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The boot is faid to have been the invention of the Cavians; 

 it was at lirtl made of leather, afterwards of brafs and iron, 

 and was proof both againll cuts and thiufts. It was from this 

 that Homer calls the Greeks brazen-booted. Pliii. Hill. 

 Nat. lib. vii. cap. 56. Homer. II. vii. v. 4c. 



The boot only covered half the leg, fome fay only the right 

 leg, which was more expofedthan tiic left, it being advanced 

 forwards in the attack with the fword ; but in reality it ap- 

 pears to have been ufed on either leg, and fometimes on 

 both. Tiiole who fought with darts, or miffive weapons, 

 advanced the .left leg faremoll; fo that this only was booted. 

 Vegct. Jilx i. cap. 20. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. torn. ii. p. 309. 

 and Aqtiiii. Lex. Mil. torn. li. p. 102. 



B o o T a, ^'Z'/ng", are a thick llrong fort nfed in dragging 

 ponds, andthcl'ke. Hunting-boots, a lliinner kind, ufed 

 by iportfmen. Jack-boots, a kind oi very ihoiig boot, ufed 

 by the troopers. 



Boot, bordcqiiin, is likcwiie a kind of torture for crimi- 

 nals ; to extort a confcflion, by means of a boot, Hocking, 

 or budcin of parchment; which being put on the leg moill, 

 and brought near the fire, in ihrinking fqueezes the leg vio- 

 lently, and occafions intolerable pain. 



There is alfo another kind of boot, coirfifting of four 

 thick llrong boards bound round with cords ; tuo of theie 

 are put between the criminal's legs, and the two others 

 .placed one on the outiide ot one leg, and the other on the 

 other; then fquee/.ing the legs againll the boards by the 

 cords, the criminal's bones ure feverely pinched or even 

 "broken, &c. 



The boot is now difufed in England ; but it fublills Hill 

 .in fome other countries. 



I^OlOt houfiii^. See Housing. 



Boot IJliuul, in Geography, the moH wefterly of fome 

 fniall iflands, about 3 leagues on the north of Cajana, or 

 Cayenne, oppofite to the river fo called, on the ealtern coall 

 of South America. 



^ooT-laJ], a wooden cylindric inflrument, ufed by flioe- 

 makers for widening the leg of a boot. It is (lit in two 

 -parts, between which a wedge is driven when it is put into 

 the boot. 



BooT-Zoj), that part of the fide of a (liip which is con- 

 tained between the light water mark and the lower edge of 

 ■the wales. This part is commonly painted white, and, in 

 that cafe, the Ihip is faid to have white boot-tops. 



JiooT-topping, in Scii Language, the aft of cleaning the 

 upper part of the (hip's bottom, or that part which lies im- 

 mediately under the furface of the water, and daubing it 

 ■over with tallow, or with a coat or mixture of tallow, ful- 

 phur, refin, &c. 



Boot, Gerard, in Biography, of a noble family, was 

 born at Gorcum, in Holland, in 1604. After taking his 

 degree of doctor in medicine, he came to England, and 

 was in fuch eftimation for his (liill in his profeffion, that he 

 was made phyfician to king Charles I. On the deaili of that 

 prince he fettled in Dublin, but died foon after, viz. in J650. 

 In 1630, he publilhed " Heures de recreation," 4to. in 

 •the Dutch language ; and in 1640, " Philofophia naturalis 

 rcformata," which are not however much clleemed. 



Boot, Arnolb, brother to Gerard, and of equal cele- 

 brity with him, was well verfed in the Laiin, Greek, He- 

 brew, and Syriac languages. After taking his degree of 

 doftor in medicine he came alfo to London j but on the 

 breaking out of the troubles here, he removed .to Ireland, 

 where he praftifed with fuccef< and reputation for fome years. 

 Tired at length with the hurry and torifulion incident to 

 civil commotions, and having experienced ioine lofies, he 

 went to Paris, and there palled the remainder of his life m 



Vol. V. 



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retirement and (ludy. He died in 1655. He pnblidicd, in 

 16.49, " Obfcrvationes mtdieas de aft'eftibus a vctcribus 

 omiflis," i2mo. Haller gives a particular account of this 

 volume, which contains many intertOing and ciuious obfcr- 

 vations. Haller Bib. Med. Eloy Did. Hill. 



BOOTAN, m Geography, a country of Alia, occupying 

 an interval of at lead a degree of hitiuide, according to Mr. 

 Rennell, between Bengal and Tibet. Tibet and Bootan 

 are often confounded together; Iiut the latter is a feudatory, 

 or dependent province of the formei, and b.irdefs on Bengal. 

 The capital of this fouthern province of Tibet isTa(rafudoi', 

 in N. lat. 27° 43', and beyond this is Paridrong, fuppofrd 

 to be in 28° at leaft, though placed by the map of the La- 

 inas. ill 27". This place, and the chain of mountains near 

 it, have been regarded as the comn-.'jn boundary between 

 Tibet and Bengal ; but Mr. Bogle, who w;:s fetit by Mr. 

 Hallingson an embaflTy to thcgrai.d Lama of Tibet, in 17-4, 

 affures us, that Paridrong is the frontier town of libct 

 towards Bootan, and not towards Bi.n;;,il. The wcHern 

 limits of Bootan have not been afc-ita'iad by Mr. Turner, 

 to whom we are indebted for a particular account of this 

 country and of Tibet in general. From Mr. Hardwicke's 

 journey to .Sirinagur it woidd feem, that the name of Boo- 

 tan includes moll of the fouth of Tibet, particularly thole 

 regions wliich are omitted in the doubtful map of the Ivaiiia.', 

 who, in their account of thefe frontiers, ufe Chinefe or Tarta- 

 ric terms, or, perhaps, invented appellations equally nfelefs, as 

 they are alike unknown to the Hindoos and the natives. 

 Bootan is a very mountainous dillrid. The foulheriimoll 

 ridge of its mountains riles near li- mile perpendicular above 

 the plains of Bengal, in a hori/.ontal dillance of only 15 

 miles ; and from the fummit, the aftoiulhed traveller looks 

 back on the plains, as on an extcniivc ocean beneath him. 

 Through this ridge there arc not many paffes, and all of 

 them are fortified. The road between Bengal and TalTafu- 

 don lies chiefly over the fummits of llupendous mountains, 

 or along the borders of craggy precipices ; fo that it is dif- 

 ficult to afcertain the direft dillance. Between TafTafudon 

 and Paridrong is a chain of mountains ilill higher than the 

 others; they are vifible from the plains of Bengal at the dif- 

 tance of 150 miles, and are commonly covered with fnow. 

 Thefe are a continuation af the mountains Emodus and 

 Paropamifus of die ancients ; and are fometimes by the mo- 

 derns erroueoufly called Caucafus. In the Lamas' map, 

 they are called Rimola, and by the people of Hindollaii 

 Himmaleh. Mr. Rennell fuppofes them to be, in point of 

 elevation, equal to any of the mountains ot the old liemi- 

 fphere. Bootan, however, with all its confufed and (bape- 

 lels mountains, is covered with eternal verdure, and abounds 

 in forcils of large lofty trees. The fides of the mountains 

 are improved by the hand of indulby, and crowned with 

 orchards, fields, and villages. It has not many wild ani- 

 mals except monkeys, and a few phcafants. From Mr. 

 Turner's journey, in 1783, we learn, that Bootan docs not, 

 probably, contaia any metal except iron, and a fmall por- 

 tion of copper. The climate of this province may be eon- 

 .fidered as temperate when con-.-iaicd with. that of Tibet Pro- 

 per ; and yet its winters are very i'evere. The people of 

 Bootan arc faid to dilfer efientiaUy and radically from the 

 Hindoos, and fomewhat to rcleinble the Chinefe ; whence 

 if may be concluded, with fmie degree of probability, that 

 they belong to that grand race of men, which approaches 

 the Taitaric, though they cannot be regarded as Mand- 

 (liurs, Monguls, or Tartars proper. SceTiBKT. 



BOOTF.S, in /IJIronmiy, a conftellation of the northern 

 hemilphciv, being one of the 48 old ones; whofe liars, in 

 J'tolemy's catalogue, are 2J ; in Tycho's 2?; in Bayer's 



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