Mahni ArchipeJfino ( Xew York, 1860). I'hiti' "f Wild Catti.k, uiuler Cattle.
BANT'ING SYS'TEM. See Obesity.
BAN'TRY (Ir. Beantraiijhe, descendants of
Beann, of the royal race of Ulster). A seaport
town and famous summer resort
west of Cork County. Ireland,
northwest of Cork (Map
at the head of Bantry
French fleet
the south-
44 miles west-
Ireland. B 5) . It is
Bay, where in 1796 a
anchored and an aljortive attempt
was made to land. The chief trade is the export
of agricultural produce. Population, about 3000.
Consult Palliser, -Bantry Bay," in United Ser-
,-Ut M<i!ia:iiic, o. XVIII. (London, 1808).
BANTRY BAY. An inlet of Cork County,
in the southwest extremity of Ireland (Map:
Ireland, B 5). It runs east-northeast, is 25
miles long, from 3 to 5 miles wide, and ati'ords
safe anchorage for the largest ocean-going ves-
sels.
BANTU, ban'tlio (Ba-ntu, the people). A
group of negroes of Central and South Africa,
forming Class VI. of Deniker (see African Lan-
guages), in which they are divided into Western,
Eastern, and Southern. One language unites this
people, which otherwise shows considerable di-
versity. They are capable and progressive, and
t;reat colonizers. The principal subdivisions of
the Bantu are the following; Bakalai. BaUuba.
I'aluba, Banda, Basuto, Bateke, Bechuanas,
Bongo, Congo, Dualla. Fans, Herero, Lunda,
Mpongwe, Nyoro. Ovaiupo. Kiia, Sechuana, Swa-
hili. and Zuiu. Consult Deniker, liaces of Man
(Lon.lon, 1000).
BANVILLE, liax'vel', Theodore Fauli.ain
HE ( 1823-91) . A French poet, born at Moulins. A
pupil of Hugo in prosody and rhetoric, he was a
follower of Gautier in his passionless objectivity
and hedonistic ethics. The titles of his volumes
of poetr.v suggest the impassive nature of the
contents: Caruitides ( 1842) ; Htalaclitcfi ( 1840) ;
Oflelettcs (18.56) ; Odes funambiilesqueK (18.37) ;
and Nouvelles odes ftin(ii)ihiiles(ii(rf: (1809).
The Franco-German War stirred him to a
more passionate utterance in Idylles prussiennes
M871). He wrote also two charming dramatic
sketches, Grinf/oire (1806), a sort of defense of
poetry against the materialistic spirit of the
Napoleonic regime, and Hoerale et sa femme
{ 188.5 I . His prose pieces are poetry in all but
form, whether they call them.selves Fairy Tales
(Coiites feeriijues) or Parisian f<ketehes {Esqnis-
ses parisiennes, 1859). His critical Traitc de la
pocsie francaise (1872) won him the title of
"Legislator of Parnassus.' But it is as a poet
alone that he survives — a poet of a disillusioned
age, a product of the determinist philosophy of
Taine and the comical materialism of the linipire.
In form, as in ethics, he is a sensualist, reviving
the artilicial stanzas of the Fourteenth Century,
and in this becoming a forerunner of Austin
Oob.son. In his Odes fiinanihulesiiiies his muse
dances on the wire that he has stretched for her
with an easy assurance that evokes an amused
admiration. It is the perfection of fanciful
frivolity, inexhaustible in the How of its empty
gayety, "with the one idea of expressing no idea"
(Lemaltre), but producing the desired imjires-
sion by artful interlinking of rhymes and har-
monious or peculiar succession of sounds. Ban-
ville had a marvelous gift of musical speech that
sings itself into the ear with a strange melody,
or provokes a cynic laugh by its metallic itera-
tion. Such art of poetry is ill-adapted to serious
subjects. It closes its eyes deliberately to the
sterner half of life and finds its natural element
in pagan m3'tlis, renascent ideals, and bohemian
manners. Of such subjects he will paint exqui-
site pictui'es, cameos whose clear-cut outlines
rival the brilliancy of their coloi. He is the
most ingrained pagan among modern French
poets. Banville's IToc/.-.s are published in 8 vols.
(1873-78), with a posthumous volume Dernieres
poesies (1893). He died in Paris, March 13,
1891.
BANXRING. bfuiks'ring. A Javan tree-
shrew. Sec Thee-Shrew.
BANYAN, ban'yan or ban-yfin' ( Hind, hanya,
Beng. haniya. Skt. ranij, merchant, as the tree
is used bj' native merchants as a market-place),
also spelled B.ixi.N, Ficiis lienghulensis. A
tree, native of India, growing to a height of 70
to 100 feet, remarkable for its vast rooting
branches. The banyan-tree is extensively plant-
ed, but occurs in a wild state onh- in the Lower
Himalaas and the Deccan Hills. It is a species
of fig (q.v.) ; has ovate, heart-shaped entire
leaves, about 5 or 6 Indies long; and produces
a fruit of a rich scarlet color, not larger than a
cherry, growing in pairs from the axils of the
leaves. The branches send shoots downward,
which, when they have rooted, become stems,
the tree in this manner spreading over a great
surface, and enduring for many ages. A famous
banyan-tree exists in the Botanic Garden at
Calcutta, India. This tree is known to be about
a century old. Its main trunk is 40 feet in cir-
cumference, and there are 230 additional trunks
6 to 10 feet in circumference. One has been de-
scribed as having no fewer than 350 stems, equal
to large oaks, and more than 3000 smaller ones,
covering a space sufficient to contain 7000 per-
sons. The vegetation of the banyan seldom be-
gins on the ground. The .seeds are deposited by
birds in the crowns of palms, and send down
roots which embrace and eventually kill the
palm. As the banyan gets old it breaks up into
separate masses, the original trunk decaj'ing,
and the props becoming separate trunks of the
different portions. The wood of the banyan is
light, porous, and of no value. The bark is re-
garded by the Hindu physicians as a powerful
tonic, and is administered in diabetes. The
white glutinous juice is used to relieve toothache,
iind as an application to the soles of the feet
when inllamed. Bird-lime is also made from it.
Gum-lac is obtained in abundance from the ban-
yan-tree. The banyan-tree is beautifullj' de-
scribed by Southej' in his poem, "The Curse of
Kehama." The banyan has been successfully con-
veyed to other lands, fine specimens being report-
ed in Honolulu and elsewhere. The name "bau-
yan-tree' is often improperly applied to Ficus In-
dica. a somewhat smaller tree.
BANYULS-SUR-MER, bS'nyul'-sur-mfu'
(Fr., little baths on the sea). A fi.shing port
and summer resort on the Jlediterranean, in the
Department of Pyrenees Orientales, France
(Map: France, K 9). It exports honey, oranges,
and cork, and the famous Roussillon, Guenache,
and Ranio wines, which are made in the neigh-
borhood. Population, in 1896, 3119.
