BOA 



BOB 



boats of baked earth were marked with various colours. 

 However, it is much more probable, that the Egyptians 

 formerly, as they have done in more modern times, made 

 ufe of rafts, which were made to float by empty veffels of 

 earthen-ware faftened under them. The word " pictoe," it 

 is fnggefted, does not denote their being beautified with a 

 variety of colours, but means their being rubbed with fome 

 fubftance that might fill up the poi-es, fo as to prevent the 

 water's penetrating into the cavity of the pitchers, and cauf- 

 ing them to fink, for the Egyptian earthen-ware is faid to 

 be very porous. Thefe floats, however, were not con llruft- 

 ed to pafs up and down the Nile like boats, or properly de- 

 iigned for carrying goods upon them, but it is an eafy mode 

 of conveying their earthen-ware from Upper Egypt, where 

 it is manufaftured, to the lower parts of that country, where, 

 when they reach the deftined place, the float is taken to 

 pieces, and fold to the inhabitants. Harmer's Obferva- 

 tions, vol. iii. p. ^6. 



BoAT-/jooi, an iron hook with a (harp point, having a 

 fockct in which a long pole is ftuck. This is a veiy necefTary 

 appendage to a boat, as by means of it, any thing floating 

 pail may be hooked ; the boat may be held on to the fliip, 

 or piiflied along, &c. 



3o AT Jlcercr. In the whale fifhery a perfbn is appointed 

 to each boat, whofe exprefs duty is to (leer the boat towards 

 the fifli, &c. 



Boats, bridge of. See the article Bridge. 

 Boat, remo-ved tuith Jleam. An experiment was lately 

 tried on the canal between Grangemouth and Glafgow, to 

 make a large boat or lighter move by the power of ileam. 

 As, it is prefumed, the feries of experiments is not yet com- 

 pleted, the reader is, tlierefore, referred to the article 

 Steam. 



BoAT-/:i'(7;n, the officer who has the care of the boats, 

 fails, rigging, colours, anchors, and cables committed to 

 him, which he receives by indenture from the fnrveyor of 

 the navy, and is enjoined to ufc great care in the difpofi- 

 tion of I'lem. 



It is the duty of the boatfwain particularly to diredl what- 

 ever relates to the rigging of a ftiip, after flie is equipped from 

 a royal dock-yard. Thus, he is to obfervc that the mails 

 are properly fupported by their flirouds, ftays, and back- 

 ftays, fo that each of thofe ropes may fuilaiu a proportional 

 effort when the mall is llrained by the violence of the wind, 

 or the agitation of the (hip. He ought alfo to take care that 

 the blocks and running-ropes are regularly placed, fo as to an- 

 fwcr the purpofes for which they are intended ; and that the 

 fails are properly fitted to their yards and (lays, and well 

 furled or reefed when occafion requires. It is likewife his 

 office to fummon the crew to their duty, to aihd with his 

 mytes in the necelTary bufinefsof the (hip ; and to reheve the 

 w?.tch when it expires. He ought frequently to examine 

 th'.- condition of the malls, fails, and rigging, and remove 

 whatever may be judged unfit for fervice, or fupply what is 

 deficient ; and he is ordered by his inllruclions to perform 

 this duty with as little noife as pofiTible. 



The boatlwain is not to cut up any cordage or canvas 

 without an order in writing from, the captain, and under the 

 infpeiSion of the mafter ; and always to have by him a fuf- 

 ficient quantity of fmall plats for fecurity of the cables. 



He is not to fign any accounts, books, hlls, or tickets, 

 bef )ve he has thoroughly informed him(elf of the truth of 

 every particular therein contained. His accounts are to be 

 audited and vouched by the captain and mailer, and pre- 

 fented to the furveyor of the navy ; and until iach accounts 

 arc pafled, he is not to receive any wages. If he has caufe 

 of complaint againil any of the oflicers of the fhip, with re- 

 lation to the difpofition of the (lores uudcr his charge, he is 

 Vol. IV. 



to reprefent the fame to the Navy-board before they pay off 

 the fliip. Fifteen years fervitude intitles a boatfwain to 

 fuperannuation. 



The BoatJwahCs Mate has the charge of the long boat, 

 anchors, cables, &c. ; he mufl; give an account of his flore ; 

 and he is appointed to execute the fentence of a captain or 

 court-martial. 



Boats, train of, a number of fmall veffels faftened to each 

 other, afcending up the Loir in France, by fails when the 

 wind ferves, othcrwife towed by men, fometimes to the num- 

 ber of feveuty or eighty to a fingle rope. 



BoAT-3i//, in Ornithology^ the Englilh name of a fpecies of 

 Cancroma, cochlearia. Brown's Illullrations. Or, more 

 properly, at this time the Englifli name of the Cancroma 

 genus, C. Cochlearia being called by the modern writers the 

 crejlcd boat-bill, and C. Cancophraga, the ivhite bellied boat- 

 bill. Thefe are the two only fpecies known. See Can- 

 croma. 



Boat, fcapha, in Surgery, a fpecies of bandage, ufed 

 when the crown of the head and the part between that and 

 the forehead are to be bound. It is likewife called tholus 

 dincleus. 



Boat^V, in Entomology. See Notonecta. 

 Boat i/land, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, near the fouth coaft of Labrador. N. lat, 

 ^0° 2'. W. long. 6o° 55'. 



Boat Parage, a channel into Facile harbour, in Duiky 

 bay, New Zealand. 



BOATING, a kind of punifhment in ufe among the an- 

 cient Perfians for capital ofiTenders. 



The manner of boating was thus : the perfon condemned 

 to it being laid on his back in a boat, and having his hands 

 flretched out, and tied faft on each fide of it, had another 

 boat put over him, his head being let out through a place 

 fit for it. In this pofture they fed him, forcing him to tat 

 by thrufting (harp iron inllruments into his eyes, till the 

 worms, which were bred in the excrements he voided as he 

 thus lay, eat out his bowels, and fo caufed his death, which 

 was ufually twenty days in effefting; the criminal lying all 

 this while in mod exquifite torments. On his face, placed 

 full in the fun, they poured honey, enticing the flies and 

 wafps to torment him. Plutarch tells us, that Mithridates, 

 whom Artaxcnces condemned to this kind of puniihment, 

 for pretending to have killed his brother Cyrus, lived feven- 

 tecn days in the utmolt agony ; and that, when the upper- 

 moft boat was taken olf at his death, they found his flefli 

 wholly confumed, and fwarms of worms gnawing his bowels. 

 Herodot. 1. i. c. 133, 140. Plut. in vit. Artaxerxes. 



BOATIUM Civitas, in .Ancient Geography, a town of 

 Gaul, and one ot the twelve cities of Novempopulania. 



BOATSKIDS, in Naval ^rchiteaure, are long fquare 

 pieces of fir, extending acrofs the fliip from the gang-boards, 

 on which the boats, fpare mafls, &c. are (lowed. 



BOB, or Ball, in Horology, is the metallic weight which 

 is attached to the lower extremity of a pendulum rod, by- 

 means of a tapped adjuft;ing nut, at fuch a dillance fiom the 

 point of fufpenijon as the time of a given vibration requires. 

 (See the articles Centre of Oscillation and Pendu- 

 lum.) In fixing upon a proper bob for any pendulum, 

 two things are particularly to be attended to : the (hape 

 which is beil calculated for meeting with the lead refiftancc 

 from the air; and the weight which is bed adapted for pre- 

 ferving the iiochronifai of the vibrations with a given main- 

 taining power. Each of ihefe confiderations has been the 

 fubjttt of much invefligation. A fphere is a folid, the fur- 

 face of which bears the lead proportion to its folidity of any 

 other, and a cube is one with great extent of furface com- 

 pared to its (olid contents ; con fequeutly, th« former (hape 



4 R has 



