Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/380

374 BUAGE BCAGE, a plant discovered in the Zambesi region by Dr. Livingstone. The genus is un- known, but the excellent fibre, much resem- bling flax, found in the stem, renders this plant Buage. of great importance to the natives. It has not been cultivated, but grows wild in great abundance. The leaves are narrow, alternate, and of a thick texture ; the flower is unknown. Bl ANSI AH, a wild dog of northern India, generally believed to be one of the races from which the domestic dog has been derived. Like other wild canidce, it is shy, and fond of living in thick woods, whence it issues in packs to hunt its game. The voice is peculiar, intermediate between a bark and a howl, and is uttered as it runs. A pack will consist of about a dozen individuals, and they do not Buansuah. hesitate to attack and worry to death even the tiger ; they hunt more by the scent than by sight. When taken young the buansuah is readily tamed, and may be trained to the chase, though it has not the persistence of the domestic dog. BUBASTIS, or Bnbastns, a city of ancient Egypt, capital of the nome Bubastitis in the delta of the Nile, situated on the E. side of the BUCCANEERS Pelusiac branch, S. W. of Tanis. It is men- tioned in the Old Testament as Phi-Beseth, and its site is now called Tel-Bustak. It was built in honor of the goddess Pasht, called by the Greeks Bubastis. This goddess was sometimes represented with the head of a cat, and many mum- mied cats have been found in the tombs of Bubastis. On other monuments she is depicted with the head of a lioness. The Greeks identified her with Arte- mis (Diana), but it ap- pears that she was the goddess of fire, " the well- beloved of Phtah," to whom were ascribed the creation of the Asiatic race and the avenging of crimes. Her great temple in the city was considered by Herodotus the pleasant- est to behold in all Egypt. On the N. side of the city commenced the canal be- Bubastis (Pasht). tween the Nile and the Red sea, constructed by Pharaoh Necho. Bubastis was taken by the Persians in 352 B. C., and its walls were dis- mantled. Among its ruins have been found remains of costly and magnificent temples. Here were celebrated solemn feasts to the goddess Pasht, attended by people from all parts of Egypt, even to the number of 700,- 000 at one time, as is stated by Herodotus, who gives (ii. 59, 60) a detailed account of the city. BUBOJVA, in Roman mythology, the goddess who presided over cows and oxen. Small statues of this goddess were placed in the niches of stables, and her likeness was often painted over the manger. BUCCANEERS (Fr. boucanier, one who dries the flesh of animals), a name applied to bands of French and English marine freebooters in the West Indies, who in the 17th century committed extensive depredations on commerce, and even extended their ravages to the mainland of Span- ish America. The original buccaneers were those settlers, chiefly French, who attempted to introduce themselves into the Antilles not long after their first conquest by the Spaniards, who wished to monopolize their possession. Being driven out of St. Christopher, they took refuge in Hispaniola, a large part of which swarmed with droves of wild cattle. These they hunted, selling the hides to Dutch traders. The Spaniards looked with jealous eyes upon these new settlements ; they lost no opportunity of harassing and destroying the buccaneers, and at length forced them for self-preservation to adopt other pursuits than hunting ; some became plant- ers, but the greater part, organizing in bands, began to return the injuries they had sustained. They were bound by oath to render all assist-