s and cloves (which are indigenous) are abundantly produced.
Bachian is remarkable as the most eastern point on the globe inhabited by
any of the _Quadrumana_, a black ape occurring here as in Celebes. The
island is very rich in birds and insects. The interior of the island is
uninhabited and none of the dwellers on the coast are indigenous. They
consist of the Sirani or Christian descendants of the Portuguese, of
Malays, with a Papuan element, Galela men from the north of Halmahera,
immigrants from Celebes, with some Chinese and Arabs. The total number of
inhabitants is about 13,000. The chief village, called Amasing by the
inhabitants, but also called Bachian, is situated on the west side of the
isthmus. Bachian is the most important island of a group formerly governed
by a sultan, but since 1889 by a committee of chiefs under the control of a
Dutch _controleur_. From 1882 onwards a Batjan company attempted to exploit
the island, but [v.03 p.0133] unsuccessfully, owing to a deficient
knowledge of the soil and its capabilities and a lack of labourers.

BACK-BOND, or BACK-LETTER, in Scots law, a deed qualifying the terms of
another deed, or declaratory of the purposes for which another deed has
been granted. Thus an _ex facie_ absolute disposition, qualified by a
back-bond expressing the limited nature of the right actually held by the
person to whom the disposition is made, would constitute what in England is
termed a deed of trust.

BACK-CHOIR, RETRO-CHOIR, a space behind the high altar in the choir of a
church, in which there is, or was, a small altar standing back to back with
the other.

BACKERGUNJE, or BAKARGANJ, a district of British India in the Dacca
division of Eastern Bengal and Assam. It forms part of the joint delta of
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and its area is 4542 sq. m. The general
aspect of the district is that of a flat even country, dotted with clusters
of bamboos and betel-nut trees, and intersected by a perfect network of
dark-coloured and sluggish streams. There is not a hill or hillock in the
whole district, but it derives a certain picturesque beauty from its wide
expanses of cultivation, and the greenness and freshness of the vegetation.
This is especially conspicuous in the rains, but at no time of the year
does the district present a dried or burnt-up appearance. The villages,
which are always walled round by groves of bamboos and betel-nut palms,
have often a very striking appearance; a