Lags securely fastened to the ground, and the home base of white stone or marble, level with the ground, and with one angle facing the pitcher. Unless five innings on each side are concluded it is no game. No game can be drawn, unless play is stopped by darkness or the weather, when the score of the two sides is even. The pitcher's position shall be within a 6 feet square, the front of which shall be 45 feet from the centre of the home base, and the centre equidistant from the centre of first and third bases, each angle being marked by a flat iron or stone plate 6 inches square. In delivering the ball, the pitcher must not move either foot outside the limits of the square, and the hand must not be raised higher than the hip. All balls delivered over the home base, and at the height requested by the striker, are fair balls. All other balls are unfair or called balls, and if three occur in succession the striker is allowed to take the first base, and any other players move on a base accordingly. A striker may, however, take an unfair ball at his own risk. Balking, or pretending to deliver the ball and not doing so, is inadmissible, and any player, on first, second, or third base, is allowed to run a base whenever balking is attempted. If, after being warned by the umpire, three balks are made during the same innings, the out side at once forfeit the game. A ball which hits the bat without being struck at, or the person of the striker or umpire, is a dead ball and out of play. The striker shall stand in a space of ground 6 feet by 3 feet, on either side of the home base, extending 2 feet in front and 4 feet behind the centre thereof, and the inside 1 foot from the outside angle thereof, otherwise it is a foul strike. The striker may call for a high ball, which shall be delivered above his waist, but below his shoulder, or a low ball, i.e., below his waist, but not within 1 foot of the ground. Should the striker fail to strike three fairly delivered balls, he must run the first base. The foul ball lines are unlimited in length, and shall extend in a straight line from the front angle of the first base through the centres of first and third bases respectively. A ball is fairly hit if it first touches the ground, a player's person, or other object, on or in front of the foul ball lines. A batsman is out-(1.) If a fair ball be caught before touching the ground, no matter how held by the fielder catching it, or whether the ball first touches the person of another fielder or not, provided it be not caught by the cap; (2.) If a foul ball be similarly held, or if it be so held after touching the ground but once; (3.) If a fair ball be securely held by a fielder while touching the first base with any part of his person before the base-runner touches said base, after hitting a fair ball; (4.) If the batsman, after striking three times at the ball and failing to hit it, and, running to first base, fails to touch that base before the ball is legally held there; (5.) If, after the batsman has similarly failed to hit the ball, it be caught either before touching the ground, or after touching the ground but once; (6.) If the batsman wilfully strikes at the ball to hinder the ball from being caught; (7.) If the batsman hit the ball on a called foul strike, and it be caught either fair or foul, or if he make two called foul strikes. Directly a striker has fairly struck a fair ball he becomes a base-runner; starting from the home base to first base, thence to second, third, and home bases respectively, all bases being invariably run in this order. No base-runner is compelled to vacate his base except by the striker's striking a fair ball. The lines from base to base are 3 feet wide, clearly marked

out on the turf, and a base-runner who leaves the base line to avoid being touched by the ball in the hands of a fielder is out. A run is scored when any base-runner reaches the home base again, after touching all the other bases in proper succession, and provided three

players are not put out. No base can be run, or run scored, when a fair strike is caught before touching the ground, unless the base-runner returns to the base he started from, which he cannot leave again until the ball is held by the pitcher, wherever that fielder may happen to be. No unavoidable obstruction may be offered to any base-runner keeping the base lines. A base-runner is out-(1.) If, while the ball is in play, he be touched by a fielder with the ball in hand, when no part of his person is touching a base; and should the said fielder, while in the act of touching the base-runner, have the ball knocked out of his hand, the base-runner so touched shall be declared out; (2.) If the ball be held by a fielder on the first base before the baserunner, after hitting a fair ball, touches that base; but if a fielder holding the ball, and a base-runner touch a base simultaneously, the latter shall not be declared out; (3.) If he fail to touch the base he runs for, the ball being held by a fielder, while touching said base, before the base-runner returns and touches it; (4.) If he in any way interfere with or obstruct a fielder while attempting to catch a fair fly-ball or a foul ball; (5.) If he wilfully obstruct a fielder from fielding a ball. (6.) If he intentionally kick the ball or let it strike him. The umpire must be thoroughly conversant with the game and all minutiæ of the rules. He is the sole arbiter of every point of play, whether pitching, catching, fielding, striking, or running the bases.

The catcher's duty is to catch all balls pitched to the striker. He stands close to the striker's position when the pitching is slow, and some 50 feet off when it is swift. He

must be a sure catch in order to catch the striker out when opportunity occurs, and a swift and accurate thrower of the ball to the basemen. The pitcher is the most responsible person on the out side. His great object is to deceive the striker as to where a ball is coming, and he must therefore have full command over the ball, besides possessing the nerve to face any catches hit straight at him. The first, second, and third basemen must all be sure catchers, swift and accurate throwers, and good judges of which bases to send the ball to in order to put an opponent out. The short-stop must be an active man, of great coolness and judgment, a general backer up of the in-field. He is placed near the line from second to third base. The right, centre, and left fielders must all be sure catchers, good long distance throwers, and active runners. Right short-stop is generally the captain of the side, and is available either in this position or anywhere else where an extra hand is required. Having less work to do than any other fielder, he has better opportunities of attending to his general duties of supervision. The usual positions of all the fielders are defined in the diagram. The catcher, pitcher, first and third basemen, and short-stop comprise the in-field; the remainder the out-field.

The pastime requires good catching, throwing, and running powers, combined with courage, nerve, good judgment, and quick perception of what to do in the field. The great draw-back is so much being left to the umpire, and his decision being so frequently called for. Hardly a ball is pitched or struck, or a base run without his being called on for a decision under some rule or other, whereas the details of the game should be so plain and clear as only to call for attitude of the striker is not an elegant one, and the pitcher an umpire's decision under exceptional circumstances. The is allowed to keep the former's muscles too long on the stretch before actually delivering the ball. Base ball is a quicker and more lively pastime than the great English national game of cricket, which is the chief thing to be (H. F. W.)

said in its favour.

BASEDOW, JOHANN BERNHARD, a German author, born at Hamburg 11th September 1723, was the son of a hairdresser. He was educated at the Johanneum in that town, where he came under the influence of the well-known rationalist, H. S. Reimarus, author of the Wolfenbüttel Fragments. In 1744 he went to Leipsic to study theology, and gave himself up entirely to the instructions of Professor Crusius, and to the study of philosophy. This at first induced sceptical notions; a more profound examination brought him back to the Christian faith, but, in his of the sacred writings, and of all that relates to them, retirement, he formed his belief after his own ideas, and it was far from orthodox. He returned to Hamburg, where in 1749, M. de Quaalen, privy-councillor of Holstein, Basedow now began appointed him preceptor to his son. to exhibit his really remarkable powers as an educator of the young, and acquired so much distinction that, in 1753, he was chosen professor of moral philosophy and bellesOn account lettres in the academy of Soroë in Denmark. of his theological opinions he was removed from this post and transferred to Altona, where some of his published giving lessons without losing his salary; and, towards the works brought him into great disfavour. He left off end of 1767, he abandoned theology to devote himself with the same ardour to education, of which he conceived the project of a general reform in Germany. He began by publishing An Address to the Friends of Humanity, and to Persons in Power, on Schools, on Education, and its Influence on Public Happiness, with the Plan of an Elemen· tary Treatise on Human Knowledge, Hamburg, 1768. He proposed the reform of schools and of the common methods of instruction, and the establishment of an institute for

qualifying teachers, soliciting subscriptions for the printing of his elementary work, where his principles were to be explained at length, and illustrated by plates. The subscriptions for this object amounted to 15,000 thalers (£2250), and in 1774 he published his Elementary Work, a complete system of primary education, intended to develop the intelligence of the pupils and to bring them, so far as possible, into contact with realities, not with mere words. The work was received with great favour, and Basedow obtained means to establish an institute for education at Dessau, and to apply his principles in training disciples, who might spread them over all Germany. Little calculated by nature or habit to succeed in an employment which requires the greatest regularity, patience, and attention, he, however, engaged in this new project with all his accustomed ardour. The name of Philanthropin appeared to him the most expressive of his views; and he published at Leipsic in 1774 a pamphlet entitled The Philanthropinon founded at Dessau, containing the details of his plan. He immediately set about carrying it into execution; but he had few scholars, and the success by no means answered his hopes. Nevertheless, so well had his ideas been received that similar institutions sprang up all over the land, and the most prominent writers and thinkers openly advocated the plan. Had Basedow been a man of ordinary tact, his success would have been complete. But his temper was intractable, and his management was one long quarrel with his colleagues. The institution was finally shut up in 1793. Basedow died at Magdeburg on the 25th July 1790. Notices of his life and works have been published by Rathmann (1791) and Meyer (1791-2).

BASEL, BALE, or BASLE (the first being the German, the others the French and Old French forms of the name), a canton in the N.W. of Switzerland, with an area of 184 English square miles. It is bounded on the N.W. by Alsace, N. by the grand-duchy of Baden, E. by the canton of Aargau, and S. and S. W. by those of Solothurn and Berne. The canton is traversed by the Jura chain, the highest peaks of which rise to from 4000 to 5000 feet. With the exception of the Rhine and its tributaries, the Birse and the Ergolz,-there are no streams of any magnitude. The soil is for the most part fertile and well cultivated, the mountain sides affording excellent pasturage. The principal pursuits of the people are agricultural and pastoral, though here and there, as at Liestal, Sissach, and Münchenstein, coal-mining is carried on. The chief manufactures are ribbons, woollen, linen, and cotton goods, and iron and steel wares. Politically the canton consists of two divisions, one urban and the other rural (Basel-stadt and Basel-landschaft), each with its own constitution and laws. The former sends two members to the National Council; its legislative power is in the hands of a Great Council which consists of 134 members, chosen for six years, and its executive power belongs to a Lesser Council of 15 members. In the rural division the legislative body (or Landrath) is chosen for three years, and has the ultimate authority over all departments; the executive council consists of five members elected for the same period; it sends three members to the National Council. The prevailing language is German. Population of Basel-stadt in 1870, 47,760, and of Basel-landschaft, 54,721.

BASEL, or BALE, the capital of the above canton, and, next to Geneva, the largest city in Switzerland, is situated on both sides of the Rhine, 43 miles N. of Berne, in lat. 47° 33' N., and long. 7° 35' E. Great Basel, or the city proper, lies on the south side of the river, and is connected with Little Basel on the north side by a handsome bridge 800 feet long, which was originally erected in 1229. The city is generally well-built, but there are fewer

remarkable edifices than in many other Continental cities of similar size. The fine old Gothic cathedral, founded 1010, still stands, and contains a number of interesting monuments, besides the tombs of Erasmus, Ecolampadius, and other eminent persons. A re-decoration was skilfully effected in 1852-1856. Among other ecclesiastical buildings of interest may be mentioned St Martin's, restored in 1851; St Alban's, formerly a monastery; the church of the Bare-footed Friars, which now serves as a store house; Elizabeth's Church, of modern erection; and St Clara's in Little Basel. The town-hall was built in 1508 and restored in 1826. A post-office, a new bank, and an hospital are of recent erection. Besides the university,

which was founded by Pope Pius II. in 1459, and reorganized in 1817, Basel possesses a public library of 95,000 vols., with a valuable collection of MSS., a picturegallery, a museum, a theological seminary for missionaries (established in 1816), a gymnasium, an industrial school, a botanical garden, an orphan-asylum, an institution for deafmutes, and various learned societies. Of these may be mentioned the Society for the Propagation of Useful Knowledge, founded in 1777 by Iselin, the Society of Natural History, the Society of National Antiquities, and the Bible Society, which dates from 1804 and was the first of the kind on the Continent. Basel is the seat of an active transit-trade between France, Germany, and Switzerland, and possesses important manufactures of silk, linen, and cotton, as well as dyeworks, bleachfields, and ironworks, the most valuable of all being the ribbon-trade. It has railway communication with both south and north. The Baden line has a station in Little Basel; and the central station for the Swiss and Alsace railways lies to the south-east of the city proper. Basel was the birthplace of Euler, Bernouilli, Iselin, and perhaps of Holbein; and the names of Erasmus, Ecolampadius, Grynæus, Merian, De Wette, Hagenbach, and Wecknernagel, are associated with the university. Population in 1870, 44,834.

Basel (Basilia) first appears in the 4th century as a Roman military post. On the decay of the neighbouring city of Augusta Rauracorum, the site of which is still marked by the village of Augst, it began to rise into importance, and, after numerous vicissitudes, became a free city of the empire about the middle of the 10th century, and obtained a variety of privileges and rights. In 1356 the most of its buildings were destroyed by an earthquake.

In 1392 the town of Little Basel was acquired from the bishop by purchase. From 1431 to 1443 the meetings of a General Council were held in the city (see next article). After the battle of St Jacob in 1444, in the immediate neighbourhood, Basel was visited by the plague, and its population considerably diminished. In 1501 it became a member of the Swiss Confederacy; and it was one of the chief seats of the Reformation movement. The position of the city exposed it to many dangers during the Thirty Years' War and the subsequent disturbances of the neighbouring states; but in spite of all it continued to flourish. A peril of a more critical kind arose from within. The quasi-aristocratic Government of the city appropriated all political rights, and left the inhabitants of the rural districts unrepresented,-which gradually led to much discontent on the part of the latter, and ultimately to actual rebellion. It was not till 1833 that peace was firmly restored by the complete separation of the canton into the two divisions of Basel-stadt and Basel-landschaft, the former being allowed to include not only the city proper, but also the communes of Reihen, Bettingen, and KleinHüningen. The capital of the rural division is Liesthal, with (in 1870) a population of 3873.

BASEL, THE COUNCIL OF (1431-1443), was the last of the three great reforming councils of the 15th century, coming after the councils of Pisa (1409) and Constance (1414-18). In these three councils the aim of the majority was to reform the church by destroying the absolute supremacy of the Pope, and by curbing the rule of the Roman curia; and the acts of these councils were all designed to re-establish the power of the episcopate by asserting the supremacy of oecumenical councils. At Pisa these aims were only indicated; at Constance they were so far successful that schismatic popes were deposed, and the council practically showed its superiority to the Pope by bestowing the papal chair on Martin V.; and although the fathers of Constance were compelled to separate before they could do much else in the way of reform, they practically laid the foundation by insisting that councils should be held frequently, and by ordering a new council to be called at the end of five years. The council summoned in obedience to this command was the Council of Basel, but the results of its meeting were simply to show the helplessness of the episcopate and the power of the Roman curia. At Basel the labours of Pisa and Constance were undone, and after this council thoughtful men began to see that the church could not be reformed without destroying the Papacy.

The Council of Basel was summoned by Martin V. (1431). He first appointed it to meet at Pavia, then at Siena, but Basel was at last fixed upon. At the very At the very beginning Martin died, but his successor, Eugenius IV., sanctioned all his decrees; and the council accordingly met at Basel on the 23d of July 1431, under the presidency of Cardinal Julian Cesarini. At first all went well. The bishops took care so to arrange the organization of the council and its method of procedure as to make it a true and fair representative of the whole Catholic Church. The members of the council were divided into four equal classes, each consisting of about the same number of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, abbots, &c., and each completely organized, with its president, secretaries, and other officers. This was done to neutralize the votes and prevent the intrigues of the Italian bishops, who were very numerous, and for the most part under the power of the Roman curia. To each of the four was assigned the investigation of a special class of subjects. Each section met separately in its own hall thrice a week. Each section elected three of its number to form a committee of business. One-third of this committee was changed every month. All the

business had to pass through this committee, and it sent down special subjects to be discussed in each of the sections. When the section had discussed the matter it sent its decision with the reasons of it to each of the other sections, who then discussed the matter and gave their opinion upon it. If three sections were agreed upon it, the subject was brought before the whole council for general discussion and a final decision.

The three subjects which were specially assigned to this council were the reunion of the Greek and Latin Churches, the reconciliation of the Bohemians, and the reform of the church according to the resolutions come to at Constance. Soon after the beginning of the council the Roman curia took alarm at the zeal and determination of the assembled bishops, and by intrigues compelled the Pope, who was really anxious for reform, to do all he could to hinder the work of the fathers at Basel. Eugenius twice tried to dissolve the council; but it resisted, maintaining that a council being superior to the Pope could not be dissolved, and the Pope yielded. The bishops refused to admit the Pope's legates until they admitted the supremacy of the council and promised to obey its decrees.

The first business to which the members addressed themselves was to curb the power of the Pope and of the Roman curia. They tried to do this by attempting to stop the flow of money from all parts of Europe to Rome. They abolished the annates; they declared it illegal in a bishop to send the sum of money commonly presented on his investiture, &c.; and they passed many laws to restrain the luxury and vice of the clergy. These proceedings so alarmed Eugenius that he resolved either to bring the council within the reach of his influence or to dissolve it. The occasion for interference arose out of a debate which the subject of reunion with the Greek Church gave rise to. The Emperor John Palæologus, induced principally by fear of the Turks, had written both to the Pope and to the council on the subject of the reunion of Christendom, and both had entertained his proposals. The majority, however, of the bishops in the council maintained that this subject could not properly be discussed in Italy, and that the deliberations must take place in France, Savoy, or Basel, far from the influence of the Pope. To this Eugenius would not agree; and when the council decided against him, he resolved to assemble another council, which met first at Ferrara and afterwards at Florence.

The rest of the proceedings of the Council of Basel is simply a record of struggles with the Pope. In 1437 the council ordered the Pope to appear before them at Basel. The Pope replied by dissolving the council; the bishops, backed by the emperor and the king of France, continued their deliberations, and pronounced the Pope contumacious for not obeying them. When Eugenius tried to take away the authority of the council by summoning the opposition Council of Florence, the bishops at Basel deposed him. Eugenius replied by a severe bull, in which he excommunicated the bishops, and they answered by electing a new Pope, Amadeus, duke of Savoy, who assumed the name of Felix V. The greater part of the church adhered to Eugenius, but most of the universities acknowledged the authority of Felix and the Council of Basel. Notwithstanding the opposition of Eugenius and his adherents, the Council of Basel continued to pass laws and decrees until the year 1443; and when the bishops separated they declared publicly that they would reassemble at Basel, Lyons, or Lausanne. In 1447 Eugenius died and was succeeded by Nicholas V., who tried to bring about a reconciliation between the parties in the church. A compromise was effected, by which Felix resigned the pontificate, and the fathers of Basel having assembled at Lausanne, ratified the abdication of Feliv, and directed the church to obey III. 52

12; Amos iv. 1; Isa. ii. 13; Jer. 1. 19; Ezek. xxxix. 18, xxvii. 6); and its extraordinary fertility is attested by the density of its population (Deut. iii. 4, 5, 14)—a density proved by the unparalleled abundance with which ruined towns and cities are now strewn over the whole country. In the disturbed period which followed the breaking up of the empire of Alexander, its possession was an object of continual contest. "Idumæan princes, Nabathæan kings, Arab chiefs, ruled in their turn." The central portion of the country, Trachonitis, early became a refuge for outlaws and haunt of robbers, a character for which it is singularly fitted by nature, and which it retains to the present day. (Cf. Josephus, Ant. Jud., xv. 1; xvi. 9, 2; Strabo, Geog., xvi. p. 520; Gul. Tyr., Hist., xv. 10.) In Arabian tradition Bashan is regarded as the country of the patriarch Job (see Abulfeda, Hist. Anteislamica, p. 27, 208, and esp. Wetzstein, in Delitzsch, Das Buch Job, p. 507, ff.); and it holds a prominent place in authentic Arabian history as the seat of the dynasty of the Ghassanides (see Caussin de Perceval, L'Histoire des Arabes, vol. ii. 202, f.; Wetzstein, op. cit., 121, f.). At the present day the Haurân is one of the seats of that singular people, the Druzes (see DRUZES). Both in its natural and its archæological aspects, the country of Bashan is full of interest. The Jebel ed-Druz, which rises to nearly 6000 feet in height, is a congeries of extinct volcanoes, and the products of eruption from this source, spread over the adjoining plains, have given to the soil that character of fertility for which it has been in all ages remarkable. (Cf. Lyell, Principles of Geology, (Cf. Lyell, Principles of Geology, 9th ed., p. 394.) This volcanic soil, we are told, yields on the average, in some places, eighty returns of wheat, and a hundred of barley (Wetzstein, op. cit., p. 30.) The mountains themselves are richly clothed, at least on their western side, with forests of various kinds of trees, among which the evergreen oak is especially abundant. The Lejâh is one of the most remarkable regions on the earth's surface. "It is," says one of the latest observers (Burton, Unexplored Syria, vol. i. p. 164), "in fact a lava bed; a stone torrent poured out over the ruddy yellow clay and the limestone floor of the Haurân valley, high raised by the ruins of repeated eruptions, broken up by the action of fumaroles or blow holes, and cracked and crevassed when cooling by earthquakes, and by the weathering of ages." (See also Burckhardt, op. cit., p. 112; Porter's Five Years in Damascus, vol. ii. p. 241; Wetzstein, op. cit., p. 25.)

In regard to the architectural monuments of the Haurân, the "striking feature," says Count de Vogué (Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 423), "is the exclusive use of stone. The country produces no wood, and the only rock which can be obtained is a basalt, very hard and very difficult to work." The walls are formed of large blocks, carefully dressed, and laid together without cement, and often let into one another with a kind of dovetail. Roofs, doors, stairs, and windows, are all of stone. This, of course, imparts to the buildings great massiveness of appearance and great solidity, and in multitudes of cases the houses, though "without inhabitant," are as perfect as when first reared. Since buildings so strong are apparently capable of enduring for any length of time, and since some of these are known, from the inscriptions upon them, to date from before the commencement of the Christian era, it is not unnatural to regard them as, in fact, the work of the earliest known inhabitants of the land, the Amorites or the Rephaim. (See Ritter, Paläst. and Syrien, ii. 964, Porter, Giant Cities, p. 79, f.). This, however, is contested, on the ground that the extant inscriptions and the architectural style point to a much later date, and must be regarded as at least unproved. (See Wetzstein, op. cit., p. 103; Fergusson, in Athenæum, July 1870, p. 148; Burton, op. cit., vol. i. p. 192.) Many inscriptions have been

found in this region,-most of them composed in Greek, a considerable number in two forms of Shemitic writing (the Palmyrenian or Aramæan, and the Sinaitic or Nabathaan), and some in an unknown character, resembling the Himyaritic. Arabic inscriptions are numerous on buildings of more recent date. The oldest recognizable Greek record bears the name of Herod the Great; and the Nabathæan kings, of the dynasty of Aretas, who reigned from about 100 B.C. at Bozrah have also left memorials.

To the works on this region above referred to the following may be added:-Seetzen, Reisen durch Syrien; Buckingham, Travels among the Arab Tribes; Graham, Jour. Geog. Soc., vol. xxviii.; De Vogué, Syrie Centrale; Waddington, Inscriptions Grecques de la Syrie; Freshfield, Travels in the Central Caucasus and Bashan. (W. TU.)

BASHKIRS, a people who inhabit the Russian governments of Orenburg, Perm, and Samar, and parts of Viatka, especially on the slopes and confines of the Ural, and in the neighbouring plains. The Bashkirs are a Tatarized Finnish race, and are called Eestyak by the Kirghiz, in allusion to their origin from a mixture of Ostyaks and Tatars. The name Bashkir or Bash-kurt appears for the first time in the beginning of the 10th century in the writings of Ibn-Foslan, who, describing his travels among the Volga-Bulgarians, mentions the Bashkirs as a warlike and idolatrous race. The name was not used by the people themselves in the 10th century, but is a mere nickname. It probably points to the fact that the Bashkirs, then as now, were distinguished by their large, round, short, and, possibly, closecropped heads. Of European writers the first to mention the Bashkirs are Plano-Carpini and Rubruquis. These travellers, who fell in with them in the upper parts of the River Ural, call them Pascatir, and assert that they spoke at that time the same language as the Hungarians. Till the arrival of the Mongolians, about the middle of the 13th century, the Bashkirs were a strong and independent people, and troublesome to their neighbours, the Bulgarians and Pechenegs. At the time of the downfal of the Kazan kingdom they were in a weak state. In 1556 they voluntarily recognized the supremacy of Russia, and, in consequence, the city of Upha was founded to defend them from the Kirghiz, and they were subjected to a fur-tax. In 1676 they rebelled under a leader named Seit, and were with difficulty reduced; and again in 1707, under Aldar and Kûsyom, on account of ill-treatment by the Russian officials. Their third and last insurrection was in 1735, at the time of the foundation of Orenburg, and it lasted for six years.

In 1786 they were freed from taxes; and

in 1798 an irregular army was formed from among them. They are now divided into thirteen cantons, and each canton into yûrts or districts, the whole being under the jurisdiction of the Orenburg governor-general. In military matters they are subject to an Ataman, chosen from the generals of the army; but in civil affairs the yûrts and cantons are administered by Bashkir officials. They maintain a military cordon, escort caravans through the Kirghiz steppes, and are employed in various other services. By mode of life the Bashkirs are divided into settled and nomadic. The former, who are not distinguishable from the inhabitants of the Tatar villages, are engaged in agriculture, cattle-rearing, and bee-keeping, and live without want. The nomadic portion is subdivided, according to the districts in which they wander, into those of the mountains and those of the steppes. Almost their sole occupation is the rearing of cattle; and they attend to that in a very negligent manner, not collecting a sufficient store of winter fodder for all their herds, but allowing part of them to perish. The Bashkirs are usually very poor, and in winter live partly on a kind of gruel called yûryu, and badly prepared cheese named skûrt. They are hospitable but suspicious, apt to plunder, and to the last degree lazy. They have