BOWSTRING HEMP 140 BOYCOTTING lashing it down to the bowsprit. The bowsprit has heel, head, fiddle or bees, chock, g-amrnoning, bobstays, shrouds, martingale, and dolphin striker. Bow- sprits are standing, that is, permanent, as in large vessels or sloops; or running- in bowsprits, as in cutters. BOWSTRING HEMP (so called be- cause the fibers of the leaves are used for bowstrings by the natives of the coun- try where they grow), an English name for sanseviera, a genus of Uliacese. It is called also African hemp. The species are stemless perennials, with whitish or yellowish green clusters of flowers. They are found in Africa and southern Asia. Sanseviera roxhurghiana is the moorva )r marvel of India, the fibers of which are used in the manufacture of string. BOX, the English name of buxus, a genus of plants belonging to the order euphorbiacese (spurgeworts). The com- mon boxtree is buxus sempervirens. In its wild state it is a small tree. It is found all over the world in some form of species. It is an evergreen. A dwarf variety of the box is used as an edging along walkways in gardens. BOX ELDER, the English name of negundo, a genus of plants belonging to the order aceraceae (maples). It re- sembles acer, but has pinnate leaves. The ash-leaved box elder, negundo ameri- canum, rises to the height of 35 feet, and is an ornamental tree. BOXERS, members of a Chinese secret society which aimed ostensibly at the ex- pulsion of foreigners from China. The native name for the organization is I-ho- ch'tian, usually rendered "Combination of Righteous Harmony Fists," and the like. An uprising of the Boxers in 1900 led to international intervention in China, in order to rescue members of the foreign legations besieged in Pekin. See China. BOXING. See Pugilism. BOXING THE COMPASS, in seamen's phrase, the repetition of all the points of the compass in their proper order — an accomplishment required to be attained by all sailors. BOX THORN, a genus of solanacese (night-shades). They are ornamental plants. The willow-leaved species, lycium barbarum, so called because it comes from Barbary, is valuable for covering naked walls or arbors. The European box thorn, L. europoeum, which is spiny, is used as a hedge plant in Tuscany. The small shoots are said to be eaten in Spain with oil and vinegar. BOX TORTOISE, a name given to one or two North American tortoises, genus ^ cistiido, that can completely shut them- selves into their shell. BOYACA, a department of Colombia, touching Venezuela. In the W. it is mountainous; in the E. it has vast prairies, and is watered by the Meta and its tributaries. The Muzo emerald mine is the richest in the world, and the de- partment is rich in salt springs, coal, iron, plumbago, and copper ore. Area 33,293 square miles; pop. about 580,000. Capital, Tunja. BOYCE, WILLIAM, an English com- poser, born in London in 1710; was a chorister at St. Paul's, and was appointed composer to the Chapel Royal, in 1736, and organist in 1758, He received the de- gree of Doctor of Music from Cambridge in 1749, and was master of the King's band from 1755. Boyce holds a high rank as a composer of church music. His songs include "Hearts of Oak," written for one of Garrick's pantomimes. His best work is the serenata of "Solomon" (1743) ; his most valuable publication is a collection of the "Cathedral Music" of the two pre- ceding centuries (3 vols., 1760). He died in Kensington, Feb. 7, 1779. BOYCOTTING, a practice which owes its name to Capt. C. C. Boycott (died June 21, 1897), of Lough Mask House, in Mayo, Ireland, and agent, in 1880, of Lord Erne, an Irish nobleman. The former gentleman having given oflFense about agrarian matters to the people among whom he lived, during the land agitation of 1880-1881, no one would gather in his crops. The case being re- ported in the "Press," about 60 Orange- men, belonging to the north of Ireland, organized themselves into a "Boycott re- lief expedition." The Government gave them a strong escort of cavalry, besides foot soldiers and constabulary, artillery also being added on the return journey. The crops were gathered in and sent away, and the Captain himself brought off to a region of greater security. The object of a boycott is to put a person out- side the pale of the society, amid which he lives, and on which he depends; so- cially to outlaw him, to refuse to sell to, and decline to buy from, him; to re- fuse to work for or to employ him. In the United States and in England the boycott is made use of by trade union- ists as a strike measure. It has in some instances been enjoined by the courts. Laws prohibiting boycotting in terms have been enacted in Colorado, Illinois and Wisconsin, and laws which may fairly be construed as prohibiting boycot-
