85 



BRAIDA. 



BRANDENBURG. 



westerly wind, to enable them to stem the force of the current. Below 

 Goalpara the Brahmap<itra enters the plains of Bengal, where it is 

 only about 120 feet above the level of the sea. 



The general direction of the Brahmaputra from the western ex- 

 tremity of the island of Kullung to its entry into the plains of Bengal 

 lies due east and west, and it preserves this direction still farther 

 down to the town of Rangamatty. Below Goalpara it receives on 

 the right the Tchin-tchien or Guddada, a considerable river which 

 traverses the eastern portion of Bootan. Near Rangamatty the 

 Brahmaputra declines to the south-west, and shortly afterwards takes 

 a due southern course to 25 N. lat., where it begins to run to the 

 south-east. Between 26 and 25 the first communication with the 

 Ganges commences. A small branch of the Brahmaputra running due 

 south falls into the Issamutty, a branch of the Teesta, which joins 

 the Ganges near Jaffiergunge; and another water-course, which 

 branches off from the Brahmaputra a little lower down, and is called 

 Lobnee, falls into the ancient bed of the Ganges below Jaffiergunge. 



The Brahmaputra continues its south-eastern course nearly to 24 

 N. lat., where it is joined by the Barak, or river of Silhet, which 

 comes from the mountains of Tiperah. From this point of junction the 

 Brahmaputra runs south-south-west, with large bends until it reaches 

 the neighbourhood of Fringybazar, where its channel widens greatly. 

 The Brahmaputra and the Ganges at present have separate embouchures, 

 though Hiey approach so near one another that their beds at some 

 places are hardly two miles apart. Even after they have left the 

 continent their currents are still divided, that of the Ganges running 

 to the west of the island of Shabazpore, while the Megna (the name 

 which the Brahmaputra bears below Fringybazar) sends its waters to 

 the Gulf of Bengal by the channel between the islands of Shabazpore 

 and Hattia. 



The whole course of the Brahmaputra, as here described, may be 

 estimated at 880 miles, of which 160 miles belong to its upper course 

 east of the mouth of the Dihong, 350 miles to its middle course to 

 Goalpara, and the remainder to its lower course to the island of Hattia. 

 The Ganges runs 1350 miles, and therefore exceeds the Brahmaputra 

 by near 500 miles ; but the Brahmaputra carries down a much greater 

 volume of water. It was found, in January 1828, that it discharged 

 near Goalpara below the mouth of the Bonash, in one second, 146,188 

 cubic feet of water, while Rennell calculated that the principal branch 

 of the Ganges in the dry season discharges only 80,000 cubic feet. 

 The length above given is based on the assumption, supported by 

 Julius Klaproth ami other eminent geographers, that the Great Tibet 

 river Sampoo empties itself into the Irawaddi ; but if, as i now more 

 generally believed, the Sampoo and the Dihong are the same river, 

 and an affluent of the Brahmaputra, then it will increase the length 

 of the last-named river by more than 1 000 miles : a supposition ren- 

 dered the more probable by the immense body of water brought 

 down by that river. 



(Rennell; Francis Hamilton; Klaproth, Hffmoira; Nefville and 

 Wilcox in Atiatic Ketearcha ; Ritter, Amen; Map of Klaproth, 

 Berghaus, and Wilcoi.) 



BRAIDA. [ALBA.1 



BRAIN-LK-COMPTE. [HAIX.M-T.T.! 



BRAIXTREK, Essex, a market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law 

 T'nion, in the parish of Braintreo and hundred of Hinckford, is situ- 

 ated on the high road from London to Norwich, through Bury, in 

 51 53' N. lat., 33' K. long., distant 11 miles N. by E. from Chelms- 

 ford, 40 miles N.E. from London by road, and 44 J miles by the Eastern 

 !s railway. The population of the town in 1851 was 2836; 

 f the parish of Booking, which is contiguous to and usually 

 associated with Braintree, wa 3846. Braintree is governed by a select 

 vertry of 24 parishioners, who as early as 1584 were styled governors 

 anrl town magistrate*. The living of Braintree is a vicarage, that of 

 Booking is a rectory ; both are in the archdeaconry of Colchester and 

 diocese of Rochester. Braintree Poor-Law Union contains 14 parishes 

 anl townships, with an area of 41,580 acre*, and a population in 1851 

 of 1 7,576. 



Braintree was constituted a market-town by King John. The 

 growth of the place is to be ascribed to its situation on one of the 

 high roads from London into Norfolk and Suffolk, and to the build- 

 ing of inns and lodging-houses for the reception of the numerous 

 pilgrims to the shrines of St. Edmund at Bury, and our lady of Wal- 

 sintfharn in Norfolk. At the Reformation this source of its prosperity 

 failivl ; but the town and the adjacent village of Booking obtained 

 importance by the settlement of the Flemings who fled from the 

 tyranny of the Duke of Alva, and established here the manufacture 

 of baize and other light woollens, which for some time constituted the 

 staple manufacture of the place, but is now entirely superseded by 

 that of silk. 



Booking church and Church Street are one mile and a half from 

 Braintree, on the north-east bank of the Pant or Blackwater. The 

 two my b said to form one town, the main street of which covers 

 two-thirds of the extent between Pod's Brook and the river Pant, 

 and tretrhes about a mile. The streets are inconveniently narrow ; 

 many of the houses are of wood, and of considerable antiquity. 

 Bmintn-B Church is large, built chiefly of flint, and mostly in the 

 perpendicular style ; the tower at the west end, which is early English, 

 fa surmounted by a lofty shingled spiro of much later date. There 



are places of worship for Independents, Baptists, and Quakers ; two 

 Endowed schools ; and a mechanics institute. The town is partially 

 lighted with gas. The manufacture of silk and crape is carried on to 

 a considerable extent, employing about 1000 persons. There is a 

 brush manufactory, and some trade is carried on in straw plait- 

 There are several corn-mills on the Pant. The market is on Wednes- 

 day for corn, eggs, poultry, cattle, and live stock of all kinds. A 

 fair is held in October which is much resorted to, and well supplied 

 with cattle. A county court is held in the town. Some coins, 

 sepulchral urns, and other Roman antiquities have been found in the 

 parish. Braintree has been frequently ravaged by the plague. In the 

 great plague of 1665-6, which continued in Braintree for upwards of 

 twelve months, nearly 700 persons were attacked, of whom it would 

 appear that not one in thirty recovered. 



Becking church is a spacious and handsome edifice, chiefly in the 

 perpendicular style ; the tower is lofty and well designed. The 

 houses at Booking seem of a better character than those of Braintree. 

 At Booking is an almshouse or hospital with an endowment from the 

 benefactions of several individuals. 

 BRAISNE. [AiSNE.] 

 BRAMBER. [SUSSEX.] 



BRAMPTON, Cumberland, a market-town and the seat of a Poor- 

 Law Union, in the parish of Brampton and ward of Eskdale, is situ- 

 ated in 54 57' N. lat, 2 44' W. long., 9 miles E.N.E. from Carlisle, 

 311 miles N. by W. from London by road, and 316 miles by tho 

 North-Western and Newcastle and Carlisle railways : the popu- 

 lation of the town of Brampton in 1851 was 3074. The living is a 

 vicarage in the archdeaconry and diocese of Carlisle. Brampton Poor- 

 Law Union contains 14 parishes and townships, with an area of 95,520 

 acres, and a population in 1851 of 11,148. 



Brampton is a very ancient town. The parish church, erected with 

 part of the materials of the old church which was dismantled in 1788, 

 is a neat and commodious structure. It was repaired and enlarged, 

 and a tower added, in 1827. The chancel of the old church still 

 stands, and in it the burial service is read on occasion of interments. 

 The Presbyterian meeting-house was erected in 1722, and there are 

 chapels for Independents, and Wesleyau and Primitive Methodists. 

 There are National schools for boys and girls, a Congregational 

 school, and an Infant school. The town-hall, a neat building of an 

 octagonal form, was erected by the late Earl of Carlisle in 1817. The 

 town is lighted with gas. The principal occupation is the weaving 

 of checks and ginghams for Carlisle manufacturers. The collieries of 

 the Earl of Carlisle afford some employment. There are several 

 corn-mills near Brampton. The market, held on Wednesday, is well 

 supplied with corn and provisions. 



About two miles south from Brampton is a rock on which is a 

 Roman inscription ; the supposed date is A.D. 207. At the east end 

 of the town is a lofty natural mount, the summit of which commands 

 an extensive prospect. About two miles to the east is Lanercost 

 Abbey, founded in 1116. The nave has long been used as the parish 

 church. The rest of the edifice is in ruins. Naworth Castle, two 

 miles and a half north-east from Brampton, the baronial mansion of 

 the lords of Gilsland, now the property of the Earl of Carlisle, had 

 been kept in a state of good preservation till 1844, when three sides 

 of the quadrangle were destroyed by fire : it has been since restored, 

 in excellent taste. The great baronial hall, which is in the gothic 

 style, is 70 feet long by 24 feet broad. 

 BRAMPTON. [DEHBYSHIRK.] 

 BRANCASTER. [NORFOLK.] 



BRANDENBURG, the metropolitan province of Prussia, derives its 

 name from the Mark of Brandenburg, the ancestral dominions of the 

 reigning family ; the Mark itself being indebted for its own denomi- 

 nation to -he ancient town of that name. Its component parts, how- 

 ever, are not what they were in former days ; for the Kurmark and 

 the Alt-mark have been incorporated with the province of Saxony, 

 and the northern parts of the Neumark have been united with 

 Pomerania. In exchange for these, several minor circles, bailiwicks, 

 and other parcels of land, all of them once forming a portion of tho 

 districts of Wittemberg, Meissen, Querfurt, Ac., in the kingdom of 

 Saxony, are now comprised in Brandenburg. The province is 

 bounded N. by Mecklenburg and Pomerania, E. by the provinces of 

 West Prussia and Posen, S. by those 6( Silesia and Saxony and the 

 Anhalt principalities, and W. by the province of Saxony and Hanover. 

 It extends between 51 10' and 53 37' N. lat., 11 13' and 16 12' 

 E. long. Its area is 15,534 square miles. The population at the end 

 of 1849 was 2,129,022, of whom about 17,000 are Jews, about double 

 that number Catholics, 14 Mennonites, and 100 Greeks ; all the rest. 

 are Protestants of different sects included in the National Evangelical 

 Church of Prussia. 



The whole of Brandenburg is an almost uninterrupted plain, slightly 

 elevated above the surface of the Baltic. Its soil is composed of river 

 sand, in some quarters mingled with ferruginous earth, loam, or clay; 

 and hence arises so great a diversity in its character that a gem-i 1 

 failure of crops is almost unknown, for a season unfavourable to one 

 part ia usually found proportionably beneficial to another. The more 

 elevated and undulating parts of the mirfiice are in the southern diH- 

 tricts, between Frankfurt on the Oder and the Silesian frontier. The 

 hills in this direction rise to between 300 and 400 feet in height; 



