fine agricultural district. The Bangor theo- | logical seminary (Trinitarian Congregational), originally established in 1816 at Hampden, 6 m. below the city, occupies an elevated position, overlooking the city and the Penobscot river. In 1870 it had 4 professors, 24 students, a library of 13,000 volumes, and an endowment of $120,000. There are 14 churches (3 Congregational, 2 Baptist, 2 Methodist, 1 Free-will Baptist, 1 Universalist, 1 Unitarian, 1 Episcopal, 2 Catholic, and 1 Second Advent), 53 public schools, 6 national banks, 3 state banks, 2 savings banks, and 1 daily and 1 weekly newspaper. The Bangor library association, founded in 1843, has 11,000 volumes. The value of real and personal estate in 1860 was $6,015,601, and in 1870, $9,851,561. The city is connected with Portland, Boston, and other points on the coast by two lines of steamers. By means of the Maine Central railroad it has railroad connection with Waterville, Belfast, Augusta, Bath, Portland, &c. The European and North American railway affords the only all-rail route between Bangor (where it connects with the Maine Central railroad) and St. John, New Brunswick, a distance of 206 m. The imports for the year ending June 30, 1871, amounted to $51,094, and the exports to $163,385. The clearances for foreign ports were 29 American vessels, of 5,777 tons, and 56 foreign, of 6,232 tons; entrances, 4 American vessels, of 1,039 tons, and 47 foreign, of 4,414 tons. In the coast trade 284 vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of 190,237 and 6,216 men, entered, and 22 vessels of 3,618 tons cleared. The number of vessels registered, enrolled, and licensed was 192, with an aggregate tonnage of 26,659; and there were 9 vessels, of 526 tons, engaged in the cod and mackerel fishery.-Bangor was incorporated as a town in 1791, and as a city in 1834. It was named by the Rev. Seth Noble from the tune "Bangor."

BANGOR. I. A city and parliamentary borough of Carnarvonshire, Wales, situated at the head of Beaumaris bay on the Menai strait, 24 m. from the Britannia bridge, and 9 m. N. E. of Carnarvon; pop. of the city in 1871, 6,738. It exports slates, and is much resorted to for sea bathing. A cathedral of the 15th and 16th centuries, occupying the site of a church supposed to have been built in the 6th century, a free school founded in the time of Elizabeth, and an episcopal palace, are its most interesting buildings. II. A seaport town of Ireland, county Down, on Belfast Lough, 12 m. E. N. E. of Belfast; pop. in 1871, 2,525. It has fisheries, and is a place of resort for bathing. It was the seat of a famous monastery supposed to have been destroyed by the Danes in the 9th century.

BANGS, Nathan, D. D., an American clergyman, born at Stratford, Conn., May 2, 1778, died May 3, 1862. He entered the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1801. After seven years of labor in the Canadian provinces, and a term of ministerial serVOL. II.-18

vice in the Albany district, he was appointed to the city of New York in 1810. He was elected in 1820 agent of the Methodist book concern, and editor of the books published by this house. After an official term of eight years, he was chosen editor of the "Christian Advocate and Journal." In 1829 he was elected bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church in Canada, but declined the appointment. From 1832 to 1836 he was editor of the "Methodist Magazine" and "Quarterly Review," having also been continued in the editorial supervision of the books published by the book concern since 1820. From 1836 to 1841 he was secretary of the Methodist missionary society, and then became president of the Wesleyan university, at Middletown, Conn. Resigning this office, he returned to the regular pastoral work, and remained a member of the New York conference to the time of his death. Dr. Bangs was the author of numerous controversial works, among which are "The Errors of Hopkinsianism,' "Predestination Examined," "Reformer Reformed," "Life of Arminius," &c. He also wrote the "Life of the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson,' History of Missions," ," "Original Church of Christ," "Letters on Sanctification," and a "History of the Methodist Episcopal Church (4 vols. 12mo), a standard work.

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BANIALUKA, a fortified town of Turkey in Europe, in the province of Bosnia, on the left bank of the Verbas, 90 m. N. W. of Bosna-Serai; pop. about 15,000. It contains 40 mosques, several colleges, public baths, a cathedral, and a powder mill.'

BANIAN, or Banyan (ficus religiosa or Indica), a fig tree of the East Indies, remarkable for its manner of growth and longevity. The fruit is red and not much larger than a pea, and the seeds are minute, but covered with a hard testa which protects them from the digestive organs of the birds who seek the fig as food. The birds plant the seeds in crevices of stones or buildings, or on trees, and with the necessary moisture they germinate in these places, sending their roots into and widening the chinks, or down the moist bark of the tree on which the seed has been dropped, and the plant grows rapidly into a broad, spreading, although not very lofty tree, whose horizontal branches send down roots as slender fibres until they reach the earth, when the growth is reversed and the depending rootlet becomes an ascending trunk equalling or even surpassing the parent stem. A famous banian stood on the banks of the Nerbudda which could shelter 7,000 men, and others cover more than 13 acres. They are frequently found near temples and on the mounds where the Hindoo widows have performed suttee, as the birds are attracted to these places. The figs, although small, are abundant, insipid in taste, and of mild medicinal properties. The leaves are of a bright green and form a dense shade, effectually preventing the growth of underbrush. They are about five inches in length and four

in width, and are downy on both sides when young, becoming smooth and brilliant as they grow. The Brahmins use the leaves as plates and dishes. The bark is supposed by the Hindoos to be a powerful tonic; and they use the white gum of the tree as a cure for the toothache, or apply it as a healing plaster to the feet when chafed or bruised. Bird-lime is also made from this gum. The wood of the tree is porous and almost useless.

BANIM. I. John, an Irish novelist, born in Kilkenny, April 3, 1798, died near Kilkenny, Aug. 1, 1842. In his youth he went to Dublin and afterward to London to seek literary employment, was befriended by Shiel, and in his 24th year won a brilliant success by his tragedy of "Damon and Pythias," played by Macready and Kemble at Covent Garden. Soon afterward he began with his brother Michael a series of novels illustrative of Irish life, which appeared in 1825 under the title of "Tales by the O'Hara Family," and were followed in 1826 by a second series. "The Bit o' Writin'," "Boyne Water," "The Denounced," "The Nowlans," "The Smuggler," and other stories appeared at short intervals, and nearly all became very popular. Banim died in poverty, and in his latter years was supported chiefly by a pension from the government. II. Michael, brother of the preceding, born in August, 1796. He assisted his brother in the "Tales by the O'Hara Family," and is the author of "The Croppy,' "Father Connell," "Crohoore of Bill-hook," "The Ghosthunter," "The Mayor of Wind Gap," &c.

BANISTER, or Halifax Court House, a post village of Halifax co., Virginia, on the Banister river, 10 m. above its confluence with the Dan, and 120 m. by rail S. W. of Richmond; pop. in

1870, 3,731. The Richmond and Danville railroad passes through it, and the river is navigable for bateaux from its mouth to Meadville, 10 m. above Banister. Six miles from the village there is a plumbago mine.

BANJERMASSIN, or Banjarmassin. I. A large state of S. E. Borneo, governed by a sultan subordinate to the Dutch government; pop. vaguely estimated at about 300,000, nearly all Mohammedans. It borders on the strait of Macassar, and is bounded W. by the Banjer river. A range of mountains, some of them over 3,000 ft. high, runs through the district. Iron, diamonds, and excellent coal are found, and the natives are noted for their skill in making all kinds of arms. Pepper is the most important product of the soil. The trade is controlled by the Chinese. The Dutch settled here in 1747, and in 1787 made a treaty with the sultan by which their supremacy was recognized in consideration of their aid in repelling an invasion from Celebes. The British East India company seized Banjermassin in 1811, but restored it in 1817. II. The chief town of the preceding state, and capital of the Dutch residency of the S. and E. coasts, situated on the left bank of the river Banjer, about 15 m. from its mouth in the Java sea; lat. 3° 23' S., lon. 114° 37' E.; pop. about 15,000. The houses are raised on piles, the site being frequently inundated, and most of the traffic is carried on in boats. There is a fort, which encloses the Dutch resident's house, barracks, &c. Pepper, benzoin, bezoar, rattans, iron, and birds' nests are exported. The imports include rice, salt, sugar, opium, gunpowder, silk, &c.

BANJO (corrupted from bandore, a species of guitar), a musical stringed instrument much esteemed by the negroes of the southern

United States. Its capacity is limited to the performance of simple tunes, and it is purely an instrument of accompaniment. Its head and neck are shaped like the guitar, while the body is a circular frame like the head of a drum, over which parchment is stretched in place of a sounding board. Five strings, of which the fifth is shorter than the others, pass over this parchment, and are played with the fingers. BANK, in trade and business, a place of deposit for money. In nearly all languages the words for bank and banker are derived from those meaning table, bench, or counter: rpanelirns among the Greeks, mensarius among the Romans, and banchiero among the Italians of the middle ages. The banker was originally a changer, and he stood in the market place and furnished such different kinds of money as were demanded. By degrees he took funds on deposit, made advances upon securities, merchandise, pledges, titles to property, family papers, &c., and became finally what we now know as a banker. The lending of money with the taking of interest for its use is a custom which dates from the earliest antiquity of which there are records. Constant reference is made to it in both the Old and the New Testament. In ancient Greece the business of receiving money on deposit and lending it out was an important one, and the money changer stood high in credit and in the confidence of both the government and the people of Athens. The state bank of New Ilium, of the precise nature of which we are not informed, in the second century before Christ, borrowed money for the state, and paid for its use 10 per cent. Banks are designed to afford safe places of deposit for the money of individuals, corporations, or governments; for facilitating the exchange of money from the hands of parties who have payments to make to those of such persons as are to receive them, thus becoming clearing houses for the communities in the midst of which they are situated; and for extending aid to business by granting loans or discounts on notes, bonds, stocks, or other securities. These institutions are of three kinds, and may be classed as follows: Banks of deposit receive on deposit the money of individuals, corporations, or governments, and hold it subject to the draft of its owner or owners, or under such other agreement as may be entered into. Banks of discount furnish loans upon drafts, promissory notes, bonds, or other securities. Banks of circulation pay out their own notes, which may or may not, according to circumstances, be payable in coin on demand. Banks which exercise the last of these functions generally unite the first and second.-The bank of Venice, the first establishment of the kind in Europe, was founded in 1171, and owed its existence to wars and the necessity for the government obtaining the means for conducting them. Having exhausted every other resource, the state was obliged to resort to a

forced loan from its most opulent citizens. Then was organized the chamber of loans, which by degrees assumed the form under which, as the bank of Venice, "it was for many ages the admiration of Europe, the chief instrument of Venetian finance, and the chief facility of a commerce not surpassed by that of any European nation." Funds once deposited in the bank could not be withdrawn, but were transferable at the pleasure of their owners upon its books. So thoroughly did the bank credits become the means through and by which the financial operations of the people were conducted, that during its entire existence, with but slight exceptions, these credits were at a premium over coins, which latter were clipped and worn, as well as of various countries and uncertain values. That the people were well satisfied with this institution and its workings may be inferred from the fact that "no book, speech, nor pamphlet have we found," says an eminent economical writer, "in which any merchant or dweller in Venice ever put forth any condemnation of its theory or its practice." The bank of Venice continued in existence without interruption until the overthrow of the republic in 1797, by the revolutionary army of France.-The bank of Genoa was projected in the year 1345, but did not go into full operation till 1407. It was for centuries one of the principal institutions of its class in Europe. Within a space of less than 60 years-first in 1746, and again in 1800-it was twice pillaged by a foreign foe, in the latter instance by the French army under Masséna. From the effects of this disaster it has never recovered, and it has ceased to perform the functions of a bank.-The bank of Barcelona was established in the year 1401, that city having been during the middle ages one of the most enterprising and flourishing of the trading cities of Europe. Here it was that the system of negotiation of bills of exchange was first instituted.-The bank of Amsterdam was founded in the year 1609, Holland being then possessed of an important foreign trade. It was a bank of deposit only, and the money in its possession was transferred on the books of the institution at the pleasure of its owner or owners. The primary object of the establishment of the bank was to give a standard or certain value to bills which might be drawn upon Amsterdam-rendered necessary by the depreciation of the coins, owing to their having been worn or clipped. Here these coins were received on deposit, and had their value established by weight and fineness. It was not the design on founding the institution that the funds should at any time be lent out, but should remain in its vaults. However, the directors having lent to the governments of Holland and Friesland and to the East India company 10,500,000 florins, the fact became known on the invasion of the French army in 1794, and produced the ruin of the institution. The amount of treasure in the vaults of the bank in