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See also:BANKA (BANCA, BANGKA)
, an See also:island of the Dutch See also:East Indies, off the east See also:coast of See also:Sumatra, from which it is separated by See also:Banka Strait, which is about 9 M. wide at its narrowest point
.
On the east, the broader, island-studded Gaspar Strait separates Banka from See also:Billiton
.
Banka is 138 M. in length; its, extreme breadth is 62 m., and its See also:area, including a few small adjacent islands, 44.6o
' See A
.
H
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See also:Nassau+See also:Kennedy, I.S.M., See also:Banjo-Plectring
.
2 For the commercial " See also:bank " see See also:BANKS AND BANKING
.
sq. m
.
The See also:soil is generally dry and stony, and the greater See also:part of the See also:surface is covered with forests, in which the See also:logwood See also:tree especially abounds
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The hills, of which Maras in the See also:north is the highest (2760 ft.), are covered with vegetation to their summits
.
Geologically, Banka resembles the See also:Malay See also:Peninsula, its formations being mainly See also:granite, See also:Silurian and Devonian See also:slate, frequently covered with See also:sandstone, See also:laterite (red ironstone See also:clay) of small fertility, and See also:alluvium
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The granite extends from W.N.W. to S.S.E., forming the See also:short, irregular See also: There are no volcanoes . The See also:chief rivers Gering, Kotta and Waringin) are navigable for some 19 M. from their mouths and are used for the transport of See also:tin . Banka is principally noted for the See also:production of this See also:mineral, which was discovered here in 1710 and is a See also:government monopoly_ It occurs in lodes and as stream-tin, and is worked by See also:Chinese in large See also:numbers who inhabit villages of their owns . The island is divided into nine See also:mining districts, including about 120 mines, under government See also:control, with 12,000 workmen, which have produced as much as 12,000 tons of tin in a See also:year . From May to See also:August, the See also:period of.the See also:south-east See also:monsoon, the See also:climate of Banka is dry and hot; but the mean See also:annual rainfall reaches 120 in. annually, See also:rain occurring on an See also:average on 168 days each year . The wet, cool See also:season proper is from See also:November to See also:February, accompanying the north-west monsoon . The heavy, rainfall is of See also:great importance to the tin-streaming See also:industry . The See also:total See also:population of the island (1905) is 115,189, including 40,000 Chinese and 70,000 natives . These last are mainly composed of immigrant Malayan peoples . The See also:aborigines are represented by a few See also:rude hill-tribes, who resemble in physique the See also:Battas of Sumatra . See also:Rice, See also:pepper, See also:gambier, See also:coffee and palms are cultivated, and fishing and the collection of See also:forest produce are further See also:industries, but none of these is of importance . The chief See also:town is Muntok at the north end of Banka Strait .
See H
.
Zondervan, Banka en Zijne bewoners (See also:Amsterdam, 1895), with bibliography; T
.
Posewitz, See also:Die Zinn-inseln See also:im Indischen Ocean
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For See also:geology and the tin-mines, Jaarboek vor het Mijnwezen in Ned
.
Ind
.
(Amsterdam, 1877-1884)
.
BANKER-MARKS, or MASONS' MARKS
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The " banker " is the See also: Norman tooling, so far as Hayter Lewis could discover, came from the north. and west of See also:Europe . Since then we get marks made with a " toothed See also:chisel," but however or wherever chiselled the intention was the same . The See also:system followed provided an infallible means of connecting the individual craftsman with his work, an See also:evidence of identity that could not be gainsaid . Naturally, because of their simplicity, certain designs were followed much more frequently than others, while occasionally some of a very elaborate See also:character are to be detected . Undoubtedly not a few were suggestive of the See also:initials of the names of the masons, and others were reminiscent of certain animals, See also:objects, &c., but no See also:proof has yet been offered of their being alphabetical in See also:design, or arranged so as to distinguish. the members of. different lodges or companies; the journeymen selected any design they cared to adopt . Singular to See also:state, marks were chosen by gentlemen and others X who joined the operative masonic lodges of the 16th and later centuries, and they were as carefully registered in the See also:mark-books as those selected by operatives for trade purposes . The same marks are to be seen in the registers used by fathers and sons, and not always with a slight difference, as some have stated, to secure See also:identification . What should be noted also is that other trades used precisely similar marks and for a like See also:object, so that the See also:idea of their having a mystical meaning, or being utilized for any other object but the one named, seems groundless . The See also:late See also:George See also:Godwin, F.R.S., F.S.A., &c., See also:drew See also:attention to the subject of " masons' marks in various countries" in a communication to the Society of Antiquaries in 1841, and also at a little later period (vide Archaeologia, vol. See also:xxx. p . 113) . To him is the See also:credit due of first See also:drawing attention to " these signs " in England . It is noteworthy how little such marks are noticed, even in buildings which are visited by archaeologists quite frequently, until a few are pointed out, and then they meet the See also:eye to an astonishing number .
In the Sessional Papers, 1868-1869, of the Royal See also:Institute of See also:British Architects, No
.
9, may be found numerous samples of the marks from various parts of Europe in See also:illustration of the See also:paper by Godwin
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No better See also:plan has been followed in See also:modern times to connect the work done with the worker in stone, and it is probable that a second mark, observable on some blocks, may serve to indicate the overseer
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There are even three or more sometimes
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The same system was adopted at the See also:building of See also:Truro See also:cathedral, only the marks were inserted on the bed of each stone instead of at the See also:side as usual, the result being that they ceased to be seen after being placed in situ
.
Mr Hughan obtained copies of these marks from Mr See also: The latter declares that " the Runic theory is as unlikely and as untenable as that which places the origin of these marks in the absurd alphabets given by See also:Cornelius See also:Agrippa, who died early in the 16th century." See also:Victor See also:Didron copied some 4000 during a tour in France in 1836 and pointed out their value (See also:Ann . See also:Arch., 1845) . (\V . J . |
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