B A M 



224 



B A M 



Jiambco 



il 

 Bamiyan. 



BAMBOO Habit, a contrivance among the Chi- 

 nese for keeping themselves afloat in water, by a 

 number of cross bamboos. ( j) 



BAMBOUK, or Bambuck, a kingdom of Wes- 

 tern Africa, situated between the rivers Baling and 

 Faleme. The soil of this state is dry and unproduc- 

 tive, the temperature extremely high, and the climate 

 unwholesome. Gold is so plentiful, that it is obtained 

 by merely scraping the surface of the earth, which 

 is clayish and sandy. When the mine is rich, it is 

 wrought only to the depth of a few feet. In sepa- 

 rating the gold from the earth, the larger pieces only 

 are obtained, as the lesser pieces are washed away 

 with the water which runs down an inclined plane. 

 According to the Abbe Demanet, there are also 

 mines of silver, lead, and tin. The iron, which they 

 melt and convert into instruments of husbandry and 

 war, is of a very excellent quality, and saltpetre is 

 found in great quantities. 



The inhabitants of Bambouk hare woolly hair and 

 a sable complexion. They are distinguished into 

 two sects, viz. Mahometans and Deists, but they live 

 in harmony and mutual toleration. Their food is 

 rice, beef, and mutton, and their wine is a liquor pre- 

 pared from fermented honey. The method by which 

 they weave their cotton cloths, is very laborious and 

 difficult. The kingdom is traversed by the moun- 

 tains of Konkodoo, which abound with gold. Bam- 

 bouk, the capital, is situated on a stream which runs 

 into the river Faleme. See Raynal's Hist, of the 

 East and West Indies, vol. iv. p. 138 ; and Rennel's 

 Proceedings of the African Association, 1778. (to) 



BAMBUSA, a genus of plants of the class Hex- 

 andria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (w) 



BAMFF. See Banff. 



BAMIYAN, or Bamian, a city placed in the 

 centre of Paripamisus, a branch of Mount Caucasus, 

 in that part of independent Tartary called Great Bu- 

 charia. In Sanscrit itis called Vami-nagari, Vami-gram, 

 and in a derivative form Vdmiyan, " the most beauti- 

 ful and excellent city." Itis a place of great antiquity, 

 and at a very early period was regarded as the me- 

 tropolis of the sect of Buddha. It was therefore 

 emphatically styled Buddha-Bamiyan ; but this vene- 

 rable title has been perverted by the malicious Musul- 

 mans into But-Bamlyan, or Bamian, " of the evil 

 spirit." 



This celebrated city, the Thebes of the east, is re- 

 presented in the books of the Bauddhits, as the source 

 of purity and holiness. They pretemV that it was 

 built by the patriarch Shem, from whom it is some- 

 times called Sham-Bamiyan. This patriarch they 

 supnose to have been an incarnation of Jina or Vish- 

 nu ; an opinion which likewise prevails among the 

 Bramins. 



Bamiyan is situated between Bahlac and Cabul, 

 from the latter of which it is distant eight manzils or 

 day's journey. Like Thebes in Egypt, it is entirely 

 cut out of an insulated mountain ; and the surround- 

 ing valley is called, in the language of the country, 

 the Tagavi, or district of Bamiyan. About two miles 

 south from this place are the ruins of an ancient city 

 called Gutghideh, which, at a remote period, was de- 

 solated by the furious zeal of the Musulmans. The 

 j uins of some buildings of masonry are still seen round 



a small conical hill in the neighbourhood, w;hose sum- B 

 mit is crowned with the ruined palace of its ancient 

 kings. Through the ruins of Gul^huleh, and the 

 district of Bamiyan, flows a pleasant though scanty 

 stream, which rises in the adjacent hills, and falls into 

 a lake, from which issue four rivers, the Hirmend, 

 the Landhi Sindh, the rivcr3 of Bahlac, andof Conduz. 

 The city of Bamiyan consists of a great number of 

 apartments and recesses cut out of the rock ; and 

 from the Ayeen Akberry, as well as from the concur- 

 ring reports of travellers, we learn, that there are about 

 12,000 of these recesses in the Tagavi of Bamiyan. 

 Some of these appear, from their extraordinary di- 

 mensions, to have been designed for temples. None 

 of them have pillars, but some are adorned with niches 

 and carved work ; and fragments still remain oF 

 figures in relievo, which have been miserably muti- 

 lated and defaced by the Musulmans. The walls, too, 

 have been decorated with paintings, the colour of 

 which gleam, here and there, through the smoke 

 with which they have been in general obscured by 

 the fires of the inhabitants. These recesses are called 

 by the natives Samach'h, and by the Persians Santa/. 

 They are very frequent in the country of the Afgh- 

 ans; some of them extremely rude, but others highly 

 finished and beautifully decorated. The most per- 

 fect are at Mohi, on the road between Bamiyan and 

 Bahlac, in which the paintings retain their original 

 freshness, as their situation amongst precipices has 

 prevented the Musulmans from making them their 

 habitations. 



But no curiosities in Bamiyan or its vicinity are 

 more calculated to attract attention, than two colos- 

 sal statues, seen at a great distance, which are at 

 least fifty cubits high. They adhere to the moun- 

 tain out of whkh they are cut ; and stand erect in a 

 sort of niches, the depth of which is equal to the 

 thickness of the statue. At a small distance from 

 these stands another statue of less colossal size, being 

 only about fifteen cubits high. Concerning the 

 names or sex of these statues, oriental writers are not 

 agreed. The few Hindus resident in these countries 

 say, that they represent Bhim and his consort : while 

 the followers of Buddha maintain, that they are the 

 statues of Shahama, and his disciple Salsai.a. The 

 Musulmans, on their part, contend, that they are the 

 effigies of Key-Umursh and his consort, that is to 

 say, Adam and Eve ; and that the third represents 

 Selish or Seth, their son, whose tomb, or at least the 

 place where it stood, is shewn near Bahlac. As the 

 Musulman troops never pass that way without firing 

 a few shots of cannon at them, one of the legs of the 

 male figure is much broken. It is said that Aureng- 

 zebe, passing that way in his expedition to Balhac, 

 in the year lt>46, ordered a few shots to be fired as 

 usual. One of them took effect, and almost broke 

 the leg of the statue, which bled profusely. Some 

 frightful dreams conspired with this prodigy, to make 

 him desist from the sacrilegious attack, and the clot- 

 ted blood, we are told, adheres to the wound to this 

 day. This miracle is equally credited by Hindus and 

 Musulmans ; the former ascribing it to the interposi- 

 tion of the Supreme Being, and the latter imputing 

 it to witchcraft. Between the legs of the largest 

 figure there is a door leading into a most spacious 



