BAT 



39 



BAT 



and towards the south of Seras, of granite ; they differ 

 in this respect from the hills accompanying the Nile below 

 Wadi Haifa, where the prevailing rock is sandstone. The 

 mountains on the eastern side of the Nile reach their 

 greatest elevation towards the south : the Jabal Lamoule, 

 above Wadi Ambigo, is noticed by Burckhardt as one of 

 Ilie highest. Another group of high hills called Jabal 

 Bilingo, is found farther towards the north, between Wadi 

 Attar and Seras. In his route from Wadi Attar to Wildi 

 Ambigo, Burckhardt had to cross over a high mountain pass 

 in the hills, named Jabel l)oushe. 



The small strips of level land on the banks of the river 

 were formerly populous and well cultivated, but are now 

 thinly inhabited. The number of the present male in- 

 habitants of the whole district of Batn-el-Hajar is esti- 

 mated by Burckhardt not to exceed 200. They consist 

 partly of Beduins of the tribe Kerrarish ; partly of Arabs, 

 who pretend to be Shertfs, or descendants of the family 

 of Mohammed, from Mecca. The chief of the latter, who 

 is distinguished by the title of melek, or king, is tributary 

 to the governors of Nubia, and resides at Wadi Attar, or 

 Attyu, the principal village of Batn-el-Hajar. In conse- 

 quence, however, of the frequent incursions of the Sheygya 

 Arabs (who live on the southern banks of the bend of the Nile 

 in Dongola, at a distance of eight days' journey from Succot 

 across the desert), the greater part of the Shertfs have now 

 quitted this neighbourhood, and have settled partly in the 

 district of Succot, and partly in Dongola. Most of the Sho- 

 rtfs speak a little Arabic. They are described as being re- 

 markably well made, with fine features, and of a dark brown 

 colour. They go naked, and the women are in the habit of 

 wearing leather amulets round the neck, and copper orna- 

 ments on their arms and wrists. They dwell chiefly upon the 

 little islands of the river, where they are less exposed to 

 the attacks of the predatory Arabs than on the banks of the 

 river. 



Riippell, who in 1823 passed through the part of Batn-el- 

 II ajar situated on the western side of the Nile, describes 

 that district as consisting of a chain of syenite hills along 

 the banks of the river, and beyond them, as far as the eye 

 could reach, a tract of moveable sands, the dreary uniformity 

 of which was but seldom interrupted by projecting dark 

 cliffs of primitive rock. On the western bank of the river, 

 towards the south of Wadi Haifa, Riippell found many de- 

 serted villages and monasteries: the local appellation of the 

 latter is Sullf. Nearly the whole of the western part of 

 DSr-el-Hajar is now uninhabited. At Semne (in 21 30' 

 N. lat.) Riippell saw the ruins of a large and apparently 

 antient village or town, with several temples in a mixed 

 Roman and Egyptian style of architecture. (See Edward 

 Riippell's Reiten in Nubien, &c., Frankfurt, 1829. 8vo. 

 pp. 12, 13.) 



The vegetable productions of Batn-el-Hajar are few. 

 Date-trees are occasionally found in the wadis or valleys 

 that intersect the hills and slope towards the Nile. At 

 WSdi Seras Burckhardt saw a few cotton-fields and bean- 

 plantations. Dhourra is scarce. The principal food of the 

 inhabitants consists of beans, and the grains of a shrub 

 called krrkedan, which grows wild here. Another legumi- 

 nous plant, the symha, is used as food for camels, and 

 from its grains an oil is prepared which the natives use 

 instead of butter. 



At the southern extremity of Batn-el-Hajar, the village 

 of Wndi Okame, or Ukme, is situated: this place is often 

 visited by pilgrims who perform their devotions at the tomb 

 of a Mohammedan saint, Sheikh Okashe, who is buried here. 

 At a distance of two hours' ride S.S.W. of Okame is the 

 island of Kolbe, the residence of the chief of Succot. 

 (J. L. Burckhardt's Travels in Nubia, Lond. 1819. 4to. p. 

 42-50.) 



BATOLITES, in zoology, a genus of fossil shells esta- 

 blished by Montfort, and placed by him among his coquilles 

 unii-alvet cloisonnees. Cuvier, however, who quotes the 

 observations of M. Deshayes and of M. Audouin, considers 

 them as cylindrical and straight hippurites, and places 

 them under hi* family of ostraci'-s or ostraceans, among 

 those fossil bivalves which are supposed to have had their 

 valves connected by no ligament but by mere muscular 

 adhesion, and immediately before the oysters. Montfort 

 states that these shells acquire a very great length, and that 

 they constitute masses of rock in the High Alps. [See 

 BIKOSTRITES and HIPPURITZS.] 



BATRA'CHIANS. [See FRORS.] 



BATRACHOMYOMA'CHIA (Varpaxofimpaxia), the 

 battle of the frogs and mice, is the title of a Greek poem, 

 consisting of 294 hexameter verses. This poem, though 

 generally ascribed to Homer, and printed with the editions 

 of the Iliad and Odyssey, undoubtedly belongs to a late 

 age, and is attributed by Plutarch and Suidas to Pigres, of 

 Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor. Pigres is called by Suidas 

 the brother of that Artemisia who was the wife of Mausolus. 

 [See ARTEMISIA.] This poem, however, is probably the 

 composition of some still later writer of the Alexandrine 

 school. Some critics consider it a satirical poem : as it is 

 not very long, the reader may form his own opinion without 

 much trouble. (See Parnell's Translation into English 

 verse.) 



BATTA, an allowance made to military officers in the 

 service of the East India Company, in addition to their pay. 

 As the officers of King's regiments serving in India re- 

 ceive their pay according to the scale fixed by his Majesty's 

 regulations, and which pay is below the emoluments derived 

 by officers of similar rank in the regiments of the East India 

 Company, the allowance of batta is made also to them by 

 the Company, and is so adjusted as to preserve an equality 

 of income between the two services. 



The scale of allowance under the name of batta varies not 

 only with the circumstance of the regiments being in the 

 field or in cantonments, but also according to the part of the 

 country in which they are stationed. 



Batta was originally given with the intention of enabling 

 officers to provide for field-equipment, and for those extra 

 expenses which they must incur when marching, but it 

 early lost this character when it was continued to officers in 

 cantonments. In November^ 1828, the distinction was made 

 between the amount allowed when in actual service, and 

 when in cantonments : before that time no difference was 

 made. The effect of the alteration is this : that at particular 

 stations of the army, where an officer formerly got full batta, 

 he now gets half that batta, with an allowance for house-rent, 

 which is inferior to what the other half of the batta would be. 

 The half-batta of a lieutenant-colonel is 304 rupees (about 

 30/.)per month ; his allowance for house-rent is 100 rupees. 

 A major's half-batta is 228, and for house-rent 80 rupees per 

 month; captain's half-batta, 91, and house-rent, 50 rupees; 

 lieutenant's, 61, and 30 rupees ; ensign's, 4G, and 25 rupees. 

 Colonels of regiments, not being general officers on the staff, 

 nor holding offices specially provided for, are allowed the 

 full batta of 750 rupees per month at any station, but they 

 have not any allowance for house-rent. It was estimated, 

 that by carrying into effect the regulation of November, 

 1828, the government of the East India Company would 

 save 12.000/. per annum. (Report of Committee of the 

 House of Commons on the Affairs of India, 1832, part 5, 

 Military.) 



BATTALION. This name is applied to a certain division 

 of the infantry ia an army, corresponding, nearly, to the chi- 

 liarchia in a Greek phalanx, and to the cohort in a Roman 

 legion. The number of men composing a battalion is vari- 

 able, but in the British service, according to the present 

 establishment, it is, in general, about 750. One battalion 

 in most cases constitutes a regiment, but some regiments, 

 as those of the guards, consist of two battalions, and the 

 regiment of artillery consists at present of eight, besides the 

 brigade of horse artillery. It seems, therefore, that, origi- 

 nally, the name of regiment was applied to the body of 

 men organized for a particular district, or a particular 

 branch of service; and that, when the numerical strength 

 of the regiment exceeded what was considered convenient, 

 it was divided into two or more battalions. 



The phalanges of the Greeks, and the legions of the 

 Romans, with their respective constitutions and divisions, 

 will be described under the words PHALANX and LEGIOX. 



The destructive effects of fire-arms among dense bodies 

 of men necessarily caused the close order of battle used in 

 antient warfare to be abandoned: though, down to the 

 middle of the eighteenth century, an opinion that the troops 

 could not otherwise resist effectually a charge of the enemy, 

 and the desire to form them with facility into a column for 

 attack, induced commanders of armies to draw up the bat- 

 talions in a line from four to six files deep. But the nume- 

 rous casualties which still occurred, led subsequently to the 

 practice of forming the line in three ranks ; and in the latest 

 regulations for the disposition of the British army, it is pre- 



