1604 Bancroft, on Whitgift's death, was appointed by royal writ president of convocation then assembled; and he there presented a book of canons collected by himself. It was adopted and received the royal approval, but was strongly opposed and set aside by parliament two months afterwards. In the following November he was elected successor to Whitgift in the see of Canterbury. He continued to show the same zeal and severity as before, and with so much success that Lord Clarendon, writing in his praise, expressed the opinion that "if Bancroft had lived, he would quickly have extinguished all that fire in England which had been kindled at Geneva." He was as lenient with the offences of the orthodox as he was rigid in suppressing heresy and schism. In 1605 he was sworn a member of the privy council. The same year he engaged in a contest with the judges, and exhibited articles of complaint against them before the lords of the council; but these complaints were overruled. His aim was really to make the ecclesiastical courts independent of the law by speciously magnifying the royal authority over them. He enforced discipline and exact conformity within the church with an iron hand; and over 200 clergymen were deprived of their livings for disobedience to theex animoform of subscription. In 1608 he was chosen chancellor of the university of Oxford. One of his latest public acts was a proposal laid before parliament for improving the revenues of the church, and a project for a college of controversial divinity at Chelsea. In the last few months of his life he took part in the discussion about the consecration of certain Scottish bishops, and it was in pursuance of his advice that they were consecrated by several bishops of the English church. By this act were laid the foundations of the Scottish Episcopal church. Bancroft was "the chief overseer" of the authorized version of the Bible. He died at Lambeth Palace on the 2nd of November 1610. His literary remains are not extensive, but show him to have been an able writer.
BANCROFT, SIR SQUIRE(1841- ), English actor and manager, was born near London on the 14th of May 1841. His first appearance on the stage was in 1861 at Birmingham, and he played in the provinces with success for several years. His first London appearance was in 1865 in Wooler'sA Winning Hazardat the Prince of Wales's theatre off Tottenham Court Road, then under the management of Effie Marie Wilton (b. 1840), whom he married in 1868. Mr and Mrs Bancroft were associated in the production of all the Robertson comedies:—Society(1865),Ours(1866),Caste(1867),Play(1868),School(1869) andM.P.(1870), and, after Robertson's death, in revivals of the old comedies, for which they surrounded themselves with an admirable company. Lytton'sMoney(1872), Boucicault'sLondon Assurance(1877), andDiplomacy—an adaptation of Sardou'sDora—were among theirpremières, which helped to make the little playhouse famous. The Bancroft management at the Prince of Wales's constituted a new era in the development of the English stage, and had the effect of reviving the London interest in modern drama. In 1879 they moved to the Haymarket, where Sardou'sOdette(for which they engaged Madame Modjeska) andFédora, W. S. Gilbert'sSweetheartsand Pinero'sLords and Commons, with revivals of previous successes, were among their productions. Having made a considerable fortune, they retired in 1885, but Mr Bancroft (who was knighted in 1897) joined Sir Henry Irving in 1889 to play the abbé Latour in a revival of Watts Phillips'sDead Heart.
SeeMr and Mrs Bancroft, on and off the Stage(1888), andThe Bancrofts: Recollections of Sixty Years(1909), by themselves.
BAND,something which "binds" or fastens one thing to another, hence a cord, rope or tie,e.g.the straps fastening the sheets to the back in book-binding. The word is a variant of "bond," and is from the stem of the Teutonicbindan, to bind. From the same source comes "bend," properly to fasten the string to the bow, so as to constrain and curve it, hence to make into the shape of a "bent" bow, to curve. In the sense of "strap," a flat strip of material, properly for fastening anything, the word is ultimately of the same origin but comes directly into English from the Frenchbande. In architecture the term is applied to a sort of flat frieze or fascia running horizontally round a tower or other parts of a building, particularly the base tables in perpendicular work, commonly used with the long shafts characteristic of the 13th century. It generally has a bold, projecting moulding above and below, and is carvedsometimes with foliages, but in general with cusped circles or quatrefoils, in which frequently are shields of arms.
The two small strips of linen, worn at the neck as part of legal, clerical and academic dress, are known as "bands"; they are the survival of the falling collar of the 17th century. These bands are usually of white linen, but the secular clergy of the Roman Church wear black bands edged with white. The light cardboard or chip boxes now used to carry millinery were formerly made to carry the neck-bands, whence the name of "band-box."
In the sense of company or troop, "band" is probably also connected withbindan, to bind. It came into English from the French. The meaning seems to have originated in Romanic, cf. Italian, Spanish and Portuguesebanda, and thence came into Teutonic. It has usually been taken (see Ducange,Gloss.s.v.banda) to be due to the "band" or sash of a particular colour worn as a distinctive mark by a troop of soldiers. Others refer it to the medieval Latinbandum, banner, a strip or "band" of cloth fastened to a pole. In this sense the chief application is to a company of musicians (seeOrchestra), particularly when used in armies or navies, a military band.
Military Bands.—In all countries bands are organized and maintained in each infantry regiment or battalion if the latter is the unit. The strength of these bands and the number and nature of their instruments vary considerably, as also do the rank and status of the bandmaster. The buglers and drummers belonging to the companies are generally massed under the sergeant-drummer and on the march play alternately with the band. In action the British custom is to use the bandsmen as stretcher-bearers, but on the continent of Europe the bands are as far as possible kept in hand under the regimental commanders and play the troops into action; and in all countries the available bands, drums and bugles are ordered to play during the final assault. The training of bandmasters for the British service is carried out at Kneller Hall, Hounslow, an institution founded in 1857 and placed under direct control of the war office in 1867. The average strength of the various classes of instrument in the band of a British line regiment has been stated as—twenty flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns, eight saxhorns, six trumpets and cornets, three trombones, two drums. The buglers and drummers are in the proportion of one of each per company. The saxophone, which is the characteristic instrument of military bands in other countries, has not found favour with the British authorities. Another specially military instrument, universal in the Russian army and more or less common to others, is the so-called "Jingling Johnny," a frame of small bells that is sharply shaken in the accented parts of the music. The "glockenspiel" is also fairly common. The peculiar instrument of Scottish regiments is the bagpipes. Cavalry, and more rarely artillery corps in the various armies, have small bands. The mounted arms, however, have little need of music as compared with the infantry, the order and ease of whose marching powers are immensely enhanced by the music of a good regimental band. In the navies of various countries bands are maintained on board flag-ships and sometimes on board other large ships.
BANDA,a town and district of British India, in the Allahabad division of the United Provinces. The town is near the right bank of the river Ken, 95 m. S.W. of Allahabad. The population in 1901 was 22,565. The town possesses 65 mosques and 168 Hindu temples. It was formerly, but is no longer, a military cantonment.
The district is the most barren and backward portion of the province. It contains an area of 3061 sq. m. In some parts it rises into irregular uplands and elevated plains, interspersed with detached rocks of granite; in others it sinks into marshy lowlands, which frequently remain under water during the rainy season. The sloping country on the bank of the Jumna is full of ravines. To the S.E. the Vindhya chain of hills takes its origin in a low range not exceeding 500 ft. in height, and forming a natural boundary of the district in that direction. The principal river of the district is the Jumna, which flows from north-west to south-east, along the N.E. boundary of the district, for 125 m. In 1901 the population was 631,058, showing a decrease of 11% in the decade, due to the effects of famine. The black soil of the district yields crops of which the principal are millet, other food-grains, pulse, rice, cotton and oil-seeds. Banda cotton enjoys a high repute in the market. A branch railway from Manikpur to Jhansi traverses the length of the district, which is also crossed by the East Indian main line to Jubbulpore.
Banda, which forms one of the districts included under the general name of Bundelkhand, has formed an arena of contention for the successive races who have struggled for the sovereignty of India. Kalinjar town, then the capital, was unsuccessfully besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni inA.D.1023; in 1196 it was taken by Kutab-ud-din, the general of Muhammad Ghori; in 1545 by Shere Shah, who, however, fell mortally wounded in the assault. About the year 1735 the raja of Kalinjar's territory, including the present district of Banda, was bequeathed to Baji Rao, the Mahratta peshwa; and from the Mahrattas it passed by the treaties of 1802-1803 to the Company. At the time of the Mutiny the district, which was poverty-stricken and over-taxed, joined the rebels. The town of Banda was recovered by General Whitlock on the 20th of April 1858. The fiscal system was remodelled, and the district has since enjoyed a greater degree of prosperity only interrupted by famine.
BANDA ISLANDS,a group of the Dutch East Indies, consisting of three chief and several lesser islands in the Banda Sea, south of Ceram, belonging to the residency of Amboyna. The main islands are Great Banda or Lontor; Banda Neira to its north; Gunong Api, west of Banda Neira; Wai or Ai still farther west, with Run on its south-west; Pisang, north of Gunong Api; and Suwangi, north-west again. The total land area is about 16 sq. m. A volcanic formation is apparent in Lontor, a sickle-shaped island which, with Neira and Gunong Api, forms part of the circle of a crater. The arrangement is comparable with Santorin in the Aegean Sea. Gunong Api (Fire Mountain), 2200 ft. high, is an active volcano, and its eruptions and earthquakes have frequently brought destruction, as notably in 1852, when the damage was chiefly due to a huge wave of the sea. Banda, the chief town, on Neira, is a pleasant settlement, commanded by two Dutch forts of the early 17th century, Nassau and Belgica. The largest island, Lontor, was found too unhealthy to be the site of the principal settlement; but the climate of the islands generally, though hot, is not unhealthy. In the space between Lontor, Neira and Gunong Api there is a good harbour, with entrances on either side, which enable vessels to enter on either of the monsoons. Between Gunong Api and Neira there is a third channel, but it is navigable for small vessels only. The principal articles of commerce in the Banda group are nutmegs and mace. The nutmeg is indigenous. The native population having been cleared off by the Dutch, the plantations were worked by slaves and convicts till the emancipation of 1860. The introduction of Malay and Chinese labourers subsequently took place. The plantations (perken) were originally held by the conquerors of the natives, the government monopolizing the produce at a fixed rate; but in 1873 the government monopoly was abolished. The production amounts annually to nearly 1,500,000 lb of nutmegs, and 350,000 lb of mace. The nutmegs are grown, in accordance with natural conditions, under the shade of other trees, usually thecanari. Jalti or jatti wood is cultivated on the small island of Rosingen. The total population of the islands is about 9500, of which some 7000 are descendants of the natives introduced as slaves from neighbouring islands, and are Christians or Mahommedans.
The Banda Islands were discovered and annexed by the Portuguese Antonio D'Abreu in 1512; but in the beginning of the 17th century his countrymen were expelled by the Dutch. In 1608 the British built a factory on Wai, which was demolished by the Dutch as soon as the English vessel left. Shortly after, however, Banda Neira and Lontor were resigned by the natives to the British, and in 1620 Run and Wai were added to their dominions; but in spite of treaties into which they had enteredthe Dutch attacked and expelled their British rivals. In 1654 they were compelled by Cromwell to restore Run, and to make satisfaction for the massacre of Amboyna; but the English settlers not being adequately supported from home, the island was retaken by the Dutch in 1664. They remained in undisturbed possession until 1796, when the Banda Islands were taken by the British. They were restored by the treaty of Amiens in the year 1800, again captured, and finally restored by the treaty of Paris concluded in 1814.
BANDANA,orBandanna, a word probably derived through the Portuguese from the Hindustanibāndhnū, which signified a primitive method of obtaining an effect in dyeing by tying up cloth in different places to prevent the particular parts from receiving the dye. The name was given to richly coloured silk handkerchiefs produced by this process, of which bright colours were characteristic. Bandanas are now commonly made of cotton and produced in Lancashire, whence they are exported. The effect is also produced by a regular process in calico printing, in which the pattern is made by discharging the colour.
BANDELIER, ADOLPH FRANCIS ALPHONSE(1840- ), American archaeologist, was born in Bern, Switzerland, on the 6th of August 1840. When a youth he emigrated to the United States. After 1880 he devoted himself to archaeological and ethnological work among the Indians of the south-western United States, Mexico and South America. Beginning his studies in Sonora (Mexico), Arizona and New Mexico, he made himself the leading authority on the history of this region, and—with F. H. Cushing and his successors—one of the leading authorities on its prehistoric civilization. In 1892 he abandoned this field for Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, where he continued ethnological, archaeological and historical investigations. In the first field he was in a part of his work connected with the Hemenway Archaeological Expedition and in the second worked for Henry Villard of New York, and for the American Museum of Natural History of the same city. Bandelier has shown the falsity of various historical myths, notably in his conclusions respecting the Inca civilization of Peru. His publications include: three studies "On the Art of War and Mode of Warfare of the Ancient Mexicans," "On the Distribution and Tenure of Lands and the Customs with respect to Inheritance among the Ancient Mexicans," and "On the Social Organization and Mode of Government of the Ancient Mexicans" (Harvard University, Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology,Annual Reports, 1877, 1878, 1879);Historical Introduction to Studies among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico, and Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos(1881);Report of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico in 1881(1884);Final Report of Investigations among the Indians of the South-western United States(1890-1892, 2 vols.);Contributions to the History of the South-western Portion of the United States carried on mainly in the years from 1880 to 1885(1890),—all these in thePapersof the Archaeological Institute of America, American Series, constituting vols. i.-v.; "The Romantic School of American Archaeologists" (New York Historical Society, 1885);The Gilded Man (El Dorado) and other Pictures of the Spanish Occupancy of America(1893); and a reportOn the Relative Antiquity of Ancient Peruvian Burials(American Museum of Natural History, Bulletin, v. 30, 1904). He also editedThe Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca ... from Florida to the Pacific, 1528-1536 (1905), translated into English by his wife.
BANDELLO, MATTEO(1480-1562), Italian novelist, was born at Castelnuovo, near Tortona, about the year 1480. He received a very careful education, and entered the church, though he does not seem to have prosecuted his theological course with great zeal. For many years he resided at Mantua, and superintended the education of the celebrated Lucrezia Gonzaga, in whose honour he composed a long poem. The decisive battle of Pavia, which gave Lombardy into the hands of the emperor, compelled Bandello to fly; his house at Milan was burnt and his property confiscated. He took refuge with Cesare Fregoso, an Italian general in the French service, whom he accompanied into France. In 1550 he was raised to the bishopric of Agen, a town in which he resided for many years before his death in 1562. Bandello wrote a number of poems, but his fame rests entirely upon his extensive collection ofNovelle, or tales (1554, 1573), which have been extremely popular. They belong to that species of literature of which Boccaccio'sDecameronand the queen of Navarre'sHeptameronare, perhaps, the best known examples. The common origin of them all is to be found in the old Frenchfabliaux, though some well-known tales are evidently Eastern, and others classical. Bandello's novels are esteemed the best of those written in imitation of theDecameron, though Italian critics find fault with them for negligence and inelegance of style. They have little value from a purely literary point of view, and many of them are disfigured by the grossest obscenity. Historically, however, they are of no little interest, not only from the insight into the social life of the period which they afford, but from the important influence they exercised on the Elizabethan drama. The stories on which Shakespeare based several of his plays were supplied by Bandello, probably through Belleforest or Paynter.