]} A M 



in. temple, at the entrance of which are stationed a few 

 ' v ' wretched Banians, who sell provisions to travellers. 



Bamiyan and-Bahkc are constantly confounded by 

 Persian authors, ho call the first Balk-Bamiyan, and 

 the second Balk-Bohhara. These authors suppose 

 it to have existed before the flood ; but the Budd- 

 haists maintain that it was founded by a most religi- 

 ous man named Shama, (the same with the patriarch 

 Shem,) and that his posterity lived there For many 

 generations. They add, that Balk-Bamiyan was ori- 

 ginally Abraham's place of abode ; that patriarch, ac- 

 cording to scripture, and the sacred books of the 

 Hindus, having removed with his father to distant 

 countries in the west. Diodorus Siculns informs us, 

 that it existed before the time of Nlnus ; but he, like 

 the Persian writers, has mistaken this city for Bahlac. 

 By the natives, Bamiyan and the adjacent countries 

 are regarded as the abode of the progenitors of the 

 human race. Here, too, the first heroes of Persian 

 story lived and performed innumerable exploits ; here 

 ;r holy instructors first delivered their precepts; 

 and here was the scite of the first temples that were 

 ever reared. 



Bamiyan fell into the hands of the Musulmans at a 

 very early period of their history. At one time it 

 was governed by kings ; but this dynasty, after con- 

 tinuing but a few years, terminated in 1-15. Gul- 

 ghuleh, the royal residence, called then the palace of 

 Bamian, was destroyed by Zengis Khan, whose 

 resentment against the inhabitants was so violent, that 

 he massacred them without distinction of age or sex, 

 and even vented his fury against the brutes and trees. 

 The natives of that country gave it then the name of 

 Gulghuleh, signifying, " cries of woe." As it 

 would have been ominous to rebuild it, they erected 

 in its stead a fort, on a hill to the north of Bamians, 

 which still bears the name of Imperial Fort. This 

 castle also was destroyed by Zingis the Ushak, in 

 1 628, and has never since been rebuilt. 



The district of Bamiyan is now barren, and with- 

 out a single tree ; yet the sacred books of the Hin- 

 dus, and of the Bauddhists, positively affirm, that of 

 old it was fertile. There is a tradition, too, that at 

 one period it was so overstocked with inhabitants, 

 that trees, underwood, grass, and plants, were all 

 completely destroyed. The vegetable soil, thus de- 

 privedof cultivation, was, in the course of ages, washed 

 away by the rains ; and indeed the soil in the valley 

 is extremely rich, and the whole district, as it now is, 

 a most delightful spot. The vine, and almost all the 

 fruit trees we have in Europe, grow spontaneously 

 and to high perfection in the country to the eastward 

 of Bamiyan, as far as the river Indu?. The natives, 

 when they find a vine or any fruit tree in the forests, 

 clear away all the wood about it, and dig the ground) 

 which brings the fruit to perfect maturity. Bamiyan 

 seems to be the Drastoca of Ptolemy, that name be- 

 ing derived from the Sanscrit Drashatca, which sig- 

 nifies the " Btoue city :" for before that time towns 

 were nothing more than a mere assemblage of huts. 

 The distance and bearing of Drastoca from Cabura, 

 or Orthospana, leaves no doubt that it was the same 

 city as Bamiyan. For the whole of our information 

 concerning this city, we are indebted to Captain 

 Francis Milford's ingenious Observations on Mount 



VOL. III. PART I. 



225 BAN 



Caucasus, in the 6th volume of the Asiatic Researches, 

 p. 462, &c. O) 



BAMPTON, a market town in Devonshire, is si- 

 tuated on a branch of the river Exe, and surrounded 

 with lime-stone hills. The principal manufacture of 

 the place is serges. Population 13G-1. See Plot's 

 Natural History of Oxfordshire ; and Polywhele's 

 History of Devonshire, vol. ii. (j) 



BANANA. See Pine Apple. 



BANARA, a genus of plants of the class Dode- 

 candria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (to) 



BANBURY, a town of England, in the county of 

 Oxford, situated on the river Charwell. From the 

 number of Roman coins, &c. found in the adjacent 

 fields, it is supposed to be the scite of the Roman sta- 

 tion Branavis. The canal from Oxford to Coventry 

 passes through Banbury. There is here a manufac- 

 tory of plush and shag cloths ; and two springs, one 

 sulphuretted, and the other chalybeate. Population 

 2755, of whom 567 are employed in trade and manu- 

 factures. See Bray's Tour in Derbyshire, (j ) 



BANCA, rne of the Asiatic islands, situated be- 

 tween Sumatra and Borneo, and separated from the for- 

 mer by the straits'of Banca. The king of Banca, who 

 resides in the territory of Palambang, in the isle of 

 Sumatra, is in alliance with the Dutch, who have a 

 settlement and troops at Palambang. The Dutch as- 

 sist him in maintaining his independence, and are am- 

 ply repaid by the monopoly of the tin, for which the 

 island of Banca is so celebrated. The tin mines, 

 which appear to be inexhaustible, were discovered in 

 1710. The managers of the mines, who happen to be 

 Chinese, deliver the tin to the king for 5 rix dollars 

 per 125 pounds ; and the Dutch obtain the same 

 quantity for 15 rix dollars, which is nearly 2, 18s. per 

 English cwt. The quantity received by the Dutch, 

 amounts to about three million of pounds annually, the 

 greater part of which goes to China. In 1778, 

 700,000 pounds were sent to Holland. East Long. 

 10(i J 30', South Lat. 2 30'. See Wilcocke's edition 

 of Stavorinua's Voyage to the East Indies, vol. i. p. 

 357. Staunton's Embassy to China, vol. i. p. 305; 

 and Marchand's Voyages, vol. i. p. 98. (o) 



BANCALIS, a town in the kingdom of Achecn, 

 in the island of Sumatra. See Peuchet's Diet, de la 

 Gcograph. Commerf.; and Aciieen. (to) 



BANCHUS, in Zoology, a genus of hymenop- 

 terous insects in the system of Cuvier and Dumcril, 

 belonging to the family of insectirodes, and nearly 

 allied to the ichneumons. See Entomology. (_/ ) 



BANDA Isles, the name of a group of Asiatic 

 islands, called the Spice or Nutmeg islands, lying to 

 the south of the island of Ceram, and to the south-west 

 of Papua, or New Guinea. The islands comprehended 

 tinder this general name are, Bandaor Lantor, Neira or 

 Nera, Puloway, or Way, or A y, Pulorohn or Rohn, 

 Rossingen or Rossagay, Gonong or Guenanapc, or 

 Ganapez, Pulo-pisang, Pulo-prampon, Pulo-suanjee 

 Capal, and Nylacky. 



In the year 1602, the Dutch landed in the Banda 

 isles, which formed one of their earliest settlements in 

 the Indies. In 1609, they entered into a treaty with 

 the Orancais or natives, who bound themselves to 

 send all their nutmeg and mace to the Dutch fort of 

 Nassau, in the island of Nera, at a fixed pr.ee, while 

 2f 



