in sea affairs, a sort of close cask, or block of wood, fastened by a rope to the anchor, to determine the place where the anchor is situated, that the ship may not come too near it, to entangle her cable about the stock or the flukes of it.

Buoys are of various kinds; as,

Can-Buoys: these are in the form of a cone; and of this construction are all the buoys which are floated over dangerous banks and shallows, as a warning to passing ships, that they may avoid them. They are extremely large, that they may be seen at a distance; and are fastened by strong chains to the anchors which are sunk for this purpose at such places.

Nun-Buoys are shaped like the middle frustum of two cones, abutting upon one common base, being casks, which are large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end.

Wooden-Buoys are solid pieces of timber, sometimes in the shape of a cylinder, and sometimes in that of a nun-buoy; they are furnished with one or two holes, in which to fix a short piece of rope, whose two ends, being spliced together, make a sort of circle or ring, called the flrop.

Cable-Buoys, are common casks employed to buoy up the cables in different places from rocky ground. In the harbour of Alexandria in Egypt, every ship is moored with at least three cables, and has three or four of these buoys on each cable for this purpose.

**Slings of the Buoy**, the ropes which are fastened about it, and by which it is hung: they are curiously spliced around it, something resembling the braces of a drum.

**To stream the Buoy**, is to let it fall from the ship's side into the water; which is always done before they let go the anchor, that it may not be retarded by the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.

**Buoy-Rope**, the rope which fastens the buoy to the anchor: it should be little more than equal in length to the depth of the water where the anchor lies, as it is intended to float near, or immediately above, the bed of it, that the pilot may at all times know the situation thereof. See Plate XXXIII. Fig. 1. No. 3., where b is the anchor, c the buoy-rope, and d the buoy floating on the surface of the water. The buoy-rope is often extremely useful otherwise, in drawing up the anchor when the cable is broke. It should always, therefore, be of sufficient strength for this purpose, or else the anchor may be lost through negligence.

**Buoy of the Nore**, is a buoy placed at the mouth of the river Thames, to direct mariners how to avoid a dangerous sand.

**Buoyant**, something which, by its aptness to float, bears up other more ponderous and weighty things. See Buoy.

**Bupalus**, a celebrated sculptor, and native of the island of Chios, was son, grandson, and great grandson of sculptors. He had a brother, named Athenis, of the same profession. They flourished in the 62nd Olympiad: and were contemporary with Hipponax, a poet of an ugly and despicable figure. Our sculptors diverted themselves in representing him under a ridiculous form. But Hipponax wrote so sharp a satire against them, that they hanged themselves, as some say. Pliny, however, does not allow this; but says, on the contrary, that, after Hipponax had taken his revenge, they made several fine statues in several places; particularly a Diana at Chios, which was placed very high, and appeared with a frowning countenance to those that came in, and with a pleasant one to those that went out. There were several statues at Rome made by them; and they worked only in the white marble of the isle of Paros. Pausanias mentions Bupalus as a good architect as well as sculptor; but says nothing of Athenis.

**Buphaga**. See Ornithology Index.

**Buphonia** (from βους, ox, and φωνη, slaughter, in antiquity, an Athenian feast or ceremony, denominated from a bullock slain therein, with quaint formalities. For the origin of the buphonia, we are told it was forbidden by the laws of Attica to kill an ox: but it once happened, at the feast of the dipolia, that an ox ate the corn, others say the cakes, which had been dressed for the sacrifice. Thaoulon the priest, enraged at this, presently killed him, and fled for it. On which the Athenians, fearing the resentment of the gods, and feigning themselves ignorant who had committed the fact, brought the bloody axe before the judges, where it was solemnly arraigned, tried, found guilty, and condemned. And, in memory of this event, a feast was instituted under the denomination of buphonia; in which it was still customary for the priest buphonia to fly, and judgment to be given about the slaughter of the ox.

**Buphthalmum**, Ox-eye. See Botany Index.

**Bupleurum**, Hare's ear. See Botany Index.

**Buprestis**. See Entomology Index.

**Buquoi**, a town of Artois, in the French Netherlands, situated on the confines of Picardy. E. Long. 2. 40. N. Lat. 50. 12.

**Bur**, a broad ring of iron, behind the place made for the hand on spears used formerly in tilting; which bur was brought to rest when the tilter charged his spear.

**Burbas**, in commerce, a small coin at Algiers, with the arms of the dey struck on both sides: it is worth half an alper.

**Burcausen**, a town of Germany in the Lower Bavaria, situated on the river Saltz. E. Long. 13. 25. N. Lat. 48. 5.

**Burdegala**, or Burdigala, in Ancient Geography, a trading port town of Aquitania, situated on a lake of the sea, formed by the mouth of the Garumna. It was a famous seat of the Muses, as appears by Ausonius's book entitled Professores; and birthplace of Ausonius: now Bordeaux, capital of the Bourdelois, on the river Garonne. W. Long. 0. 40. N. Lat. 44. 54.

**Burden**, or Burdon, in Music, the drone or base, and the pipe or string which plays it: hence that part of a song that is repeated at the end of every stanza, is called the burden of it.—A chord which is to be divided, to perform the intervals of music, when open and undivided, is also called the burden.

Burden properly signifies a heavy weight or load. Ringelberg recommends the bearing burdens as the best sort of exercise; especially to strengthen men of study. To this end, he had a gown lined with plates of lead, which he could just lift with both his hands. This load he bore six or seven days together, either increasing or diminishing it as he found occasion; by which means he could both write and exercise at the same time.

Burden also denotes a fixed quantity of certain commodities. A burden of good steel is two score, or 120 pounds.

**Burden of a Ship** is its contents, or number of tons it will carry. The burden of a ship may be determined thus: Multiply the length of the keel taken within board, by the breadth of the ship within board, taken from the midship-beam, from plank to plank; and multiply the product by the depth of the hold, taken from the plank below the keelson, to the under part of the upper deck plank; and divide the last product by 94: the quotient is the content of the tonnage required. See Freight.

**Burdock**. See Arctium and Xanthium, Botany Index.

**Burell**, or Civita Burella, a town of Italy in the kingdom of Naples, and in Abruzzo Citra, near the river Sangro. E. Long. 15. 5. N. Lat. 41. 56.

**Buren**, a town of the United Provinces, in Guelderland. It gives the title of count de Buren to the prince of Orange. E. Long. 5. 22. N. Lat. 52. 0.

**Buren**, a town of Germany, in the circle of Westphalia,