BISMYA

This article appears in Volume V04, Page 12 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BER-BLA

BISMYA , a group of ruin mounds, about r m. long and z m. wide, consisting of a number of low ridges, nowhere exceeding 40 ft."in height, lying in the Jezireh, somewhat nearer to the

Tigris

TIGRIS (Old Persian Tigrd, Diklat of the cuneiform inscriptions, Hiddekel of the Old Testament, Diglath of the Targum, Digla of the Arabs)

than the Euphrates, about a day's journey to the south-east of Nippur, a little below 32 N. and about 45 40' E. Excavations conducted here for six months,'from Christmas of 1903 to June 19041 for the university of Chicago, by Dr Edgar J. Banks, proved that these mounds covered the site of the ancient city of Adab (Ud-Nun), hitherto known only from a brief mention of its name in the introduction to the Khammurabi code (c. 2250 B.c.). The city was divided into two parts by a canal, on an island in which stood the temple, E-mach, with a ziggurat, or stage tower. It was evidently once a city of considerable importance, butdeserted at a very early period, since the ruins found close to the surface of the mounds belong to Dungi and Ur Gur, kings of Ur in the earlier part' of the third millennium B.C. Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found the remains of Naram-Sin and Sar-gon, c. 3000 B.C. Below these there were still 35 ft. of stratified remains, constituting seven-eighths of the total depth of the ruins. Besides the remains of buildings, walls,

graves

GRAVES, ALFRED PERCEVAL (1846— )

, &c.; Dr Banks discovered a large number of inscribed clay tablets of a very early period, bronze and stone tablets, bronze implements and the like. But the two most notable discoveries were a complete statue in white marble, apparently the most ancient yet found in Babylonia (now in the museum in Constantinople), bearing the inscription-" E-mach, King Da-udu, King of, Ud-Nun "; and a temple refuse heap, consisting of great quantities of fragments of vases in marble, alabaster, onyx,,

porphyry

PORPHYRY (IlopcPisptos) (A.D. 233-c. 304)

and granite, some of which were inscribed, and others engraved and inlaid with ivory and precious stones. (J. P. PE.)
" BISON, the name of the one existing species of European wild ox, Bos (Bison) bonasus, known in Russian as zubr. Together with the nearly allied New World animal known in Europe as the (North) American bison, but in its own country as " buffalo," and scientifically as Bos (Bison) bison, the bison represents a
group of the ox tribe distinguished from other species by the greater breadth and convexity of the forehead, superior length of limb, and the longer spinal processes of the dorsal vertebrae, which, with the powerful muscles attached for the support of the massive head, form a protuberance or hump on the shoulders. The bisons have also fourteen pairs of ribs, while the common ox has only thirteen. The forehead and neck of both species are covered with long, shaggy

hair

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

of a dark brown colour; and in winter the whole of the neck, shoulders and hump are similarly clothed, so as to form a curly, felted mane. This mane in the European species disappears in summer; but in the American bison it is to a considerable extent persistent.
The bison is now the largest European quadruped, measuring about 10 ft. long, exclusive of the tail, and

standing

STANDING

nearly 6 ft. high. Formerly it was abundant throughout Europe, as is proved by the fossil remains of this or a closely allied form found on the continent and in. England, associated with those of the extinct mammoth and rhinoceros. Caesar mentions the bison as abounding, along with the extinct aurochs or wild ox, in the forests of Germany and Belgium, where it appears to have been occasionally captured and afterwards exhibited alive in the Roman amphitheatres. At that period, and long after, it seems to have been common throughout central Europe, as we learn from the evidence of Ilerberstein in the 16th century. Nowadays bison are found in a truly wild condition only in the forests of the Caucasus, where they are specially protected by the Russian government. There is, however, a herd, somewhat in the condition of park-animals, in the forest of Byelovitsa, in Lithuania; where it is protected by the tsar, but nevertheless is gradually dying out. In '862 the Lithuanian bisons numbered over 1200, but by 1872 they had diminished to 528, and in 1892 there were only 491. The prince of Pless . has a small herd at Promnitz, his Silesian estate, founded by the

gift

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

of a

bull

and three cows by Alexander II. in 1855, his herd being the source of the menagerie

supply

SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

.
Bison feed on a coarse aromatic grass, and browse on the leaves, shoots, bark and twigs of trees:
The American bison is distinguished from its European

cousin

by the following among other features: The hind-quarters are weaker and fall away more suddenly, while the withers are proportionately higher. Especially characteristic is the great mass of brown or blackish brown

hair

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

clothing the head, neck and forepart of the

body

BODY

. The shape of the skull and horns is also different; The horns themselves being shorter, thicker, blunter and more sharply curved, while the forehead of the skull is more convex and the sockets of the eyes are more distinctly tubular. This species formerly ranged over a third of North America in countless numbers, but is now practically extinct. The great herd was separated into a northern and
southern division by the completion of the Union Pacific railway, and the annual rate of destruction from 187o to 1875 has been estimated at 2,500,000 head. In 188o the completion of the Northern Pacific railway led to an attack upon the northern herd. The last of the Dakota bisons were destroyed by Indians in 1883, leaving then less than t000 wild individuals in the United States.
A count which was concluded at the end of February 1903, put the number of captive bisons at 1119, of which 969 were in parks and zoological gardens in the United States, 41 in Canada and 109 in Europe. At the same time it was estimated that there were 34 wild bison in the United States and 600 in Canada.
In England small herds are kept by the duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, and by Mr C. J. Leyland at Haggerston Castle, Northumberland.
Two races of the American bison have been distinguishedthe typical prairie form, and the woodland race, B. bison athabascae; but the two are very similar. (R. L.*)

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