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Latterly, improvement has been promoted by agricultural associations, annual premiums being given for the best specimens of live stock and the best productions of the soil. The Banffshire Agricultural Association has two shows yearly for all sorts of stock and produce and agri cultural implements, with premiums for superiority in various breeds of cattle, poultry, &c. The valued rental

of the county is now upwards of 224,250 sterling.

The manufactures of Banffshire are very unimportant, the inhabitants being principally engaged in agriculture and the rearing of cattle. The salmon-fishery is actively prosecuted on the rivers, and herring and other fisheries on the coast. Distilling is largely carried on in Glenlivet and other places ; and there is a woollen factory at Keith.

Banffshire was the scene of many bloody conflicts between the Scots and their Danish invaders. From 1624 to 1645 it was the theatre of almost incessant struggles, and the Covenanting troubles of that period, com bined with the frequent conflicts of the clans, were pro ductive of serious evils. Several remains of antiquity are pointed out in different parts of the country, such as the sculptured stone at Mortlach, and the churches of Cullen and Fordyce Ruins of castles and traces of encampments are often to be met with, and a great number of cairns and tumuli are also found. Among the distinguished men whom Bauffshire has produced, the following may be men tioned : Archbishop Sharp of St Andrews ; George Baird, distinguished for his services as sheriff of the county during the time of the Covenanters ; Thomas Ruddiman, the grammarian ; Walter Goodall, the defender of Mary Queen of Scots ; Dr Alexander Geddes ; aud James Ferguson, the astronomer. The population of the county in 1861 and in 1871 was as follows:—

1861 1S71 HOUSES -i Inhabited. Uninhab. Building 11,091 318 92 11,603 370 80 Male 23,000 29,367 Female. 31,215 32,656 Total. 59,215 62,023

See Robertson s Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen and Banff, Spalding Club ; Shaw s History of the Province of Moray; Cordiner s Antiquities of the North of Scotland; and various statistical accounts of Banffshire.

BANGALORE, the administrative capital and most important town of the chief commissionership of Mysore, alsj a large military cantonment, situated in 12 3 58 X. lat., and 77 38 E. long. In 1872 the total population of the Bangalore municipality amounted to 191,300; municipal income in 1872-73, 19,090; expenditure, 17,496; average rate of taxation, 2s. per head of the population. For the protection of the town, a municipal police, consisting of 22 officers and 124 men, was maintained in 1872-73, at a total cost of 2756. Bangalore commands the pro vince of Mysore from a military point of view. The eleva tion of the district on which it stands renders it healthy for English troops ; and a large European and Native force is quartered at the military cantonment, the Native force in 1872-73 consisting of six regiments of cavalry, number ing 2095 officers and men, and four regiments of infantry, numbering 2149 officers and men. The principal institution of the town is the Bangalore High School or Central College for the province, attended by between four and five hundred pupils. The average annual charge of educating each pupil in 1872-73 was 3, 4s. 6d, of which 2, 3s. 9d. was con tributed by the state. Mr Thornton thus writes regarding the history of the town:—

The foundation of the present fort was laid by a descendant of Kemps-Goud, a husbandman of the neighbouring country, who, probably in the 16th century, had left his native village to avoid the tyranny of the wadcyar of that place, and settled on a spot a few miles to the north of Bangalore. To the peaceful occupation of a farmer lie added that of a warrior, and his first exploit was the con quest of this place, where, and at Savendrug, his family subsequently erected fortresses. Bangalore, with other possessions, was, however, wrested from them by Bijapur. Somewhat later we find it enume rated among the jdgirs of Shaliji, father of Sivaji, the founder of the Marhattd sway ; and at an early period of his career in the service of the Bijapur state, that adventurer seemed to have fixed his residence there. It appears to have passed into the possession of Venkoji, one of the sons of Shahji ; but he having occupied Tanjor, deemed Bangalore too distant, especially under the circumstances of the times, to be safe. He accordingly, in 1687, entered into a bargain for its sale to Chik Deo, Raja of Mysore, for three lacs of rupees ; but before it could be completed, Kasim Khan, commander of the forces of Aurangzeb, marched upon the place, and entered it almost without resistance. This event, however, had no other result than to transfer the stipulated price from one vendor to another ; for that general, not coveting the possession, immediately delivered it over to Chik Deo on payment of the three lacs. In 1758, Nanjiraj, the powerful minister of the Raja, caused Bangalore to be granted, as ajagir or fief, to Haidar All, afterwards usurper of Mysore, who greatly enlarged and strengthened the fort, which, in 1760, on his expulsion from Seringapatam, served as his refuge from destruction. In 1791 it was stormed by a British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis.

The subsequent history of Bangalore belongs to the general events of Mysore, the province of which it forms the political capital. Bangalore is now one of the hand somest English stations in India, with noble public build ings, spacious and artistically laid out gardens, broad smooth roads, well-supervised bazaars, and a good water supply. The markets display almost every sort of English and Indian fruit or vegetable. Bangalore forms the resi dence of the chief commissioner of Mysore and the principal officers of his administration, and is well worthy of its place as the political and military capital of the province.

BANGKOK, a city of Siam, which was raised to the

rank of capital in 1769. It is situated on both sides of the River Menam, about 20 miles from the sea, in lat. 13 38 N. and long. 100 34 E. The river is navigable to the city for vessels of 350 tons, but there is a bar at its mouth, which at the lowest ebbs has only six feet of water, and at no time has more than fourteen. The general appearance of Bangkok is very striking, alike from its extent, the strange architecture of its more important buildings, and the luxuriant greenness of the trees with which it is profusely interspersed. The streets are in many cases traversed by canals, and the houses raised on piles, while a large part of the population dwell in floating houses moored along the river sides in tiers three or four deep. The nucleus of the city on the eastern bank is surrounded by a wall 30 feet high, and 10 or 12 feet thick, relieved by numerous towers and bastions ; but the rest of the city stretches irregularly for full seven miles along each side of the river, and in some places attains nearly as great a breadth, the Menam itself being about a quarter of a mile across. All the ordinary buildings are composed of wood or bamboo work ; but the temples and palaces are of more solid construction, and are gorgeously ornamented. The spires, and in some cases the whole edifices, are covered with gilding, or many-coloured mosaic of the most grotesque description, while the roofs are adorned with fantastic ridges and gables. In all there are upwards of a hundred temples in the city and suburbs. The palace of the " First King " is enclosed by high white walls, which are about a mile in circumference. It consists of a large number of different buildings for various purposes temples, public offices, seraglios, the stalls for the sacred elephant, and accommo dation for thousands of soldiers, cavalry, artillery, and war elephants, an arsenal, a theatre, &c. The hall of audience, in which the throne of the king stands, is situated in the middle of the principal court. The temples are of great richness, floored with mats of silver, and stored with monu ments and relics. In one of them is a famous jasper statue of Buddha, The population of the city is of various nationalities, Burmese, Peguans, Cambodians, Cochin-

Chinese, Malays, Indo-Portuguese, and others, besides the