BUCHA- vent and defraud most adroitly. The moral precepts RIA. of the Korán are entirely disregarded; and excesses the most odious and disgusting, are more openly indulged than in any other Musulman country. The reigning Sovereign is a genuine fanatic, and a consummate hypocrite; who gives lectures on the Korán, and assumes the airs of a saint, while he makes no scruple to violate every law human or divine. The Government, as in most Mohammedan States, is despotic; and nothing is said to shew whether the observance of the law has any effect in checking the caprice of the despot. A vigilant police is maintained, or rather a sort of open espionage; but punishment may be always evaded by bribes; and offenders are never seized unless private pique, or an interested douceur acts as a stimulus on the officers of justice. The amount of the population or revenue is not stated; we only learn, that the Uzbegs are to the Tájics, as three to one, in the country, and as one to three in the towns; that the Jews do not amount to 2000, and that the revenue arises from contributions levied in kind, and from a transit-duty, or toll, paid by caravans. The city of Bukhárà, being the Royal residence, is exempted from all taxes, except the kharáj, or capitation, paid by the Jews. The Khán has also a considerable domain, and many resources, no doubt, of which Dr. Eversmann never heard; but, under so jealous a Government, inquiries on such subjects are hazardous; even with all his caution, the worthy Doctor had a narrow escape: he discovered only just in time to escape it, that a plot had been laid to cut him off, as soon as ever he had reached the confines, if he had joined, as he intended, the caravan for Cáshghar. The trade between this and the neighbouring countries is carried on, as in the rest of Asia, by companies of travelling merchants, or their agents, who convey their goods on the back of camels, horses, or mules, and remain at the place for which they set out till their wares are disposed of. These companies are called caravans. From the principal towns on the Russian borders, Trotzk, Orsk, Orenburg and Astrakhan, the caravans bring English and Russian manufactured articles, silks, woollens, calicoes, &c.; brass, copper, iron, &c. and return silk, wool, Cashmir shawls, indigo, Chinaware, &c. The traders are principally Bucharians, Tátárs, and Armenians. About 500 camels come every year from Mesh'hed and Herát, laden with silk and woollen cloths, shawls, &c. and carry back in return, Russian manufactures of silk and cotton, and a good deal of cotton-wool: this caravan is composed of Persians and Bucharians, Chinaware and tea are brought from Cáshghar, Cócán (Ferghánah) and Táshkend. Besides the other articles already mentioned, furs, gold-thread and lace, coral, chintzes, &c. are sent back in return. White cottons, silks, raw silk and cotton-wool are imported from Cócán and Táshkend; and the former are died and printed at Bukharà by the Jews, who are almost exclusively employed as calico-printers. Shawls, coloured and printed calicoes, embroidered muslins and indigo are brought by the caravans from Cábul and Cashmir; 3000 shawls are said to be annually imported. The return is made in Dutch ducats, procured from Russia. The coins issued from the Khán's mint, are the tela, the tènga, and the púl. The first is gold, and 75 telas = 100 Dutch ducats, called basaki (bataki?) at Bukhárà. 1 tela (12s. 6d.) 21 or 23 tèngas, (a silver coin,) : RIA. according to the rate of exchange; and 85 púls, (a BUCHAbrass coin) 1 tènga, (= 6d. nearly.) The latter is cast, the others are struck their legends are similar to those of most other Musulman countries, and contain the date, with the name of the reigning Prince and place of coinage. The city of Bukhárà is nearly in the form of an ellipse, of which the greater axis, from north to south, is from one and a half to two miles, but its breadth from east to west is not so great. It is surrounded by a great mud wall, from twenty to twenty-four feet high, with a broad platform round the inside, and loop holes at intervals. The streets are often so narrow, that two men can hardly pass; and a loaded camel reaches from side to side of the widest streets. Houses of mud or bricks, one or two stories high, with flat roofs, low doors, and no windows to the street, make the town a picture of gloom and dreariness to an European who has never seen any Asiatic city before. On a lofty mound of clay, sixty feet high, and more than a mile in circumference, stands the Erc, or citadel, in which the Khán resides. The palace is decorated with glazed tiles and Arabic inscriptions, and surrounded by huts for slaves and attendants. Two minarets mark the entrance to the Royal abode; and many others ornament the city: from the highest of them criminals, condemned to death for great enormities, are thrown, headlong. The bodies of all persons executed, and the heads of enemies are exposed for three days in the Régistán, the only open area in the town; and consequently the place of the green market and the shambles. The horrible state of its atmosphere in warm weather, may be more easily conceived than described. Many canals, called rúd, traverse the city; those which divide the fields in the country are termed arik. Many reservoirs (hauz,) enclosed with freestone walls formed into steps, are filled from these canals. They supply the inhabitants with water for all domestic purposes, and are emptied out and replenished twice every month. The number of Mosques is said to amount to 360, and the Mèdrèsèhs, or colleges, are 285. They are endowed with lands and houses, managed by a governor named by the Khán; many of them, also, possess caravanseraïs, (Seráïs or Kháns,) and receive the sums charged for the use of rooms. The bázárs are commonly open every day; but the lapidary's and slave bázár, only twice a week. Allis bustle, noise, and confusion in the markets; and at every step one hears such exclamations as these, Hèh! if thou be a Musulman let me have it for so much !-Heh! if thou be a Musulman, how canst thou offer so little! Turquoises, rubies, violet fluor-spar, polished cornelians, chalcedonies, and lapis lazuli, are the stones most in request; the latter is brought from Badakhshan, and is sold at 20 to 40 dutch Ducats the púd, (= 40 pounds) according to its purity.. "The ruby," Dr. Eversmann says, is called zaïlàn in Persian, and yakhat (yákút ?) in Turkish; but the lál, a rose-coloured stone, completely resembling the sapphire in hardness and brilliance, is more esteemed than the ruby; he thinks it must be the spinel. Is it not rather the carmine red ruby? At a place in the neighbourhood, called Kamuscand, great quantities of engraved stones, coins, and other antiquities are found, whenever a strong wind clears the country of sand. Many of them have inscriptions in unknown characters. The slave markets are principally supplied BUCK. BUCHA by the Turkmáns, who continually make incursions RIA. into the Persian provinces, and carry off thousands of those heretics, the followers of Alí, to atone for their heresy by labouring in the service of the orthodox Musulmans in the north. Of all the trades followed here, none is more abundantly supplied than that of medicine; almost every student gives prescriptions, and there are innumerable druggists in the bázárs; but as the fee is only a tènga, or about sixpence of our money, medicine is not a profession which soon makes a man rich at Bukhárà. The most common diseases are the Dracunculus or guinea worm, (Rèstah,) supposed to be occasioned by the water, (As. Res. vi. 58,) and removed, as usual, by being gradually wound round a skewer; an ulcerated sore throat called culágh, arising from foulness of stomach; bilious vomitings, (Marraki safrawí;) piles, small-pox, (inoculation though known, is not used;) an eruption on the face called afghán; the venereal disease, and every species of ophthalmia, which the excessive heat, drought, and abundance of white saline dust render as common during the summer in Bukhárà as in Egypt. Balkh, as has been already noticed, formed the third division of little Bucharia, though, being to the south of the Oxus, it could never belong to Máwerá'un-nahr, or Transoxana. Under Nadir Sháh it became a part of the Persian Empire; and after his death was united to the Kingdom of Cábul, by Ahmed Shah Abdálí. It is still nominally, at least, subject to that government; and has therefore no longer any connection with the country to which it has been annexed by modern geographers. An account of it has already been given in the article BALKH, but a few circumstances not noticed then, may be added in this place. The northern provinces of Maïmenah Andakhú, and Shibergán, on the slope of the hills RIA. BUCK. towards the Oxus, are parched and barren; the re- BUCHAmainder, in more elevated positions, are well watered and full of fertile vallies. Balkh, the Capital, called Ommu'l belád, the mother of cities, on account of its great antiquity, is almost the only place in the actual possession of the Afgháns. A Durrání, (i. e. Afghán) governor, with a few troops, occupies the citadel placed at one corner of the ancient fortifications. The Uzbegs in Balkh seem to bear the same relation to the Tájics, both with respect to rank and numbers, as they do in Bukhárà; but their national character is far superior, if not too highly coloured by the Musulmans from whom these accounts were received. These Tátárs are represented as being comparatively sincere and honest; little given to quarrelling, scarcely ever guilty of murder, and extremely tolerant of other religions, though rigid in the observance of their own. (See Mod. Univers. History, vol. v.; Hájí Khalifah's Jehán-numà; Golii, Not. in Alfragani Astronom. Amst. 1669; Hist. Généalogique des Tátárs, Leyd. 1726; Eversmann's Reise nach Buchara, Berlin, 1823; Pallas Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, Petrop. 1811; Fischer de Waldheim, Lettre à M. le Docteur C. H. Pander, Moscow, 1824; Klaproth's Asia Polyglotta, Paris, 1823; Geographische Ephemeriden, vol. xiv. p. 393; Yefremov's Travels in Bucharia, Khivah, Persia, and India, Petersburg, 1786, 8vo. The author of this last work was a serjeant in the Russian service, made prisoner by the Kirghizes on the Orenburg lines, in 1774; and according to his own account, raised to a command in the Bukharian army. He at length made his escape, and wandering through Cócán, Cáshghar, Yárkend and Tibet, reached Dehli; from whence he easily found his way back to Petersburg, in 1782. His account would be invaluable if it could be implicitly trusted. Elphinstone's Caubui, vol. iii. p.462-477.) BUCHA, in Zoology, the name given by the inhabitants of Thibet to the Bos Grunniens, or Grunting Ox in its wild state. BUCHOBZITE, one of two minerals named Fibrous Quartz, by Werner, but not belonging to the species Quartz. BUCHNERA, in Botany, a genus of plants, class Didynamia, order Angiospermia. Generic character: calyx five-dentate, obsolete; corolla limbus five-fid, equal; lobes cordate; capsule bilocular. This genus contains fourteen species, inhabiting various parts of the world. BUCIDA, in Botany, a genus of plants, class Decandria, order Monogynia. Generic character: calyx fivedentate, superior; corolla none; berry one-seeded. English name Black Olive. This genus contains two species, one a native of Jamaica, and the other of Montserrat. Brown's Hist. of Jamaica. A. S. bucca; Fr. bouc; It. becco; BUCK,STALL.} Ger. animal, striking, (butting) with the horns, from Ger. bocken, to strike. Wachter. Martinius also mentions the Ger. bocken; French, buquer, among other conjectures. In V. Hircus. BUCK. The males he left without His loftie roofes, that all bestrowd about Chapman. Homer's Odyssey, book ix. fol. 134. Browne. Britannia's Pastorals, book i. song 5. BUсk, n. perhaps no more than a corrupt English BUCK. pronunciation of beaux. Bucks and belles, are beaux and belles. What with ill-natured flings and rubs of Polygonum. Spectator, No. 482. We have two instances in the reign of Ed. IV. of persons BUCK, v. BUCK, n. BUCKET, BUCK-BASKET, of A vessel for the purpose Spelman guides us to a less distant source; the A. S. To buck is to use a buck, sc. for washing, and thus to And boukep hem at hus brest and beetep hit ofte. and scanted. And vpon yt ensuyd such excessyues of rayne that corne was therwith drowned in ye erthe, and so bukkyd with water, that the yere ensuynge whete was at xl.d. a busshell. Into a studie he fell sodenly, Id. Anno, 1368. As done these lovers in hir queinte geres, Chaucer. The Knightes Tale, v. 1535. But on the sudden stop'd and silent stood Dryden. The Knight's Tale, book ii. Hall. Cont. The Altar of the Reubenites. : FAL. You shall heare. As good luck would haue it, comes in SER. Whether beare you this? To the landresse forsooth? BUCKINGHAM SHIRE. Lloyd. The Temple of Favour. BUCK-WHEAT, the English name of several species BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,one of the midland Counties Situation of England, bounded on the north by Northampton- and bounshire, south by Berkshire, west by Oxfordshire, and daries. east by the counties of Bedford, Hertford, and Middlesex. Parts of these boundaries are formed by the rivers Thames, Colne, Thame, Ouse, and Ousel; the first of which divides it from Berkshire for a The rest of the of about twenty-eight miles. space boundaries are merely arbitrary lines. The shape of the County is irregular, being pointed towards the north and south-east. Its greatest extent is about forty-eight miles; but its breadth from east to west, seldom exceeds eighteen. Its whole circuit, including the windings, is estimated at 138 miles; and the area adopted by Mr. Rickman, in his Introductory Remarks to the Abstract of the Population Returns for 1821, which is founded upon the Trigonometrical Survey of England and Wales, is 740 square statute miles, or 473,600 English acres. The population of Bucking- Population hamshire, in 1821, including the proportionate number of the army and navy, was 136,500; which divided by 740, gives about 185 persons to each square mile, or thirty-nine persons less than the average for the whole of England; and nearly the same as the adjoining county of Bedford. The following was the increase of the population in this county in round numbers, from 1700 to 1821, as nearly as the former periods can be estimated from the late enumeration returns, viz Years. 1700 1750 1801 1811 1821 The soil and surface of Buckinghamshire are subject to considerable variety. The southern part is chiefly surfaceoccupied with the Chiltern Hills, which also stretch across the adjoining counties of Bedford and Oxford, and are composed of chalk intermixed with flints. On the west side of the county, towards the borders of Oxfordshire, there is a range of hills principally composed of calcareous stone. Towards the Bedfordshire borders the soil is chiefly deep sand, and the surface in some places rises into gentle hills. The Vale of Aylesbury, which occupies the middle of the County, is proverbial for its fertility, and consists almost M. FORD. Why, what haue you to doe whether they beare it? You entirely of a rich black loam, upon a calcareous sub soil. The soil of the northern parts, which present SHIRE. BUCK- The principal tract of woodland in the northern part INGHAM of the county is Waddon Chace, occupying a space of about 2200 acres. Few rivers of note intersect this County. The Thames, as already remarked, washes tis borders; and the Ouse enters it on the north-west, and then flows in a devious course towards the southeast, till it reaches Buckinghain; after which bending to the north-east, through a district of rich meadows, it passes Stoney-Stratford, Newport Pagnell, and Olney, then turns abruptly to the east, and quits the County. The Thame is one of the most considerable of the Buckinghamshire rivers. It rises on the east side, near the borders of Hertfordshire, and flowing from east to west through the vale of Aylesbury, enters Oxfordshire after a winding course of about thirty miles, and subsequently joins the Thames. The Grand Junction Canal also enters this county north of Stoney-Stratford, and extends eastward almost to Newport Pagnell, where it bends towards the south, and passing down the eastern side of the county, it enters Hertfordshire nearly in the parallel of Aylesbury. One branch extends from the north of Stoney-Stratford to Buckingham, and another from above Tring in Hertfordshire to Wendover. The nearest approach of this canal to Aylesbury, is at Marsworth, which is about six miles distant. Articulture dicts So and Like many other of the English Counties, Buckinghamshire formerly consisted of a great proportion of commons and waste lands, but these have now been for the most part enclosed. Much of the surface however is employed as pasture and meadow grounds. The chief arable parts are the Chiltern Hills, and some other upland tracts, which produce good barley, to which they are largely appropriated. The Vale of Aylesbury is principally employed in grazing, either in feeding oxen for the London market, or in supplying butter for the same consumption. The northern part of the County is likewise mostly laid out in dairy farms. Good wheat however is grown in some districts of Buckinghamshire, particularly toward the south. One of the most noted productions dug from beneath its surface, is fullers'-earth, which is found here as well as in Bedfordshire; but only one of the pits is now worked. The strata at this place are thus decribed by Mr. Pennant: "The beds over the marl are, first several layers of reddish sand, to the thickness of six yards; then succeeds a stratum of sand-stone of the same colour, beneath which, for seven or eight yards more, the sand is again continued to the fullers'earth; the upper part of which being impure, or mixed with sand, is flung aside; the rest is taken up for use. The earth lies in layers, under which is a bed of rough white free-stone, and under that sand, beyond which the labourers have never penetrated." The principal manufactures of this County may be considered as lace and paper. The trade in bone lace of the northern part, especially in the neighbourhood of Newport Pagnell, Olney, and Hanslope was exclusive; but since the frame has been employed in making lace at Nottingham, Loughborough, and other places, the trade in Buckinghamshire has declined. Amersham there is also a manufacture of sacking, and one of all kinds of white cotton goods, as well as lace. The chief district for paper mills is on the river Wyke, in the vicinity of Wycombe. There are also copper and brass works at Marlow, and some other slight establishments for the production of different BUCK articles in other places. Many of the lower classes of BUCK- Buckinghamshire sends fourteen Members to the Boroughs, Some fine specimens of ancient architecture are to Ancient be met with in this county; and indeed Stukeley architecchurch is esteemed one of the finest in the kingdom. ture, &c. No part of it appears to have been either altered or defaced; nor has there been any additions to it except the porch and the pinnacles of the tower. From a date discovered by some workmen who were repairing the roof of the chancel, it is supposed to have been built in 1106. The chancel of Chetwode church, supposed to be the work of the middle of the thirteenth century, has lancet-shaped windows, and slender pillars, the capitals of which are wrought with foliage and figures of animals. The church at Hillesden, which was rebuilt in 1493, likewise presents a fine example of the later Gothic. Some of the most elegant and ancient specimens of stained glass are also to be seen in this County. The windows in the chancel of Chetwode church, are supposed to be coeval with the erection of the church in 1244; and may therefore be considered as among the first specimens that were introduced into England. Some Roman roads have been discovered, and a few antiquities found; and a cross standing on the side of a hill near the hamlet of Whiteleaf, is supposed to have been erected in the time of Edward the Elder, to commemorate a victory gained over the Danes. The opinions of antiquaries are at variance respecting both the derivation of the name of this County and its primitive inhabitants. All that appears capable of being relied upon, relative to these early times, is that the Cassii or subjects of Cassibelanus, occupied either the whole or a part of it. BUCKINGHAM, the County town of Buckinghamshire, is situated on the river Ouse, over which there are three stone bridges. It is an ancient Borough, but it does not appear that the privilege of sending two Members At to Parliament, which it now possesses, was exercised previous to the year 1544. The principal occupation of the inhabitants is the making of white thread lace. Edward the Elder is said to have erected a fortification at Buckingham, of which no traces now remain. Edward III. fixed this for one of the staples of wool; but the trade being reinoved to Calais, it declined; and BUCK- in the twenty-seventh Henry VIII. it was enumerated INGHAM. the decayed cities and towns, for whose relief among an Act of Parliament was then made. In 1725, 138 out BUCKLE. of 387 houses contained in this town, were consumed by fire. Population, in 1821, 3465. Distant fifty-seven miles W. N. W. from London. Stowe, the magnificent seat of the Duke of Buckingham, is about two miles north from the town. BUCKLE, v. Ger. buckel; Dutch, boeckel; Fr. BUCKLE, n. boucle, from the Ger. bug-en; A. S. BUCKLING. bug-an, flectere, to bend; " fibula enim flexu facilis est." Skinner. In the passage from Shakspeare, the verb buckle, is interpreted by the Commentators, "to bend, to yield to pressure." To buckle is to fasten or close, as with a buckle; to keep close, to keep closely engaged in, to adhere to, as in close combat. Nailing the speres, and helmes bokeling. Chaucer. The Knightes Tale. Than on the left syde a shylde is buckled, to kepe of all arowe shot. Udall. Ephesians, ch. vi. There came without any delai an houge army of men partely glad to helpe their price and to do him seruice, and partely to buckle with the Frenchmen, with whome the Englishmen very willingly desyre to cope and fight in ope battaill. Hall. The seventh yere of Kyng Henry VII. If the vnaduysed wilfulnes and hastines of the soldiers be brideled by the captains: if there be no buckling together of the two armies, sauing only by such souldiers and me of armes as haue geuen their othe afore to do as they ought to do and none otherwise nor without a signe to bee geuen by commaundment of the capytayne whan they shall buccle together in fight. Udall. Luke, ch. iii. Notwithstandyng, I add thys muche more vnto it, that they made not buttons nor shoe buckles at those solempnytees. Bale. Apology, p. 61. And as the wretch, whose feauer-weakned joynts, Shakspeare. Henry IV. fol. 75. Others made readie their harnesse and buckled themselues to their weapons as though they were going to field. Savile. Tacitus, fol. 170. Saynt Pye strake him in the sight of the helme a sorer stroke, so that therwith he was so vnhelmed, that ye bocle behynde brake, and the helme fell to the groūde. Froissart. Cronycle, v. ii. C. 168. Wrestling may be compared with the violent buckling and conflict pell-mell in the medley. Holland. Plutarch, fol. 553. Another informs me of a pair of silver garters buckled below the knee, that have been lately seen at the Rainbow Coffee-house in Fleet-street. Spectator, No. 16. BUCKLER, v. Fr. bouclier; It. boccoliero; Dutch, BUCKLER BUCKLER, n. }bokeler. Ail," says Skinner, "I believe to be from the word buckle, fibula, because the shield, mediante fibula, is bound and fastened to the arm." Kilian derives bokeler, bocken-leer, from bock, Eng. buck, and leer, a contraction of Dutch, leder, Eng. leather, q. d. corium sive pellis hirci, because shields are covered with the hides or skins of beasts, præcipue hædorum. The Latin scutum, he observes, is ȧnò TOû oxutéos, i. e. a corio, sive pelle. And the Gr. pivòs, is applied equally to a hide or a shield. To buckler is to protect or cover with a buckler, to guard, to defend. And by his side a swerd and a bokeler. Chaucer. Prologue, v. 112. In these assaultes I feele my febled force Which in my mind I promise you how gayly so euer it glyter in ones eye for a florish, yet who fight therwith shal find it neither sharpe or sure, if it fall on a good buckler and not on a naked man. Sir Thomas More's Workes. WARW. But that the guilt of murther bucklers thee, And I should rob the deaths-man of his fee, Quitting thee thereby of ten thousand shames, And that my soueraignes presence makes me milde, I would false murd'rous coward, on thy knee Make thee begge pardon for thy passed speech. Shakspeare. Henry VI. Second Part, fol. 135. The bucklers were excogitated and divised, for the keeping off the blows and strokes, but the declining of strokes was before bucklers. Cudworth. Intel. Syst. fol. 677. Let the reader only peruse the description of Minerva's ægis, or buckler, in the fifth book, with her spear, which could overturn whole squadrons, and her helmet, that was sufficient to cover an whole army drawn out of a thousand cities. Spectator, No. 309. Wilt thou not place me in that glorious hour Close to thy buckler? Gratitude will brace Thy pupil's arm to manifest the force Of thy instruction. Glover. Leonidas, book ii. BUCKLER-MUSTARD, the English name of the genus Biscutella. BU'CKRAM, n. ·} Fr. bourgrain; It. bucherame; BUCKRAM, adj. Dutch, bockerael. Skinner thinks from Fr. bourre, flocks of wool, hair, &c. and grain, wherewith cloth is died, as scarlet-grain. They vse neither cloakes, hattes, nor cappes. But they weare jackets framed after a strange manner, of buckeram, skarlet, or baldakins. Hakluyt. Voyage, &c. The Tartars, v. i. fol. 54. CADE. Well, hee shall be beheaded for it ten times: Ah thou Say, thou Surge, nay thou buckram lord, now art thou within point-blanke of our jurisdiction regall. Shakspeare. Henry VI. Second Part, fol. 141. Brook. Love and Vanity. BUCK'S COUNTY, one of the six Counties into which the State of Pennsylvania is divided, situated south-west of Philadelphia, and bordering on the Delaware river, which separates it from New Jersey. The whole surface is estimated at 400,000 acres; and the population in 1820, was 37,842, and had experienced an increase of 5471, or rather more than a seventh part of the whole, during the preceding ten years. BUCK'S COUNTY. |