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only commercial routes. A large trade is carried on with Upper Burmah by the Irrawaddy, on which river as many as 25,000 native boats are employed. It is also navigated by a considerable number of European steamers, one of which in 1869 reached a point above Mandalay.
BURMANN, the name of a Dutch family distinguished for learning. I. Franciscus, born at Leyden in 1628, died in 1679. The son of a Protestant minister who had been driven from France, he officiated as professor of theology at Utrecht, and became known by his writings, especially by his commentaries on the Old Testament. II. Pieter, son of the preceding, born at Utrecht, July 6, 1668, died in Leyden, March 31, 1741. He studied under Grævius and Gronovius, received his diploma of doctor at law in 1688, travelled extensively, gained distinction in his profession, and was successively professor of eloquence, history, Greek, and politics at Utrecht, and afterward at Leyden, where he was twice rector of the university, and became professor of the history of the United Provinces and of poetry, and keeper of the university library. His editions of Latin classics and of the works of George Buchanan gained for him a great reputation. He also published treatises on Roman antiquities and on the revenues of the Roman people, a dissertation on the Jupiter Fulgurator, the epistles of Gudius and other scholars, and a more elaborate work of the same kind, entitled Sylloge Epistolarum (5 vols., Leyden, 1727), which is of great usefulness from its literary anecdotes and critical disquisitions. He was frequently engaged in controversies with many of his learned contemporaries. His life was written by Dr. Johnson, who says of him that “if reputation be estimated by usefulness, he may claim a higher degree in the ranks of learning than some others of happier elocution or more vigorous imagination.” In the “Dunciad,” however, Burmann's name is coupled with those of several other scholars satirized by Pope. III. Pieter, nephew of the preceding, born in Amsterdam in October, 1713, died June 24, 1778. In 1735 he became professor of eloquence, history, and poetry at Franeker. In 1742 he was transferred to the Athenæum of Amsterdam, where he also taught Greek and officiated as librarian. He inherited the controversial disposition and also the literary tastes of his uncle, and published editions of Virgil, Aristophanes, and other classic authors, and four books of original Latin poetry.
BURMEISTER, Hermann, a German naturalist, born at Stralsund, Jan. 15, 1807. He studied medicine at Greifswald and Halle, and in 1830 went to Berlin to qualify himself to be a teacher of natural history. He was soon after appointed an instructor in the gymnasium at Cologne, and in 1842 became professor of zoölogy in the university of Halle. In 1848 he was a deputy from Halle to the national assembly of Frankfort, and afterward a representative from Liegnitz in the first Prussian chamber, where he took his seat among the liberals. In 1850-'51 he made a scientific journey in Brazil. Upon his return to Europe he resumed his professorship at Halle, again travelled in South America from 1856 to 1860, and in 1861, after another year's stay in Halle, resigned his professorship and became director of the museum of natural history established by him at Buenos Ayres. His principal works are: Grundriss der Naturgeschichte (Berlin, 1833; 9th ed., 1857); Handbuch der Naturgechichte (1837); Zoologischer Handatlas (1835-'43; 2d ed., 1858-'60); Handbuch der Entomologie (5 vols., 1832-'55); Genera Insectorum (9 parts, 1833-'46); Die Organisation der Trilobiten (1843); Die Labyrinthodonten (3 parts, 1849-'50); Geschichte der Schöpfung (Leipsic, 1843; 6th ed., 1856); Geologische Bilder zur Geschichte der Erde und ihrer Bewohner (2 vols., 1851-'3; 2d ed., 1855); Zoonomische Briefe (2 vols., 1856); and several works on the natural history of Brazil, &c., and his travels in South America.
BURNAP, George Washington, D. D., an American
clergyman, born in Merrimack, N. H.,
Nov. 30, 1802, died in Philadelphia, Sept. 8,
1859. He graduated at Harvard college in
1824, and in 1828 was ordained pastor of the
first Independent church in Baltimore, where
Jared Sparks had preceded him, and which
position he retained till his death. In 1849 he
received the degree of D. D. from Harvard college.
He was a voluminous writer, chiefly on theoloogical
and controversial subjects. His principal
works are: “Lectures on the Doctrines in
Controversy between Unitarians and other Denominations
of Christians” (1835); “Lectures on the
History of Christianity” (1842); “Expository
Lectures on the principal Texts of the Bible
which relate to the Doctrine of the Trinity”
(1845); “Lectures to Young Men on the
Cultivation of the Mind,” &c. (1848); “Lectures
on the Sphere and Duties of Woman” (1849);
“Lectures on the Doctrines of Christianity”
(1850); “Christianity, its Essence and
Evidence” (1855); and a life of Leonard Calvert,
the first governor of Maryland, in Sparks's
“American Biography.”
BURNES, Sir Alexander, a British geographer and diplomatist, born at Montrose, Scotland, May 16, 1805, assassinated in Cabool, Nov. 2, 1841. His father was first cousin to Robert Burns. At the age of 16 he joined the Indian army at Bombay as cadet. He was appointed interpreter and translator in Surat, from his proficiency in Hindostanee and Persian, Dec. 25, 1822. In November, 1825, he became Persian interpreter to the army for the invasion of Sinde, and in 1826 assistant to the political agent at Cutch. In 1830 he went to Lahore, the capital of the Punjaub, ostensibly in charge of a present of horses from William IV. to Runjeet Singh, but really to obtain accurate knowledge of the geography of the Indus. He surveyed the mouths of that river and made a map of the lower part of its course, and followed up this mission by an expedition into
