Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/392

 372 BASSOON raine, who died of grief when she heard of his death. He was as fascinating and accomplished as he was reckless and unprincipled. BASSOON, a musical wind instrument made of wood, in the shape of a long tube, which is played by means of a reed through a bent brass mouthpiece. It is called by the Italians fagotto, because composed of two pieces of wood bound together like a fagot, and serves as the base to the clarinet and oboe, its tone being closely assimilated to that of the latter. It has a com- pass of three octaves, from double B flat to B flat in alt, and from its sweet and plaintive tone is an agreeable instrument in the orches- tra, where for many years, however, it occu- pied a very subordinate position. It was in- vented by Alfranio, a canon of Pavia, in 1539, and was introduced into England by Handel about 1720. i: ISSOK 111, or Basra, a town of Asiatic Tur- key, in the eyalet of Bagdad, on the right bank of the Shat-el-Arab, about 70 m. from its mouth in the Persian gulf; pop. reduced by wars, pesti- lences, and inundations from 150,000 about 1750 to not much over 4,000 in 1872. It is still an important commercial and maritime station. The soil of the surrounding country is fertile, but few articles are cultivated except dates, of which immense quantities are sent to Persia and India. Horses are also exported. Copper, once exported, is at present imported, as well as coffee, indigo, rice, spices, and timber. The English Tigris and Euphrates company have had a station here since 1862. Old Bassorah, the ruins of which are 8 m. S.W. of the present town, was celebrated as the chief emporium of the caliphs of Bagdad. One of the first Mo- hammedan learned schools was founded here in the 7th century, and the town was called Kubbet-el- Islam (the cupola of Islam). In the middle of the 12th century it had already begun to decline, the poet Edrisi relating that he found its "7,000" mosques deserted. The present town dates from the 17th century, and was desolated in the 18th by wars between the Turks and the Persians. It was occupied from 1832 to 1840 by the Egyptians. BASS ROCK, an island rock near the mouth of the frith of Forth, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, 3 m. N. E. of N. Berwick. It is nearly round, about 1 m. in circumference and 400 ft. high, composed of green or clink stone, traversed by a vast cavern from N. W. to S. E., inaccessible on all sides except on the S.W., where it is im- possible to land in stormy weather. The pre- cipices rising out of the sea give shelter to great numbers of solan geese and other aquatic birds. Charles II. purchased the rock for 4,000 as a prison for covenanters. A handful of partisans of James II. held it from June, 1691, to April, 1694, against all the forces sent by William III., who had the fortifications demolished in 1701. In 1706 the rock passed into the possession of the Dalrymple family, and they derive a reve- nue by letting it to a keeper, who sells the young geese and receives fees from visitors. BAST BASS STRAIT, a channel between Tasmania and New South Wales, about 250 m. long and 140 wide. At the E. entrance stands Flinders island, and at the W. King's island. It abounds in small islands and coral reefs, which mate- rially obstruct the navigation. Tin was found in one of the islands hi 1872. BASSCTOS, a tribe or a political union of sev- eral tribes of the Bechuanas, S. Africa. Their territory, which covers an area of about 12,700 sq. m., is bounded E. by Caffraria and Natal, N. and W. by the Orange Free State, and S. by Cape Colony; pop. estimated at about 100,000. The Bassutos are indebted to a chief- tain named Moshesh for improvements in agri- culture, the introduction of something like civ- ilized manners, and the organization of a reg- ulated administration. Protestant missiona- ries, chiefly those of the French societe des mis- sions evangeliques, have been laboring among them since 1830, and have numerous stations. After protracted wars with the Orange Free State, the Bassutos had on March 26, 1866, to conclude a peace by which a portion of their territory was ceded to that republic ; the re- mainder, with about 60,000 inhabitants, was on March 12, 1868, annexed to Natal, BASSVILLE, or Basseville, Nicolas Joan Hngon or Hnsson de, a French writer and diplomatist, as- sassinated in Rome, Jan. 13, 1793. Previous to being appointed in 1792 as secretary of le- gation at Naples, he was known as a teach- er, author, and journalist. He was sent from Naples to Rome for the protection of French commercial interests, and while there the con- vention sent to him a M. Flotte with instruc- tions to hoist the republican flag on the con- sular building, and ordering the French resi- dents to make similar demonstrations. This being resisted by the mob, a riot broke out, during which Bassville was killed. The con- vention took up the case as a violation of in- ternational law, adopted his son, and forced the Roman see to pay 300,000 francs to be di- vided among the victims. The Italian poet Monti made this event the subject of a pow- erful poem, entitled Basmilliana ; and other writers have commemorated Bassville's fate, though he had much less to do with display- ing the republican emblems than the subordi- nate agent Flotte. BAST, or Bass, the inner bark (endopklasvm) of dicotyledonous plants, contiguous to the woody circle. It is the fibrous part of the bark, and consists of a tissue of cells, including the so-called laticiferous vessels. Less frequently it occurs in the pith and leaves of dicotyledonous, and in the stems and leaves of monocotyle- donous vegetables. It originates out of the cambium (organizing tissue), and belongs to the vascular bundle. The bast cell grows long at the expense of the surrounding parenchyma, without producing new cells. The wood and bast cells of monocotyledonous plants are not easily distinguishable. There are none in the cryptogamous. For the plant itself, as well as