BOMMELERWAARD, bon•inel•viirt. An island of the Netherlands, Province of Gelder land, formed by the \Vaal and Meuse. It is 16 miles in length. with a maximum breadth of six miles. The district is extremely fertile, and raises, besides other farm produce. considerable flax and hops. The town of Bommel is situ ated on the island. Fort Saint Andries defends the island on the east, and Fort Loevestein on the west.
BO'NA (plur. of Lat. bonum. something good, neut. of bonus. good). A general legal term denoting property of any kind. whether real or personal. In the !Ionian law it was chiefly ap plied to real estate; in the later civil law it corresponds to the French term 'liens; com prising real as well as personal chattels; but in the common law it is confined generally to movables. It is employed in phrases of varied significance used in the English law and, deriv atively. though less commonly, in American legal phraseology; as, bona ring ism la. goods confis cated or forfeited to the Crown: bona nolabilia, property of sufficient value to be noted in an account (formerly in England this was fixed at i5 or upwards, and in London at J:10; but by the nets creating the courts of probate this distinction was abolished) ; bona paraphernalia. go,als above dower; bona vacant1a, unelainied property, as wrecks. treasure trove, waifs, and estrays. which, ecourary to the general rule, did not go to the finder. but vested in the Crown; bona tea rift progeny throw la away, as by a thief in flight, by common latv going to the King: nuno bona, the return of an execution without property found, or the plea of a garnishee with nut property belonging to or money due the debtor.
BONA (Fr. Thine. Ar. rcb). A forti fied seaport town in the Department of Con stantine. Algeria. situated on a hay of the Medi terranean, in latitude 5.1' N., longitude 7' 46' E. (Map: Africa. E 1). The town, divided into two parts. Upper and Lower Ilona. is situ ated in a beautiful district, at the foot of a 1611 near the embouchure of the Sehus. It has been much improved since the occupation by the French in 1832 and beautified by means of the quays and promenades encircling it, and the numerous fountains and gardens to be found all over the city. It is surrounded by walls flanked
with square towers, and further defended by Fort Cigogne, on the top of the hill. The fortress built by Charles V. in 1535 stands on a hill over 340 feet high, and has been used as a prison since 1550 for persons sentenced to deportation from France. Among the other public buildings, the Catholic cathedral and the convent of the Sisters of Mercy are most remarkable. Bona has good bazars, shops, markets, reading-rooms, etc.; man ufactures of tapestry. saddlery, and native eloth ing; and a trade in cattle. sheep, wool. hides, corn, coral, fish, olive-oil, tobacco, and wax. In the vicinity are valuable iron-mines, marble-quar ries. and co•k-woods. There is telegraphic com munication with Marseilles and regular steam communication with France, Algiers, and Tunis. A fine harbor of 195 acres with an inner basin of 25 acres dates from 1870. It is visited annually by nearly 3000 ships of more than a million net tonnage. Since the construction of the rail road connecting the city with Algiers, Constan tine, and Biskra, Bona has left Tunis behind as a port. The neighboring hills yield a fine water supply, and the former marshy and unhealthy condition of the surrounding districts has been improved by drainage. The United States is rep resented by an agent. Population, in 1S96, 34, 498. of whom over 12.000 were Frenehmen and I ore than 10,000 were Italians, the rest being mostly natives. Near Bona are remains of the once famous city Hippo Begins. the favorite resi dence of the Numidian kings. and the episeopal see of Saint Augustine, who died here in 430. Hippo Begins, in early Christian times, was the central station of commerce and civilization in North Africa, and was celebrated for its schools, theatre. aqueducts. palaces, and temples, after wards changed into churches and monasteries. It was destroyed by the Mohammedans under Caliph (Ithman in 646. This city was connected with its seaport, the ancient A phrodisiuni (the pres ent Bona), by a canal, of which the outline may still be seen in a morass.