Book: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4

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BULRUSH, a name now generally given to _Typha latifolia_, the reed-mace or
club-rush, a plant growing in lakes, by edges of rivers and similar
localities, with a creeping underground stem, narrow, nearly flat leaves, 3
to 6 ft. long, arranged in opposite rows, and a tall stem ending in a
cylindrical spike, half to one foot long, of closely packed male (above)
and female (below) flowers. The familiar brown spike is a dense mass of
minute one-seeded fruits, each on a long hair-like stalk and covered with
long downy hairs, which render the fruits very light and readily carried by
the wind. The name bulrush is more correctly applied to _Scirpus
lacustris_, a member of a different family (Cyperaceae), a common plant in
wet places, with tall spongy, usually leafless stems, bearing a tuft of
many-flowered spikelets. The stems are used for matting, &c. The bulrush of
Scripture, associated with the hiding of Moses, was the _Papyrus_ (_q.v._),
also a member of the order Cyperaceae, which was abundant in the Nile.

BULSTRODE, SIR RICHARD (1610-1711), English author and soldier, was a son
of Edward Bulstrode (1588-1659), and was educated at Pembroke College,
Cambridge; after studying law in London he joined the army of Charles I. on
the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. In 1673 he became a resident agent
of Charles II. at Brussels; in 1675 he was knighted; then following James
II. into exile he died at St Germain on the 3rd of October 1711. Bulstrode
is chiefly known by his _Memoirs and Reflections upon the Reign and
Government of King Charles I. and King Charles II._, published after his
death in 1721. He also [v.04 p.0796] wrote _Life of James II._, and
_Original Letters written to the Earl of Arlington_ (1712). The latter
consists principally of letters written from Brussels giving an account of
the important events which took place in the Netherlands during 1674.

His second son, WHITELOCKE BULSTRODE (1650-1724), remained in England after
the flight of James II.; he held some official positions, and in 1717 wrote
a pamphlet in support of George I. and the Hanoverian succession. He
published _A Discourse of Natural Philosophy_, and was a prominent
Protestant controversialist. He died in London on the 27th of November
1724.

BULWARK (a word probably of Scandinavian origin, from _bol_ or _bole_, a
tree-trunk, and _werk_, work, in Ger. _Bollwerk_, which has also been
derived from an old German _bolen_, to throw, and so a machine for throwing
missiles), a barricade of beams, earth, &c., a work in 15th and 16th
century fortifications designed to mount artillery (see BOULEVARD). On
board ship the term is used of the woodwork running round the ship above
the level of the deck. Figuratively it means anything serving as a defence.

BUMBOAT, a small boat which carries vegetables, provisions, &c., to ships
lying in port or off the shore. The word is probably connected with the
Dutch _bumboat_ or _boomboot_, a broad Dutch fishing-boat, the derivation
of which is either from _boom_, cf. Ger. _baum_, a tree, or from _bon_, a
place in which fish is kept alive, and _boot_, a boat. It appears first in
English in the Trinity House By-laws of 1685 regulating the scavenging
boats attending ships lying in the Thames.

BUMBULUM, BOMBULUM or BUNIBULOM, a fabulous musical instrument described in
an apocryphal letter of St Jerome to Dardanus,[1] and illustrated in a
series of illuminated MSS. of the 9th to the 11th century, together with
other instruments described in the same letter. These MSS. are the _Psalter
of Emmeran_, 9th century, described by Martin Gerbert,[2] who gives a few
illustrations from it; the Cotton MS. _Tiberius C. VI._ in the British
Museum, 11th century; the famous _Boulogne Psalter_, A.D. 1000; and the
_Psalter of Angers_, 9th century.[3] In the Cotton MS. the instrument
consists of an angular frame, from which depends by a chain a rectangular
metal plate having twelve bent arms attached in two rows of three on each
side, one above the other. The arms appear to terminate in small
rectangular bells or plates, and it is supposed that the standard frame was
intended to be shaken like a sistrum in order to set the bells jangling.
Sebastian Virdung[4] gives illustrations of these instruments of Jerome,
and among them of the one called bumbulum in the Cotton MS., which Virdung
calls _Fistula Hieronimi_. The general outline is the same, but instead of
metal arms there is the same number of bent pipes with conical bore.
Virdung explains, following the apocryphal letter, that the stand
resembling the draughtsman's square represents the Holy Cross, the
rectangular object dangling therefrom signifies Christ on the Cross, and
the twelve pipes are the twelve apostles. Virdung's illustration, probably
copied from an older work in manuscript, conforms more closely to the text
of the letter than does the instrument in the Cotton MS. There is no
evidence whatever of the actual existence of such an instrument during the
middle ages, with the exception of this series of fanciful pictures drawn
to illustrate an instrument known from description only. The word
_bombulum_ was probably derived from the same root as the [Greek:
bombaulios] of Aristophanes (_Acharnians_, 866) ([Greek: bombos] and
[Greek: aulos]), a comic compound for a bag-pipe with a play on [Greek:
bombulios], an insect that hums or buzzes (see BAG-PIPE). The original
described in the letter, also from hearsay, was probably an early type of
organ.

(K. S.)

[1] _Ad Dardanum, de diversis generibus musicorum instrumentorum._

[2] _De Cantu et Musica Sacra_ (1774).

[3] For illustrations see _Annales archeologiques_, iii. p. 82 et seq.

[4] _Musica getutscht und aussgezogen_ (Basle, 1511).

BUN, a small cake, usually sweet and round. In Scotland the word is used
for a very rich spiced type of cake and in the north of Ireland for a round
loaf of ordinary bread. The derivation of the word has been much disputed.
It has been affiliated to the old provincial French _bugne_, "swelling," in
the sense of a "fritter," but the _New English Dictionary_ doubts the usage
of the word. It is quite as probable that it has a far older and more
interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry into the origin of hot
cross buns. These cakes, which are now solely associated with the Christian
Good Friday, are traceable to the remotest period of pagan history. Cakes
were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon-goddess; and these had
imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the sacrifice of
which they were offered on the altar, or of the horned moon-goddess, the
equivalent of Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians. The Greeks offered such
sacred cakes to Astarte and other divinities. This cake they called _bous_
(ox), in allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative
_boun_ it is suggested that the word "bun" is derived. Diogenes Laertius
(c. A.D. 200), speaking of the offering made by Empedocles, says "He
offered one of the sacred liba, called a _bouse_, made of fine flour and
honey." Hesychrus (c. 6th century) speaks of the _boun_, and describes it
as a kind of cake with a representation of two horns marked on it. In time
the Greeks marked these cakes with a cross, possibly an allusion to the
four quarters of the moon, or more probably to facilitate the distribution
of the sacred bread which was eaten by the worshippers. Like the Greeks,
the Romans eat cross-bread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually
purchased at the doors of the temple and taken in with them,--a custom
alluded to by St Paul in I Cor. x. 28. At Herculaneum two small loaves
about 5 in. in diameter, and plainly marked with a cross, were found. In
the Old Testament a reference is made in Jer. vii. 18-xliv. 19, to such
sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess. The cross-bread was eaten
by the pagan Saxons in honour of Eoster, their goddess of light. The
Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The custom,
in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted
the pagan practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist. The _boun_ with its
Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers
mentioned in St Chrysostom's _Liturgy_. In the medieval church, buns made
from the dough for the consecrated Host were distributed to the
communicants after Mass on Easter Sunday. In France and other Catholic
countries, such blessed bread is still given in the churches to
communicants who have a long journey before they can break their fast. The
Holy Eucharist in the Greek church has a cross printed on it. In England
there seems to have early been a disposition on the part of the bakers to
imitate the church, and they did a good trade in buns and cakes stamped
with a cross, for as far back as 1252 the practice was forbidden by royal
proclamation; but this seems to have had little effect. With the rise of
Protestantism the cross bun lost its sacrosanct nature, and became a mere
eatable associated for no particular reason with Good Friday. Cross-bread
is not, however, reserved for that day; in the north of England people
usually crossmark their cakes with a knife before putting them in the oven.
Many superstitions cling round hot cross buns. Thus it is still a common
belief that one bun should be kept for luck's sake to the following Good
Friday. In Dorsetshire it is thought that a cross-loaf baked on that day
and hung over the chimneypiece prevents the bread baked in the house during
the year from "going stringy."

BUNBURY, HENRY WILLIAM (1750-1811), English caricaturist, was the second
son of Sir William Bunbury, 5th baronet, of Mildenhall, Suffolk, and came
of an old Norman family. He was educated at Westminster school and St
Catharine's Hall, Cambridge, and soon showed a talent for drawing, and
especially for humorous subjects. His more serious efforts did not rise to
a high level, but his caricatures are as famous as those of his
contemporaries Rowlandson and Gillray, good examples being his "Country
Club" (1788), "Barber's Shop" (1811) and "A Long Story" (1782.) He was a
popular character, and the friend of most of the notabilities of his day,
whom he never offended by attempting political satire; and his easy
circumstances and social position (he was colonel of the West Suffolk
Militia, and was appointed equerry to the duke of York in 1787) enabled him
to exercise his talents in comfort.

[v.04 p.0797] His son Sir HENRY EDWARD BUNBURY, Bart. (1778-1860), who
succeeded to the family title on the death of his uncle, was a
distinguished soldier, and rose to be a lieutenant-general; he was an
active member of parliament, and the author of several historical works of
value; and the latter's second son, Sir Edward Herbert Bunbury, also a
member of parliament, was well known as a geographer and archaeologist, and
author of a _History of Ancient Geography._

BUNBURY, a seaport and municipal town of Wellington county, Western
Australia, 112 m. by rail S. by W. of Perth. Pop. (1901) 2455. The harbour,
known as Koombanah Bay, is protected by a breakwater built on a coral reef.
Coal is worked on the Collie river, 30 m. distant, and is shipped from this
port, together with tin, timber, sandal-wood and agricultural produce.

BUNCOMBE, or BUNKUM (from Buncombe county, North Carolina, United States),
a term used for insincere political action or speaking to gain support or
the favour of a constituency, and so any humbug or clap-trap. The phrase
"to talk for (or to) Buncombe" arose in 1820, during the debate on the
Missouri Compromise in Congress; the member for the district containing
Buncombe county confessed that his long and much interrupted speech was
only made because his electors expected it, and that he was "speaking for
Buncombe."

BUNCRANA, a market-town and watering-place of Co. Donegal, Ireland, in the
north parliamentary division on the east shore of Lough Swilly, on the
Londonderry & Lough Swilly & Letterkenny railway. Pop. (1901) 1316. There
is a trade in agricultural produce, a salmon fishery, sea fisheries and a
manufacture of linen. The town is beautifully situated, being flanked on
the east and south by hills exceeding 1000 ft. The picturesque square keep
of an ancient castle remains, but the present Buncrana Castle is a
residence erected in 1717. The golf-links are well known.

BUNDABERG, a municipal town and river port of Cook county, Queensland,
Australia, 10 m. from the mouth of the river Burnett, and 217 m. by rail N.
by W. of Brisbane. Pop. (1901) 5200. It lies on both sides of the river,
and connexion between the two ports is maintained by road and railway
bridges. There are saw-mills, breweries, brickfields and distilleries in
the town, and numerous sugar factories in the vicinity, notably at
Millaquin, on the river below the town. There are wharves on both sides of
the river, and the staple exports are sugar, golden-syrup and timber. The
climate is remarkably healthy.

BUNDELKHAND, a tract of country in Central India, lying between the United
and the Central Provinces. Historically it includes the five British
districts of Hamirpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur and Banda, which now form
part of the Allahabad division of the United Provinces, but politically it
is restricted to a collection of native states, under the Bundelkhand
agency. There are 9 states, 13 estates and the pargana of Alampur belonging
to Indore state, with a total area of 9851 sq. m. and a total population
(1901) of 1,308,326, showing a decrease of 13% in the decade, due to the
effects of famine. The most important of the states are Orchha, Panna,
Samthar, Charkhari, Chhatarpur, Datia, Bijawar and Ajaigarh. A branch of
the Great Indian Peninsula railway traverses the north of the country. A
garrison of all arms is stationed at Nowgong.

The surface of the country is uneven and hilly, except in the north-east
part, which forms an irregular plain cut up by ravines scooped out by
torrents during the periodical rains. The plains of Bundelkhand are
intersected by three mountain ranges, the Bindhachal, Panna and Bander
chains, the highest elevation not exceeding 2000 ft. above sea-level.
Beyond these ranges the country is further diversified by isolated hills
rising abruptly from a common level, and presenting from their steep and
nearly inaccessible scarps eligible sites for castles and strongholds,
whence the mountaineers of Bundelkhand have frequently set at defiance the
most powerful of the native states of India. The general slope of the
country is towards the north-east, as indicated by the course of the rivers
which traverse or bound the territory, and finally discharge themselves
into the Jumna.

The principal rivers are the Sind, Betwa, Ken, Baighin, Paisuni, Tons,
Pahuj, Dhasan, Berma, Urmal and Chandrawal. The Sind, rising near Sironj in
Malwa, marks the frontier line of Bundelkhand on the side of Gwalior.
Parallel to this river, but more to the eastward, is the course of the
Betwa. Still farther to the east flows the Ken, followed in succession by
the Baighin, Paisuni and Tons. The Jumna and the Ken are the only two
navigable rivers. Notwithstanding the large number of streams, the
depression of their channels and height of their banks render them for the
most part unsuitable for the purposes of irrigation,--which is conducted by
means of _jhils_ and tanks. These artificial lakes are usually formed by
throwing embankments across the lower extremities of valleys, and thus
arresting and accumulating the waters flowing through them. Some of the
tanks are of great capacity; the Barwa Sagar, for instance, is 21/2 m. in
diameter. Diamonds are found, particularly near the town of Panna, in a
range of hills called by the natives Band-Ahil.

The mines of Maharajpur, Rajpur, Kimera and Gadasia have been famous for
magnificent diamonds; and a very large one dug from the last was kept in
the fort of Kalinjar among the treasures of Raja Himmat Bahadur. In the
reign of the emperor Akbar the mines of Panna produced diamonds to the
amount of L100,000 annually, and were a considerable source of revenue, but
for many years they have not been so profitable.

The tree vegetation consists rather of jungle or copse than forest,
abounding in game which is preserved by the native chiefs. There are also
within these coverts several varieties of wild animals, such as the tiger,
leopard, hyena, wild boar, _nilgai_ and jackal.

The people represent various races. The Bundelas--the race who gave the
name to the country--still maintain their dignity as chieftains, by
disdaining to cultivate the soil, although by no means conspicuous for
lofty sentiments of honour or morality. An Indian proverb avers that "one
native of Bundelkhand commits as much fraud as a hundred Dandis" (weighers
of grain and notorious rogues). About Datia and Jhansi the inhabitants are
a stout and handsome race of men, well off and contented. The prevailing
religion in Bundelkhand is Hinduism.

The earliest dynasty recorded to have ruled in Bundelkhand were the
Garhwas, who were succeeded by the Parihars; but nothing is known of
either. About A.D. 800 the Parihars are said to have been ousted by the
Chandels, and Dangha Varma, chief of the Chandel Rajputs, appears to have
established the earliest paramount power in Bundelkhand towards the close
of the 10th century A.D. Under his dynasty the country attained its
greatest splendour in the early part of the 11th century, when its raja,
whose dominions extended from the Jumna to the Nerbudda, marched at the
head of 36,000 horse and 45,000 foot, with 640 elephants, to oppose the
invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni. In 1182 the Chandel dynasty was overthrown by
Prithwi Raj, the ruler of Ajmer and Delhi, after which the country remained
in ruinous anarchy until the close of the 14th century, when the Bundelas,
a spurious offshoot of the Garhwa tribe of Rajputs, established themselves
on the right bank of the Jumna. One of these took possession of Orchha by
treacherously poisoning its chief. His successor succeeded in further
aggrandizing the Bundela state, but he is represented to have been a
notorious plunderer, and his character is further stained by the
assassination of the celebrated Abul Fazl, the prime minister and historian
of Akbar. Jajhar Singh, the third Bundela chief, unsuccessfully revolted
against the court of Delhi, and his country became incorporated for a short
time with the empire. The struggles of the Bundelas for independence
resulted in the withdrawal of the royal troops, and the admission of
several petty states as feudatories of the empire on condition of military
service. The Bundelas, under Champat Rai and his son. Chhatar Sal, offered
a successful resistance to the proselytizing efforts of Aurangzeb. On the
occasion of a Mahommedan invasion in 1732, Chhatar Sal asked and obtained
the assistance of the Mahratta Peshwa, whom he adopted as his son, giving
him a third of his dominions. The Mahrattas gradually extended their
influence over Bundelkhand, [v.04 p.0798] and in 1792 the peshwa was
acknowledged as the lord paramount of the country. The Mahratta power was,
however, on the decline; the flight of the peshwa from his capital to
Bassein before the British arms changed the aspect of affairs, and by the
treaty concluded between the peshwa and the British government, the
districts of Banda and Hamirpur were transferred to the latter. Two chiefs
then held the ceded districts, Himmat Bahadur, the leader of the Sanyasis,
who promoted the views of the British, and Shamsher, who made common cause
with the Mahrattas. In September 1803, the united forces of the English and
Himmat Bahadur compelled Shamsher to retreat with his army. In 1809
Ajaigarh was besieged by a British force, and again three years later
Kalinjar was besieged and taken after a heavy loss. In 1817, by the treaty
of Poona, the British government acquired from the peshwa all his rights,
interests and pretensions, feudal, territorial or pecuniary, in
Bundelkhand. In carrying out the provisions of the treaty, an assurance was
given by the British government that the rights of those interested in the
transfer should be scrupulously respected, and the host of petty native
principalities in the province is the best proof of the sincerity and good
faith with which this clause has been carried out. During the mutiny of
1857, however, many of the chiefs rose against the British, the rani of
Jhansi being a notable example.

BUNDI, or BOONDEE, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency, lying
on the north-east of the river Chambal, in a hilly tract historically known
as Haraoti, from the Hara sept of the great clan of Chauhan Rajputs, to
which the maharao raja of Bundi belongs. It has an area of 2220 sq. m. Many
parts of the state are wild and hilly, inhabited by a large Mina
population, formerly notorious as a race of robbers. Two rivers, the
Chambia and the Mej, water the state; the former is navigable by boats. In
1901 the population was 171,227, showing a decrease of 42% due to the
effects of famine. The estimated revenue is L46,000, the tribute L8000.
There is no railway, but the metalled road from Kotah to the British
cantonment of Deoli passes through the state. The town of Bundi had a
population in 1901 of 19,313. A school for the education of boys of high
rank was opened in 1897.

The state of Bundi was founded about A.D. 1342 by the Hara chief Rao Dewa,
or Deoraj, who captured the town from the Minas. Its importance, however,
dates from the time of Rao Surjan, who succeeded to the chieftainship in
1554 and by throwing in his lot with the Mahommedan emperors of Delhi
(1569) received a considerable accession of territory. From this time the
rulers of Bundi bore the title of rao raja. In the 17th century their power
was curtailed by the division of Haraoti into the two states of Kotah and
Bundi; but they continued to play a prominent part in Indian history, and
the title of maharao raja was conferred on Budh Singh for the part played
by him in securing the imperial throne for Bahadur Shah I. after the death
of Aurangzeb in 1707. In 1804 the maharao raja Bishan Singh gave valuable
assistance to Colonel Monson in his disastrous retreat before Holkar, in
revenge for which the Mahratas and Pindaris continually ravaged his state
up to 1817. On the 10th of February 1818, by a treaty concluded with Bishan
Singh, Bundi was taken under British protection. In 1821 Bishan Singh was
succeeded by his son Ram Singh, who ruled till 1889. He is described as a
grand specimen of the Rajput gentleman, and "the most conservative prince
in conservative Rajputana." His rule was popular and beneficent; and though
during the mutiny of 1857 his attitude was equivocal, he continued to enjoy
the favour of the British government, being created G.C.S.I. and a
counsellor of the empire in 1877 and C.I.E. in 1878. He was succeeded by
his son Raghubir Singh, who was made a K.C.S.I. in 1897 and a G.C.I.E. in
1901.

BUNER, a valley on the Peshawar border of the North-West Frontier Province
of India. It is a small mountain valley, dotted with villages and divided
into seven sub-divisions. The Mora Hills and the Ilam range divide it from
Swat, the Sinawar range from Yusafzai, the Guru mountains from the Chamla
valley, and the Duma range from the Puran Valley. It is inhabited by the
Iliaszai and Malizai divisions of the Pathan tribe of Yusafzais, who are
called after their country the Bunerwals. There is no finer race on the
north-west frontier of India than the Bunerwals. Simple and austere in
their habits, religious and truthful in their ways, hospitable to all who
seek shelter amongst them, free from secret assassinations, they are bright
examples of the Pathan character at its best. They are a powerful and
warlike tribe, numbering 8000 fighting men. The Umbeyla Expedition of 1863
under Sir Neville Chamberlain was occasioned by the Bunerwals siding with
the Hindostani Fanatics, who had settled down at Malka in their territory.
In the end the Bunerwals were subdued by a force of 9000 British troops,
and Malka was destroyed, but they made so fierce a resistance, in
particular in their attack upon the "Crag" picket, that the Indian medal
with a clasp for "Umbeyla" was granted in 1869 to the survivors of the
expedition. The government of India refrained from interfering with the
tribe again until the Buner campaign of 1897 under Sir Bindon Blood. Many
Bunerwals took part in the attack of the Swatis on the Malakand fort, and a
force of 3000 British troops was sent to punish them; but the tribe made
only a feeble resistance at the passes into their country, and speedily
handed in the arms demanded of them and made complete submission.

BUNGALOW (an Anglo-Indian word from the Hindustani _bangla_, belonging to
Bengal), a one-storeyed house with a verandah and a projecting roof, the
typical dwelling for Europeans in India; the name is also used for similar
buildings which have become common for seaside and summer residences in
America and Great Britain. Dak or dawk bungalows (from _dak_ or _dawk_, a
post, a relay of men for carrying the mails, &c.) are the government
rest-houses established at intervals for the use of travellers on the high
roads of India.

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