Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/291

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BANGOR BANIAN 271 fine agricultural district. The Bangor theo- logical seminary (Trinitarian Congregational), originally established in 1816 at Hampden, 6 m. below the city, occupies an elevated posi- tion, 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 Con- gregational, 2 Baptist, 2 Methodist, 1 Free-will Baptist, 1 Universalist, 1 Unitarian, 1 Episco- pal, 2 Catholic, and 1 Second Advent), 53 pub- lic schools, 6 national banks, 3 state banks, 2 savings banks, and 1 daily and 1 weekly news- paper. The Bangor library association, found- ed 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 tho 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 ton- nage 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 in- corporated as a town in 1791, and as a city in 1834. It was named by the Rev. Seth Noble from the tune " Bangor." B A.VGOR. I. A city and parliamentary bor- ough of Carnarvonshire, Wales, situated at the head of Beaumaris bay on the Menai strait, 2|- 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 ranch 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 bath- ing. 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 clergy- man, 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 Cana- dian provinces, and a term of ministerial ser- 70 VOL. n. 18 vice in the Albany district, he was appointed to tho 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 con- tinued 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 Mid- dletown, Conn. Resigning this office, he re- turned to the regular pastoral work, and re- mained 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 Re- formed," "Life of Arminius," &c. He also wrote the " Life of the Rev. Freeborn Garrett- son," " History of Missions," " Original Church of Christ," "Letters on Sanctification," and a " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church " (4 vols. 12mo), a standard work. i:MlLI KA, 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, sev- eral colleges, public baths, a cathedral, and a powder mill. BANIAN, or Banyan (ficus religiosa or Indiea), a fig tree of the East Indies, remarkable for its manner of growth and longevity. The fruit ia 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 neces- sary 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 ascend- ing 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 at- tracted 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, effect- ually preventing the growth of underbrush. They are about five inches in length and four