BAS 
of the vein of coal towards the furface of the earth, till it 
come within two or three feet of the furface itfelf. This 
is alfo called by the workmen croping ; and Itands oppofed 
to dipping, which is the dcfcent of the vein to fuch a depth 
that it is rarely, if ever, followed to the end. 
BAS'SIA,/! [Named by Koenig, in honour of Ferdi- 
nando BalTi, curator of the botanic garden at Bologna.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs dodecandria, order mono- 
gynia, natural order dumofse. The generic characters 
arc—Calyx: perianthium four-leaved; leaflets coriaceous, 
ovate, permanent. Corolla : rnonopetalous, bell-lhaped ; 
tube inflated, ovate, fleflty ; border fhorter than the tube, 
eight-parted ; divifions ovate, almoft upright. Stamina : 
filaments fixteen ; eight below the jaws, and eight in the 
middle of, the tube ; antherae linear, faggitate, acute, vil- 
lofe on the infide, fhorter than the corolla. Piftillum : 
Germ fuperior, ovate ; flyle fubulate, twice as long as 
the corolla ; fligmai acute. Pericarpium : drupe fleflty, 
milky. Seeds: nuts five, oblong, three cornered.— EJfen- 
tial CharaBer. Calyx four-leaved. Corolla eight-cleft; 
tube inflated. Staminas fixteen. Drupe five-feeded. 
Species, i. Baflia longifola : leaves ovate-lanceolate, 
peduncles axillary. This is a lofty tree, with the outer- 
moft branches recurved, thickifh and covered with a grey 
down. Leaves on the extreme branches alternate, a foot 
long ; berry fleflty, milky, with five feeds, one in each 
cell, very fmooth, fliining, yellow with a white band. 
Native of Malabar and Ceylon. 
2. Baflia dubia. 
3. Baflia obovata : leaves obovate, peduncles heaped, 
terminating-. Native of the ille of Tanr.a, in the South Seas. 
B AS'SING, a town of France, in the department of the- 
Meurte, and chief place of a canton, in the diffridt of 
Dieuze : one league and a half north-caff of Dieuze. 
BASSOON', or Basson, f. [ bajfoh , Fr.] A nuifical 
iiiftrument of the wind kind, blow n with a reed, and fur- 
niflted with eleven holes, which are flopped like other 
large flutes ; its diameter at bottom is nine inches, and it 
ferves for the bafs in concerts of hautboys, &c. 
BASSO'RA, or Basrah, a city of Afia, in the Ara¬ 
bian Irak, fituated on a navigable canal, well of the Eu¬ 
phrates, built in the year 656, by order of Omar, the fecond 
caliph, to hinder the commerce of the Perfians ; this canal 
is navigable for veffels of fifty tons to the Euphrates, and 
thence to the Gulf of Perfia, from which it lies about fif¬ 
teen leagues north-weft. It is a place of very confiderable 
trade, veftels from Europe and Afia are always found in 
the port. The troubles of Perfia were of confiderable ad¬ 
vantage to the trade of Baflora. Merchants of Arabia, 
Turkey, Armenia, Greece, Jews, and Indians, refide 
there, the Englifh and Dutch have their confuls, and 
their fliips come from India loaded with merchandize : 
thole from Bengal, which arrive from the month of March 
to June, bring white linens, filks, muflins, baftard-faf- 
fron, fandal, and other woods, benzoin, varnifh, rice, 
lead, European tin, and iron. From the coalt of Coro¬ 
mandel they bring thicker cloths, white or blue, with 
which the Arabians clothe themfelves. From the coaft of 
Malabar they bring cardamom feeds, pepper, &c. From 
Surat all kinds of gold and lilver fluids, turbans, blue 
cloths, indigo, and fleet, of which the Perfians are the 
chief purchafers, to make their fabres. The principal 
merchandizes of the Dutch are Ipices and coffee from 
Java. The velfels which arrive from Surat belong chiefly 
to Muflulman merchants, but the Europeans ate the molt 
numerous. Some Arabians bring Haves, others bring 
pearls. The neighbouring countries furnifli alfo mer¬ 
chandize for exchange ; the molt confiderable of which 
are the ancient copper of Perlia, grain when the expor¬ 
tation is allowed, dates, wine, and dry fruits of Perfia, 
See. Balfora rather belongs to the Arabs than the Turks, 
and the language of the former is chiefly fpoken. The 
prince pays but little refpect to the Ottoman court. As 
to religion, betides Mahometans, there are Syrian Jaco¬ 
bites and Neftorians, and monks from Europe ; there are 
Vox. II. No. 102 
BAS ;31 
betides, tome modern Sabeans, whom they call difciplcs 
of John The number of inhabitants is computed to be 
50,000; tile town is of very great extent, and furrounded 
by a wall of clay, faid to be twelve miles in circumference: 
210miles foutli-weftof lfpahan, and 606 fouth-eaffof Alep¬ 
po. Lat. 29. 30. N. Ion. 44. 30. E. Greenwich. 
^B AS'SO RELIE'VO, or Bass-re lief, /. A piece of 
fculpture, where the figures or images do not protuberate, 
or fijmd.out, far above the plane on which they are form¬ 
ed. Whatever figures or reprefentations are thus cut, 
damped, or wrought, lb that not the entire body, but 
only part of it, is railed above the plane, are faid to be 
done in relief or relievo ; and when that work is low, fiat, 
and but little raifed, it is called low relief. When a piece 
of fculpture, a coin, or a medal, has its figure raifed fo 
as to be well diftinguilhed, it is called bold, and we fay its 
relief is in a fircngMnd bold fyle. 
BASSOU'ES, a town of France, in the department 
of the Gers, and chief place of a canton, in the diftricl of 
Mirande : five leagues weff-fouth-weft of Audi. 
BASSO'VIA,/'. in botany, a genus of the clafs pen- 
tandria, order monogynia. The generic charadlers are_ 
Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, permanent, five-parted; 
parts ovate, acute. Corolla: one-petalled ; tube very 
Ihort; border five-cleft, fpreading; clefts ovate, acute, 
larger than the calyx. Stamina : filaments five, inferted 
into the tube of the corolla, and oppofite to its clefts ; an- 
therm ovate. Piftillum : germ ovate, fitting on a glan¬ 
dule; ftyle Ihort ; ftigma thickifh, obtufe. Pericarpium: 
Berry ovate, knobbed. Seeds : very many, kidney-fhaped, 
girt with a membrane, neftling in pulp.— EJJcndalCharaBer. 
Corolla five-cleft, fpreading, with a very ihort tube. Ber¬ 
ry ovate, knobbed, with many feeds. 
Only one fpecies called baffovia fylvatica. The ftem i3 
herbaceous, three or four feet high, branched. Leaves 
alternate, ovate acute, fmooth, quite entire, on a petiole 
about an inch in length ; the large!! are ten inches long, 
and four and a half broad. Flowers in axiliary corymb^ 
green and very fmall. Native of Guiana, in wet foreftsT' 
flowering and fruiting in June. 
BASSUE', a town of France, in the department of the 
Marne, and chief place of a canton, in the diffrict of Vitry 
la Franjoife : fix miles north-north-eaft of Vitry. 
BAS'SUM, a town of Germany, in the circle of Weft- 
phalia, in the county of Hoya, with a noble abbey : fixteen 
miles weft of Hoya. 
BAS'SUS AU'FIDIUS, an hiftorian in the age of An. 
guftus, who wrote on the Gernianic war. Quint. Ccefius, 
a lyric poet, in Nero’s age, to whom Perfius addrelfes his 
fixth fatyr. Some of his verfes are flill extant. Julius* 
an orator in the reign of Auguftus, lome of whofe orations 
have been preferved by Seneca. A man fpoken of by 
Horace, and deferibed as fond of wine and women. 
BAS'TA (George), of Rocca near Tarentum, a gene¬ 
ral officer in the fervice of the emperor Rhodolphus If. 
author of two celebrated military tracts. He died in 1607. 
Basta, a town of Egypt, forty miles north-eaff of 
Cairo, and thirty-one fouth-fouth-eaft of Manlbra. 
BAS'TAN, a town of Afiatic Turkey, in the province 
of Natolia : thirty miles fouth-weft of Amalia. 
BAS'TARD, f. \_bajlardus ; fancifully derived from 
the Greek ficurcrufi^ meretrix ; more truly from the Brit. 
bafaerd, nolhus, Jpurius ; or according to Spelman from 
the German, bajlart, bas, low, and fart, rifen, Sa x.Jleort; 
as upllart, homo novus, fuddenly rifen up.] A perfon born 
out of wedlock, fo that, according to order of law, his 
father is not known. Aytiffe. 
Him to the Lydian king Lycimnia bars, 
And lent her boafted bafard to the war. D>yden. 
Any thing fpurious or falfe : 
Words 
But rooted in your tongue ; bafards and fyllables 
Of no allowance to your bofom’s truth. Shakefpeare. 
9N Bastard? 
V 
