B I S 



510 



B I S 



tflscillt- 

 Mukinjj. 



presumptions that the natives of the two countries 

 have had one common origin." 



The modern Biscayans consider themselves descend- 

 ed from the ancient Cantabri, who offered the most 

 determined resistance to the Roman arms, and who 

 were distinguished by the same energetic character 

 which marks their posterity. 



Catttither ante omius ?ij/emixqiu\ erstu\que y famixque, 

 lnvirtus paltHaMtjtic ex omni ferre laburc 







A. e vitam Ml marte pari , quippe o Willi in armis 

 Lucis caUMd rita tt dumnatum lieirc pari* 



SlLIUS Itaucus. 



The Cantahrians having sought the alliance of the 

 Gallicians and Asturians, ventured to engage the 

 Roman army en the plain of Vitloria, where they 

 were totally defeated, and driven to their mountains. 



Cantaber, Agripp<v % Claudi virtutc Xeronis 

 Armenia* cceiriit. 



HoitACE. 



The Romans finding themselves unable to conquer 

 the Cantahrians by force, endeavoured to subdue them 

 by famine, and so completely environed their retreats, 

 that they were reduced to the utmost extremities. 

 Then, it is reported, that, to avoid the slavery destined 

 for them by their invaders, most of these brave peo- 

 ple committed suicide ; and Augustus having entered 

 Biscay, partitioned it among his soldiers. Neverthe- 

 less, hostilities were frequently renewed by the sur- 

 vivors, until at length the Romans, in the uncertainty 

 of human affairs, were, in their turn, over-run by the 

 irruptions of barbarous nations. Biscay was in the next 

 place conquered by the Moors : though not without a 

 resistance equally resolute as that which had been of- 

 fered to the arms of the Romans. After a revolt in 

 the tenth century, we find it governed by a chief 

 called Suria or Zuria, who, tradition says, was de- 

 scended from the royal blood of Scotland. He con- 

 stituted the province into an independent lordship, 

 the sovereignty of which was enjoyed by his posterity, 

 until subsequent revolutions followed, and at length 

 ended in the lord of Biscay acknowledging the do- 

 minion of the king of Castile. In the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, Peter the Cruel, king of Castile and Leon, killed 

 the lord of Biscay, usurped his possessions, and united 

 rhem to his own ; and since that period the kings of 

 Spain have assumed the title of Lord of Biscay, 

 which is still retained, (c) 



BISCUIT-Making. As the process of making 

 biscuits for the navy is rather curious, we shall en- 

 deavour to lay before our readers a very short ac- 

 count of it. After the meal and water are combined 

 into large lumps of dough, it is kneaded by means of 

 :i machine, which consists of a roller, about six 

 inches in diameter, and seven feet long. One of its 

 extremities is fixed into the wall, so as to have a cer- 

 tain degree of play, while a man rides, as it were, on 

 its other end. The lump of dough is then placed 

 below it, and the man puts the roller into action, 

 till the dough is sufficiently kneaded. In this state 



it is given to a second workman, who slices it with a 

 large knife, for the use of the bakers who attend the 

 oven. The rest of the process is effected by four 



vorkmen, two of whom take their station, each at 



the end of a large table that holds the dough j the UiscuttiU 

 third stands at a smalh table near the ov 

 fourth stands at the oven, and the tilth supplies the 

 peel. The dough is then moulded into something 

 like muffins by the person on the farther side of the 

 larger table. He then throws them to the man at 

 the other end of the table, who puts the prope-- 

 stamp upon them, and throws them upon the small 

 table, where the third workman separates the differ- 

 ent pieces into two, and places them under the hand 

 of the fourth baker, who throws the bread upon the 

 peel. The fifth workman receives the biscuits on the 

 peel, and arranges them in the oven. All these suc- 

 cessive operations are performed with such activity 

 and exactness, that seventy biscuits are thrown in 

 during a single minute. It is evident, that the bis- 

 cuit first thrown into the oven would be baked soon- 

 er than the others ; but this effect is obviated by the 

 workmen who moulds the dough, and who propor- 

 tionally diminishes the size of the biscuits j so that 

 those which are last thrown in require less heat than 

 the others. The biscuits thus made arc placed in 

 drying lofts above the oven, and are afterwards 

 packed into bags, of one hundred weight each, and 

 removed to the warehouses. ( j) 



BISCUTELLA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Tetradynamia, and order Sihculosa. See Bota- 

 ny, (te) 



BISERRULA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Diadelphia, and order Decandria. Sec Botany. (ie) 



BISERTA, a maritime town of Africa, in tiie 

 kingdom of Tunis, situated at the bottom of the an- 

 cient Sinus Hipponensis, a beautiful gulf about four 

 leagues in breadth. This town, which is still about 

 a mile in circuit, was formerly very large, and con- 

 tained about O'OOO houses. It lies on a canal, which 

 joins a large lake with the gulf already mentioned, 

 and is defended by several castles towards the sea, and 

 two towers which guard the entrance to the harbour. 

 There are here two spacious prisons for holding 

 slaves, and a large magazine for articles of merchan- 

 dise. The remains of a long pier are still visible ; 

 and were it not for the inactivity of the Turks, it 

 might be easily repaired, so as to preserve tlie har- 

 bour from becoming altogether useless. The inha- 

 bitants, who are chiefly employed in fishing between 

 the months of October and May, obtain a great va- 

 riety of fish from the lake. The millets are deemed 

 the best in this part of Africa ; and their roes, when 

 dried, are made into boiargo, which is exported as 

 a dainty to the Levant. The surrounding country 

 abounds with fruit of all kinds, with cotton, corn, 

 pulse, oil, &c. Population about 5000. E. Long. 

 9 48', N. Lat. 37 10'. (h) 



BISHOP, a prelate, holding a barony of the 

 king, and exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction over a 

 certain district called his diocese. 



The term bishop is derived from iv,irx.oxt', T through 

 the medium of the Saxon " bischop," and denotes an 

 inspector, guardian, or overseer. In the dead lan- 

 guages, however, the word now commonly trans- 

 lated bishop, was originally used with a civil or poli- 

 tical meaning attached to it, as, when Plutarch says, 

 niflu im?ri Kttt mcfiif 'tirirxeirec r i/T# <I>iSj*s, om- 



?:ia ijisi admwistrabat ct curabat Phidias, or whea 



