tribes. They cultivate various kinds of grain, and
’ook upon fish, as an article of food, with horror.
As far as pretension to worship prevails, the peo-
ple are idolaters; but they seem indifferent to
worship of any kind : polygamy is general; the
elder men have usually one young wife, and
another who is past child bearing. Mahomedism
appears not to have reached them. Their dress
is principally of skins, which they tan into lea-
ther ; and, in the more northern parts, they ap-
pear to have made some progress in the smelting
and working of iron.

Bosnia, a compact and naturallv fertile district
of European Turkey, lying between the lat. of 43.

18. and 45. 10. N. anil the 17th and 20th of W.
long. It is bounded on the west by the Austrian
province of Croatia, north by the Saave river,
which falls into the Danube, and divides it from
Sclavonia; on the east by the Turkish Prov-
ince of Servia, and south by the north end of
Albania and Dalmatia. It has some mountain
districts, and is intersected by several rivers, run-
ning from the north into the Saave; and the
Narenta, which rises in the south part of the
province, runs south through Dalmatia, into the
Adriatic at Narisi, a few miles north of Ragusa.
Its area may be stated at about 15,000 square m.;
yet the population is supposed not to exceed 80,-
000. As a frontier district, it is principally oc-
cupied by Turkish soldiery, who subsist upon the
products of the occupiers of the soil; and as the
soldiery of the province amount to 40 or 50,000,
they of course tend to subdue.all excitement to
agricultural exertion; and thus, although the
vine and the olive would yield fruit in abundance,
one of the finest districts in Europe is kept a
wilderness, by an undisciplined, lawless, and ruth-
less horde of soldiery. The principal towns are,
Sarajo, the capital; Banjaluka, Sworniek, Trau-
ruik, (the seat of the pacha,) and Prisrendi. As
far as any external commercial intercourse is
maintained with Bosnia, it is principally through
Dalmatia from Ragusa. The greater part of the
province formerly belonged to Hungary. The
inhabitants are principally Sclavonians, speaking
the Sclavonic with great purity, and professing
the formulary of the Greek church.

Bosphorus, the narrow strait, 20 miles in length,
and from 1 to 11-2 broad, which unites the Black
Sea with the sea of Marmora. It is sometimes
called the strait of Constantinople.

Bosra, a town of Syria, where Mahomet is said
to have received much information from a Nesto-
rian monk, towards founding his religious doc-
trines. It is 100 m. S. of Damascus.

Bossiny, or Trevenna, a borough in Cornwall,
Eng. seated near the Bristol channel, 17 in. N.
W. of Launceston, and 233 W. by S. of London.
See Tintagel.

Bost, a strong town of Persia, capital of Sigis-
tan or Seistan. It is seated on the Heermund,
and on the route of the caravans, from Ispahan to
Caubul, about 170 m. AV. S. W. of Candahar.
Long. 64. 15. E. lat. 32. 30. N.

Boston, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the north
part of the province of Aladeul, situate near the
eastern confines of Caramania, and near the source
of a river which falls into the Levant Sea, at
Adanah.

Boston, a borough and seaport town of Lincoln-
shire, Eng. AA’hen the idle, the crafty, and the
vicious, sought subsistence and refuge, and the op-
pressed and indigent relief, from monastic insti-
tutions ) and when monasteries, abbeys, priories,

and convents, with their pointed windows and
archways, and varied styles of tasteful architectur-
al display, were spread over the country, as bar-
racks, gaols, and workhouses, are at the present
day, Boston ranked among tire most important
towns in the country, having had not less than ten
fraternal establishments; all of which were an-
nulled, and the inmates dispersed under the gen-
eral demolition of those institutions by Honry
VIII. After this reverse, when England ex-
changed her agricultural productions and raw n a-
terials for the haberdashery and other manufac-
tures of Germany and Holland, Boston became
one of the principal markets in the kingdom for
wool, which used to be exported in large quanti-
ties to Holland, and the Hanse Towns: but, on
the exportation of wool being totally prohibited,
Boston was doomed to a further reverse, and grad-
ually declined until towards the close of the last
century, when a paper circulating medium sub-
verted that of gold and silver, and the modern
system of creating ideal wealth by funding had
doubled and trebled the money rate of all articles
of subsistence, thereby exciting an unusual de-
gree of enterprize in agricultural pursuits, a great
portion of the pasture lands of Lincolnshire
were converted into tillage, and Boston became
the principal port through which the surplus pro-
duce found its way to market, and it has, since the
commencement of the present, century, gradually
been rising in population and importance. The
number of inhabitants, which in 1801 was only
5,926, in 1821 amounted to 10,330. The town is
situate on both the banks of the river Witham,
over which is a handsome bridge, of cne arch, of
cast iron, eighty-six feet in span, a few miles
above the entrance of the rivw 'he sea, called
Boston Wash, with which river, and by canals,
it communicates with a considerable portion of the
interior of the country, and. in addition to its very
considerable trad., in    tx-    it.    London    mar-

ket, it carries on a direct trade with the Baltic for
deals, hemp, tar. xc2xabStx. The parish church founded
bv St. Botoloh in KiUt). is a very stately edifice,
being 300 feet in lemrtti. supported by Corinthian
pillars, licrhterl bv nmnr.ed windows, and its steeple
ascended by stens corresponding in number with
the months, weeks and days, in the year. The
steeple or tower iq 986 feet in height, surmounted
with a lantern, which serves as a beacon for ma-
ny miles out at sea, and the country being very
level inland, it forms a beautiful and interesting
object in the perspective many miles distant.
The town is governed by a mayor, recorder, twelve
aldermen, and eighteen common oouncilmen, with
subordinate officers, who are vested with the ad-
miralty jurisdiction of the adjoining coasts. The
corporation, since 1800, have erected a commodi-
ous fish market, which is abundantly supplied, and
large quantities are conveyed into the interior
counties of Nottingham and Leicester. It has
four fairs annually, and two endowed schools, and
returns two members to parliament. It is 36 m.
S. E. of Lincoln, and 116 N. of London. Lat. 52.
48. N. Long. 0. 2. AV.

Boston Peeps, is the sea channel of the inlet
called the AVash, leading from the German Ocean
by the Lincolnshire coast, up to the port of Boston
The opposite side, which washes the coast of Nor-
folk is called Lynn Deeps. The body of the AA’ash
is a large shoal, partly dry at low water, and even
the Deeps are the reverse of what their name im-
plies, not admitting at the most, vessels of more
than 200 tons burthen.