B A S 



»er<oii5 brown, witli fome darker variejjatlons toward* tlse 

 upper psrt of the body. Its length is about a foijt and 

 half. The youncj or fmall fpecimens have hut a (light ap- 

 pearance cither of the dorfal or caudal procefs, or of the 

 pointed occipital crcih The bafiliflc is princ'pally found in 

 South America, and fometimes conficKrably exceeds the 

 lenc;th before mentioned, meafuring three feet, or even more, 

 from the nofe to the extremity of the tail. It is faid to be 

 an animal of great agility, and ii capable of fwimming occ;i- 

 fionally with perfeft eafe, as well as of fpringing from tree to 

 tree by the help of its dorfal crcll, which it expands in ori'cr 

 to fupoort its flight. 



Among the French naturalifls, the Iguane is a diflincl 

 genus of the oviparous quadrupeds, in which the Linuxan 

 laccrla bnfiiifnts is included under the name of bafilifl<. 



The balilidc of the ancients exifted only in the glowing 

 fancy of their poets : they feigned it to be the molt malig- 

 nant of all pdiionous ferpents ; as a creature whole breath 

 empoifoned the very air, and whofe baneful glance would 

 alone prove fatal to all other animals. A creature gifted 

 with fuch extraordinsry powers could have no common ori- 

 gin, and therefore it was afferled to be the produce of the 

 egg of a cock brooded upon by a ferpent. Galen fays its 

 colour is yellowifh, and that it has three little elevations on 

 its head, fpccklcd with whitiih fpots, that have fomewhat 

 the appearance of a crown. TElian, Matthiolus, Pliny, Lu- 

 can, and others of the moil dillinguillied ancients, relate 

 many marvellous properties of tliis creature ; but, notwith- 

 ilanding their authority, the balili/k, as they reprcfcut it, 

 is moft unqueilionably fabulous. It is needlefs to add to 

 this article any of the fables of Jerome Lobo, although 

 Dr. Johiifon has received fome of them with an unwarrant- 

 able degree of credulity. The learned Prolper Alpir.us in- 

 forms us, on the authority of fome relations, which he feems 

 to have credited, that near the lakes contiguous to the 

 fources of the Nile, there is a number of bafihflis, about a 

 palm in length, and the thicknefs of a middle finger ; that 

 they have two large fcnles which they ufe as wings, and 

 crells and combs upon their heads, from which they are 

 called bafililci or reguli, that is, crowned, creftcd, or kingly 

 ferpents. And he fays, that no perlon can approach thcfe 

 lakes without being deftroyed by thefecretled fnakes. Our 

 traveller, Mr. Bruce, obferves, that having examined the 

 lake Gooderoo, thofe of Court Ohha and Tzana, the only 

 lakes near the fources of the Nile, he never faw one ferpent 

 there, crowned or uncrowned ; and that he never heard of 

 any : and, therefore, he beheves this account as fabulous as 

 that of the Acontia and other animals mentioned by Profper 

 Alpinus, lib. iv. cap. 4. The bafiliflf is a fpecies of fer- 

 pent frequently mentioned iii fcripture, though never de- 

 fcribed farther than that it cannot be charmed fo as to do 

 r.o huit, nor trained fo as to delight in mufic ; which all 

 traTellers who have been in Egypt allow is very pofiible, and 

 frequently feen. ( Jerem. viii. 17. Pfalm ix. 13.) How- 

 «ver, it is the Greek text that calls this ferpent bafilillc ; 

 the Hebrew generally calls it tfepha, which is a fpecies of 

 ferpents real and known. Our Engli/h tranflation very im- 

 properly renders it cockatrice, a fabulous animal that never 

 did exift. The bafdiflv of fcripture feems to have been a 

 fnake, not a viper; as its eggs are mentioned (Ifaiah, ix. 5.): 

 whereas it is known to be the charafteriftic of the viper to 

 bring forth living young. Brace's Travels in Abyflinia, 

 vol. v. p. 201. 



Basil:sk is alfo myftically ufed by the alchemifts, to de- 

 iiote the I'nblimate mercury of the pliilofophers. 



Basilisk, or Basilisc, in ArlUlery, alio denotes a great 

 piece of ordnance j thus denominated frorH its refemblance 



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B A S 



to the fiippofed ferpent of that name. The bafilKk throw! 

 an iron ball of two hundred pounds weight. It was much 

 talked of in the time of Solyman emperor of the Turks, in 

 the vars in Hungary ; but feems now out of ufe. Maffcus 

 fj)eaks of bafili/lcs made of brafs, which were drawn each by 

 a hundred yoke of oxen. Modern writers alio give the name 

 bafililk to a much Imaller and lizeable piece of ordnance, 

 winch the Dutch make fifteen feet long, and the French 

 only ten. It carries fo/ty-tight pounds. 



BASILIUM FluxMES, in Jlr.cieut Geography, a river of 

 Afia, which, according to Strabo, flowed betvv&en the Eu- 

 phrates and Tigris ; but Ammianus Mi^rcellinus fays that it 

 was a branch of the Euphrates, direfted towards Cteiiphon, 

 and defirned for conveying water into the interior part of 

 Babylonia. The emperors Trajan and Severus opened th:« 

 canal after it had been filled up, :Kid formed by it a commu- 

 nication between the Tigris and Euphrates. 



BASILIUS, in Biography, a phyfician and monk of 

 Bulgaria, in the 12th century, was the founder of the feci 

 called Bogomili. After teaching his doilriue many yean 

 in fecrecy, he was feduced to Conllantinople by the emperor 

 Alexius Comnenu?, who, under pretence of learning his doc- 

 trines at a private audience, placed a fecretary behind a cur- 

 tain, who penned down what Bafilius delivered. The em- 

 peror afterwards convoked a council, which, on the refufal 

 of Bafilius to retrad, commitced him to the flames in 1 1 lij. 

 See Bogomili. 



BASILUZZO, in Geography, one of the Lipari iflands 

 in the Mediterranean, about two miles in circumference, and 

 raifed fome poles above the furface of the fca. On the fouth 

 fide is a narrow bay ; and on the fummit is a plain of no great 

 extent, and the only part capable of cultivation, though it 

 produces only a little corn and pulfe. This fcanty vegeta- 

 tion is nourifhed by a thin crull of decompofed lava, 

 under which is foon difcovered the folid lava, which, in many 

 fituations, is granitous, the quartz, felfpar, and mica, being 

 very apparent in it. Two little cottages, which belong to 

 the proprietors of this ungrateful foil, are the only buildings, 

 near which are fome ancient ruins. Rabbits are the only 

 animals found in this ifland ; and as they were very 

 mifchievous to the corn, the inhabitants introduced cats, 

 which followed them into their fubterranean holes. This 

 idand, as well as thofe that are in its vicinity, have been 

 produced by volcanic fires. Spallanzani's Travels in the 

 Two Sicilies, vol. ii. p. I42, &c. 



BASIN OF Mimas, a body of water of confiderable 

 extent and irregular form, fituate in Nova Scotia, at the call 

 end of the bay of Fuudy, and conneAing with its north-ealt 

 branch by a fhort and narrow ftrait. .The country on its 

 banks is generally a rich foil, and is watered by many fmall 

 rivers. The fpring-tides rife here 40 feet. 



BASINET, Bacinet, or Basnet, in jliic'ient Armour, 

 a fpecies of light helmet, much ufed, both here and abroad, 

 in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Its name vva» 

 undoubtedly taken from its form, and means a little baton. 

 The helmet of Don (Quixote gives the reader an exadl idea 

 of it. In the manufcript illuminations of the times it fre- 

 quently occurs; but as it materially differed from the ftate 

 helmet, it is rarely, if ever, found upon fepulchral monu- 

 ments. Fauehet (Qiuvres, f. 524. edit. 1610.) cites Froiffart 

 (vol. iii. c.cxix.), to prove that it had a vizor Uke the helmet; 

 and obferves, that the French warriors of that a:ra thought 

 the bed lances came from Bourdeaux, and the bell helmets 

 and bafinets from Paris, where, in his time, a " Rue de la 

 Heaumerie" exifted. The bafinet is particularly mentioned 

 in the ftatutes of Robert king of Scotland ; and its frequent 

 ufe ju England may be judged of from an inquifition, 



a 2 Edw. 



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