BANANA(Musa sapientum), a gigantic herbaceous plant belonging to the natural order Hfusaceoe, originally a native of the tropical parts of the East, but now cultivated in all tropical and sub-tropical climate3. It forms a spurious kind of stem, rising 15 or 20 feet by the sheathing bases of the leaves, the blades of which sometimes measure as much as 10 feet in length by 2 feet across. The stem bears several clusters of fruit, which somewhat resemble cucumbers in size and form; it dies down after maturing the fruit. The weight of the produce of a single cluster is sometimes as much as 80 ft>, and it was calculated by Humboldt that the productiveness of the banana as compared with wheat is as 133 to 1, and as against potatoes 44 to 1. The varieties of banana cultivated in the tropics are as numerous as the varieties of apples in temperate regions, and the best authorities now agree that no specific difference exists between it and the plantain. The fruit is extensively used as food; and in many of the Pacific islands it is the staple on which the natives depend. In its immature condition it contains much starch, which on ripening changes into sugar; and as a ripe fruit it has a sweet but somewhat flavourless taste. From the unripe fruit, dried in the sun, a useful and nutritious flour is prepared. The following represents the percentage composition of the pulp of the ripe fruit :—Nitrogenous matter, 4'820; sugar, pectin, &c., 19'657; fatty matter, 0'632; cellulose, 0'200; saline matter, 0'791; water, 73'900. An analysis of the flour by Dr Murray Thomson yielded the following results :—Water, 12'33; starch, 7Γ60; gum and sugar, 6'82; nitrogenous matter, 2'01; cellulose, 5'99; oil, 0'50; salts, 0∙64....

BANBRIDGE, a town of Ireland, county of Down, on the Bann, 23 miles S.W. of Belfast, standing on the summit of an eminence. To facilitate access, a central carriageway, 200 yards long, has been cut through the main street to a depth of 15 feet, the opposite terraces being connected by a bridge. Banbridge is a neat town, with a handsome church, several chapels, a market-house (built in 1831), and a court-house. It is the principal seat of the linen trade in the county, and has extensive cloth and thread factories, bleachfields, and chemical works. Population in 1871, 5600.

BANBURY, a market-town, municipaland parliamentary borough, and railway junction, in the county of Oxford, 71 miles from London, and a little to the west of the River Cherwell and the Oxford and Birmingham canal. It is well built, and has two or three foundries, several breweries, and some other manufactures, but is chiefly dependent on the neighbouring villages which send their agricultural produce to its market. It was formerly famous for its cheese, and gives its name to a kind of cake of considerable repute. Its ancient cross, now destroyed, is celebrated in the well-known nursery rhyme. During the 17th century the inhabitants of Banbury seem to have been zealous Puritans, and are frequently satirized by contemporary dramatists (Chambers’s Book of Days, vol. ii. p. 316). At a somewhat earlier period the grammar school, which is now defunct, was of such repute as to be chosen as the model for the constitution of the school of St Paul’s. A school of science was erected in 1861. Banbury returns one member to parliament, and the borough (which is partly in Northamptonshire) had, in 1872, a population of 11,726, of whom 4122 were in the town.

BANC A, Banka, or Bangka, an island off the east coast of Sumatra, and separated from it by the Strait of Banca, lies between lat. 1° 30' and 3° 7' S., and long. 105° 9' and 106° 54' E. It varies from 8 to 20 miles in breadth, and has an area of 5000 English square miles. Its mines of tin, which were discovered in 1710, are remarkably productive, and in 1872 yielded no less than 68,148 piculs, the average yield during the previous ten years being 73,961 piculs. The washing is almost wholly carried on by Chinese, and a large part of the metal finds its way to their country. Iron, copper, lead, silver, and arsenic, are also found in the island. The soil is generally dry and stony, and the greater part of the surface is covered with forests, in which the logwood tree especially abounds. Its mountains, which scarcely exceed 2000 feet in height, are covered with vegetation to their summits. They are of granitic formation, containing felspar, quartz, mica, and tourmaline. Population, 54,339, including 17,070 Chinese, 37,070 natives, 116 Europeans, and 56 Arabs. Muntak, the capital, has upwards of 3000 inhabitants. “The houses, which mostly belong to Chinamen, are neatly built and well painted; the streets are kept in good repair, and the whole place has an air of enterprise and thrift” (vide Bickmore’s Bast Indian Archip., 1868). There are several other forts on the island. It belongs to the Dutch, who derive from it upwards of 3,000,000 guilders, or £250,000, of annual income, after the expenses of the administration are paid.

BANCROFT, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of James I., distinguished as an inflexible opponent of Puritanism, was born at Farnworth in Lancashire in 1544. He was educated at Cambridge University, studying first at Christ’s College, and afterwards at Jesus College. He took his degree of B.A. in 1567, and that of M.A. in 1570. Ordained about that time, he was named chaplain to Dr Cox, then bishop of Ely, and in 1575 was presented to the rectory of Teversham in Cambridgeshire. The next year he was one of the preachers to the university, and in 1584 was presented to the rectory of St Andrew’s, Holborn. His unquestionable abilities, and his zeal as a champion of the church in those unsettled times, secured him rapid promotion, and at length the highest ecclesiastical position in the land. He graduated B.D. in 1580, and D.D. five years later. In 1585 he was appointed treasurer of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. On February 9, 1589, he preached at Paul’s Cross a sermon on 1 John iv. 1, the substance of which was a passionate attack on the Puritans. He described their speeches and proceedings, caricatured their motives, denounced the exercise of the right of private judgment, and set forth the divine right of bishops in such strong language that one of the queen’s councillors held it to amount to a threat against the supremacy of the Crown. Sixteen days after the publication of this ecclesiastical manifesto, Bancroft was made a prebendary of St Paul’s. Within a few years he was advanced to the same dignity in the collegiate church of Westminster, and in the cathedral church of Canterbury. He was chaplain successively to Lord Chancellor Hatton and Archbishop Whitgift. In May 1597 he was consecrated bishop of London; and from this time, in consequence of ...

BANDA ISLANDS, a group in the East Indian Archipelago, lying to the S. of Ceram, in lat. 4° 30' S. and long. 129° 50' E. They are ten or twelve in number, and have an area of about 7150 square miles. Their volcanic origin is distinctly marked. Banda Lantoir, which derives its name from the lontar or Palmyra palm, is the largest of the group. From the sea this island appears lofty,— its sides being steep, and crowned by a sort of table-land which extends nearly from one end to the other. The whole is one continuous forest of nutmeg and Canari trees, the latter being planted to screen the former from the wind. The unhealthiness of Lantoir has prevented it from becoming the seat of government, for which in other respects it would naturally be chosen. The village of Selam contains the ruins of the chief Portuguese settlement. A considerable fort, called Hollandia, commands the harbour. Banda Neira lies S.∙ of Lantoir. It is the seat of the Dutch resident, whose jurisdiction extends not only over the Banda Islands, but also over a part of Ceram and several other small groups. Fort Nassau, which was built in 1609, is the chief defence of the islands; and to the right and left of it extends the village of Neira. Gunong Api is to the north of Neira, and derives its name—Fire Mountain— from its large cone-shaped volcano, which rises 2320 feet above the level of the sea, and is constantly emitting smoke. The peak was ascended by Professor Rein ward t in 1821, by Μ. S. Müller in 1828, and in 1865 by Mr Bickmore, who has given an interesting account of the adventure. Eruptions took place in 1586, 1598, 1609, 1615, 1632, 1690, 1696, 1712, 1765, 1775, 1778, 1820, 1824; and earthquakes without eruptions occurred in 1629, 1683, 1710, 1767, 1816, and 1852. On the last ...