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BUCKMINSTER-BUDDHA..

collected, and published in an octavo volume, to which is prefixed a well-written memoir of his life and character. These remains have been extensively circulated. They are highly valuable in every respect, and fitted to excite universal regret at the premature fate of the accomplished and virtuous author. A second volume has appeared very recently (Boston, 1829).

BUCKWHEAT, or BRANK, is a black and triangular grain, produced by a plant of the persicaria tribe (polygonum fagopyrum), with somewhat arrow-shaped leaves, and purplish-white flowers.-Buckwheat was first brought to Europe from the northern parts of Asia, and first cultivated in England about the year 1600. The flowers appear about July, and the seeds ripen in October; and so tender are the plants, that a single night's sharp frost will destroy a whole crop. As a grain, buckwheat has been principally cultivated for oxen, swine and poultry; and, lthough some farmers state, that a single ushel of it is equal in quality to two ushels of oats, others assert, that it is a very unprofitable food. Mixed with bran, chaff or grain, it is sometimes given to orses. The flower of buckwheat is occasionally used for bread, but more frequently for the thin cakes called crumpets. In Germany, it serves as an ingredient in pottage, puddings, and other food. In Pennsylvania, it is very extensively used, throughout the winter, in cakes, which are cooked upon a griddle. Beer may be brewed from it; and by distillation it yields an excellent spirit.-The best mode of harvesting this grain is said to be by pulling it out of the ground like flax, stripping off the seeds with the hand, and collecting these into aprons or cloths, tied round the waist.-Buckwheat is much cultivated in the domains of noblemen, possessed of landed property, as a food for pheasants. With some farmers, it is the practice to sow buckwheat for the purpose only of ploughing it into the ground, as a manure for the land. Whilst green, it serves as food for sheep and oxen; and, mixed with other provender, it may also be given with advantage to horses. The blossoms may be used for dyeing a brown color. It is frequently cultivated in the Middle U. States as food for bees, who are very fond of it, and to whose honey it imparts a flavor by no means unpleasant. The principal advantage of buckwheat is, that it is capable of being cultivated upon land which will produce scarcely any thing else, and that its cul27

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ture, compared with that of other grain, is attended with little expense.

BUCOLICS. (See Pastoral Poetry.) BUDA (in German, Ofen) is the Hungarian name of the capital of Hungary, situated on the west bank of the Danube, opposite Pest. It consists of the Upper Town, which is fortified, and lies, with the castle, on a hill; of the Lower Town, or Waterstadt, which lies at the foot of the hill, and is connected with Pest by a bridge of boats; of the Neustift, in which is the remarkable Trinity pillar, 52 feet high; and of the Taban, called, in German, Raitzenstadt, from being almost entirely occupied by the Rascians, a Sclavonian race. There are three other parts inhabited by Germans and Hungarians. The population is 28,500, exclusive of the court of the palatine, the officers of government, the military and the clergy. Among the public buildings are the royal fortress, in which the crown is kept, the arsenal, the cannon foundery, the new observatory on the Blocksberg. The trade in wine, which the environs produce of an excellent quality, is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. There are also manufactures of silk, leather, tobacco, copper and iron. The baths are efficacious in palsy, weakness of limbs, and similar complaints. The castle was chosen as a place of residence by the emperor Louis I; and king Matthias I founded the library, which was destroyed by the Turks, in whose hands B. remained from 1530 till 1686, when it was taken by storm by the duke of Lorraine. The castle was then destroyed, but was rebuilt by the empress Maria Theresa for the university, which was removed from Tyrnau to Buda in 1777, and which has subsequently been removed to Pest. Lon. 19° 2′ E.; lat. 47° 30′ N.; distant 120 miles S. E. from Vienna.

BUDDHA, the founder of a very ancient religion, called after him. His worship, after the Bramins had put a stop to it in India, spread to Japan, Thibet and China, where, as well as in Ceylon, it exists at the present day. Ritter, in his Vorhallen Europäischer Völkergeschichten (Introduction to the Histories of the European Nations), advances the opinion, that the Buddhists also migrated to the N. W. to the shores of the Black sea, to Colchis, to the modern Mingrelia, and thence to Thrace, where they laid the foundation of the civilization of the Pelasgi and Hellenes. Even in the doctrine of Asa, in the extreme north, traces of Buddhism have been thought to appear. According

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to Abel Remusat, who cites the Japan Encyclopedia, in the Journal des Savans, Jan. 1821, Buddha, whose historical name was Tshakia-muni, was born under the reign of Tshao-wang, of the dynasty of Tsheu, 1029 B. C., and died under the reign of Mou-wang, 950 B. C. Before his death, he intrusted his disciple Mahakaya, a Bramin in the kingdom of Makata, which lay in the centre of India, with his mysteries. This Mahakaya, who lived under Hio-wang, 950 B. C., is the first saint or patriarch of Buddhism, which was left by him to his successor, Ananta. The Japan Encyclopedia enumerates 33 patriarchs, including Mahakaya, in chronological succession, each of whom chose his successor, and transmitted to him the secret doctrine of Tshakia-muni, who was afterwards worshipped as a god, under the name of Buddha. Several of them died (or, to use the language of the Buddhists, emigrated) voluntarily in the flames. Among them, Maming, the successor of Buddha (by the Chinese called Phu-sa; in Sanscrit, DevaBodhisatua), who gave names to the gods of the second class, was worshipped as his son, born from his mouth, because he perfected the doctrine of Buddha by his own philosophy, which is a metaphysical allegorical mysticism. His epoch must be fixed, according to the above-mentioned work, in 332, under the reign of Hian-wang, 618 years after the death of Tshakia-muni. The 28th patriarch, Bodhidhorma, was the last who lived in Hindostan. He afterwards fixed his residence in China, near the famous mountain Sung. He died A. D. 495. The secret of his doctrine was left by him to a Chinese, who was the 29th patriarch. After him, the above-mentioned book gives the names of four Chinese, who succeeded to the same dignity. The last of them died A. D. 713. Their history, like that of many other saints, is mixed with fables: their manner of living was the same as what the ancients report to us of the Gymnosophists and Samaneans. They devoted themselves to religious exercises and constant contemplation, and condemned themselves to the most severe abstinence; nay, several of them, as we have mentioned, sealed their belief in the transmigration of souls with a voluntary death. From that Indian patriarchate originated, A. D. 706, the sacerdotal dignity, which is common in China, and among the Monguls, with the title spiritual prince of the law. These priests are, at the same time, a sort of confessors

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to the emperors. From this priesthood afterwards sprung the hereditary dignity of Grand Lama, in Thibet; and, in process of time, the whole hierarchal system, when the monastical life of the Buddhists required_regular superiors, or inferior lamas. Besides many other monuments of the ancient worship of Buddha, there are two particularly remarkable-the ruins of the gigantic temple Boro-Budor, in Java, with works of sculpture; and the five large subterranean halls, called PantshPandu, probably an old temple of the Buddhists, near the city of Bang, on the way from Guzurat to Malwa. Tradition ascribes these astonishing works of ancient Indian architecture and sculpture, which far surpass the skill of the modern Hindoos, to the Pandus, the heroes of Indian mythology. An accurate description of these monuments is contained in the second volume of the Transactions of the learned society at Bombay (London, 1819).

BUDÉ, Guillaume; more generally known under the Latin form Budæus; one of the greatest French scholars of his time; born at Paris in 1467, died in 1540; was royal librarian, and master of requêtes; studied at Paris and Orleans at first without success, on account of his dissipated life in his early youth. From his 24th year, he devoted himself to study with the greatest zeal, in particular to belles-lettres, to mathematics, and to Greek. Among his philosophical, philological and juridical works, his treatise De Asse et Partibus ejus, and his commentaries on the Greek language, are of the greatest importance. By his influence, the collége royal de France was founded. He enjoyed, not only as a scholar, but also as a man and citizen, the greatest esteem. His works appeared at Bàle, 1557, 4 vols. folio.

BUDESSIN. (See Bautzen.)

BUDGELL, Eustace, an ingenious writer, was born at St. Thomas, near Exeter, about 1685, and educated at Christ church, Oxford; after which he went to London, and was entered of the Inner Temple, where his inclinations led him to neglect his profession, and study polite literature. During his stay here, he contracted a friendship with Addison, who, in 1717, when principal secretary of state in England, procured for B. the place of accountant and comptroller-general of the reveraf; in Ireland. He lost these places when the duke of Bolton was appointed lor!lieutenant, in 1718, by a lampoon on his grace. He then returned to England,

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where, in 1720, he lost £20,000 by the South sea bubble. He afterwards tried to get into parliament, and spent £5,000 more in unsuccessful attempts, which completed his ruin. In 1727, the duchess-dowager of Marlborough gave him £10,000 for the purpose of getting him into parliament; but his attempts were ineffectual. In 1733, he commenced a weekly paper, called the Bee, which was very popular. On the death of doctor Tindal, the author of Christianity as old as the Creation, £2,000 was left to B., by his will. This sum was so disproportionate to the testator's circumstances, and the legacy so contrary to his known intentions, that suspicions arose respecting the authenticity of the testament; and, upon its being contested by his nephew, it was set aside. The disgrace of this affair had such an effect upon this unhappy man, that, on May 4th, 1737, taking a boat at Somerset stairs, he threw himself overboard, with stones in his pocket, and immediately sank.-Besides the above-mentioned works, he also possessed a share in the Craftsman, wrote several papers in the Guardian, with the history of Cleomenes, (8vo.,) and memoirs of the lives of the Boyles, (8vo.)

BUDGET, in the parliamentary language in England, means the minister's proposed plan of taxation for the ensuing year; and comprehends a general view of the national debt, income and expenditure, ways and means of raising supplies, &c., with the actual product of the preceding budget. It is brought forward by the chancellor of the exchequer. The term has also been introduced into France, where the minister of finances presents the budget to the king and chambers.

BUDWEISS; a circle and city of Bohemia. The circle is separated from Austria by high mountains, in which the Muldau has its source: it contains extensive forests and sheep-walks, and abounds in game and fish. The city of B. is a mining town on the Muldau, with manufactures of saltpetre and cloth. Population of the circle, 170,000; of the city, 4,600. The latter lies in lon. 14° 20′ E.; lat. 49° 2′ N.

BUENAVENTURA; a settlement, and Spanish mission, on the coast of New California. Lon. 118° 58′ W.; lat. 34° 16′ N. It was founded in 1782, and contains 950 inhabitants. It has a tolerably good roadstead, and the soil and climate are very favorable to the production of a great variety of fruits.

BUENAVENTURA; a seaport in Colom

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bia, on the bay of Choco, at the mouth of a river of the same name; 90 miles W. N. W. Cali, 200 W. by S. Santa Fé de Bogota. It is supported by the vessels that touch at it; the entrance is difficult, and the climate unhealthy. It is the port of Santa Fé de Bogota, Popayan and Cali. Lat. 3° 56′ N.; lon. 7° 42′ E There are many small settlements and villages of this name in Spanish America.

BUEN AYRE, or BONAIR; a small island near the coast of South America, belonging to the Dutch, 50 miles in circumference, inhabited chiefly by Indians, with a small mixture of Europeans; mountainous; producing a few cattle, goats, large quantities of poultry, and a considerable quantity of salt. It has springs of fresh water. On the S. W. side is a good harbor and road. 52 miles E. Curaçoa. Lon. 67° 36′ W.; lat. 12° 26′ N.

BUENOS AYRES; an extensive country of South America, formerly belonging to Spain, and styled the viceroyalty of La Plata, or of Rio de la Plata; but since the declaration of independence, in 1816, it has assumed the name of the United Provinces of South America. It is bounded N. by Bolivia, E. by Brazil, S. E. by the Atlantic ocean, S. by Patagonia, and W. by Chili and the Pacific ocean. It comprehends most of the valley or basin of the great river La Plata, and is watered by the river La Plata, and its tributaries, the Parana, Paraguay, Uraguay, Pilcomayo and Rio Grande, and also by the Colorado and Negro.-The great chain of the Andes extends along the western side, and the western and northern parts of the country are mountainous. Most of the other portions, which comprise the greater part of the whole country, consist of one vast and uniform plain; and extensive tracts which border on the river are liable to inundation. In the southern division are found immense pampas, or plains, which extend into Patagonia, and are upwards of 1200 miles in length, and 500 in breadth. They are covered with tall, waving grass, which affords pasture to vast numbers of cattle and wild horses, and have few interruptions from forests or eminences.-The climate is different in different parts, but generally healthy On the plains, the atmosphere is moist, and, in summer, the heat is excessive, with frequent rains, accompanied by tremendous thunder and lightning.-A large part of the country has a very fertile soil, adapted to the growth of wheat, maize, barley, tobacco, sugar, wine and fruits; but agriculture is much neglected. A

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great portion of the wealth of this country consists in the immense herds of cattle and horses which graze upon its plains. The principal exports are hides, tallow, beef, gold and silver. It has valuable mines of gold, silver, copper, lead and tin.-Some of the principal towns are Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, Cordova and Assumption. (Respecting the relations of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, see Brazil.)

BUENOS AYRES, or NUESTRA SEÑORA DE BUENOS AYRES; a city of South America, and capital of the country to which it gives name, on the S. W. side of the La Plata, 66 leagues from its mouth; first built in the year 1535. Lon. 58° 31′ W.; lat. 34° 35′ S. The population is uncertain, and, within a few years, has been variously stated at 50,000, 70,000, and 100,000. About one fourth of the inhabitants are whites; the rest are Indians, Negroes and mixed breeds. The situation is agreeable and healthy, and the city derives its name from the salubrity of its climate. The temperature is nearly the same throughout the year. The city is built with great regularity, and the principal streets are straight and regular, and some of them are paved. They are broad, with side-walks, but, from the great scarcity of stone, are generally unpaved in the middle. The houses are mostly built of brick or chalk, with flat roofs, many of them of two stories, though the greater part of only one. They are generally plastered on the outside, but now appear somewhat shabby. The public buildings are a palace, a royal chapel, a cathedral, a college, 2 hospitals, 4 monasteries, 2 nunneries, 10 or 15 churches, a public library of nearly 20,000 volumes, an academy, and 8 public schools. Some of these public buildings are large and splendid. There is no harbor at Buenos Ayres, nor so much as a mole to facilitate the landing of boats. Ships can only come within three leagues of the town; there they unload their goods into boats, which enter a little river named Rio Chuelo, from whence the merchandise is brought in carts to the town, which is about a quarter of a league from the landing places. The ships which want careening, or take lading at Buenos Ayres, go to the bay of Baragon, a kind of port about 12 miles S. E. of the town.-The environs of this city are well cultivated, furnishing all the necessaries of life in abundance, except wine, which is brought from Spain, or from Mendoza. --The inhabitants have country-houses

there, called quintas. Wood is very dear at Buenos Ayres and at Monte Video. In the neighborhood of these places are only some little shrubs, hardly fit for fuel. All timber for building houses, and constructing and refitting the vessels that navigate in the river, comes from Paraguay in rafts.--After the province of Buenos Ayres withdrew from the government of Spain, the city of B. was the temporary seat of the central government, and the congress of the United States of South America. In 1826, it was made, by the congress of the United Provinces of La Plata, the permanent seat of government, and the capital of the confederacy. It is also the seat of a bishop. The city has an extensive trade in oxhides and tallow, which are disposed of, principally, to the British and people of the U. States. The Germans and Dutch likewise trade with B. Much of the commerce of Brazil, Chili, Peru and Paraguay is also carried on through this city. From 300 to 400 foreign ships annually enter this port.-The climate of B. is mild. There are very few days in winter in which water is frozen.—In 1806, B. was conquered by an English squadron, under the command of admiral Popham and general Beresford. Soon after, the inhabitants, having recovered from their terror, attacked the English by surprise, and made a great slaughter among them. In the following year, Whitelock and Crawford came over with reënforcements. They were quietly permitted to enter the city, and were then attacked with such fury, that a third part of their number was destroyed, and the remainder were glad to conclude a truce.

BUEN RETIRO; a royal summer-residence, on an elevated ground, near Madrid, built, with much splendor, by the duke of Olivarez, at the beginning of the 17th century. It has a theatre, park, and some valuable pictures. In 1808, when the French attacked Madrid, Dec. 5, it was the centre of the conflict, and was plundered. The French afterwards fortified it, and used it as a citadel.

BUFFALO; a post-town of New York, the capital of Erie county, situated at the eastern end of lake Erie, at the efflux of Niagara river, and at the west end of the Erie canal; 296 miles W. of Albany, 240 E. of Sandusky. Population in 1810, 1508; in 1820, 2095; in 1825, 5140. The village of B. is very advantageously and finely situated on a handsome plain, near the entrance of Buffalo creek or river into lake Erie, on the channel of

BUFFALO-BUFFON.

communication between the Atlantic ocean and the lakes. It has been, for several years past, a very flourishing place, and has an extensive trade. In 1813, this village, which then contained about 100 houses, was burnt by the British, in retaliation for the burning of Newark, in Upper Canada, by the Americans. -Black Rock is a considerable post-village, within the township of B., two miles from the village of B. It is situated at the ferry across the Niagara river, which is here about three quarters of a mile wide.

BUFFALO; in America, a name misapplied to the bison. (q. v.) It properly belongs to a species of ox (bos bubalus), found in various parts of India. This species, in the wild state, lives in herds of considerable numbers, frequenting moist and marshy situations. It is naturally fierce and stubborn, and is with difficulty subjugated. The bellowing of the buffalo is hoarser than that of the common bull. The female begins to breed at 4 years of age, and ceases at 12. and ceases at 12. The term of life in this species is from 18 to 25 years. One variety of this species has horns of vast size and length. This is the arni or arnee. The horns are turned laterally, and flattened in front. They are wrinkled on the concave surface, 4 or 5 feet long, and 8 or 10 from tip to tip. The buffalo is 7 or 8 feet long, by 4 in height, and is generally of a black color. The skin is covered by a harsh and thinly-scattered hair.

BUFFET; anciently, a little apartment, separated from the rest of the room, for the disposing of china, glass, &c. It is now a piece of furniture in the diningroom, called also a side-board, for the reception of the plate, glass, &c. In France, the principal houses have a detached room, called buffet, decorated with pitchers, vases, fountains, &c.

BUFFON (George Louis Leclerc), count of, one of the most celebrated naturalists and authors of the 18th century, born at Montbard, in Burgundy, 1707, received from his father, Benjamin Leclerc, counsellor to the parliament of his province, a careful education. Chance connected him, at Dijon, with the young duke of Kingston, whose tutor, a man of learning, inspired him with a taste for the sciences. They travelled together through France and Italy, and B. afterwards visited England. In order to perfect himself in the language without neglecting the sciences, he translated Newton's Fluxions and Hales's Vegetable Statics. After some

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time, he published some works of his own, in which he treated of geometry, natural philosophy, and rural economy. He laid his researches on these subjects before the academy of sciences, of which he became a member in 1733. The most important were on the construction of mirrors for setting bodies on fire at a great distance, as Archimedes is said to have done, and experiments on the strength of different kinds of wood, and the means of increasing it, particularly by removing the bark of the trees some time before felling them. B., in his earlier years, was animated only by an undefined love of learning and fame, but his appointment as intendant of the royal garden, in 1736, gave his mind a decided turn towards that science in which he has immortalized himself. Considering natural history in its whole extent, he found no works in this department but spiritless compilations and dry lists of names. There were excellent observations, indeed, on single objects, but no comprehensive work. hensive work. Of such an one he now formed the plan, aiming to unite the eloquence of Pliny and the profound views of Aristotle with the exactness and the details of modern observations. To aid him in this work, by examining the numerous and often minute objects embraced in his plan, for which he had not the patience nor the physical organs requisite, he associated himself with Daubenton, who possessed the qualities in which he was deficient; and, after an assiduous labor of 10 years, the two friends published the three first volumes of the Natural History, and, between 1749 and 1767, 12 others, which comprehend the theory of the earth, the nature of animals, and the history of man and the viviparous quadrupeds. The most brilliant parts of them, the general theories, the descriptions of the characters of animals, and of the great natural phenomena, are by B. Daubenton limited himself to the description of the forms and the anatomy of the animals. The nine following volumes, which appeared from 1770 to 1783, contain the history of birds, from which Daubenton withdrew his assistance. The whole shape of the work was thus altered. Descriptions, less detailed, and almost entirely without anatomy, were inserted among the historical articles, which, at first, were composed by Guenau de Montbeillard, and afterwards by the abbé Bexon. B. published alone the five volumes on minerals, from 1783 to 1788. Of the seven supplement

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