896 



BAN RANDA ORIENTAL. 



nu:l;i\vry, of which we have recently had ;in instance 

 in thi" proclamation issued aju : nst. Napoleon, ufUT 

 his return from Elba. 



KIN, in political law, is equivalent to e.rcmnmnni- 

 ciitinii in ecclesiastical. The emperor of Germany 

 li.i.l the right to declare a member of the empire un- 

 der the ban, and to dispose of his lend. The han, 

 like die excommunication, forbids every one to have 

 intercourse with the person proscribed, or to give him 

 food or shelter. Very often, however, the sentence 

 was repealed, and the party restored to till his rights 

 and privileges. Ban, in military aflkirs, is an order, 

 given by beating the drum or sounding the trumpet, 

 requiring the strict observance of discipline, or an- 

 nouncing the appointment of an officer, &c. 



HAN, or HANN, a large river of Ulster in Ireland, 

 which takes its rise in a plain called the Deer's 

 Mf<i<foic, and sometimes the King's Meadow, in the 

 mountains of Mourne and county of Down. After 

 flowing a distance of thirty-eight miles, it falls into 

 Lough Neagh near the Ban-foot ferry, in the county of 

 Armagh. This part ts called the Upper Ban. In its 

 course it passes within two miles of Rathfryland, 

 through M c Cay's Bridge and Banbridge, by Guilford 

 and Portadown, near which last place it is joined by 

 the Newry canal, and, from thence to Lough Neagh 

 it is navigable by boats of fifty tons burden. The 

 lower Ban (which is the outlet of Lough Neagh) 

 passing by Toome, and winding through a rugged 

 country, tumbles over several ledges of rock, washes 

 Coleraine, and falls into the sea five miles below that 

 town. By means of the Newry navigation the Up- 

 per Ban is made subservient to the opening of a 

 communication from Lough Neagh to the Irish sea ; 

 and, if the Lower Ban were made navigable, a safe 

 communication would be opened from the Irish sea 

 to the Atlantic, to the incalculable benefit of six 

 counties. The fishery of this .river is extremely 

 valuable. 



BAN (bannus). This name is given to the gover- 

 nors of Dalmatia, Sclavonia, Croatia, placed at the 

 head of civil and military affairs in these countries. 

 Han signifies, in the Sclavonian tongue, a master, 

 A province, over which a ban was placed, is called 

 bnnnat. At present, the only ban is that of Croatia, 

 who has the thi rd place among the secular nobles of 

 Hungary. Before him come the palatinus regniand 

 ti\e.judex curiee. 



BANANA. The banana is a valuable plant (musn 

 snpientium) which grows in the West Indies and 

 other tropical countries, and has leaves about six feet 

 in length and a foot broad in the middle, and fruit 

 four or five inches long, and about the shape of the 

 cucumber. When ripe, the banana is a very agree- 

 able fruit, with a soft and luscious pulp, and is fre- 

 quently introduced in desserts in the West Indies, 

 but never eaten green, like the plantain. The Span- 

 iards have a superstitious dislike to cut this fruit 

 acrcss ; they always slice it from end to end, because, 

 in the former case, the section presents an imaginary 

 resemblance to the instrument of our Saviour's cruci- 

 fixion. The banana is sometimes fried in slices as 

 fritters. If the pulp of this fruit be squeezed through 

 a fine sieve, it may be formed into small loaves, 

 which, after having been properly dried, may be 

 kept for a great length of time. 



BANBURY ; a borough and market town in the 

 hundred of Banbury ami county of Oxford, sixty-nine 

 miles N. W. from London. It has long been cele- 

 brated for the excellence of its cheese, its cakes, and 

 its ale. The population of the borough and parish 

 in 1831 was 5906. 



BANCA,- an island belonging to the Netherlands, 

 near Sumatra, one of the vassal states of Palembang, 

 containing 60,000 inhabitants, among them 25,000 



Chinese, is known on account of its-tin mines, work- 

 ed by the Dutch East India company (the annual 

 profit of which, to the Dutch, is estimated at 

 150,000), and its pearl fishery, which is also pro- 

 ductive on the shores of llie group of Solo islaiub , 

 north-east from Borneo. The tin of Banca is pure, 

 and easily obtained. The south-easterly part of 

 Banca has not yet been examined. The B;m<a 

 islands, in 2 22' S. lat., and 105 41' E. Ion., afford 

 shelter from S. W. by S. to N. W., with a good sup- 

 ply of water and fuel. 



B.\NDA ISLANDS; a group of islands belonging to 

 the Netherlands, in the Eastern ocean, lying K. of 

 the Celebes; so called from Banda, the principal 

 of them; Ion. 130 37' E. ; lat. 4 12' S. They con- 

 tain but 5763 inhabitants, though they are said for- 

 merly to have contained 15,000. Their chief pro- 

 duce is nutmegs, of which they are competent to 

 supply the want of. the rest of the world. The whole 

 quantity produced on these islands cannot be ac- 

 curately stated. The annual sales are said formerly 

 to have amounted to 350,000 pounds of nutmegs and 

 100,000 pounds of mace. When, however, they wen- 

 taken by the British, in 1796, the half year's crop 

 was found to be little more than 80,000 pounds ot 

 nutmegs and about 24,000 pounds of mace. The, 

 trees in all the other islands were carefully extirpat- 

 ed by command of the Dutch ; and the whole trade 

 of those where the growth is cherished is a complete 

 monopoly. The names of the islands are Banda, or 

 Lantor ; Puloway, or Poolaway ; Pulo Run, or 

 Poolaron ; Neira, Gunon Assi, or Guanapee Rosyn- 

 gen ; Pulo Prampon, Pulo Suanjee Capal, and 

 Nylacky. The inhabitants are in alliance with the 

 Dutch East India company. These islands can never 

 be expected to yield any advantage besides that deriv- 

 ed from the spice trade. Entirely cut off from the 

 other parts of India, and deprived of all commerce, 

 save a trifling bartering with the indigent natives of 

 the south-eastern and south-western islands, they 

 are even destitute of the means of subsistence for 

 their own. inhabitants, and must be supplied with 

 every necessary from abroad, as nature, which has 

 lavishly bestowed upon them articles of luxury, has 

 denied them those of immediate necessity. Banda 

 is likewise accounted a most unhealthy place, es- 

 pecially at the chief settlement of Neira. Some at- 

 tribute this circumstance to the neighbourhood of 

 the volcano, in the, islands of Gunong Api, and 

 others to a deleterious quality in the water. 



BANDA ORIENTAL,. This tract of country has fixed 

 public attention, as the subject of an obstinate war 

 between Brazil and the United Provinces of La Plata,' 

 and seems destined, by its geographical position, to 

 possess much importance hereafter. It is situated 

 between the eastern bank of the river Uruguay and 

 the ocean, and between the river La Plata on the 

 south and the Sierra do Topas on the north (which 

 separates it from Brazil), and receives its name from 

 its position with respect to the Uruguay. It is fertile 

 and healthy, and, although checked in its prosperity 

 by political misfortunes, had gained a white popula- 

 tion of 80,000 souls. Having been originally settled 

 by a Spanish colony from Buenos Ayres, it fell under 

 the authority of Spain, but came, at length, to be the 

 occasion of contention with Portugal. Both nations 

 prized it ; Spain, as giving her the control of both 

 sides of the river La Plata ; Portugal, as necessary to 

 the free and secure navigation of the immense interior 

 of Brazil ; and each nation asserted a claim to a ter- 

 ritory of so much consequence. During the long- 

 wars between Portugal and Spain, relative to the 

 various boundaries 01 their vast possessions in South 

 America, the Banda Oriental was overrun and wast- 

 ed, sometimes by one and sometimes by the other, 



