THE PENNY CYCLOPAEDIA 



OF 



THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF 

 USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. 



B A S 



BASSANTIN, or BASSINTOUN, JAMES, son 

 of the ' Laird of Bassintin in the Mers,' (Merse?) (Biog. 

 Brit.) He was educated at Glasgow, and afterwards tra- 

 \ tiled, but finally settled at Paris, where he taught mathe 

 matics and astronomy. Of his personal life we know no- 

 thing, but that he was addicted to astrology, and gave Sir 

 Robert Melville (see his memoirs or Bios. Brit.) some pre- 

 dictions a little after the time of Queen Mary's escape into 

 England. He returned to Scotland in 1562 and died 1568. 

 (See ASTRONOMY, and place the date there given, 1557, in 

 brackets ; it is the date of publication of a work.) He was 

 of Murray's party, and a zealous Protestant. 



He wrote various works, as follows:!. Paraphrase tur 

 r.latrnlabp, Lyons, 1555, reprinted at Paris, 1617. 2. Ma- 

 t/irimitiru Gencthliaca. 3. De Muthesi in Grnere. 4. Mu- 

 tica secundum Platonem. 5. Aritlimetica. To these works 

 we cannot find dates. 6. A work on Astronomy, in French, 

 (pivsently to be noticed,) translated into Latin by De 

 'lournes (Tornesius), under the title of Asti -onomiu. J. Bas- 

 tantini Scott, &c., reprinted 1613. 



There is also a Discours Astronomique, published in 1557, 

 at Lyons., it:id Lalande gives the title of a Latin version pub- 

 lished at Geneva in 1599, and again in 1613. Delambre 

 doubts whether this Discours Astronomique be any other 

 than the original of No. 6 in the list above ; and we incline 

 to think he is right, for, independently of the coincidence of 

 editors and dates, this Discours Astronomique appears to 

 l>e the work of Bassantin's which was best known. It was 

 the only one in De Thou's library, and is the only one in Uiat 

 of the Faculty of Advocates, at Edinburgh. It is the only 

 work mentioned by Weidler, while No. 6 is the only one 

 mentioned by Vossius. Vossius observes that the original 

 was written in very bad French, and that the author knew 

 ' neither Greek nor Latin, but only Scotch.' 



The trigonometry of Bassantin uses only sines. His 

 planetary system is that of Ptolemy, and he was much in- 

 debted to Purbach. He adopted the trepidation of the 

 equinoxes. (See ASTRONOMY.) He used the sphere in 

 actual computations ; and, in his treatise on the planisphere, 

 appears to nave followed the plan, if not the work, of Apian. 

 (See Bins. Brit. ; Delambre, Hist, de I'Astron. Mod., &c.) 



BASSEIN, a town and port in the province of Aurunga- 

 bad, situated on the point of the continent of Hindustan 

 opposite to the north end of the island of Salsette, in 19 20' 

 N. lat., and 72 56' E. long. Bassein was once a city and 

 fortress of importance, but, sharing the fate of many places in 

 India, it has suffered from the wars and revolutions to which 

 that country has been exposed, and is now fallen into decay. 



In the year 1531 Bassein was ceded to the Portuguese, 

 under the provisions of a treaty concluded by them with 

 the sultan of Cambay, and for more than two centuries it 

 remained in the undisturbed possession of that nation. In 

 1 750 the town wag taken by the Maharattas, from whom it 

 was captured by the British in December, 1 774 ; and in the 

 following March was formally yielded to its conquerors by a 

 treaty made with the MaharatU chief, Ragoba. By the 



B A S 



treaty of Poonah, Bassein was, however, again relinquished 

 to the Maharattas. In November, 1 78fl, the fortress was 

 regularly besieged by the British army under General 

 Goddard, and, after sustaining the attack for four weeks, 

 surrendered at discretion. By the treaty concluded in May, 

 1 782, with the Maharatta chiefs, Bassein was once more re- 

 stored, together with Ahmedabad and our other conquests 

 in Gujerat, and the town long remained in possession of the 

 Maharattas. In 1802 the Peishwa Bajee Rao fled to Bas- 

 sein from his rival, Holkar, and sought the protection of the 

 British government, with whom he concluded a treaty on the 

 last day of that year. It was hoped that this treaty would 

 have broken up the federal union of the Maharatta chiefs, 

 by separating from it the Peishwa, who had been its nominal 

 head ; but this chief having subsequently been induced to 

 join his former rivals and to organize with them a plan of 

 hostility to the English, the whole of his territories were de- 

 clared forfeited, and were taken into possession by the Com- 

 pany's government in June, 1818, he becoming a stipendiary 

 of that government, and recognizing this appropriation of 

 his territories. Bassein has since that time remained in 

 the hands of the English, under whom the fortifications 

 have been allowed to go to decay, and the town and port 

 have become of little importance. At a recent date, the 

 town contained a great number of houses in ruins. 



The state of cultivation exhibited in the surrounding 

 country is, on the contrary, flourishing. To the north and 

 north-east of Bassein are forests of teak-wood, from which 

 the ship-building establishments at Bombay are supplied. 

 A considerable part of the agricultural population are pro- 

 fessors of the Roman Catholic religion, which it is probable 

 was introduced among them by the early European settlers 

 from Portugal. 



(Rennell s Memoir of a Map of Hindustan; Mills's His- 

 tory of British India ; Treaties presented to Parliament by 

 command of his Majesty, 1819; Report of Committee of the 

 House of Commons on the Affairs of India, 1832, political 

 division.) 



BASSETERRE is the capital of the island of St. Chris- 

 topher's in the West Indies. The town is situated on the 

 south side of the island, at the mouth of a small river. It 

 contains about 800 houses, many of which are very good, a 

 spacious square, and a small church, and is defended by 

 three forts. It was founded in 1623. The district of Basse- 

 terre contains 17 square miles, with a population of 6620 

 souls. It is divided into two parishes, St. George's and St. 

 Peter's, and sends six members to the assembly the for- 

 mer four, the latter two. This name was given by the 

 French to the district from its being the lower portion of the 

 island. The vale of Basseterre is exceedingly beautiful and 

 well cultivated. The anchorage is in an open bay, and a con- 

 tinual heavy surf beats on the shore, which is a sandy beach. 

 As this prevents any wharf or quay being erected, the goods 

 are shipped in a boat called a ' moses, manned by expert 

 rowers, who, watching the lull of the surf, pull on shore, 

 laying the broadside of the boat to the beach so as to roll 



NO. 205. 



[THE PENNY CYCLOPEDIA.] 



VOL. IV. B 



