B I A 



49- 



B I A 



biafaras. over the natural strength of his constitution. A ma- 

 lignant fever, to which he fell a victim on the 27th 

 September 17^3, carried him off from the cares and 

 labours by which it was engendered. 



Besides the works of Bezout which we have al- 

 ready mentioned, he published several mathematical 

 papers among the Memoirs of the Academy for 1758 

 and 1762. He also wrote a paper on the Integra- 

 tion of Differentials, in the Memoires des Scarnns 

 Ktratiacres, vol. iii. ; and another containing Experi- 

 ments on Cold, in the Memoirs of the Academy for 

 1770. (/3) 



BIAFARAS, a nation of Africans inhabiting a dis- 

 trict lying between 11 and 12 of N. Lat. and from 

 IS 3 to 14 3(y W. Long, bounded on the south by 

 the Rio Grande. Very little is known either of 

 themselves or the limits of their country ; but it ap- 

 pears that they formerly possessed more extensive 

 territories to the south west, and in particular the 

 island Bulama, which we unsuccessfully attempted to 

 colonize. From these they were expelled by their 

 warlike neighbours towards the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, when they retired further up the 

 Rio Grande merely for the enjoyment of peace. In 

 stature the Biafaras are rather tall, but of a slender 

 feminine figure, unlike the strong and robust natives 

 of other parts of Africa, and are also unlike them from 

 being a mild, peaceable, and inoffeosive race, whence 

 they are held in great contempt by the Bijugas, 

 another nation with whom they are constantly at 

 war. They are of a lively disposition, have a won- 

 derful propensity to talking, and seem to be endow- 

 ed with a ready apprehension of things within the li- 

 mits of their understanding. Captain Beaver, to whom 

 they paid frequent visits, relates, that one evening, 

 having several Biafaras in his room, he shewed them 

 prints by candle light, but it was some time before 

 they could comprehend that they were intended 

 to represent living or inanimate objects in nature ; 

 and probably they would not have done so, had 

 he not casually turned to a view of Sierra Leone, 

 where an elephant and a monkey were introduced, 

 which highly delighted them. Then resorting to 

 the plates of Lavater's Physiognomy, he at length 

 came to that of the angry wicked man. The instant 

 the Biafaras beheld it, they all screamed and fled out 

 of the room. 



No calculation can be formed of the numbers com- 

 posing the Biafara nation. It is certain, that they 

 are governed by different chiefs, and that they have 

 several towns, among which are named Goli, Gon- 

 tode, Ghinala, and Bulola. According to M. Du- 

 rand, the first contains 4000 inhabitants ; a fact we 

 are much inclined to doubt, as well as other parts of 

 hi3 account of the western coast of Africa, so far at 

 least as respects his personal acquaintance with them. 

 Ghinala, or Inala, is thirty miles from the mouth of 

 the Rio Grande, and Bulola seventy. There were 

 two kings or chiefs in the district of Ghinala while 

 Captain Beaver was on Bulama, with whom he made 

 a treaty for the inland, and likewise for a large portion 

 of their continent. Bulola was governed by a wo- 

 man. The Biafaras are said to trade to some extent 

 with the Portuguese. They brought ivory, cloths, 

 and poultry to the English settlement, and were ex- 



tremely desirous that Captain Beaver should establish 

 himself among them. See Beaver's African Memo- 

 randa. Lajaille, Voyage au Senegal, par Labarthe. 

 Durand's Voyage to Senegal, (c) 



BIANCHINI, or Bianchikus, Francis, a ma- 

 thematician and astronomer, who is chiefly remark- 

 able for the dispute between him and Cassini, respect- 

 ing the diurnal rotation of Venus, of which we have 

 already given a full account in the article Astkono- 

 MY, p. 622. Bianchini was born of a family of rank 

 at Verona, on the 13th of December 1662, and was 

 educated for the clerical profession. After obtaining 

 the degree of doctor in divinity, he was appointed li- 

 brarian to Cardinal Ottoboni, afterwar:' n ' Pope Alex- 

 ander VIII., and was subsequently promoted to two 

 canonries in Damaso. His mathematical knowledge 

 obtained him the situation of secretary to the congre 

 gation for the reform of the calendar ; and, on this oc- 

 casion, he published two dissertations, entitled, De 

 Calcndario ct Cyclo Ccesaris, ac de canone Paschali 

 Sancti Hippolyti Martyris. In his work, De Nummct 

 et Gnomone Llementino, he gives an account of his 

 operations in tracing the meridian line in the church 

 of the Chartreux, at Rome ; in memory of which, 

 Clement XI. ordered a medal to be struck. During 

 eight years he was employed in continuing the meri- 

 dian through the whole of Italy, and when engaged 

 in this occupation, he was cut off by the dropsy, on 

 the 2d of March 1729. Though Bianchini has not 

 left behind him any lasting monument of his talents, 

 yet such was the reputation of his learning, that he 

 was admitted a foreign associate in the Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris, in 1706 ; created one of the nobi- 

 lity of Rome ; and the inhabitants of his native city 

 erected a bust to his memory in the cathedral of Ve- 

 rona. Besides the works already mentioned, he pub- 

 lished, in 1726, a treatise on the discovery of a sub- 

 terraneous building, entitled, Camera ed Inscrizioni 

 Sepolcrati di Liberti Servi, ed ojjiciali delta casa di 

 Augusto, 8)-c. ; in 1728, his Hesperi et Phosphori 

 Nova Phenomena, fyc. ; in 1680, his Dialogo Fisico 

 Astronomico contro il sistema Copernicano, 4to. ; in 

 1684, his Cometes anno 1684 mtmibus Junio et Ju- 

 lio, Roma; Observatus ; in 1684, his Nova Methodus 

 Cassiniana Observandi parallaxes et distantias Pla- 

 netarum a terra ; in 1703, his Solutio Problematis Pas- 

 ckalis, &c. ; and, in 1697, appeared the first volume of 

 a great work on universal history, entitled, La Istoria. 

 Universale provala con monumenli, et Jigurata con 

 Simboli deg/i Antichi, &;c. ; and an edition t>f Anasta- 

 sius's Lives of the Popes, with dissertations and notes. 

 A posthumous work, with plates, entitled, Francisci 

 Bianchini Veronensis utriusque Signatura; referen- 

 darii, et prelati domestici, de tribus generibus insiru- 

 mentorum musicce veterum organicas dissertatio, was 

 published at Rome in 1742, in 4to. The various 

 papers which he wrote will be found in the Memoirs 

 of the Academy for the years 1702, 1703, 1704, 

 1706, 1707, 1708, 1713, and 1718. In 1737, Eusta- 

 chio Manfredi published the observations of Bianchini, 

 under the title of Francisci Bianchini observationes 

 selectm Astronomico: et Geographicce, Romce et alibi 

 per Italiam habitcc, ex ejus autographis excerpia, 

 una cum geographic^ meridiani Tabula, a man su- 

 pcro ad tnferum, ex iisdem observai'wnibus colkcta 



Bianchin. : . 



