BAN 



call fucK deceptions fug-banks. For the account of a re- 

 uiarkiible deception of this kind, fee Dr. Hawkfworth'o 

 Account of the Voyages to the Southern Hemifphere, vol.i. 

 p. lo. A long narrow bank is fometi:nes call.-d a rib. 



Tiie hunk abfolutely fo called, or the main biwl-, or ^nnt 

 tanl-, denotes that of Newfoundland, the fecne 6f the cod- 

 filhery. 



It i3 called the ^reat lanl-, not only by reafon of its vafl 

 extent, being, according to the Enghlh cnmputation, tivo 

 hundred miles long, and, according to the Frer.ch, one hun- 

 dred leagues, or three hundred miles; bnt alfo o.i account 

 of feveral leiTer banks near it, where cod arc alfo caught. 

 Thtfe laft the French call kv.que'zeaiix. 



This is one of thofe banks which have water enough to 

 float a (liip, and which, on this account, are not dan- 

 gerous. 



Banks are ufually dlftinguiHicd by a buoy, poH:, or the 

 like. On charts, fand-banks are ufually marked by little 

 dots, and banks of ttone by crolTcs. The colours of 

 the buoys are alfo varied accordingly ; fand-banks being 

 denoted by ' light-coloured buoys, and rocks by black 

 ones. 



In large rivers, as the Elbe, &c. fandbanks, by high 

 tides andinundations, are liable to change places ; care is 

 therefore taken to lliift the buoys from time to time, to ihew 

 the true channel of the river. 



An cxaft knowledge of the banks, their extent, and the 

 depth of water on them, makes the moil elfcntial part of 

 the fcience of a pilot, and a mafter of a fliip : if the veffel 

 be large, and draw much water, great attention will be 

 neceffinry to keep clear of the banks : on the contrary, if it 

 be fmall, fclie fame banks afford a fure afylum, where it may 

 brave the largeft and flouteft velTcls, which dare not follow 

 it here. By means of this barrier, many a fmall craft has 

 efcaped its enemy. 



Bank, in vefiels which move with oars, is ufed for the 

 bench where the rowers are featcd ; popularly called, by 

 our feamen, the thought. 



In this fenfe we read of banks of gallies, of galeaffes, of 

 galliots, of brigantines, and the like. 



The Venetian gondolas have no banks ; for the watermen 

 row (landing. 



The common gallies have twenty-five banks, that is, 

 twenty-five on each fide, in all fifty biuiks, with one oar to 

 each bank, and four or five men to each oar. The galeaffes 

 have thirty-two banks on a fide, and fix or feven rowers to 

 a bank. See Double-^(7«&(/. 



Bank alfo denotes an elevation of earth. Hones, Hakes, 

 or other materials in form of a wall, or caufeway, to Hop 

 the waters, and prevent inundations. 



Thcfe, on other occafions, are denominated dams, and 

 fea-iualls, &c, and by the ancients aggeres ; thofe on the 

 coatls of Holland are more particularly denominated dykes. 

 The bell bank, in the opinion of Dr. Hales, is that con- 

 trived by Dr. Wark of Scotland. A quantity of furze 

 is fixed to the bottom of the channel, of fuch a breadth 

 as is proportioned to the force which it is to refill. The 

 fand, or flime, will foon fettle in the furze, and when 

 this is covered, another bed of furze is to be laid on as 

 before, and fo on till the bank is raifed to a fufficient 

 height. 



Bank is alfo ufed in feveral games, for the Hock or fund 

 of him who undertakes the game. 



Bank at bajfet, a fuft of money laid down by the tailleur, 

 before the gameilers, to anfwer all the winning cards that 

 (hall turn up in his courfe of dealing. Yet it is to be obferved, 

 that what the banker's gain percent, of all the money ad- 



RAN 



ventured at plinr.i, is greater than that at bHtTet ; it being 

 two pounds nineteen (hillings and ten-pence per cent, in the 

 (ir'l, and but fifteen (hillings and three -pence in the fecond. 

 Vide De Moiv. DoAr. Chaiic. p. 93- 



BANKER, in Cwimerce, a perfon who traffics in money, 

 and remits it from place to place, and fupplies his corre- 

 fpo-.idents '-.r cuftomero with money from the (lock depofited 

 in his hands for bills of exchange an». other fccurilies. (See 

 Bank.) The hiftory of private banks is as follows. The 

 royal mint in the tower of London had for fome years, be- 

 fore the year 1640, bten made ufe of as a kind of bank, or 

 dcpofit, for merchants to lodge their cafli in. But king 

 Charles the Fird having in that year made free with their 

 money, the mint lod its credit. After this, the merchants 

 and traders of London generally trufled their ca(h with 

 their fervants, until the breaking out of the civil war, when 

 it was very cuRomary for apprentices and clerks to leave 

 their mailers and go into the army. Whereupon, in fuch 

 unfettlcd times, merchant?, not daring longer to confide \\ 

 their apprentices, began firil, about the year 1645, to lodge 

 their neccffary caih in goldfmith's hands, both to receive and 

 pay for th.eni ; until which time, the whole and proper bu- 

 finefs of London goldfmiths was to buy and fell plate, and 

 foreign coins of gold and filver, to melt and cull them, to 

 coin fome at the mint, and with tue reft to fupply the re- 

 finers, plate-makers, and merchants, as they found the price 

 to vary. This account of the matter we have from a fcarce 

 and moll curious fmall pamphlet, publhlied in 1676, intitled, 

 " The fvlyllcry of the new-fafliioncd Goldfmiths, or Bank- 

 ers, difcovered," in only eight quarto pages. 



Bankers on their firil ellabliniment allowed to thofe who 

 entruded their money in their hands a moderate intereil for 

 the fame, and hereby their bufinefs was very confiderably 

 increaftd, and rofe to great rcpvtation in the year 1667, 

 when the Dutch burnt our (hips at Chatham ; but this event 

 caufed a run on the bankers, which hurt their credit ; and 

 in the year 1672, king Charles II. (hut up the exchequer, 

 and fei/.ed the money which the bankers had lent him at 8 

 per cent, intereft, the whole fum amounting to 1,328,526]. 

 The king was afteru-ards neceffitated to pay fix per cent, 

 intereil for this debt out of his hereditary excife, but the 

 principal was never paid. However, the parliament of 

 12 William, cap. 12. provided for a large arrear of intereil, 

 and fettled an intereil of three per cent, for the future. 

 The debt was hereby made redeemable, on paying one' 

 moiety of the principal fum, viz. 664,263 1. farther con- 

 firmed by an atl of 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 15. which moiety 

 now became the proper debt of the public ; and being re- 

 duced from fix to five per cent, in 1 7 1 7, was finally fub- 

 fcribed into th.e South-fea capital ftock in the year 1720. 



Bankers now allow no intereil, and by invelling a certain 

 proportion of their capital in the funds, or laying it out on other 

 fufficient fecurity, and trafficking with it in the (locks, in dif- 

 counts, &c. reap very confiderable advantage from it ; and 

 by negotiating bills, &G. on the part of their creditors, 

 greatly contribute to the convenience and difpatch of bufi- 

 nefs. 



V/hen the people of any particular country, fays Dr. 

 Smith (ubi infra), have fuch confidence in the fortune, pro- 

 bity, and prudence of a particular banker, as to believe 

 that he is always ready to pay upon demand fuch of his 

 promilToi-y notes as are likely to be at any time prefented to 

 him, thofe notes come to have the fame currency as gold 

 and filver money, from the confidence that fuch money can 

 at any time be had for them. 



A particular banker lends among his cuftomers his own 

 promiffory notes, to the extent, we (hall fuppofe, of a hun- 



drsd 



