B I S 



cmirtry, and circar of Chanderee ; 55 mlK'S eaft of Chan- 

 dcree. 



XiJRVIESCA, BrRBuscA, ofBribiesca, a mean and 

 wretched town of Spain, in Old Callile, 15 miles N. E. of 

 Burgos. 



blKLTISA, a river of Siberia, which runs into the 

 Tcl.iniia. N. lat. 57' 35'. E. long. 95" 14'. 



BIRUTCH, or BiRuiTscH, a town and diHrid of 

 RiiHi.i, in the government of Voronet/., feated on llie river 

 Sofua, which falls into the Don ; jo miles fouth of Voio- 

 netz. 



BI RZA, or BiRZ, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 

 Tioki. N. lat. 56^ E. long. 24^40'. 



BI.S, in BoIlviw a name given by fome old writers to the 

 napelhis, or monk's-hood, and by others to tlic cicuta or 

 hemlock. 



BIS, Lat. i-Mice. In Mufic, when a paffage which ought 

 to be repeated, has, througli milfake, or w fave room, been 

 omitted, the word his placed over fiieh pntfage, with dots at 

 the beginning and end, implies that the whole is to be re- 

 peated. 



Example. 



V>\%-annual, a name given by Botan'ijls to thofe plants 

 which ordinarily do not flower till the fecond year. 



BIS A, or Iji7. A, a coin in Pegu, current there for h df a 

 ducat. The denomination is alio given to a kind of weight 

 ufed in the fame country, equivalent to two Venetian pounds 

 five ounce'', or to three pounds nine ounces of the fmaller 

 weight of that city. 



BlS.^CCIO, in Geography, a town of Italy in the king- 

 dom of Naples, iz miles ^'.N.E. of Conza. N. lat. 41'^ 3'. 

 E.long. 15' 3;'. 



BISACUi'A, in MiiUk /l^e IVr'iters, an ax with two 

 edges, or which cuts either way ; or a mifTive weapon 

 pointed at both ends. Walfnigham reprefents the feeiirh 

 bifaeuta as peculiar to the Seottifli nation. See Battle- 

 Jlxe. 



BIS ALT jT!, in Ane'ttnt Geography, the name of a people 

 who inhabited a fniall country bord ring on the Sinus Stry- 

 monicus, in the northern part of Macedonia. Their chief 

 cities were Euporia, OfTa, and Callttra. 



BlSAl/riDE, in Entomology, a fpfcies of Papilio 

 (^Daii. /"<//.) that inhabits Suriiiiim. Tlie wings ate flightly 

 tailed, fulvou=, bhick at the tips; beneath, two ocellar dots 

 on the anterior pair, and three on the pollerior ones. Ea- 

 bricins, &c. 



BISAMRAZE, in Zoology, Sorex mojchatuj, Gmelin, 

 and long-w/fed beiivir of S. G. Gmelin. it. &c. 



BISAMTHIER, Mofchus mojclnj^r-js, or Thibet miiji 

 in Gefn. Qnadr. 



BISAN PHE, or R,i:distus, in Anc'tatt Ge:>~^raphf, a 

 town of Thrace on the confines of the Propontis, at the 

 bottom of a kind of gulf, and at a fmall dillaace S.W. from 

 Perinthe. 



BISANT. See Bksant. 



BiSByEA, a feaft celebrated by the MtlFapii, after the 

 pruning of their vines, to obtain of the gods that they miglit 

 grow ajain thebetrer. The word is formed from j?.^\ ufed 

 by fome for a -Ane. 



BISCAINO, Bartolomeo, in Biography, an eminent 



B I 5 



artift. was born .it Genoa in 1632, and indrnaed^ in the 

 firll principles of painting and dclign by his father Giovanni 

 Bifcaino, a landfcape painter of reputation. He afterwards 

 perfcfted himfelf, particularly in the art of colouring, under 

 Valerio Caflelll. By his early death, at the age of 25 years, 

 the expectations of thofe who admired hi- talents and pc form- 

 anccs were difappoiiited. Some of his etchings are exccuttd 

 in a bold ftyle, refembling th<.fe of Caftiglione, but all more 

 finiihed. His figures are elegant, firmly compofed, and 

 drawn in a very mallerly manner ; he has given beauty and 

 characler to the heads ; and the other extremities are pecu- 

 liarly con eft, and marked with great fpirit. Soire of the 

 principal are the following : " Mofes m the ark of bul- 

 rufties ;" A Nativity, with angels ;" " The wife-n.en's 

 ollering ;" " The Circunicifion of Chrill ;" and a " Bac- 

 ciianalian." Strutt. 



BISCARA, or Bescara, in Geography, a decayed city 

 of Africa, in the kingdom of Algiers, the capital of the 

 diftrift of Zaab or Zeb, belonging to the provuice of Con- 

 ftantine. It is the refidcnce of a Turkifti garrifon, and has 

 a fmall caftle, built by Plaflan, the bey of Conllar.tine, and 

 chiefly defended by fix fmall pieces of ordnance, and a few 

 unwieldy muflvcts, mounted on carriages. It is a place of 

 great antiquity, built by the Romans, and deflroyed by the 

 Arabs, who afterwards rebuilt it. It is at prefcut as uidif- 

 ferently peopled as it is weakly defended ; the houfes be:ng 

 infeftcd by fwarms of fcorpions, vipers, and poilon"us rep- 

 tiles, ^.nd the inhabitants being obliged to delerl the city 

 and retire into the coiuitry in the fuminer, when thefe noxious 

 animals are intolerable. The inhabitants o( this piacr, and 

 its adjacent dillrlcf, called " Bilcaris," lead a kind of wan- 

 dering life, and live in tents. Few of them e^'n be employed 

 in agriculture and palhirage from the nature oi the country ; 

 but thofe of the fnperior clals carry on fome commerce, not- 

 withftanding their poverty and Indigence, in negroes and 

 ollrich feathers. The pooreft of them migrate every year to 

 the city ot Algiers, and other towns of the kuigdom, and 

 are einployed in the meanell and moll fubordmate offices, 

 fuch as cleanfing of Ibiets, emptying vaults fvveeplng chim- 

 nies, and carrying burdens. Having in the courfe of two 

 or three years accumulated a capital ef from fix to ten ze- 

 chins, they return home, and on accovnt of the fcarclty of 

 coin among them, are reckoned i<mong t! e wealthy of the 

 land. In the capital, they conftitute a ki C of corporation, 

 and have even a common treafury for the pi.'rpofc of mutually 

 relieving one another. They are the on'iy cl ils of free 

 fervants, and arc highly efteemed for their fidelity. In 

 winter, as well as in funimer, they flecp wrapped ip in rags, 

 on a kmd of benches before the (hops, and others place thtm- 

 felves at the gates of the different roads, for the convenience 

 of opening them to pan"enger3. They are not only de- 

 fervliig of the confidence that is repofed in them, but their 

 difgofitlon Is placid and obliging, and their perfcvcrance in 

 labour is indefatigable. Thofe among them tvho are guilty 

 of any breach of trntt, are punilhed by their chiefs. They 

 are employed by the Europeans as fervants, and as they can 

 fpeak,_ be!:d;s the language of the country, the " lingua 

 Frai.cia," are found fingularly uftful. The villages which 

 they inhabit in their own coun'try are fmall, and remarkable 

 only for their meannefs and poverty. N. lat. 34° 30'. 

 E.long. 5° ij'. ^ 



BISC.\RGIS, or BissANcis, in Jtuienl Geography, a 

 town of Spam on the right fide of the Iberus, N.VV. of 

 Derti.fa. 



BISCAY, in Geography, a province of Spain, called " the 

 lordihip of Bifcay," is, in its mod appropriate and reffrided 

 feofe, bounded on ihe north by the bay of Bifcay, on the 



fouth 



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