⚫ are small and short-bodied, seldom exceeding thirteen hands in height, but remarkably well proportioned, and commonly piebald. They are known in India by the name of Tangun, or Tanyan, from Tangustan their native country. and numbers of them are brought to Rungpoor for sale by the annual caravans from Bootan. The principal towns are Tassisudon, Poonukka, and Wandipoor, towards the north, and Dellamcotta, Lukheedwar, Bukhsheed war, and Kuchboobaree, lying along the southern hills, nearly in a line from west to east. The inhabitants are styled Bhootiyas, or Bootanners. They are part of a numerous tribe of Tartar origin, which has peopled the greater part of the mountainous tract bordering upon the Himalaya range. In features they resemble the Chinese, and like the Chinese they are remarkable for cowardice and cruelty, though in person a very robust and active race. Their weapons are chiefly bows and arrows, and swords; their arrows being generally poisoned. They have also firearms, but of a very inferior kind. There are also some thousands descendants of Bengalese and Assamese. The total population is believed not to exceed 150,000. The government of this country is of a very peculiar character. There are in fact two sovereigns, one styled the Debor Deva rajah, who exercises all the real authority; and a second, styled the Dhurma rajah, who is the legitimate sovereign. The Dhurma rajah, however, being considered a sacred person, and an actual incarnation of the Deity, never interferes in any but religious matters, leaving every thing else to the Deva rajah, who is nominally his deputy. The religion of Bootan is the Booddhist system of Thibet, or, as it is termed, the lama religion. Four different dialects are spoken in different parts of this country. The whole are generally designated as the Bhootiya language, and it is believed

to be derived from the language of Thibet.

BORAS, a singular class of men found in all the larger towns of Guzerat, and in parts of Khandesh and the adjacent provinces, who, although Mahomedans in religion, are Jews in features, manners, and character. They form everywhere a distinct community, and are noted for their skill in trading and their extreme devotion to gain. They profess to be quite uncertain as to their own origin.

BORNEO. This island, which is the largest in the Eastern Archipelago, extends from Lat. 70 deg. N. to Lat. 4 deg. S., and from Long. 109 deg. to 118 deg. E. In length, it is estimated to be about 750 miles by an average breadth of 350. It comprehends several distinct principalities, of which the principal and only one of note is Borneo, occupying the north-western coast along a line of about 700 miles. Little is known of its interior, but as far as has been ascertained, the island is in general level towards the coast, and cultivated; and inland, mountainous and covered with forests. Its productions are abundant; rice, sago, pepper, camphor, cinnamon, wax, rattans, and many useful woods; and in the seas, pearls, mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, and sea-slug (biche de mer). It has all the common domestic animals, and the forests swarm with wild beasts, including the elephant, rhinoceros, and leopard, but no tigers. It has numerous varieties of the ape and monkey tribes, amongst which is the ourang-outang, or

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man of the woods," so called by the Malays, from its great resemblance in size and figure to the human form. Gold is abundant, and diamonds, frequently of a large size. Sago, which has been mentioned above, is produced from a species of palm, the trunk of which is filled with a spongy pith, which, being extracted, is ground down in a mortar, and then passed through a sieve, by which means it is

formed into grains, as it is seen when brought to India. One tree yields upon an average about 300 pounds of sago, and the tree is generally considered ripe for cutting down in fifteen years. The principal town is Borneo, situated on the coast, in Lat. 4 deg. 56 min. N., Long. 114 deg. 44 min. E. There was formerly an English factory here, but it has been abandoned for some years in consequence of the unsettled state of the country. By its inhabitants, and throughout the Archipelago, this island is called Pulo Klemantan; but Europeans have given it the name of Borneo, from "Boornee," the principal state, and the first visited by them. The inhabitants are composed of Malays, Sooloos, Javanese, and others, on the coast, noted as rapacious and cruel pirates, and a number of savage tribes in the interior, of which the principal are the Dayaks and Biajos. These are of the original brown race, and are much handsomer and fairer than the Malays, to whom they are also superior in strength and activity. There are also great numbers of Chinese, more than 200,000 of that nation being settled at the gold mines. None of the Negro race have been seen in Borneo. The total population of the island is supposed to be about 4,000,000. The people are in a degraded state, but there is now some hope of their reaping the blessings of civilisation. A few years since an English gentleman of fortune devoted his days, his riches, and his life to their emancipation from barbarism and bondage. his own person and from his own purse Mr. Brooke supplied the enterprise of a missionary and the subscriptions of a congregation. Silently and without proclamation he departed with a following which he had formed, and betook himself to an unexplored island in a distant sea, where thousands of miserable wretches were living in a state just so much worse than the negroes of

In

the Bights, that they had not even the chance of being carried off to the happier lot of slavery. The relations of the Dyak to his Malay ruler were compounded from those of a Connaught cottier to his landlord, a Turkish slave to his master, and a Russian prisoner to his gaoler. His contributions were regulated solely by the wants of his superior, and his wife and children were distrained upon to supply an inevitable deficiency, or recompense an involuntary fault. Nothing but the primeval wilds of the interior, and the retreats of the more human ape could possibly have preserved the aborigines of Borneo from utter extirpation at the hands of the Malay. With four European and eight native followers Mr. Brooke landed on the coast. In eight short months he had interposed himself between the persecutors and the oppressed, had released the necks of the Dyaks from their intolerable yoke, had inculcated a little sobriety as well as a salutary terror into the minds of the Malays, had reluctantly received a dominion untenable by its possessors, and had transformed the principality of Sarawak from a miserable agglomeration of pirates and slaves, into a miniature kingdom of contented subjects-a refuge for the persecuted, a terror to the prowling corsair, and a model for the whole Archipelago.

BOSTANDGIS, the body-guard of the Sultan. They superintend his gardens and palaces, and attend him on his aquatic excursions. They are expert in the use of the oar, and invariably row the Sultan's caique. BOTELHO, a small sloop, used to navigate the upper part of the Persian Gulf and the Tigris and Euphrates.

BOY! probably a corruption of bhaee, brother. At Bombay and Madras a servant is summoned to his master's presence by this call (as Qui-hye! is used in Bengal), and it is rather amusing to the stranger sometimes

to see the summons answered by a very venerable "boy" indeed. BRAHM, according to the Hindoos, the Almighty, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible, self-existent being; he who sees every thing, though never seen; he who is beyond the limits of human conception; he from whom the universal world proceeds; whose name is too sacred to be pronounced, and whose power is too infinite to be imagined. Under such, and innu merable other definitions, is the Deity acknowledged in the Veda, or sacred writings of the Hindoos; but, while the learned Brahmuns thus acknowledge and adore one God, without form or quality, eternal, unchangeable, and occupying all space, they have carefully confined their doctrines to their own schools, and have taught in public a religion, in which, in supposed compliance with the infirmities and passions of human nature, the Deity has been brought more to a level with our own prejudices and wants; and the incomprehensible attributes assigned to him, invested with sensible, and even human forms. Upon this foundation the most discordant fictions have been erected, from which priestcraft and superstition have woven a mythology of the most extensive character. The Hindoos possess three hundred and thirty millions of gods, or forms under which they are worshipped. Certain it is, that the human form in its natural state, or possessing the heads or limbs of various animals; the elements, the planets, rivers, fountains, stones, trees, &c., &c., have been deified and become objects of religious adoration. The Brahmuns allege, "that it is easier to impress the minds of the rude and ignorant by intelligible symbols, than by means which are incomprehensible." Acting upon this principle, the supreme and omnipotent God, whom the Hindoo has been taught to consider as too mighty for him to attempt to approach, or even to name, has been lost sight of in the multiplicity of

false deities, whose graven images have been worshipped in his place. To these deities the many splendid temples of the Hindoos have been erected; while, throughout the whole of Hindostan, not one has been devoted to Brahm, whom they designate as the sole divine author of the universe. Brahm, the supreme being, created the world; but it has not been agreed upon by the Hindoo mythologists in what manner that important event took place. Some imagine that he first formed the goddess Bhavani, or nature, who brought forth three sons, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, whom, having converted herself into three females, she married. The first (or Brahma) was called the creator; the second (Vishnu), the preserver; the third (Siva), the destroyer. To these the future arrangement and government of the world were entrusted. Others believe that the elements of the world were enclosed in an immense shell, called the mundane egg, which burst into fourteen equal parts, and formed the seven superior, and seven inferior worlds. God then appeared on the mountain Meru, and assigned the duties of continuing the creation to Brahma; of preserving it to Vishnu; and of again annihilating it to Siva. Others again assert, that as Vishnu (the preserving spirit of God) was sleeping on the serpent Ananta, or eternity, on the face of the waters, after the annihilation of a former world, a lotus sprung from his navel, from which issued Brahma; who produced the elements, formed the present world, and gave birth to the god Rudra (or Siva), the destroyer. He then produced the human race. From his head he formed the Brahmuns, or priests; from his arms, the Kettries, or warriors; from his thighs, the Vaisyas, or merchants; and from his feet, the Sudras, or husbandmen. The religion of the Hindoo sage, as inculcated by the Veda, is the belief in, and worship of, one great and only God, omniscient and om

nipotent, of whose attributes he expresses his ideas in the most awful terms. These attributes he conceives are allegorically (and allegorically only) represented by the three personified powers of Creation, Preservation, and Destruction Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. But this consistent monotheism, this worship of God in unity, is bounded here; as the religion taught to the common herd is polytheism, accompanied by the most disgusting of abominations, profanations, and inconsistencies, for the deities most honoured, and the worship most practised, are of the least beneficent character. Thus Siva, Durga, Kali, Surya, Mungula, and Sani, are held in far higher veneration than those deities whose attributes are of a more mild, but less imposing description. Five sects of Hindoos exclusively worship a single deity, and one sect recognizes the five divinities which are adored by the other sects respectively. These five sects are the Saivas, who worship Siva; the Vishnaivas, who worship Vishnu, Saurias, Surya, or the Sun; the Ganapatyas, who adore Gamisha; and the Saetis, who worship Bhavani, or Parvati: the last sect is the Bhagavatis. These deities have their different avatars, or incarnations, in all of which, except that of the Saetis themselves, they have their saetis (wives), or energies of their attributes. These have again ramified into numerous names and forms.

BRAHMA. This deity, the least important at the present day of the Hindoo Triad, is termed the creator, or the grandfather of gods and men. Under this denomination he has been imagined to correspond with the Saturn of the Greeks and Latins. Brahma is usually represented as a red or golden coloured figure, with four heads. He is said (by the Saivas) to have once possessed five; but, as he would not acknowledge the superiority of Siva, as Vishnu had done, that deity cut off one of

them. He has also four arms, in one of which he holds a spoon, in another a string of beads, in the third a water-jug (articles used in worship), and in the fourth the Veda, or sacred writings of the Hindoos. The temples of this deity in Hindostan have been overturned by the followers of Vishnu and Siva; and he is now but little regarded, and very seldom, if at all, worshipped, except in the worship of other deities. Like the other gods, he has many names. Brahma had few avatars or incarnations on earth : Daksha is the principal of them; Viswakarma, Nareda, and Briga are his sons. The Brahmadicas, Menus, and Richis, are also called the descendants of Brahma. His heaven is described as excelling all others in magnificence, and containing the united glories of all the heavens of the other deities.

It

BRAHMAPOOTRA, the largest river in India. It rises on the north side of the Himalaya mountains, about Lat. 32 deg. N., and Long. 82 deg. E. It runs eastward through the country of Thibet, and after winding for a great distance through the mountains which divide Thibet from Assam, turns to the westward into Assam, and enters the province of Bengal near Bungamutty. It then passes round the western point of the Garrow mountains, after which it turns to the south and joins the river Megna in the district of Dacca. then takes the name of Megna, and uniting with the Ganges near the sea, flows with it into the Bay of Bengal. The whole course of this river, following its windings, is about 1,600 miles. In 1822, this river overflowed its banks in the district of Bakergunge, and deluged the surrounding country. About 37,000 men and women were destroyed by the flood. BRAHMUNY BULLS. A curious practice exists among the Hindoos of the Brahmin caste, of branding young bull calves in the haunches with the emblem of Siva, and turning

them loose to feed where they list. Knowing that they are devout offerings to Siva, the Hindoos not only forbear to molest them, but suffer them to eat the grass in their mea- | dows, the flowers in their gardens, and the grain exposed in their markets and shops. As the bulls grow❘ up, however, they become exceedingly mischievous, and commit every description of offensive trespass, as if aware that they enjoy an immunity from chastisement. BRAHMUNS. The Brahmuns are the first and most distinguished race of the Hindoos, mythologically described to have sprung from the head of Brahma; as the Kettries, Vaisyas, and Sudras did from his arms, thighs, and feet. They had, in consequence, the charge of the Vedas assigned to them; and from them only (except among the Yogees, mostly weavers, the Chundalus, and the basket-makers, who have priests of their own castes) can the sacerdotal office be at any time filled; and their influence in that character is almost unbounded. In the sacred writings they are styled divine, and the killing, or entertaining an idea of killing, one of them is so great a crime, that Menu says, 66 no greater can be known on earth." There are various orders of Brahmuns, the chief of which are the Kulenas, the Vangshujas, and the Shrotujas, the Rarhees, and the Vordikas, &c., &c. The divisions and sub-divisions of the different castes are also numerous. The Sudras are said to have nearly fifty. Purity of caste is held of the highest consequence among the Hindoos. Loss of caste may be caused by various means. It can be regained only by atonement and fasting on the part of the offender, together with a liberal expenditure in presents and feasting towards the Brahmun priest.

BRANDY PAUNEE, brandy and water, a beverage in much request among the Europeans in India. It is unquestionably the most whole

some drink, taken in moderation, the alcohol destroying the animalcula, with which the purest water is unavoidably impregnated.

BRIGU is another son of Brahma. His name is frequently found in Hindoo mythology.

BRIJEBASSIES, or BIRJEBAUSSIES, a description of men, armed with swords and shields, formerly employed by the Zemindars of Bengal to guard their property against dacoits, or robbers, and now generally engaged as part of the police force of the British Government. BRINJAL, an Indian vegetable of the cucumber species, much eaten at European tables when boiled and seasoned with bread crumbs and black pepper.

BRINJAREE, men who possess bullocks which they employ in carrying goods for merchants. They are emphatically the carriers of India. They live entirely in the open air, and traverse the wilds of southern and western India with their bullocks. In their wandering habits they are similar to the muleteers of the continent.

BRISHPUT, or VRIHUSPATI, is, according to the Hindoo mythology, the regent of the planet Jupiter, and the preceptor of the gods, hence called their gooroo. He is the son of Ungina, a son of Brahma, and is of the Brahmun caste. He is described of a golden or yellow colour, sitting on a horse, and holding in his hands a stick, a lotus, and his beads. The Hindoos consider it fortunate to be born under this planet, and are strict in their worship of Brishput. Besides being called Gooroo, or the preceptor, he is termed Gishputa, the eloquent, &c., &c. Vrihuspatwar, or Thursday, is the day over which he presides. The mango tree is sacred to him.

BUCKRA EADE, a Mussulman festival still kept up with ragged pomp at Dehli, Lucknow, Hyderabad, &c. The followers of Mahomet claim to be descendants of Abraham,