BOM 
a large (hare of air admitted to them when the weather is 
warm, to prevent their being drawn up weak ; they muff 
alfo be frequently refrefhed with water, which muft not 
be given in large quantities. In this bed they may remain 
till autumn (provided there be room for the plants under 
the glades) ;■ but, if the heat of the bed decline, the tan 
fhould be flirred up, and frelli added to it; and if the 
plants have filled the pots with their roots, they fhould 
be fhifted into pots a little larger ; but there muft be care 
taken not to over-pot them, for nothing is more injurious 
to thefe plants than to be put into large pots, in which 
they will never thrive. In the autumn they muft be re¬ 
moved into the bark-ftove, where they muft conftantly 
remain, being too tender to thrive in this country in any 
Other fituation. In winter they muft have but little wet, 
efpecially if they caft their leaves; but in the fiimmer 
they fhould be frequently refrefhed with water, and in 
warm weather muft have plenty of frefh air admitted to 
them. With this management the plants will make great 
progrefs, and in a few years will reach the glades on the 
top of the ftove. The plants make an agreeable variety 
in a large ftove where they have room to grow, their leaves 
having a different appearance from mod other plants ; but, 
as they are feveral years old before they flower in the coun¬ 
tries where they grow naturally, there is little hopes of 
their producing any in England. 
BOM'BAX,_/i is fometimes ufed for filk or cotton ; 
but the true botanic name of cotton is Gossypium. It 
is likewife applied by Linneus to fignify fu.eh infects as 
have incumbent wings, and feelers refembling a comb. 
BOMBAY', an Aland on the Indian Sea, on the weftern 
Coaft of Hindooftan, about feven leagues in circumference. 
It was firft fettled by the Portnguefe, and given to king 
Charles II. of England, as a marriage portion with the 
infanta Catharine. After the king’s marriage, a fquadron, 
conducted by James Ley earl of Marlborough, was fent 
to. receive the pofleflion and inveftiture of the ifland from 
the hands of the viceroy, who had received his Portnguefe 
majefty’s commands to that effect. His lordfhip fet fail 
with a fleet of five men of war, having Sir Abraham 
Shipman, appointed governor, on-board, and arrived at 
Bombay in September 1663. The viceroy w’as difpofed 
to comply with his majefty’s inftrudtions; but the ftrong 
opposition of the clergy, who refufed to cede the ifland to 
'heretics, terrified the viceroy into their meafures, and de¬ 
termined him to keep to his new-acquired dignity : his 
'obftinate refufal to furrenderthe ifland, obliged lord Marl¬ 
borough, with the fleet, to .retire to Swally rjad for re- 
frefhnients. After having laid in a (lore of necelfary pro- 
vifions, his lordfhip, in January 1664, fet fail with two 
.fhips for England, leaving the reft of the fquadron under 
Sir Abraham Shipman, to fpend the remainder of the 
weftern monfoons in fome of the neareft ports. During 
this time he buried above two hundred of his men on a 
'defolate Aland, Anjadiva, where he wintered and ftaid 
from April to October. The mop Icons'being over, the 
fleet put to fen, and failed for Bombay. On his arrival-, 
Sir Abraham threatened the viceroy and clergy with the 
vengeance of the kings of England and Portugal, if they 
longer continued obftinate, or denied obedience to their 
inajefties’.inftFuCf.ions and contracts: at length.they con- 
ferited to a treaty, by which the inhabitants were to be 
continued i 11. the free exercifc of.their faith, and pofleflion 
of their eflates, under the crown of England. The trade 
of Bombay, flouriflied exceedingly; but, the revenues of 
the place not being equal to (he expence of keeping it, 
king Charles, in 1668, granted the ifland to the Eaft-India 
company, tinder a rent of ten pounds in gold, payable an¬ 
nually at the cuftom-houfe in London. This ifland was 
formerly reckoned exceedingly unhealthy, infomuch that 
it had the name of the burying-ground of the Englifh, 
though it is.now fo improved in that refpeCl as to be no 
worfe than any other place in the Eaft Indies, Indeed 
the climate feems to be drier, here than in many other 
.parts under the fame parallel. The rains laft only four 
B O M i6j 
months of the year, but with fliort interrni(lions. The 
fetting in of the rains is commonly preceded by a violent 
tluinder-ftorm, called the Elephanta from its extraordinary 
violence. The air, however, is then agreeably cooled, 
and the cxceflive heat, then nearly at its height, much 
moderated. The rains begin about the end of May, and 
go off in the beginning of September; after- which there 
never falls any except a. fhort tranfient (Lower, and that 
but very rarely. The phenomenon of fmall fifties appear¬ 
ing in thefe rainy feafons, in places before dry, is as true 
as it is furprifing. Vcfy foon after the monfoon com¬ 
mences, they are found in every little puddle of water, 
even on the tops of the houfes and churches. Their firft 
appearance is in the fhape of fmall frogs, from which they 
gradually depart until they have afllnned that of a com¬ 
plete fifh : generally about fix inches long, and fomewhat 
refembling a mullet. The inhabitants begin to fifh for 
them on the tenth day after the firft rains, and they make 
a common difh at the tables. This phenomenon is alfo 
met with in the hotted parts of South America. They 
are the Rana paradoxa of G111. Lin. and are mentioned by 
Seba and Merian. For the natural hiftory, and figure, of 
thefe wonderful tranfnnited reptiles, fee the article Rana., 
The principal vegetable productions of Bombay, ac¬ 
cording (o Mr. Grofe, are the cocoa-nuts and plantations 
of rice. The cocoa-nut groves make the molt coiilidera- 
ble part of the landed property, being planted wherever 
the fituation and foil are favourable to them. When a 
number of thefe groves lie contiguous to each other, they 
form what is called the woods; through which there is a 
due fpace left for roads and pathways, w here we are plea- 
fantly defended from the fun at all hours in the day. They 
are alfo thick fet with houfes belonging to the refpeCtive, 
proprietors, as well as with the luits of the poorer fort of 
people. The cultivation of thefe trees is extremely eafy,. 
by means of channels conveying water to the roots^ and 
by the manure which is laid round them. As to the rice 
fields, they differ in value, according to the fjnenefs and 
quantity of rice they produce. The growth of this grain 
has a particularity not unworthy notice, viz. that, as it 
loves a watery foil, fo to whatever height the water rifes, 
wherever it is planted, the growth of the rice keeps mea- 
fure with it, even to that of twelve or fourteen feet ; the 
furiimit always appearing above the fur face of the water. 
Here and there are interfperfed a few brab trees, or rather 
wild palm trees, (the word brab being derived from biabo 
which in the Portnguefe fignifies wild.) They bear an 
inlipid kind of fruit, about the bigtiefs of a common pear ; 
but tiie chief profit from them, is the toddy, or liquor 
drawn from them by incilions at the top, of which the ar¬ 
rack is reckoned better than that produced by the cocoa- 
nut trees, They are generally near the fea fide, as they 
delight mod in a fandy foil, ft is on this tree that the 
toddy birds, fo called from their attachment to it, make 
their exquifitely curious nefts, wrought out of the thin¬ 
ned reeds and filaments of branches,.with. an.inimitable 
mechanifm.. The birds themfelves are about the fize of a 
partridge, but are of no value either for plumage, long, 
or the table. This ifland is a ftrong inflance of the bene¬ 
fits of a good government, and a numerous popnlat on, by 
not a fpot of it remaining uncultivated: fo that, though it 
is.far from producing fufficien't fur the confumption of its 
inhabitants, and notvvithftanding its many difad vantages 
of fituation and foil, it yields incomparably more thani 
could'ever have been expected, under the natural difad- 
vantages of its foil and fituation. 
Bombay has the bed and moft fecure harbour in India,, 
and is the moft eonfiderable Englifh fettlement on the Ma¬ 
labar coaft ; and, by r.eafon of its fituation, may be ftyled 
the grand fiorehoufe of all the Arabian and Perfian com¬ 
merce. It is alfo the moft convenient place in the Eaft 
Indies for careening large Ihips. They have a vety good 
dock and rope-yard, and an arfenal always well fupplied 
with naval (lores, from whence admiral Watfon, and 
again admiral Hughes, were fo fpeedily enabled to refit. 
j lira. 
