BONE, Henry, R.A., the most eminent enamel painter of his time in Great Britain, was born at Truro in 1755. He was much employed by London jewellers for small designs in enamel, before his merits as an artist were well known to the public. In 1800 the beauty of his pieces attracted the notice of the Royal Academy, of which he was then admitted as an associate; in 1811 he was made au academician. From the beginning of the century to 1831, he executed many beautiful pieces of much larger size than had been attempted before in England; among these his eighty-five portraits of the time of Queen Elizabeth, of different sizes, from 5 by 4 to 13 by 8 inches, are most admired. They were disposed of by public sale after his death, which took place in 1834. His Bacchus and Ariadne, after Titian, painted on a plate, brought the great price of 2200 guineas.
BONFIGLI, Benedetto, an Italian painter, whose reputation is not equal to his importance. One of the most remarkable circumstances in the history of art in the p3ninsula is the sudden advance made by the school of the Umbrian province, which, until near the middle of the 15th century, was far behind those of Florence and the North, but which, in the person of Perugino and some of his followers, came into the very first rank. Criticism had been used to overlook the precursors and senior com panions of Perugino, whose improvements prepared the way for his signal excellences. But among these none holds a more distinguished place than Benedetto Bonfigli. The most important of his extant works are a series, in fresco, of the life of St Louis of Toulouse, in the communal palace of his native city of Perugia. All his life (the dates of which are not quite certain) was spent in honourable employment by the civic and religious bodies of Perugia and neighbouring towns.
BONGO, a people of Central Africa, who inhabit the country lying between 6 and 8 N. lat., and 27 and 29 E. long., which is watered by five important tributaries of the Bahr-el-Ghazel. The Bongo are a brachyccphalous race of medium height, with a red-brown complexion and black hair. The grain most largely cultivated by them is sorghum ; but they obtain a considerable part of their food from the fruits, tubers, and fungi with which the country naturally abounds. They also eat every living creature bird, beast, and reptile except the dog. Tobacco is universally cultivated and smoked. They have no cotton or flax, and go for the most part with no more clothing than an ornamental girdle about the loins. The domestic animals are goats, dogs, and poultry ; sheep and cattle are rare. Iron is abundant, and the people smelt and work it with great skill ; it forms the only currency of the country, and is extensively employed for all kinds of useful and ornamental purposes. Their spears, knives, rings, and other articles are frequently fashioned with great artistic elaboration. They have a variety of musical instruments, drums, stringed instruments, and horns, in the practice of which they take great delight ; and they indulge in a vocal recitative which seems intended to imitate a succession of natural sounds. Marriage is generally by purchase ; and a man is allowed to acquire three wives, but not more. After marriage the women extend the under lip by the insertion of a peg of wood or bone, which is gradually increased. Tattooing is partially practised. Their method of sepulture resembles that of the Peruvians, the corpse being bound in a crouching position with the knees drawn up to the chin ; and their tombs are frequently ornamented with rough wooden figures intended to represent the deceased. Of the immortality of the soul they have no notion ; and their only approach to a knowledge of a deity consists in a vague idea of luck. On the other hand they have a most intense belief in a great variety of petty goblins and witches, which are identified with bats, owls, and other ominous animals. Their language is musical, and abounds in the vowels o and a ; its vocabulary of concrete terms is very rich, but the same word has often great variety of meanings. The grammatical structure is simple. The Bongo are now subject to the people of Khartoom, who have treated them with great injustice, and greatly reduced the numbers of the population, which now hardly exceeds 100,000.
Celebes, stretching along a part of the western shores of a great bay of the same name, which indents the south side of the island to the depth of nearly 180 miles. It has an area of 450 square miles at most, and its present popula tion is estimated about 200,000. It was at one time the most powerful state of Celebes, all the other princes being regarded as vassals of its king, but has latterly been practi cally reduced to a Dutch dependency, though this has not been brought about without trouble. An expedition in 1825, under General van Geen, was not very successful; but the war of 1859 was brought to a more satisfactory termination for the invaders. The inhabitants, called Bugis, are one of the most remarkable of the peoples of the Eastern Archipelago. They speak a language allied to that of the Macassars, and write it with similar characters. It has been studied and its letters reproduced in type by Dr B. F. Matthes of the Netherlands Bible Society. The Bugis are industrious and ingenious ; they practise agricul ture more extensively than the neighbouring tribes, and
manufacture cotton cloth not only for their own use. but also