BREAD TREE....BRIDGWATER's CANAL. 49

that country was originally peopled, and taught them the culture of the sugar cane....Morse, Adam Smith.

BREAD TREE, a tree of Otaheite, one of the Society Islands, in the Pacific Ocean: it has dark leaves, and is as big as a large apple tree. The fruit is round, and grows on the boughs like apples, and measures to the size of the head of a new-born child. When ripe, it turns yellow, soft and sweet. As this fruit is in season eight months in the year, the natives feed on no other bread during that time. The bread-fruit tree was carried from Otaheite to Great-Britain, in the year 1793; and, in 1797, more than three hundred plants of this tree were brought by captain Bligh from Otaheite to Jamaica; where they are said to flourish well. Bread is also made, as Mr. Park says, of small mealy berries, of a yellow colour and delicious taste, which grow plentifully in Africa. The Africans convert them into bread, by exposing them for some days to the sun, and afterwards pounding them gently in a mortar, until the mealy part of the berry is separated from the stone that it contains. This meal is then mixed with a little water, and formed into a cake; which, when dried in the sun, resembles, in colour and flavor, the sweetest gingerbread. Pliny relates that an army, in Lybia, had been fed with this bread.

BRIDGWATER's CANAL, a famous canal in England, projected and carried into execution by the duke of Bridgwater about the year 1759; the duke being only twenty-one years of age when he conceived the vast design. This canal unites the city of Liverpool with the populous town of Manchester. It is sometimes carried across vast rocks, hollowed at top. Sometimes it suddenly vanishes, and makes a great number of turnings in a subterraneous passage eight English miles in length. After appearing, all at once it seems suspended in the air, and crosses the river Wevil by means of prodigious arches, in such a manner that one may often enjoy the picturesque sight of one vessel navigating in the stream below, and of another which crosses it, and seems to sail in the airy element above.....Picture of England.

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BRITAIN....BRUNSWICK.

BRITAIN. The island of Great Britain, comprehending England, Scotland and Wales, is five hundred and fifty miles in length, and two hundred and ninety in breadth. Forty-four years before our Saviour's nativity, Julius Cæsar begun the conquest of the southern parts of Britain, which was completed by Agricola, the Roman general, in the eighty-fifth year of the christian era ; the Romans keeping possession till the year 428; when, invaded at home, they withdrew their legions from this island. At that time the old inhabitants, or native Britons, called the Saxons to their aid against the Picts and Scots; these foreign auxiliaries subdued the country for themselves, and divided it into seven kingdoms, called the Heptarchy. The Heptarchy continued till 829, when Egbert having subdued the other petty sovereigns, united England under one government. In the year 1014, the Danes subdued England; and Swain, from Denmark, was proclaimed king: the Saxons, however regained the throne. In the year 1066, William, duke of Normandy in France, invaded and conquered England, slew Harold the Saxon king in battle, and usurped the throne from him has descended the present race of kings in that island. In 1603 the crowns of England and Scotland were united in the person of James Stuart, called James I. In 1707, the two kingdoms were united by the consent and decree of the parliaments of both nations; taking thenceforward the name of Great Britain. This island has become the great mart of the world; its commerce has been extended and its manufactures carried to almost every nation. Its maritime power is far greater than has been ever in possession of any nation else. It owns large possessions in North America, and in the West Indies, and some in Africa; and in the East Indies, fourteen million people bow to the British sceptre.

BRUNSWICK, a country or duchy of the German empire. The house of Brunswick, since early in the eighteenth century, has held the sceptre of Great Britain, by the following title. Heary the Lion, duke of Saxony, had married a daughter of Henry II. of England. In the year 1180, the duke having raised troubles in Germany, and being put to the ban of the empire,

and divested of all his dominions except the territory of Brunswick, he took refuge with his father-in-law in England; where his wife bore him a son, from whom the present house of Brunswick, and consequently the present royal family of Great Britain, is descended..... Russel.

BUCCANIERS, pirates in the West Indies, who be gun to infest the seas in the former part of the seventeenth century. After the failure of the mines of Hispaniola or St. Domingo, and the conquest of Mexico and Peru, which abounded with the precious metals, the Spaniards entirely neglected their West India islands, and betook themselves to the continent in quest of gold and silver. In consequence of the desertion of the islands, all the European animals, especially the horned cattle, had multiplied exceedingly and run wild. Allured by the advantages of hunting these wild cattle, certain English and French adventurers, since known by the name of buccaniers, had taken possession of several of the islands. Their dress consisted of a shirt dipped in the blood of the animals they had slain; a pair of trowsers dirtier than the shirt; a leathern girdle, from which hung a short sabre and some Dutch knives; a hat without any rim, except a flap before to pull it off with; and shoes made of raw hides, without stockings. These outcasts, after living a while by hunting cattle, turned pirates, and, in open boats, attacked and captured trading ships of all nations, especially the Spaniards. They even attacked and plundered some of the Spanish settlements on the American continent; murdering the men, ravishing the women, and carrying them into captivity. Their booty was carried principally to Hispaniola and Jamaica. These piracies they carried on about fifty years to the extreme annoyance of the commercial nations of Europe, as well as of the American colonies. His Britannic majesty, Charles II. did not disdain to be. come a partner in the buccaniering business; he exacted and received a share of the booty; and promoted Henry Morgan the most celebrated of the English buccaniers, to the office of deputy-governor and lieutenant-general in the island of Jamaica..... Russell, Bryan Edwards.

52 BUFFALO....BULL-BAITING....BULL DOG.

BUFFALO, a large animal, found in great plenty in Canada. The horns of the buffalo are low, black, and short. He has a great beard of hair under his muzzle, and a large tuft of hair upon his head, which falls down upon his eyes, and gives him a hideous look. He has a great bump upon his back, which begins at his hips, and goes, increasing, up to his shoulders. This bump is covered with hair, somewhat redish, and very long. The rest of the body is covered with black wool, which is much valued. They say that the skin of a buffalo has eight pounds of wool on it. The skin is excellent: it is easily dressed; and though very strong, becomes supple, like the best chamois. The savages make shields of it, which are very light, and which a musket ball will not easily pierce.

BULL-BAITING, the worrying or teazing a bull, by setting dogs at him. The cruel and absurd diversions of bull-baiting and bull-fighting have been common in Spain; originating probably from the Moors, who in former days inhabited that country. The Spanish young gentlemen, on horse back, and completely armed, encounter an enraged bull, in the presence of their mistresses and a numerous concourse of spectators; and the valor of the hero is proclaimed, honored and rewarded, according to the number and fierceness of the bulls he has killed in these encounters. The poor inhabitants of small towns and villages club together, and purchase an ox, or a cow, and fight this animal, riding upon asses, instead of horses....Guthrie.

Its

BULL DOG, the fiercest of all the dog kind, and probably the most courageous creature in the world. It is low in stature, but very strong and muscular. nose is short; and the under jaw projects beyond the upper, which gives it a fierce but unpleasing aspect. Its courage in attacking the bull is well known; its fury in seizing, and its invincible obstinacy in maintaining its hold, are truly astonishing. It always aims at the front, and generally fastens upon the lip, the tongue, the eye, or some part of the face; where it hangs, in spite of every effort of the bull to disengage himself....Bewick.

BULLET..BUTTERFLY..BUTTERNUT-TREE. 53

BULLET, an iron or leaden ball or shot, used to load guns with. A bullet passes through the air at the rate of three miles in a second, but the light of the burning powder is conveyed to the eye at the rate of a hundred and ninety-eight thousand miles in a second. Therefore persons, standing at a considerable distance and seeing the flash have time to fall to the ground before the arrival of the bullet, which would strike them before they could hear the report or sound of the gun : for this sound moves only at the rate of a quarter of a mile in one second. When a bullet passes through a man, it is with such velocity as to cauterize the wound and prevent an instantaneous effusion of blood; and gun shot wounds usually take place it is said without much immediate pain.

BUTTERFLY, an insect well known, and much admired for its beauty: it is bred from the caterpillar. The wings of the butterfly are four in number, and though two of them be cut off, the animal can fly with the two others remaining. If we observe the wing of a butterfly with a good microscope, we shall perceive it studded over with a variety of little grains of different dimensions and forms; and nothing can exceed the beautiful and regular arrangement of these little substances. Like the tiles of a house, those of one rank are a little covered by those which follow; and they are of a great variety of figures, some oval, some in the form of a heart, some triangular, and some resembling a hand open: yet the weight of the wing, though it be covered over with these scales, is very little increased thereby.... Goldsmith.

BUTTERNUT-TREE, one of the valuable indigenous trees of the United States, which grows luxuriantly in many places, and is sometimes so large as to measure ten feet in circumference. The bark affords, by boiling in water, an extract that is found by experience, to possess a purgative quality. This is safe, gentle, and efficacious; and when administered in doses, from fifteen to forty grains, operates downwards without griping. The nut of this tree is very rich, esculent, and oily: the bark is used for dying cloths with various shades of brown....Dr. Mitchell.

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