Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 40 (1/2)

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 princ.i.p.al 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 princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.sault. 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 pa.s.sed 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 Suw.a.n.gi, 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, Na.s.sau and Belgica. The largest island, Lontor, was found too unhealthy to be the site of the princ.i.p.al settlement; but the climate of the islands generally, though hot, is not unhealthy. In the s.p.a.ce 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 princ.i.p.al 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 emanc.i.p.ation 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 ma.s.sacre 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 _b[=a]ndhn[=u]_, 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 Lancas.h.i.+re, 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. Cus.h.i.+ng 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 Inst.i.tute of America, American Series, const.i.tuting 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 cla.s.sical. 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 ABB[=A]SI (also BENDER ABBAS, and other forms), a town of Persia, on the northern sh.o.r.e of the Persian Gulf in 27 11' N., and 56 17' E., forming part of the administrative division of the ”Persian Gulf ports,”

whose governor resides at Bus.h.i.+re. It has a population of about 10,000, an insalubrious climate and bad water.

Bander Abb[=a]si was called Gombrun (Gombroon, Gamaroon; Cambaro, Comoro 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 Abb[=a]si. 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 Bus.h.i.+re. 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 Min[=a]b, together with the islands of Kishm, Hormuz (Ormus) and L[=a]rak, to the Arab tribe of the Beni Ma'[=i]ni 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 Abb[=a]si 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 Abb[=a]si town and district and the islands were to be considered Persian territory and leased to Muscat at an annual rent of 14,000 tomans (6000). The treaty was to have been in force for twenty years, but in 1866 the Persians took advantage of the a.s.sa.s.sination of Seyed Thuweini, the sultan of Muscat, to instal as governor of Bander Abb[=a]si 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 Abb[=a]si, 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 12,000). 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 Abb[=a]si and [v.03 p.0311] have retained possession of the place ever since (see Curzon, _Persia_, ii. 424).

Bander Abb[=a]si 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 Abb[=a]si averaged about 660,000 per annum, 260,000 (155,000 British) being for exports, 400,000 (340,000 British) imports. Of the 255,000 tons of s.h.i.+pping which in 1905 entered Bander Abb[=a]si 237,000 were British.

(A. H.-S.)

BANDER LINGAH, or LINGA, a town of Persia on the northern sh.o.r.e of the Persian Gulf and about 300 m. by sea from Bus.h.i.+re, in 26 33' N., 54 54'

E. Pop. about 10,000. It forms part of the administrative divisions of the ”Persian Gulf ports,” whose governor resides at Bus.h.i.+re. The annual value of the exports and imports from and into Bander Lingah from 1890 to 1905 averaged about 800,000, but nearly half of that amount is represented by pearls which pa.s.s 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 s.h.i.+pping 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 s.h.i.+p 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, gra.s.s and sticks in hollow places and forming burrows in which they pa.s.s 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 wars.h.i.+p 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 ma.s.se_ 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 _ba.s.si-rilievi_ in the choir of the cathedral of Florence; his copy of the Laoc.o.o.n; 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, pa.s.sing the whole of his time in the library of the Vatican, and in those of the cardinals Pa.s.sionei 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 princ.i.p.al 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.