BRA 435 B R A 



limed oxide of zinc-, i , uied instead of the native cala- ren rocks, but the vallies arc covcretJ witli a light 

 and the propnrtu.iii an.- .'40 parts of copper, soil, which produces mar/.e, gourds, water melons, and 



Cotton is also a production of this island-; 





mine j . . 



from 40 to 45 of cadmia, with double the volume of 



charcoal. 



The use of brass seems to have been very preva- 

 lent among the ancients. Most of their arms were 

 composed of this metal, as appears from Homer, 

 who, in his description of the Greeks calls them 

 *X;:TAIM A^*"', brass coaled Grttbi ; and we 

 are expressly told by Hesiod, that brass was in ge- 

 neral use before even iron was known. 



Se 



w 3' 



Their houses brass, of brass the warlike blade; 

 Iron was yet unknown, in brass they trade. 



The Arundelian marbles also assert the same thing, 

 and arc followed by Lucretius. 



Posti-riii* fi'iri vi.i esi trrisque reperta 



Sedjiriu* <eris erat, quam Jerri, cognitus usus. f 



Most of the arms and instruments found in Her- 

 culaneuoi, Stabea, Pompeia, &c. whether culinary, 

 mechani'.-al, or agricultural, were made of brass, 

 while those of iron were comparatively very few. 

 It may be observed, however, that most of the ge- 

 nuine relics of this kind approach nearer to bronze 

 than to our modern brass, and appear to be composed 

 of various mixtures of brass with tin and other me- 

 tals. 



The Corinthian brass, so famous in antiquity, is a 

 mixture of gold, silver, and copper, and is suppo- 

 sed to have been produced by the fusion of these me- 

 tals, in which that city abounded, when it was sack- 

 ed and burned by Lucius Mummius, in the 156th 

 Olympiad, about 146 years before the Christian sera. 

 Of this valuable metal, however, very little is known. 

 Its zra of being in use must have been very short, as 

 we are told by Pliny that the art of making it had 

 been for a long time utterly lost ; and no remains 

 of it are now in existence. 



The most celebrated and finest modern brass is made 

 at Geneva. It unites great beauty of colour to a 

 high degree of ductility^ and is used chiefly for 

 escapement wheels, and other nicer parts ot watch- 

 making'. See Beckmann's History of Inventions, 

 vol. iii. p. 72, &c. ; Thomson's Chemistry, vol. i. 

 p. 172 ; Pinkerton's Essay on Medals, vol. i. p. 133; 

 Watson's Essays ; and Pliny's Nut. Hist. lib. xxxiv. 

 See also CHEMISTRY. (L) 



BRAScilCA, a genus of plants of the class Te- 

 tradynamia, and order Siliquosa. See BOTANY, page 

 262, and GARDENING. (w>) 



BRAVA, BRAVO, or ST JOHN, one of the Cape 

 de Verd Islands, is about four leagues in circumfer- 

 ence, and lies in North Lat. 15 25', and nearly 430 

 miles west from Cape de Verd. The land is high, 

 and the mountains appear at a distance like pyramids 

 rising from the ocean. These are little better than bar- 



potatoes. 



and it is even said by some travellers, '. iiat it fin 

 excellent wine, equal to that of the Canaries, and 

 that oranges and lemons grow here in great abun- 

 dance. norae*i cows, asses, and hogs, arc in great 

 plenty, particularly the hogi, as the islanders never 

 eat the flesh of these animals except on fe:ist days. 

 Wild goats, which had been carried thereby the Por- 

 tuguese, and had muliplied prodigiously, are now al- 

 most extinct ; and in order to preserve the species, a 

 law is in force, whereby none are allowed to be killed 

 but for the use of the governor. Brava abounds in 

 saltpetre ; and from the quantity of vitriolic springs, 

 we may conclude, that this island is rich in metallic 

 ores. As a proof of this, Mr Roberts assures us, that 

 a clean knife, put into one of these springs, in less 

 than a minute is covered with pieces of copper of a 

 beautiful gold colour, and if it remain any time, and 

 is then allowed to dry, the copper, when scraped off, 

 falls like powder, while the knife retains the colour 

 of gilt-silver. Salt is here made in great plenty in 

 the holes t,f the rocks, from the water which has been 

 left by the ebbing ot the tide, or carried thither by 

 the negroes. Two or three hours of the sun's heat, 

 in a clear sky, is sufficient for t!.e operation ; and it 

 is surprising to see t.iur bushels of salt drawn from a 

 hole not above 12 or 15 feet in extent. It is evident, 

 however, that ceitain rocks only have the quality of 

 hastening the formation of salt, while others have 

 the quality of impeding it. In some, nothing re- 

 mains after the exhalation of the water except a 

 muddy sediment, but very salt, and sometimes only a 

 very thin crust resembling that of cream of tartar. 



This island was first discovered by the PortD* 

 guese, and for many years two negro families were 

 its only inhabitants, until 1680, when a famine having 

 afflicted the island of Fuego, some of the poorer in- 

 habitants were driven by want to seek for refuge in 

 Brava. They were received with joy by the negroes, 

 who supplied them with every necessary of subsist- 

 ence, and even shared withthemtheircattle, which was 

 their only wealth. The number of inhabitants now 

 amounts nearly to 500. The more industrious of 

 these live by agriculture and the feeding of cattle, 

 while the indolent languish in extreme poverty, and 

 subsist chiefly on wild tigs. Commerce is here com- 

 . pletely neglected, and though this island is better fit- 

 ted as a place of refreshment for ships to water and 

 take in provisions than the island of St Jago, which 

 is in general preferred, yet, for the space of seven 

 years, two foreign vessels only have entered the island 

 of Brava. It has several commodious bays and road- 

 steads, the principal of which are the bay of Faciend 

 de Agna, on the north-west i on the south-west the 

 bay of Ferriere, which has excellent anchorage, and 

 is very safe during the months of March, April, and 

 May ; but is exposed, particularly in the three winter 

 months, to the violent gusts which come from theval- 

 lies, and to the south-east and south south-west winds, 



Oft', ct Dicb. lib. i. 



-f De Natura licrum, lib. v. 



J Lib. xxxiv. op. ?. 



