798 BOJADOR BOKHARA May 16, 1841. She was educated in a nunnery, where by her talents she attracted the atten- tion of the sister of Louis XVI., Madame Elisa- beth. The nunnery was destroyed in the revo- lution, and she then spent three years in the study of anatomy and midwifery. In 1797 she married an employee at Versailles named Boi- vin, and on being left after a short time a widow with a child and without fortune, she undertook the office of midwife at the Mater- nite hospital, and in 1801 was appointed chief superintendent of the institution, to which at her suggestion a special school of accouchement was added by Chaptal. The order of civil merit was conferred upon her by the king of Prussia in 1814, and she received the degree of M. D. from the university of Marburg. Her Memorial de Vart des accouchements, published in 1824, passed through many editions. BOJADOR, Cape, a lofty headland of W. Afri- ca, in lat. 26 7' N., Ion. 14 23' W. This cape is mountainous and rocky, being the western termination of the Black mountains, which ex- tend eastward into the interior of Sahara, and as far northward as Cape Nun. The coast is very dangerous, being perpetually shrouded in mists, and strong currents setting in toward the land. For many years it interrupted the progress of the early Portuguese navigators, but was finally passed by Gilianes in 1433. BOKER, George Henry, an American dramatist and poet, born in Philadelphia in 1824. He graduated at Princeton college in 1842, studied law, but did not pursue the profession, and in 1847 published the " Lesson of Life and other Poems." Next he wrote "Oalaynos, a Trage- dy," which at once extended his reputation, and was successfully played in London. His next production was "Anne Boleyn," which was succeeded by the tragedies of " Leonor de Guzman" and "Francesca da Kimini." He published two volumes of " Plays and Poems" at Boston in 1856, and during the civil war produced many patriotic poems, which were collected in one volume entitled "Poems of the War " (Boston, 1864). He was appointed minister resident at Constantinople in 1871. BOKHARA. I. A khanate of Independent Tnrkistan, central Asia, between lat. 36 and 43 K, and Ion. 62 30' and 69 30' E. ; bounded N. by the desert of Kizil Koom, N. E. and E. by Russian Turkistan, Khokan, and Koondooz, S. by Balkh, Maimana, and Afghanistan, and W. by Khiva ; area, about 100,000 sq. m. ; pop. roughly estimated at 2,500,000. The western parts, with the exception of the banks of the Jihoon, which are lined with luxuriant vegeta- tion, present the appearance of a vast desert similar to those of Arabia, devoid of all ani- mals, and subject to the tebbad, a hot dry wind, which sweeps swiftly across the arid plains, and if overtaking a caravan overwhelms both men and animals, and not unfrequently proves fatal. The eastern part of the khanate, which is hilly and watered by affluents of the Jihoon and the Zerafshan or Kohik, is more fertile. Spurs of the Paropamisan range in the southeast give rise to a number of streams. The three principal rivers, along which lies nearly all the cultivated land, are the Jihoon or Amoo Darya (the ancient Oxus), which tiows N. W. through the centre of the coun- try ; the Zerafshan, flowing W. from the now Russian territory of Samarcand to and past the city of Bokhara, and dividing into sev- eral channels, which with artificial irrigating canals form a network of streams rendering the district exceedingly fertile; and the Shehri- zebz, between the Zerafshan and the Jihoon. The last two terminate in small salt lakes or are lost in the sand. The cultivated land is di- vided into squares with boundaries marked by ridges of turf raised slightly above the level of the plain. The water from the rivers and canals flows through trenches, which, as well Lady and Gentleman of Bokhara. as the narrow roads of the farm lands, are lined with trees. The climate is temper- ate, the summer beginning in March and last- ing till October. During this season no rain falls, and the thermometer rises to 90 in the day, but the nights are cool. October and February are the rainy seasons. The winters are open, though sometimes the snow covers the ground for a fortnight, and in January, the coldest month, the mercury falls as low as 6. The more violent storms come usually from the northwest. They are often accompanied with clouds of sand and dust which render ophthal- mia frequent, but otherwise the climatic influ- ences are health}'. The principal vegetable productions are wheat, barley, millet, rice, sesame, hemp, tobacco, pulse, tropical fruits and vegetables, a species of indigo plant, manna, cotton, and silk. Bang, an intoxicating drug, is made from hemp seeds. Gold is found in
