BOO 



nkxft, in 1711^, orJaineJ', that fucli a rliild (lioiild be freCi 

 if a hcc man liave caufcJ it to be bapii/.icl in liis nainei as 

 father. Va(Tal-boois pay poll-lax, aiiJ furiiifh recruits ; but 

 the obrok 'Jif liic truwii -boors is not to be conliJtrcd as a 



Iiublic tax, but a', a fort of rent for the occupancy of the 

 ands allotted to them, or for pcrmiffun to follow any trade 

 they pleafe. Some of the boors rife by their good behaviour 

 to be officei!" in the army ; and others of them live decently 

 in th^ir houfis, have a fuffiticncy of w hokfomc food, are 

 niatly drdlid, and accuMMilatc a trifling capital, thoui;h, 

 «> lht\ have no unalienable fccurily of punelTniiT it, they fre- 

 quciilly bury it in the ground. In fonie noble villages the 

 boors difplay an opulence which would be looked for in vain 

 ill other countries. The RufTi.in boor, indeed, may foon 

 become rich, as lie underflands the art of turning every 

 thing to profit, and of bcln^ content with a little ; for his 

 clothes coll him nothing, bting wholly maniif;iftured at 

 home, and witli Ins dii.t, which, during the long falls, is 

 extremely meagre, he is fupplied from his hufbandry. 



The value of an tllate in RufTia is ellimatcd principally 

 by the number of male boors belonging to it. The national 

 lombard, in all mortgages, which it accepts, takes the 

 boor at forty rubles ; but in the fale of an eftatc they are 

 fcldom or never ellimated at fo low a price. In the govern- 

 ment of St. Peterlhurg every foul is paid for, according to 

 t!ie quality of the tllate, from 2C0 ti) 3!>o rubles: in other 

 parts of the empire the price is conuuonly much lower, but 

 at prefent hardly any whcreundtr, ico rubles. On many ellates 

 the boors work three or even four days in every week for 

 the lord. The boors enrolled to the mines have their labours 

 afci.:taiaed by an edict iffued in 1782 ; and thofe belonging 

 to the crown-mints have always experienced a milder lot, as 

 the crown is always interelled in their prefervation. Ac- 

 cording to the enumeration of male inhabitants, made from 

 1781 to J 783, in the forty one viceroyalties of which Ruffia 

 at that time confilled, the number of crown boors was 

 4,674,60;, and of private boors 6,678,239. Tooke's View 

 of the Ruffian empire. 



BOOR- Worm, in Nalural Hifl'jry. a name given by 

 Rumphius to a fort of marine worm, that bores through the 

 bottoms of (liips ; perhaps the Tcreilo mivii'is. 



BOO.S, in Geogriiphy, a town of France, in the dapart- 

 ment of the Lower Seine, the chief , lace of a canton, in 

 thediftricl of Rouen ; the place contauis 650, and the can- 

 ton 1 1,144 inhabitants ; the territory comprehends 107^ 

 kiliometres, and 21 communes. 



BOOSE, in Rural Economy, a provincial term, fignify- 

 ing a cow-flail. 



BOO-Shai,tep,. See V>oo.Shantv. 



BOOSHOOANAS, in Geo^mphy, a tribe of the knff-rs, 

 or caffrtSjinliabiting a finely cultivated and intlofed country in 

 fouthern Africa. The capital, called Lcctakoo, is very large 

 and populous, containing, according to the tllimation of fome 

 commiffioners who vifited it in 180 1, between 2 and .-^jOoo 

 houfes, and from 10 to 15,000 people. It lies nearly in S. lat. 

 26° ,3c'. and E. long. 27". The men are of a tall athletic form ; 

 of fimple palloral manners ; living almoil entirely on milk and 

 Tegctablts, and following the occupation of (licpherds. The 

 wonun, like other females in favage communities, ptrform all 

 the drudgery of the family. They break up the ground with 

 a kind of hoe made of iron, and afterwards plant it. They 

 alfo conllruft their habitations, and colled the necclTary ma- 

 terial'. They reap the grain, clear it from the hnl]<, and lay it 

 up iii the granaries, wlilch, with other earthen pots and vefl'cls, 

 were the work of their own hands. The men prepare the 

 (kins and hides which fcrve for fhoes, aiid make them up into 

 cloaks for thcmfelvcs, their w.vcs, aud their children. They 



BOO 



alfo attend the cattle, milk the cows, and hunt the antilopei 

 and other game, with a weapon called the " hafi'agai," 

 which i;i nfed alfo in battle. 



The houfts of thcfc people are built in a circular form, 

 being about fixtecn feet in diameter. The lower part, to 

 tlie height of four feet from the ground, is formed of iloue 

 laid in clay with wooden fpars erc6led at certain dillanccs. 

 A fourtli part of the honfe, on the eail fide, is op-n, and the 

 other ihree-fourtlis entirely cloftd. The whole building is 

 covered with a round pointed roof in the form of a tent, well 

 thatched with long reeds, or the draws of the holcus. Fn.m 

 the centre to the back part of the houfe, a cii-cular apartment 

 is feparated, having a narrow entrance, and in this liie head 

 of the family takes his nightly rell; while the other mem- 

 bers of- the fan.iiy flecp in the fore part, or between tl.c 

 large and fmall circles of the houfe. All the houfes arc en- 

 doled by pallifades-; and the fpace between thefe and the 

 dwelling ferves for a granary, and (lore for their grain and 

 pnlff. The granaries are conllruftcd in the form of oil j.u's, 

 of baked tlay, each of them containing about 200 gallons; 

 and thefe are fupported on tripods, compofed of the fame 

 material, which raife tiiem about nine inches above the 

 ground. They are covered with a round ftraw roof crefled 

 on poles, and of fuch a height as to admit an opening into 

 the j-irs, the upper edges of which are from live to ii.\ feet 

 from the ground. 



To the north of the Boofliooanas are (Ituated, in a culti- 

 vated tract of country, under the fouthern tropic, a much 

 more powerful tribe, called the " Baroloos." The manners 

 of thefe people are kind and fimple ; they are faid to be ac- 

 quainted with tlie art of fmelting copper and iron, for which 

 they have erected furnaces; they are extremely rich in 

 cattle ; their lands and houfes are much better than thofe of 

 the Boofliooanas ; and their chief town is reprelented as io 

 extcnfive, that it is faid to be a day's journey in length, and 

 extremely populous. Barrow's Travels into the Interior of 

 Southern Africa, vol. ii. 



BOOSSEGA, a riverof Africa, in the empire of Morocco, 

 near Tetuan, where the Morocco gallics anchor and winter, 

 under the proteClion of a bad fort. 



BOOSURA, in Ancient Gcogyafhy, a fmall town of the 

 ifle of Cyprus, towards the luutli-wtll, between Curtum to 

 call, and Pdlaj-paplios to the north-weft. It is mentioned by 

 Strabo. 



BOOT, a leathern cover or defence for the leg, ufed 

 chiefly on horfe back, both to keep the body more firm, 

 and delend the part irom the injuries of the weather. 



Boots feeni to have been called thus from their refemblance 

 to a lort of jacks, or leathern bottles, formerly in ufe, and 

 called lothe, in the old French loiilu Borel derives the 

 name from the ancient French word bot, ajliimp, becaufe the 

 boot gives the leg this appearance. 



It is not long that the boots ufed on horfe-back have been 

 called by this name. In the reign of Charles VII. of Fiance, 

 they were called houfes, hofe. 



The ancient monks ufually wore boots; that is, the de- 

 nomination of Iv/U, or I'o/fi, was given to their bufl<ins. 



The Chinefe had a kind of boots made of filk, or fine ftufF, 

 lined with cotton, a full inch thick, which they always wore 

 at home and abroad. 



There are alfo chirurgical boots, for the cure of ■u.i/v tf 

 vnl;ri, or crooked and dillorted legs. 



The boot was much ufed among the ancients, by the foot 

 as well as horfcmen. 



The boot is the fame with what was called by the ancient 

 Romans, oora; in middle-age writers, grcva, gamberli^ 

 iainbcrga, bembarga, or bcdt-r^a. Du-Cange Lat. Gloif, 



The 



