cylinder, or push it home by the hand when that is required. Screws, passing through two iron rings, fix the cylinder in its bed, as represented in fig. 4. Fig. 3. is a transverse elevation of the collar, in which the end of the bar at A, fig. 1., turns; X is the gudgeon in which the spindle X, fig. 1., turns. In fig. 3. are also seen the two apertures through which the two racks pass. By this machine the flanges are turned truly plane, so that the lid of the cylinder may fit on exactly. BORING THE BARRELS OF MUSKETS AND SMALL ARMS is generally conducted by means of a boring bar, turned by the same mill that turns the grinding stones for polishing the outside; square pieces of iron being first forged of a proper length and breadth; and the two long edges, which had been previously thinned off, welded together on a mandril. The barrel thus formed, is fixed by a screw on a carriage that moves in iron grooves, and is carried towards the boring-bar by a rope which passes over pullies, and has a weight hanging from its end. The barrels are cooled while boring by means of water from a trough. After the barrel is bored, the interior surface of the bore is polished by the action of the boring-bar. During the operation, an iron gauge of an inch and a half in length, and of a diameter equal to the proposed diameter of the musket, is made frequent use of to ascertain the progress made; and the barrel is occasionally held to the light and looked through. If it contains a flaw, the place of the flaw is marked on the outside, and the barrel is put on the mandril again, for the defective place to be heated and hammered over again; a gauge is also used to see whether the barrel be crooked or straight. When it has no flaws, and the boring has proceeded satisfactorily, the barrel is taken to the grinding mill, and undergoes the operation of outside polishing. Rifle-barrels are placed on a bench twelve feet long. The boring-bar is guided by a matrix or female-screw, whose spiral curve is similar to the spiral of the rifles intended to be made; the boring-bar being fixed to a male-screw, which passes through the female, and fits it exactly. The female-screw, having four threads and as many furrows, is also fixed to the bench. These threads, in general, return to the point of the circumference from which they set out, or make a revolution in the length of about two feet. The male-screw has at one end an iron bar attached to it, by which it is put in motion; at the other extremity is fixed the boring-bar, which passes through the barrel to be rifled; the boring-bar has a cutter fixed in it, which forms a spiral furrow in the barrel when the screw is turned by the handle. The number of spiral threads in rifle-barrels is from three to twelve. When the threads and furrows are required to be in straight lines, a straight lined matrix is of course used. In order that the threads may be placed at an equal number of degrees of the circumference from each other, the bench is furnished with a brass plate, divided in the same way as the plate of the machine for cutting the teeth of clock-wheels.

BORING OF PORTLAND STONE, so as to form pipes, was proposed by Sir George Wright in 1805. His method is as follows:-A hole is drilled through the block of store, in which a

long iron bolt is inserted for the saw to work round as a centre; this bolt forms the axis of the cylinder which is to be taken out, and projects considerably beyond the block at both ends. Another hole is drilled in the intended circumference; into this the blade of the saw is introduced. The frame of the saw is so disposed, that, when it is wrought to and fro, the blade is guided by means of the centre bolt so as to describe the intended cylindrical circumference. In this way a solid cylindrical core of stone is detached, and a cylindrical cavity or pipe left in the block. Or the saw may be made to describe a circle without drilling a hole in the centre, by drilling a hole in the circumference, and fixing on the surface of the stone two metallic concentric rings, so that the hole shall be included in the interstice between the rings. The saw is then introduced into the hole, and, being worked, it cuts in the circular path formed by the interstice of the rings. See Repertory of Arts, second series, Vol. VIII.

Mr. Murdoch's method, for which he obtained a patent in 1810, is perhaps preferable. He employs a cylindrical saw to form the pipe. A plug of wood is inserted in the centre of the intended pipe; this receives the lower end of a vertical spindle, longer than the intended pipe: the spindle is square, and has sockets sliding on it. On the upper part of the spindle is a pulley or toothed-wheel, by which the spindle is made to revolve. Near the lower end of the spindle is a wheel, having a circumference like a hoop, three inches broad. The diameter of this wheel is somewhat less than that of the pipe to be bored. It regulates the motion, and fits in the inside of a tube of metal attached to the spindle. The diameter of the tube is nearly equal to that of the intended pipe; its length is greater by two feet. On the lower edge of the tube is a rim of metal, so much thicker than the tube, that the groove cut in the stone by the rim may admit the tube to move freely in it. This rim has an edge like that of a stone-cutter's saw, and performs here the office of a saw. The tube is caused to make a reciprocating circular motion round the spindle. There is a cistern placed above the tube, for the purpose of conveying a mixture of sand and water into the cylindrical groove formed in the stone, whilst the machine is working. Pipes, made of stone in the above way, have been tried for conveying water in and about the streets of London. They were joined by means of Parker's cement, as the best material for forming the joints; but were generally cracked by the motion of carriages above, and allowed the water to escape.

BORING FOR WATER has been lately introduced, in and near the metropolis, for the purpose of obtaining large supplies of water without the sinking of a well. We have witnessed its success with great satisfaction, and suppose that our readers will be gratified with the following description of the process from the London Journal of Science, No. xxxiii.

The first operation is to dig a circular hole, about six or eight feet deep, and five or six feet wide, in the centre of which the boring is to be conducted, as shown in our plate BORING FOR WATER. The nandle, fig. 2, having a female

screw in the bottom of its iron shank, a wooden bar or rail passing through the socket of the shank, and a ring at top, is the instrument to which all the boring implements are to be at tached. A chisel, fig. 3, is first employed, and connected to this handle by its screw at top. If the ground is tolerably soft, the weight of the two workmen, bearing upon the cross-bar and occasionally forcing it round, will soon cause the chisel to penetrate; but if the ground is hard or strong, the workmen strike the chisel down with repeated blows, so as to peck their way. The labor is often considerably reduced, by means of an elastic wooden pole, placed horizontally over the scene of their operations, from which a chain is brought down, and attached to the ring of the handle. This pole is usually made fast at one end as a fulcrum, by being set into a heap of heavy loose stones; at the other end the laborer gives it a slight up and down vibrating motion, corresponding to the beating motion of the workmen below, by which means the elasticity of the pole in rising lifts the handle and pecker. When the hole has been opened by a chisel, as far as its length will permit, that instrument is withdrawn, and a sort of cylindrical auger, fig. 4, attached to the handle, fig. 2, for the purpose of drawing up the dirt or broken stones which have been disturbed by the chisel. A section of this auger is shown in fig. 5, by which the internal valve will be seen. The auger being introduced into the hole, and turned round by the workmen, the dirt or broken stones will pass through the aperture at bottom, shown at fig. 6, and fill the cylinder, which is then drawn up and discharged at the top of the auger, the valve preventing its escape at bottom.

To penetrate deeper into the ground, an iron rod, fig. 7, is now to be attached to the chisel, fig. 3, by screwing on to its upper end, and the rod is also fastened to the handle, fig. 2, by screwing into its socket. The chisel having thus become lengthened, by the addition of the rod, it is again introduced into the hole, and the operation of pecking, or forcing it down, is carried on by the workmen as before. When the ground has been thus perforated, as far as the chisel and its rod will reach, they must be withdrawn, in order again to introduce the auger, fig. 4, to collect and bring up the rubbish, which is done by attaching it to the iron rod in place of the chisel. Thus, as the hole becomes deepened, other lengths of iron rods are added, by connecting them together, as figs. 7, 8. The necessity of thus frequently withdrawing the rods from the hole, renders it extremely inconvenient, if not impossible, to raise them by hand. A tripedal standard is therefore generally constructed, by three scaffolding poles tied together, over the hole, as shown in the plate, from the centre of which a wheel and axle, or a pair of pulley blocks, are suspended, for the purpose of hauling up the rods, and from which hangs the fork, fig. 10. This fork is to be brought down under the shoulder, near the top of each rod, and made fast to it by passing a pin through two little holes in the claws. The rods are thus drawn up, about seven feet at a time, which is the usual distance between each joint, and at every haul a

up

fork, fig. 11, is laid horizontally over the hole, with the shoulders of the lower rod resting between its claws, by which means the rods are prevented from sinking down into the bore again, while the upper length is unscrewed and removed. In attaching and detaching these lengths of rod, a wrench, fig. 12, is employed, by which they are turned round, and the screws forced to their bearing. The boring is sometimes performed for the first sixty or a hundred feet, by a chisel of two inches and a half wide, and cleared out by a gouge of two and a quarter diameter, and then the hole is widened by a tool, such as shown at fig. 13. This is merely a chisel, as fig. 3, four inches wide, but with a guide, a, put on at its lower part, for the purpose of keeping it in a perpendicular direction; the lower part is not intended to peck, but to pass down the hole previously made, while the sides of the chisel operate in enlarging the hole to four inches. The process, however, is generally performed at one operation, by a chisel of four inches wide, as fig. 3, and a gouge of three inches and three quarters, as fig. 4. The most unpleasant circumstance attendant upon this business is the occasional breaking of a rod into the hole, which sometimes creates a delay of many days, and an incalculable labor in drawing up the lower portion.

Having obtained water in the quantity desired, the hole is dressed or finished in this operation, by passing down it the diamond chisel, fig. 14; this is to make the sides smooth previously to putting in the pipe. This chisel is attached to rods and to the handle, as before described, and in its descent the workmen continually walk round, by which the hole is made smooth and cylindrical. And now, in order to keep it pure and uncontaminated with mineral springs, loose earth, &c. the hole is cased for a considerable depth with a metallic pipe of tin or copper, about a quarter of an inch smaller than the bore; each length being let down, is held by a shoulder resting in a fork, while another length is soldered to it, and so on. We have seen a beautiful stream of water thus obtained from a depth of 320 feet, and rise above the ground constantly to a height of forty feet. It then formed a first moving power in the machinery of a brewery. From the depth of 280 feet was brought up the tooth of an unknown animal, between the size of that of the largest ass and that of a horse.

BORING OF WOODEN PIPES is performed by means of spoon-formed augers, beginning with one of small diameter, and proceeding to employ successively others of larger diameter. Those used for conveying water in London are generally made of elm, and bored out of one trunk. Wher a tree is to be bored, it is fixed on a carriage, with a rack on the under part. This fits into a pinion, whose axis passes through gudgeons on a fixed frame. On the axis of the pinion is a ratchet wheel, moved by two catches, which derive their motion from the wind or water power that turns the auger; and the pinion is moved in a direction that brings the tree towards the auger. The apparatus is the same as the one employed in saw-mills. The tree is made to advance by ropes, which pass over a windlass wrought by men, whilst the auger is turned by a horse-mill.

Wooden pipes are also frequently bored by an auger having at its outer end a wooden drift or handle, which is put in motion by the workman. The trees are placed on tressels, and there are also tressels of a convenient height that support the auger; there is also a lathe to turn one end of the tree conical, so as to fit into a conical cavity in the end of the adjoining tree, and thus form a joint water-tight. The end of the tree, which receives the adjoining pipe within it, has a surface at right angles to the axis of the pipe. Into this surface is driven an iron hoop, whose diameter is some inches greater than the diameter of the aperture of the pipe. This prevents the tree from splitting when the conical end of the next tree is driven home. When the tree is crooked, a bore is driven in from each end, and the two bores meet, forming an angle. An auger, whose stalk is formed spirally for some way up, is figured in Bailey's Machines of the Society of Arts. The object of this is that the chips may be delivered without taking the auger out of the hole. A patent was granted in 1796 to Mr. Howell of Oswestry, for boring wooden pipes by a hollow cylinder, made of thin plates of iron, about an inch less in diameter than the hole to be bored. To one end of this cylinder is fixed a flange about a quarter of an inch in breadth, and one part of this flange is to be divided, so that, being of steel, a cutter is formed thereby. The object of this is to bore out a solid cylinder of wood, capable of being converted into a smaller pipe, or of being applied to some other use in carpentry. This kind of borer is like the trepan, which is a hollow cylinder of steel, saw-toothed on the edge, and, when made to revolve rapidly on its axis, in the hand of the surgeon, it saws or bores out circular pieces of the flat bones of the head. See Repertory of Arts, vol. IX.

BORING, in mineralogy, a method of piercing the earth with scooping irons, which, being drawn back at proper times, bring up with them samples of the different strata through which they have passed; by the examination of which the skilful mineralogist will be able to guess whereabouts a vein of ore may be, or whether it will be worth while to open a mine. It is also a practice employed by the mineralogist to discover the different strata which lie beneath the surface of the earth, by sinkers to form wells and pits, or to tap springs, so as to draw off the water that lodges in their neighbourhood; in the last case, it is performed in the bottom of ditches, or drains previously made.

BORIQUEN, or CRAB-ISLAND, one of the Carribee islands, in North America, five miles south-west of Porto Rico. The English formerly had a settlement there, but were driven away by the Spaniards. Long. 66° W., lat. 18° N.

BORISTHENES, in ancient geography, the largest river of Sarmatia Europea, described by Mela and Herodotus, as the most pleasant of all the rivers of Scythia, calmer than all of them in its course, and very agreeable to drink it fed very rich pastures, it is added, and produced large fish of the best flavor, and without bones; rising from springs unknown, it comes a great way, its course is a distance of forty days, and so far it is navigable. It is now called the Dneiper or Nieper.

BORITH, in botany, an herb thought to be the kali or saltwort. In Jer. ii. 22, it is translated nitre.

BORJA, a town of Arragon, in Spain, with three parish churches, five convents, and an hospital. It lies near Monte Cayo, and in one of the most agreeable spots of the province. Here sprung the family of Borja or Borgia, and the notorious pope Alexander VI. It is the capital of a district of the same name, which contains twenty-seven villages and hamlets, with a population of 3000. The environs of the town abound in wine, flax, and wool. Twenty-four miles north of Calatayud, and thirty-four W. N. W. of Saragossa. Long. 1° 34′ W., lat. 41° 50′ N.

BORJA, SAN FRANCISCO DE, the capital city of the province of Mainas, the kingdom of Quito, in South America. It is situated on the Pastaza, which falls into the Amazons, in long. 76° 24′ W., lat. 4° 28′ S.

BORJA (St.), a missionary settlement of South America, in the province of Moxos, 100 miles north-west of Trinidada. There are two other missionary settlements of the same name, one on the river Uruguay, in lat. 28° 39′ 51′′ S., long. 57° 56′ W.

BORKUM, an island on the coast of East Friesland, in the kingdom of Hanover, situated between the mouths of the East and West Ems. It is included in the bailiwic of Greetyz, and so low in the middle, that at high water it is separated into two. The whole island is in circuit about twelve miles. It has a governor, a minister of the Calvinistic faith, and a school-master. The inhabitants are for the most part sea-faring people. The rest of the population rear cattle, and make considerable gains from shipwrecks.

BORLASE (Edmund), M. D. an English writer of the seventeenth century, was the son of Sir John Borlase, one of the Lords Justices of Ireland in 1643. He studied at Dublin, and afterwards at Leyden, where he took his degree of M. D. He afterwards practised physic with great success in Chester. He wrote, 1. Latham Spaw in Lancashire, 8vo. 2. The reduction of Ireland to the Crown of England. 3. The History of the Irish Rebellion. 4. Brief Reflections on the Earl of Castlehaven's Memoirs, &c. He died in 1682.

BORLASE (William), a very learned antiquarian, of an ancient family in Cornwall, was born at Pendeen, in 1695-6. He studied at Oxford, and in 1718 took his degree of M. A. In 1720 he was ordained a priest, and in 1722 made rector of Ludgvan in Cornwall. In 1732 lord chancellor King presented him to the vicarage of St. Just, his native parish. Finding that the copper works of Ludgvan abounded with mineral and metallic fossils, he collected them from time to time, and thence was led to study at large the natural history of his native country. Being also struck with the numerous monuments of antiquity that are to be met with in Cornwall, he determined to gain as accurate an acquaintance as possible with Druidical learning, and with the religion and customs of the ancient Britons. In 1750 he was admitted F. R. S. and, in 1753, published in folio, at Oxford, his Antiquities of Cornwall, a second edition of which was published at Lon

society of illuminati, and zealous against the encroachments of the clergy and the monastic orders. He wrote a satirical work entitled Monachologia, in which he has parodied the classification and language of natural history, in a descriptive catalogue of the different orders of Monks. But his genius was ill adapted for satire, and some of his friends disclaim this work as his own composition.

BORNA, a town in the circle of Leipzic, and kingdom of Saxony, situated between two arms of the Wiehra, on the road from Leipzic to Altenburg. It contains 3200 inhabitants, who manufacture baracan, plush, woollen stuffs, and earthenware. In the neighbourhood is a marble quarry. Borna, being nearly burnt to the ground in 1750, has been since rebuilt in a much neater style. It is ten miles N.N.E. of Altenburg, and twelve S. S. E. of Leipzic.

BORNEO, BONA FORTUNA, or PULA KALAMANTAM, as it is called by the Malays, is the greatest and most important of the Sunda islands, and was supposed, before the discovery of New Holland, to be the largest island in the world. On the north it has the Philippine islands; Java on the south; Sumatra on the west; and Celebes on the east. It extends from the fourth degree of south latitude to the eighth degree of north latitude, and from 1090 to 119° E. longitude. It is about 780 miles in average length, and its breadth, which is nearly equal throughout, except towards the north, is about 720 miles. Its extreme length is 900 miles, and its circumference 3000 miles. It is formed by a central range of mountains declining towards the sea, and its extensive forests, and the deep verdure of its fields, preserve a perpetual freshness in the atmosphere. So that it is not exposed either to hot land winds, as the coast of Coromandel, nor to the violent heats which prevail in Calcutta and Bengal. The climate is indeed said to be unusually temperate for the latitude, but the island is, from its marshes and other causes, unhealthy for Europeans.

At the foot of the Crystal Mountains is a large lake, which gives rise to all the rivers of the island. Of these the principal are the Banjarmassin, Succatana, Lava, Sambas, and Borneo. The last is navigable far above the town of that name, for vessels of considerable burthen; the only difficulty is at the mouth, where the channel is narrow, and not above seventeen feet broad at high water.

The soil is fertile in a high degree, yet such is the indolence of the inhabitants, that they live in the most abject poverty. All the tropical fruits grow in perfection, besides several other species scarcely known anywhere else, particularly the madang, which resembles a large apple, and the balono, not unlike a large mango. We may also notice the kanari, a handsome tree bearing an oblong nut, the kernel of which, besides being extremely palatable, abounds in an excellent culinary oil. The sago palm (metroxylon sagu) is not extensively cultivated in this island, although it is indigenous; and appears to require all the violence of an eastern monsoon to bring it to perfection. A tree which yields the best camphor, is also peculiar to this island and Sumatra. Mr. Colebrooke gave in the Asiatic VOL. IV.

Researches, vol. xii. the first scientific description of it, and has named it dryobalanops camphora. It belongs to a different family from the laurel tribe, to which it was formerly ascribed, and is a native of plains not far distant from the coast. The camphor is found in a concrete state in the veins and fissures of the wood; so that the tree must be cut down in order to procure it. It sells for four times as much as camphora, the produce of the laurus, from Japan, i. e. about £4. 4s. per pound avoirdupois. The forests furnish the finest building timber; a black wood, the root of which is very precious; a fragrant eagle-wood, ebony, and sandal-wood; besides trees which yield a great quantity of pitch and resin. Pepper of various kinds has been reared in this island, chiefly by the Chinese; the most remarkable of which is the vatian. They fix in the ground a large stake, which supports the plant, and keeps the ground between the rows extremely clear; often thinning the leaves, that the clusters of pepper may be the more exposed to the sun. A single plant sometimes bears seventy, or even seventy-five clusters. Borneo produces likewise abundance of aromatic plants, cassia, camphires, benjamin, and wax. It is thought that spiceries would succeed well.

There are several peculiar animal productions here, particularly the oncas, a species of apes, whose body is white and black, and from whose entrails is extracted the most perfect bezoar. The ourang-outang is common in the forests; and in some of them there are whole families, or rather flocks, of red apes. An animal is likewise sometimes to be seen here, the fur of which is like that of the beaver. With the exception of the sparrow hawk, there is no bird in Borneo which resembles those of Europe. The plumage of many is beautiful beyond description; its parroquets, in particular, have attracted the admiration of travellers. Goats, swine, cows, horse, and buffaloes, are common.

Borneo is also rich in its mineral productions. The diamonds of this island have been thought preferable even to those of Hindostan; the most productive mines are those at Ambauwang, beyond Molucca, in the district of Banjar-massin, and at Landac and Pontiana. Diamonds are likewise fished up by divers in several of the rivers. The fishery is carried on chiefly in the months of January, April, July, and October. Four kinds are distinguished by the natives; the white, which they call verna ambon, or white water; the green, which are called verna loud; the yellow, named verna sakkar; and a kind between the yellow and the green, which bear the name of verna bessi. Many of them are found from four to twenty-four carats, and sometimes even thirty or forty carats. The total amount of diamonds found in a year seldom exceeds 600 carats.

Gold is nowhere in this neighbourhood so abundant as at Borneo. The greater part is an alluvial deposit, obtained by washing and sifting the sand or mud of rivers. The chief mining operations are carried on by the Chinese colonists, in the high lands between the rivers Pontiana and Sambas, and at Montradak, a village two days journey from the coast. It is an allu