Banshee, or Benshie

[Gael. beanshith, a fairy, from Gael. and Ir. bean, a woman, and Gael. sith; Ir. sighidh, fairy.] A supernatural being, supposed by the Irish peasantry to give notice to a family of the speedy death of some of its members, by wailing a mournful air under the windows of the house. Ban'tam, an old and decayed town of the island of Java, and, until of late years, one of the most famous trading marts in the Farther East, belonging to the Dutch. Lat. 6o 1′ 42′′ S.; Lon. 106° 10′ 42′′ E. Its bay, formerly a great rendezvous of European shipping, is now choked up by coral reefs. The Dutch abandoned it in 1817 for the more elevated station of Serang, or Ceram, 7 m. in land.