During recent times the entire history of Bombay has been sadly affected by plague and famine. Bubonic plague, of a fatal and contagious nature, first broke out in Bombay City in September 1896, and, despite all the efforts of the government, quickly spread to the surrounding country. Down to the end of October 1902 over 531,000 deaths had taken place due to plague. In 1903–1904 there were 426,387 cases with 316,523 deaths, and 1904–1905 there were 285,897 cases with 212,948 deaths. The great cities of Bombay, Karachi and Poona suffered most severely. A few districts in Gujarat almost entirely escaped; but the mortality was very heavy in Satara, Thana, Surat, Poona, Kolaba, and in the native states of Cutch, Baroda, Kolhapur and Palanpur. The only sanitary measure that can be said to have been successful was complete migration, which could only be adopted in villages and smaller towns. Inoculation was extensively tried in some cases. Segregation was the one general method of fighting the disease; but, unfortunately, it was misunderstood by the people and led to some deplorable outbreaks. In Poona, during 1897, two European officials were assassinated; the editor of a prominent native paper was sentenced to imprisonment for sedition; and two leaders of the Brahman community were placed in confinement. At Bombay, in March 1898, a riot begun by Mahommedan weavers was not suppressed until several Europeans had been fatally injured. In Nasik district, in January 1898, the native chairman of the plague committee was brutally murdered by a mob. But on the whole the people submitted with characteristic docility to the sanitary regulations of the government. Bombay, like the Central Provinces, suffered from famine twice within three years. The failure of the monsoon of 1896 caused widespread distress throughout the Deccan, over an area of 46,000 sq. m., with a population of 7 millions. The largest number of persons on relief was 301,056 in September 1897; and the total expenditure on famine relief was Rs.1,28,000,000. The measures adopted were signally successful, both in saving life and in mitigating distress. In 1899 the monsoon again failed in Gujarat, where famine hitherto had been almost unknown; and the winter rains failed in the Deccan, so that distress gradually spread over almost the entire presidency. The worst feature was a virulent outbreak of cholera in Gujarat, especially in the native states. In April 1900 the total number of persons in receipt of relief was 1,281,159 in British districts, 566,671 in native states, and 71,734 in Baroda. For 1900–1901 the total expenditure on famine relief was nearly 3 crores (say, £2,000,000 sterling); and a continuance of drought necessitated an estimate of 1 crore in the budget of the following year. The Bombay government exhausted its balances in 1897, and was subsequently dependent on grants from the government of India.
See Sir James Campbell, Gazetteer of Bombay (26 vols., 1896); S. M. Edwardes, The Rise of Bombay (1902); James Douglas, Bombay and Western India (1893); and Sir William Lee-Warner, The Presidency of Bombay (Society of Arts, 1904); The Imperial Gazetteer of India (Oxford, 1908); and for the early history, V. A. Smith, The Early History of India (2nd ed., Oxford, 1908).
BOMBAZINE, or Bombasine, a stuff originally made of silk or silk and wool, and now also made of cotton and wool or of wool alone. Good bombazine is made with a silk warp and a worsted weft. It is twilled or corded and used for dress-material. Black bombazine has been used largely for mourning, but the material has gone out of fashion. The word is derived from the obsolete French bombasin, applied originally to silk but afterwards to “tree-silk” or cotton. Bombazine is said to have been made in England in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and early in the 19th century it was largely made at Norwich.
BOMBELLES, MARC MARIE, Marquis de (1744–1822),
French diplomatist and ecclesiastic, was the son of the comte de
Bombelles, tutor and guardian of the duke of Orleans. He was
born at Bitsch in Lorraine, and served in the army through the
Seven Years’ War. In 1765 he entered the diplomatic service,
and after several diplomatic missions became ambassador of
France to Portugal in 1786, being charged to win over that
country to the Family Compact; but the madness of the queen
and then the death of the king prevented his success. He was
transferred to Vienna early in 1789, but the Revolution cut short
his diplomatic career, and he was deprived of his post in
September 1790. He remained attached to Louis XVI., and
was employed on secret missions to other sovereigns, to gain
their aid for Louis. In 1792 he emigrated, and after Valmy
lived in retirement in Switzerland. In 1804, after the death of
his wife, he withdrew to the monastery of Brünn in Austria, and
became bishop of Oberglogau in Prussia. In 1815 he returned
to France, and became bishop of Amiens (1819). He died in
Paris in 1822.
His son, Louis Philippe, comte de Bombelles (1780–1843), born at Regensburg, passed his life in the diplomatic service of Austria. In 1814 he became Austrian ambassador to Denmark, and in 1816 filled a similar position at Dresden. (E. Es.)
BOMBERG, DANIEL, a famous Christian printer of Hebrew
books. His chief activity was in Venice between 1516 and 1549
(the year of his death). Bomberg introduced a new era in Hebrew
typography. Among other great enterprises, he published the
editio princeps (1516–1517) of the rabbinical Bible (Hebrew text
with rabbinical commentaries, &c.). He also produced the first
complete edition of the Talmud (1520–1523).
BONA, JOHN (1609–1674), Italian cardinal and author, was
born at Mondovi in Piedmont, on the 10th of October 1609. In
1624 he joined the Congregation of Feuillants and was successively
elected prior of Asti, abbot of Mondovi and general of
his order. He was created cardinal in 1669 by Clement IX., and
during the conclave, which followed that pope’s death, was
regarded as a possible candidate for the papacy. He died on the
27th of October 1674. Bona’s writings are mainly concerned
with liturgical and devotional subjects. Of the numerous
editions of his works, the best are those of Paris (1677), Turin
(1747) and Antwerp (1777). Stores of interesting rubrical
information, interspersed with verses and prayers, are to be
found in the De Libris Liturgicis and the Divina Psalmodia;
recent advances in liturgical studies, however, have somewhat
lessened their value. The De Discretione Spirituum treats of
certain higher phases of mysticism; the Via Compendii ad Deum
was well translated in 1876 by Henry Collins, O. Cist., under the
title of An Easy Way to God. Sir Roger L’Estrange’s translation
(The Guide to Heaven, 1680) of the Manuductio ad Coelum was
reprinted in 1898, and a new edition of the Principia Vitae Christianae,
ed. by D. O’Connor, appeared in 1906. The devotional
treatise De Sacrificio Missae is the classical work in its
field (new edition by Ildephonsus Cummins, 1903).
The chief source for the life of Bona is the biography by the Cistercian abbot Bertolotti (Asti, 1677); the best modern study is by A. Ighina (Mondovi, 1874).
BONA (Bône), a seaport of Algeria, in 36° 53′ N., 7° 46′ E., on
a bay of the Mediterranean, chief town of an arrondissement
in the department of Constantine, 220 m. by rail W. of Tunis,
and 136 m. N.E. of Constantine. The town, which is situated at
the foot of the wooded heights of Edugh, is surrounded with a
modern rampart erected outside the old Arab wall, the compass
of which was found too small for its growth. Much of the old
town has been demolished, and its general character now is that
of a flourishing French city. The streets are wide and well laid
out, but some are very steep. Through the centre of the town
runs a broad tree-lined promenade, the Cours Jérôme-Bertagna,
formerly the Cours National, in which are the principal buildings—theatre, banks, hotels. At its southern end, by the quay, is a
bronze statue of Thiers, and at the northern end, the cathedral
of St Augustine, a large church built in quasi-Byzantine style.
In it is preserved a relic supposed to be the right arm of St
Augustine, brought from Pavia in 1842. The Grand Mosque,
built out of ruins of the ancient Hippo, occupies one side of
the chief square, the Place d’Armes. There are barracks with
accommodation for 3000 men, and civil and military hospitals.
The Kasbah (citadel) stands on a hill at the north-east of the
town. The inner harbour, covering 25 acres, is surrounded by
fine quays at which vessels drawing 22 ft. can be moored. Beyond
is a spacious outer harbour, built 1857–1868 and enlarged in
