Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/439

Rh means of regulating screws, and the whole is fixf:d into a handle. By passing the splits between the two edges they are reduced to skains, the thickness of which is determined by the interval between the edges of the tool. The implements required by a basket-maker are few and simple. They consist, besides the preceding, of knives, bodkins, leads for keeping the work steady while in pro cess ; and where the willows are worked as rods a heavy piece of iron called a beater is employed to beat them close os they are woven in. On the Continent, where fancy baskets are made, blocks are required on which the webs of wicker-work are set to particular shapes.

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From the simplicity of this manufacture, a great many individuals, independent of professed basket-makers, are occupied in it ; and it affords suitable employment to the blind in the several asylums and workshops established for their reception in this and other countries. In addition to willows, a large variety of othar materials is employed in the fabrication of wicker-work. Among the most important of these are splits of various species of bamboo, with which the Japanese and Chinese manufacture baskets of unequalled beauty and finish. The bamboo wicker-work with which the Japanese sometimes encase their delicate egg-shell porcelain is a marvellous example of manipulation, and they and the Chinese excel in the appli cation of bamboo wicker-work to furniture,. Th.9 &quot;canes&quot; or rattans of commerce, stems of species of Calamus and Dcemonorops are scarcely less important as a source of basket materials. In India &quot; Cajan &quot; baskets are extensively made from the fronds of the Palmyra palm, Borassus Habelliformis ; and this manufacture has in recent years been established in the Black Forest of Germany, where it is now an important and characteristic staple. Among the other materials may be enumerated the odorous roots of the Khus-Khus grass, Anatherum muricatum, and the leaves of various species of screw pine, used in India and the East generally. The frond.? of the palm of the Seychelles Islands, Lodoicea seychdlarum, are used for very delicate basket-work in those islands. Strips of the New Zealand flax plant, Phormium tencuc, are made into baskets in New Zealand. Esparto fibre is used in Spain and Algeria for rude fruit baskets. Various species of Maranta yield basket materials in the West Indies and South America; and the Tirite, a species of Calathea, is also similarly employed in Trinidad. Baskets are also frequently made from straw, from various sedges (Cyperus), and from shavings and splints of many kinds of wood. In the basket trade special centres are recognized as the headquarters of various styles of work met in the markets. Thus Birmingham is recognized as the source of wicker perambulators ; in Southport boiled willows are used, and the brown baskets for gardening and market purposes are produced, and at Castle Donnington, in Derbyshire, tha flat skain work seen in fishing baskets, &amp;lt;kc., is chiefly made. In the department of Aisne, France, the berceatinette or bassinet is very largely manufactured, and in Verdun much basket-work is specially prepared to suit the English market, in which the French manufacturers are able freely to compete. The Black Forest and other German manu facturers produce enormous quantities of light elegant baskets, which are largely exported. In Austria lacquered and varnished baskets are made in imitation of gold, silver, and steel, and Viennese card baskets, &c., are frequently ornamented with plaques of painted porcelain inserted in the centre.  BASNAGE,, pastor of the Walloon Church at the Hague, was born at Rouen in Normandy on the 8th of August 1653. He was the son of Henri Basnage, one of the ablest advocates in the parliament of Normandy. At the age of seventeen, having acquired a good know ledge of the Greek and Latin authors, as well as of the English, Spanish, and Italian languages, he went to Geneva, where he began his theological studies under Mestrezat, Turretin, and Tronchin ; he completed them at Sedan, under the professors Jurieu and Leblanc de Beaulieu. He then returned to Rousn, where he was received as pastor in September 1676 ; and in this capacity he remained till the year 1685, when, the exercise of the Protestant religion being suppressed at Rouen, he obtained leave of the king to retire to Holland. He settled at Rotterdam, and continued a minister pensionary there till 1691, when he was chosen pastor of the Walloon Church of that city. In 1709, the pensionary Heinsius secured his election as one of the pastors of the Walloon Church at the Hague, intending to employ him not only in religious but also in civil affairs. Accordingly he was engaged in a secret negotiation with Marshal d Uxelles, plenipotentiary of France at the congress of Utrecht, a service which he executed with so much success, that he was afterwards intrusted with several important commissions, all of which he discharged with such ability and address that Voltaire said of him that he was fitter to be a minister of state than the minister of a parish. The Abbe Dubois, who represented France at the Hague in 1716, in negotiating a defensive alliance between France, England, and the States- General, received instructions to consult with Basnage; they accordingly acted in concert, and the alliance was concluded in January 1717. His numerous published works, which are mostly in French, include The History of the Religion of the Reformed Churches ; Jeivish Anti quities, The History of the Old and New Testament ; Dis sertation on Duels, &c. lie died on the 22d September 1723.  BASQUE PROVINCES (Prurincias Vascongadas). The three Spanish provinces known by this name, which are distinguished from all the other divisions of Spain by 