Bangalore is the headquarters of a military district, its elevation rendering it healthy for British troops, with accommodation for a strong force of all arms and an a.r.s.enal in the old fort. It is the headquarters of a brigade in the 9th division of the Indian army. A considerable number of European pensioners reside here. There is a modern palace for the maharaja.
There is an aided Roman Catholic college, besides many schools for Europeans. A permanent water-supply has been introduced and there is a complete system of drainage. Bangalore is an important railway centre.
There are several cotton mills. The city suffered severely from plague in 1899 and 1900.
The district of Bangalore borders on the Madras district of Salem. The main portion consists of the valley of the Arkavati river, which joins the Cauvery on the southern frontier. Its area is 3079 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 789,664, showing an increase of 15% in the decade. The district is crossed by several lines of railway. Outside Bangalore city there is a woollen mill, which turns out blankets, cloth for greatcoats, and woollen stuffs.
BANGANAPALLE, a state of southern India, surrounded by the Madras district of Kurnool. Area, 255 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 32,264, showing a decrease of 9% in the decade; estimated revenue 6400, of which a large portion is alienated in grants to junior branches of the family; no tribute. The excessive expenditure of the nawab, Syed Fateh Ali Khan, and the general inefficiency of the administration caused much anxiety to the government, and in February 1905 he was temporarily removed from the administration of the state. The town of Banganapalle is not far from the branch of the Southern Mahratta railway from Guntakal to Bezwada.
[v.03 p.0315] BANGASH, a small tribe of Pathans in the Kohat district of the North-West Frontier Province of India. They occupy the hills between Thal and Kohat, and number 3000 fighting men. Formerly they owned the whole of Kurram, but owing to the encroachments of the Turis, they moved eastwards, dispossessed the Orakzais, drove them north and took their territory in the Kohat district, which they now occupy to the west of the Khattak country. The Khattaks and Bangashes are of exceptionally good physique and make excellent soldiers.
BANGKOK, the capital of Siam, on the river Me Nam, about 20 m. from its mouth, in 100 30" E., 13 45" N. Until modern times the city was built largely on floating pontoons or on piles at the edges of the innumerable ca.n.a.ls and water-courses which formed the thoroughfares, but to meet the requirements of modern life, well-planned roads and streets have been constructed in all directions, crossing the old ca.n.a.ls at many points and lined with well-built houses, for the most part of brick, in which the greater part of the erstwhile riparian population now resides. The centre of the city is the royal palace (see SIAM), situated in a bend of the river and enclosed by walls. At a radius of nearly a mile is another wall within which lies the closely-packed city proper, and beyond which the town stretches away to the royal parks on the north and to the business quarter, the warehouses, rice-mills, harbour and docks on the south. The whole town covers an area of over 10 sq. m. Two companies provide Bangkok with a complete system of electric tramways, and the streets are lined with shade-trees and lit by electricity. All over the town are scattered beautiful Buddhist temples, which with their coloured tile roofs and gilded spires give it a peculiar and notable appearance. Many fine buildings are to be seen--the various public offices, the a.r.s.enal, the mint, the palaces of various princes and, in addition to these, schools, hospitals, markets and Christian churches of many denominations, chiefly Roman Catholic. There are four railway stations in Bangkok, the termini of the lines which connect the provinces with the capital.
The climate of Bangkok has without doubt recently changed. It has become hotter and less humid. Though a minimum temperature below 60 F. is still recorded in January and December, a maximum of over 100 is reached during the hot weather months and at the beginning of the rains, whereas up to the year 1900 a maximum of 93 was considered unusually high. The cause of this change is not known, but it is attributed to extensive drainage and removal of vegetation in the immediate neighbourhood of the town. The annual rainfall amounts to rather over 50 in.
A four-mile reach of the Me Nam, immediately below the city proper, forms the port of Bangkok. From 250 to 400 yds. broad and of good depth right up to the banks, the river offers every convenience for the berthing and loading of ships, though a bar at its mouth, which prevents the pa.s.sage of vessels drawing more than 12 ft., necessitates in the case of large ships a partial loading and unloading from lighters outside. The banks of the port are closely lined with the offices, warehouses and wharves of commercial houses, with timber yards and innumerable rice-mills, while the custom house, the harbour master"s office and many of the foreign legations and consulates are also situated here. Of the 750 steamships which cleared the port in 1904, three out of every seven were German, two were Norwegian and one was British, but in 1905 two new companies, one British and the other j.a.panese, arranged for regular services to Bangkok, thereby altering these proportions. It is notable that the heavy trade with Singapore shows a tendency to decrease in favour of direct trade with Europe. A fleet of small steamers, schooners and junks, carries on trade with the towns and districts on the east and west coasts of the Gulf of Siam. The trade of Bangkok is almost entirely in the hands of Europeans and Chinese. The princ.i.p.al exports are rice and teak, and the princ.i.p.al imports, cotton and silk goods and gold-leaf. The value of trade, which more than doubled between the years 1900 and 1907, amounted in the latter year to 5,600,000 imports and 7,100,000 exports. Of the total trade, 75% is with the British empire. Many of the best known mercantile firms and banks of the Far East have branches in Bangkok. The unit of currency is the _tical_ (see SIAM).
The government of Bangkok is entrusted to the minister of the capital, a member of the cabinet. Under this minister are the police, sanitary, harbour master"s and revenue offices. The police force is an efficient and well-organized body of 3000 men headed by a European commissioner of police. The sanitary department consists of a board of health, a bacteriological laboratory and an engineer"s office, all managed with expert European a.s.sistance. Under the act of 1905, the want of which was long felt, the port and the city water-ways are controlled by the harbour master. Local revenues are collected by the revenue office. The ordinary law courts are under the control of the ministry of justice, but in accordance with the extra-territorial rights enjoyed by foreign powers in Siam, each consulate has attached to it a court, having jurisdiction in all cases in which a subject of the power represented by such consulate is defendant.
The population, which is estimated at 450,000, is mixed. Mingling with Siamese and Chinese, who form the major part, may be seen persons of almost every race to be found between Bombay and j.a.pan, while Europeans of different nationalities number over 1000. The death-rate is high, especially among children, owing to the prevalence of cholera, smallpox and fevers during the dry weather. Sanitation, however, is improving and much good has resulted from the boring of numerous artesian wells which yield good water.
Before 1769 Bangkok was nothing but an agricultural village with a fort on the river bank. In that year, however, it was seized by the warrior, Paya Tak, as a convenient point from which to attack the Burmese army then in occupation of Siam, and upon his becoming king it was chosen as the capital of the country. (See SIAM.)
(W. A. G.)
BANGOR, a seaport and market-town of Co. Down, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, on the south side of Belfast Lough, 12m. E.N.E. of Belfast, on a branch of the Belfast & County Down railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5903. It carries on a considerable trade in cotton and linen and embroidered muslin. It is greatly frequented as a watering-place, especially by the people of Belfast, and there are golf links and important regattas held by the Royal Ulster Yacht Club. Slight remains are to be seen of an abbey of Canons Regular, founded in the middle of the 6th century by St Comgall, and rebuilt, on a scale of magnificence which astonished the Irish, by St Malachy O"Morgair in the first half of the 12th century.
Bangor was incorporated by James I. and returned two members to the Irish parliament.
BANGOR, a city, port of entry, and the county-seat of Pen.o.bscot county, Maine, U.S.A., at the confluence of the Kenduskeag stream with the Pen.o.bscot river, and at the head of navigation on the Pen.o.bscot, about 60 m. from the ocean, and about 75 m. N.E. of Augusta. Pop. (1890) 19,103; (1900) 21,850, of whom 3726 were foreign-born and 176 were negroes; (1910, census) 24,803. A bridge (about 1300 ft. long) across the Pen.o.bscot connects Bangor with Brewer (pop. in 1910, 5667). Bangor is served directly by the Maine Central railway, several important branches radiating from the city, and by the Eastern Steamship line; the Maine Central connects near the city with the Bangor & Aroostook railway (whose general offices are here) and with the Washington County railway. The business portion of the city lies on both sides of the Kenduskeag and for about 3 m. along the W.
bank of the Pen.o.bscot, which is here quite low, while many fine residences are on the hillsides farther back. Bangor is the seat of three state inst.i.tutions--the Eastern Maine general hospital, the Eastern Maine insane hospital and the law school of the University of Maine--and of the Bangor Theological Seminary (Congregational), incorporated in 1814, opened at Hampden in 1816, removed to Bangor in 1819, and empowered in 1905 to confer degrees in divinity. The city has several public parks, a public library and various charitable inst.i.tutions, among which are a children"s home, a home for aged men, a home for aged women and a deaconesses" home. Among the princ.i.p.al buildings are the county court house, the Federal building, the city hall and the opera house. The Eastern [v.03 p.0316] Maine Music Festival is held in Bangor in October of each year. The rise of the tide here to a height of 17 ft. makes the Pen.o.bscot navigable for large vessels; the Kenduskeag furnishes good water-power; and the city is the trade centre for an extensive agricultural district. The Eastern Maine State Fair is held here annually. Bangor is one of the largest lumber depots in the United States, and also ships considerable quant.i.ties of ice. The city"s foreign trade is of some importance; in 1907 the imports were valued at $2,720,594, and the exports at $1,272,247. Bangor has various manufactures, the most important of which (other than those dependent upon lumber) are boots and shoes (including moccasins); among others are trunks, valises, saws, stoves, ranges and furnaces, edge tools and cant dogs, saw-mill machinery, brick, clothing, cigars, flour and dairy products. In 1905 the city"s factory products were valued at $3,408,355. The munic.i.p.ality owns and operates the water-works (the water-supply being drawn from the Pen.o.bscot by the Holly system) and an electric-lighting plant; there is also a large electric plant for generation of electricity for power and for commercial lighting, and in Bangor and the vicinity there were in 1908 about 60 m. of electric street-railway.
Bangor has been identified by some antiquarians as the site of the mythical city of _Norumbega_, and it was reported in 1656 that Fort Norombega, built by the French, was standing here; but the authentic history of Bangor begins in 1769 when the first settlers came. The settlement was at first called Conduskeag and for a short time was locally known as Sunbury. In 1791 the town was incorporated, and through the influence of the Rev. Seth n.o.ble, the first pastor, the name was changed to Bangor, the name of one of his favourite hymn-tunes. During the war of 1812 a British force occupied Bangor for several days (in September 1814), destroying vessels and cargoes. Bangor was chartered as a city in 1834. In 1836 a railway from Bangor to Old Town was completed; this was the first railway in the state; Bangor had, also, the first electric street-railway in Maine (1889), and one of the first iron steamships built in America ran to this port and was named "Bangor."
BANGOR (formerly BANGOR FAWR, as distinguished from several other towns of this name in Wales, Ireland, Brittany, &c.), a city, munic.i.p.al (1883) and contributory parliamentary borough (Carnarvon district), seaport and market-town of Carnarvonshire, N. Wales, 240 m. N.W. of London by the London & North Western railway. Pop. (1901) 11,269. It consists of Upper and Lower, the Lower practically one street. Lying near the northern entrance of the Menai Straits, it attracts many visitors. Buildings include the small cathedral, disused bishop"s palace, deanery, small Roman Catholic church and other churches, the University College of N. Wales (1883), with female students" hall, Independent, Baptist, Normal and N. Wales Training Colleges. The cruciform cathedral, with a low pinnacled tower, stands on the site of a church which the English destroyed in 1071 (dedicated to, and perhaps founded, about 525, by St Deiniol). Sir G. Scott restored the present cathedral, 1866-1875, after it had been burned in the time of Owen Glendower, destroyed in 1211, and, in 1102 and 1212, severely handled.
Bishop Dean (_temp_. Henry VII.) rebuilt the choir, Bishop Skevyngton (1532) added tower and nave. Lord Penrhyn"s slate-quarries, at Bethesda, 6 m. off, supply the staple export from Port Penrhyn, at the mouth of the stream Cegid.
The _Myvyrian Archaeology_ (408-484) gives the three princ.i.p.al _bangor_ (college) inst.i.tutions as follows:--the _bangor_ of Illtud Farchawg at Caer Worgorn (Wroxeter); that of Emrys (Ambrosius) at Caer Caradawg; _bangor wydrin_ (gla.s.s) in the _gla.s.s isle_, Afallach; _bangor Illtud_, or Llanilltud, or Llantwit major (by corruption), being a fourth. In each of the first three were 420 saints, succeeding each other (by hundreds), day and night, in their pious offices.
BANGORIAN CONTROVERSY, a theological dispute in the early 18th century which originated in 1716 with the posthumous publication of George Hickes"s (bishop of Thetford) _Const.i.tution of the Christian Church, and the Nature and Consequences of Schism_, in which he excommunicated all but the non-juring churchmen. Benjamin Hoadly (_q.v._), the newly-appointed bishop of Bangor, scented the opportunity and wrote a speedy and able reply, _Preservative against the Principles and Practices of Non-Jurors_, in which his own Erastian position was recommended and sincerity proposed as the only test of truth. This was followed by his famous sermon, preached before George I. on the 31st of March 1717, on _The Nature of the Kingdom or Church of Christ_. In this discourse "he impugned the idea of the existence of any visible church at all, ridiculed the value of any tests of orthodoxy, and poured contempt upon the claims of the church to govern itself by means of the state." He identified the church with the kingdom of Heaven--it was therefore "not of this world," and Christ had not delegated His authority to any representatives. Both book and sermon were reported on by a committee appointed by the Lower House of Convocation in May, and steps would have been taken by the archbishop and bishops had not the government stepped in (Hoadly denied that this was at his request) and prorogued Convocation till November. Hoadly himself wrote _A Reply to the Representations of Convocation_ and also answered his princ.i.p.al critics, among whom were Thomas Sherlock (_q.v._), then dean of Chichester, Andrew Snape, provost of Eton, and Francis Hare, then dean of Worcester. These three men, and another opponent, Robert Moss, dean of Ely, were deprived of their royal chaplaincies. Hoadly was shrewd enough not to answer the most brilliant, though comparatively unknown, of his antagonists, William Law.
Though the controversy went on, its most important result had already been achieved in the silencing of Convocation, for that body, though it had just "seemed to be settling down to its proper work in dealing with the real exigencies of the church" when the Hoadly dispute arose, did not meet again for the despatch of business for nearly a century and a half. (See CONVOCATION.)
BANGWEULU, a shallow lake of British Central Africa, formed by the head streams of the Congo. It lies between 10 38" and 11 31" S. and is cut by 30 E. Bangweulu occupies the north-west part of a central basin in an extensive plateau, and is about 3700 ft. above the sea. The land slopes gently to the depression from the south, east and north, and into it drain a considerable number of streams, turning the greater part into a mora.s.s of reeds and papyrus. The term Bangweulu is sometimes applied to the whole depression, but is properly confined to the area of clear water. Only on its south-west and western sides are the banks of the lake clearly defined.
The greatest extent of open water is about 60 m. N. to S. and 40 m. E. to W. Long narrow sandbanks almost separate Chifunawuli, the western pan of the lake, from the main body of water, while the water surface is further diminished by a number of islands. The largest of these islands, Kirui (Chiru), lies on the east side of the lake close to the swamp. Kisi (Chishi) is a small island occupying a central position just south of 11 S., and Mbawali, 20 m. long by 3 broad, lies south of Kisi. South of Bangweulu the swamp extends to 12 10" S. Into this swamp on its east side flows the Chambezi, the most remote head stream of the Congo. Without entering the lake the Chambezi mingles its waters in the swamp with those of the Luapula. The Luapula, which leaves Bangweulu at its most southern point, is about a mile wide at the outflow, but soon narrows to 300 or so yds. West of the Luapulu and near its outflow lies Lake Kampolombo, 20 m.
long and 8 broad at its southern end. A sandy track separates Bangweulu from Kampolombo, and a narrow forest-clad tongue of land called Kapata intervenes between the Luapula and Kampolombo. Various channels lead, however, from the river to the lake. The Luapula flows south through the swamp some 50 m. and then turns west and afterwards north (see CONGO). The flood waters of the Chambezi and other streams, which deposit large quant.i.ties of alluvium, are gradually solidifying the swamp, while the Luapula is believed to be, though very slowly, draining Bangweulu. The waters of the lake do not appear to be anywhere more than 15 ft. deep.
Though heard of by the Portuguese traveller, Francisco de Lacerda, in 1798, Bangweulu was first reached in 1868 by David Livingstone, who died six years later among the swamps to the [v.03 p.0317] south. It was partially surveyed in 1883 by the French traveller, Victor Giraud, and first circ.u.mnavigated by Poulett Weatherley in 1896.
See P. Weatherley in _Geog. Journ._ vol. xii. (1898) and vol. xiv. p. 561 (1899); L. A. Wallace in _Geog. Journ._ vol. xxix. (1907), with map by O. L. Beringer. Giraud"s _Les Lacs de l"Afrique equatoriale_ (Paris, 1890) and Livingstone"s _Last Journals_ (1874) may also be consulted.
BANIM, JOHN (1798-1842), Irish novelist, sometimes called the "Scott of Ireland," was born at Kilkenny on the 3rd of April 1798. In his thirteenth year he entered Kilkenny College and devoted himself specially to drawing and painting. He pursued his artistic education for two years in the schools connected with the Royal Society at Dublin, and afterwards taught drawing in Kilkenny, where he fell in love with one of his pupils. His affection was returned, but the parents of the young lady interfered and removed her from Kilkenny. She pined away and died in two months. Her death made a deep impression on Banim, whose health suffered severely and permanently. In 1820 he went to Dublin and settled finally to the work of literature. He published a poem, _The Celts" Paradise_, and his _Damon and Pythias_ was performed at Covent Garden in 1821. During a short visit to Kilkenny he married, and in 1822 planned in conjunction with his elder brother MICHAEL (1796-1874), a series of tales ill.u.s.trative of Irish life, which should be for Ireland what the Waverley Novels were for Scotland. He then set out for London, and supported himself by writing for magazines and for the stage. A volume of miscellaneous essays was published anonymously in 1824, called _Revelations of the Dead Alive_. In April 1825 appeared the first series of _Tales of the O"Hara Family_, which achieved immediate and decided success. One of the most powerful of them, _Crohoore of the Bill Hook_, was by Michael Banim. In 1826 a second series was published, containing that excellent Irish novel, _The Nowlans_. John"s health had given way, and the next effort of the "O"Hara family" was almost entirely the production of his brother Michael. _The Croppy, a Tale of 1798_ (1828) is hardly equal to the earlier tales, though it contains some wonderfully vigorous pa.s.sages. _The Denounced_, _The Mayor of Windgap_, _The Ghost Hunter_ (by Michael Banim), and _The Smuggler_ followed in quick succession, and were received with considerable favour. John Banim, meanwhile, had become much straitened in circ.u.mstances. In 1829 he went to France, and while he was abroad a movement to relieve his wants was set on foot by the English press, headed by John Sterling in _The Times_. A sufficient sum was obtained to remove him from any danger of actual want, and to this government added in 1836 a pension of 150. He returned to Ireland in 1835, and settled in Windgap Cottage, a short distance from Kilkenny; and there, a complete invalid, he pa.s.sed the remainder of his life, dying on the 13th of August 1842. Michael Banim had acquired a considerable fortune which he lost in 1840 through the bankruptcy of a firm with which he had business relations. After this disaster he wrote _Father Connell_ (1842), _Clough Fionn_ (1852), _The Town of the Cascades_ (1862).
Michael Banim died at Booterstown on the 30th of August 1874.
The true place of the Banims in literature is to be estimated from the merits of the _O"Hara Tales_; their later works, though of considerable ability, are sometimes prolix and are marked by too evident an imitation of the Waverley Novels. The _Tales_, however, are masterpieces of faithful delineation. The strong pa.s.sions, the lights and shadows of Irish peasant character, have rarely been so ably and truly depicted. The incidents are striking, sometimes even horrible, and the authors have been accused of straining after melodramatic effect. The lighter, more joyous side of Irish character, which appears so strongly in Samuel Lover, receives little attention from the Banims.
See P. J. Murray, _Life of John Banim_ (1857).
BANJALUKA (sometimes written BANIALUKA, or BAINALUKA), the capital of a district bearing the same name, in Bosnia. Pop. (1895) 13,666, of whom about 7000 were Moslems. Banjaluka lies on the river Vrbas, and at the terminus of a military railway which meets the Hungarian state line at Jasenovac, 30 m. N.N.W. Banjaluka is the seat of Roman Catholic and Orthodox bishops, a district court, and an Austrian garrison. It is at the head of a narrow defile, shut in by steep hills on the east and west but expanding on the north to meet the valley of the Save. A small stream called the Crkvina enters the Vrbas from the north-east and in the angle thus formed stand the citadel and barracks, with the 16th-century Ferhadiya Jamia, largest and most beautiful of more than 40 mosques in the city. The celebrated Roman baths are all in ruins, except one ma.s.sive, domed building, dating from the 6th century and still in use, although modern baths are also open, for the development of the hot springs. Other noteworthy buildings are the Franciscan and Trappist monasteries, a girls"
school, belonging to the Sisterhood of the Sacred Blood of Nazareth, a real-school and a Turkish bazaar. Coal, iron, silver and other minerals are found in the adjoining hills; and the city possesses a government tobacco factory, a brewery, cloth-mills, gunpowder-mills, a model farm and many corn-mills, worked by the two rapid rivers.
Banjaluka is probably the Roman fort, marked, in the _Tabula Peutingeriana_, as _Castra_, on the river Urba.n.u.s and the road from Salona on the Adriatic to Servitium in Pannonia. The origin of its later name, meaning the "Baths of St Luke," is uncertain. In the 15th century, the fall of Jajce, a rival stronghold 22 m. S., led to the rapid rise of Banjaluka, which was thenceforward the scene of many encounters between Austrians and Turks; notably in 1527, 1688 and 1737. No Bosnian city had greater prosperity or importance in the last half of the 18th century. In 1831, Hussein Aga Borberli, called the "Dragon of Bosnia," or _Zmaj Bosanski_, set forth from Banjaluka on his holy war against the sultan Mahmud II. (See BOSNIA.)
BANJERMASIN (Dutch _Bandjermasin_), the chief town in the Dutch portion of the island of Borneo, East Indies, on the river Martapura, near its junction with the Barito, 24 m. from the mouth of the Barito in a bay of the south coast. The town is the seat of the Dutch resident of South and East Borneo. Its buildings stand on either bank of the river, but many of the inhabitants (who number nearly 50,000) occupy houses either floating on, or built on piles in the river. As large vessels can sail up to the town, it is a trade centre for the products of the districts along the banks of the Barito and Martapura, such as benzoin, rattans, wax, gold, diamonds, iron and weapons. In 1700 the East Indian Company established a factory here; but the place was found to be unhealthy, and the Company"s servants were finally attacked by the natives, whom they repulsed with great difficulty. The settlement was abandoned. The English again seized Banjermasin in 1811, but restored it in 1817. Of the commercial community the Chinese are a very important portion, and there is also a considerable number of Arabs. The district of Banjermasin was incorporated by the Dutch in consequence of the war of 1860, in regard to the succession in the sultanate, which had been under their protection since 1787. The town of Martapura was the seat of the sultan from 1771. The inland portion of the district is covered with forest, while the flat and swampy seaboard is largely occupied by rice-fields. The inhabitants are mostly Dyaks.
BANJO, a musical instrument with strings plucked by fingers or plectrum, popular among the American negroes and introduced by them into Europe. The word is either a corruption of "bandore" or "pandura" (_q.v._), an instrument of the guitar type, or is derived from "bania," the name of a similar primitive Senegambian instrument.
The banjo consists of a body composed of a single piece of vellum stretched like a drum-head over a wooden or metal hoop to ensure the requisite degree of resonance; the parchment may be tightened or slackened by means of a series of screws disposed round the circ.u.mference of the hoop. Attached to the body, which has no back, is a long neck, terminating in a flat head acting as a peg-box and bent back slightly at an obtuse angle from the neck. There are five, six or nine strings to the banjo; they are fastened to a tail-piece as in the violin, pa.s.s over a low bridge, on the body, and are strained over the nut or ridge at the end of the neck, where they are threaded through holes and wound round the tuning-pegs fixed in the back of the head in Oriental fashion, as in the lute (_q.v._). The strings are stopped [v.03 p.0318] by the pressure of the fingers against the finger-board which lies over the front of the neck; the correct positions for the formation of the intervals of the scale are indicated in some banjos by frets consisting of metal or wooden bands inlaid in the finger-board. The vibrating length of the strings from bridge to nut is 24 in. for all except the highest in pitch, known as the "chanterelle,"
"melody" or "thumb string," which is only 16 in. long; its tuning peg is inserted half-way up the neck. The chanterelle is not, as in other stringed instruments, in its position as the highest in pitch, but is placed next the lowest string for convenience in playing it with the thumb. In the tables of accordance here given, the chanterelle is indicated by a X. The five-stringed banjo is tuned either
[Notation: 5:E5X 4:A3 3:E4 2:G4# 1:B4.] or [Notation: 5:D5X 4:G3 3:D4 2:F4# 1:A4.]
The six-stringed is tuned [Notation: 6:G5X 5:G3 4:D4 3:G4 2:B4 1:D5.]
The nine-stringed banjo has three thumb strings thus [Notation: 9:F5#X 8:G5X 7:A5X 6:G3 5:C4 4:D4 3:G4 2:B4 1:D5.]
The G clef is used in notation, but the notes sound an octave lower than they are written. The banjo is usually a transposing instrument in the sense that, when playing with other instruments, the A corresponds to the C of the piano or violin; the key of A major is therefore the first to be mastered. The chanterelle does not lie over the finger-board and is always played open by the thumb.
The banjo is held so that the neck is even with the left shoulder and the body rests on the right thigh; the front of the instrument is held inclined at an angle, allowing the performer to see all the strings. When played as a solo instrument, a plectrum may be used with good effect to produce rapid scale and arpeggio pa.s.sages, or to produce the tremolo or sustained notes as on the mandoline (_q.v._). The best results are obtained by means of a tortoise-sh.e.l.l plectrum about the size of a shilling,[1] having the contact-edges highly polished, bevelled and terminating in a point. The tone of the banjo is louder and harder than that of the guitar. Chords of two, three and four notes can be played on it.
The banjo or bania of the African negro having gra.s.s strings is still in use on the coast of Guinea. The banjo was made known in England through companies of coloured minstrels from the United States, one of which came over to London as early as 1846.
(K. S.)
[1] See A. H. Na.s.sau-Kennedy, I.S.M., _Banjo-Plectring_.
BANK,[1] known also as "Polish Bank" and "Russian Bank" a card-game. An ordinary pack is used. Five or six players is a convenient number. Each contributes an arranged stake to the pool. The dealer gives three cards to each player and turns up another; if this is not lower than an eight (ace is lowest) he goes on till such a card is exposed. The player on the dealer"s left, without touching or looking at his cards, can bet the amount of the pool, or any part of it, that among his cards is one that is higher (of the same suit) than the turn-up. If he wins, he takes the amount from the pool; if he loses, he pays it to the pool. Each player does the same in turn, the dealer last. Whenever the pool is exhausted, a fresh stake is put into the pool. After a round is over the deal pa.s.ses. No player may touch his cards until he has made his bet; the penalty is a fine to the pool of twice the stake, and the loss of his right to bet during that round.
[1] For the commercial "bank" see BANKS AND BANKING.
BANKA (Banca, Bangka), an island of the Dutch East Indies, off the east coast of Sumatra, from which it is separated by Banka Strait, which is about 9 m. wide at its narrowest point. On the east, the broader, island-studded Gaspar Strait separates Banka from Billiton. Banka is 138 m.
in length; its extreme breadth is 62 m., and its area, including a few small adjacent islands, 4460 sq. m. The soil is generally dry and stony, and the greater part of the surface is covered with forests, in which the logwood tree especially abounds. The hills, of which Maras in the north is the highest (2760 ft.), are covered with vegetation to their summits.
Geologically, Banka resembles the Malay Peninsula, its formations being mainly granite, Silurian and Devonian slate, frequently covered with sandstone, laterite (red ironstone clay) of small fertility, and alluvium.
The granite extends from W.N.W. to S.S.E., forming the short, irregular hill-chains. As these lie generally near the east coast, it follows that the rivers of the west coast are the longer. There are no volcanoes. The chief rivers (Jering, Kotta and Waringin) are navigable for some 19 m. from their mouths and are used for the transport of tin. Banka is princ.i.p.ally noted for the production of this mineral, which was discovered here in 1710 and is a government monopoly. It occurs in lodes and as stream-tin, and is worked by Chinese in large numbers who inhabit villages of their own. The island is divided into nine mining districts, including about 120 mines, under government control, with 12,000 workmen, which have produced as much as 12,000 tons of tin in a year. From May to August, the period of the south-east monsoon, the climate of Banka is dry and hot; but the mean annual rainfall reaches 120 in. annually, rain occurring on an average on 168 days each year. The wet, cool season proper is from November to February, accompanying the north-west monsoon. The heavy rainfall is of great importance to the tin-streaming industry. The total population of the island (1905) is 115,189, including 40,000 Chinese and 70,000 natives.
These last are mainly composed of immigrant Malayan peoples. The aborigines are represented by a few rude hill-tribes, who resemble in physique the Battas of Sumatra. Rice, pepper, gambier, coffee and palms are cultivated, and fishing and the collection of forest produce are further industries, but none of these is of importance. The chief town is Muntok at the north end of Banka Strait.
See H. Zondervan, _Banka en Zijne bewoners_ (Amsterdam, 1895), with bibliography; T. Posewitz, _Die Zinn-inseln im Indischen Ocean_. For geology and the tin-mines, _Jaarboek vor het Mijnwezen in Ned. Ind._ (Amsterdam, 1877-1884).
BANKER-MARKS, or Masons" Marks. The "banker" is the stone bed or bench upon which a mason works, hence the term (so well known to the trade) of banker-marks, which, as Mr Whitley has pointed out, is more appropriate than that of masons" marks, since the setters, who are usually selected from amongst the best workmen, make no marks upon the stone (_Leamington Spa Courier_, 11th of August 1888). These must not be confused with other marks sometimes cut on stones as directions to the setters, and so used and employed to the present time. Banker-marks are met with throughout the civilized world, and in fact are to be found on all old buildings of consequence, ecclesiastical or otherwise. Professor T. Hayter Lewis well observed, "Go where you will, in England, France, Sicily, Palestine, you will find all through the buildings of the 12th century the same carefully worked masonry, the same masons" tool-marks, the same way of making them."
Such masons" marks are to be traced graved on all the chief stones of what is known as Norman work. Norman tooling, so far as Hayter Lewis could discover, came from the north and west of Europe. Since then we get marks made with a "toothed chisel," but however or wherever chiselled the intention was the same. The system followed provided an infallible means of connecting the individual craftsman with his work, an evidence of ident.i.ty that could not be gainsaid.
Naturally, because of their simplicity, certain designs were followed much more frequently than others, while occasionally some of a very elaborate character are to be detected. Undoubtedly not a few were suggestive of the initials of the names of the masons, and others were reminiscent of certain animals, objects, &c., but no proof has yet been offered of their being alphabetical in design, or arranged so as to distinguish the members of different lodges or companies; the journeymen selected any design they cared to adopt.