Bamboo

(băm-boo ',) the common name of the genus Bambusa, O. Gram in ace a. Some species grow to the height of 60feet, and most of them are very useful to the inhabitants of tropical countries, on account of the number of purposes to which they can be applied. The stems are hollow, more or le flexible, and extremely tough. A group of bamboos waving in the breeze is one of the most graceful objects in nature. Bam'bouk, a country ofW. Africa, Sene gambia, mostly between Lat. 12° 30' and 14° N., and Lon. 10 and 12° 30' W., enclosed by the upper courses of the Senegal and Faleine rivers. Climate, exce ively hot and unhealthy; chief town, Bambouk. Pop. unknown. Ba'mian, or BAU'MEEAN, a famous valley and pa of Afghanistan, leading into Independent Turkestan (Khoondooz) between the Hindoo-Coosh range and the Paropamisan Mountains, and important as the only known pa acro the Himalaya chain practicable for artillery; Lat. 34° 50′ N., Lon. 69° 48′ E. Greatest elevation of pa , 8,496ft. Ban. (bin.) (Hist.) [Fr., proclamation. In feudal times, the French barons who held their lands direct from the king, when, summoned to attend him in time of war, were called the ban, and the tenants of the second rank, the arriere-ban. A contraction of the Illyric word Boyan, Lord.) A title given to some of the military chiefs who guarded the eastern boundaries of the Hungarian kingdom;-synonymous with the German Markgraf, or Margrave. Banana, (ban-an'ah.) (Bot.) See MUSACEE. [s. 71]