871 



IUNJAKMASSIX. 



BANTAM. 



wu 1264. The living U a rectory, held with the curacy of Overton, 

 in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester. 



Bangor wu once the Mat of one of the largest monasteries in 

 Britain. It U said by early ecclesiastical historians that at one time 

 it contained 2100 monks, who dividing themselves into seven bands 

 or companies, passed their time alternately in prayer and labour. 

 They were not only able by their own industry to support themselves, 

 but also to give large supplies of food and clothing to the poor of the 

 neighbourhood. Many thousands of religious persons were sent out 

 from this monastery to all parts of the country, among whom wan 

 the celebrated PeUgius. In the days of St. Augustine the monks of 

 this monastery were distinguished for their steadfast opposition to 

 the claims of the church of Rome; and they deputed seven bishops 

 to meet that distinguished missionary from the pope, for the purpose 

 of remonstrating against the undue power which bin holiness was 

 beginning to assume over them and the churches of Britain. Bede 

 says (' Hist. Ecc.' b. ii. c. 2, unless the passage be, as has been con- 

 jectured without much probability, an interpolation) that St. 

 Augustine was so much displeased at the resolute stand which the 

 bishops made against the papal supremacy, and their refusal to 

 conform to the time for the celebration of Easter, and to the custom 

 of administering the sacrament of baptism as appointed by the 

 Romish Church, that he denounced against them the divine wrath if 

 they still persisted in their practice and refused to unite with their 

 brethren. And St. Augustine's prediction was fulfilled, he adds, 

 some few years after when Ethelfrid defeated the British army, and 

 slew 1200 of the monks of Bangor who accompanied it The Saxon 

 Chronicle which places the massacre of the monks under the year 

 607 (stating the number slain however to be only 200), also records 

 it as a 'fulfilment of the prophecy of Augustine.' St. Augustine 

 we may mention died in 604. Bangor is often said to contain 

 numerous traces of the ancient monastery ; but such is not the fact. 



The church is a gothic building which has suffered much from 

 tasteless alterations. In it is a stone font of elaborate design. It 

 is octagonal, with coats of arms and scriptural figures and emblems 

 sculptured on each of the sides. From the devices on the royal arms 

 it appears to have been executed between 1420 and 1450. There is 

 an Endowed school, founded in 1728 by Lady Dorothy Jefferies (the 

 widow of the notorious Chief Justice Jefferies), for the education of 

 SO poor boys, one of whom is annually apprenticed at the expense of 

 the foundation. There are also two Free schools an Upper school, 

 and an Infant school both founded since 1 835, and built and supported 

 by subscriptions. There is also a clothing club for adults and 

 children, which has been found of much benefit to the poorer 

 inhabitants. Labouring in the fields and coracle fishing are the chief 

 .' cm 



(Bede's Ecdenattical Hittory ; AuijIo-Saj-im Chronicle; Camden's 

 Britannia; Pennant's Tow in Wale*; Bingley's Excurtiont in Wala ; 

 Oorretpondent at Bangor- ficoetl.) 



BANJARMASSIN, a district and town on the south coast of the 

 island of Borneo. The town is built on the banks of the river 

 Banjar, at the mouth of which is a bar which prevents the entrance 

 of all vessels except small boats, and even these can only pass in or 

 out at certain states of the tide. Beyond this bar the river in navi- 

 gable for at least CO miles from the sea. Vessels trading to the town 

 anchor in the harbour of Tombanjou near the mouth of the river. 



The English East India Company endeavoured to open a trade 

 with this part of Borneo in 1614 and on several occasions since 

 without success. The Dutch have maintained a settlement at 

 Banjinnaiwin since 1747, when they obtained a monopoly of the 

 pepper-trade from the sultan of Banjarmassin. In 1811 Banjarmassin 

 being considered a dependency of Java a British garrison was sent 

 there, together with a Resident on the part of the East India Company. 

 The nettle-incut thus made was retained by the company until 1817, 

 when it was restored to the Dutch. 



The import* of the town consist principally of piece goods, cutlery, 



i|.ium, gunpowder, and fire-arms; the produce exported in ivtimt 



M of |>epper, gold-dust, wax, camphor, spices, rattans, bcche- 



d.-iin-r, an-1 .-lil'l'' birds' -nests. Some steel of very superior quality 



is also procured at this place. 



i:\NKs- PENINSULA. [ZKAI.ASI>, NBW.] 



l:\VKS 1 I. AMI. INoUTII PoLAB CODMTHIBB.] 



BANN, a river in Ireland, which rises in the county Down, about 

 8 miles east from the town of Newry, in the highlands near the coast. 

 It flows in a tolerably straight course and in a north-west direction 

 to Lough Neagh, which it enters near the south-western corner, and 

 issues from the north-western part of the lough, flowing through 



i Beg, and thence in a direction nearly north to the North Sea, 

 wlii. h it joins about 4 miles north-west of Coleraine, and about 75 

 English miles measured in a direct line from its source. 



In iU course the Bann passes through the towns of Banbridgc in 

 the county of Down, Portadown in Armagh, Portglenone in Antrim, 

 ami Kilrvn and Coleraino in Londonderry. About 3 miles south of 

 Kilrea it is joined by the river daily. The river Bann lias a bar at 

 its mouth, which makes the entrance rather difficult in rough 

 weather ; at other times vessels of 200 tons burden can proceed as 



up the stream as the bridge at Coleraine. The approach to the 

 town is however at all time* somewhat difficult, owing to the great 



rapidity of the stream. Besides the salmon-fishery, which is valuable, 

 there is also a considerable take of eels in the river. 



About a mile above Coleraine was a considerable cataract, called 

 the Cutto, where the river fell over a ledge of rocks 13 feet high. 

 This point is the site of a valuable salmon-fishery. The Irish Board 

 of Works have recently constructed here a lock and piers to regulate 

 the flow of the waters and to improve navigation on the river : they 

 have also been for some years past engaged in extensive drainage 

 operations in the valley of the Lower Bann, by which Urge tract* all 

 round the margin of Lough Neagh are relieved from winter fl< 

 navigation is improved, and a large accession of mill-power is obtained. 

 [NEAOH, Lor<. H.] 



BANNOCKBURN, Stirlingshire, Scotland, a town in the parish of 

 St. Niniaiis, about 3 miles S.S.E. from Stirling, and on both sides, but 

 principally on the right side, of a rivulet called the Bannockl>urn, 

 which falls into the Forth below Stirling : the population of tin' tow n 

 in 1851 was 2627. 



It was here that the great battle so well known both in Scotch and 

 English history was fought on the 24th of June. ]:U4, between 

 Edward II. and Robert Bruce, which secured the iinle|n-mlenoe of 

 Scotland and established the family of Bruce on its throne. A stone 

 is pointed out on the field of battle in which it is said the Scottish 

 standard was placed during the eventful day. 



Bonnockburn is also celebrated in Scottish history as the place at 

 which James III. was defeated in an engagement with his subjects. 

 In attempting to escape the unfortunate king fell from hi horse and 

 was seriously injured; he was carried to a neighbouring mill, \\ Inn- 

 he was soon after assassinated by a priest whom he had sent for to 

 afford him spiritual consolation. 



(Hume's Jlutory of England ; HailesW rinob of Scotland ; Tytlcr's 

 Hutory of Scotland.) 



BANON. [ALMS, BASSES.] 



BANTAM, one of the nineteen provinces into which the island of 

 Java has been divided by the Dutch, is situated at the western 

 extremity of the island ; it lies principally between 6" oii.l 7 

 105 and 106 E. long., and is separated from the south-eastern 

 extremity of Sumatra by the Strait of Sunda. The district is washed 

 on three sides by the sea, and on the east it is bounded by the district 

 of Batavia. 



The Portuguese, when they first visited Java in 1511 nre said to 

 have found the kingdom of Bantam under H indoo government ; but at 

 the time of the settlement of the Dutch at Batavia in 1620, Bantam 

 was under the sway of a Mohammedan sultan, and so continued until 

 1813, when the sultan voluntarily made over all his rights to the 

 British government, which in return settled on him an annual pension 

 of 10,000 dollars. For a long time previous to the conquest 

 by the English from the Dutch the sultan of Bantam was tributary 

 to the Dutch East India Company, and paid to it every year 37,500 

 I.'.UM.N weight of pepper, besides engaging not to allow any pepper 

 or other produce of his kingdom to be sold to any one but the I intrh 

 residents, and at stipulated prices. As another proof of the sul.j 

 in which the nominal kingdom of Bantam was then held by the 

 European settlers it may be mentioned that the Dutch East India 

 Company claimed and exercised the right of nominating from 

 the royal family the person who should succeed to the tin -one. An 

 insurrection took place within the kingdom in 1808, on which occasion 

 the Dutch government interfered, deposed the reigning sultan, and 

 banished him to Amboyna, raising another of his family to fill his 

 place. The Dutch authorities also made this disturbance a pretext 

 for assuming the direct government of the low districts, confining the 

 power of the new sultan to the high country. 



The English East India Company entered into trading relations 

 with the sultan of Bantam in 1601, and settled a factory in hi< 

 dominions in 1602; this they raised into a presidency in 1634. In 

 the following year the sultan, who had suffered severely from his 

 territory having been made the scene of hostilities between the rival 

 mercantile settlers from Holland and England, destroyed all th.- 

 pepper vines in his dominions, conceiving that be should thus get rid 

 of his troublesome neighbours, whose only object then appeared to be 

 the monopolising of pepper. The English company's factory was 

 taken from them by the Dutch in 1662, and was afterwards virtually 

 yielded to the Dutch, with all other British possessions in this part 

 by Charles II., under a treaty by which he obtained 100,000 as 

 compensation for these cessions. 



Since the restoration of Java to the Dutch by the English in 1816, 

 under the provisions of the Treaty of Paris, the town of Ccram, w hieli 

 is situated on the hills about 7 miles inland from the town of Bantam, 

 has been adopted as the provincial capital, because of its greater 

 salubrity. Anjer, which is situated on the shore of the Strait of 

 SHIM|:I. is the constant resort of vessels passing through the strait, 

 and may be called the key of the Eastern Archipelago. It is a small 

 clean Dutch town, defended by a fort, with a dirty-looking village 

 attached to it, and inhabited by Malays and Chinese. Fruits, vege- 

 tables, water, and other articles are supplied to vessels entering the 

 roads at moderate charges. A Urge revenue is raised at Anjer by 

 the sale of opium. A remarkable object on shore is a gigantic banyan- 

 tree surmounted by the Dutch flag-staff, which is reached by a 

 succession of bamboo ladders. It is usual for vessels bound from 



