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 which seemed miraculous, even to his contemporaries. His theological position was conservative and anti-rationalistic; he enjoyed the friendship and respect of Aḥmad Ibn Ḥanbal. In law, he appears to have been a Shāfiʽite. After sixteen years’ absence he returned to Bokhara, and there drew up his Ṣaḥīḥ, a collection of 7275 tested traditions, arranged in chapters so as to afford bases for a complete system of jurisprudence without the use of speculative law, the first book of its kind (see ). He died in 256, in banishment at Kartank, a suburb of Samarkand. His book has attained a quasi-canonicity in Islām, being treated almost like the Koran, and to his grave solemn pilgrimages are made, and prayers are believed to be heard there.

 BUKOVINA, a duchy and crownland of Austria, bounded E. by Russia and Rumania, S. by Rumania, W. by Transylvania and Hungary, and N. by Galicia. Area, 4035 sq. m. The country, especially in its southern parts, is occupied by the offshoots of the Carpathians, which attain in the Giumaleu an altitude of 6100 ft. The principal passes are the Radna Pass and the Borgo Pass. With the exception of the Dniester, which skirts its northern border, Bukovina belongs to the watershed of the Danube. The principal rivers are the Pruth, and the Sereth with its affluents the Suczawa, the Moldava and the Bistritza. The climate of Bukovina is healthy but severe, especially in winter; but it is generally milder than that of Galicia, the mean annual temperature at Czernowitz being 46.9° F. No less than 43.17% of the total area is occupied by woodland, and the very name of the country is derived from the abundance of beech trees. Of the remainder 27.59% is occupied by arable land, 12.68% by meadows, 10.09% by pastures and 0.78% by gardens. The soil of Bukovina is fertile, and agriculture has made great progress, the principal products being wheat, maize, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, flax and hemp. Cattle-rearing constitutes another important source of revenue. The principal mineral is salt, which is extracted at the mine of Kaczyka, belonging to the government. Brewing, distilling and milling are the chief industries. Commerce is mostly in the hands of the Jews and Armenians, and chiefly confined to raw products, such as agricultural produce, cattle, wool and wood. Bukovina had in 1900 a population of 729,921, which is equivalent to 181 inhabitants per sq. m. According to nationality, over 40% were Ruthenians, 35% Rumanians, 13% Jews, and the remainder was composed of Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Russians and Armenians. The official language of the administration, of the law-courts, and of instruction in the university is German. Nearly 70% of the population belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, and stand under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the archbishop or metropolitan of Czernowitz. To the Roman Catholic Church belong 11%, to the Greek United Church 3.25%, while 2.5% are Protestants. Elementary education is improving, but, after Dalmatia, Bukovina still shows the largest number of illiterates in Austria. The local diet, of which the archbishop of Czernowitz and the rector of the university are members ex officio, is composed of 31 members, and Bukovina sends 14 deputies to the Reichsrat at Vienna. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into 9 districts and an autonomous municipality, Czernowitz (pop. 69,619), the capital. Other towns are Radautz (14,343), Suczawa (10,946), Kuczurmare (9417), Kimpolung (8024) and Sereth (7610).

Bukovina was originally a part of the principality of Moldavia, whose ancient capital Suczawa was situated in this province. It was occupied by the Russians in 1769, and by the Austrians in 1774. In 1777 the Porte, under whose suzerainty Moldavia was, ceded this province to Austria. It was incorporated with Galicia in a single province in 1786, but was separated from it in 1849, and made a separate crownland.

 BULACÁN, a town of the province of Bulacán, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on an arm of the Pampanga delta, 22 m. N.N.W. of Manila. Pop. (1903) 11,589; after the census enumeration, the town of Guiguintó (pop. 3948) was annexed. Bulacán is served by the Manila-Dagupan railway. Sugar, rice, indigo and tropical fruits are the chief products of the fertile district in which the town lies; it is widely known for its fish-ponds and its excellent fish, and its principal manufactures are jusi, piña, ilang ilang perfume and sugar. With the exception of the churches and a few stone buildings, Bulacán was completely destroyed by fire in 1898.  BULANDSHAHR, a town and district of British India in the Meerut division of the United Provinces. The town is situated on a height on the right bank of the Kali-Nadi, whence the substitution of the names Unchanagar and Bulandshahr (high town) for its earlier name of Baran, by which it is still sometimes called. The population in 1901 was 18,959. Its present handsome appearance is due to several successive collectors, notably F. S. Growse, who was active in erecting public buildings, and in encouraging the local gentry to beautify their own houses. In particular, it boasts a fine bathing-ghat, a town-hall, a market-place, a tank to supply water, and a public garden.

The has an area of 1899 sq. m. The district stretches out in a level plain, with a gentle slope from N.W. to S.E., and a gradual but very slight elevation about midway between the Ganges and Jumna. Principal rivers are the Ganges and Jumna—the former navigable all the year round, the latter only during the rains. The Ganges canal intersects the district, and serves both for irrigation and navigation. The Lower Ganges canal has its headworks at Narora. The climate of the district is liable to extremes, being very cold in the winter and excessively hot in the summer. In 1901 the population was 1,138,101, showing an increase of 20% in the decade. The district is very highly cultivated and thickly populated. There are several indigo factories, and mills for pressing and cleaning cotton, but the former have greatly suffered by the decline in indigo of recent years. The main line of the East Indian railway and the Oudh and Rohilkhand railway cross the district. The chief centre of trade is Khurja.

Nothing certain is known of the history of the district before 1018, when Mahmud of Ghazni appeared before Baran and received the submission of the Hindu raja and his followers to Islam. In 1193 the city was captured by Kutb-ud-din. In the 14th century the district was subject to invasions of Rajput and Mongol clans who left permanent settlements in the country. With the firm establishment of the Mogul empire peace was restored, the most permanent effect of this period being the large proportion of Mussulmans among the population, due to the zeal of Aurangzeb. The decline of the Mogul empire gave free play to the turbulent spirit of the Jats and Gujars, many of whose chieftains succeeded in carving out petty principalities for themselves at the expense of their neighbours. During this period, however, Baran had properly no separate history, being a dependency of Koil, whence it continued to be administered under the Mahratta domination. After Koil and the fort of Aligarh had been captured by the British in 1803, Bulandshahr and the surrounding country were at first incorporated in the newly created district of Aligarh (1805). Bulandshahr enjoyed an evil reputation in the Mutiny of 1857, when the Gujar peasantry plundered the towns. The Jats took the side of the government, while the Gujars and Mussulman Rajputs were most actively hostile.

 BULAWAYO, the capital of Matabeleland, the western province of southern Rhodesia, South Africa. White population (1904) 3840. It occupies a central position on the tableland between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers, is 4469 ft. above the sea and 1362 m. north-east of Cape Town by rail. Beira, the nearest port, is 398 m. east in a direct line, but distant 675 m. by railway. Another railway, part of the Cape to Cairo connexion, runs north-west from Bulawayo, crossing the Zambezi just below the Victoria Falls. In the centre of the town is a large market square to which roads lead in regular lines north, south, east and