BISSAGOS-BITCHE.

that of the ox in having a sort of venison flavour. | much employed in medicine, both internally and The hump, in particular, is esteemed a delicacy.- externally, in hemorrhages and many other comPemmican (q. v.), so much the food of fur-hunters plaints. B. is a native of meadows in Europe, and and northern voyageurs, is made of the flesh and fat

of the bison.-The tallow forms an important article of trade. One bull sometimes yields 150 lbs. The skins are much used by the Indians for blankets, and when tanned, as coverings for their lodges and beds. A blanket of B.'s skin is not unfrequently sold for three or four pounds sterling in Canada, to be used as a travelling cloak or wrapper. The Mandan Indians make canoes of B. skins spread upon wicker-work frames. These canoes have the round form of the Welsh coracle (q. v.). The long hair or fleece is spun and woven into cloth; and some of it which has been brought to England has been made into very fine cloth; stockings, gloves, &c., are also knitted of it. A male B. yields from six to eight pounds of this long hair.

The few attempts which have been made to domesticate the American B., have been so far successful, that they afford encouragement to further experiments. The size and strength of the animal make it probable that, if domesticated, it would be of great use.

BISSA'GOS or BIJU'GA ISLANDS, a group of small volcanic islands, about 20 in all, off the west coast of Africa, lat. 10° 2′-11° 42' N., and long. 15-17° W., opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande. The islands are enclosed by a reef, and with a few exceptions, are thickly wooded. Many of them appear to be densely peopled by a savage, thievish, negro race, who cultivate maize, bananas, and palms, and feed cattle and goats, which constitute their chief wealth. There are several fine ports. On one of the islands, Bulama, the British formed a settlement in 1792, but were obliged to abandon it the following year, on account of its unhealthiness. Bassao, one of the group, on which there is a Portuguese settlement, has a population of 8000. It carries on a large trade in slaves, nearly all its European inhabitants being engaged in the traffic. It has also a trade in rice, wax, hides, &c., and imports annually about £20,000 worth of British manufactured goods.

Bistort (Polygonum Bistorta).

is found in Britain, but is by no means common. See POLYGONUM.

BI'STRE, or BI'STER, a pigment of a warm brown colour, prepared from the soot of wood, especially beech. It is used in water colours after the manner of Indian ink.

BISTRITZ, a fortified town of Transylvania, beautifully situated on the Bistritz River, in a fine valley about 50 miles north-east of Klausenburg. In its vicinity are the remains of an ancient castle, once the residence of the illustrious Hunyads. It has several large cattle-fairs, but the extensive general trade it once carried on is now entirely gone. Forming, as it does, the last strong position in the north-east of Transylvania, it was repeatedly during 1848-1849 the scene of hot strife between the Hungarian and Austrian generals. Pop. 6500.

BISSEN, WILHEM, a distinguished Danish sculptor of the present time, was born near Schleswig in 1798, and studied his art for ten years in Rome, under the guidance of his countryman, Thorwaldsen. Returning home, he executed a number of excellent works (a bust of Oersted, Atalante hunting, &c.). In 1841, he returned to Rome, being commissioned by the government to make 18 statues larger than life. Along with these he produced a Venus, and a charming piece, Cupid sharpening his Arrow.' Being recalled to Copenhagen, he was commissioned to execute a frieze of several hundred feet long for the great hall of the palace, representing the B. is also the name of a river which, rising in development of the human race according to East Hungary, flows south-east through Bukowina the Greek mythology. Thorwaldsen, in his will, and Moldavia, and joins the Sereth near Baku, after appointed B. to complete his unfinished works and a course of 110 miles, and is called the Golden B., on have charge of his museum. In 1850 he was made account of the auriferous character of its sands. director of the Academy of Arts, Copenhagen. At BIT, or BITT, in ship-building, is a frame comthe Paris Exhibition in 1855, he was the only posed chiefly of two short but strong vertical sculptor who represented Danish art. timbers, fixed into or upon the deck in the fore-part BI'STORT (Polygonum Bistorta), a perennial of the vessel. Its main purpose is for fastening the plant, 1—14 ft. high, with a simple stem, ovate sub-cable when the ship rides at anchor, and for 'leadcordate and wavy leaves, the radical leaves tapering ing' the principal ropes of the rigging. To 'bit the into a long footstalk, and one dense terminal cable,' is to fasten it round the bit. Various kinds cylindrical spiked raceme of flesh-coloured flowers. are called 'riding-bits,' 'Elliott's bits,' 'CarrickThe root is about the thickness of the little-finger, blackish brown externally, reddish within, and tortuous (whence the name bistort). The whole plant is astringent, containing much tannin; the root is one of the strongest vegetable astringents, and is

bits,' 'paul-bits,' 'jeer-bits,' 'top-sail-sheet-bits,' &c, Having to resist great strains, the bits are strongly bolted to the beams that support the deck.

BITCHE, a town of France, in the department of the Moselle, in a wild and wooded pass of

BITHOOR-BITTERN.

the Vosges, about 16 miles east-south-east of Sarreguemines. Its citadel, which is built on a precipitous and isolated rock, in the middle of the town, is well supplied with water, defended by 80 cannons, has accommodation for a garrison of 1000 men, and is considered all but impregnable. The Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick attempted to surprise it in 1793, but failed. Pop. of town, 2456, who are engaged in the manufacture of paper, glass, and porcelain.

BITO'NTO (ancient Butuntum), a town of Naples, in the province of Bari, and 10 miles west-southwest of the city of Bari. It is situated in a fruitful plain about 5 miles from the sea, is well built, is, conjointly with Ruvo, the see of a bishop, and has a fine cathedral, monasteries, and a nunnery. Pop. 16,000, who carry on an extensive trade in a wine called Zagarello, which is largely cultivated in the environs. B. is the birthplace of Giordani, the mathematician. In its vicinity, the Spaniards, under Count Austrians on the 25th of May 1734, the result of de Montemar, gained a splendid victory over the which was that Spain re-obtained possession of the kingdom of Naples.

BITTER CRESS. See CRESS.

BITHOO'R, a town in India in the district of Cawnpore and sub-presidency of North-west Provinces, stands on the right bank of the Ganges, about 12 miles to the north-west of Cawnpore itself. B., particularly devoted to the worship of Brahma, has numerous pagodas. It is, of course, a favourite resort BITTER KING (Soulaurea ama'ra), a shrub or for pilgrims, who here, as at Benares and Bindraban, small tree of the natural order Polygalaceæ (q. v.), a have access to the sacred stream for purposes of native of the Indian Archipelago, which has received ablution, by means of elaborately constructed ghauts. its name from its intense bitterness. The genus During the mutiny of 1857, B. acquired an unenvi- differs from the usual structure of the order, in its able notoriety as the stronghold of Nena Sahib. regular flowers. The B. K. has large oval leaves and Here also Havelock more than once exacted retri-axillary racemes of flowers. It is used medicinally bution, however inadequate, defeating the Nena in the field, and burning his fort. B. is said to contain 8217 inhabitants.

BITHY'NIA, an ancient division of Asia Minor, was separated from Europe by the Propontis (Sea of Marmora) and the Thracian Bosporus (Strait of Constantinople), and was bounded N. by the Euxine, and S. by Galatia, Phrygia, and Mysia. Its eastern limits were not very clearly defined, but they at least extended as far as Paphlagonia. It contained the famous Greek cities or colonies of Chalcedon, Heraclea, &c.; and at later periods, Nicomedia, Nicæa, and Prusa, were flourishing cities of Bithynia. The inhabitants of B. were supposed to be of Thracian origin. The country was subdued (560 B. C.) by Croesus of Lydia, and five years later, fell under the Persian dominion. But about 440 or 430 B. C., it became an independent kingdom under a dynasty of native princes, who made Nicomedia their capital. The last king, Nicomedes III., made the Romans his heirs, and with a large addition from the Pontic kingdom, B. became a province of the empire (74 B. C.). Under Trajan, B. was governed by Pliny the Younger, whose letters to the emperor on the administration and condition of the province contain the well-known passage respecting the Christians. The Emperor Diocletian made Nicomedia his habitual residence. In 1298, Osman the Turk broke into the country; and in 1328, Prusa, or Brusa, then the chief town of B., became the capital of the kingdom of the Osmanli.

in fevers and other diseases.

BITTER SPAR, a name given to Dolomite (q. v.), from the magnesia contained in it, which the Germans call Bitter Salt.

BITTER VETCH. See ОROBUS.

one.

ornithologists, a genus of the Heron (q. v.) family BITTERN (Botaurus), according to some modern (Ardeidae); but regarded by others as a mere subgenus of Heron (Ardea), and not a very well defined herons by the long, loose plumage of the neck, Bitterns are indeed chiefly distinguished from which they have the power of erecting at pleasure, along with the rest of their clothing feathers, so as the neck, however, is merely downy, or almost bare, greatly to increase their apparent size. The back of the long feathers being on the front and sides. Bitterns also differ from herons on the greater length of their toes, the middle toe being as long as the shank. They are almost all solitary birds, inhabiting reedy and marshy places, where they lie hid during the day, and will almost allow themselves to be trodden

upon ere they take wing; they feed during the night, and then, also, often rise spirally to a great height into the air, and emit loud resounding cries. Their food consists chiefly of frogs, and partly, also, of fish, lizards, water-insects, &c., and even of small birds and quadrupeds. The claw of the middle toe is serrated on the inner edge, probably to aid in laris, or Ardea stellaris) is a bird very widely securing slippery prey.-The COMMON B. (B. steldiffused over the old world, being found in almost all, at least of the temperate, parts of Europe, Asia, BITLI'S, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the and Africa, which are sufficiently marshy for its pashalic of West Van, in lat. 38° 24' N., and long. manner of life. It is now rare in Britain, owing to 42° 5' E., about 120 miles south-east from Erzrum. drainage; but was formerly more common, and in It is situated at an elevation of 5156 feet above the days of falconry, was carefully protected by the level of the sea, in a deep ravine traversed by law in England, on account of the sport which it the river Bitlis, one of the head streams of the afforded. Its flesh also was in high esteem, and is Tigris. B. is a straggling, irregular place, covering not rank and fishy, like that of the Herons generally. a large surface of ground, and surrounded by bare In size, it is rather less than the common heron; limestone mountains, rising to a height of about the bill is about four inches long, the feathers on 2000 feet above the valley, which is filled with the crown of the head are greenish black, and the orchards and gardens, and watered by numerous plumage in general of a dull yellow colour, beautistreams and springs. It has 3 mosques, about 12 fully and irregularly marked and mottled with black. convents belonging to the howling dervishes, who The B. makes a rude nest of sticks, reeds, &c., in its appear to have made B. their head-quarters, several marshy haunts, and lays four or five greenish-brown well-stocked bazaars, and extensive manufactures of eggs. It has a peculiar bellowing cry, which has cotton cloths, which are celebrated for their bright obtained for it such English provincial names as red dye. It has also a very extensive trade. The Mire-drum, Bull of the Bog, &c., and many of its import of British goods is small. The population appellations in other languages, perhaps even its consists of about 2000 Mohammedan, and 1000 name B. (Bitour, Botur, Botaurus). Some natuArmenian families. The Persians defeated Solyman | ralists used to assert that the booming cry of the B. the Magnificent near B. in 1554.

was produced by the bird inserting its bill into a

BITTERN-BITTERSWEET.

BITTERWOOD-BIVALVE SHELLS.

BIVOUAC-BLACK.

libranchiate (q. v.) Mollusca of Owen, although with them are classed some which were placed among Multivalves (q. v.) by conchologists, on account of accessory valves which they possess, and some which have a calcareous tube superadded to the true valves, or even taking their place as the chief covering of the animal. There are also mollusks of the class Brachiopoda (q. v.), or Palliobranchiata, which possess B. S., as the Terebratula, or Lamp-shells (q. v.), &c. The structure of the shell, however, when closely examined, is found to be different in these two classes (see SHELL), although its general appearance is much the same. A very large propor

tion of the B. S. of the older fossiliferous rocks belong to the class Brachiopoda.

was afterwards imitated by the other armies of Europe, though less by the English. Soldiers in B., light fires, and improvise, where it is possible, huts of straw, branches, &c. But this mode of encampment, though favourable to celerity of movement, is purchased at the expense of the soldiers' health, besides being destructive of discipline, by leading to plundering and destroying of houses, fruit-trees, &c., in the vicinity. Accordingly, the tent is again coming into use, and for permanent encampments, regularly constructed wooden huts have been introduced. There are still, however, many cases where the B. is the only resource.

BIXA. See ARNOTTO.

Hippo

BIZE RTA, or BENZE'RTA (ancient In the Brachiopoda, one valve is ventral, and the other dorsal; in the Lamellibranchiata, the one is Diarrhytus, or Zaritus), a seaport town of Tunis, at applied to the right side, and the other to the the bottom of a deep gulf or bay of the Mediter left side of the animal. The valves of ordinary B. S. ranean, and at the mouth of a lagoon, united to the consist of layers, of which the outermost is always gulf by a narrow channel. It is the most northerly the smallest; and each inner one extends a little town in Africa, being about 38 miles north-west of beyond it, so that the shell becomes thicker and Tunis, in lat. 37° 17' N., and long. 9° 51' E. It is stronger as it increases in length and breadth. The surrounded by walls, and defended by two castles; valves are connected at the hinge by an elastic liga- which, however, as they are commanded by the ment; and in general this consists of two parts, land-attack. Its port, formerly one of the best in neighbouring heights, are quite useless against a more or less distinct-one on the outside, to which the Mediterranean, has been suffered to fill up, until the name ligament is sometimes restricted, and which is stretched by the closing of the valves; little labour is required to give a uniform depth of now only small vessels can be admitted, though very another, sometimes called the spring, more internal, 5 or 6 fathoms to the channel leading to the inner which is compressed by the closing of the valves, harbour or lagoon, which has a depth varying from and tends to open them when the compressing force of the adductor muscle or muscles is removed, the 10 to 50 fathoms, and is extensive enough to afford effect of which is to be accommodation to the largest navies. The adjacent seen in the gaping of the country is remarkably fertile, but its cultivation is shell when the animal is neglected. Pop. variously estimated at from 8,000 dead. The hinge is often to 14,000. Agathocles, between the years 310 and furnished with teeth which 307 B. C., fortified and provided B. with a new harbour; and under the Romans, it was a free city. lock into each other; sometimes it is quite destiBIZIU'RA. See MUSK DUCK. tute of them; sometimes the hinge-line is curved, sometimes straight. Conchological classification has been much founded upon characters taken from this part. The valves of some B. S. are equal and symA bivalve shell. metrical, in others they are different from one another, particularly in those mollusks which, like the oyster, attach themselves permanently by one valve to some fixed substance, as a rock. Sometimes the valves of B. S. close completely at the pleasure of the animal; those of others always gape somewhere.

Pecten.

BJÖRNSTJERNA, MAGNUS FRIEDRICH FERDINAND, COUNT, a Swedish statesman and author, was born 10th October 1779 at Dresden, where his father then resided as secretary to the Swedish legation. He received his education in Germany, and entered Sweden for the first time in 1793 to join the army. In 1813 he was appointed lieutenant in the Swedish army that went to aid the allies in Germany; took part in the conflicts at Grossbeeren and Dennewitz; was present at Leipsic, and concluded the formularies of capitulation with the French at Lübeck and Maestricht. Subsequently, he fought in Holstein, and in Norway, where he concluded the treaty that united that country with Sweden. In 1826, he received the title of count; The point at the hinge, from which the formation and in 1828 was appointed ambassador to the of each valve has proceeded, is called the umbo. On court of Great Britain, which office he held till the side of the umbo opposite to the ligament there 1846, when he returned to Stockholm, where he is usually a small depression called the lunule. The died, 6th October 1847. As a politician, B.'s opinions marks, familiar to every one, upon the inside of a were liberal. In addition to some political writings, bivalve shell, are the impressions of the mantle of he published a work on the Theogony, Philosophy, the (lamellibranchiate) mollusk, and of the adductor and Cosmogony of the Hindus in 1843. muscle or muscles.

BIVOUAC (from the German beiwacht, or bewachen, to watch over) is the encampment of soldiers in the open air, without tents, where every one remains dressed, and with his weapons by him. Even during the Seven Years' War it was no uncommon thing for the whole army, when in the vicinity of the enemy, to pass the night in their ranks, each lying down in his place, in order to be ready to stand to their arms at a moment's notice. But the French revolutionary armies introduced the practice of dispensing with tents altogether, and regularly passing the night en bivouac. Hence in a great measure that rapidity in their motions which long made them uniformly successful; and the practice

BLACK may be considered as the negation of colour, resulting from the absorption of the rays of light by certain substances. Painters produce it by an unequal combination of the three primary colours. In medieval art, B. was symbolical of evil, error, and woe; thus we find Christ, when the old illuminators wished to represent him as wrestling against the Spirit of Evil, arrayed in black drapery; and Byzantine painters, to express the sorrow of the Virgin Mary, gave her a black complexion. All faces shall gather blackness,' is the expression of Joel, when he wishes to convey the idea of the trouble of the people when the calamities which, with prophetic eye, he sees brooding over Jerusalem, should come to pass. B. clothing