the events directly from the original books into the ledger | very outset, strongly imbued with the feeling, that as his art without the dilatory intervention of a journal.

The writer of this article has for many years been in the habit of employing a method which combines the quickness of single entry, as it regards the personal accounts, with the satisfaction of double entry, as it regards the entire body of the books. He considers this combined method' well worthy of the attention of all who either as principals or book-keepers are interested in the accounts of any extensive business. By the method here alluded to a summary ledger is kept, and this is the only ledger that has a journal attached to it. These two books, namely the summary journal and summary ledger, are devoted exclusively to the impersonal accounts, together with the bankers', travellers', and other personal accounts of that nature. The results are collected into the journal from the subsidiary books at convenient periods, whether weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. According to this method the debts contracted, by the supposition above, for Iron, Premises, and Stable, would be placed respectively to the credit of the parties in the bought ledger, as soon as the accounts could be examined and passed. On the other hand, every payment made against the purchases, whether by cash, by bills receivable, or by bills payable, would be charged to the proper personal account in the bought ledger at the very moment of making the payment. By this plan the bought ledger is made to exhibit the state of every account it contains, and may be referred to at any time, with the certainty of finding the last event recorded. This is the advantage of single entry, that there is no journal to obstruct the progress of the record which arrives instantaneously at its ultimate destination, and appears without delay in its proper place, namely the personal account to which it relates.

The summary journal, in registering these same purchases, throws away all consideration of particular persons, except for clearness of reference, by raising a single account comprehending them all under the general name of bought ledger, thus

452 8 6 63 14 10 3690 18 4

The severance of these personal from the impersonal, with a separate ledger allotted to each, will be found extremely valuable to those book-keepers to whom the contrivance may be new, and after a short experience they will feel it to be a decided advance in their professional knowledge to be possessed of a method which, without surrendering one jot of scientific certainty, carries forward the business of the day to immediate completion.

is perfect in principle, it only requires fixed and watchful habits of accuracy to render it perfect in practice.

The Balance Sheet, however useful to the book-keeper as a test of his accuracy, is far more important to his employers as a bird's-eye view of their affairs.

If, for example, the journal entries already given are properly posted into a ledger, they will result in the following balance sheet:

Upon the face of the balance-sheet, double entry speaks at once to the eye, and informs the parties interested not only of the amount of debt incurred, but the means of discharging it, by showing the property divided into proportions of saleable (iron), mortgageable (premises), and consumable (stable): thus distinguishing the effects into those which are more or less available and those which are unavailable for the discharge of immediate obligations.

If a short series of pro forma suppositions is added to the above, the value of the balance-sheet will be more distinctly seen in the strong and steady light it sheds upon the vital question of profit and loss.

Suppose, then, that the conductor of the business has sold out 40007. consols at 924 less brokerage that he has paid the proceeds directly into his banker's hands for the use of the business-that he has effected sales of 550 tons of iron at 5. 15s. per ton to a variety of customers-that he has received out of these accounts cash to the amount of 7581. 168., and 18 bills, amounting to 22327. 128., besides allowing 127. 128. in abatements and discount-that out of these cash receipts he has paid taxes 227. 108., other charges to the amount of 281. 15s. 6d., and his bankers 650.-that he has settled Chandler and Co's. demand by a check on his bankers for 631. 148., abating 10d.-that he has drawn checks for salaries and other charges to the amount of 55l. 178. 3d.-that he has accepted a bill addressed at his bankers at 2 months to Jones and Co. (No. 1) for 975l., deducting 24 per cent. in discharge of their demand-that 3174 150 he has accepted a bill (No. 2) at 6 months to Smith and Co. 12671. 10s., and another bill (No. 3) at the same date to Thompson and Co. 9071. 58., and another bill (No. 4) at 2 months to Carpenter and Co. 452l. 8s. 6d.—that the bills accepted at 2 months have fallen due and been regularly paid by the bankers, and that the two acceptances at 6 months are still running that he has compromised a debt of 28l. 14s. 6d. for 10s. in the pound, which he has received in cash, forming part of the above sum of 7581. 165. Suppose further that of the 18 bills receivable, No. 8 had fallen due and been received in cash, value 87. 148., and that six others, namely, 1, 4, 5, 12, 13, 16, amounting to 898/. 17s. 4d., paid short into the banker's, had fallen due and been regularly taken up in full by the acceptor, except Mr. Athelstan's, who, requiring the assistance of 55/., had 257. lent to him out of the cash, and a bill receivable (No. 7) for 301. Suppose also a horse to be bought, by check 357. The original entries recording the above transactions would be made as follows:-The sale of the consols and disposal of the proceeds would first appear in the summary journalthe sales of iron would be stated with particulars of date, person, quantity, and price in the sold day-book, according to the order of time, and the same facts would be carried forward into the sold ledger, according to the division of persons. The cash-book would show in the order of time the various sums received from the particular buyers, whose accounts would be immediately credited in the sold ledger. The bills-receivable book would give day by day the names of the buyers from whom each bill had been received, and show the page in the sold ledger where it had been carried to his credit. With regard to abatements and discounts, the sold ledger and the bought ledger should each have a sufficient number of folios set apart to contain a list of all such allowances regularly recorded at the time of their occurrence; and these allowances, under the names of discounts outwards' and 'discounts inwards, should be journalized at convenient periods in the summary journal. The bills-payable book would show the date and amount of each acceptance, with a reference to the folio in the bought ledger where each drawer has been debited,

With respect to the skill required in journalizing, that is to say, in assigning every occurrence to its proper account, it may here be remarked, that if motives of convenience or advantage are in any particular case sufficient to outweigh the evils which always follow upon too rainute a subdivision, the Iron account might be split into pig-iron and bar-iron, with a separate space in the ledger for each description of goods. So also the Stable expenses, instead of forming a separate head of account, might be made to take their place in the ledger as part of a more general account under the name of Trade Expenses; or, on the contrary, they might themselves be distributed into a variety of heads-such as hay, straw, oats, farriery, the ultimate effect upon the profit and loss being of course the same, but the means of watching and controlling the progress of particular outgoings being greatly facilitated.

After having posted his journal, the book-keeper avails himself of the first leisure to ascertain that his work is free from error, and with that view extracts all the balances from his ledger-technically called a balance-sheet. If he finds the total amount of all the debtor balances to agree exactly with the total amount of all the creditor balances, he has a presumptive though by no means a conclusive proof that his books are correct, since one or more errors on one side may happen to be precisely equal in amount to one or more errors on the other side. If, however, there is any difference between the totals, he is sure that error lurks somewhere. The young accountant should propose to himself nothing short of absolute truth as his standard, and should be, at his

These transactions, when digested in the journal, would to be 101 tons on hand-more or less there cannot be give rise to entries of the following effect:

would have been charged with it in a separate account under his own name.

So, where several partners are interested in any undertaking, the books are kept as if they were the books of one individual, each partner being debited or credited in his personal account, like a stranger, with all that he takes out or brings inwards. At the stock-taking the account of profit and loss is balanced by transferring to the private account of each partner his respective share.

In examining this new balance-sheet, the reader will have remarked that, in point of fact, each account represents the concern itself under different aspects, the debtor side forming an inventory of property so digested as to show at once what and where the several heads of property are, and the creditor side exhibiting the nature and amount of the demands upon the concern. The account of bills payable, for example, shows the amount which the concern is bound to provide for the satisfaction of claims which will be brought against it for actual payment; the account of consols shows the sum of money which the proprietor has embarked in this particular undertaking; and the account of profit and loss points out the amount of advantage he has derived from his transactions, provided all the accounts on the debtor side should realize the sums standing against them.

Another view suggested by this analysis of the new balance-sheet is, that although it may seem at first sight indifferent whether a man is his own debtor or his own creditor, since, in either case, he has no actual payment to provide for; yet in reality it makes an important difference to a trader at his stock-taking, whether he finds the account of profit and loss standing at the debtor or the creditor side of his balance-sheet; since on the debtor side it indicates the absence or destruction of property, and on the credit side it indicates the absence or destruction of obligation.

This is indeed the whole struggle. It is for profit that the labours, cares, and hazards of trade are encountered, and in books well kept the issue of the struggle is pointed out by this account of profit and loss. In the progress of the business sketched above more profits would accrue, and would swell the credit side of that account, but at the same time expenses and other inroads upon the property would likewise be going forward, and would ultimately array themselves under the several heads for which the concern would be its own debtor. The important question is on which side the preponderance shows itself.

At this point it may be advisable to admonish the young accountant not to be led away by a sophism which will frequently assail him, viz., that whether he keep his books by one method or another the result is the same. Whoever duly considers that the purpose of book-keeping is not only to ascertain the actual state of a concern, but to know what that state ought to be by virtue of all its transactions, will immediately see the impossibility of arriving at that complete knowledge by single entry. One example will make this clear. In weighing the iron, the quantity would be found as heavy by single as by double entry, but it is by double entry alone that you can know whether that quantity is the right one. If you wish for satisfaction, as you naturally must, on so interesting a point, double entry gives you at once, and upon system, that satisfaction which single entry drives you to obtain through the laborious uncertain process of picking out,' carrying within itself no principle of certainty, and harassing the mind with the consciousness of perpetual liability to error. Single entry is in fact little better than loose memorandums of account, valuable undoubtedly as far as they go, but so incomplete and disjointed, that they throw no useful light upon the past progress of affairs, and are utterly incapable of showing what the present facts ought to be.

means of a paved road. The town stands on the banks of the navigable river Rupel; it contains 1045 houses and 6223 inhabitants. A considerable trade is carried on between this place and Antwerp, Mechlin, and Brussels, which is much facilitated by the navigation of the Rupel and by the Brussels canal, which joins the Rupel, opposite to the town. Great numbers of bricks and tiles are made here; the building of vessels for river and canal navigation is also carried on; there are two large salt-refineries and seventeen breweries, besides distilleries, rope-walks, tanneries, and establishments for other manufactures. Boom supports two communal schools, in which sixty-five boys and eighty girls are taught. (Dic. Géog. de la Prov. d'Anvers, par Van der Maelen.)

BOOM-DAS. [HYRAX.]

BOONDEE, a principality in the S.E. quarter of Rajpootana, under the protection of the Anglo-Indian government, between which and the Rajah of Boondee, Bishen Sing Behauder, a treaty was concluded in February, 1818. The territory of Boondee formerly comprehended the petty state of Kotah, and with it occupied that division of the province of Ajmeer (Rajpootana) which is known as Harraoutee or Haravati, a name derived from the ruling family, who are of the Hara tribe. The boundaries of Boondee are Kotah on the S. and E., the frontier being about five miles from the river Chumbul; Jeypoor and Oonjara on the N., and Jajghur on the W.

The Rajah of Boondee having brought upon himself the enmity of the Maharatta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, in consequence of the aid afforded by him to the British army under General Monson, when retreating in 1804, a part of the territory and more than one-half of the revenues of the principality were exacted by those chiefs in the name of tribute. The subsequent success of its operations against Holkar and Scindia having enabled the British government to insist upon the surrender in its favour of the tribute thus exacted, that portion which was paid to Holkar by the Rajah of Boondee was remitted to the latter, together with certain pergunnahs, of which Holkar had taken possession. By another article of the treaty of 1818 the Rajah of Boondee engaged to pay to the British government the tribute before paid to Scindia, amounting to 80,000 sicca rupees (90007. per annum). In addition to the pecuniary relief thus afforded to the Rajah, he received, under this treaty, an accession of territory to the extent of 2500 sq. m., including the town of Patun. [RAJPOOTANA.]

(Mill's Brit. India; Report of Committee of House of Commons on the Affairs of India, 1832, political section.) BOONDEE, the capital, in 25° 28′ N. lat. and 75° 42′ E. long. Properly speaking, the town consists of two parts, distinguished as Old Boondee and New Boondee. The old town, which is to the W. of the modern buildings, is nearly deserted by the inhabitants, and for the most part in ruins: it contains however some fine pagodas, and some fountains. The new town is inclosed by high stone walls and connected with fortifications on a cliff behind the town, and commanding it. The greater part of the houses are built of stone, and are two stories high. The principal street has a very striking appearance. At one end stands an extensive temple, dedicated to Krishna, covered with groups in rilievo, and at the other end is the great palace of the Rajah, built on the side of the hill; the intermediate space is occupied by two rows of shops fantastically ornamented. At the lower end of the street and near the temple are figures of the natural size, cut in stone, of a horse and an elephant-the latter raised on a pedestal.

On the N.E. side of the city is a lake which is supplied with water during the rainy season by another great lake artificially formed by embankments on the high ground. The pass through the hills to the N. of the city is more than Double entry is of quite a different character. It begins, 6 m. long, and at three spots is defended by barriers. Near proceeds, and ends in as much certainty as human fallito one of these barriers is a summer residence of the Rajah, bility admits of. Whatever may become of the property in a concern, the matter of account is subject to no possible diminution. Not a single atom can be admitted into its sphere without being ranged under two heads of account, to the credit of one and to the debit of the other. Not an atom within the sphere can change its character, as, for instance, when a bill receivable is paid in cash, without producing a credit in the account it has abandoned, and a debit of equal value in the account it has entered.

BOOM, a commune in the province of Antwerp, ten miles south of Antwerp, with which it communicates by

and some Hindu temples. Adjoining the second barrier is the cemetery of the Rajah's family, containing many highly ornamented tombs, with figures of elephants and warhorses. (Hamilton's East Ind. Gaz.)

BO OPS, a genus of fishes of the order acanthopterygii, and, according to Cuvier's arrangement, belonging to the fourth famly of that tribe called sparoïdes or sparida.

This genus is chiefly characterized by the species possessing trenchant teeth; the mouth is small and not protractile. The species are generally of brilliant colouring. Most of them occur in the Mediterranean.

:

Boops salpa (Sparus salpa of Linnæus) is of an oblong- the country along its eastern borders, and it is only con ovate form the ground colour of its body is bluish, onjectured that they are the Ankas or Akas, a nation which which are several longitudinal yellow stripes. possesses the mountains N. of Asam, and is otherwise little known.

BOORHANPORE, a large and ancient city, formerly the capital of the province of Candeish, on the N.W. bank of the Tuptee River, 29° 19' N. lat. and 76° 18′ E. long. This city is one of the best built in the southern part of Hindustan; the houses are generally constructed of brick, and are two or three stories high. Many of the streets are wide, and paved with stone; the market-place is a large and substantial building, but the city is without architectural ornament. The principal mosque is the only building which is any exception to this remark. It is of gray stone, with an extensive façade supported on arches, and it has two handsome minars of an octagonal form: in front are a fine terrace and a reservoir of water.

Boorhanpore, which had been made the seat of government for the Soubah or Viceroyalty of Candeish by Aurungzebe, was taken, together with the rest of the Soubah, by the Maharattas, about 1760. In October, 1803, shortly after the battle of Assye, this city was taken by a detachment of the army under General Wellesley, but was restored to the Maharajah, Dowlut Rao Scindia, on the conclusion of peace in the month of December in the same year, and the city has since continued subject to his go

vernment.

The principal commerce of the place is carried on by a peculiar sect of Mohammedans, known as Bohrah, but who call themselves Ismaeliah from one of the followers of Mohammed, who lived in the age immediately succeeding that of the prophet. These people, to judge from their personal appearance, are of Arab origin, and they adhere to the Arabian costume; many of them are very wealthy, and inhabit the best houses in the city: their mosque and cemetery are about two miles from Boorhanpore.

The Tuptee is here a narrow river, and fordable in the dry season. Water for the supply of the city is brought by means of an aqueduct from a distance of 4 m., and is plentifully distributed through every street. The grapes, which grow abundantly in the neighbourhood of the city, are said to be the finest in India.

Boorhanpore is distant from Oojein 154 m., from Bombay 240, from Nagpore 256, from Poonah 288, from Agra 508, and from Calcutta 978 m., travelling distances.

(Mill's Brit. Ind.; Hamilton's East Ind. Gaz.) BOORO, an island in the Eastern seas, situated between the S. E. coast of Celebes and Amboyna, between 3° and 4° S. lat., and 126° and 127° E. long.

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The extensive plains which occupy the southern regions of Central Asia, and are known as the table-land of Tibet, are situated at a great elevation above the sea. There are good reasons for supposing that on an average this elevation is above 10,000 feet. The distance between this tableland and the low plains on the banks of the Ganges, hardly exceeds in a straight line eighty miles, and as these low plains, where they approach nearest the table-land, are hardly 300 feet above the sea, it is easily conceived that the descent from the table-land to the low plains must be exceedingly rapid and uneven. Bootan occupies the whole of this descent and a narrow tract of country at the foot of it.

As far as our information goes, the surface of Bootan is covered with enormous masses of rocky mountains, many of which rise to a considerable height. Between the mountains the valleys, which are extremely narrow, extend south and north, or nearly so, and are traversed by rivers, which for many miles are a succession of cataracts and rapids. Different parts however of this country exhibit different physical features.

Recent observation has shown that elevated plains are generally, if not always, bounded by high lands, which rise considerably above the level of the plains, and it would seem that the height of these mountain-ranges is in some measure proportionate to the elevation of the plains. At least, the table-land of Tibet, the highest of all elevated plains of great extent, is bounded on its southern border by the highest mountains of the globe, the Himalaya range. The mountains rise in their lowest parts at least 5000 feet above the table-land; for the mountain-passes by which the Himalaya are traversed are found to attain an absolute altitude of between 15,000 and 16,000 feet. The summits are still many thousand feet higher, and a few of them rise above 25,000 feet.

Webb rises 16,569 feet above the same level.

Bootan includes the southern declivity of the Himalaya range, and here on the boundary of Tibet stands the Chamalari which rises to about 25,000 feet; somewhat more to the east is Mount Ghassa, whose elevation has not been determined. The number of passes over the Himalaya in this country is said to be eighteen, but we have information only about one, the Soomoonang-pass, which traverses the range to the west of Chamalari, and according to the calculation of Berghaus, deduced from the thermometrical obserThis island is of an oval shape; its length from E. to vations of Saunders, is 15,744 feet above the level of CalW. is 75, and its average breadth about 40 miles. The cutta. It is therefore more than 800 feet lower than the inhabitants of the coast, who are Mohammedans, acknow-famous Nheetee Pass in Kumaon, which according to ledge the authority of the Dutch settlers, but are governed immediately by their own chiefs, or oran cayos. The inha- The northern parts of Bootan, which belong to the Alpine bitants of the interior, which consists for the most part of very high mountains, are the aboriginal Horaforas, and subsist upon wild fruits and the produce of the chase. The south side of the island was formerly much infested by the Papuas, and was in consequence deserted by the natives. At Cajelli or Booro bay, at the N. E. end of the island, is Fort Defence, the settlement of the Dutch. This port is frequented by South Sea whalers for shelter during the monsoons, as well as to obtain wood and water, which are plentiful. The principal productions are rice, sago, and various kinds of dye and aromatic woods, for which many Chinese vessels come to the island. The Cajeputi tree is a native of Booro, and its product, known in Europe as Cajeput oil, may be obtained in considerable quantity. (Stavorinus's Voyages, vol. i.; Forrest's Voyage to New Guinea; Porter's Tropical Agriculturist.)

BOOTAN, or BHOOTAN, a name formerly employed to designate an indefinite tract of country to the N. E. of Hindustan, is at present limited to the Alpine region, which extends from the banks of the river Teesta eastward, and terminates to the N. of Asam, as it is supposed, about 92° 40′ E. long. As the western boundary reaches to 88° 40′, the length of the country may be 150 miles, or nearly so. Its extent from N. to S. is only about 100 miles, and is supposed to be included between the parallels of 26° 30′ and 28°. Thus, Bootan would occupy an area of 25,000 sq. m., or nearly that of Scotland.

It is bounded on the W. by the territories of the Raja of Sikkim, on the N. by Tibet, and on the S. by Bengal and Bahar; but we are not informed what people inhabit

region, extend southward from the boundary of Tibet and along the southern slope of the Himalaya for about ten miles. It appears that within these narrow limits the high land descends more than 10,000 feet; for the temperature indicates that the valleys, which are about ten miles from the northern boundary and the high passes into Tibet, are hardly more than 5000 feet above the sea, and in many places less. The valley of Tassisudon, according to Berghaus, is 4811 feet above Calcutta, and that of Panukka is still much lower. This rapid descent constitutes the character of the northern districts of Bootan. Summits which are covered with eternal snow, are contiguous to enormous mountain-masses of bare, black rocks, which, as they decline in height, begin to display short herbage, with here and there a straggling barberry-bush. Farther down, the hollies make the most conspicuous figure on the slopes, and give way in some places to stunted pines, but this scanty covering of vegetation is frequently interrupted by steep bare rocks, on which here and there a fir starts from a crevice. The valleys are so narrow and deep, and the mountains which bound them so steep and high, that the rays of the sun are shut out every hour of the day, except when it is nearly vertical. The rivers rush forth like torrents, foaming violently among huge masses of rock that obstruct their tortuous course, in which they dash from one side to the other. Their progress is only interrupted by numerous rapids, which continue sometimes for great distances, and their volume is continually increased by the streams which descend from the contiguous heights with the quickness of an arrow. The spray rising from the numerous water-falls