Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/64

54 day, and by poets and romancers ever since. She has suffered vicariously for her father and brother. See espe cially her latest historian, Gregorovius (Lucrezia Borgia, 1874), whose volumes contain a mass of most interest ing information, especially relating to Lucretia s early years, but whose vindication of his heroine might have been much more decided. The English biography by Gilbert is well intended, but devoid of literary or historical value.  BORGO SAN DONNINO, a walled town of Italy, in the province of Parma, and capital of a circondario, is situated ou the Stirone, a sub-tributary of the Po, about 15 miles W. of Parma on the railway to Milan. Besides its cathedral, a building of the 13th century, in the Lombard style, adorned with rude sculptures, it possesses a castle and fort, a theological seminary, a college, a music school, and a remarkable institution for mendicants. The spinning of hemp and silk and the manufacture of glass are its principal industries. Borgo is identified with Fidentia, memorable in ancient history for the siege sus tained by M, Lucullus, one of Sulla s generals, against the forces of Carbo. It is mentioned as a mumcipium by Pliny, but seems afterwards to havo sunk to a mere village. In 304 it was the scene of the martyrdom of Saint Domninus, from whom it has derived the distinctive part of its modern name. During the Hohenstauffen dynasty it was an imperial possession, and in 1501 it became the seat of a bishop. Population, 10,855.  BORGOGNONE,. See.  BORGU, or, a large district in the interior of Africa, bounded on the E. by the Niger, on the S. by Yoruba, on the W. by Dahomey, and on the N. by Gurma. It is about thirty days 1 journey in length and eleven in breadth. It has generally a level surface, though crossed by a considerable range of mountains. The soil is mostly fertile, and tolerably cultivated, producing in abund ance corn, yams, plantains, and limes. The cattle are numerous and of excellent breed, and there is a copious supply of all the species of game that prevail in Africa. A considerable inland trade between Haussa and the coast passes through this territory. When Clapperton entered it from Eyeo, he was warned to be on his guard, as the people were the greatest robbers and plunderers in all Africa, but he found this bad report altogether unjust. The people were honest, cheerful, obliging, good-humoured, and communicative. The district of Borgu is divided into a number of states, of which the smaller, such as Boussa, Wawa, Kiama, and Lugu, are dependent on the Fellatah kingdom of Gondo, while Kiti is ruled by a powerful and independent chief, who is frequently spoken of as sultan of Borgu. Wawa and Kiama are important commercial cities. Eoussa was the scene of the dis astrous fate of Mungo Park in 1805.  BORING. The methods and apparatus of boring will be found noticed under the different in which it is employed. See,, , , &c.  BORISSOGLIEBSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Tamboff, 11? miles S.E. of that city, in 51 22 N. lat. and 41 4 E.long., on the left bank of the River Vorona. It was founded in 1646 to defend the southern frontiers from the incursions of the Crim Tatars, and in 1696 was surrounded by wooden fortifications by command of Peter I. The public buildings include four churches, a hospital, and two schools ; the principal industries are the preparation of wool, the manufacture of cast-iron, soap- ihng, tallow-melting, and brick-making; and the trade, which is decidedly important, consists in grain, wool, cattle and leather. There are two annual fairs, and markets twice a week. Population in 1867, 12,254.  BORKU, or, a country in the interior of Africa, situated between the 17th and 20th parallels of N. lat., and between 18 and 21 E. long., and forming part of the great Soudan region. It is bounded northwards by the Tibesti Mountains, and is in great measure occupied by lesser elevations belonging to the same system ; to the south or rather south-west lies the Bodele basin, from which it is separated by a narrow stretch of higher ground. The climate is much better than that of the neighbouring countries to the south and east ; but the eastern trade-winds blow persistently with great violence, being strongest from early morning till about three P.M. The light sand that covers a large part of the country is drifted by it into countless heaps, that change their shape and position from day to day. It is plain, from the fish-skeletons still strewing the ground, that a considerable portion of the south of Borku has at no very distant day been like Bodele and other districts under water. At present the irrigated and fertile portions consist mainly of a number of valleys separated from each other by low and irregular limestone rocks. Of these the most important are Jin, Nguro, Elleboe, and Kirdi in the south, and Bodo, Tiggi, and Jarda in the north. They furnish excellent dates, of about twelve different sorts. The northern valleys and Jin are inhabited by a settled population of about 5000 people, known as the Donosa or Dosa ; the others are mainly visited by nomadic tribes. The Uelad Sliman, a powerful Arab tribe, claim the lordship of the land, but have to share their authority with another tribe known as Mgharba which immigrated from Barca about 1860. They do not inhabit the country of Borku, but give proof of their claim to possession by plundering the valleys every three or four years. In the end of 1851 Dr Barth and Dr Oberweg joined an army despatched by the sultan of Bornu for the conquest of the region east of Lake Chad ; but the army was defeated and put to flight, and the travellers were disappointed in their expectation of reaching Borku. Dr Naclitigal spent some time in the country in the year 1871, and gives an account of his sojourn in the Zcltschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1873.  BORLASE,, a learned antiquary and naturalist, was born at Pendeen in Cornwall, of an ancient family, February 2, 1696. He was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, where he took his degree as master of arts. In 1720 he was ordained as priest; he was instituted in 1722 to the rectory of Ludgvan, and in 1732 was presented to the vicarage of St Just, his native parish. In the parish of Ludgvan arc rich copper works, abounding with mineral and metallic fossils, of which he made a collection, and thus was led to study somewhat minutely the natural hittory of the county. In 1750 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society; and in 1753 he published, in folio, at Oxford, his Antiquities of Cornwall, a second edition of which was published at London, 1769, with the title of Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cormvall ; consisting of several JZssays on the Ancient Inhalitants, Druid Superstition, Customs, and Jicmains of the most remote Antiquity in Britain and the British Isles, exemplified and proved by Monuments now extant in Cornwall and the Stilly Islands ; with a Vocabulary of the Cornu-British Language. His next publication was Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly, and their importance to the trade of Great Britain, Oxford, 1756, 4to, which had previously been printed in the Phil. Trans. In 1758 appeared his Natural History ofConmall, Oxford, folio. He presented to the Ashmolean Museum a variety of fossils and antiquities, which he had described in his works, and for his benefactions received the thanks of the university, and the degree of LL.D. He died August 31, 1772. Borlase was well acquainted with <section end="BORLASE"/>