Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/537

BANISHMENT. with or without confiscation of goods, it was not an uncommon form of punishment in the Middle Ages, and in England during the Wars of the Roses; and it is to-day employed in some countries—as in Russia, Turkey, and the Central and South American republics—as a punishment for political offenses. In later English law, the term has been employed to describe the penalty of transportation to the colonies, instituted by the act of Parliament, 39 Eliz. c. 4. Banishment has never in any form been practiced in the United States. See ;.  BAN′ISTER, (1831—). An English pianist and composer, born in London. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, became assistant professor of harmony and composition there in 1851, professor in 1853, and in 1880 was also appointed professor in the Guildhall School of Music. His published works include symphonies in D (1847), in E flat (1848), in A minor (1850), and in A (1853); two quartets for strings (1848; 1850); an Andante and Rondo for pianoforte and orchestra (1852); and cantatas, songs, and pianoforte compositions. His Text-Book of Music (1872) has been a popular manual for students.  BANJALUKA,, or BANIALUKA. A town of Bosnia, the capital of the district of the same name, situated on the navigable river Verbas, and connected by railway with Agram (Map:, E 4). It contains a number of mosques, and in its vicinity are situated some hot springs. It has a powder-mill, and carries on a trade in grain, animals, and tobacco. The population is about 15,000, including about 7000 Mohammedans, 2000 Catholics, and over 300 Jews. Banjaluka was, in 1878, the scene of an engagement between the Austro-Hungarians and the Bosniaks.  BANJARMASSIN,. A city and district in southeastern Borneo, held by the Dutch since 1787, and incorporated in their possessions since 1860. Watered by the Banjar River and inhabited chiefly by Dyaks, the region produces gold, diamonds, coal, spices, gum, wax, rattan, etc. Forest and jungle in the hilly interior, and rice-fields in the flat valleys and along the sea-coast are the features of the landscape. The town of Banjarmassin, built mostly on piles, has a population of 30,000.  BAN′JO (a corruption, in negro-slave pronunciation, of banjore, banjer; cf. bandore, Portug. bandurru, Russ. bandura, all from Gk., pandoura, a musical instrument with three strings). An instrument of the guitar kind, with or without frets, played with the fingers. It has a long neck, with a body resembling a tambourine or drum-head, formed of parchment stretched tightly upon a hoop. Banjos have from five to nine strings, usually of catgut, the lowest in pitch, however, being often covered with wire. The melody-string, or thumb-string, is placed outside the lowest bass-string, and is played by the thumb of the right hand: the turning-peg for it is inserted half-way up the neck. The thumb-string from nut to bridge measures 16 inches, the other strings 24. The five-stringed banjo is tuned either



the last note being the thumb-string, or in G, a note lower. The pitch of the banjo is an octave lower than the notation. The banjo is a favorite instrument with the negro. Thomas Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, page 47) speaks of it as an instrument “proper to the blacks, which they brought hither from Africa, and which is the original of the guitar, the chords being precisely the four lower chords of the guitar.” In Africa the instrument is known under the name bania.  BANJUMAS. See.  BANJUWANGIS, (‘fragrant water’). A seaport town on the eastern coast of Java, the chief town of the district of that name (Map:, D 6). It has an estimated population of 10,000.  BANK (same as banc, bench, elevation). An elevation of the bottom of the sea. When tolerably smooth at the top, banks constitute shallows, shoals, and flats, but when rocky they become reefs, ridges, keys, etc. Pilots and captains of ships are required to be intimately acquainted with the banks along their route; and a chart, if properly prepared, always defines them by means of small dots, if sandy, and small crosses, if rocky. The Newfoundland and the Bahama banks are well-known examples of this kind of sea bottom. In war time, small vessels often escape capture by running into shallows, where larger vessels dare not follow them. The fauna of the banks differs from that of the surrounding deeper waters and often supports important fisheries, as those of the cod and other fish on the Newfoundland banks. <section end="Bank" /> <section begin="Bankban" />BANKBAN, (properly BENEDICT BOR), called also. A Hungarian military governor of the Thirteenth Century. There is a story, almost certainly legendary, to the effect that, his wife having been wronged by the Queen's brother, he stormed the royal castle and cut the Queen to pieces. On this are founded two dramas, one in Hungarian by Katona (1827), and the other Grillparzer's Ein treuer Diener seines Herrn (1830). <section end="Bankban" /> <section begin="Bank, Banking" />BANK, BANK′ING (Fr. banque, It. banca, from Ger. Bank, a bench, table for changing money. Hence, bankrupt; It. banca rotta, broken bench, as in Florence a bankrupt had his bench broken). The three functions which characterize the banking business are the receipt of deposits, the making of discounts, and the issue of notes. The last named is generally restricted in modern times to institutions chartered by law, though in earlier days, and especially in England, private banks and banking firms issued notes. But as all banks do not embrace all these functions, it is common to speak of banks of deposit and discount, as distinguished from banks of issue. The latter are, as a rule, banks of deposit and discount also; and, as this is the most universal function of banks, it may properly be considered first.

Banks may be tersely described as lenders and borrowers. Their loanable funds consist on the one hand of their own capital, and on the other of the deposits intrusted to them. Their profits arise from the payment to them of interest on loans.

Receiving as they do deposits from their clients, banks may be spoken<section end="Bank, Banking" />