BOLIVIA (1,500), an inland republic of S. America, occupying lofty tablelands E. of the Andes, and surrounded by Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chili.  The S. is chiefly desert; in the N. are Lake Titicaca and many well-watered valleys.  The very varied heights afford all kinds of vegetation, from wheat and maize to tropical fruits.  In the lower plains coffee, tobacco, cotton, and cinchona are cultivated.  The most important industry is mining:  gold, silver, copper, and tin.  Trade is hampered by want of navigable rivers, but helped by railways from Chili, Peru, and Argentina.  Silver is the chief export; manufactured goods are imported.  The country has been independent since 1825; it lost its sea provinces in the war with Chili, 1879-83.  The capital is Sucre (12), but La Pay (45) and Cochabamba (14) are larger towns.

BOLLAND, JOHN, a Jesuit of Antwerp, born in Belgium; compiled five vols. of the Lives of the Saints called “Acta Sanctorum,” which was continued by others, called after him “Bollandists.”

BOLLANDISTS, a succession of Jesuits who produced the Lives of the Saints, now extended to sixty vols.

BOLOGNA (147), an ancient walled city of Italy, on a fertile plain, at the foot of the Lower Apennines, 83 m.  N. of Florence; has many fine buildings, a university, one of the oldest in Europe, schools of music and art, libraries, and art collections.  There are some silk and other industries, and considerable trade.

BOLOGNA, JOHN OF, one of the most celebrated sculptors of art in his time, born at Douai, settled at Florence (1524-1608).

BOLOR-TAGH, a high tableland in Central Asia, stretching from the Hindu Kush mountains northwards to the Tian Shan.

BOLSE`NA, a small town in Italy, on the E. shore of Lake Bolsena.

BOLSENA, a lake with clear water in a hollow crater of a volcano, and abounding with fish, but with an unwholesome atmosphere.

BOLTON (115), manufacturing town of Lancashire.

BOLTON ABBEY, an old abbey in Yorkshire, 6 m.  E. of Skipton; was founded by the Augustinian canons.

BOMA, a station on the Lower Congo, in the Congo Independent State; once a great slave mart.

BOMARSUND, a fortress of the island of Aland occupied by Russia, destroyed by the Anglo-French fleet in 1854; the Russians bound not to restore it.

BOMBA, nickname of Ferdinand II., late king of the Two Sicilies, given him, it is alleged, from his calling upon his soldiers to bombard his people during an insurrection.

BOMBASTES FURIOSO, an opera by Thomas Rhodes in ridicule of the bombastic style of certain tragedies in vogue.