Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/505

LEFT BANTRY BAY 413 BAPTISM and the symphonic poems, "Dante" (1902); "The Fire Worshippers" (1892); and "Saul" (1907). BANTRY BAY, a deep inlet in the S. W. extremity of Ireland, in County Cork. It is 25 miles long, running E. N. E. with a breadth of 4 to 6 miles. At the head of the bay is the seaport Ban- try, a famous summer resort. Fop. about 3,500. It is one of the finest harbors in Europe, affording safe and commodious anchorage for ships of all sizes. Here a French force attempted to land in 1796. The coast around is rocky and high. BANTtr, the ethnological name of a group of African races dwelling about 6° N. lat., and including the Kaffirs, Zulus, Bechuanas, the tribes of the Loango, Kongo, etc., but not the Hot- tentots. The term Bantu is also used to denote the homogeneous family of languages spoken in Africa throughout the vast region lying between Kamerun, Zanzibar, and the Cape of Good Hope, with the exception of the Hottentot, Bushmen, and Pigmy enclaves. BANYAN TREE, the ficus indica, a species of the genus ficus. It is regarded as a sacred tree by the Hindus. Its branches produce long shoots or aerial roots, which descend to the ground and penetrate the soil; so that, in course of time, a single tree becomes a vast um- brageous tent, supported by numerous columns. The fruit of the banyan is of a rich scarlet color, and about the size of a cherry; it is eaten by the monkeys, which live with birds and enormous bats in the thick forest of branches. The bark is a powerful tonic. The white glutinous juice of the tree is used to relieve tooth- ache, as an application to the soles of the feet when inflamed, and for making birdlime. Ficus elastica, which is also a native of India, yields an inferior kind of caoutchouc. Fictis sycamorvs, the sycamore fig, is said to have yielded the wood from which mummy-cases were made. BAOBAB, a tree also styled the monkey-bread, African calabash, or Ethiopian sour^ourd tree. It has a fantastic look, its stem being of little height, but of great thickness; one specimen was found 30 feet in diameter. The fruit is about 10 inches long. Ex- ternally it is downy; within this down is a hard, woody rind, containing an eatable pulp, of slightly acid taste. The juice mixed with sugar is serviceable in putrid and pestilential fevers. The adansonia is properly a native of Africa. but it has been introduced into India. It is known as Adansonia digitata, being so named after Adanson, a celebrated French traveler, who lived from 1749 to 1754 in Senegal. The tree is liable to be attacked by a fungus which, vegetating in the woody part, renders it soft and pithlike. By the negroes of the W. coast these trunks are hollowed into chambers, and dead bodies are sus- pended in them. BAPAUME (ba-pom'), a French town in the department of Pas-de-Calais, 12 miles S. of Arras, Here, on Jan. 2 and 3, 1871, took place two bloody struggles between the French Army of the North and the Prussian "army of observation"; the French were defeated, with heavy losses. It was again the scene of much and very heavy fighting during the World War (1914-1918) and changed hands several times. As a result the largest part of the town was destroyed. See Arras, Battles of. BAPTISM (from the Greek baptizo, from bapto, to immerse or dip), a rite which is generally thought to have been usual with the Jews even before Christ, being administered to proselytes. From this baptism, however, that of St. John the Baptist differed, because he baptized Jews also as a symbol of the necessity of perfect purification from sin. Christ himself never baptized, but directed his disciples to administer this rite to con- verts (Matt, xxviii; 19); and baptism, therefore, became a religious ceremony among (Christians, taking rank as a sacrament with all sects which acknowl- edge sacraments. In the primitive Church the person to be baptized was dipped in a river or in a vessel, with the words which Christ had ordered, gener- ally adopting a new name to further express the change. Sprinkling, or, as it was termed, clinic baptism, was used only in the case of the sick who could not leave their beds. The Greek Church and Eastern schismatics retained the custom of immersion; but the Western Church adopted or allowed the mode of baptism by pouring or sprinkling, since continued by most Protestants. This practice can be traced back certainly to the 3d century, before which its exist- ence is disputed. Since the Reformation there have been various Protestant sects called Baptists, holding that baptism should be administered only by immer- sion, and to those who can make a per- sonal profession of faith. The Mon- tanists in Africa baptized even the dead, and in Roman Catholic countries the practice of baptizing church bells — a