Basin, in Hydraulics, a reservoir of water, used for various purposes.

Basque Language. The language spoken by the Spaniards in what are called the Basque provinces, as also in Navarre. The people call it Euskara. For a long time it was supposed to be a dialect of the Celtic; but later researches show that there is good ground for considering it as a distinct ancient language, and as having been once spoken over all the Peninsula. This is proved by the ancient names of mountains, towns, and rivers being decidedly derived from Basque radicals; as is shown in the curious Inquiries of William Von Humboldt, published at Berlin in 1821; and by the dictionary and grammar of this tongue recently published. The structure of the verb is complex—it is considered as having 11 moods and 46 tenses; so as to exhibit all the relations of the agent to the action, and to the object it affects. The substantive has no distinction of gender; the articles are two, a for the singular, and ae for the plural; the cases are marked by affixes or prepositions. In the structure of the sentence, the noun occupies the first place; it is followed by the article, then the adjective, next the adverb, the verb, the thing acted upon, and lastly the affix.

Basque Provinces (Provincias Vascongadas). The three Spanish provinces known by this name, which are distinguished from all the other divisions of Spain by the character, language, and manners of the inhabitants, and by the enjoyment of political privileges which make the form of their government nearly republican, are Biscay (Vizcaya), Guipuzcoa, and Alava. The territory occupied by them is in the form of a triangle, bounded on the N. by the Bay of Biscay, S. by Soria, E. by Navarra and part of France, and W. by Santander and Burgos. It comprises an area of 2958 square miles; pop. in 1849, 378,143. These three provinces are more particularly described under their respective heads. The ancient French Basque provinces now form the arrondissements of Bayonne and Mauléon.