Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/518

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BAMBERGER.
448
BAMBUK.

formed the group known as the “Secessionists,” which afterwards became merged in the German Liberal Party, and as a member of which he opposed the Colonial policy of the Government. The following are some of his important publications: Erlebnisse aus der pfälzischen Erhebung (1849); Monsieur de Bismarck (1868; English translation, 1869); Die fünf Milliarden (1873); Deutschland und der Sozialismus (1878); Deutschtum und Judentum (1880); Die Stichworte der Silberleute besprochen (4th ed., 1893); Erinnerungen (published by Nathan, 1899).


BAMBINO, bam-be'ii6 (It., a baby). A term in art descriptive of the figure of the Infant Saviour. It is especially used of certain images of the swaddled Child, the most famous being the Santissimo Bambino in the Church of Aia Ca?li at Rome, held in great veneration for its supposed miraculous power of curing the sick. It is carved in wood, painted, and richly deco- rated with jewels and precious stones. the festival of the Bambino, which occurs at the Epiphany, is attended by great numbers of eountry people, and the Bambino is said to draw more in the shape of fees than the most success- ful medical practitioner in Rome, for it is often carried in procession to the houses of the sick.


BAMBOCCIADES, bam'boch-I-adz' (Fr. hain- hochade, It. hambocciata, caricature, from ham- boccio. puppet, little child) . Grotesque painting. Peter Van Laer and Teniers were painters of such subieets, and the name is said to be derived from the nickname of Van Laer, Bamboccio, the cripple.' Rollicking and boisterous village games, with smoking, drinking, and festival-making in grotesque costumes are scenes characteristic of this style of painting. Wilkie m England has sometimes painted in this vein.


BAMBOO' (Malav, Cambu Mambu). Bain- busa, Arundinaria, and I'hiiUostachys. _ Genera of grasses, many species of which attain a great tize some 70 or 100 feet in height, and have trunks a foot in diameter. The species are nu- merous, and are found in tropical and subtr.jpical regions, both of the Eastern and W estern heiiii- spheres. They are of great importance to the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow, being found from sea-level to 1-2,000 feet in the Himalavas and 15,000 feet in the Andes. All of them have a jointed subterranean root-stock (rhizome) which throws up numerous stems. These are generallv straight and erect; although one large species (Bambusa agresUs) , common in drv mountainous situations in the southeast of Asia has crooked and sometimes creeping stems. The stems grow to their full height unbranehed but afterwards throw out straight horizontal branches, especially in their upper parts, torming a dense thicket ; and many of them being strongly armed with spines, they are planted for defense. Some of the smaller kinds are often planted as hedges The stems are jointed like those ot oth?r crrasses, verv hard, but light and elastic, hollow,containing only a liglit spongy pith, except at the joints or nodes, where they are divided by strong partitions. They are, therefore, readily converted into water-vessels of various sorts; and when the partitions are removed, they are used as pipes for conveying water. They are also much cmploved for house-buildmg, for bridges, etc Split bamboo is extensively used for weav- ing into nets, for hats, umbrellas, fishing-rods, etc The smaller stems are converted into water- sticks, and are employed in light wickerwork. In China, the leaf-sheaths and other portions of the stem are used for making paper. The stems of difi'erent species vary also very much in the thickness of the woody part, and so m their adaptation to different purposes. The external covering of the stem is, in all the species, re- raarkabh' siliceous: the stem of Bambusa ta- bararia 'is so hard that it strikes fire when the hatchet is applied. This species is a native of Amliovna and .Java ; its slender stems are pol- ished,' and used for the stems of tobacco-pipes. The leaves of some kinds are used for thatch, and the Chinese plait hats of them. From the nodes of the bamboo there exudes a saccharine juice which dries upon exposure to the atmosphere, and which the Greeks called Indian honey. It is also sometimes named tabaris or tabasheer; but this name more properly belongs to a phos- phorescent substance found in some species of bamboo and of other large grasses growing in dry situations. ( See Tabasheer. ) The young shoots of some kinds of bamboo are eat<;n like aspara- gus, or are pickled in vinegar. The seeds of some species are used as rice, and for making a kind of beer. Bamboos are generally of very rapid growth, and they are often found in and situa_ tions, which would otherwise be destitute of vegetation. It is not improbable that they may vet be emploved, where they do not naturally kbound. The species common in the West Inaies {Bambusa vuhiaris) is supposed to have been in- troduced from the East Indies A number of species are hardv in England and in parts of the United States, where they are used m landscape sardening. Arundinaria macrosperma is native to the Southern United States, where it forms extensive canebrakes.

Fossil Forms. Fossil forms of bamboo are abundant in the Pleiocene deposits ot France.


BAMBOO RAT. Any of various species of mole-rats (q.v.) of India and eastward, belong- ing to the genus Rhizomys, and found m and near liamboo jungles.


BAMBOROUGH (bam'bflr-6) CASTLE (for- tress of Bebba, Queen of Ida). An English cas- tle situated in the village of the same name, U miles north of Alnwick, in Northumberland. It was erected by Ida of Northumberland in 54 , and was repeatedcdly assailed m the wars of the Saxon and Danish kings. In 1005 it w>is held bv Earl ilowbrav against William II. During tiie Wars of the Roses, the fortress was de- stroyed, Init was restored in the Eighteenth Cen-


BAMBUK, biim-book'. A hilly region in West Africa. situated between the river Senegal and its tributarv, the Faleme, and forming .a part of the Frend. possession of Senegal. Except for its unhealthful climate, Bambuk is a ^^. 1 favored eountrv, with a very rich vegetation and .^'ll adapted for cattle-raising. The special importance of Bambuk, however, li«%>'i.f g^ deposits, which are so extensive as to be found uSost in every part of the country. The ou u however, is insignificant as the «plora . m h entirely in the hands of the natives. The popula Tion estimated by some at 800,000, -ns-ts o llandingoes, who ostensibly profess Islam, ut who are practically pagans and of a veiy ftio Vous disposition. 'Bambuk belonged to Por Ugal in the Fifteenth Century, and was brought under the protection of France in 1858.