HOT 860 



jtotbweU salt that is found in other sea water ; this phenome- 

 non has been imputed to the quantity of ice. Acer- 

 tle- bi has thrown out a conjecture, that the harbours of 

 Tornea and Uleaborg will in time be rendered useless ; 

 and this, from the gradual accumulation of sand, by 

 which, lis observes, they are continually losing in 

 depth of water. () 



BOTHWELL. 'See LANARKSHIRE. 

 BOTOL or BOTTEL, TOBAGOXIMA or TODAOO- 

 SIMA, a small island in the Chinese Sea, about four 

 leagues in circumference. It lies on the same paral- 

 lel with the south point of Formosa, and is situated 

 between it and the Bashee Islands. It may be seen 

 at the distance of fifteen leagues, but is often obscu- 

 red by foa;s. Its south east point is placed by Pe- 

 rouse in N. lat. 21 57', and in E. long 119 32'; 

 by Marchand in N. lat. 22 3', and in E. long. 121 

 34'. Perouse supposes it to be inhabited by a people 

 similar to those of the Bashee Islands. He was desi- 

 rous of landing, which no navigator had done before 

 him, but was prevented, by a dread of the south- 

 west winds, from approaching the " only bay that 

 seemed to promise an anchorage." He came within 

 halt a league of the island without being able to find 

 a bottom, and concluded, that the anchorage, if any, 

 must be very near the coast. He " counted three 

 large villages within the space of a league," and thus 

 describes the appearance of the island : " It is very 

 woody from the third part of height, taken from the 

 sea shore to the summit, which seemed to be capped 

 with trees of the largest size. The space of land, 

 comprised between the forests and the sandy shore, 

 retains a very steep declivity : it was cultivated in 

 many places, and displayed the most beautiful green, 

 though furrowed with ravines, formed by the torrents 

 which descend from the mountains." About half a 

 league from Botol, there is a large rock or islet, with 

 a few shrubs, and a small degree of verdure, but 

 which, according to Perouse, " is neither inhabited 

 nor habitable." It is probable, that admiral Anson 

 had at first made only this islet; the other, as we have 

 mentioned, being frequently covered with fogs. v lt 

 lies to the south by east of Botol, and is in N. lat. 

 21 57', E. long. 121 56'. See La Perouse's Voy- 

 ages, (o) 



BOTTLE, (derived from the dim. botelhis, Lat.) 

 a name given to certain small vessels, differing in size 

 and form, and composed of different materials. We 

 find them square, circular, and cylindrical ; some 

 with short, and others with long necks. We have 

 bottles of wood, stone, glass, and leather ; all of them 

 used either for ripening or preserving liquors. Ac- 

 cording to the Mem. Acad. Scienc. 1704, the glass 

 used in bottles has been sometimes found to affect 

 the liquors put into them. Common bottles are made 

 of a coarse green coloured glass. When a finer sort 

 is employed, and the exterior of the vessel has been 

 wrapped about with straw or wicket, it gets the 

 name of Jlask. By this covering, it is rendered less 

 brittle, and is much used by travellers. Glass bottles 

 were unknown to the ancients, at least the know- 

 ledge of them has not been traced to a period earlier 

 than the 15th century. 



The amphorae vitrcce, described by Petronius, 

 were large wine jars, very different from our glass 

 bottles, both in shape and magnitude. Among the 



B O T 



paintings of Herculaneum, were found several figures 

 not unlike a pitcher, wide mouthed, with handles, ( " 

 but none that bore any resemblance to a flask or a bot- 

 tle. Those of their vessels, which in form approacli 

 the nearest to our bottles, are the Syracusan wine- 

 flask, and some of the funeral urns. In place of glass 

 bottles, the ancients made use of cups, into which 

 they drew off as much liquor only as was necessary 

 for immediate consumption. According to Sallust, 

 B. T. 96, the Roman uter was made of leather, ex corns 

 pecuditm : so also were the Greek aa-xa. We read 

 in Homer of wine being brought " ct.ax.ta w ttiyau" in 

 a Imtlle made of goat skin. Iliad, lib. iii. v. 245 : and 

 in Herodotus we find this expression, " a.trx.w Tf>.nr*ir 

 , havingfilled skin bottles irith nine- Lib. ii. v. 1 21 . 

 Most nations have employed vessels of this mate- 

 rial for containing liquors, and in particular, the 

 eastern nations, the Arabians, Indians, Persians, and 

 Syrians, who still retain the use of them. Maun- 

 drell, speaking of the Greek convent at Bellmount, in 

 Syria, informs us, " that the same person, whom he 

 saw officiating at the altar in his embroidered sacerdo- 

 tal robe, brought them the next day on his own back, 

 a kid, and a goat-skin of wine, as a present from the 

 convent " The country people of Persia never go a 

 journey without carrying, by their side, a small lea- 

 thern bottle, in which to keep their water. The 

 Spaniards still use them under the name of Borrachas. 4 

 They are convenient, likewise, as the best means of 

 preserving other substances, such as butter, cheese, 

 and honey. These vessels being smeared over with 

 grease, have been always found to keep their contents 

 more fresh, and to secure them better from the in- 

 trusion of dust and insects, than any other mode of 

 conveyance. The manner of preparing them is thus 

 described by Chardin : " When the animal is killed, 

 they cut off its feet and its head, and draw it in this 

 manner out of the skin, without opening its belly. 

 They afterwards sew up the places where the legs 

 were cut off, and the tail, and when it is filled they 

 tie it about the neck." It is certain, that bottles of 

 skin were universally employed as wine vessels, among 

 the ancient Jews. To persons not aware of this cir- 

 cumstance, our Saviour's allusion to the common 

 practice of putting new mine into new bottles, would 

 appear altogether unintelligible. Skin bottles would 

 be stretched, and in some degree weakened, by the 

 action of the fermenting liquor. By exposure to the 

 air, also, they become parched and brittle, and in this 

 state would be more in danger of bursting, than such 

 as were still soft and elastic. The word ni2N, aluih, 

 which occurs in Job xxx'i. 19, is there evidently em- 

 ployed to express battles of skin; and seems to be 

 applied to these vessels, from their possessing, so re- 

 markably, the property of swelling or distension. 

 We cannot admit the supposition of Chardin that 

 the bottle was of skin, which Abraham gave to 

 Hagar. Though this notion is, in some degree, sup- 

 ported by the corresponding terms of tl.e Septuagint 

 and Vulgate, yet the original word nnn, ilieiiirl/i, 

 has every where a quite different signification, and 

 properly denotes " an earthen vessel hardened by 

 heat." This interpretation agrees better with the 

 idea expressed by the root, which in Niph. signifies 

 to be heated. 



We may here notice the Abyssinian Girba, though 



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