BOXWOOD, Buxus sempervirens, Wall. This is a valuable wood of a yellowish colour, close grained, very hard, and heavy ; it cut; better than any other wood, and is susceptible of a very fine polish. It was highly valued by the ancients as a material for musical instruments. It is of use for the turner, engraver, mathematical instru ment maker, comb and pipe maker. The Hima layan box, Buxus sempervirens, lVallich, appears to be identical with the tree common all over south Europe, and extending into Persia, chiefly in valleys, at an elevation of from 3000 to 6000 feet. Dr. Stewart met with it from Mount Tira, near Jhelum, to Wangtu bridge on the Sutlej. It is variable in size, being generally 7 to 8 feet high and the stem only a few inches thick, but attaining sometimes a height of -15 to 17 feet, as Manikarn in Kuhl, and a girth of 22 inches as a maximum. It is found in the valleys of the Sutlej, Parbati, and near Dbarmsala, and iu the Salt Range. In the Nepal valley it is larger and more abundant than in other parts of the Himalaya. It is made by the villagers into little boxes for holding ghi, honey, snuff, and tinder. It is in
demand for plugs for Minie rifle balls, and at Sealkote it is turned into pill boxes. The wood is liable to split in the hot weather, and should be seasoned and stored under cover. ,Thunberg says that B. sempervirens was not uncommon in Japan, in a wild and cultivated state. The annual con sumption in Great Britain exceeds 2000 tons, half of which is of foreign growth. The wood of Sar cococca trinerva also gets this name. The Karens sometimes furnished Mr. Mason with specimens of a wood that can scarcely be distinguished from the boxwood of Europe. Nauclea cordifolia has wood coloured like that of the box tree, but much lighter, and at the same time very close-grained. Dr. Hunter highly praises the wood of the Euonymus dichotomus of the Pulney hills.—Jour. A. H. Soc. xi. 413, 1859 ; Panjab Rep.; Statistics of Commerce ; Thunberg's fl'ravels ; J. L. Stewart ; Powell's Handbook ; Hunter; 1?oyle.
BOY, an Anglo-Indian term applied to it native domestic man-servant, supposed to have come from Bhui, the name of a Teling tribe.