Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John"
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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Borgia, Lucrezia" to "Bradford, John"
Author: Various
Release date: September 10, 2010 [eBook #33698]
Language: English
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Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) The following typographical error has been corrected:
ARTICLE BOROUGH: "In London in the 13th century there was a regular
system for the admission of new members to the borough..." 'London'
amended from 'Londom'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME IV, SLICE III
Borgia, Lucrezia to Bradford, John
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
BORGIA, LUCREZIA BOULOGNE-SUR-SEINE
BORGLUM, SOLON HANNIBAL BOULTON, MATTHEW
BORGOGNONE, AMBROGIO BOUND
BORGO SAN DONNINO BOUNDS, BEATING THE
BORGU BOUNTY
BORIC ACID BOURBAKI, CHARLES DENIS SAUTER
BORING BOURBON
BORIS FEDOROVICH GODUNOV BOURBON, CHARLES
BORISOGLYEBSK BOURBON-LANCY
BORKU BOURBON L'ARCHAMBAULT
BORKUM BOURBONNE-LES-BAINS
BORLASE, WILLIAM BOURCHIER, ARTHUR
BORMIO BOURCHIER, THOMAS
BORN, IGNAZ BOURDALOUE, LOUIS
BORNA BOURDON, FRANCOIS LOUIS
BORNE, KARL LUDWIG BOURG-EN-BRESSE
BORNEO BOURGEOIS, LEON VICTOR AUGUSTE
BORNHOLM BOURGEOIS
BORNIER, HENRI BOURGES
BORNU BOURGET, PAUL CHARLES JOSEPH
BORODIN, ALEXANDER PORFYRIEVICH BOURIGNON, ANTOINETTE
BORODINO BOURKE
BOROLANITE BOURMONT, LOUIS AUGUSTE VICTOR
BORON BOURNE, VINCENT
BOROUGH, STEVEN BOURNE (town)
BOROUGH BOURNE (stream)
BOROUGHBRIDGE BOURNEMOUTH
BOROUGH ENGLISH BOURNONITE
BORROMEAN ISLANDS BOURREE
BORROMEO, CARLO BOURRIENNE, LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE
BORROMINI, FRANCESCO BOURRIT, MARC THEODORE
BORROW, GEORGE HENRY BOURSAULT, EDME
BORSIPPA BOURSE
BORT BOURSSE, ESAIAS
BORY DE SAINT-VINCENT, JEAN BOUSSINGAULT, JEAN BAPTISTE
BORZHOM BOUTERWEK, FRIEDRICH
BOS, LAMBERT BOUTHILLIER, CLAUDE
BOSA BOUTS-RIMES
BOSBOOM-TOUSSAINT, ANNA LOUISA BOUTWELL, GEORGE SEWALL
BOSC, LOUIS AUGUSTIN GUILLAUME BOUVARDIA
BOSCAN ALMOGAVER, JUAN BOUVET, FRANCOIS JOSEPH
BOSCASTLE BOUVIER, JOHN
BOSCAWEN, EDWARD BOUVINES
BOSCH, JEROM BOVEY BEDS
BOSCOVICH, ROGER JOSEPH BOVIANUM
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA BOVIDAE
BOSPORUS BOVILL, SIR WILLIAM
BOSPORUS CIMMERIUS BOVILLAE
BOSQUET, PIERRE FRANCOIS JOSEPH BOW
BOSS BOWDICH, THOMAS EDWARD
BOSSI, GIUSEPPE BOWDITCH, NATHANIEL
BOSSU, RENE LE BOWDLER, THOMAS
BOSSUET, JAQUES BENIGNE BOWDOIN, JAMES
BOSTANAI BOWELL, SIR MACKENZIE
BOSTON, THOMAS BOWEN, CHARLES SYNGE CHRISTOPHER BOWEN
BOSTON (Lincolnshire, England) BOWEN, FRANCIS
BOSTON (Massachusetts, U.S.A.) BOWEN, SIR GEORGE FERGUSON
BOSTON (game of cards) BOWER, WALTER
BOSTONITE BOWERBANK, JAMES SCOTT
BOSTROM, CHRISTOFFER JACOB BOWIE, JAMES
BOSWELL, JAMES BOW-LEG
BOSWORTH, JOSEPH BOWLES, SAMUEL
BOTANY BOWLES, WILLIAM LISLE
BOTANY BAY BOWLINE
BOTHA, LOUIS BOWLING
BOTHNIA, GULF OF BOWLING GREEN (Kentucky, U.S.A.)
BOTHWELL, JAMES HEPBURN BOWLING GREEN (Ohio, U.S.A.)
BOTHWELL (town) BOWLS
BOTOCUDOS BOWNESS-ON-WINDERMERE
BOTORI BOWRING, SIR JOHN
BOTOSHANI BOWTELL
BO-TREE BOWYER, WILLIAM
BOTRYTIS BOX
BOTTA, CARLO GIUSEPPE GUGLIELMO BOXING
BOTTESINI, GIOVANNI BOXWOOD
BOTTICELLI, SANDRO BOYACA
BOTTIGER, KARL AUGUST BOYAR
BOTTLE BOY-BISHOP
BOTTLE-BRUSH PLANTS BOYCE, WILLIAM
BOTTLENOSE WHALE BOYCOTT
BOTTOMRY BOYD, ANDREW KENNEDY HUTCHISON
BOTZARIS, MARCO BOYD, ROBERT BOYD
BOTZEN BOYD, ZACHARY
BOUCHARDON, EDME BOYDELL, JOHN
BOUCHER, FRANCOIS BOYER, ALEXIS
BOUCHER, JONATHAN BOYER, JEAN PIERRE
BOUCHER DE CREVCOEUR, JACQUES BOYLE, JOHN J.
BOUCHES-DU-RHONE BOYLE, ROBERT
BOUCHOR, MAURICE BOYLE (town)
BOUCHOTTE, JEAN BAPTISTE NOEL BOYNE
BOUCICAULT, DION BOYS' BRIGADE
BOUCICAUT, JEAN BOZDAR
BOUDIN, EUGENE BOZRAH
BOUDINOT, ELIAS BRABANT (duchy)
BOUE, AMI BRABANT (Belgium)
BOUFFLERS, LOUIS FRANCOIS BRABANT, NORTH
BOUFFLERS, STANISLAS JEAN BRACCIANO
BOUGAINVILLE, LOUIS ANTOINE DE BRACCIOLINI, FRANCESCO
BOUGHTON, GEORGE HENRY BRACE, CHARLES LORING
BOUGIE BRACE, JULIA
BOUGUER, PIERRE BRACE
BOUGUEREAU, ADOLPHE WILLIAM BRACEGIRDLE, ANNE
BOUHOURS, DOMINIQUE BRACELET
BOUILHET, LOUIS HYACINTHE BRACHIOPODA
BOUILLE, FRANCOIS CLAUDE AMOUR BRACHISTOCHRONE
BOUILLON BRACHYCEPHALIC
BOUILLOTTE BRACKYLOGUS
BOUILLY, JEAN NICOLAS BRACKET
BOULAINVILLIERS, HENRI BRACKET-FUNGI
BOULANGER BRACKLESHAM BEDS
BOULANGER, GEORGE ERNEST BRACKLEY, THOMAS EGERTON
BOULAY DE LA MEURTHE, JOSEPH BRACKLEY
BOULDER (Colorado, U.S.A.) BRACQUEMOND, FELIX
BOULDER (large stone) BRACTON, HENRY DE
BOULDER CLAY BRADAWL
BOULE BRADDOCK, EDWARD
BOULEVARD BRADDOCK
BOULLE, ANDRE CHARLES BRADDON, MARY ELIZABETH
BOULOGNE BRADFORD, JOHN
BOULOGNE-SUR-MER
BORGIA, LUCREZIA (1480-1519), duchess of Ferrara, daughter of Cardinal
Rodrigo Borgia, afterwards Pope Alexander VI. (q.v.), by his mistress
Vanozza dei Cattanei, was born at Rome in 1480. Her early years were
spent at her mother's house near her father's splendid palace; but later
she was given over to the care of Adriana de Mila, a relation of
Cardinal Borgia and mother-in-law of Giulia Farnese, another of his
mistresses. Lucrezia was educated according to the usual curriculum of
Renaissance ladies of rank, and was taught languages, music, embroidery,
painting, &c.; she was famed for her beauty and charm, but the corrupt
court of Rome in which she was brought up was not conducive to a good
moral education. Her father at first contemplated a Spanish marriage for
her, and at the age of eleven she was betrothed to Don Cherubin de
Centelles, a Spanish nobleman. But the engagement was broken off almost
immediately, and Lucrezia was married by proxy to another Spaniard, Don
Gasparo de Procida, son of the count of Aversa. On the death of Innocent
VIII. (1492), Cardinal Borgia was elected pope as Alexander VI., and,
contemplating a yet more ambitious marriage for his daughter, he
annulled the union with Procida; in February 1493 Lucrezia was betrothed
to Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro, with whose family Alexander was now
in close alliance. The wedding was celebrated in June; but when the
pope's policy changed and he became friendly to the king of Naples, the
enemy of the house of Sforza, he planned the subjugation of the vassal
lords of Romagna, and Giovanni, feeling his position insecure, left Rome
for Pesaro with his wife. By Christmas 1495 they were back in Rome; the
pope had all his children around him, and celebrated the carnival with a
series of magnificent festivities. But he decided that he had done with
Sforza, and annulled the marriage on the ground of the husband's
impotence (March 1497). In order to cement his alliance with Naples, he
married Lucrezia to Alphonso of Aragon, duke of Bisceglie, a handsome
youth of eighteen, related to the Neapolitan king. But he too realized
the fickleness of the Borgias' favour when Alexander backed up Louis
XII. of France in the latter's schemes for the conquest of Naples.
Bisceglie fled from Rome, fearing for his life, and the pope sent
Lucrezia to receive the homage of the city of Spoleto as governor. On
her return to Rome in 1499, her husband, who really loved her, was
induced to join her once more. A year later he was murdered by the order
of her brother Cesare. After the death of Bisceglie, Lucrezia retired to
Nepi, and then returned to Rome, where she acted for a time as regent
during Alexander's absence. The latter now was anxious for a union
between his daughter and Alphonso, son and heir to Ercole d'Este, duke
of Ferrara. The negotiations were somewhat difficult, as neither
Alphonso nor his father was anxious for a connexion with the house of
Borgia, and Lucrezia's own reputation was not unblemished. However, by
bribes and threats the opposition was overcome, and in September 1501
the marriage was celebrated by proxy with great magnificence in Rome. On
Lucrezia's arrival at Ferrara she won over her reluctant husband by her
youthful charm (she was only twenty-two), and from that time forth she
led a peaceful life, about which there was hardly a breath of scandal.
On the death of Ercole in 1505, her husband became duke, and she
gathered many learned men, poets and artists at her court, among whom
were Ariosto, Cardinal Bembo, Aldus Manutius the printer, and the
painters Titian and Dosso Dossi. She devoted herself to the education of
her children and to charitable works; the only tragedy connected with
this period of her life is the murder of Ercole Strozzi, who is said to
have admired her and fallen a victim to Alphonso's jealousy. She died on
the 24th of June 1519, leaving three sons and a daughter by the duke of
Ferrara, besides one son Rodrigo by the duke of Bisceglie, and possibly
another of doubtful paternity. She seems to have been a woman of very
mediocre talents, and only played a part in history because she was the
daughter of Alexander VI. and the sister of Cesare Borgia. While she was
in Rome she was probably no better and no worse than the women around
her, but there is no serious evidence for the charges of incest with her
father and brothers which were brought against her by the
scandal-mongers of the time.
See the bibliographies for ALEXANDER VI. and BORGIA, CESARE; and
especially F. Gregorovius's _Lucrezia Borgia_ (Stuttgart, 1874), the
standard work on the subject; also W. Gilbert's _Lucrezia Borgia,
Duchess of Ferrara_ (London, 1869), which, while containing much
information, is quite without historic value; and G. Campori's "Una
Vittima della Storia, Lucrezia Borgia," in the _Nuova Antologia_
(August 31, 1866), which aims at the rehabilitation of Lucrezia.
(L. V.*)
BORGLUM, SOLON HANNIBAL (1868- ), American sculptor, was born in
Ogden, Utah, on the 22nd of December 1868, the son of a Danish
wood-carver. He studied under Louis F. Rebisso in the Cincinnati art
school in 1895-1897, and under Fremiet in Paris. He took as his chief
subjects incidents of western life, cowboys and Indians, with which he
was familiar from his years on the ranch; notably "Lassoing Wild
Horses," "Stampeding Wild Horses," "Last Round-up," "On the Border of
White Man's Land," and "Burial on the Plains." His elder brother, Gutzon
Borglum (b. 1867), also showed himself an artist of some originality.
BORGOGNONE, AMBROGIO (fl. 1473-1524), Italian painter of the Milanese
school, whose real name was Ambrogio Stefani da Fossano, was
approximately contemporary with Leonardo da Vinci, but represented, at
least during a great part of his career, the tendencies of Lombard art
anterior to the arrival of that master--the tendencies which he had
adopted and perfected from the hands of his predecessors Foppa and
Zenale. We are not precisely informed of the dates either of the death
or the birth of Borgognone, who was born at Fossano in Piedmont, and
whose appellation was due to his artistic affiliation to the Burgundian
school. His fame is principally associated with that of one great
building, the Certosa, or church and convent of the Carthusians at
Pavia, for which he worked much and in many different ways. It is
certain, indeed, that there is no truth in the tradition which
represents him as having designed, in 1473, the celebrated facade of the
Certosa itself. His residence there appears to have been of eight years'
duration, from 1486, when he furnished the designs of the figures of the
virgin, saints and apostles for the choir-stalls, executed in _tarsia_
or inlaid wood work by Bartolommeo Pola, till 1494, when he returned to
Milan. Only one known picture, an altar-piece at the church San
Eustorgio, can with probability be assigned to a period of his career
earlier than 1486. For two years after his return to Milan he worked at
the church of San Satiro in that city. From 1497 he was engaged for some
time in decorating with paintings the church of the Incoronata in the
neighbouring town at Lodi. Our notices of him thenceforth are few and
far between. In 1508 he painted for a church in Bergamo; in 1512 his
signature appears in a public document of Milan; in 1524--and this is
our last authentic record--he painted a series of frescoes illustrating
the life of St Sisinius in the portico of San Simpliciano at Milan.
Without having produced any works of signal power or beauty, Borgognone
is a painter of marked individuality. He holds an interesting place in
the most interesting period of Italian art. The National Gallery,
London, has two fair examples of his work --the separate fragments of a
silk banner painted for the Certosa, and containing the heads of two
kneeling groups severally of men and women; and a large altar-piece of
the marriage of St Catherine, painted for the chapel of Rebecchino near
Pavia. But to judge of his real powers and peculiar ideals--his system
of faint and clear colouring, whether in fresco, tempera or oil; his
somewhat slender and pallid types, not without something that reminds us
of northern art in their Teutonic sentimentality as well as their
Teutonic fidelity of portraiture; the conflict of his instinctive love
of placidity and calm with a somewhat forced and borrowed energy in
figures where energy is demanded, his conservatism in the matter of
storied and minutely diversified backgrounds--to judge of these
qualities of the master as they are, it is necessary to study first the
great series of his frescoes and altar-pieces at the Certosa, and next
those remains of later frescoes and altar-pieces at Milan and Lodi, in
which we find the influence of Leonardo and of the new time mingling
with, but not expelling, his first predilections.
BORGO SAN DONNINO, a town and episcopal see of Emilia, Italy, in the
province of Parma, 14 m. N.W. by rail from the town of Parma. Pop. (1901)
town, 6251; commune, 12,109. It occupies the site of the ancient
Fidentia, on the Via Aemilia; no doubt, as its name shows, of Roman
origin. Here M. Lucullus defeated the democrats under Carbo in 82 B.C. It
was independent under Vespasian, but seems soon to have become a village
dependent on Parma. Its present name comes from the martyrdom of S.
Domninus under Maximian in A.D. 304. The cathedral, erected in honour of
this saint, is one of the finest and best-preserved Lombardo-Romanesque
churches of the 11th-13th centuries in north Italy. The upper part of the
facade is incomplete, but the lower, with its three portals and
sculptures, is very fine; the interior is simple and well-proportioned,
and has not been spoilt by restorations. For the _benitier_, a work of
the early 11th century, see _Rassegna d'Arte_, 1905, 180. Not far from
the town is the small church of S. Antonio del Viennese, a 13th-century
structure in brick (_ib_., 1906, 22). The Palazzo Comunale, in the
Gothic-Lombard style, is a work of the 14th century. Borgo S. Donnino is
an important centre for the produce and cattle of Emilia. (T. As.)
BORGU, or BARBA, an inland country of West Africa. The western part is
included in the French colony of Dahomey (q.v.); the eastern division
forms the Borgu province of the British protectorate of Nigeria. Borgu
is bounded N.E. and E. by the Niger, S. by the Yoruba country, N.W. by
Gurma. The country consists of an elevated plain traversed by rivers
draining north or east to the Niger. The water-parting between the Niger
basin and the coast streams of Dahomey and Lagos runs north-east and
south-west near the western frontier. In about 10 deg. N., below the
town of Bussa, rapids block the course of the Niger, navigable up to
that point from the sea. The soil is mostly fertile, and is fairly
cultivated, producing in abundance millet, yams, plantains and limes.
The acacia tree is common, and from it gum-arabic of good quality is
obtained. From the nut of the horse-radish tree ben oil is expressed.
Cattle are numerous and of excellent breed, and game is abundant. Borgu
is inhabited by a number of pagan negro tribes, several of whom were
dependent on the chief of Nikki, a town in the centre of the country,
the chief being spoken of as sultan of Borgu. The king of Bussa was
another more or less powerful potentate. In the early years of the 19th
century Borgu was invaded by the Fula (q.v.), but the Bariba (as the
people are called collectively) maintained their independence. In 1894
Borgu became the object of rivalry between France and England. The Royal
Niger Company, which had already concluded a treaty of protection with
the king of Bussa, sent out Captain (afterwards Sir) F.D. Lugard to
negotiate treaties with the king of Nikki and other chiefs, and Lugard
succeeded in doing so a few days before the arrival of French
expeditions from the west. Disregarding the British treaties, French
officers concluded others with various chiefs, invaded Bussa and
established themselves at various points on the Niger. To defend British
interests, the West African Frontier Force was raised locally under
Lugard's command, and a period of great tension ensued, British and
French troops facing one another at several places. A conflict was,
however, averted, and by the convention of June 1898 the western part of
Borgu was declared French and the eastern British, the French
withdrawing from all places on the lower Niger.
The British portion of Borgu has an area of about 12,000 sq. m. Up to
the period of inclusion within the protectorate of Nigeria little or
nothing was known of the country, though there were interesting legends
of the antiquity of its history. The population was entirely
independent, and resisted with success not only the Fula from the north
but also the armies of Dahomey and Mossi from the south and west.
Travellers who attempted to penetrate this country had never returned.
Since 1898 the country has been opened, and from being the most lawless
and truculent of people the Bariba have become singularly amenable and
law-abiding. Provincial courts are established, but there is little
crime in the province. The British garrisons have been replaced by civil
police. The assessment of taxes under British administration was
successfully carried out in 1904, and taxes are collected without
trouble. In south Borgu the people are agricultural but not industrious
or inclined for trade. In the north there are some pastoral settlements
of Fula. The Bariba themselves remain agricultural. Cart-roads have been
constructed between the town of Kiama and the Niger. The agricultural
resources of Borgu are great, and as the population increases with the
cessation of war and by immigration the country should show marked
development. Shea trees are abundant. Elephants are still to be found in
the fifty-mile strip of forest land which stretches between the Niger
and the interior of the province. The forest contains valuable sylvan
products, and there are great possibilities for the cultivation of
rubber. There are also extensive areas of fine land suitable for cotton,
with the waterway of the Niger close at hand. Labour might be brought
from Yorubaland close by, and a Yoruba colony has been experimentally
started. (See NIGERIA and BUSSA.)
BORIC ACID, or BORACIC ACID, H3BO3, an acid obtained by dissolving boron
trioxide in water. It was first prepared by Wilhelm Homberg (1652-1715)
from borax, by the action of mineral acids, and was given the name _sal
sedativum Hombergi_. The presence of boric acid or its salts has been
noted in sea-water, whilst it is also said to exist in plants and
especially in almost all fruits (A.H. Allen, _Analyst_, 1904, 301). The
free acid is found native in certain volcanic districts such as Tuscany,
the Lipari Islands and Nevada, issuing mixed with steam from fissures
in the ground; it is also found as a constituent of many minerals
(borax, boracite, boronatrocalcite and colemanite).
The chief source of boric acid for commercial purposes is the Maremma of
Tuscany, an extensive and desolate tract of country over which jets of
vapour and heated gases (_soffioni_) and springs of boiling water spurt
out from chasms and fissures. In some places the fissures open directly
into the air, but in other parts of the district they are covered by
small muddy lakes (_lagoni_). The soffioni contain a small quantity of
boric acid (usually less than 0.1%), together with a certain amount of
ammoniacal vapours. In order to obtain the acid, a series of basins is
constructed over the vents, and so arranged as to permit of the passage
of water through them by gravitation. Water is led into the highest
basin and by the action of the heated gases is soon brought into a state
of ebullition; after remaining in this basin for about a day, it is run
off into the second one and is treated there in a similar manner. The
operation is carried on through the entire series, until the liquor in
the last basin contains about 2% of boric acid. It is then run into
settling tanks, from which it next passes into the evaporating pans,
which are shallow lead-lined pans heated by the gases of the soffioni.
These pans are worked on a continuous system, the liquor in the first
being concentrated and run off into a second, and so on, until it is
sufficiently concentrated to crystallize. The crystals are purified by
recrystallization from water. Artificial soffioni are sometimes prepared
by boring through the rock until the fissures are reached, and the water
so obtained is occasionally sufficiently impregnated with boric acid to
be evaporated directly. Boric acid is also obtained from
boronatrocalcite by treatment with sulphuric acid, followed by the
evaporation of the solution so obtained. The residue is then heated in a
current of superheated steam, in which the boric acid volatilizes and
distils over. It may also be obtained by the decomposition of boracite
with hot hydrochloric acid. In small quantities, it may be prepared by
the addition of concentrated sulphuric acid to a cold saturated solution
of borax.
Na2B4O7 + H2SO4 + 5H2O = Na2SO4 + 4H3BO3.
Boric acid crystallizes from water in white nacreous laminae belonging
to the triclinic system; it is difficultly soluble in cold water, but
dissolves readily in hot water. It is one of the "weak" acids, its
dissociation constant being only 0.08169 (J. Walker, _Jour. of Chem.
Soc._, 1900, lxxvii. 5), and consequently its salts are appreciably
hydrolysed in aqueous solution. The free acid turns blue litmus to a
claret colour. Its action upon turmeric is characteristic; a turmeric
paper moistened with a solution of boric acid turns brown, the colour
becoming much darker as the paper dries; while the addition of sodium
or potassium hydroxide turns it almost black. Boric acid is easily
soluble in alcohol, and if the vapour of the solution be inflamed it
burns with a characteristic vivid green colour. The acid on being
heated to 100 deg. C. loses water and is converted into _metaboric
acid_, HBO3; at 140 deg. C., _pyroboric acid_, H2B4O7, is produced; at
still higher temperatures, boron trioxide is formed. The salts of the
normal or orthoboric acid in all probability do not exist; metaboric
acid, however, forms several well-defined salts which are readily
converted, even by carbon dioxide, into salts of pyroboric acid. That
orthoboric acid is a tribasic acid is shown by the formation of ethyl
orthoborate on esterification, the vapour density of which corresponds
to the molecular formula B(OC2H5)3; the molecular formula of the acid
must consequently be B(OH)3 or H3BO3. The metallic borates are
generally obtained in the hydrated condition, and with the exception
of those of the alkali metals, are insoluble in water. The most
important of the borates is sodium pyroborate or borax (q.v.).
Borax and boracic acid are feeble but useful antiseptics. Hence they
may be used to preserve food-substances, such as milk and butter (see
ADULTERATION). In medicine boracic acid is used in solution to relieve
itching, but its chief use is as a mild antiseptic to impregnate lint
or cotton-wool. Recent work has shown it is too feeble to be relied
upon alone, but where really efficient antiseptics, such as mercuric
chloride and iodide, and carbolic acid, have been already employed,
boracic acid (which, unlike these, is non-poisonous and non-irritant)
may legitimately be used to maintain the aseptic or non-bacterial
condition which they have obtained. Borax taken internally is of some
value in irritability of the bladder, but as a urinary antiseptic it
is now surpassed by several recently introduced drugs, such as
urotropine.
BORING. The operations of deep boring are resorted to for ascertaining
the nature, thickness and extent of the various geological formations
underlying the surface of the earth. Among the purposes for which boring
is specifically employed are: (1) prospecting or searching for mineral
deposits; (2) sinking petroleum, natural gas, artesian or salt wells;
(3) determining the depth below the surface of bed-rock or other firm
substratum, together with the character of the overlying materials,
preparatory to mining or civil engineering operations; (4) carrying on
geological or other scientific explorations.
Prospecting by boring is practised most successfully in the case of
mineral deposits of large area, which are nearly horizontal, or at least
not highly inclined; e.g. deposits of coal, iron, lead and salt. Wide,
flat beds of such minerals may be pierced at any desired number of
points. The depth at which each hole enters the deposit and the
thickness of the mineral itself are readily ascertained, so that a map
may be constructed with some degree of accuracy. Samples of the mineral
are also secured, furnishing data as to the value of the deposit. While
boring is sometimes adopted for prospecting irregular and steeply
inclined mineral deposits of small area, the results are obviously less
trustworthy than under the conditions named above, and may be actually
misleading unless a large number of holes are bored. Incidentally,
bore-holes supply information as to the character and depth of the
valueless depositions of earth or rock overlying the mineral deposit.
Such data assist in deciding upon the appropriate method for, and in
estimating the cost of, sinking shafts or driving tunnels for the
development and exploitation of the deposit. In sinking petroleum wells,
boring serves not only for discovering the oil-bearing strata but also
for extracting the oil. This industry has become of great importance in
many parts of the United States, in southern Russia and elsewhere. Rock
salt deposits are sometimes worked through bore-holes, by introducing
water and pumping out the solution of brine for further treatment. The
sinking of artesian wells is another application of boring. They are
often hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of feet in depth. A well in St
Louis, Missouri, has a depth of 3843 ft.
Boring is useful in mines themselves for a variety of purposes, such as
exploring the deposit ahead of the workings, searching for neighbouring
veins, and sounding the ground on approaching dangerous inundated
workings. In the coal regions of Pennsylvania, bore-holes are often sunk
for carrying steam pipes and hoisting ropes underground at points remote
from a shaft.
Several of the methods of boring in soft ground are employed in
connexion with civil engineering operations; as for ascertaining the
depth below the surface to solid rock, preparatory to excavating for and
designing deep foundations for heavy structures, and for estimating the
cost of large scale excavations in earth and rock.
Lastly, a number of deep holes have been bored for geological
exploration or for observing the increase of temperature in depth in the
earth's crust; for example, at Paruschowitz, Silesia, about 6700 ft.
deep; at Leipzig, Germany, 6265 ft.; near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 5532
ft.; and at Wheeling, West Virginia, nearly 5000 ft. The two last
mentioned were intended to obtain as complete a knowledge as possible of
the bituminous coal and oil-bearing formations.
There are five methods of boring, viz.: by (1) earth augers, (2) drive
pipes, (3) long, jointed rods and drop drill, (4) the rope system, in
which the rods are replaced by rope, (5) rotary drills. The first two
methods are adapted to soft or earthy soils only; the others are for
rock.
1. _Earth augers_ comprise spiral and pod augers. The ordinary spiral
auger resembles the wood auger commonly used by carpenters. It is
attached to the rod or stem by a socket joint, successive sections of
rod being added as the hole is deepened. The auger is rotated by means
of horizontal levers, clamped to the rod--by hand for holes of small
diameter (2 to 6 in.), the larger sizes (8 to 16 in.) by horse power.
Clayey, cohesive soils, containing few stones, are readily bored;
stony ground with difficulty. The operation of the auger is
intermittent. After a few revolutions it is raised and emptied, the
soil clinging between the spirals. Depths to 50 or 60 ft. are usually
bored by hand; deeper holes by horse power. For sandy, non-cohesive
soils, the auger may be encircled by a close-fitting sheet-iron
cylinder to prevent the soil from falling out.
Pod augers generally vary in diameter from 8 to 20 in. A common form
(fig. l) consists of two curved iron plates, one attached to the rod
rigidly, the other by hinge and key. By being turned through a few
revolutions the pod is filled, and is then raised and emptied. For
boring in sandy soils, the open sides are closed by hinged plates.
Fig. 2 shows another type of pod auger. For holes of large diameter
earth augers are handled with the aid of a light derrick.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIG. 2. Pod Auger.]
2. _Drive pipes_ are widely used, both for testing the depth and
character of soft material overlying solid rock and as a necessary
preliminary to rock boring, when some thickness of surface soil must
first be passed through. In its simplest form the drive pipe consists
of one or more lengths of wrought iron pipe, open at both ends and
from 1/2 in. to 6 in. diameter. When of small size the pipe is driven
by a heavy hammer; for deep and large holes, a light pile-driver
becomes necessary. The lower end of the pipe is provided with an
annular steel shoe; the upper end has a drivehead for receiving the
blows of the hammer. Successive lengths are screwed on as required.
For shallow holes the pipe is cleaned out by a "bailer" or
"sand-pump"--a cylinder 4 to 6 ft. long, with a valve in the lower
end. It is lowered at intervals, filled by being dashed up and down,
and then raised and emptied. If, after reaching some depth, the
external frictional resistance prevents the pipe from sinking farther,
another pipe of small diameter may be inserted and the driving
continued. Drive pipes are often sunk by applying weights at the
surface and slowly rotating by a lever. Two pipes are then used, one
inside the other. Water is pumped down the inner pipe, thus loosening
the soil, raising the debris and increasing the speed of driving. The
"driven well" for water supply is an adaptation of the drive pipe and
put down in the same way.
[Illustration: FIG. 3. Drill Bit.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4. Rod Joint.]
3. _Drill and Rods._--This method has long been used in Europe and
elsewhere for deep boring. In the United States it is rarely employed
for depths greater than 200 or 300 ft. The usual form of cutting tool
or drill is shown in fig. 3. The iron rods are from 1 to 2 in. square,
in long lengths with screw joints (fig. 4). Wooden rods are
occasionally used. For shallow holes (50 to 75 ft.) the work is done
by hand, one or two cross-bars being clamped to the rod. The men
alternately raise and drop the drill, meanwhile slowly walking around
and around to rotate the bit and so keep the hole true. The cuttings
are cleaned out by a bailer, as for drive pipes.
In boring by hand, the practical limit of depth is soon reached, on
account of the increasing weight of the rods. For going deeper a
"spring-pole" may be used. This is a tapering pole, say 30 ft. long
and 5 or 6 in. diameter at the small end. It rests in an inclined
position on a fulcrum set about 10 ft. from the butt, the latter being
firmly fixed. The rods are suspended from the end of the pole, which
extends at a height of several feet over the mouth of the hole. With
the aid of the spring of the pole the strokes are produced by a slight
effort on the part of the driller. Average speeds of 6 to 10 ft. per
10 hours are easily made, to depths of 200 to 250 ft.
[Illustration: FIG. 5. Sliding Link.]
For deep boring the rod system requires a more elaborate plant. The
rods are suspended from a heavy "walking beam" or lever, usually
oscillated by a steam engine. By means of a screw-feed device, the
rods, which are rotated slightly after every stroke, are gradually fed
down as the hole is deepened, length after length being added. A tall
derrick carries the sheaves and ropes by which the rods and tools are
manipulated. The drill bit cannot be attached rigidly to the rods as
in shallow boring, because the momentum of the heavy moving parts,
transmitted directly to the bit as the blow is struck, would cause
excessive vibration and breakage. It becomes necessary, therefore, to
introduce a sliding-link joint between the rods and bit. One form of
link is shown in fig. 5. On striking its blow, the bit comes to rest,
while the rods continue to descend to the end of the stroke, the upper
member of the link sliding down upon the lower. Then, on the up stroke
the lower link, with the bit, is raised for delivering another blow.
For large holes the striking weight is, say, 800 to 1000 lb., length
of stroke 2-1/2 to 5 ft., and speed from 20 to 30 strokes per minute.
[Illustration: FIG. 6. Kind Free-Falling Tool.]
By using the sliding link the cross-section and weight of the rods may
be greatly reduced, the only strain being that of tension. To deliver
a sharp, effective blow, however, the rods must drop with a quick
stroke, which brings a heavy strain upon the operating machinery. For
overcoming this difficulty, various "free-falling tools" have been
devised. By these the bit is allowed to fall by gravity; the rod
follows on its measured down stroke, and picks up the bit.
Free-falling tools are of two classes: (1) those by which the bit is
released automatically; (2) those operated by a sudden twist imparted
to the rod by the drillman. One of the best known of the first class
is the Kind free-fall (fig. 6). The shank of the bit is gripped and
released by the jaws J, J, worked through a toggle joint by movements
of the disk D. When the rod begins its downward stroke, the resistance
of the water in the hole slightly raises D, thus opening the jaws and
releasing the bit, which falls by gravity. On reaching the end of the
stroke the jaws again catch the shank of the bit and raise it for
delivering another blow. The Fabian free-fall may be noted as an
example of the second class (see Kohler, _Lehrbuch der Bergbaukunde_,
p. 57). Tools are sometimes used for cutting an annular groove in the
bottom of the hole, and raising to the surface the core so formed, for
observing the character of the rock.
4. _Rope and Drop Tools._--This method was long ago used in China.
Because of its extensive application in the oil-fields it is generally
designated in the United States as the "oil-well system." In its
various modifications it is often employed also in general prospecting
of mineral deposits and in sinking artesian, natural gas and salt
wells. One of its forms is known in England as the Mather & Platt
system.
The chief point of difference from rod-boring is the substitution of
rope for the jointed rods. For deep boring it possesses the advantage
of saving the large amount of time consumed in raising and lowering
the rods, as required whenever the hole is to be cleaned out, or a
dull bit replaced, since the tools are rapidly run up or down by means
of the rope with which they are operated while drilling. The speed of
rope-boring is therefore but little affected by increase of depth,
while with rod-boring it falls off rapidly. In its simplest form the
so-called "string of tools," suspended from the rope, is composed of
the bit or drill, jars and rope-socket. The jars are a pair of sliding
links, similar to those used for rod-boring, but serving a different
purpose, viz. to produce a sharp shock on the upward stroke, as the
jars come together, for loosening the bit should it tend to stick fast
in the hole. A heavy bar (auger stem) is generally inserted between
the jars and bit, for increasing the force of the blow. The weight of
another bar above the jars (sinker-bar) keeps the rope taut. The
length of stroke and feed are regulated by the "temper-screw" (fig.
7), a feed device resembling that used for rod-boring. Clamped to it
is the drill rope, which is let out at intervals, as the hole is
deepened. The bits usually range from 3 to 8 in. diameter, the speed
of boring being generally between 20 and 40 ft. per 24 hours,
according to the kind of rock. A great variety of special "fishing
tools" are made, for use in case of breakage of parts in the hole or
other accident.
[Illustration: FIG. 7. Temper Screw.]
5. _Diamond Drill._--The methods described above are capable of boring
holes vertically downward only. By the diamond drill, holes can be
bored in any direction, from vertically downward to vertically upward.
It has the further advantage of making an annular hole from which is
obtained a core, furnishing a practically complete cross-section of
the strata penetrated; the thickness and character of each stratum are
shown, together with its depth below the surface. Thus, the diamond
drill is peculiarly well adapted for prospecting mineral deposits from
which samples are desired. The first practical application of diamonds
for drilling in rock was made in 1863 by Professor Rudolph Leschot, a
civil engineer of Paris.
The apparatus consists essentially of a line of hollow rods, coupled
by screw joints, an annular steel bit or crown, set with diamonds,
being attached to the lower end. By means of a small engine on the
surface the rods are rapidly rotated and fed down automatically as the
hole deepened. The speed of rotation is from 300 to 800 revolutions
per minute, depending on the character of the rock and diameter of the
bit. While boring a stream of water is forced down the hollow rods by
a pump, passing back to the surface through the annular space between
the rods and the walls of the drill hole. The cuttings are thus
carried to the surface, leaving the bottom of the hole clean and
unobstructed. For recovering the core and inspecting the bit and
diamonds, the rods are raised at every 3 to 8 ft. of depth. This is
done by a small drum and rope, operated by the driving engine.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Little Champion Rock Drill.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
Diamond drills of standard designs (fig. 8) bore holes from 1-9/16 to
2-3/4 in. diameter, yielding cores of 1 to 1-15/16 in. diameter, and
are capable of reaching depths of a few hundred to 4000 ft. or more.
They require from 8 to 30 boiler horse-power. Large machines will bore
shallower holes up to 6, 9 or even 12 in. diameter. For operating in
underground workings of mines, small and compact machines are
sometimes mounted on columns (fig. 9). They bore 1-1/4 to 1-9/16 in.
holes to depths of 300 to 400 ft., cores being 7/8 to 1 in. diameter.
Hand-power drills are also built. In the South African goldfields
several diamond drill holes from 4500 to 5200 ft. deep have been
successfully bored. Rates of advance for core-drilling to moderate
depths range usually from 2 to 3 ft. per hour, including ordinary
delays, though in favourable rock much higher speeds are often
attained. In deep holes the speeds diminish, because of time consumed
in raising and lowering the rods. If no core is desired a "solid bit"
is used. The drilling then proceeds faster, as it is only necessary to
raise the rods occasionally, for examining the condition of the bit.
[Illustration: FIG. 10. Diamond Drill Bit.]
The driving engine has two inclined cylinders, coupled to a
crank-shaft, by which, through gearing, the drill-rod is rotated. The
rods are wrought iron or steel tubes, in 5 to 10 ft. lengths. For
producing the feed two devices are employed, the differential screw
and hydraulic cylinder. For the _differential feed_ (fig. 9) the
engine has a hollow left-hand threaded screw-shaft, to which the rods
are coupled. This shaft is driven by a spline and bevel gearing and is
supported by a threaded feed-nut, carried in the lower bearing. Geared
to the screw-shaft is a light counter-shaft. By properly proportioning
the number of teeth in the system of gear-wheels, the feed-nut is
caused to revolve a little faster than the screw-shaft, so that the
drill-rod is fed downward a small fraction of an inch for each
revolution. To vary the rate of feed, as suitable for different rocks,
three pairs of gears with different ratios of teeth are provided. The
screw-shaft and gearing are carried by a swivel-head, which can be
rotated in a vertical plane, for boring holes at an angle.
[Illustration: FIG. 11. Core Lifter and Barrel.]
The _hydraulic feed_ is an improvement on the above, in that the rate
of feed is independent of the rotative speed of the rods and can be
adjusted with the utmost nicety. There are either one or two feed
cylinders, supplied with water from the pump. The rod, while rotating
freely, is supported by the feed cylinder piston and caused to move
slowly downward by allowing the water to pass from the lower to the
upper part of the cylinder. A valve regulates the passage of the water
and hence the rate of feed.
The bit (fig. 10 and fig. 11, B) is of soft steel, set with six to
eight or more diamonds according to its diameter. The diamonds,
usually from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 carats in size, are carefully set in the
bit, projecting but slightly from its surface. Two kinds of diamonds
are used, "carbons" and "borts." The carbons are opaque, dark in
colour, tougher than the brilliant, and have no cleavage planes. They
are therefore suitable for drilling in hard rock. Borts are rough,
imperfect brilliants, and are best used for the softer rocks. As the
bit wears, the stones must be reset from time to time. The wear of
carbons in a well-set bit is small, though extremely variable. Above
the bit are the core-lifter and core-barrel. The core-lifter (fig. 11,
A) is a device for gripping and breaking off the core and raising it
to the surface. The barrel, 3 to 10 ft. long, fits closely in the hole
and is often spirally grooved for the passage of the water and debris.
It serves partly as a guide, tending to keep the hole straight, partly
for holding and protecting the core.
Diamond drills do not work satisfactorily in broken, fissured rock, as
the carbons are liable to be injured, loosened or torn from their
settings. In these circumstances, and for soft rocks, the diamond bit
may be replaced by a steel toothed bit. Another apparatus for
core-drilling is the Davis Calyx drill. For hard rock it has an
annular bit, accompanied by a quantity of chilled steel shot; for soft
rock, a toothed bit is used.
Diamond drill holes are rarely straight, and usually deviate
considerably from the direction in which they are started. Very deep
holes have been found to vary as much as 45 deg. and even 60 deg. from
their true direction. This is due to the fact that the rods do not fit
closely in the hole and therefore bend. It is also likely to occur in
drilling through inclined strata, specially when of different degrees
of hardness. By using a long and closely fitting core-barrel the
liability to deviation is reduced, but cannot be wholly prevented.
Holes which are nearly horizontal always deflect upward, because the
sag of the rods tilts up the bit. Diamond drill holes should therefore
always be surveyed. This is done by lowering into the hole instruments
for observing at a number of successive points the direction and
degree of deviation.[1] If accurately surveyed a crooked hole may be
quite as useful as a straight one.
AUTHORITIES.--For further information on boring see _Trans. Amer.
Inst. Mining Engs._ vol. ii. p. 241, vol. xxvii. p. 123; C. le Neve
Foster, _Text-book of Ore and Stone Mining_, chap. iii.; _Gluckauf_,
9th December 1899, 20th and 27th May 1905; _Scientific American_, 21st
August 1886; _Engineering and Mining Jour._ vol. lviii. p. 268, vol.
lxx. p. 699, vol. lxxx. p. 920; _Trans. Inst. Mining Engs._, England,
vol. xxiii. p. 685; _School of Mines Quarterly_, N. Y., vol. xvi. p.
1; _Zeitschr. fur Berg- Hutten- und Salinenwesen_, vol. xxv. p. 29;
Denny, "Diamond Drilling," _Mines and Minerals_, vol. xx., August
1899, p. 7, to January 1900, p. 241; _Mining Jour._, 26th January
1901; _Mining and Scientific Press_, 28th November 1903, p. 353; _Ost.
Zeitschr. fur Berg- und Huttenwesen_, 21st May, 4th June 1904; _Trans.
Inst. Mining and Metallurgy_, vol. xii. p. 301; _Engineering
Magazine_, March 1896, p. 1075. (R. P.*)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Brough, _Mine Surveying_, pp. 276-278; Marriott, _Trans. Inst.
Mining and Metallurgy_, vol. xiv. p. 255.
BORIS FEDOROVICH GODUNOV, tsar of Muscovy (c. 1551-1605), the most
famous member of an ancient, now extinct, Russian family of Tatar
origin, which migrated from the Horde to Muscovy in the 14th century.
Boris' career of service began at the court of Ivan the Terrible. He is
mentioned in 1570 as taking part in the Serpeisk campaign as one of the
archers of the guard. In 1571 he strengthened his position at court by
his marriage with Maria, the daughter of Ivan's abominable favourite
Malyuta Skuratov. In 1580 the tsar chose Irene, the sister of Boris, to
be the bride of the tsarevich Theodore, on which occasion Boris was
promoted to the rank of _boyar_. On his deathbed Ivan appointed Boris
one of the guardians of his son and successor; for Theodore, despite his
seven-and-twenty years, was of somewhat weak intellect. The reign of
Theodore began with a rebellion in favour of the infant tsarevich
Demetrius, the son of Ivan's fifth wife Marie Nagaya, a rebellion
resulting in the banishment of Demetrius, with his mother and her
relations, to their appanage at Uglich. On the occasion of the tsar's
coronation (May 31, 1584), Boris was loaded with honours and riches, yet
he held but the second place in the regency during the lifetime of his
co-guardian Nikita Romanovich, on whose death, in August, he was left
without any serious rival. A conspiracy against him of all the other
great boyars and the metropolitan Dionysy, which sought to break Boris'
power by divorcing the tsar from Godunov's childless sister, only ended
in the banishment or tonsuring of the malcontents. Henceforth Godunov
was omnipotent. The direction of affairs passed entirely into his hands,
and he corresponded with foreign princes as their equal. His policy was
generally pacific, but always most prudent. In 1595 he recovered from
Sweden the towns lost during the former reign. Five years previously he
had defeated a Tatar raid upon Moscow, for which service he received the
title of _sluga_, an obsolete dignity even higher than that of boyar.
Towards Turkey he maintained an independent attitude, supporting an
anti-Turkish faction in the Crimea, and furnishing the emperor with
subsidies in his war against the sultan. Godunov encouraged English
merchants to trade with Russia by exempting them from tolls. He
civilized the north-eastern and south-eastern borders of Muscovy by
building numerous towns and fortresses to keep the Tatar and Finnic
tribes in order. Samara, Saratov, and Tsaritsyn and a whole series of
lesser towns derive from him. He also re-colonized Siberia, which had
been slipping from the grasp of Muscovy, and formed scores of new
settlements, including Tobolsk and other large centres. It was during
his government that the Muscovite church received its patriarchate,
which placed it on an equality with the other Eastern churches and
emancipated it from the influence of the metropolitan of Kiev. Boris'
most important domestic reform was the _ukaz_ (1587) forbidding the
peasantry to transfer themselves from one landowner to another, thus
binding them to the soil. The object of this ordinance was to secure
revenue, but it led to the institution of serfdom in its most grinding
form. The sudden death of the tsarevich Demetrius at Uglich (May 15,
1591) has commonly been attributed to Boris, because it cleared his way
to the throne; but this is no clear proof that he was personally
concerned in that tragedy. The same may be said of the many, often
absurd, accusations subsequently brought against him by jealous rivals
or ignorant contemporaries who hated Godunov's reforms as novelties.
On the death of the childless tsar Theodore (January 7, 1598),
self-preservation quite as much as ambition constrained Boris to seize
the throne. Had he not done so, lifelong seclusion in a monastery would
have been his lightest fate. His election was proposed by the patriarch
Job, who acted on the conviction that Boris was the one man capable of
coping with the extraordinary difficulties of an unexampled situation.
Boris, however, would only accept the throne from a _Zemsky Sobor_, or
national assembly, which met on the 17th of February, and unanimously
elected him on the 21st. On the 1st of September he was solemnly crowned
tsar. During the first years of his reign he was both popular and
prosperous, and ruled the people excellently well. Enlightened as he
was, he fully recognized the intellectual inferiority of Russia as
compared with the West, and did his utmost to bring about a better state
of things. He was the first tsar to import foreign teachers on a great
scale, the first to send young Russians abroad to be educated, the first
to allow Lutheran churches to be built in Russia. He also felt the
necessity of a Baltic seaboard, and attempted to obtain Livonia by
diplomatic means. He cultivated friendly relations with the
Scandinavians, in order to intermarry if possible with foreign royal
houses, so as to increase the dignity of his own dynasty. That Boris was
one of the greatest of the Muscovite tsars there can be no doubt. But
his great qualities were overbalanced by an incurable suspiciousness,
which made it impossible for him to act cordially with those about him.
His fear of possible pretenders induced him to go so far as to forbid
the greatest of the boyars to marry. He also encouraged informers and
persecuted suspects on their unsupported statements. The Romanov family
in especial suffered severely from these delations. Boris died suddenly
(April 13, 1605), leaving one son, Theodore II., who succeeded him for a
few months and then was foully murdered by the enemies of the Godunovs.
See Platon Vasilievich Pavlov, _On the Historical Significance of the
Reign of Boris Godunov_ (Rus.) (Moscow, 1850); Sergyei Mikhailivich
Solovev, _History of Russia_ (Rus.) (2nd ed., vols. vii.-viii., St
Petersburg, 1897). (R. N. B.)
BORISOGLYEBSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Tambov, 100 m.
S.S.E. of the city of that name, in 51 deg. 22' N. lat. and 43 deg. 4'
E. long. It was founded in 1646 to defend the southern frontiers of
Muscovy against the Crimean Tatars, and in 1696 was surrounded by wooden
fortifications. The principal industries are the preparation of wool,
iron-casting, soap-boiling, tallow-melting, and brick-making; and there
is an active trade in grain, wool, cattle, and leather, and two
important annual fairs. Pop. (1867) 12,254; (1897) 22,370.
BORKU, or BORGU, a region of Central Africa between 17 deg. and 19 deg.
N. and 18 deg. and 21 deg. E., forming part of the transitional zone
between the arid wastes of the Sahara and the fertile lands of the
central Sudan. It is bounded N. by the Tibesti Mountains, and is in
great measure occupied by lesser elevations belonging to the same
system. These hills to the south and east merge into the plains of Wadai
and Darfur. South-west, in the direction of Lake Chad, is the Bodele
basin. The drainage of the country is to the lake, but the numerous
khors with which its surface is scored are mostly dry or contain water
for brief periods only. A considerable part of the soil is light sand
drifted about by the wind. The irrigated and fertile portions consist
mainly of a number of valleys separated from each other by low and
irregular limestone rocks. They furnish excellent dates. Barley is also
cultivated. The northern valleys are inhabited by a settled population
of Tibbu stock, known as the Daza, and by colonies of negroes; the
others are mainly visited by nomadic Berber and Arab tribes. The
inhabitants own large numbers of goats and asses.
A caravan route from Barca and the Kufra oasis passes through Borku to
Lake Chad. The country long remained unknown to Europeans. Gustav
Nachtigal spent some time in it in the year 1871, and gave a valuable
account of the region and its inhabitants in his book, _Sahara und
Sudan_ (Berlin, 1879-1889). In 1899 Borku, by agreement with Great
Britain, was assigned to the French sphere of influence. The country,
which had formerly been periodically raided by the Walad Sliman Arabs,
was then governed by the Senussi (q.v.), who had placed garrisons in the
chief centres of population. From it raids were made on French
territory. In 1907 a French column from Kanem entered Borku, but after
capturing Ain Galakka, the principal Senussi station, retired. Borku is
also called Borgu, but must not be confounded with the Borgu (q.v.) west
of the Niger.
A summary of Nachtigal's writing on Borku will be found in section 28
of _Gustav Nachtigal's Reisen in der Sahara und im Sudan_ (1 vol.),
arranged by Albert Frankel (Leipzig, 1887). See also an article (with
map) by Commdt. Bordeaux in _La Geographie_, Oct. 1908.
BORKUM, an island of Germany, in the North Sea, belonging to the
Prussian province of Hanover, the westernmost of the East Frisian chain,
lying between the east and west arms of the estuary of the Ems, and
opposite to the Dollart. Pop. about 2500. The island is 5 m. long and
2-1/2 m. broad, is a favourite summer resort, and is visited annually by
about 20,000 persons. There is a daily steamboat service with Emden,
Leer and Hamburg during the summer months. The island affords pasture
for cattle, and a breeding-place for sea-birds.
BORLASE, WILLIAM (1695-1772), English antiquary and naturalist, was born
at Pendeen in Cornwall, of an ancient family, on the 2nd of February
1695. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, and in 1719 was
ordained. In 1722 he was presented to the rectory of Ludgvan, and in
1732 he obtained in addition the vicarage of St Just, his native parish.
In the parish of Ludgvan were rich copper works, abounding with mineral
and metallic fossils, of which he made a collection, and thus was led to
study somewhat minutely the natural history of the county. In 1750 he
was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1754 he published, at
Oxford, his _Antiquities of Cornwall_ (2nd ed., London, 1769). His next
publication was _Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the
Islands of Scilly, and their Importance to the Trade of Great Britain_
(Oxford, 1756). In 1758 appeared his _Natural History of Cornwall_. He
presented to the Ashmolean museum, Oxford, a variety of fossils and
antiquities, which he had described in his works, and received the
thanks of the university and the degree of LL.D. He died on the 31st of
August 1772. Borlase was well acquainted with most of the leading
literary men of the time, particularly with Alexander Pope, with whom he
kept up a long correspondence, and for whose grotto at Twickenham he
furnished the greater part of the fossils and minerals.
Borlase's letters to Pope, St Aubyn and others, with answers, fill
several volumes of MS. There are also MS. notes on Cornwall, and a
complete unpublished treatise _Concerning the Creation and Deluge_.
Some account of these MSS., with extracts from them, was given in the
_Quarterly Review_, October 1875. Borlase's memoirs of his own life
were published in Nichol's _Literary Anecdotes_, vol. v.
BORMIO (Ger. _Worms_), a town of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of
Sondrio, 41-1/2 m. N.E. of the town of Sondrio. Pop. (1901) 1814. It is
situated in the Valtellina (the valley of the Adda), 4020 ft. above
sea-level, at the foot of the Stelvio pass, and, owing to its position,
was of some military importance in the middle ages. It contains
interesting churches and picturesque towers. A cemetery of pre-Roman
date was discovered at Bormio in 1820.
The baths of Bormio, 2 m. farther up the valley, are mentioned by Pliny
and Cassiodorus, the secretary of Theodoric, and are much frequented.
BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742-1791), Austrian mineralogist and
metallurgist, was born of a noble family at Karlsburg, in Transylvania,
on the 26th of December 1742. Educated in a Jesuit college in Vienna, he
was for sixteen months a member of the order, but left it and studied
law at Prague. Then he travelled extensively in Germany, Holland and
France, studying mineralogy, and on his return to Prague in 1770 entered
the department of mines and the mint. In 1776 he was appointed by Maria
Theresa to arrange the imperial museum at Vienna, where he was nominated
to the council of mines and the mint, and continued to reside until his
death on the 24th of July 1791. He introduced a method of extracting
metals by amalgamation (_Uber das Anquicken der Erze_, 1786), and other
improvements in mining and other technical processes. His publications
also include _Lithophylacium Bornianum_ (1772-1775) and _Bergbaukunde_
(1789), besides several museum catalogues. Von Born attempted satire
with no great success. _Die Staatsperucke_, a tale published without his
knowledge in 1772, and an attack on Father Hell, the Jesuit, and king's
astronomer at Vienna, are two of his satirical works. Part of a satire,
entitled _Monachologia_, in which the monks are described in the
technical language of natural history, is also ascribed to him. Von Born
was well acquainted with Latin and the principal modern languages of
Europe, and with many branches of science not immediately connected with
metallurgy and mineralogy. He took an active part in the political
changes in Hungary. After the death of the emperor Joseph II., the diet
of the states of Hungary rescinded many innovations of that ruler, and
conferred the rights of denizen on several persons who had been
favourable to the cause of the Hungarians, and, amongst others, on von
Born. At the time of his death in 1791, he was employed in writing a
work entitled _Fasti Leopoldini_, probably relating to the prudent
conduct of Leopold II., the successor of Joseph, towards the Hungarians.
BORNA, a town of Germany in the kingdom of Saxony, on the Wyhra at its
junction with the Pleisse, 17 m. S. by E. of Leipzig by rail. Pop.
(1905) 9176. The industries include peat-cutting, iron foundries, organ,
pianoforte, felt and shoe factories.
BORNE, KARL LUDWIG (1786-1837), German political writer and satirist,
was born on the 6th of May 1786 at Frankfort-On-Main, where his father,
Jakob Baruch, carried on the business of a banker. He received his early
education at Giessen, but as Jews were ineligible at that time for
public appointments in Frankfort, young Baruch was sent to study
medicine at Berlin under a physician, Markus Herz, in whose house he
resided. Young Baruch became deeply enamoured of his patron's wife, the
talented and beautiful Henriette Herz (1764-1847), and gave vent to his
adoration in a series of remarkable letters. Tiring of medical science,
which he had subsequently pursued at Halle, he studied constitutional
law and political science at Heidelberg and Giessen, and in 1811 took
his doctor's degree at the latter university. On his return to
Frankfort, now constituted as a grand duchy under the sovereignty of the
prince bishop Karl von Dalberg, he received (1811) the appointment of
police actuary in that city. The old conditions, however, returned in
1814 and he was obliged to resign his office. Embittered by the
oppression under which the Jews suffered in Germany, he engaged in
journalism, and edited the Frankfort liberal newspapers,
_Staatsristretto_ and _Die Zeitschwingen_. In 1818 he became a convert
to Lutheran protestantism, changing his name from Lob Baruch to Ludwig
Borne. This step was taken less out of religious conviction than, as in
the case of so many of his descent, in order to improve his social
standing. From 1818 to 1821 he edited _Die Wage_, a paper distinguished
by its lively political articles and its powerful but sarcastic
theatrical criticisms. This paper was suppressed by the police
authorities, and in 1821 Borne quitted for a while the field of
publicist writing and led a retired life in Paris, Hamburg and
Frankfort. After the July Revolution (1830), he hurried to Paris,
expecting to find the newly-constituted state of society somewhat in
accordance with his own ideas of freedom. Although to some extent
disappointed in his hopes, he was not disposed to look any more kindly
on the political condition of Germany; this lent additional zest to the
brilliant satirical letters (_Briefe aus Paris_, 1830-1833, published
Paris, 1834), which he began to publish in his last literary venture,
_La Balance_, a revival under its French name of _Die Wage_. The _Briefe
aus Paris_ was Borne's most important publication, and a landmark in the
history of German journalism. Its appearance led him to be regarded as
one of the leaders of the new literary party of "Young Germany." He died
at Paris on the 12th of February 1837.
Borne's works are remarkable for brilliancy of style and for a thorough
French vein of satire. His best criticism is to be found in his
_Denkrede auf Jean Paul_ (1826), a writer for whom he had warm sympathy
and admiration, in his _Dramaturgische Blatter_ (1829-1834), and the
witty satire, _Menzel der Franzosenfresser_ (1837). He also wrote a
number of short stories and sketches, of which the best known are the
_Monographie der deutschen Postschnecke_ (1829) and _Der Esskunstler_
(1822).
The first edition of his _Gesammelte Schriften_ appeared at Hamburg
(1829-1834) in 14 volumes, followed by 6 volumes of _Nachgelassene
Schriften_ (Mannheim, 1844-1850); more complete is the edition in 12
volumes (Hamburg, 1862-1863), reprinted in 1868 and subsequently. The
latest complete edition is that edited by A. Klaar (8 vols., Leipzig,
1900). For further biographical matter see K. Gutzkow, _Bornes Leben_
(Hamburg, 1840), and M. Holzmann, _L. Borne, sein Leben und sein
Wirken_ (Berlin, 1888). _Bornes Briefe an Henriette Herz_ (1802-1807),
first published in 1861, have been re-edited by L. Geiger (Oldenburg,
1905), who has also published Borne's _Berliner Briefe_ (1828)
(Berlin, 1905). See also Heine's witty attack on Borne (_Werke_, ed.
Elster, vii.), G. Gervinus' essay in his _Historiche Schriften_
(Darmstadt, 1838), and the chapters in G. Brandes, _Hovedstromninger i
det 19 de Aarhundredes Litteratur_ vol. vi. (Copenhagen, 1890, German
trans. 1891; English trans. 1905), and in J. Proelss, _Das junge
Deutschland_ (Stuttgart, 1892).
BORNEO, a great island of the Malay Archipelago, extending from 7 deg.
N. to 4 deg. 20' S., and from 108 deg. 53' to 119 deg. 22' E. It is 830
m. long from N.E. to S.W., by 600 m. in maximum breadth. Its area
according to the calculations of the Topographical Bureau of Batavia
(1894) comprises 293,496 sq. m. These figures are admittedly
approximate, and Meyer, who is generally accurate, gives the area of
Borneo at 289,860 sq. m. It is roughly, however, five times as large as
England and Wales. Politically Borneo is divided into four portions: (1)
British North Borneo, the territory exploited and administered by the
Chartered British North Borneo Company, to which a separate section of
this article is devoted; (2) Brunei (q.v.), a Malayan sultanate under
British protection; (3) Sarawak (q.v.), the large territory ruled by
raja Brooke, and under British protection in so far as its foreign
relations are concerned; and (4) Dutch Borneo, which comprises the
remainder and by far the largest and most valuable portion of the
island.
_Physical Features_.--The general character of the country is
mountainous, though none of the ranges attains to any great elevation,
and Kinabalu, the highest peak in the island, which is situated near its
north-western extremity, is only 13,698 ft. above sea-level. There is no
proper nucleus of mountains whence chains ramify in different
directions. The central and west central parts of the island, however,
are occupied by three mountain chains and a plateau. These chains are:
(1) the folded chain of the upper Kapuas, which divides the western
division of Dutch Borneo from Sarawak, extends west to east, and attains
near the sources of the Kapuas river a height of 5000 to 6000 ft.; (2)
the Schwaner chain, south of the Kapuas, whose summits range from 3000
to 7500 ft., the latter being the height of Bukit Raja, a plateau which
divides the waters of the Kapuas from the rivers of southern Borneo; and
(3) the Muller chain, between the eastern parts of the Madi plateau
(presently to be mentioned) and the Kapuas chain, a volcanic region
presenting heights, such as Bukit Terata (4700 ft.), which were once
active but are now long extinct volcanos. The Madi plateau lies between
the Kapuas and the Schwaner chains. Its height is from 3000 to 4000 ft.,
and it is clothed with tropical high fens. These mountain systems are
homologous in structure with those, not of Celebes or of Halmahera, but
of Malacca, Banka and Billiton. From the eastern end of the Kapuas
mountains there are further to be observed: (1) A chain running
north-north-east, which forms the boundary between Sarawak and Dutch
Borneo, the highest peak of which, Gunong Tebang, approaches 10,000 ft.
This chain can hardly be said to extend continuously to the extreme
north of the island, but it carries on the line of elevation towards the
mountains of Sarawak to the west, and those of British North Borneo to
the north, of which latter Kinabalu is the most remarkable. The
mountains of North Borneo are more particularly referred to in the
portion of this article which deals with that territory. (2) A chain
which runs eastward from the central mountains and terminates in the
great promontory of the east coast, known variously as Cape Kanior or
Kaniungan. (3) A well-marked chain running in a south-easterly direction
among the congeries of hills that extend south-eastward from the central
mountains, and attaining, near the southern part of the east coast,
heights up to and exceeding 6000 ft.
_Coasts._--Resting on a submarine plateau of no great depth, the coasts
of Borneo are for the most part rimmed round by low alluvial lands, of a
marshy, sandy and sometimes swampy character. In places the sands are
fringed by long lines of _Casuarina_, trees; in others, and more
especially in the neighbourhood of some of the river mouths, there are
deep banks of black mud covered with mangroves; in others the coast
presents to the sea bold headlands, cliffs, mostly of a reddish hue,
sparsely clad with greenery, or rolling hills covered by a growth of
rank grass. The depth of the sea around the shore rarely exceeds a
maximum depth of 1 to 3 fathoms, and the coast as a whole offers few
accessible ports. The towns and seaports are to be found as a rule at or
near the mouths of those rivers which are not barricaded too efficiently
by bars formed of mud or sand. All round the long coast-line of Dutch
Borneo there are only seven ports of call, which are habitually made use
of by the ships of the Dutch Packet Company. They are Pontianak,
Banjermasin, Kota Bharu, Pasir, Samarinda, Beru and Bulungan. The
islands off the coast are not numerous. Excluding some of alluvial
formation at the mouths of many of the rivers, and others along the
shore which owe their existence to volcanic upheaval, the principal
islands are Banguey and Balambangan at the northern extremity, Labuan
(q.v.), a British colony off the west coast of the territory of North
Borneo, and the Karimata Islands off the south-west coast. On Great
Karimata is situated the village of Palembang with a population of about
500 souls employed in fishing, mining for iron, and trading in forest
produce.
[Illustration: BORNEO]
_Rivers_.--The rivers play a very important part in the economy of
Borneo, both as highways and as lines along which run the main arteries
of population. Hydrographically the island may be divided into five
principal versants. Of these the shortest embraces the north-western
slope, north of the Kapuas range, and discharges its waters into the
China Sea. The most important of its rivers are the Sarawak, the
Batang-Lupar, the Sarebas, the Rejang (navigable for more than 100 m.),
the Baram, the Limbang or Brunei river, and the Padas. The rivers of
British North Borneo to the north of the Padas are of no importance and
of scant practical utility, owing to the fact that the mountain range
here approaches very closely to the coast with which it runs parallel.
In the south-western versant the largest river is the Kapuas, which,
rising near the centre of the island, falls into the sea between Mampawa
and Sukadana after a long and winding course. This river, of volume
varying with the tide and the amount of rainfall, is normally navigable
by small steamers and native prahus, of a draught of 4 to 5 ft., for
300 to 400 m., that is to say, from Pontianak up to Sintang, and thence
as far as Benut. The middle part of this river, wider and more shallow
than the lower reaches, gives rise to a region of inundation and lakes
which extend as far as the northern mountain chain. Among its
considerable tributaries may be mentioned the southern Melawi with its
affluent the Penuh. It reaches the sea through several channels in a
wide marshy delta. The Sambas, north of the Kapuas, is navigable in its
lower course for vessels drawing 25 ft. Rivers lying to the south of the
Kapuas, but of less importance in the way of size, commerce and
navigation, are the Simpang, Pawanand Kandawangan, in the neighbourhood
of whose mouths, or upon the adjacent coast, the principal native
villages are situated in each case. The Barito, which is the principal
river of the southern versant, takes its rise in the Kuti Lama Lake, and
falls into the Java Sea in 114 deg. 30' E. Its upper reaches are greatly
impeded by rocks, rapids and waterfalls, but the lower part of its
course is wide, and traverses a rich, alluvial district, much of which
is marshy. Cross branches unite it with two rivers of considerable size
towards the west, the Kapuas Murung or Little Dyak, and the Kahayan or
Great Dyak. The Katingan or Mendawei, the Sampit, Pembuang or Surian and
the Kota Waringin are rivers that fall into the sea farther to the west.
The rivers of the southern versant are waters of capacious drainage, the
basin of the Kahayan having, for instance, an area of 16,000 sq. m., and
the Barito one of 38,000 sq. m. These rivers are navigable for
two-thirds of their course by steamers of a fair size, but in many cases
the bars at their mouths present considerable difficulties to ships
drawing anything over 8 or 9 ft. Most of the larger affluents of the
Barito are also navigable throughout the greater part of their courses.
The south-eastern like the north-western corner of the island is watered
by a considerable number of short mountain streams. The one great river
of the eastern versant is the Kutei or Mahakan, which, rising in the
central mountains, flows east with a sinuous course and falls by
numerous mounts into the Straits of Madassar. At a great distance from
its mouth it has still a depth of three fathoms, and in all its physical
features it is comparable to the Kapuas and Barito. The Kayan or
Bulungan river is the only other in the eastern versant that calls for
mention. Most of the rivers of the northern versant are comparatively
small, as the island narrows into a kind of promontory. Of these the
Kinabatangan in the territory of British North Borneo is the most
important. Lakes are neither numerous nor very large. In most cases they
are more fittingly described as swamps. In the flood area of the upper
Kapuas, of which mention has already been made, there occurs Lake Luar,
and there are several lake expanses of a similar character in the basins
of the Barito and Kutei rivers. The only really fine natural harbour in
the island of which any use has been made is that of Sandakan, the
principal settlement of the North Borneo Company on the north coast.
_Geology._--The geology of Borneo is very imperfectly known. The
mountain range which lies between Sarawak and the Dutch possessions,
and may be looked upon as the backbone of the island, consists chiefly
of crystalline schists, together with slates, sandstones and
limestones. All these beds are much disturbed and folded. The
sedimentary deposits were formerly believed to be Palaeozoic, but
Jurassic fossils have since been found in them, and it is probable
that several different formations are represented. Somewhat similar
rocks appear to form the axis of the range in south-east Borneo, and
possibly of the Tampatung Mountains. But the Muller range, the Madi
plateau, and the Schwaner Mountains of west Borneo, consist chiefly of
almost undisturbed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Tertiary age. The
low-lying country between the mountain ranges is covered for the most
part by Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, but Cretaceous beds occur at
several localities. Some of the older rocks of the mountain regions
have been referred to the Devonian, but the evidence cannot be
considered conclusive. _Vertebraria_ and _Phyllotheca_, plants
characteristic of the Indian Gondwana series, have been recorded in
Sarawak; and marine forms, similar to those of the lower part of the
Australian Carboniferous system, are stated to occur in the limestone
of north Borneo. _Pseudomonotis salinaria_, a Triassic form, has been
noted from the schists of the west of Borneo. In the Kapoewas district
radiolarian cherts supposed to be of Jurassic age are met with.
Undoubted Jurassic fossils, belonging to several horizons, have been
described from west Borneo and Sarawak. The Cretaceous beds, which
have long been known in west Borneo, are comparatively little
disturbed. They consist for the most part of marls with _Orbitolina
concava_, and are referred to the Cenomanian. Cretaceous beds of
somewhat later date are found in the Marpapura district in south-east
Borneo. The Tertiary system includes conglomerates, sandstones,
limestones and marls, which appear to be of Eocene, Oligocene and
Miocene age. They contain numerous seams of coal. The Tertiary beds
generally lie nearly horizontal and form the lower hills, but in the
Madi plateau and the Schwaner range they rise to a height of several
thousand feet. Volcanic rocks of Tertiary and late Cretaceous age are
extensively developed, especially in the Muller Mountains. The whole
of this consists of tuffs and lavas, andesites prevailing in the west
and rhyolites and dacites in the east.
_Minerals._--The mineral wealth of Borneo is great and varied. It
includes diamonds, the majority of which, however, are of a somewhat
yellow colour, gold, quicksilver, cinnabar, copper, iron, tin, antimony,
mineral oils, sulphur, rock-salt, marble and coal. The exploitation of
the mines suffers in many cases from the difficulties and expense of
transport, the high duties payable in Dutch Borneo to the native
princes, the competition among the rival companies, and often the
limited quantities of the minerals found in the mines. The districts of
Sambas and Landak in the west, the Kahayan river, the mountain valleys
of the extreme south-east and parts of Sarawak furnish the largest
quantities of gold, which is obtained for the most part from alluvial
washings. The Borneo Company is engaged in working gold-mines in the
upper part of the Sarawak valley, and the prospects of the enterprise,
which is conducted on a fairly extensive scale, are known to be
encouraging. Diamonds are also found widely distributed and mainly in
the same regions as the gold. The Kapuas valley has so far yielded the
largest quantity, and Pontianak is, for diamonds, the principal port of
export. Considerable progress has been made in the development of the
oil-fields in Dutch Borneo, and the _Nederlandsch Indische Industrie en
Handel Maatschappij_, the Dutch business of the Shell Transport and
Trading Company, increased its output from 123,592 tons in 1901 to
285,720 tons in 1904, and showed further satisfactory increase
thereafter. This company owns extensive oil-fields at Balik Papan and
Sanga-Sanga. The quality of the oil varies in a remarkable way according
to the depth. The upper stratum is struck at a depth of 600 to 700 ft.,
and yields a natural liquid fuel of heavy specific gravity. The next
source is met with at about 1200 ft., yielding an oil which is much
lighter in weight and, as such, more suitable for treatment in the
refinery. The former oil is almost invariably of an asphalte basis,
whereas the latter sometimes is found to contain a considerable
percentage of paraffin wax. The average daily production is very high,
owing to a large number of the wells flowing under the natural pressure
of the gas. There is every reason to believe that the oil-fields of
Dutch Borneo have a great future. Coal mines have, in many instances,
been opened and abandoned, failure being due to the difficulty of
production. Coal of good quality has been found in Pengaron and
elsewhere in the Banjermasin district, but most Borneo coal is
considerably below this average of excellence. It has also been found in
fair quantities at various places in the Kutei valley and in Sarawak.
The coalmines of Labuan have been worked spasmodically, but success has
never attended the venture. Sadong yields something under 130 tons a
day, and the Brooketown mine, the property of the raja of Sarawak,
yields some 50 tons a day of rather indifferent coal. The discovery that
Borneo produced antimony was made in 1825 by John Crawfurd, the
orientalist, who learned in that year that a quantity had been brought
to Singapore by a native trader as ballast. The supply is practically
unlimited and widely distributed. The principal mine is at Bidi in
Sarawak.
_Climate and Health_.--As is to be anticipated, having regard to its
insular position and to the fact that the equator passes through the
very middle of the island, the climate is at once hot and very damp. In
the hills and in the interior regions are found which may almost be
described as temperate, but on the coasts the atmosphere is dense, humid
and oppressive. Throughout the average temperature is from 78 deg. to 80
deg. F., but the thermometer rarely falls below 70 deg., except in the
hills, and occasionally on exceptional days mounts as high as 96 deg. in
the shade. The rainy westerly winds (S.W. and N.W.) prevail at all the
meteorological stations, not the comparatively dry south-east wind. Even
at Banjermasin, near the south coast, the north-west wind brings
annually a rainfall of 60 in., as against 33 in. of rain carried by the
south-east wind. The difference between the seasons is not rigidly
marked. The climate is practically unchanging all the year round, the
atmosphere being uniformly moist, and though days of continuous downpour
are rare, comparatively few days pass without a shower. Most rain falls
between November and May, and at this season the torrents are tremendous
while they last, and squalls of wind are frequent and violent, almost
invariably preceding a downpour. Over such an extensive area there is,
of course, great variety in the climatic character of different
districts, especially when viewed in relation to health. Some places,
such as Bidi in Sarawak, for instance, are notoriously unhealthy; but
from the statistics of the Dutch government, and the records of Sarawak
and British North Borneo, it would appear that the European in Borneo
has in general not appreciably more to fear than his fellow in Java, or
in the Federated Malay States of the Malayan Peninsula. Among the native
races the prevailing diseases, apart from those of a malarial origin,
are chiefly such as arise from bad and insufficient food, from
intemperance, and from want of cleanliness. The habit of allowing their
meat to putrefy before regarding it as fit for food, and of encouraging
children of tender age to drink to intoxication, accounts for absence of
old folk and the heavy mortality which are to be observed among the
Muruts of British North Borneo and some of the other more debased tribes
of the interior of the island. Scrofula and various forms of lupus are
common among the natives throughout the country and especially in the
interior; elephantiasis is frequently met with on the coast. Smallpox,
dysentery and fevers, frequently of a bilious character, are endemic and
occasionally epidemic. Cholera breaks out from time to time and works
great havoc, as was the case in 1903 when one of the raja of Sarawak's
punitive expeditions was stricken while ascending the Limbang river by
boat, and lost many hundreds of its numbers before the coast could be
regained. Ophthalmia is common and sometimes will attack whole tribes.
About one sixth of the native population of the interior, and a smaller
proportion of those living on the coast, suffer from a kind of ringworm
called _kurap_, which also prevails almost universally among the Sakai
and Semang, the aboriginal hill tribes of the Malayan Peninsula. The
disease is believed to be aggravated by chronic anaemia. Consumption is
not uncommon.
_Fauna_.--The fauna of Borneo comprises a large variety of species, many
of which are numerically of great importance. Among the quadrupeds the
most remarkable is the orang-utan (Malay, _orang utan_, i.e. jungle
man), as the huge ape, called _mias_ or _mayas_ by the natives, is named
by Europeans. Numerous species of monkey are found in Borneo, including
the wahwah, a kind of gibbon, a creature far more human in appearance
and habits than the orang-utan, and several _Semnopitheci_, such as the
long-nosed ape and the golden-black or _chrysomelas_. The large-eyed
_Stenops tardigradus_ also deserves mention. The larger beasts of prey
are not met with, and little check is therefore put on the natural
fecundity of the graminivorous species. A small panther and the clouded
tiger (so called)--_Felis macroscelis_--are the largest animals of the
cat kind that occur in Borneo. The Bengal tiger is not found. The Malay
or honey-bear is very common. The rhinoceros and the elephant both occur
in the northern part of the island, though both are somewhat rare, and
in this connexion it should be noted that the distribution of quadrupeds
as between Borneo, Sumatra and the Malayan Peninsula is somewhat
peculiar and seemingly somewhat capricious. Many quadrupeds, such as the
honey-bear and the rhinoceros, are common to all, but while the tiger is
common both in the Malayan Peninsula and in Sumatra, it does not occur
in Borneo; the elephant, so common in the peninsula, and found in
Borneo, is unknown in Sumatra; and the orang-utan, so plentiful in parts
of Borneo and parts of Sumatra, has never been discovered in the Malay
Peninsula. It has been suggested, but with very scant measure of
probability, that the existence of elephants in Borneo, whose
confinement to a single district is remarkable and unexplained, is due
to importation; and the fact is on record that when Magellan's ships
visited Brunei in 1522 tame elephants were in use at the court of the
sultan of Brunei. Wild oxen of the Sunda race, not to be in any way
confounded with the Malayan _seladang_ or gaur, are rare, but the whole
country swarms with wild swine, and the _babirusa_, a pig with curious
horn-like tusks, is not uncommon. Alligators are found in most of the
rivers, and the gavial is less frequently met with. Three or four
species of deer are common, including the mouse-deer, or _plandok_, an
animal of remarkable grace and beauty, about the size of a hare but
considerably less heavy. Squirrels, flying-squirrels, porcupines,
civet-cats, rats, bats, flying-foxes and lizards are found in great
variety; snakes of various kinds, from the boa-constrictor downward, are
abundant, while the forests swarm with tree-leeches, and the marshes
with horse-leeches and frogs. A remarkable flying-frog was discovered by
Professor A.R. Wallace. Birds are somewhat rare in some quarters. The
most important are eagles, kites, vultures, falcons, owls, horn-bills,
cranes, pheasants (notably the argus, fire-back and peacock-pheasants),
partridges, ravens, crows, parrots, pigeons, woodpeckers, doves, snipe,
quail and swallows. Of most of these birds several varieties are met
with. The _Cypselus esculentus_, or edible-nest swift, is very common,
and the nests, which are built mostly in limestone caves, are esteemed
the best in the archipelago. Mosquitoes and sand-flies are the chief
insect pests, and in some districts are very troublesome. Several kinds
of parasitic jungle ticks cause much annoyance to men and to beasts.
There are also two kinds of ants, the semut api ("fire ant") and the
_semut lada_ ("pepper ant"), whose bites are peculiarly painful.
Hornets, bees and wasps of many varieties abound. The honey and the wax
of the wild bee are collected by the natives. Butterflies and moths are
remarkable for their number, size, variety and beauty. Beetles are no
less numerously represented, as is to be expected in a country so richly
wooded as Borneo. The swamps and rivers, as well as the surrounding
seas, swarm with fish. The _siawan_ is a species of fish found in the
rivers and valued for its spawn, which is salted. The natives are expert
and ingenious fishermen. Turtles, trepang and pearl-shell are of some
commercial importance.
The dog, the cat, the pig, the domestic fowl (which is not very
obviously related to the bantam of the woods), the buffalo, a smaller
breed than that met with in the Malayan Peninsula, and in some districts
bullocks of the Brahmin breed and small horses, are the principal
domestic animals. The character of the country and the nomadic habits of
many of the natives of the interior, who rarely occupy their villages
for more than a few years in succession, have not proved favourable to
pastoral modes of life. The buffaloes are used not only in agriculture,
but also as beasts of burden, as draught-animals and for the saddle.
Horses, introduced by Europeans and owned only by the wealthier classes,
are found in Banjermasin and in Sarawak. In British North Borneo, and
especially in the district of Tempasuk on the north-west coast, Borneo
ponies, bred originally, it is supposed, from the stock which is
indigenous to the Sulu archipelago, are common.
_Flora_.--The flora of Borneo is very rich, the greater portion of the
surface of the island being clothed in luxuriant vegetation. The king of
the forest is the _tapan_, which, rising to a great height without fork
or branch, culminates in a splendid dome of foliage. The official seats
of some of the chiefs are constructed from the wood of this tree.
Iron-wood, remarkable for the durability of its timber, is abundant; it
is used by the natives for the pillars of their homes and forms an
article of export, chiefly to Hong-Kong. It is rivalled in hardness by
the _kayu tembesu_. In all, about sixty kinds of timber of marketable
quality are furnished in more or less profusion, but the difficulty of
extraction, even in the regions situated in close proximity to the large
waterways, renders it improbable that the timber trade of Borneo will
attain to any very great dimensions until other and easier sources of
supply have become exhausted. Palm-trees are abundant in great variety,
including the _nipah_, which is much used for thatching, the cabbage,
fan, sugar, coco and sago palms. The last two furnish large supplies of
food to the natives, some copra is exported, and sago factories, mostly
in the hands of Chinese, prepare sago for the Dutch and British markets.
Gutta-percha (_getah percha_ in the vernacular), camphor, cinnamon,
cloves, nutmegs, gambir and betel, or areca-nuts, are all produced in
the island; most of the tropical fruits flourish, including the
much-admired but, to the uninitiated, most evil-smelling durian, a large
fruit with an exceedingly strong outer covering composed of stout
pyramidal spikes, which grows upon the branches of a tall tree and
occasionally in falling inflicts considerable injuries upon passers-by.
Yams, several kinds of sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers,
pineapples, bananas and mangosteens are cultivated, as also are a large
number of other fruits. Rice is grown in irrigated lands near the rivers
and in the swamps, and also in rude clearings in the interior;
sugar-cane of superior quality in Sambas and Montrado; cotton, sometimes
exported in small quantities, on the banks of the Negara, a tributary of
the Barito; tobacco, used very largely now in the production of cigars,
in various parts of northern Borneo; and tobacco for native consumption,
which is of small commercial importance, is cultivated in most parts of
the island. Indigo, coffee and pepper have been cultivated since 1855 in
the western division of Dutch Borneo. Among the more beautiful of the
flowering plants are rhododendrons, orchids and pitcher-plants--the
latter reaching extraordinary development, especially in the northern
districts about Kinabalu. Epiphytous plants are very common, many that
are usually independent assuming here the parasitic character; the
_Vanda lowii_, for example, grows on the lower branches of trees, and
its strange pendent flower-stalks often hang down so as almost to reach
the ground. Ferns are abundant, but not so varied as in Java.
_Population._--The population of Borneo is not known with any approach
to accuracy, but according to the political divisions of the island it
is estimated as follows:--
Dutch Borneo 1,130,000
British North Borneo 200,000
Sarawak 500,000
Brunei 20,000
No effective census of the population has ever been taken, and vast
areas in Dutch Borneo and in British North Borneo remain unexplored, and
free from any practical authority or control. In Sarawak, owing to the
high administrative genius of the first raja and his successor, the
natives have been brought far more completely under control, but the
raja has never found occasion to utilize the machinery of his government
for the accurate enumeration of his subjects.
Dutch Borneo is divided for administrative purposes into two divisions,
the western and the south and eastern respectively. Of the two, the
former is under the more complete and effective control. The estimated
population in the western division is 413,000 and in the south and
eastern 717,000. Europeans number barely 1000; Arabs about 3000, and
Chinese, mainly in the western division, over 40,000. In both divisions
there is an average density of little more than 1 to every 2 sq. m. The
sparseness of the population throughout the Dutch territory is due to a
variety of causes--to the physical character of the country, which for
the most part restricts the area of population to the near neighbourhood
of the rivers; to the low standard of civilization to which the majority
of the natives have attained and the consequent disregard of sanitation
and hygiene; to wars, piracy and head-hunting, the last of which has not
even yet been effectually checked among some of the tribes of the
interior; and to the aggression and oppressions in earlier times of
Malayan, Arab and Bugis settlers. Among the natives, more especially of
the interior, an innate restlessness which leads to a life of spasmodic
nomadism, poverty, insufficient nourishment, an incredible improvidence
which induces them to convert into intoxicating liquor a large portion
of their annual crops, feasts of a semi-religious character which are
invariably accompanied by prolonged drunken orgies, and certain
superstitions which necessitate the frequent procuration of abortion,
have contributed to check the growth of population. In Sambas, Montrado
and some parts of Pontianak, the greater density of the population is
due to the greater fertility of the soil, the opening of mines, the
navigation and trade plied on the larger rivers, and the concentration
of the population at the junctions of rivers, the mouths of rivers and
the seats of government. Of the chief place in the western division,
Pontianak has about 9000 inhabitants; Sambas about 8000; Montrado,
Mampawa and Landak between 2000 and 4000 each; and in the south and
eastern division there are Banjermasin with nearly 50,000 inhabitants;
Marabahan, Amuntai, Negara, Samarinda and Tengarung with populations of
from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants each. In Amuntai and Martapura early
Hindu colonization, of which the traces and the influence still are
manifest, the fertile soil, trade and industry aided by navigable
rivers, have co-operated towards the growth of population to a degree
which presents a marked contrast to the conditions in the interior parts
of the Upper Barito and of the more westerly rivers. Only a very small
proportion of the Europeans in Dutch Borneo live by agriculture and
industry, the great majority of them being officials. The Arabs and
Chinese are engaged in trading, mining, fishing and agriculture. Of the
natives fully 90% live by agriculture, which, however, is for the most
part of a somewhat primitive description. The industries of the natives
are confined to such crafts as spinning and weaving and dyeing, the
manufacture of iron weapons and implements, boat- and shipbuilding, &c.
More particularly in the south-eastern division, and especially in the
districts of Negara, Banjermasin, Amuntai and Martapura, shipbuilding,
iron forging, gold- and silversmith's work, and the polishing of
diamonds, are industries of high development in the larger centres of
population.
_Races._--The peoples of Borneo belong to a considerable variety of
races, of different origin and degrees of civilization. The most
important numerically are the Dyaks, the Dusuns and Muruts of the
interior, the Malays, among whom must be counted such Malayan tribes as
the Bajaus, Ilanuns, &c., the Bugis, who were originally immigrants from
Celebes, and the Chinese. The Dutch, and to a minor extent the Arabs,
are of importance on account of their political influence in Dutch
Borneo, while the British communities have a similar importance in
Sarawak and in British North Borneo. Accounts of the Malays, Dyaks and
Bugis are given under their several headings, and some information
concerning the Dusuns and Muruts will be found in the section below,
which deals with British North Borneo. The connexion of the Chinese with
Borneo calls for notice here. They seem to have been the first civilized
people who had dealings with Borneo, if the colonization of a portion of
the south-eastern corner of the island by Hindus be excepted. The
Chinese annals speak of tribute paid to the empire by Pha-la on the
north-east coast of the island as early as the 7th century, and later
documents mention a Chinese colonization in the 15th century. The
traditions of the Malays and Dyaks seem to confirm the statements, and
many of the leading families of Brunei in north-west Borneo claim to
have Chinese blood in their veins, while the annals of Sulu record an
extensive Chinese immigration about 1575. However this may be, it is
certain that the flourishing condition of Borneo in the 16th and 17th
centuries was largely due to the energy of Chinese settlers and to trade
with China. In the 18th century there was a considerable Chinese
population settled in Brunei, engaged for the most part in planting and
exporting pepper, but the consistent oppression of the native rajas
destroyed their industry and led eventually to the practical extirpation
of the Chinese. The Malay chiefs of other districts encouraged
immigration from China with a view to developing the mineral resources
of their territories, and before long Chinese settlers were to be found
in considerable numbers in Sambas, Montrado, Pontianak and elsewhere.
They were at first forbidden to engage in commerce or agriculture, to
carry firearms, to possess or manufacture gunpowder. About 1779 the
Dutch acquired immediate authority over all strangers, and thus assumed
responsibility for the control of the Chinese, who presently proved
themselves somewhat troublesome. Their numbers constantly increased and
were reinforced by new immigrants, and pushing inland in search of fresh
mineral-bearing areas, they contracted frequent intermarriages with the
Dyaks and other non-Mahommedan natives. They brought with them from
China their aptitude for the organization of secret societies which,
almost from the first, assumed the guise of political associations.
These secret societies furnished them with a machinery whereby
collective action was rendered easy, and under astute leaders they
offered a formidable opposition to the Dutch government. Later, when
driven into the interior and eventually out of Dutch territory, they
cost the first raja of Sarawak some severe contests before they were at
last reduced to obedience. Serious disturbances among the Chinese are
now in Borneo matters of ancient history, and to-day the Chinaman forms
perhaps the most valuable element in the civilization and development of
the island, just as does his fellow in the mining states of the Malayan
Peninsula. They are industrious, frugal and intelligent; the richer
among them are excellent men of business and are peculiarly equitable in
their dealings; the majority of all classes can read and write their own
script, and the second generation acquires an education of an European
type with great facility. The bulk of the shopkeeping, trading and
mining industries, so long as the mining is of an alluvial character, is
in Chinese hands. The greater part of the Chinese on the west coast are
originally drawn from the boundaries of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si. They
are called Kehs by the Malays, and are of the same tribes as those which
furnish the bulk of the workers to the tin mines of the Malay Peninsula.
They are a rough and hardy people, and are apt at times to be
turbulent. The shopkeeping class comes mostly from Fuh-kien and the
coast districts of Amoy. They are known to the Borneans as Ollohs.
_History._--As far as is known, Borneo never formed a political unity,
and even its geographical unity as an island is a fact unappreciated by
the vast majority of its native inhabitants. The name of Kalamantan has
been given by some Europeans (on what original authority it is not
possible now to ascertain) as the native name for the island of Borneo
considered as a whole; but it is safe to aver that among the natives of
the island itself Borneo has never borne any general designation. To
this day, among the natives of the Malayan Archipelago, men speak of
going to Pontianak, to Sambas or to Brunei, as the case may be, but make
use of no term which recognizes that these localities are part of a
single whole. The only archaeological remains are a few Hindu temples,
and it is probable that the early settlement of the south-eastern
portion of the island by Hindus dates from some time during the first
six centuries of our era. There exist, however, no data, not even any
trustworthy tradition, from which to reconstruct the early history of
Borneo. Borneo began to be known to Europeans after the fall of Malacca
in 1511, when Alphonso d'Albuquerque despatched Antonio d'Abreu with
three ships in search of the Molucca or Spice Islands with instructions
to establish friendly relations with all the native states that he might
encounter on his way. D'Abreu, sailing in a south-easterly direction
from the Straits of Malacca, skirted the southern coast of Borneo and
laid up his ships at Amboyna, a small island near the south-western
extremity of Ceram. He returned to Malacca in 1514, leaving one of his
captains, Francisco Serrano, at Ternate, where Magellan's followers
found him in 1521. After Magellan's death, his comrades sailed from the
Moluccas across the Celebes into the Sulu Sea, and were the first white
men who are known to have visited Brunei on the north-west coast of
Borneo, where they arrived in 1522. Pigafetta gives an interesting
account of the place and of the reception of the adventurers by the
sultan. The Molucca Islands being, at that time, the principal objective
of European traders, and the route followed by Magellan's ships being
frequently used, Borneo was often touched at during the remainder of the
16th century, and trade relations with Brunei were successfully
established by the Portuguese. In 1573 the Spaniards tried somewhat
unsuccessfully to obtain a share of this commerce, but it was not until
1580, when a dethroned sultan appealed to them for assistance and by
their agency was restored to his own, that they attained their object.
Thereafter the Spaniards maintained a fitful intercourse with Brunei,
varied by not infrequent hostilities, and in 1645 a punitive expedition
on a larger scale than heretofore was sent to chastise Brunei for
persistent acts of piracy. No attempt at annexation followed upon this
action, commerce rather than territory being at this period the prime
object of both the Spaniards and the Portuguese, whose influence upon
the natives was accordingly proportionately small. The only effort at
proselytizing of which we have record came to an untimely end in the
death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its
originator. Meanwhile the Dutch and British East India Companies had
been formed, had destroyed the monopoly so long enjoyed by the
Portuguese, and to a less extent the Spaniards, in the trade of the
Malayan Archipelago, and had gained a footing in Borneo. The
establishment of Dutch trading-posts on the west coast of Borneo dates
from 1604, nine years after the first Dutch fleet, under Houtman, sailed
from the Texel to dispute with the Portuguese the possession of the
Eastern trade, and in 1608 Samuel Blommaert was appointed Dutch
resident, or head factor, in Landak and Sukedana. The first appearance
of the British in Borneo dates from 1609, and by 1698 they had an
important settlement at Banjermasin, whence they were subsequently
expelled by the influence of the Dutch, who about 1733 obtained from the
sultan a trading monopoly. The Dutch, in fact, speedily became the
predominant European race throughout the Malay Archipelago, defeating
the British by superior energy and enterprise, and the trading-posts all
along the western and southern coasts of Borneo were presently their
exclusive possessions, the sultan of Bantam, who was the overlord of
these districts, ceding his rights to the Dutch. The British meanwhile
had turned their attention to the north of the island, over which the
sultan of Sulu exercised the rights of suzerain, and from him, in 1759,
Alexander Dalrymple obtained possession of the island of Balambangan,
and the whole of the north-eastern promontory. A military post was
established, but it was destroyed in 1775 by the natives under the
_dato'_, or vassal chiefs, who resented the cession of their territory.
This mishap rendered a treaty, which had been concluded in 1774 with the
sultan of Brunei, practically a dead letter, and by the end of the
century British influence in Borneo was to all intents and purposes at
an end. The Dutch also mismanaged their affairs in Borneo and suffered
from a series of misfortunes which led Marshal Daendels in 1809 to order
the abandonment of all their posts. The natives of the coasts of Borneo,
assisted and stimulated by immigrants from the neighbouring islands to
the north, devoted themselves more and more to organized piracy, and
putting to sea in great fleets manned by two and three thousand men on
cruises that lasted for two and even three years, they terrorized the
neighbouring seas and rendered the trade of civilized nations almost
impossible for a prolonged period. During the occupation of Java by the
British an embassy was despatched to Sir Stamford Raffles by the sultan
of Banjermasin asking for assistance, and in 1811 Alexander Hare was
despatched thither as commissioner and resident. He not only obtained
for his government an advantageous treaty, but secured for himself a
grant of a district which he proceeded to colonize and cultivate. About
the same time a British expedition was also sent against Sambas and a
post established at Pontianak. On the restoration of Java to the Dutch
in 1816, all these arrangements were cancelled, and the Dutch government
was left in undisputed possession of the field. An energetic policy was
soon after adopted, and about half the kingdom of Banjermasin was
surrendered to the Dutch by its sultan in 1823, further concessions
being made two years later. Meanwhile, George Muller, while exploring
the east coast, obtained from the sultan of Kutei an acknowledgment of
Dutch authority, a concession speedily repented by its donor, since the
enterprising traveller was shortly afterwards killed. The outbreak of
war in Java caused Borneo to be more or less neglected by the Dutch for
a considerable period, and no effective check was imposed upon the
natives with a view to stopping piracy, which was annually becoming more
and more unendurable. On the rise of Singapore direct trade had been
established with Sarawak and Brunei, and it became a matter of moment to
British merchants that this traffic should be safe. In 1838 Sir James
Brooke, an Englishman, whose attention had been turned to the state of
affairs in the Eastern Archipelago, set out for Borneo, determined, if
possible, to remedy the evil. By 1841 he had obtained from the sultan of
Brunei the grant of supreme authority over Sarawak, in which state, on
the sultan's behalf, he had waged a successful war, and before many
years had elapsed he had, with the aid of the British government,
succeeded in suppressing piracy (see BROOKE, SIR JAMES; and SARAWAK). In
1847 the sultan of Brunei agreed to make no cession of territory to any
nation or individual without the consent of Great Britain. Since then
more and more territory has been ceded by the sultans of Brunei to the
raja of Sarawak and to British North Borneo, and to-day the merest
remnant of his once extensive state is left within the jurisdiction of
the sultan. The treaty in 1847 put an end once for all to the hopes
which the Dutch had cherished of including the whole island in their
dominions, but it served also to stimulate their efforts to consolidate
their power within the sphere already subjected to their influence.
Gunong Tebur, Tanjong, and Bulungan had made nominal submission to them
in 1834, and in 1844 the sultan of Kutei acknowledged their
protectorate, a treaty of a similar character being concluded about the
same time with Pasir. The boundaries of British and Dutch Borneo were
finally defined by a treaty concluded on the 20th of June 1891. In spite
of this, however, large areas in the interior, both in Dutch Borneo and
in the territory owned by the British North Borneo Company, are still
only nominally under European control, and have experienced few direct
effects of European administration.
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO OR SABAH
Sabah is the name applied by the natives to certain portions of the
territory situated on the north-western coast of the island, and
originally in no way included the remainder of the country now owned by
the British North Borneo Company. It has become customary, however, for
the name to be used by Europeans in Borneo to denote the whole of the
company's territory, and little by little the more educated natives are
insensibly adopting the practice.
_History._--As has been seen, the British connexion with northern and
north-western Borneo terminated with the 18th century, nor was it
resumed until 1838, when Raja Brooke set out for Brunei and Sarawak. The
island of Labuan (q.v.) was occupied by the British as a crown colony in
1848, and this may be taken as the starting-point of renewed British
relations with that portion of northern Borneo which is situated to the
north of Brunei. In 1872 the Labuan Trading Company was established in
Sandakan, the fine harbour on the northern coast which was subsequently
the capital of the North Borneo Company's territory. In 1878, through
the instrumentality of Mr (afterwards Sir) Alfred Dent, the sultan of
Sulu was induced to transfer to a syndicate, formed by Baron Overbeck
and Mr Dent, all his rights in North Borneo, of which, as has been seen,
he had been from time immemorial the overlord. The chief promoters of
this syndicate were Sir Rutherford Alcock, Admiral the Hon. Sir Harry
Keppel, who at an earlier stage of his career had rendered great
assistance to the first raja of Sarawak in the suppression of piracy,
and Mr Richard B. Martin. Early in 1881 the British North Borneo
Provisional Association, Limited, was formed to take over the concession
which had been obtained from the sultan of Sulu, and in November of that
year a petition was addressed to Queen Victoria praying for a royal
charter. This was granted, and subsequently the British North Borneo
Company, which was formed in May 1882, took over, in spite of some
diplomatic protests on the part of the Dutch and Spanish governments,
all the sovereign and territorial rights ceded by the original grants,
and proceeded under its charter to organize the administration of the
territory. The company subsequently acquired further sovereign and
territorial rights from the sultan of Brunei and his chiefs in addition
to some which had already been obtained at the time of the formation of
the company. The Putatan river was ceded in May 1884, the Padas
district, including the Padas and Kalias rivers, in November of the same
year, the Kawang river in February 1885, and the Mantanani islands in
April 1885. In 1888, by an agreement with the "State of North Borneo,"
the territory of the company was made a British protectorate, but its
administration remained entirely in the hands of the company, the crown
reserving only control of its foreign relations, and the appointment of
its governors being required to receive the formal sanction of the
secretary of state for the colonies. In 1890 the British government
placed the colony of Labuan under the administration of the company, the
governor of the state of North Borneo thereafter holding a royal
commission as governor of Labuan in addition to his commission from the
company. This arrangement held good until 1905, when, in answer to the
frequently and strongly expressed desire of the colonists, Labuan was
removed from the jurisdiction of the company and attached to the colony
of the Straits Settlements. In March 1898 arrangements were made whereby
the sultan of Brunei ceded to the company all his sovereign and
territorial rights to the districts situated to the north of the Padas
river which up to that time had been retained by him. This had the
effect of rounding off the company's territories, and had the additional
advantage of doing away with the various no-man's lands which had long
been used by the discontented among the natives as so many Caves of
Adullam. The company's acquisition of territory was viewed with
considerable dissatisfaction by many of the natives, and this found
expression in frequent acts of violence. The most noted and the most
successful of the native leaders was a Bajau named Mat Saleh (Mahomet
Saleh), who for many years defied the company, whose policy in his
regard was marked by considerable weakness and vacillation. In 1898 a
composition was made with him, the terms of which were unfortunately not
defined with sufficient clearness, and he retired into the Tambunan
country, to the east of the range which runs parallel with the west
coast, where for a period he lorded it unchecked over the Dusun tribes
of the valley. In 1899 it was found necessary to expel him, since his
acts of aggression and defiance were no longer endurable. A short, and
this time a successful campaign followed, resulting, on the 31st of
January 1900, in the death of Mat Saleh, and the destruction of his
defences. Some of his followers who escaped raided the town of Kudat on
Marudu Bay in April of the same year, but caused more panic than damage,
and little by little during the next years the last smouldering embers
of rebellion were extinguished. At the present time, though effective
administration of the more inaccessible districts of the interior cannot
be said to have been established even yet, the pacification of the
native population is to all intents and purposes complete. The Tambunan
district, the last stronghold of Mat Saleh, is now thoroughly settled.
It is some 500 sq. m. in extent, and carries a population of perhaps
12,000.
_Geography._--The state of North Borneo may roughly be said to form a
pentagon of which three sides, the north-west, north-east and east are
washed by the sea, while the remaining two sides, the south-west and the
south, are bordered respectively by the Malayan sultanate of Brunei, and
by the territories of the raja of Sarawak and of the Dutch government.
The boundary between the company's territory and the Dutch government is
defined by the treaty concluded in June 1891, of which mention has
already been made.
The total area of the company's territory is estimated at about 31,000
sq. m., with a coast-line of over 900 m. The greater portion is
exceedingly hilly and in parts mountainous, and the interior consists
almost entirely of highlands with here and there open valleys and
plateaus of 50 to 60 sq. m. in extent. On the west coast the mountain
range, as already noted, runs parallel with the seashore at a distance
from it of about 15 m. Of this range the central feature is the mountain
of Kinabalu, which is composed of porphyritic granite and igneous rocks
and attains to a height of 13,698 ft. Mount Madalon, some 15 or 20 m. to
the north, is 5000 ft. in height, and inland across the valley of the
Pagalan river, which runs through the Tambunan country and falls into
the Padas, rises the peak of Trus Madi, estimated to be 11,000 ft. above
sea-level. The valley of the Pagalan is itself for the most part from
1000 to 2000 ft. above the sea, forming a string of small plateaus
marking the sites of former lakes. From the base of Trus Madi to the
eastern coast the country consists of huddled hills broken here and
there by regions of a more mountainous character. The principal plateaus
are in the Tambunan and Kaningau valleys, in the basin of the Pagalan,
and the Ranau plain to the eastward of the base of Kinabalu. Similar
plateaus of minor importance are to be found dotted about the interior.
The proximity of the mountain range to the seashore causes the rivers of
the west coast, with the single exception of the Padas, to be rapid,
boulder-obstructed, shallow streams of little value as means of
communication for a distance of more than half a dozen miles from their
mouths. The Padas is navigable for light-draught steam-launches and
native boats for a distance of nearly 50 m. from its mouth, and smaller
craft can be punted up as far as Rayoh, some 15 m. farther, but at this
point its bed is obstructed by impassable falls and rapids, which are of
such a character that nothing can even be brought down them. Even below
Rayoh navigation is rendered difficult and occasionally dangerous by
similar obstructions. The other principal rivers of the west coast are
the Kalias, Kimanis, Benoneh, Papar, Kinarut, Putatan, Inaman,
Mengkabong, Tampasuk and Pandasan, none of which, however, is of any
great importance as a means of communication. There is a stout breed of
pony raised along the Tampasuk, which is also noted for the Kalupis
waterfall (1500 ft.), one of the highest in the world, though the volume
of water is not great. Here also are the principal Bajau settlements.
Throughout the Malayan Archipelago the words _Bajau_ and _perompak_
(pirate) are still used as synonymous terms. At the northern extremity
of the island Marudu Bay receives the waters of the Marudu which rises
on the western side of Mount Madalon. On the east coast the principal
rivers are the Sugut, which rises in the hills to the east of Kinabalu
and forms its delta near Torongohok or Pura-Pura Island; the Labuk,
which has its sources 70 m. inland and debouches into Labuk Bay; and the
Kinabatangan, the largest and most important river in the territory,
which is believed to have its rise eastward of the range of which Trus
Madi is the principal feature, and is navigable by steamer for a
considerable distance and by native boats for a distance of over 100 m.
from its mouth. Some valuable tobacco land, which, however, is somewhat
liable to flood, and some remarkable burial-caves are found in the
valley of the Kinabatangan. The remaining rivers of the east coast are
the Segamah, which rises west of Darvel Bay, the Kumpong, and the
Kalabakang, which debouches into Cowie Harbour. Taking it as a whole,
the company's territory is much less generously watered than are other
parts of Borneo, which again compares unfavourably in this respect with
the Malayan states of the peninsula. Many of the rivers, especially
those of the west coast, are obstructed by bars at their mouths that
render them difficult of access. Several of the natural harbours of
North Borneo, on the other hand, are accessible, safe and commodious.
Sandakan Harbour, on the north-east coast (5 deg. 40' N., 118 deg. 10'
E.), runs inland for some 17 m. with a very irregular outline broken by
the mouths of numerous creeks and streams. The mouth, only 2 m. across,
is split into two channels by the little, high, bluff-like island of
Barhala. The depth in the main entrance varies from 10 to 17 fathoms,
and vessels drawing 20 ft. can advance half-way up the bay. The
principal town in the territory, and the seat of government (though an
attempt has been unsuccessfully made to transfer this to Jesselton on
the west coast), is Sandakan, situated just inside the mouth of the
Sarwaka inlet. At Silam, on Darvel Bay, there is good anchorage; and
Kudat in Marudu Bay, first surveyed by Commander Johnstone of H.M.S.
"Nigeria" in 1881, is a small but useful harbour.
_Climate and Population._--The climate of North Borneo is tropical, hot,
damp and enervating. The rainfall is steady and not usually excessive.
The shade temperature at Sandakan ordinarily ranges from 72 deg. to 94
deg. F. The population of the company's territory is not known with any
approach to accuracy, but is estimated, somewhat liberally, to amount to
175,000, including 16,000 Chinese. Of this total about three-fourths are
found in the districts of the west coast. The seashore and the country
bordering closely on the west coast are inhabited chiefly by Dusuns, by
Kadayans, by Bajaus and Ilanuns--both Malayan tribes--and by Brunei
Malays. The east coast is very sparsely populated and its inhabitants
are mostly Bajaus and settlers from the neighbouring Sulu archipelago.
The interior is dotted with infrequent villages inhabited by Dusuns or
by Muruts, a village ordinarily consisting of a single long hut divided
up into cubicles, one for the use of each family, opening out on to a
common verandah along which the skulls captured by the tribe are
festooned. It has been customary to speak of these tribes as belonging
to the Dyak group, but the Muruts would certainly seem to be the
representatives of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, and there
is much reason to think that the Dusuns also must be classed as distinct
from the Dyaks. The Dusun language, it is interesting to note, presents
very curious grammatical complications and refinements such as are not
to be found among the tongues spoken by any of the other peoples of the
Malayan Archipelago or the mainland of south-eastern Asia. Dusuns and
Muruts alike are in a very low state of civilization, and both indulge
inordinately in the use of intoxicating liquors of their own
manufacture.
_Settlements and Communication._--The company possesses a number of
small stations along the coast, of which Sandakan, with a population of
9 500, is the most important. The remainder which call for separate
mention are Lahat Datu on Darvel Bay on the east coast; Kudat on Marudu
Bay and Jesselton on Gaya Bay on the west coast. A railway of
indifferent construction runs along the west coast from Jesselton to
Weston on Brunei Bay, with a branch along the banks of the Padas to
Tenom above the rapids. It was originally intended that this should
eventually be extended across the territory to Cowie Harbour (Sabuko
Bay) on the east coast, but the extraordinary engineering difficulties
which oppose themselves to such an extension, the sparse population of
the territory, and the failure of the existing line to justify the
expectations entertained by its designers, combine to render the
prosecution of any such project highly improbable. Sandakan is connected
by telegraph with Mempakul on the west coast whence a cable runs to
Labuan and so gives telegraphic communication with Singapore. The
overland line from Mempakul to Sandakan, however, passes through
forest-clad and very difficult country, and telegraphic communication is
therefore subject to very frequent interruption. Telegraphic
communication between Mempakul and Kudat, via Jesselton, has also been
established and is more regularly and successfully maintained. The only
roads in the territory are bridle-paths in the immediate vicinity of the
company's principal stations. The Sabah Steamship Company, subsidized by
the Chartered Company, runs steamers along the coast, calling at all the
company's stations at which native produce is accumulated. A German firm
runs vessels at approximately bi-monthly intervals from Singapore to
Labuan and thence to Sandakan, calling in on occasion at Jesselton and
Kudat _en route_. There is also fairly frequent communication between
Sandakan and Hong-Kong, a journey of four days' steaming.
_Products and Trade._--The capabilities of the company's territory are
only dimly known. Coal has been found in the neighbourhood of Cowie
Harbour and elsewhere, but though its quality is believed to be as good
as that exported from Dutch Borneo, it is not yet known whether it
exists in payable quantities. Gold has been found in alluvial deposits
on the banks of some of the rivers of the east coast, but here again the
quantity available is still in serious doubt. The territory as a whole
has been very imperfectly examined by geologists, and no opinion can at
present be hazarded as to the mineral wealth or poverty of the company's
property. Traces of mineral oil, iron ores, copper, zinc and antimony
have been found, but the wealth of North Borneo still lies mainly in its
jungle produce. It possesses a great profusion of excellent timber, but
the difficulty of extraction has so far restricted the lumber industry
within somewhat modest limits. Gutta, rubber, rattans, mangrove-bark,
edible nuts, guano, edible birds'-nests, &c., are all valuable articles
of export. The principal cultivated produce is tobacco, sago, cocoanuts,
coffee, pepper, gambier and sugar-canes. Of these the tobacco and the
sago are the most important. Between 1886 and 1900 the value of the
tobacco crop increased from L471 to L200,000.
As is common throughout Malayan lands, the trade of North Borneo is
largely in the hands of Chinese shopkeepers who send their agents inland
to attend the _Tamus_ (Malay, _temu_, to meet) or fairs, which are the
recognized scenes of barter between the natives of the interior and
those of the coast. At Sandakan there is a Chinese population of over
2000.
_Administration._--For administrative purposes the territory is divided
into nine provinces: Alcock and Dewhurst in the north; Keppel on the
west; Martin in the centre; Myburgh, Mayne and Elphinstone on the east
coast; and Dent and Cunliffe in the south. The boundaries of these
provinces, however, are purely arbitrary and not accurately defined. The
form of government is modelled roughly upon the system adopted in the
Malay States of the peninsula during the early days of their
administration by British residents. The government is vested primarily
in the court of directors appointed under the company's charter, which
may be compared to the colonial office in its relation to a British
colony, though the court of directors interests itself far more closely
than does the colonial department in the smaller details of local
administration. The supreme authority on the spot is represented by the
governor, under whom are the residents of Kudat, Darvel Bay and Keppel,
officers who occupy much the same position as that usually known by the
title of magistrate and collector. The less important districts are
administered by district magistrates, who also collect the taxes. The
principal departments, whose chiefs reside at the capital, are the
treasury, the land and survey, the public works, the constabulary, the
medical and the judicial. The secretariat is under the charge of a
government secretary who ranks next in precedence to the governor.
Legislation is by the proclamation of the governor, but there is a
council, meeting at irregular intervals, upon which the principal heads
of departments and one unofficial member have seats. The public service
is recruited by nomination by the court of directors. The governor is
the chief judge of the court of appeal, but a judge who is subordinate
to him takes all ordinary supreme court cases. The laws are the Indian
Penal and Civil Procedure Codes and Evidence Acts, supplemented by a few
local laws promulgated by proclamation. There is an Imam's court for the
trial of cases affecting Mahommedan law of marriage, succession, &c. The
native chiefs are responsible to the government for the preservation of
law and order in their districts. They have restricted judicial powers.
The constabulary numbers some 600 men and consists of a mixed force of
Sikhs, Pathans, Punjabi Mahommedans, Dyaks and Malays, officered by a
few Europeans. There is a Protestant mission which supports a
church--the only stone building in the territory--and a school at
Sandakan, with branches at Kudat, Kaningau and Tambunan. The Roman
Catholic mission maintains an orphanage, a church and school at
Sandakan, and has missions among the Dusuns at several points on the
west coast and in the Tambunan country. Its headquarters are at Kuching
in Sarawak. The Chinese have their joss-houses and the Mahommedans a few
small mosques, but the vast majority of the native inhabitants are
pagans who have no buildings set apart for religious purposes.
_Finance and Money._--The principal sources of revenue are the licences
granted for the importation and retailing of opium, wine and spirits,
which are in the hands of Chinese; a customs duty of 5% on imports; an
export tax of 5% on jungle produce; a poll-tax sanctioned by ancient
native custom; and a stamp duty. A land revenue is derived from the sale
of government lands, from quit rents and fees of transfer, &c. Judicial
fees bring in a small amount, and the issue and sale of postage and
revenue stamps have proved a fruitful source of income. The people of
the country are by no means heavily taxed, a large number of the natives
of the interior escaping all payment of dues to the company, the revenue
being for the most part contributed by the more civilized members of the
community residing in the neighbourhood of the company's stations. There
are bank agencies in Sandakan, and the company does banking business
when required. The state, which has adopted the penny postage, is in the
Postal Union, and money orders on North Borneo are issued in the United
Kingdom and in most British colonies and vice versa. Notes issued by the
principal banks in Singapore were made current in North Borneo in 1900.
There is also a government note issue issued by the company for use
within the territory only. The currency is the Mexican and British
dollar, the company issuing its own copper coin--viz. cents and half
cents. It is proposed to adopt the coinage of the Straits Settlements,
and measures have been taken with a view to the accomplishment of this.
In the interior the principal medium of exchange among the natives is
the large earthenware jars, imported originally, it is believed, from
China, which form the chief wealth both of tribes and individuals.
(H. Cl.)
AUTHORITIES.--Among early works may be mentioned, S. Blommaert,
_Discours ende ghelegentheyt van het eylandt Borneo int Jear 1609_;
_Hachelyke reystogt van Jacob Jansz. de Roy na Borneo en Atchin in het
jaar 1691_; Beeckman, _Visit to Borneo_, 1718, in J. Pinkerton's
_General Collections_ (1808-1814); F. Valentijn in _Ond en Nieuw Oost
Indien_ (Dordrecht, 1724-1726). See also H. Keppel, _Expedition to
Borneo of H.M.S. "Dido"_ (London, 1846); R. Mundy, _Narrative of
Events in Borneo and Celebes_ (London, 1848); F.S. Marryat,
_Borneo_, &c. (1848); P.J. Veth, _Borneo's Westerafdeeling_
(Zalt-Bommel, 1854 and 1856); S. Muller, _Reizen en onderzoekingen in
den Indischen Archipel_ (Amsterdam, 1857); C. Bock, _Head-hunters of
Borneo_ (London, 1881), and _Reis in Oost en Zuid-Borneo_ (The Hague,
1887); J. Hatton, _The New Ceylon, a Sketch of British North Borneo_
(London, 1882); F. Hatton, _North Borneo_ (London, 1885); T. Posewitz,
_Borneo... Verbreitung der nutzbaren Mineralien_ (Berlin, 1889), Eng.
trans., _Borneo; its Geology and Mineral Resources_ (London, 1892); J.
Whitehead, _Exploration of Mount Kini Balu_ (London, 1893); Mrs W.B.
Pryor, _A Decade in Borneo_ (London, 1894); H. Ling Roth, _The Natives
of Sarawak and North Borneo_ (London, 1896); G.A.F. Molengraaf,
_Geologische Verkinningstochten in Centraal Borneo_ (Leiden, 1900,
Eng. trans. 1902); A.W. Niewenhuis, _In Centraal Borneo_ (Leiden,
1901), and _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leiden, 1904), &c.; W.H. Furness,
_Home Life of Borneo Head-hunters_ (London, 1902); O. Beccari, _Nelle
Foreste di Borneo_ (Florence, 1902), Eng. trans., _Wanderings in the
Great Forests of Borneo_ (London, 1904); D. Cator, _Everyday Life
among the Head-hunters_ (London, 1905). For geology, besides the works
of Posewitz and Molengraaf already cited, see R.B. Newton in _Geol.
Mag_., 1897, pp. 407-415, and _Proc. Malac. Soc_., London, vol. v.
(1902-1903), pp. 403-409. A series of papers on the palaeontology of
the island will be found in the several volumes of the _Samml. Geol_.
R. Mus., Leiden.
BORNHOLM, an island in the Baltic Sea, 22 m. S.E. of the Swedish coast,
belonging to Denmark, lying on 15 deg. E., and between 55 deg. and 55
deg. 18' N., and measuring 24 m. from S.E. to N.W. and 19 (extreme) from
E. to W. Pop. (1901) 40,889. The surface is generally hilly; the scenery
is fine in the north, where the cliffs reach a height of 135 ft., and
the granite hill of Helligdomsklipper dominates the island. Besides
freestone, exported for building, limestone, blue marble, and
porcelain-clay are worked. A little coal is found and used locally, but
it is not of good quality. Oats, flax and hemp are cultivated. The
inhabitants are employed in agriculture, fishing, brewing, distillation
and the manufacture of earthenware. Weaving and clock-making are also
carried on to some extent. The capital is Ronne (115 m. by sea from
Copenhagen), and there are five other small towns on the
island--Svanike, Nekso, Hasle, Allinge, and Sandvig. A railway connects
Ronne with Nekso (22 m. E. by S.), where a bust commemorates J.N.
Madvig, the philologist, who was born there in 1804 (d. 1886). Blanch's
Hotel, 10 m. N. of Ronne, is the most favoured resort on the island,
which attracts many visitors. On the north-west coast are the ruins of
the castle of Hammershus, which was built in 1158, and long served as a
state prison; while another old castle, erected by Christian V. in 1684,
and important as commanding the entrance to the Baltic, is situated on
Christianso, one of a small group of islands 15 m. E. by N. The island
of Bornholm has had an eventful history. In early times it was long the
independent seat of marauding Vikings. In the 12th century it became a
fief of the archbishop of Lund. In 1510 it was captured by the Hanseatic
League, in 1522 it came under Danish sway, and in 1526 it was made
directly subject to the city of Lubeck. In 1645 the Swedes took it by
storm, and their possession of it was confirmed by the peace of Roskilde
in 1658; but the sympathies of the people were with Denmark, and a
popular insurrection succeeded in expelling the Swedish forces, the
island coming finally into the possession of Denmark in 1660.
BORNIER, HENRI, VICOMTE DE (1825-1901) French poet and dramatist, was
born at Lunel (Herault) on the 25th of December 1825. He came to Paris
in 1845 With the object of studying law, but in that year he published a
volume of verse, _Les Premieres Feuilles_, and the Comedie Francaise
accepted a play of his entitled _Le Mariage de Luther_. He was given a
post in the library of the Arsenal, where he served for half a century,
becoming director in 1889. In 1875 was produced at the Theatre Francais
his heroic drama in verse, _La Fille de Roland_. The action of the play
turns on the love of Gerald, son of the traitor Ganelon, for the
daughter of Roland. The patriotic subject and the nobility of the
character of Gerald, who renounces Berthe when he learns his real
origin, procured for the piece a great success. The conflict between
honour and love and the grandiose sentiment of the play inevitably
provoked comparison with Corneille. The piece would indeed be a
masterpiece if, as its critics were not slow to point out, the verse had
been quite equal to the subject. Among the numerous other works of M. de
Bornier should be mentioned: _Dimitri_ (1876), libretto of an opera by
M.V. de Joncieres; and the dramas, _Les Noces d'Allila_ (1880) and
_Mahomet_ (1888). The production of this last piece was forbidden in
deference to the representations of the Turkish ambassador. Henri de
Bornier was critic of the _Nouvelle Revue_ from 1879 to 1887. His
_Poesies completes_ were published in 1894. He died in January 1901.
BORNU, a country in the Central Sudan, lying W. and S. of Lake Chad. It
is bounded W. and S. by the Hausa states and N. by the Sahara. Formerly
an independent Mahommedan sultanate it has been divided between Great
Britain, Germany and France. To France has fallen a portion of northern
Bornu and also Zinder (q.v.), a tributary state to the north-west, while
the south-west part is incorporated in the German colony of Cameroon.
Three-fourths of Bornu proper, some 50,000 sq. m., forms part of the
British protectorate of Nigeria.
Bornu is for the most part an alluvial plain, the country sloping
gradually to Lake Chad, which formerly spread over a much larger area
than it now occupies. The Komadugu (i.e. river) Waube--generally known
as the Yo--and its tributaries rise in the highlands which, beyond the
western border of Bornu, form the watershed between the Niger and Chad
systems, and flow north and east across the plains to Lake Chad, the Yo
in its last few miles marking the frontier between the French and
British possessions. In the south-west a part of Bornu drains to the
Benue. The rivers are intermittent, and water in southern Bornu is
obtained only from wells, which are sunk to a great depth. The vast
plain of Bornu is stoneless, except for rare outcrops of ironstone, and
consists of the porous fissured black earth called "cotton soil" in
India, alternating with, or more probably overlaid by, sand. Throughout
the flat country water is apparently found everywhere at a depth of 54
ft., corresponding to the level of Chad. Towards Damjiri in the
north-west the country becomes more broken, hilly and timbered. In the
south limestone is found near Gujba and also along the Gongola tributary
of the Benue. A forest of red and green barked acacia, yielding the
species of gum most valuable in the market, extends from the Gongola to
Gujba. Immense baobabs (_Adansonia digitata_), fine tamarinds and a few
trees of the genus _Ficus_ are met with in the south. North of Maifoni
(latitude 12 deg. N.) the baobab ceases, except at Kuka, where extensive
plantations have been made, and its place is taken by the _Kigelia_ and
also by a very handsome species of _Diospyros_. North of Kuka is a dense
belt of _Hyphaene_ palm with fine tamarinds and figs. Cotton and indigo
grow wild, and afford the materials for the cloths, finely dyed with
blue stripes, which form the staple fabric of the country. On the shores
of Lake Chad the cotton grown is of a peculiarly fine quality. Rice and
wheat of excellent quality are raised, but in small quantities, the
staple food being a species of millet called _gussub_, which is made
into a kind of paste and eaten with butter or honey. Ground-nuts, yams,
sweet potatoes, several sorts of beans and grains, peppers, onions,
water-melons and tomatoes are grown. Of fruit trees the country
possesses the lime and fig.
Wild animals, in great numbers, find both food and cover in the
extensive districts of wood and marsh. Lions, giraffes, elephants,
hyenas, crocodiles, hippopotami, antelopes, gazelles and ostriches are
found. The horse, the camel and the ox are the chief domestic animals;
all are used as beasts of burden. The country abounds with bees, and
honey forms one of the chief Bornuese delicacies.
The climate, especially from March to the end of June, is oppressively
hot, rising sometimes to 105 deg. and 107 deg., and even during most of
the night not falling much below 100 deg. In May the wet season begins,
with violent storms of thunder and lightning. In the end of June the
rivers and lakes begin to overflow, and for several months the rains,
accompanied with sultry weather, are almost incessant. The inhabitants
at this season suffer greatly from fevers. In October the rains abate;
cool, fresh winds blow from the west and north-west; and for several
months the climate is healthy and agreeable.
_Inhabitants._--The inhabitants, of whom the great majority profess
Mahommedanism, are divided into Negroes and those of mixed blood, i.e.
Negro and Berber, Arab or other crossing. The total population of
British Bornu is estimated at 500,000. The dominant tribe, called
Bornuese, Berberi or Kanuri, a Negro race with an infusion of Berber
blood, have black skins, large mouths, thick lips and broad noses, but
good teeth and high foreheads. The females add to their want of beauty
by extensive tattooing; they also stain their faces with indigo, and dye
their front teeth black and their canine teeth red. The law allows
polygamy, but the richest men have seldom more than two or three wives.
The marriage ceremonies last for a whole week, the first three days
being spent in feasting on the favourite national dishes, and the others
appropriated to certain symbolical rites. A favourite amusement is the
watching of wrestling matches. A game bearing some resemblance to chess,
played with beans and holes in the sand, is also a favourite occupation.
The pastoral districts of the country are occupied by the Shuwas, who
are of Arab origin, and speak a well-preserved dialect of Arabic. Of the
date of their immigration from the East there is no record; but they
were in the country as early as the middle of the 17th century. They are
divided into numerous distinct clans. Their villages in general consist
of rudely constructed huts, of an exaggerated conical form. Another
tribe, called La Salas, inhabits a number of low fertile islands in Lake
Chad, separated from the mainland by fordable channels.
The Bornuese are noted horsemen, and in times of war the horses, as well
as the riders, used to be cased in light iron mail. The Shuwas, however,
are clad only in a light shirt, and the Kanembu spearmen go almost
naked, and fight with shield and spear. It is indispensable to a chief
of rank that he should possess a huge belly, and when high feeding
cannot produce this, padding gives the appearance of it. Notwithstanding
the heat of the climate, the body is enveloped in successive robes, the
number indicating the rank of the wearer. The head likewise is enclosed
in numerous turbans. The prevailing language in Bornu is the Kanuri. It
has no affinity, according to Heinrich Barth, with the great Berber
family. A grammar was published in 1854 by S.W. Koelle, as well as a
volume of tales and fables, with a translation and vocabulary.
The towns in Bornu, which have populations varying from 10,000 to 50,000
or more, are surrounded with walls 35 or 40 ft. in height and 20 ft. in
thickness, having at each of the four corners a triple gate, composed of
strong planks of wood, with bars of iron. The abodes of the principal
inhabitants form an enclosed square, in which are separate houses for
each of the wives; the chief's palace consists of turrets connected
together by terraces. These are well built of a reddish clay, highly
polished, so as to resemble stucco; the interior roof, though composed
only of branches, is tastefully constructed. Maidugari, which in 1908
became the seat of the native government, is a thriving commercial town
some 70 m. south-west of Lake Chad. The former capital, Kuka (q.v.), and
Ngornu (the town of "blessing"), are near the shores of Lake Chad. On
the Yo are still to be seen extensive remains of Old Bornu or Birni and
Gambarou or Ghambaru, which were destroyed by the Fula about 1809.
Dikwa, the capital chosen by Rabah (see below), lies in the German part
of Bornu.
_History._--The history of Bornu goes back to the 9th century A.D., but
its early portions are very fragmentary and dubious. The first dynasty
known is that of the Sefuwa or descendants of Sef, which came to the
throne in the person of Dugu or Duku, and had its capital at Njimiye
(Jima) in Kanem on the north-east shores of Lake Chad. The Sefuwa are of
Berber origin, the descent from Sef, the Himyaritic ruler, being
mythical. From this Berber strain comes the name Berberi or
Ba-Berberche, applied by the Hausa to the inhabitants of Bornu.
Mahommedanism was adopted towards the end of the 11th century, and has
since continued the religion of the country. From 1194 to 1220 reigned
Selma II., under whom the power of the kingdom was greatly extended; and
Dunama II., his successor was also a powerful and warlike prince. In
the following reigns the prosperity of the country began to diminish,
and about 1386 the dynasty was expelled from Njimiye, and forced to seek
refuge in the western part of its territory by the invasion of the
Bulala. Mai Ali (I.) Ghajideni, who founded the city of Birni, rendered
his country once more redoubtable and strong. His successor, Idris II.,
completely vanquished the Bulala and subjugated Kanem; and under
Mahommed V., the next monarch, Bornu reached its highest pitch of
greatness. At this period Zinder became a tributary state. A series of
for the most part peaceful reigns succeeded till about the middle of the
18th century, when Ali (IV.) Omarmi entered upon a violent struggle with
the Tuareg or Imoshagh. Under his son Ahmed (about 1808) the kingdom
began to be harassed by the Fula, who had already conquered the Hausa
country. Expelled from his capital by the invaders, Ahmed was only
restored by the assistance of the fakir Mahommed al-Amin al-Kanemi, who,
pretending to a celestial mission, hoisted the green flag of the
Prophet, and undertook the deliverance of his country. The Fula appear
to have been taken by surprise, and were in ten months driven completely
out of Bornu. The conqueror invested the nearest heir of the ancient
kings with all the appearance of sovereignty--reserving for himself,
however, under the title of sheik, all its reality. The court of the
sultan (_shehu_) was established at New Bornu, or Birni, which was made
the capital, the old city having been destroyed during the Fula
invasion; while the sheik, in military state, took up his residence at
the new city of Kuka. Fairly established, he ruled the country with a
rod of iron, and at the same time inspired his subjects with a
superstitious notion of his sanctity. His zeal was peculiarly directed
against moral or religious offences. The most frivolous faults of women,
as talking too loud, and walking in the street unveiled, rendered the
offender liable to public indictment, while graver errors were visited
with the most ignominious punishments, and often with death itself.
Kanemi died in 1835, and was succeeded by his son, Sheik Omar, who
altogether abolished the nominal kingship of the Sefuwa.
During Omar's reign, which lasted about fifty years, Bornu was visited
by many Europeans, who reached it via Tripoli and the Sahara. The first
to enter the country were Walter Oudney, Hugh Clapperton and Dixon
Denham (1823). They were followed in 1851-1855 by Heinrich Barth. Later
travellers included Gerhard Rohlfs (1866) and Gustav Nachtigal. All
these travellers were well received by the Kanuri, whose power from the
middle of the 19th century began to decay. This was foreseen by Barth;
and Nachtigal, who in 1870 conveyed presents sent by King William of
Prussia, in acknowledgment of the sheik's kindness to many German
explorers, writes thus in December 1872:
"The rapid declension of Bornu is an undeniable and lamentable fact.
It is taking place with increasing rapidity, and the boundless
weakness of Sheik Omar--otherwise so worthy and brave a man--must bear
almost all the blame. His sons and ministers plunder the provinces in
an almost unheard-of manner; trade and intercourse are almost at a
standstill; good faith and confidence exist no more. The indolence of
the court avoids military expeditions, and anarchy and a lack of
security on the routes are the consequences.... Thus the sheik and the
land grow poorer and poorer, and public morality sinks lower and
lower."
After the visit of Nachtigal the country was visited by no European
traveller until 1892, when Colonel P.L. Monteil resided for a time at
Kuka during his great journey from the Senegal to Tripoli. The French
traveller noticed many signs of decadence, the energy of the people
being sapped by luxury, while a virtual anarchy prevailed owing to
rivalries and intrigues among members of the royal family. The chief of
Zinder had ceased to pay tribute, and the sultan was not strong enough
to exact it by force. At the same time a danger was threatening from the
south-east, where the negro adventurer Rabah, once a slave of Zobeir
Pasha, was menacing the kingdom of Bagirmi. After making himself master
of the fortified town of Manifa, Rabah proceeded against Bornu,
defeating the army of the sultan Ahsem in two pitched battles. In
December 1893 Ahsem fled from Kuka, which was entered by Rabah and soon
afterwards destroyed, the capital being transferred to Dikwa in the
south-east of the kingdom. These events ruined for many years the trade
between Tripoli and Kuka by the long-established route via Bilma. Rabah
had raised a large, well-drilled army, and proved a formidable opponent
to the French in their advance on Lake Chad from the south. However in
1900 he was killed at Kussuri near the lower Shari, by the combined
forces of three French expeditions which had been converging from the
Congo, the Sahara and the Niger.
By an Anglo-French agreement of 1898 the tributary state of Zinder in
the north had been included in the French sphere, and after the defeat
of Rabah French military expeditions occupied both the German and
British portions of Bornu, but in 1902 on the appearance of British and
German expeditions the French withdrew to their own country east of the
Shari. The British placed on the throne of Bornu Shehu Garbai, a
descendant of the ancient sultans, and Kuka was again chosen as the
capital of the state. From that date British Bornu has been under
administrative control. It has been divided into East and West Bornu,
the line of division being fixed approximately at longitude 12 deg., and
placed under the administration of a resident. Maifoni and Kuka were
selected for British stations in the east, and Damjiri and Gujba in the
west. Garrisons are quartered at these points. The province has been
mapped, and a network of tracks available for wheeled transport has been
made through it. Water communication with the Benue and Niger has been
opened through the Gongola river. The _shehu_, who took the oath of
allegiance to the British crown on the occasion of his formal
installation in November 1904, is maintained in all local dignity as a
native chief, and co-operates loyally with the British administration.
Peace has prevailed in Bornu since the British occupation, and it is
estimated that the population has increased by immigration to about 50%
more than it was in 1902. The people are industrious. Extensive areas
are being brought under cultivation, and taxes are collected without
difficulty. Owing to its increasing commercial importance, the native
capital was in 1908 transferred to Maidugari (see also NIGERIA:
_History;_ and RABAH).
AUTHORITIES.--Heinrich Barth's _Travels in North and Central Africa_
(1857, new ed., London, 1890) contains an exact picture of the state
in the period (c. 1850) preceding its decay. The earlier _Travels_ of
Denham and Clapperton (London, 1828) may also be consulted, as well as
Rohlfs, _Land und Volk in Afrika_ (Bremen, 1870); Nachtigal, _Sahara
und Sudan_, vol. i. (Berlin, 1879); and Monteil, _de St.-Louis a
Tripoli par le lac Tchad_ (Paris, 1895). For later information consult
Lady Lugard's _A Tropical Dependency_ (London, 1905), and the _Annual
Reports_, from 1900 onward, on Northern Nigeria, issued by the
Colonial Office, London. (F. L. L.)
BORODIN, ALEXANDER PORFYRIEVICH (1834-1887), Russian musical composer,
natural son of a Russian prince, was born in St Petersburg on the 12th
of November 1834. He was brought up to the medical profession, and in
1862 was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the St Petersburg
academy of medicine. He wrote several works on chemistry, and took a
leading part in advocating women's education, helping to found the
school of medicine for women, and lecturing there from 1872 till his
death. But he is best known as a musician. His interest in music was
indeed stimulated from 1862 onwards by his friendship with Balakirev,
and from 1863 by his marriage with a lady who was an accomplished
pianist; but in his earlier years he had been proficient both in playing
the piano, violin, 'cello and other instruments, and also in composing;
and during life he did his best to pursue his studies in both music and
chemistry with equal enthusiasm. Like other Russian composers he owed
much to the influence of Liszt at Weimar. His first symphony was written
in 1862-1867; his opera _Prince Igor_, begun in 1869, was left
unfinished at his death, and was completed by Rimsky-Korsakov and
Glazounov (1889); his symphonic sketch, "In the Steppes" (1880) is,
however, his best-known work. Borodin also wrote a second symphony
(1871-1877), part of a third (orchestrated after his death by
Glazounov), and a few string quartets and some fine songs. His music is
characteristically Russian, and of an advanced modern type. He died
suddenly at St Petersburg, on the 28th of February 1887.
BORODINO, a village of Russia, 70 m. W. by S. of Moscow, on the
Kolotscha, an affluent of the river Moskva, famous as the scene of a
great battle between the army of Napoleon and the Russians under Kutusov
on the 7th of September 1812. Though the battle is remembered chiefly
for the terrible losses incurred by both sides, in many respects it is
an excellent example of Napoleon's tactical methods. After preliminary
fighting on the 5th of September both sides prepared for battle on the
6th, Napoleon holding back in the hope of confirming the enemy in his
resolution to fight a decisive battle. For the same reason the French
right wing, which could have manoeuvred the Russians from their
position, was designedly weakened. The Russian right, bent back at an
angle and strongly posted, was also neglected, for Napoleon intended to
make a direct frontal attack. The enemy's right centre near the village
of Borodino was to be attacked by the viceroy of Italy, Eugene, who was
afterwards to roll up the Russian line towards its centre, the so-called
"great redoubt," which was to be attacked directly from the front by Ney
and Junot. Farther to the French right, Davout was to attack frontally a
group of field works on which the Russian left centre was formed; and
the extreme right of the French army was composed of the weak corps of
Poniatowski. The cavalry corps were assigned to the various leaders
named, and the Guard was held in reserve. The whole line was not more
than about 2 m. long, giving an average of over 20 men per yard. When
the Russians closed on their centre they were even more densely massed,
and their reserves were subjected to an effective fire from the French
field guns. At 6 A.M. on the 7th of September the French attack began.
By 8 A.M. the Russian centre was driven in, and though a furious
counter-attack enabled Prince Bagration's troops to win back their
original line, fresh French troops under Davout and Ney drove them back
again. But the Russians, though they lost ground elsewhere, still clung
to the great redoubt, and for a time the advance of the French was
suspended by Napoleon's order, owing to a cavalry attack by the Russians
on Eugene's extreme left. When this alarm was ended the advance was
resumed. Napoleon had now collected a sufficient target for his guns. A
terrific bombardment by the artillery was followed by the decisive
charge of the battle, made by great masses of cavalry. The horsemen,
followed by the infantry, charged at speed, broke the Russian line in
two, and the French squadrons entered the gorge of the great redoubt
just as Eugene's infantry climbed up its faces. In a fearful _melee_ the
Russian garrison of the redoubt was almost annihilated. The defenders
were now dislodged from their main line and the battle was practically
at an end. Napoleon has been criticized for not using the Guard, which
was intact, to complete the victory. There is, however, no evidence that
any further expenditure of men would have had good results. Napoleon had
imposed his will on the enemy so far that they ceded possession of
Moscow without further resistance. That the defeat and losses of the
Russian field army did not end the war was due to the national spirit of
the Russians, not to military miscalculations of Napoleon. Had it not
been for this spirit, Borodino would have been decisive of the war
without'the final blow of the Guard. As it was, the Russians lost about
42,000 men out of 121,000; Napoleon's army (of which one-half consisted
of the contingents of subject allies-Germany, Poland, Switzerland,
Holland, &c.) 32,000 out of 130,000 (Berndt, _Zahl im Kriege_). On the
side of the French 31 general officers were killed, wounded or taken,
and amongst the killed were General Montbrun, who fell at the head of
his cavalry corps, and Auguste Caulaincourt, who took Montbrun's place
and fell in the _melee_ in the redoubt. The Russians lost 22 generals,
amongst them Prince Bagration, who died of his wounds after the battle,
and to whose memory a monument was erected on the battle-field by the
tsar Nicholas I.
BOROLANITE, one of the most remarkable rocks of the British Isles, found
on the shores of Loch Borolan in Sutherlandshire, after which it has
been named. In this locality there is a considerable area of granite
rich in red alkali felspar, and passing, by diminution in the amount of
its quartz, into quartz-syenites (nordmarkites) and syenites. At the
margins of the outcrop patches of nepheline-syenite occur; usually the
nepheline is decomposed, but occasionally it is well-preserved; the
other ingredients of the rock are brown garnet (melanite) and aegirine.
The abundance of melanite is very unusual in igneous rocks, though some
syenites, leucitophyres, and aegirine-felsites resemble borolanite in
this respect. In places the nepheline-syenite assumes the form of a dark
rock with large rounded white spots. These last consist of an
intermixture of nepheline or sodalite and alkali-felspar. From the
analogy of certain leucite-syenites which are known in Arkansas, it is
very probable that these spots represent original leucites which have
been changed into aggregates of the above-named minerals. They resemble
leucite in their shape, but have not yet been proved to have its
crystalline outlines. The "pseudo-leucites," as they have been called,
measure one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch across. The dark matrix
consists of biotite, aegirine-augite and melanite. Connected with the
borolanite there are other types of nepheline-syenite and pegmatite. In
Finland, melanite-bearing nepheline rocks have been found and described
as Ijolite, but the only other locality for melanite-leucite-syenite is
Magnet Cove in Arkansas. (J. S. F.)
BORON (symbol B, atomic weight 11), one of the non-metallic elements,
occurring in nature in the form of boracic (boric) acid, and in various
borates such as borax, tincal, boronatrocalcite and boracite. It was
isolated by J. Gay Lussac and L. Thenard in 1808 by heating boron
trioxide with potassium, in an iron tube. It was also isolated at about
the same time by Sir H. Davy, from boracic acid. It may be obtained as a
dark brown amorphous powder by placing a mixture of 10 parts of the
roughly powdered oxide with 6 parts of metallic sodium in a red-hot
crucible, and covering the mixture with a layer of well-dried common
salt. After the vigorous reaction has ceased and all the sodium has been
used up, the mass is thrown into dilute hydrochloric acid, when the
soluble sodium salts go into solution, and the insoluble boron remains
as a brown powder, which may by filtered off and dried. H. Moissan
(_Ann. Chim. Phys._, 1895, 6, p. 296) heats three parts of the oxide
with one part of magnesium powder. The dark product obtained is washed
with water, hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid, and finally
calcined again with the oxide or with borax, being protected from air
during the operation by a layer of charcoal. Pure amorphous boron is a
chestnut-coloured powder of specific gravity 2.45; it sublimes in the
electric arc, is totally unaffected by air at ordinary temperatures, and
burns on strong ignition with production of the oxide B2O3 and the
nitride BN. It combines directly with fluorine at ordinary temperature,
and with chlorine, bromine and sulphur on heating. It does not react
with the alkali metals, but combines with magnesium at a low red heat to
form a boride, and with other metals at more or less elevated
temperatures. It reduces many metallic oxides, such as lead monoxide and
cupric oxide, and decomposes water at a red heat. Heated with sulphuric
acid and with nitric acid it is oxidized to boric acid, whilst on fusion
with alkaline carbonates and hydroxides it gives a borate of the alkali
metal. Like silicon and carbon, very varying values had been given for
its specific heat, until H.F. Weber showed that the specific heat
increases rapidly with increasing temperature. By strongly heating a
mixture of boron trioxide and aluminium, protected from the air by a
layer of charcoal, F. Wohler and H. Sainte-Claire Deville obtained a
grey product, from which, on dissolving out the aluminium with sodium
hydroxide, they obtained a crystalline product, which they thought to be
a modification of boron, but which was shown later to be a mixture of
aluminium borides with more or less carbon. Boron dissolves in molten
aluminium, and on cooling, transparent, almost colourless crystals are
obtained, possessing a lustre, hardness and refractivity near that of
the diamond. In 1904 K.A. Kuhne (D.R.P. 147,871) described a process in
which external heating is not necessary, a mixture of aluminium
turnings, sulphur and boric acid being ignited by a hot iron rod, the
resulting aluminium sulphide, formed as a by-product, being decomposed
by water.
Boron hydride has probably never been isolated in the pure condition;
on heating boron trioxide with magnesium filings, a magnesium boride
Mg3B2 is obtained, and if this be decomposed with dilute hydrochloric
acid a very evil-smelling gas, consisting of a mixture of hydrogen and
boron hydride, is obtained. This mixture burns with a green flame
forming boron trioxide; whilst boron is deposited on passing the gas
mixture through a hot tube, or on depressing a cold surface in the gas
flame. By cooling it with liquid air Sir W. Ramsay and H.S. Hatfield
obtained from it a gas of composition B3H3. The mixture probably
contained also some BH3 (W. Ramsay and H.S. Hatfield, _Proc. Chem.
Soc._, 17, p. 152). Boron fluoride BF3 was first prepared in 1808 by
Gay Lussac and L. Thenard and is best obtained by heating a mixture of
the trioxide and fluorspar with concentrated sulphuric acid. It is a
colourless pungent gas which is exceedingly soluble in water. It fumes
strongly in air, and does not attack glass. It rapidly absorbs the
elements of water wherever possible, so that a strip of paper plunged
into the gas is rapidly charred. It does not burn, neither does it
support combustion. A saturated solution of the gas, in water, is a
colourless, oily, strongly fuming liquid which after a time
decomposes, with separation of metaboric acid, leaving hydrofluoboric
acid HF.BF3 in solution. This acid cannot be isolated in the free
condition, but many of its salts are known. Boron fluoride also
combines with ammonia gas, equal volumes of the two gases giving a
white crystalline solid of composition BF3.NH3; with excess of ammonia
gas, colourless liquids BF3.2NH3 and BF3.3NH3 are produced, which on
heating lose ammonia and are converted into the solid form.
Boron chloride BCl3 results when amorphous boron is heated in chlorine
gas, or more readily, on passing a stream of chlorine over a heated
mixture of boron trioxide and charcoal, the volatile product being
condensed in a tube surrounded by a freezing mixture. It is a
colourless fuming liquid boiling at 17-18 deg. C, and is readily
decomposed by water with formation of boric and hydrochloric acids. It
unites readily with ammonia gas forming a white crystalline solid of
composition 2BCl3.3NH3.
Boron bromide BBr3 can be formed by direct union of the two elements,
but is best obtained by the method used for the preparation of the
chloride. It is a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 90.5 deg. C.
With water and with ammonia it undergoes the same reactions as the
chloride. Boron and iodine do not combine directly, but gaseous
hydriodic acid reacts with amorphous boron to form the iodide, BI3,
which can also be obtained by passing boron chloride and hydriodic
acid through a red-hot porcelain tube. It is a white crystalline solid
of melting point 43 C.; it boils at 210 deg. C., and it can be
distilled without decomposition. It is decomposed by water, and with a
solution of yellow phosphorus in carbon bisulphide it gives a red
powder of composition PBI2, which sublimes _in vacuo_ at 210 deg. C.
to red crystals, and when heated in a current of hydrogen loses its
iodine and leaves a residue of boron phosphide PB.
Boron nitride BN is formed when boron is burned either in air or in
nitrogen, but can be obtained more readily by heating to redness in a
platinum crucible a mixture of one part of anhydrous borax with two
parts of dry ammonium chloride. After fusion, the melt is well washed
with dilute hydrochloric acid and then with water, the nitride
remaining as a white powder. It can also be prepared by heating
borimide B2(NH)3; or by heating boron trioxide with a metallic
cyanide. It is insoluble in water and unaffected by most reagents, but
when heated in a current of steam or boiled for some time with a
caustic alkali, slowly decomposes with evolution of ammonia and the
formation of boron trioxide or an alkaline borate; it dissolves slowly
in hydrofluoric acid.
Borimide B2(NH)3 is obtained on long heating of the compound B2S3.6NH2
in a stream of hydrogen, or ammonia gas at 115-120 deg. C. It is a
white solid which decomposes on heating into boron nitride and
ammonia. Long-continued heating with water also decomposes it slowly.
Boron sulphide B2S3 can be obtained by the direct union of the two
elements at a white heat or from the tri-iodide and sulphur at 440
deg. C., but is most conveniently prepared by heating a mixture of the
trioxide and carbon in a stream of carbon bisulphide vapour. It forms
slightly coloured small crystals possessing a strong disagreeable
smell, and is rapidly decomposed by water with the formation of boric
acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. A pentasulphide B2S5 is prepared, in
an impure condition, by heating a solution of sulphur in carbon
bisulphide with boron iodide, and forms a white crystalline powder
which decomposes under the influence of water into sulphur,
sulphuretted hydrogen and boric acid.
Boron trioxide B2O3 is the only known oxide of boron; and may be
prepared by heating amorphous boron in oxygen, or better, by strongly
igniting boric acid. After fusion the mass solidifies to a transparent
vitreous solid which dissolves readily in water to form boric acid
(q.v.); it is exceedingly hygroscopic and even on standing in moist
air becomes opaque through absorption of water and formation of boric
acid. Its specific gravity is 1.83 (J. Dumas). It is not volatile
below a white heat, and consequently, if heated with salts of more
volatile acids, it expels the acid forming oxide from such salts; for
example, if potassium sulphate be heated with boron trioxide, sulphur
trioxide is liberated and potassium borate formed. It also possesses
the power of combining with most metallic oxides at high
temperatures, forming borates, which in many cases show characteristic
colours. Many organic compounds of boron are known; thus, from the
action of the trichloride on ethyl alcohol or on methyl alcohol, ethyl
borate B(OC2H5)3 and methyl borate B(OCH3)3 are obtained. These are
colourless liquids boiling at 119 deg. C. and 72 deg. C. respectively,
and both are readily decomposed by water. By the action of zinc methyl
on ethyl borate, in the requisite proportions, boron trimethyl is
obtained, thus:--2B(OC2H5)2 + 6Zn(CH3)2 = 2B(CH3)3 +
/ CH3
+ 6Zn <
\ OC2H5
as a colourless spontaneously inflammable gas of unbearable smell.
Boron triethyl B(C2H5)3 is obtained in the same manner, by using zinc
ethyl. It is a colourless spontaneously inflammable liquid of boiling
point 95 deg. C. By the action of one molecule of ethyl borate on two
molecules of zinc ethyl, the compound B(C2H5)2.OC2H5 diethylboron
ethoxide is obtained as a colourless liquid boiling at 102 deg. C. By
the action of water it is converted into B(C2H5)2.OH, and this latter
compound on exposure to air takes up oxygen slowly, forming the
compound B.C2H5.OC2H5.OH, which, with water, gives B(C2H5).(OH)2. From
the condensation of two molecules of ethyl borate with one molecule of
zinc ethyl the compound B2.C2H5.(OC2H5)5 is obtained as a colourless
liquid of boiling point. 112 deg. C. Boron triethyl and boron
trimethyl both combine with ammonia.
The atomic weight of boron has been determined by estimating the water
content of pure borax (J. Berzelius), also by conversion of anhydrous
borax into sodium chloride (W. Ramsay and E. Aston) and from analysis
of the bromide and chloride (Sainte-Claire Deville); the values
obtained ranging from 10.73 to 11.04. Boron can be estimated by
precipitation as potassium fluoborate, which is insoluble in a mixture
of potassium acetate and alcohol. For this purpose only boric acid or
its potassium salt must be present; and to ensure this, the borate can
be distilled with sulphuric acid and methyl alcohol and the volatile
ester absorbed in potash.
BOROUGH [BURROUGH, BURROWE, BORROWS], STEVEN (1525-1584), English
navigator, was born at Northam in Devonshire on the 25th of September
1525. In 1553 he took part in the expedition which was despatched from
the Thames under Sir Hugh Willoughby to look for a northern passage to
Cathay and India, serving as master of the "Edward Bonaventure," on
which Richard Chancellor sailed as pilot in chief. Separated by a storm
from the "Bona Esperanza" and the "Bona Confidentia," the other two
ships of the expedition, Borough proceeded on his voyage alone, and
sailing into the White Sea, in the words of his epitaph, "discouered
Moscouia by the Northerne sea passage to St Nicholas" (Archangel). In a
second expedition, made in the "Serchthrift" in 1556, he discovered Kara
Strait, between Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach island. In 1560 he was in
charge of another expedition to Russia, and, probably in 1558, he also
made a voyage to Spain. At the beginning of 1563 he was appointed chief
pilot and one of the four masters of the queen's ships in the Medway,
and in this office he spent the rest of his life. He died on the 12th of
July 1584, and was buried at Chatham. His son, Christopher Borough,
wrote a description of a trading expedition made in 1579-1581 from the
White Sea to the Caspian and back.
His younger brother, WILLIAM BOROUGH, born in 1536, also at Northam,
served as an ordinary seaman in the "Edward Bonaventure" on her voyage
to Russia in 1553, and subsequently made many voyages to St Nicholas.
Later he transferred his services from the merchant adventurers to the
crown. As commander of the "Lion" he accompanied Sir Francis Drake in
his Cadiz expedition of 1587, but he got himself into trouble by
presuming to disagree with his chief concerning the wisdom of the attack
on Lagos. He died in 1599. He was the author of _A Discourse of the
Variation of the Compas, or Magneticall Needle_ (1581), and some of the
charts he made are preserved at the British Museum and Hatfield.
BOROUGH (A.S. nominative _burh_, dative _byrig_, which produces some of
the place-names ending in _bury_, a sheltered or fortified place, the
camp of refuge of a tribe, the stronghold of a chieftain; of. Ger.
_Burg_, Fr. _bor_, _borc_, _bourg_), the term for a town, considered as
a unit of local government.
_History of the English Borough._--After the early English settlement,
when Roman fortifications ceased to shelter hostile nations, their
colonies and camps were used by the Anglo-Saxon invaders to form tribal
strongholds; nevertheless burhs on the sites of Roman colonies show no
continuity with Roman municipal organization. The resettlement of the
Roman Durovernum as the burh of the men of (East) Kent, under a changed
name, the name "burh of the men of Kent," Cant-wara-byrig (Canterbury),
illustrates this point. The burh of the men of West Kent was
Hrofesceaster (Durobrivae), Rochester, and many other _ceasters_ mark
the existence of a Roman camp occupied by an early English burh. The
tribal burh was protected by an earthen wall, and a general obligation
to build and maintain burhs at the royal command was enforced by
Anglo-Saxon law. Offences in disturbance of the peace of the burh were
punished by higher fines than breaches of the peace of the "ham" or
ordinary dwelling. The burh was the home of the king as well as the
asylum of the tribe, and there is reason to think that the boundary of
the borough was annually sanctified by a religious ceremony, and hence
the long retention of a processional perambulation. Possibly the "hedge"
or "wall" of the borough gave it, besides safety, a sanctity analogous
to that enjoyed by the Germanic assembly while gathered within its
"hedge," which the priests solemnly set up when the assembly gathered,
and removed when it was over. While the "peace" of the Germanic assembly
was essentially temporary, the "peace" of the burh was sacred all the
year round. Its "hedge" was never removed. The sanctity of the burh was
enjoyed by all the dwellings of the king, at first perhaps only during
his term of residence. Neither in the early English language nor in the
contemporary Latin was there any fixed usage differentiating the various
words descriptive of the several forms of human settlement, and the
tribal refuges cannot accordingly be clearly distinguished from villages
or the strongholds of individuals by any purely nomenclative test. It is
not till after the Danish invasions that it becomes easier to draw a
distinction between the burhs that served as military strongholds for
national defence and the royal vills which served no such purpose. Some
of the royal vills eventually entered the class of boroughs, but by
another route, and for the present the private stronghold and the royal
dwelling may be neglected. It was the public stronghold and the
administrative centre of a dependent district which was the source of
the main features peculiar to the borough.
Many causes tended to create peculiar conditions in the boroughs built
for national defence. They were placed where artificial defence was most
needed, at the junction of roads, in the plains, on the rivers, at the
centres naturally marked out for trade, seldom where hills or marshes
formed a sufficient natural defence. The burhs drew commerce by every
channel; the camp and the palace, the administrative centre, the
ecclesiastical centre (for the mother-church of the state was placed in
its chief burh), all looked to the market for their maintenance. The
burh was provided by law with a mint and royal moneyers and exchangers,
with an authorized scale for weights and measures. Mercantile
transactions in the burhs or _ports_, as they were called when their
commercial rather than their military importance was accentuated, were
placed by law under special legal privileges in order no doubt to secure
the king's hold upon his toll. Over the burh or port was set a reeve, a
royal officer answerable to the king for his dues from the burh, his
rents for lands and houses, his customs on commerce, his share of the
profits from judicial fines. At least from the 10th century the burh had
a "moot" or court, the relation of which to the other courts is matter
of speculation. A law of Edgar, about 960, required that it should meet
three times a year, these being in all likelihood assemblies at which
attendance was compulsory on all tenants of the burghal district, when
pleas concerning life and liberty and land were held, and men were
compelled to find pledges answerable for their good conduct. At these
great meetings the borough reeve (_gerefa_) presided, declaring the law
and guiding the judgments given by the suitors of the court. The reeve
was supported by a group of assistants, called in Devon the "witan," in
the boroughs of the Danelaw by a group of (generally twelve) "lawmen,"
in other towns probably by a group of aldermen, senior burgesses, with
military and police authority, whose office was in some cases
hereditary. These persons assisted the reeve at the great meetings of
the full court, and sat with him as judges at the subordinate meetings
which were held to settle the unfinished causes and minor causes. There
was no compulsion on those not specially summoned to attend these extra
meetings. At these subordinate jurisdictional assemblies, held in
public, and acting by the same authority as the annual gathering of all
the _burh-wara_, other business concerning borough administration was
decided, at least in later days, and it is to these assemblies that the
origin of the town council may in many cases be ascribed. In the larger
towns the division into wards, with a separate police system, can be
traced at an early time, appearing as a unit of military organization,
answerable for the defence of a gate of the town. The police system of
London is described in detail in a record of 930-940. Here the free
people were grouped in associations of ten, each under the
superintendence of a headman. The bishops and reeves who belonged to the
"court of London" appear as the directors of the system, and in them we
may see the aldermen of the wards of a later time. The use of the word
_bertha_ for ward at Canterbury, and the fact that the London wardmoot
at a later time was used for the frankpledge system as well as for the
organization of the muster, point to a connexion between the military
and the police systems in the towns. At the end of the 9th and beginning
of the 10th century there is evidence of a systematic "timbering" of new
burhs, with the object of providing strongholds for the defence of
Wessex against the Danes, and it appears that the surrounding districts
were charged with their maintenance. In charters of this period a "haw,"
or enclosed area within a burh, was often conveyed by charter as if it
were an apanage of the lands in the neighbourhood with which it was
conveyed; the Norman settlers who succeeded to lands in the county
succeeded therewith to houses in the burhs, for a close association
existed between the "thegns" of the shire and the shirestow, an
association partly perhaps of duty and also of privilege. The king
granted borough "haws" as places of refuge in Kent, and in London he
gave them with commercial privileges to his bishops. What has been
called the "heterogeneous" tenure of the shirestow, one of the most
conspicuous characteristics of that particular type of borough, was
further increased by the liberty which some burgesses enjoyed to
"commend" themselves to a lord of their own choosing, promising to that
lord suit and service and perhaps rent in return for protection. Over
these burgesses the lords could claim jurisdictional rights, and these
were in some cases increased by royal grants of special rights within
certain "sokes." The great boroughs were honeycombed with sokes, or
areas of seignorial jurisdiction, within which the royal reeve's
authority was greatly restricted while that of the lord's reeve took
precedence. Even the haws, being "burhs" or strongholds within a
stronghold, enjoyed a local "peace" which protected from official
intrusion. Besides heterogeneity of tenure and jurisdiction in the
borough, there was also heterogeneity of status; there were burh-thegns
and cnihts, mercatores, burgesses of various kinds, the three groups
representing perhaps military, commercial and agricultural elements. The
burh generally shows signs of having been originally a village
settlement, surrounded by open fields, of which the borough boundary
before 1835 will suggest the outline. This area was as a rule eventually
the area of borough jurisdiction. There is some evidence pointing to the
fact that the restriction of the borough authority to this area is not
ancient, but due to the Norman settlement. The wide districts over which
the boroughs had had authority were placed under the control of the
Norman castle which was itself built by means of the old English levy of
"burh-work." The borough court was allowed to continue its work only
within its own immediate territory, and, to prevent conflict, the castle
was placed outside the borough. Losing their place in the national
scheme of defence, the burgess "cnihts" made commerce their principal
object under the encouragement of the old privileges of the walled
place.
Besides the great co-operative strongholds in which many lords had
burgesses, there were small boroughs held by a single lord. In many
cases boroughs of this "seignorial" type were created upon the royal
estates. Out of the king's vill, as a rule the jurisdictional centre of
a hundred, there was sometimes created a borough. The lines of division
before Domesday Book are obscure, but it is probable that in some cases,
by a royal grant of jurisdiction, the inhabitants of a populous royal
vill, where a hundred court for the district was already held, were
authorized to establish a permanent court, for the settlement of their
disputes, distinct from the hundred court of the district. Boroughs of
this type with a uniform tenure were created not only on the king's
estates but also on those of his tenants-in-chief, and in 1086 they were
probably already numerous. A borough was usually, though perhaps not
invariably, the companion of a Norman castle. In some cases a French
"bourg" was created by the side of an English borough, and the two
remained for many generations distinct in their laws and customs: in
other cases a French "bourg" was settled by the side of an English
village. A large number of the followers of the Norman lords had been
almost certainly town-dwellers in their own country, and lost none of
their burghal privileges by the migration. Every castle needed for its
maintenance a group of skilled artisans, and the lords wished to draw to
the castle gates all kinds of commodities for the castle's provision.
The strength of the garrison made the neighbourhood of the castle a
place of danger to men unprotected by legal privilege; and in order to
invite to its neighbourhood desirable settlers, legal privileges similar
to those enjoyed in Norman or English boroughs were guaranteed to those
who would build on the plots which were offered to colonists. A low
fixed rental, release from the renders required of villeins, release
from the jurisdiction of the castle, and the creation of a separate
borough jurisdiction, with or without the right to choose their own
officers, rules fixing the maximum of fees and fines, or promising
assessment of the fines by the burgesses themselves, the cancelling of
all the castellan's rights, especially the right to take a forced levy
of food for the castle from all within the area of his jurisdiction,
freedom from arbitrary tallage, freedom of movement, the right to
alienate property and devise land, these and many other privileges named
in the early seignorial charters were what constituted the Norman _liber
burgus_ of the seignorial type. Not all these privileges were enjoyed by
all boroughs; some very meagre releases of seignorial rights accompanied
the lord's charter which created a borough and made burgesses out of
villeins. However liberal the grant, the lord or his reeve still
remained in close personal relation with the burgesses of such places,
and this character, together with the uniformity of their tenure,
continued to hold them apart from the boroughs of the old English type,
where all varieties of personal relationship between the lords and their
groups of tenants might subsist. The royal charters granting the right
to retain old customs prevented the systematic introduction into the old
boroughs of some of the incidents of feudalism. Rights of the king took
precedence of those of the lord, and devise with the king's consent was
legal. By these means the lords' position was weakened, and other
seignorial claims were later evaded or contested. The rights which the
lords failed to keep were divided between the king and the municipality;
in London, for instance, the king obtained all escheats, while the
borough court secured the right of wardship of burgess orphans.
From Norman times the yearly profit of the royal boroughs was as a rule
included in the general "farm" rendered for the county by the sheriff;
sometimes it was rendered by a royal farmer apart from the county-farm.
The king generally accepted a composition for all the various items due
from the borough. The burgesses were united in their efforts to keep
that composition unchanged in amount, and to secure the provision of the
right amount at the right time for fear that it should be increased by
way of punishment. The levy of fines on rent arrear, and the distraints
for debt due, which were obtained through the borough court, were a
matter of interest to the burgesses of the court, and first taught the
burgesses co-operative action. Money was raised, possibly by order of
the borough court, to buy a charter from the king giving the right to
choose officers who should answer directly to the exchequer and not
through the sheriff of the county. The sheriff was in many cases also
the constable of the castle, set by the Normans to overawe the English
boroughs; his powers were great and dangerous enough to make him an
officer specially obnoxious to the boroughs. Henry I. about 1131 gave
the London citizens the right to choose their own sheriffs and a
justiciar answerable for keeping the pleas of the crown. In 1130 the
Lincoln citizens paid to hold their city in chief of the king. By the
end of the 12th century many towns paid by the hand of their own reeves,
and John's charters began to make rules as to the freedom of choice to
be allowed in the nomination of borough officers and as to the royal
power of dismissal. In Richard I.'s reign London imitated the French
communes in styling the chief officer a mayor; in 1208 Winchester also
had a mayor, and the title soon became no rarity. The chartered right to
choose two or more citizens to keep the pleas of the crown gave to many
boroughs the control of their coroners, who occupied the position of the
London justiciar of earlier days, subject to those considerable
modifications which Henry II.'s systematization of the criminal law had
introduced. Burgesses who had gone for criminal and civil justice to
their own court in disputes between themselves, or between themselves
and strangers who were in their town, secured confirmation of this right
by charter, not to exclude the justices in eyre, but to exempt
themselves from the necessity of pleading in a distant court. The
burgess, whether plaintiff or defendant, was a privileged person, and
could claim in this respect a "benefit" somewhat similar to the benefit
of clergy. In permitting the boroughs to answer through their own
officers for his dues, the king handed over to the boroughs the farming
of his rents and a large number of rights which would eventually prove
to be sources of great profit.
No records exist showing the nature of municipal proceedings at the time
of the first purchase of charters. Certain it is that the communities in
the 12th century became alive to the possibilities of their new
position, that trade received a new impulse, and the vague
constitutional powers of the borough court acquired a new need for
definition. At first the selection of officers who were to treat with
the exchequer and to keep the royal pleas was almost certainly
restricted to a few rich persons who could find the necessary
securities. Nominated probably in one of the smaller judicial
assemblies, the choice was announced at the great Michaelmas assembly of
the whole community, and it is not till the next century that we hear of
any attempt of the "vulgus" to make a different selection from that of
the magnates. The "vulgus" were able to take effective action by means
of the several craft organizations, and first found the necessity to do
so when taxation was heavy or when questions of trade legislation were
mooted (see GILDS). The taxation of the boroughs in the reign of Henry
II. was assessed by the king's justices, who fixed the sums due _per
capita_; but if the borough made an offer of a gift, the assessment was
made by the burgesses. In the first case the taxation fell on the
magnates. In the levy _per communam_ the assessment was made through the
wardmoots (in London) and the burden fell on the poorer class. In Henry
II.'s reign London was taxed by both methods, the _barones majores_ by
head, the _barones minores_ through the wardmoot. The pressure of
taxation led in the 13th century to a closer definition of the burghal
constitutions; the commons sought to get an audit of accounts, and (in
London) not only to hear but to treat of municipal affairs. By the end
of the century London had definitely established two councils, that of
the mayor and aldermen, representing the old borough court, and a common
council, representing the voice of the commonalty, as expressed through
the city wards. The choice of councillors in the wards rested probably
with the aldermen and the ward jury summoned by them to make the
presentments. In some cases juries were summoned not to represent
different areas but different classes; thus at Lincoln there were in
1272 juries of the rich, the middling and the poor, chosen presumably by
authority from groups divided by means of the tax roll. Elsewhere the
several groups of traders and artisans made of their gilds all-powerful
agencies for organizing joint action among classes of commons united by
a trade interest, and the history of the towns becomes the history of
the struggle between the gilds which captured control of the council
and the gilds which were excluded therefrom. Many municipal revolutions
took place, and a large number of constitutional experiments were tried
all over the country from the 13th century onward. Schemes which
directed a gradual co-optation, two to choose four, these six to choose
more, and so in widening circles from a centre of officialdom, found
much favour throughout the middle ages. A plan, like the London plan, of
two companies, alderman and council, was widely favoured in the 14th
century, perhaps in imitation of the Houses of Lords and Commons. The
mayor was sometimes styled the "sovereign" and was given many
prerogatives. Great respect was paid to the "ancients," those, namely,
who had already held municipal office. Not till the 15th century were
orderly arrangements for counting "voices" arrived at in a few of the
most highly developed towns, and these were used only in the small
assemblies of the governing body, not in the large electoral assemblies
of the people.
In London in the 13th century there was a regular system for the
admission of new members to the borough "franchise," which was at first
regarded not as conferring any form of suffrage but as a means to secure
a privileged position in the borough court and in the trade of the
borough. Admission could be obtained by inheritance, by purchase or
gift, in some places by marriage, and in London, at least from 1275, by
a municipal register of apprenticeship. The new freeman in return for
his privileges was bound to share with the other burgesses all the
burdens of taxation, control, &c., which fell upon burgesses. Personal
service was not always necessary, and in some towns there were many
non-resident burgesses. When in later times admission to this freedom
came to be used as means to secure the parliamentary franchise, the
freedom of the borough was freely sold and given. The elections in which
the commons of the boroughs first took interest were those of the
borough magistrates. Where the commons succeeded for a time in asserting
their right to take part in borough elections they were rarely able to
keep it, not in all cases perhaps because their power was feared, but
sometimes because of the riotous proceedings which ensued. These led to
government interference, which no party in the borough desired. The
possibility of a forfeiture of their enfranchised position made the
burgesses on the whole fairly submissive. In the 13th century London
repeatedly was "taken into the king's hand," subjected to heavy fines
and put under the constable of the Tower. In the 15th century
disturbances in the boroughs led to the issue of new constitutions, some
of which were the outcome of royal charters, others the result of
parliamentary legislation. The development of the law of corporations
also at this time compelled the boroughs to seek new charters which
should satisfy the now exacting demands of the law. The charters of
incorporation were issued at a time when the state was looking more and
more to the borough authorities as part of its executive and judicial
staff, and thus the government was closely interested in the manner of
their selection. The new charters were drafted in such a way as to
narrow the popular control. The corporations were placed under a council
and in a number of cases popular control was excluded altogether, the
whole system being made one of co-optation. The absence of popular
protest may be ascribed in part to the fact that the old popular control
had been more nominal than real, and the new charter gave as a rule two
councils of considerable size. These councils bore a heavy burden of
taxation in meeting royal loans and benevolences, paying _per capita_
like the magnates of the 12th century, and for a time there is on the
whole little evidence of friction between the governors and the
governed. Throughout, popular opinion in the closest of corporations had
a means of expression, though none of execution, in the presentments of
the leet juries and sessions juries. By means of their "verdicts" they
could use threats against the governing body, express their resentment
against acts of the council which benefited the governing body rather
than the town, and call in the aid of the justices of assize where the
members of the governing body were suspected of fraud. Elizabeth
repeatedly declared her dislike of incorporations "because of the
abuses committed by their head rulers," but in her reign they were
fairly easily controlled by the privy council, which directed their
choice of members of parliament and secured supporters of the government
policy to fill vacancies on the borough bench. The practice in Tudor and
Stuart charters of specifying by name the members of the governing body
and holders of special offices opened the way to a "purging" of the
hostile spirits when new charters were required. There were also rather
vaguely worded clauses authorizing the dismissal of officers for
misconduct, though as a rule the appointments were for life. When under
the Stuarts and under the Commonwealth political and religious feeling
ran high in the boroughs, use was made of these clauses both by the
majority on the council and by the central government to mould the
character of the council by a drastic "purging." Another means of
control first used under the Commonwealth was afforded by the various
acts of parliament, which subjected all holders of municipal office to
the test of an oath. Under the Commonwealth there was no improvement in
the methods used by the central government to control the boroughs. All
opponents of the ruling policy were disfranchised and disqualified for
office by act of parliament in 1652. Cases arising out of the act were
to be tried by commissioners, and the commissions of the major-generals
gave them opportunity to control the borough policy. Few Commonwealth
charters have been preserved, though several were issued in response to
the requests of the corporations.
In some cases the charters used words which appeared to point to an
opportunity for popular elections in boroughs where a usage of election
by the town council had been established. In 1598 the judges gave an
opinion that the town councils could by by-law determine laws for the
government
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