Bashi-Bazouks

“ Ba`shan, a fertile and pastoral district in NE. Palestine of considerable extent, and at one time densely peopled; the men of it were remarkable for their stature.
Bashahr, a native hill state in the Punjab, traversed by the Sutlej; tributary to the British Government.
Bashi-Bazouks`, irregular, undisciplined troops in the pay of the Sultan; rendered themselves odious by their brutality in the Bulgarian atrocities of 1876, as well as, more or less, in the time of the Crimean war.
Bashkirs, originally a Finnish nomad race (and still so to some extent) of E. Russia, professing Mohammedanism ”

“ The cause of the rising in the Soudan is the cause of all popular risings against Turkish rule, wherever they have occurred. No one who has been in a Turkish province, and has witnessed the results of the Bashi-Bazouk system, which excited so much indignation some time ago in Bulgaria, will need to be told why the people of the Soudan have risen in revolt against the Khedive. The Turks, the Circassians, and the Bashi-Bazouks have plundered and oppressed the people in the Soudan, as they plundered and oppressed them in the Balkan peninsula. Oppression begat discontent ”

“ Their religion enjoins them to sobriety, and as a race they are brave, truthful and kindly, and I never met one authentic instance in which an act of cruelty was chargeable to the men of the regular forces. The hordes of Bashi-Bazouks, of Smyrniotes and Tripolites were of course a set of most unspeakable ruffians, and there are probably no more deplorable specimens of human nature in the world than are to be found among the Paris-bred spawn of the harem. ”

“ On another day his attention is attracted by a raid that has been made by the irregulars connected with the army, ending in a skirmish with the Servians, and a return laden with plunder, consisting of goats, cattle, and horses. He ends up with a pithy memorandum that the Bashi-Bazouks receive no pay, so make the surrounding country keep up their supplies.
With regard to the food supplies of the regulars, it seems that every Turk carries a leathern pouch which contains ground coffee and sugar, so that with a little bread and water they can get on pretty well. ”

“ At the word of the Consul a band of Bashi-Bazouks would swoop down on the defaulting villagers, eat their food, lie in their beds, insult their wives and daughters, until the usurer was satisfied. Should the villagers be unable to pay, they were not only evicted, but driven like cattle to prison, there to rot till they had paid the uttermost farthing. Burton did not like the business. ”

“ Hicks' application was for 6,000 men, who, he begged, should be sent in time to enable him to commence operations as soon as the rainy season should be over.
The Egyptian Government, on the 11th of June, decided to despatch 3,000 men as reinforcements; 600 of these were Bashi-Bazouks, [239] and 1,800 were old soldiers who had been rejected by General Baker as unfit for the reorganized army. ”

“ A number of men sitting on the floor represented by their haughty aspect and magnificent physique the royalty of the Ishmaelite descent from Abraham. This Khan said that his tribe could put 3000 fighting men into the field, but it was obvious that its independence is broken, and that these tribal warriors are reckoned as Osmanli irregulars or Bashi Bazouks. ”

“ On the whole the Turkish peasant, though not a model of virtue, is a good sort of man, and would be much better if he had not the habit in times of national trouble to take upon him the name of Bashi-Bazouk, and to transform himself into a ruffian.
Turks, generally speaking, prefer town to country life; for in towns they enjoy more frequent opportunities of indulging in that dolce far niente which has become an integral part of the Turkish character and has entirely routed his original nomadic disposition. ”

“ Hitherto, the Shah reflected, he seemed to be more in Bajazet’s power than Bajazet in his. A change must be made, and he must no longer treat him as a guest, but chain him like a wild beast. Nor would this be difficult to accomplish, if his troops were first dispersed, and he were then surprised and seized himself, when none of his men could help him. It was obvious that he could not be captured in open fight without much bloodshed. The Persian troops were enervated by a long peace, and were not concentrated; Bajazet’s, on the other hand, were on the spot, ready for action, and well drilled. ”

“ In the autumn an expedition to the ruins of Baalbec was undertaken, and at Beyrout, on the way home, a servant brought the news that a Zâym, or Capugi Bashi, [Footnote: Nominally a door-keeper, according to Dr. Meryon, but actually a Turkish official of high rank.] was at that town on his road to Sayda, and was reported to be going to capture Lady Hester, and carry her to Constantinople. Her ladyship received the announcement with her usual composure, and it turned out that she had long expected the Capugi Bashi, and knew the object of his visit. ”

“ Faith, France gave herself to him, like a handsome girl to a lancer, and the Pope and all his cardinals in robes of red and gold come across the Alps on purpose to anoint him before the army and the people, who clap their hands.
There is one thing that it would be very wrong to keep back from you. While he was in Egypt, in the desert not far away from Syria, the Red Man had appeared to him on the mountain of Moses, in order to say, "Everything is going on well." ”

“ The Basuto are a fine, well-proportioned race, though as a rule the men are not so tall nor so well-built as the Zulus.
They are of a soft brown colour, with less protruding lips, and more regular features than the Colonial Kaffir, and with far pleasanter expressions; graceful and upright, with considerable intelligence, and remarkably amiable. As a nation they are wonderfully honest and trustworthy. They are far more "tillers of the soil" than men of battle, preferring to live at peace with their neighbours to treading the war path. ”

“ Quoth the Shaykh, “O my son, come up into the shop, lest thou perish.” So Badr Basim went up into the shop and sat down; whereupon the old man set before him somewhat of food, saying, “O my son, enter the inner shop; glory be to Him who hath preserved thee from yonder she-Sathanas!” King Badr Basim was sore affrighted at the grocer’s words; but he ate his fill and washed his hands; then glanced at his host and said to him, “O my lord, what is the meaning of these words? Verily thou hast made me fearful of this city and its folk.” ”

“ For, without doubt, he will one day be the Ruin of us all. These wild Discourses coming to Sagthamas’s Ears, put him upon a Project more necessary than plausible; for Bajazet had not many Forces, but very warlike ones; and there were many valiant Men among them that were ready to attempt any Invasion, and therefore he had reason to fear. He was conscious, also, that he had added new Kingdoms to his own, as being conquer’d on pretence of Religion ”

“ But Bausi was not at all moved; indeed, he seemed to view these poetic proposals with the darkest suspicion.
"Give up killing our people or capturing them to be sacrificed to your White Devil, and then in a year or two we may listen to your words that are smeared with honey," he said. "As it is, we think that they are but a trap to catch flies. Still, if there are any of our councillors willing to visit your Motombo and your Kalubi and hear what they have to propose, taking the risk of whatever may happen to them there, I do not forbid it. ”

“ Bassus maintained, sadly, "no extenuation even, for a commander who loses a whole squadron of warships to an inferior enemy and is himself the sole survivor. And if there were anything to be said in my favor it would have no weight. I must be made an example of. There is no use trying to deceive our minds. I go to death. My only chance is one of his whims. It is a small chance. Let us hope till the end. But even if death is a certainty for me, let us not forget what we have to rejoice over." ”

“ From the striker king-post, were suspended ropes of climbers to which men could apply their strength and direction. Like a battering ram, this king-post could be driven end-onward against the mighty red-iridescent sphere.
Here was where Ngurn officiated and functioned religiously for himself and the twelve tribes under him. Bassett laughed aloud, almost with madness, at the thought of this wonderful messenger, winged with intelligence across space, to fall into a bushman stronghold and be worshipped by ape-like, man-eating and head- hunting savages. ”

“ This unnecessary Discussion (said they) may be compass’d without Blood; neither are we to be forc’d to sheath our Swords in one another’s Bowels: As for Bajazet, he is forced to do what he doth, in a way of Self-preservation.
When these Rumours came to Solyman’s Ears, he sent for the Mufti (the High-Priest of the Turks, from whom, as from an Oracle, they expect Answers to their Doubts) and puts a Case to him in these Terms.
“How ought that Man to be dealt with, who durst disturb the Peace of the Empire, by taking Towns, and raising Men and Money, while he was alive? ”

“ But, in the east Telugu country, only the Asādhi, Beinēni, and Pambala people do so. A Basavi can never be widowed, and people say they are consecrated to the God. Consequently, their life, though a life of sin, is not considered so by the Gods. Yet by a strange inconsistency, men consorting with Basavis are immediately branded as loose men. The first few years of a Basavi's life are full of profit, and it is probably for this reason that parents are willing thus to sacrifice their daughters. ”

“ There are unquestionably primitive traits in Bhāsa’s art; he uses with dangerous freedom the device by which some one departs and returns straightway, to narrate what must have taken long to happen; thus in the Abhiṣekanāṭaka, Çan̄kukarṇa is bidden send a thousand men against Hanumant; he departs at once, to return and tell that they have fallen. Free use is made also, as in the epic, of magic weapons in the conflict, as in the battle of Duryodhana and Kṛṣṇa in the Dūtavākya. So also in the Madhyamavyāyoga we find Ghaṭotkaca employing his magic power to produce water from a rock ”

“ As well as basha every city has its kadi, or judge of civil law, who settles all questions of land, of grants, divorces, etc.
We visited the Court of Civil Justice at Tetuan, a tiny room, carpeted with yellow matting, where the white-haired kadi, attired in white, sat like a magnificent white rabbit on a large red cushion on the floor, beside him a table six inches high, with learned-looking books, ink, parchment, and thin slips of wood for pens.
Below the basha or kaid come sheikhs (village elders) , who may be called gentlemen farmers. ”

“ Anyone with intelligence will infer many lessons from within our words, how to flee from the Bitachon of the Sitra Achra which is contrary to the teachings of the Torah, and strengthen himself in holy Bitachon regardless of his (opinion of his) level, as mentioned above (Ibid.)
BUSHAH - Bashfulness 1. A person needs to have a great bashfulness (l'hitbayyesh) before Hashem Yitbarakh; to never act against His will, God forbid, and all the more so, not commit a mistake or transgression, God forbid. So Bushah, bashfulness is a very great virtue, for the root of Yir'ah, fear, is Bushah. ”

“ They have many privileges above all the natural Turks themselves, and have formed a very comfortable commonwealth here, being judged by their own laws. They have drawn the whole trade of the empire into their hands, partly by the firm union amongst themselves, partly by the idle temper and want of industry of the Turk. Every Bassa has his Jew, who is his homme d’affaires; he is let into all his secrets and does all his business. ”

“ I exalted thee out of the dust to the throne of glory, a great instance of the divine sovereignty and power, 1 Sam. ii. 8. Baasha seemed to have raised himself by his own treachery and cruelty, yet there was a hand of Providence in it, to bring about God's counsel, concerning Jeroboam's house; and God's owning his advancement as his act and deed does by no means amount to the patronising of his ambition and treachery. It is God that puts power into bad men's hands, which he makes to serve his good purposes, notwithstanding the bad use they make of it. ”

“ Masuah was taken, and a basha established there soon after, as we have seen in the history, in the reign of Menas, when the Baharnagash, named Isaac, confederated with the Turkish basha, and ceded to him a great territory, part of his own government, and with it Dobarwa, the capital of his province, divided only by the river Mareb from Tigré. ”

“ Why (said they, reasoning among themselves) should his Father abdicate a Son that is his express Image? Why should he prefer his slothful, pot-bellied Brother, that has nothing of his Father’s Disposition in him? As for Bajazet’s taking Arms, Necessity forces him to it, and therefore, he is not to be blamed; for did not Selimus, his Grandfather, do the same? ”

“ Once you said, as we were listening to the Prayer in Mose in Egitto, 'For some it is the monotony of a single note; for others, it is the infinite of sound.' Remember that I am expecting you this evening to take me to Mme. de Beauseant's ball. Every one knows now that the King signed M. d'Ajuda's marriage-contract this morning, and the poor Vicomtesse knew nothing of it until two o'clock this afternoon. All Paris will flock to her house, of course, just as a crowd fills the Place de Greve to see an execution. ”

“ BASHKIRS, a people inhabiting the Russian governments of Ufa, Orenburg, Perm and Samara, and parts of Vyatka, especially on the slopes and confines of the Ural, and in the neighbouring plains. They speak a Tatar language, but some authorities think that they are ethnically a Finnish tribe transformed by Tatar influence. The name Bashkir or Bash-kûrt appears for the first time in the beginning of the 10th century in the writings of Ibn-Foslan, who, describing his travels among the Volga-Bulgarians, mentions the Bashkirs as a warlike and idolatrous race. ”