|
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 of Melocanna is 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 the Bamboo Garden, by A. B. Freeman-Mitford. They are mostly natives of China and Japan and belong to the genera Arundinaria, Bambusa and Phyllostachys; but include a few Himalayan species of Arundinaria. 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 name Bambusa metake; 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; and P. nigra, so called from the black stem, a handsome species.
BAMBURGH, or BAMBOROUGH, a village in the Berwick-upon-Tweed parliamentary division of Northumberland, England, on the sea-coast, 2-1/2 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 [v.03 p.0303] "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 2-1/2 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 L10 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 called BATWA), 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 his Passages 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, Hsuan-Tsang, who saw them in their splendour in A.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.
[v.03 p.0304] Still vaster than these was a recumbent figure, 2 m. east of Bamian, representing Sakya Buddha entering Nirvāna, 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 such Nirvāna figures 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 Caucasum it 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, ending A.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 L120 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 the Oxford 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 27deg 12' N., 60deg 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 a hamun, 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 L5000; tribute L100. 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 is bannum.
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. This bannum 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 was heriban or ariban, and it is possible that some confusion between the early syllables of this word and the word arriere led to a distinction between the ban and the arriere-ban or retro-bannum. At all events this distinction arose; the ban referring to the vassals called out by the king, and the arriere-ban to 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 arriere-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 is Acht, 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, or Reichsacht, 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 the Acht and the Oberacht, 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 the [v.03 p.0305] emperor 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 or bannum 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 phrase rupture de ban described, 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 a rupture 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 word ban, 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 called banats, and is almost equivalent to the German margrave. 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); Pere G. Daniel, Histoire de la milice francaise (Paris, 1721).
BANANA, a gigantic herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Musa (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.
The genus Musa contains 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 (usually Musa Cavendishii) is reached in Florida, south of 29deg 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 from Musa paradisiaca, of which an enormous number of varieties and forms exist in cultivation. The sub-species sapientum (formerly regarded as a distinct species M. 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 itself M. paradisiaca, which require cooking. The species is probably a native of India and southern Asia. Other species which are used as fruits are M. acuminata in the Malay Archipelago, M. Fehi in Tahiti, and M. 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 of M. 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.) from M. 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, or BUNAS, 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 Bansag), a district in the south-east of Hungary, consisting of the counties of Torontal, Temes and Krasso-Szoreny. The term, in Hungarian, means generally a frontier province governed by a ban and is equivalent to the German term Mark. 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 Temesvar banat, which strangely acquired this title after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), though it was never governed by a ban. The Banat is bounded E. by the Transylvanian Alps, S. by the Danube, W. by the Theiss and N. by the Maros, and has an [v.03 p.0306] area 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 the Thermae 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 Temesvar (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 Temesvar 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 (Bacs) was separated from Hungary, and created into a distinctive Austrian crown land, but in 1860 it was definitely incorporated with Hungary.
See Leonhard Boehm, 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), or BANNOCK, 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, 2-1/2 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 his Moderna 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, Goettingen and Berlin. At Goettingen 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 the [v.03 p.0307] course 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 the North American Review and to Walsh's American Quarterly; he also made a translation of Heeren's work on The Politics of Ancient Greece. In 1834 appeared the first volume of the History 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 the North American Review for 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 a perfect sense 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 in [v.03 p.0308] the 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 his Native 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 his Literary 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 a praying 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 the ex animo form 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's A Winning Hazard at 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) and M.P. (1870), and, after Robertson's death, in revivals of the old comedies, for which they surrounded themselves with an admirable company. Lytton's Money (1872), Boucicault's London Assurance (1877), and Diplomacy—an adaptation of Sardou's Dora—were among their premieres, 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's Odette (for which they engaged Madame Modjeska) and Fedora, W. S. Gilbert's Sweethearts and Pinero's Lords 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 abbe Latour in a revival of Watts Phillips's Dead Heart.
See Mr and Mrs Bancroft, on and off the Stage (1888), and The 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 Teutonic bindan, 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 French bande. 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 carved [v.03 p.0309] sometimes 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 with bindan, to bind. It came into English from the French. The meaning seems to have originated in Romanic, cf. Italian, Spanish and Portuguese banda, 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 Latin bandum, banner, a strip or "band" of cloth fastened to a pole. In this sense the chief application is to a company of musicians (see ORCHESTRA), 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 in A.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 the canari. 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 entered [v.03 p.0310] the 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, or BANDANNA, a word probably derived through the Portuguese from the Hindustani bāndhnū, 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 the Papers of 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 report On the Relative Antiquity of Ancient Peruvian Burials (American Museum of Natural History, Bulletin, v. 30, 1904). He also edited The Journey of Alvar Nunez 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 of Novelle, or tales (1554, 1573), which have been extremely popular. They belong to that species of literature of which Boccaccio's Decameron and the queen of Navarre's Heptameron are, perhaps, the best known examples. The common origin of them all is to be found in the old French fabliaux, though some well-known tales are evidently Eastern, and others classical. Bandello's novels are esteemed the best of those written in imitation of the Decameron, 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.
BANDER ABBĀSI (also BENDER ABBAS, and other forms), a town of Persia, on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf in 27deg 11' N., and 56deg 17' E., forming part of the administrative division of the "Persian Gulf ports," whose governor resides at Bushire. It has a population of about 10,000, an insalubrious climate and bad water.
Bander Abbāsi was called Gombrun (Gombroon, Gamaroon; Cambarao, Comorao of Portuguese writers) until 1622, when it received its present name (the "port of Abbas") in honour of the reigning shah, Abbas I., who had expelled the Portuguese in 1614, and destroyed the fort built by them in 1612. The English, however, were permitted to build a factory there, and about 1620 the Dutch obtained the same privilege. On the capture of the island of Hormuz (Ormus) in 1622 by the English and Persians a large portion of its trade was transferred to Bander Abbāsi. During the remainder of the 17th century the traffic was considerable, but in the 18th prosperity declined and most of the trade was removed to Bushire. In 1759 the English factory was destroyed by the French, and though afterwards re-established it has long been abandoned. The ruins of the factory and other buildings lie west of the present town. About 1740 Nadir Shah granted the town and district with the fort of Shamil and the town of Mināb, together with the islands of Kishm, Hormuz (Ormus) and Lārak, to the Arab tribe of the Beni Ma'īni in return for a payment of a yearly rent or tribute. About 40 years later Sultan bin Ahmad, the ruler of Muscat, having been appealed to for aid by the Arab inhabitants of the place against Persian misrule, occupied the town, and obtained a firman from the Persian government confirming him in his possession on the condition of his paying a yearly rent of a few thousand tomans. The islands were considered to be the property of Muscat. In 1852 the Persians expelled the Muscat authorities from Bander Abbāsi and its district, but retired when Muscat agreed to pay an increased rent. By a treaty concluded between Persia and Muscat in 1856 it was stipulated that Bander Abbāsi town and district and the islands were to be considered Persian territory and leased to Muscat at an annual rent of 14,000 tomans (L6000). The treaty was to have been in force for twenty years, but in 1866 the Persians took advantage of the assassination of Seyed Thuweini, the sultan of Muscat, to instal as governor of Bander Abbāsi and district a nominee of their own who agreed to pay a rent of 20,000 tomans per annum. Further difficulties arising between Persia and Muscat, and the ruler of the latter, then in possession of a powerful fleet, threatening to blockade Bander Abbāsi, the Persian government solicited the good offices of the British government, and the lease was renewed for another eight years upon payment of 30,000 tomans per annum (then about L12,000). This was in 1868. In the same year, however, the sultan of Muscat was expelled by a successful revolt, and the Persian government, in virtue of a clause in the lease allowing them to cancel the contract if a conqueror obtained possession of Muscat, installed their own governor at Bander Abbāsi and [v.03 p.0311] have retained possession of the place ever since (see Curzon, Persia, ii. 424).
Bander Abbāsi has a lively trade, exporting much of the produce of central and south-eastern Persia and supplying imports to those districts and Khorasan. It has telegraph and post offices, and the mail steamers of the British India Steam Navigation Company call at the port weekly. Great Britain and Russia are represented there by consuls. From 1890-1905 the total value of the exports and imports from and into Bander Abbāsi averaged about L660,000 per annum, L260,000 (L155,000 British) being for exports, L400,000 (L340,000 British) imports. Of the 255,000 tons of shipping which in 1905 entered Bander Abbāsi 237,000 were British.
(A. H.-S.)
BANDER LINGAH, or LINGA, a town of Persia on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf and about 300 m. by sea from Bushire, in 26deg 33' N., 54deg 54' E. Pop. about 10,000. It forms part of the administrative divisions of the "Persian Gulf ports," whose governor resides at Bushire. The annual value of the exports and imports from and into Bander Lingah from 1890 to 1905 averaged about L800,000, but nearly half of that amount is represented by pearls which pass in transit from the fisheries on the Arab coast to Bombay. Like many other Persian Gulf ports, Bander Lingah was for many generations a hereditary patrimony of the Sheikh of an Arab tribe, in this case the Juvasmi tribe, and it was only in 1898 that the Arabs were expelled from the place by a Persian force. It is the chief port for the Persian province of Laristan (under Fars), and has a thriving trade with Bahrein and the Arab coast. It has a British post office, and the steamers of the British India Company call there weekly. Of the 133,000 tons of shipping which in 1905 entered the port 104,500 were British.
BANDEROLE (Fr. for a "little banner"), a small flag or streamer carried on the lance of a knight, or flying from the mast-head of a ship in battle, &c.; in heraldry, a streamer hanging from beneath the crook of a bishop's crosier and folding over the staff; in architecture, a band used in decorative sculpture of the Renaissance period for bearing an inscription, &c. Bannerol, in its main uses the same as banderole, is the term especially applied to the square banners carried at the funerals of great men and placed over the tomb.
BANDICOOT, any animal of the marsupial genus Perameles, which is the type of a family Peramelidae. The species, about a dozen in number, are widely distributed over Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea and several of the adjacent islands. They are of small size and live entirely on the ground, making nests of dried leaves, grass and sticks in hollow places and forming burrows in which they pass a great part of the day. Though feeding largely on worms and insects they ravage gardens and fields, on which account they are detested by the colonists. The name is often extended to the family.
BANDICOOT-RAT, the Anglo-Indian name for a large rat (Nesocia bandicota), inhabiting India and Ceylon, which measures from 12 to 15 in. to the root of the tail, while the tail itself measures from 11 to 13 in. The name is said to be a corruption of the Telegu pandi-koku. It differs from typical rats of the genus Mus by its broader incisors, and the less distinct cusps on the molars. Other species of the genus are found from Palestine to Formosa, as well as in central Asia. The typical species frequents villages, towns and cultivated grounds all over India and Ceylon, but is specially common in the south of the peninsula. (See RODENTIA.)
BANDIERA, ATTILIO (1811-1844) and EMILIO (1819-1844), Italian patriots. The brothers Bandiera, sons of Baron Bandiera, an admiral in the Austrian navy, were themselves members of that service, but at an early age they were won over to the ideas of Italian freedom and unity, and corresponded with Giuseppe Mazzini and other members of the Giovane Italia (Young Italy), a patriotic and revolutionary secret society. During the year 1843 the air was full of conspiracies, and various ill-starred attempts at rising against the Italian despots were made. The Bandieras began to make propaganda among the officers and men of the Austrian navy, nearly all Italians, and actually planned to seize a warship and bombard Messina. But having been betrayed they fled to Corfu early in 1844. Rumours reached them there of agitation in the Neapolitan kingdom, where the people were represented as ready to rise en masse at the first appearance of a leader; the Bandieras, encouraged by Mazzini, consequently determined to make a raid on the Calabrian coast. They got together a band of about twenty men ready to sacrifice their lives for an idea, and set sail on their desperate venture on the 12th of June 1844. Four days later they landed near Cotrone, intending to go to Cosenza, liberate the political prisoners and issue their proclamations. But they did not find the insurgent band which they had been told awaited them, and were betrayed by one of their party, the Corsican Boccheciampe, and by some peasants who believed them to be Turkish pirates. A detachment of gendarmes and volunteers was sent against them, and after a short fight the whole band were taken prisoners and escorted to Cosenza, where a number of Calabrians who had taken part in a previous rising were also under arrest. First the Calabrians were tried by court-martial, and a large number condemned to death or the galleys. The raiders' turn came next, and the whole party, save the traitor Boccheciampe, were condemned to be shot, but in the case of eight of them the sentence was commuted to the galleys. On the 23rd of July the two Bandieras and their nine companions were executed; they cried Viva l'Italia! as they fell.
The Neapolitan government was undoubtedly within its right in executing the Bandieras, and the material results of this heroic but unpractical attempt were nil. But the moral effect was enormous throughout Italy, the action of the authorities was universally condemned, and the martyrdom of the Bandieras bore fruit in subsequent revolutions. It also created a great impression in England, where it was believed that the Bandieras' correspondence with Mazzini (q.v.) had been tampered with, and that information as to the proposed expedition had been forwarded to the Austrian and Neapolitan governments by the British foreign office; recent publications, however, especially the biography of Sir James Graham, tend to exculpate the British government.
See G. Ricciardi, Storia dei Fratelli Bandiera (Florence, 1863); F. Venosta, I Fratelli Bandiera (Milan, 1863); and Carlo Tivaroni's L'Italia durante il dominio austriaco, vol. iii. p. 149 (Turin, 1894).
(L. V.*)
BANDINELLI, BARTOLOMMEO or BACCIO (1493-1560), Florentine sculptor, was the son of an eminent goldsmith, and from him Bandinelli obtained the first elements of drawing. Showing a strong inclination for the fine arts, he was early placed under Rustici, a sculptor, and a friend of Leonardo da Vinci, with whom he made rapid progress. The ruling motive in his life seems to have been jealousy both of Benvenuto Cellini and of Michelangelo, one of whose cartoons he is said to have torn up and destroyed. He is regarded by some as inferior in sculpture only to Michelangelo, with whom a comparison unfavourable to Bandinelli is tempted in such works as the marble colossal group of Hercules and Cacus in the Piazza del Gran Duco, and the group of Adam and Eve in the Bargello. Among his best works must be reckoned the bassi-rilievi in the choir of the cathedral of Florence; his copy of the Laocoon; and the figures of Christ and Nicodemus on his own tomb.
BANDINI, ANGELO MARIA (1726-1800), Italian author, was born at Florence on the 25th of September 1726. Having been left an orphan in his infancy, he was supported by his uncle, Giuseppe Bandini, a lawyer of some note. He received his education among the Jesuits, and showed a special inclination for the study of antiquities. His first work was a dissertation, De Veterum Saltationibus (1749). In 1747 he undertook a journey to Vienna, in company with the bishop of Volterra, to whom he acted in the capacity of secretary. He was introduced to the emperor and took the opportunity of dedicating to that monarch his Specimen Litteraturae Florentinae, which was then printing at Florence. On his return he took orders, and settled at Rome, passing the whole of his time in the library of the Vatican, and in those of the cardinals Passionei and Corsini. The famous obelisk [v.03 p.0312] of Augustus, at that time disinterred from the ruins of the Campus Martius, was described by Bandini in a learned folio volume De Obelisco Augusti. Shortly after he was compelled to leave Rome on account of his health and returned to Florence, where he was appointed librarian to the valuable library bequeathed to the public by the abbe Marucelli. In 1756 he was preferred by the emperor to a prebend at Florence, and appointed principal librarian to the Laurentian library. During forty-four years he continued to discharge the duties of this situation, and died in 1800, generally esteemed and regretted. On his deathbed he founded a public school, and bequeathed the remainder of his fortune to other charitable purposes. The most important of his numerous works are the Catalogus Codd. MSS. Graec., Lat., Ital., Bib., Laurent., 8 vols (1767-1778), and the Vita e Lettere d'Amerigo Vespucci, 1745.
BANDOLIER, or BANDOLEER (from Fr. bandouliere, Ital. bandoliera, a little band), a belt worn over the shoulder, particularly by soldiers to carry cartridges. In the 17th century wooden cases were hung to the belt to contain powder charges. The modern bandolier carries the cartridges either in loops sewn to the belt, or in small pouches, similarly attached, containing strips of several cartridges. It has been extensively adopted in the British army, especially for mounted troops.
BANDON, or BANDONBRIDGE, a market-town of county Cork, Ireland, in the south-east parliamentary division, picturesquely situated in a broad open valley on both sides of the river Bandon. Pop. (1901) 2830. It is 20 m. S.W. of the city of Cork by the Cork, Bandon & South Coast railway. It is an important agricultural centre and there are distilleries, breweries and flour-mills. The open park of Castle Bernard (earl of Bandon), on the riverside, is attractive, and 2 m. below Bandon on the river is Innishannon, the head of navigation. Bandon was founded early in the 17th century by Richard Boyle, earl of Cork, and was incorporated by James I. It returned two members to the Irish parliament and thereafter one to the Imperial parliament until 1885. After the destruction of the walls by the Irish in 1689, Bandon long resisted the admission of Catholic inhabitants.
BANEBERRY, or HERB CHRISTOPHER, popular names for Actaea spicata (nat. ord. Ranunculaceae), a poisonous herb with long-stalked compound leaves, small white flowers and black berries, found wild in copses in limestone districts in the north of England. It is widely distributed in the north temperate zone.
BANER (BANNER, BANIER), JOHAN (1596-1641), Swedish soldier in the Thirty Years' War, was born at Djursholm Castle on the 23rd of June 1596. Entering the Swedish army, he served with distinction in the wars with Russia and Poland, and had reached high rank when, in 1630, Gustavus Adolphus landed in Germany. As one of the king's chief subordinates, Baner served in the campaign of north Germany, and at the first battle of Breitenfeld he led the right wing of Swedish horse. He was present at the taking of Augsburg and of Munich, and rendered conspicuous service at the Lech and at Donauwoerth. At the unsuccessful assault on Wallenstein's camp at the Alte Veste Baner received a wound, and, soon afterwards, when Gustavus marched towards Luetzen, his general was left in command in the west, where he was opposed to the imperial general Aldringer. Two years later, as Swedish field-marshal, Baner, with 16,000 men, entered Bohemia, and, combined with the Saxon army, marched on Prague. But the complete defeat of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar in the first battle of Noerdlingen stopped his victorious advance. After this event the peace of Prague placed the Swedish army in a very precarious position, but the victories won by the united forces of Baner, Wrangel and Torstensson, at Kyritz and Wittstock (4th Oct. 1636), restored the paramount influence of Sweden in central Germany. Even the three combined armies, however, were decidedly inferior in force to those they defeated, and in 1637 Baner was completely unable to make headway against the enemy. Rescuing with great difficulty the beleaguered garrison of Torgau, he retreated beyond the Oder into Pomerania. In 1639, however, he again overran northern Germany, defeated the Saxons at Chemnitz and invaded Bohemia itself. The winter of 1640-1641 Baner spent in the west. His last achievement was an audacious coup-de-main on the Danube. Breaking camp in mid-winter (a very rare event in the 17th century) he united with the French under the comte de Guebriant and surprised Regensburg, where the diet was sitting. Only the break-up of the ice prevented the capture of the place. Baner thereupon had to retreat to Halberstadt. Here, on the 10th of May 1641, he died, after designating Torstensson as his successor. He was much beloved by his men, who bore his body with them on the field of Woelfenbuttel. Baner was regarded as the best of Gustavus's generals, and tempting offers (which he refused) were made him by the emperor to induce him to enter his service. His son received the dignity of count.
See Baners Bref till Axel Oxenstjerna (Stockholm, 1893); B. P. von Chemnitz, Koeniglichen Schwedscher in Deutschland gefuehrten Kriegs; Martin Veibull, Sveriges Storhedsted (Stockholm, 1881); Lundblad, Johan Baner (Stockholm, 1823); Ardwisson, Trittioariga Krigets maerkvaerdigaste personer (Stockholm, 1861).
BANFF, a royal, municipal and police burgh, seaport and capital of Banffshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 7161. It is beautifully situated on high ground, on the left bank of the mouth of the Deveron, 50 m. N.W. of Aberdeen by the Great North of Scotland railway. It is a place of great antiquity, its first charter having been granted by Malcolm IV. in 1163, and further privileges were conferred by Robert Bruce in 1324 and Robert II. in 1372. Of the old castle on the hill by the sea, in which Archbishop Sharp was born, scarcely a trace remains; but upon its site was erected the modern Banff Castle, belonging to the earl of Seafield. The chief public edifices include the county buildings; town hall, surmounted by a spire 100 ft. high; Chalmers hospital (founded by Alexander Chalmers of Clunie, a merchant and shipowner of the town); a masonic hall of tasteful design; and the academy, a modern structure in the Grecian style, to which there is attached an extensive museum, containing examples of the early mechanical genius of James Ferguson, the astronomer. Of the museum, which originally belonged to the defunct Banff Institution and was afterwards taken over by the town council, Thomas Edward—the "working naturalist," whose life was so sympathetically written by Samuel Smiles—was curator for a few years. The principal manufactures comprise woollens, leather, rope and sails, and there are also breweries, distilleries, iron foundries, brick-yards and timber-yards, besides some ship-building. The fishing trade is also important. The exports mainly consist of grain, cattle, fish, dairy produce and potatoes; the imports of coal and timber. There is a railway station at Bridge of Banff communicating, via Inveramsay, with Aberdeen, and another at the harbour, communicating with Portsoy and Keith. The burgh is under the jurisdiction of a provost and council, and unites with Macduff, Elgin, Cullen, Inverurie, Kintore and Peterhead in returning one member to parliament. The Cassie Gift arose out of a bequest by Alexander Cassie of London, a native of Banff, who left L20,000 to the poor of the town—the interest being divided twice a year. Duff House, immediately adjoining the town, is a seat of the duke of Fife. It was built in 1740-1745, after designs by Robert Adam, at a cost of L70,000. The duke of Cumberland rested here on the way to Culloden. The house contains a fine collection of pictures and an interesting armoury. The park is nearly ten miles in circumference. The house, together with that portion of the park immediately surrounding it (about 140 acres), was presented to the towns of Banff and Macduff by the duke of Fife in November 1906. |
|