BAG 



BAG 



are agreed, tliat BaAria was fubdued, firft by the AfTyiians, 

 and afterwards by the Pcifians under Cyrus the Great. 

 After the overthrow of the Perfian empire by Alexander 

 (B.C. 328.), it fell under the power of the Macedonians, 

 and was held by the fucceffors of Seleucus Nicator, till the 

 reign of Antiochus Theos, when Thcodotus, about the 

 year B.C. 249, from being governor of that province, be- 

 came king, and ftrengthened himfelf fo effeftually in his 

 new kingdom, while Antiochus was engaged in a war with 

 Ptt:lemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, that he could never 

 afterwards difpolTcfs him of his acqnifitions. He was fuc- 

 eetded by his fon Theodotu?, who, ilrengthening himfelf 

 by an alliance with Arfaces, the founder of the Parthian 

 monarchy, conliderably enlarged his kingdom. Theodotus, 

 being vanqiiifhcd by Euthydemus, was expelled the king- 

 dom ; and Euthydemus was fucceedcd by his brother Me- 

 nander, who extended his conqucfts to feveral countries that 

 were unknown to Alexander the Great. The porreflions 

 vhich Menander had reduced were retained by his nephew 

 and fucceflor Demetrius, and enlarged by feveral new acqiii- 

 fitions. Having left the kingdom of Baftria in a very flou- 

 rilhing condition, he was fucceeded by his fon Eucratides, 

 who invaded India, and made himfelf mailer of all thofe 

 provinces which had been fubjefttd by Alexander. During 

 the reigns of thefe fix princes, the commerce of Baftria with 

 India was very confiderable. The diftridl near the mouth 

 of the Indus, which Alexander had fubdued, was recovered ; 

 and military operations were carried on in India, with fuch 

 fuccefs, that the Baflrian kings penetrated tar into the in- 

 terior pait of the country ; and proud of the conquefts 

 which they had made, as well as of the extenfive dominions 

 over which they reigned, fome of tliem afTumed the title of 

 " Great King," which diftinguifhed the Perfian monarch* 

 in the days of their higheil fplendour. Apollodorus, the 

 Baclrian hiftorian, aflerts that Eucratides pofltfTed one thou- 

 fand cities. The learned Bayer, in his interefting hiftory, 

 advances many arguments to prove tjiat the Greeks of Bac- 

 triana imparted the firll lineaments of fcience to the Hin- 

 doos. M. Pezron, in his " Antiquities of Nations," alleges, 

 that there was a people in the upper regions of Afia, be- 

 yond Media and mount Imaus, who in the firll ages fpread 

 themfelves over Batlria and Margiana, and proceeding by 

 Armenia and Cappadocia, at lafl pafled over into Europe. 

 Thefe people were called Sacre. In the mean time, the 

 Cimmerians, who were of the fame family, went by the 

 north ; and having made various incurfions, at lall fettled 

 above the Euxine fea, near the Palus Masotis. The learned 

 Bryant is of opinion, that this account is not warranted by 

 fuffioient authority on the part of the writers to whom M. 

 Pezron appeals. Although fuch people as the Cimmerians 

 aftually cxilled upon the Maeotis, yet that they came from 

 Baftria, and fought tlieir way through different countries ; 

 and that they were the brethren of the Scythians ftyled Sa- 

 cae, and took the upper route, when the others were mak- 

 ing their inroad below, are circumllances which, fays Bryant 

 (Anal. Mythol. vol. iii. p. 131.), have not the leall fhadow 

 of evidence. Another writer of our own nation (fee Wife's 

 Hift. & Chron. of the Fabulous Ages, p. iig.) fuppofes, 

 that all fciences centered of old in Baftria, called Bochary, 

 or " the land of books." (See Sac^e, and Scythia.) But 

 to return from this digreffion : Eucratides, king of Baftria, 

 was treacheroufly murdered by his fon of the fame name, 

 who ufurped the throne ; but he was expelled by the united 

 forces of the Scythians who attackedit on one fide, and of the 

 Parthians who attacked it on the other, and was foon after 

 killed in attempting to recover it. The Greeks, fays Stra- 

 bo (I. xi. p. 779-), were deprived of Baftria by tribes or 

 herds of Scythian Nomades, who came from the country 



7 



beyond tlie laxartes, and were known by the namcj of Afii, 

 Pafiani, Tachari, and Sacarauli. This faft co.ncides with 

 the relation of the Chinefe hillorians, cited by M. dc Guig- 

 lies (Mem. de Liter, t.xxv. Mem. p. 19.), and is confirmed 

 by it. By them we are informed, that about 126 years be- 

 fore the Chriftian xra, a powerful horde of Tartars, pufhed 

 from their native feats on the confines of China, and obliged 

 to move tov/ards the well by the preffure of a more nume- 

 rous body that rolled on behind them, pafTed the laxartes, 

 and pouring in upon Baftria, like an irrefiltible torrent, 

 overwhelmed that kingdom, and put an end to the dominion 

 of the Greeks there, after it had been ellabhfhed near 130 

 years. The kings, who reigned in Baftria in the times of 

 the Roman emperors Adrian, Antoninus Pi\is, and Vale- 

 rian, were all of Scythian extraftion ; but the Scythians 

 were in their turn driven out by the Huns, who reigned m 

 Baftria in the time of Ladiflaus IV. king of Hun- 

 gary. 



BACTRIANI, in Geography, a town of Afia, in the 

 country of Georgia, 60 milts north of Teflis. 



BACTRIANUS, in Zooh^y, a fpecies of Camehjs, 

 having two bunches on the back. Linn. This differs very 

 little in appearance from the common Arabian camel, ex- 

 cept in being rather larger, and having two bunches on the 

 back inllead of one. It is an inhabitant of the weftern and 

 northern parts of India, and alfo of the deferts bordering on 

 China ; the breeds of this kind are in more efteem for their 

 fwiftnefs than the other. In Arabia, we are told, it is chieHy 

 kept for the ufe of the great, being not a native of that coun- 

 try, but imported from India, S:c. Of this animal, as well as 

 of the Arabian kind, there are feveral races or varieties, dif- 

 fering like thofe of horfes in (Irength, fize, fwiftnefs, and ele- 

 gance of form. A breed of peculiar fwiftnefs is faid to be 

 reared in China, where it is diftinguifhed by the exprefiive title 

 of Fong Kyo Fo, or camels with feet of wind. A white va- 

 rietv occurs in fome parts of Siberia ; and laftly, a hybrid 

 or mixed breed is faid to be occafionally obtained between 

 the Baftrian and the Arabian camel. Shaw, &c. 



BACTRIS, in Botany (xwo tou P'Xmt^ov, a f.ajf; cancj 

 being made of the flems). Lin. gen. Schreb. n. 1693. 

 Jacqu. Amer. t. 171. Gxrtn. 9. 139. Clafs, monuecia hex- 

 andria. Nat. Oi-d. Palms. Generic charafter ; * Male flow- 

 ers. Cal. fpathe univerfal, one-leafed ; fpadix branched ; 

 perianth one-leafed, three-parted, fmall ; parts lanceolate, 

 concave, coloured. Cor. one-petalled, three-clelt ; tube 

 fliort ; clefts ovate, acute, ereft. Stam. filaments fix, fub- 

 ulate, ereft, of the length of the corolla, inferted into the 

 middle of the tube ; anthers oblong, incumbent. * Female 

 flowers few, in the fame fpadix, intermixed with the male 

 ones. Cnl. fpathe the fame as in the males ; perianth one- 

 leafed, bcll-fliaped, three-toothed, pointed, coloured, very 

 fmall, permanent. Cor. one-petalled, ereft, three-toothed, 

 permanent. Fiji, germ ovate, large ; flyle very fhort ; flig- 

 ma headed, obfcurely three cleft. Per. drupe coriaceous, 

 roundifli, fibrous-fucculent, fharp-pointed with the ftyle. 

 Seed, nut roundifh, depreffed on each fide ; marked on the 

 fides with three holes ; kernel folid. 



Eff. Gen. Char. Male. Cal. three-parted. Cor. one- 

 petalled, three-cleft. Stam. fix. Female. Cal. one-leafed, 

 three-toothed. Cor. one-petalled, three-toothed ; lligraa 

 obfcurely three-cleft ; drupe coriaceous. 



Species, l. ^. minor. Jacqu. 1. c. Ic. feleft. t. 2j6. B. 

 minima Gaertn. Fruft. 2. 269. — conf. B. globofa minor. 

 Ejufd. I. 22. quDS Cocos aculeata, Swartz & Hort. KeW 

 Palma, 7. Brown Jam. 344. " Fruit roundifh." Root 

 creeping ; trunk upright, armed with numerous prickles, 

 about an inch in diameter, feldom more than twelve feet 

 high. The flowers ufually appear as foon as it has attained 



the 



