sops, melons, yams, potatoes, gourds, cucumbers, pepper, cassava, prickly pears, sugar cane, ginger, coffee, indigo, Guinea corn and pease. Tobacco and cascarilla bark also flourish; and cotton is indigenous, and was woven into cloth by the aborigines.

It is a remarkable fact that except in the island of Andros, no streams of running water are to be found in the whole group. The inhabitants derive their water supply from wells, the rain-water in which appears to have some connection with the sea, as the contents of the wells rise and fall with the tide upon the neighbouring shore. The Bahamas are far poorer in their fauna than in their flora. It

is said that the aborigines had a breed of dogs which did not bark, and a small coney is also mentioned. The guana also is indigenous to the islands. Oxen, sheep, horses, and other live stock introduced from Europe, thrive well, but of late years very little attention has been paid to stock rearing, and Nassau has been dependent upon Cuba for its beef, and on the United States or Nova Scotia for its mutton. There are many varieties of birds to be found in the woods of the Bahamas; they include flamingoes and the beautiful humming-bird, as well as wild geese, ducks, pigeons, hawks, green parrots, and doves. The waters of the Bahamas swarm with fish, and the turtle procured here is particularly fine. In the southerly islands there are salt ponds of great value.

The story of the Bahamas is a singular one, and bears principally upon the fortunes of New Providence, which, from the fact that it alone possesses a perfectly safe harbour for vessels drawing more than 9 feet, has always been the seat of Government, when it was not the headquarters of lawless villainy. St Salvador (Cat Island, or as some suppose, Watling Island), however, claims historical precedence as the landfall of Columbus on his memorable voyage. He passed through the islands, and in one of his letters to Ferdinand and Isabella he said, "This country excels all others as far as the day surpasses the night in splendour; the natives love their neighbours as themselves; their conversation is the sweetest imaginable; their faces always smiling; and so gentle and so affectionate are they, that I swear to your highness there is not a better people in the world." But the natives, innocent as they appeared, were doomed to utter destruction. Ovando, the governor of Hispaniola, who had exhausted the labour of that island, turned his thoughts to the Bahamas, and in 1509 Ferdinand authorised him to procure labourers from these islands. It is said that reverence and love for their departed relatives was a marked feature in the character of the aborigines, and that the Spaniards made use of this as a bait to trap the unhappy natives. They promised to convey the ignorant savages in their ships to the " heavenly shores," where their departed friends now dwelt, and about 40,000 were transported to Hispaniola to perish miserably in the mines. From that date until after colonisation of New Providence by the English, there is no record of a Spanish visit to the Bahamas, with the exception of the extraordinary cruise of Juan Ponce de Leon, the conqueror of Porto Rico, who passed months searching the islands for "Bimini," which was reported to contain the miraculous "Fountain of Youth."

The deserted islands were first visited by the English in 1629, and a settlement formed in New Providence, which they held till 1641, when the Spaniards expelled them but made no attempt to settle there themselves. The English again took possession in 1667, and in 1680 Charles II. made a grant of the islands to George, Duke of Albemarle; William, Lord Craven; Sir George Carteret; John, Lord Berkeley; Anthony, Lord Ashley; and Sir Peter Governors were appointed by the lords proprietors, and there are very copious records in the state papers

of the attempts made to develop the resources of the island; but the repeated attacks of the Spaniards, and the tyranny and mismanagement of the governors, proved great obstacles to success. In July 1703 the French and Spaniards made a descent on New Providence, blew up the fort, spiked the guns, burnt the church, and carried off the governor, with the principal inhabitants, to the Havannah; and in October the Spaniards made a second descent, and completed the work of destruction. It is said that when the last of the governors appointed by the lords proprietors, in ignorance. of the Spanish raid, arrived in New Providence, he found the island without an inhabitant. It soon, however, became the resort of pirates, and the names of many of the worst of these ruffians is associated with New Providence, the notorious Blackbeard being chief among the number. At last matters became so intolerable that the merchants of London and Bristol petitioned the Crown to take possession and restore order, and Captain Woods Rogers was sent out as the first Crown governor, and arrived at New Providence in 1718. Many families of good character now settled at the Bahamas, and some progress was made in developing the resources of the colony, although this was interrupted by the tyrannical conduct of some of the governors who succeeded Captain Woods Rogers. At this time the pine-apple was introduced as an article of cultivation at Eleuthera; and a few years subsequently, during the American war of independence, colonists arrived in great numbers, bringing with them wealth and also slave labour. Cotton cultivation was now attempted on a large scale. In 1783, at Long Island, 800 slaves were at work, and nearly 4000 acres of land under cultivation. But the usual bad luck of the Bahamas prevailed; the red bug destroyed the cotton crops in 1788, and again in 1794, and by the year 1800 cotton cultivation was almost abandoned. There were also other causes that tended to retard the progress of the colony. In 1776 Commodore Hopkins, of the American navy, took the island of New Providence; he soon, however, abandoned it as untenable, but in 1782 it was retaken by the Spanish governor of Cuba. The Spaniards retained nominal possession of the Bahamas until 1783, but before peace was notified New Providence was recaptured by a loyalist, Colonel Deveaux, of the South Carolina militia, in June 1783. In 1787, the descendants of the old lords proprietors received each a grant of £2000 in satisfaction of their claims, and the islands were formally reconveyed to the Crown. The Bahamas began again to make a little progress, until the separation of Turks and Caicos Islands in 1848, which had been hitherto the most productive of the salt-producing islands, unfavourably affected the finances. Probably the abolition of the slave-trade in 1834 was not without its effect upon the fortunes of the landed proprietors.

The next event of importance in the history of the Bahamas was the rise of the blockade-running trade, consequent on the closing of the southern ports of America by the Federals in 1861. At the commencement of 1865 this trade was at its highest point. In January and February 1865 no less than 20 steamers arrived at Nassau, importing 14,182 bales of cotton, valued at £554,675. The extraordinary difference between the normal trade of the islands and that due to blockade-running, will be seen by comparing the imports and exports before the closing of the southern ports in 1860 with those of 1864. In the former year the imports were £234,029, and the exports £157,350, while in the latter year the imports were £5,346,112, and the exports, £4,672,398. The excitement, extravagance, and waste existing at Nassau during the days of blockade-running exceed belief. Individuals may have profited largely, but the Bahamas probably

benefited little. The Government managed to pay its debt amounting to £43,786, but crime increased, and sickness became very prevalent. The cessation of the trade was marked, however, by hardly any disturbance; there were no local failures, and in a few months the steamers and their crews departed, and New Providence subsided into its usual state of quietude. This, however, was not fated to last long, for in October 1866 a most violent hurricane passed over the island, injuring the orchards, destroying the fruit-trees, and damaging the sponges, which had proved hitherto a source of profit. The hurricane, too, was followed by repeated droughts, and the inhabitants of the out-islands were reduced to indigence and want. There was an increase, however, in the production of salt. The exports as a whole fell off. Those of native produce, which in 1866 had been £77,604, were reduced in 1867 to £71,117, and the remaining exports of 1866, amounting to £184,372, were, in 1867, £156,131. The depression has continued almost to the present time (1875). The public debt paid off during the days of the blockade-running swelled again to a sum of £54,161, 13s. 2d., and the revenue until very lately was steadily on the decline. It was £47,530 in 1870, while the expenditure was £48,598, and in 1872 there was a further decrease of revenue to £37,574, with an expenditure of £39,000. In 1873 there was, however, an improvement. The revenue rose to £44,053, the expenditure being only £42,737. The improvement in the finances is due principally, it would seem, to the readjustment of the customs' duties. In a recent Blue Book it is stated that the Government in 1873 increased the duties on ale, brandy, gin, rum, and whisky by 50 per cent.; on cigars and tobacco, by 100 per cent.; and on wine by 200 per cent. As regards other articles the Assembly at the same time relieved the general consumer by reducing the 25 per cent. ad valorem duties to 15 per cent. They abolished the export duty on vessels in distress, and they reduced the tonnage and wharfage dues. They also abolished a licence fee, payable hitherto by the men employed as wreckers, and they repealed a special incometax levied upon public officers. The last colonial report expresses a hope and a belief that the sound financial condition to which the colony has been restored will continue. The hope, however, hardly seems justified at present by the commercial progress of the Bahamas. In 1870 the imports were of the value of £283,970. In 1872 they had fallen to £201,051, and in 1873 they had increased to £226,306. In like manner the exports of 1873 contrasted favourably with those of 1872, having increased from £136,224 to £156,613. But the increase in exports is due to the development of trade in articles, such as pineapples and oranges, the production of which is uncertain, since a season's crop may perish in a hurricane. The sponge trade is not so prosperous as it should be, the Spanish authorities, it appears, interfering with the spongers working on the reefs near Cuba; while the excessive duty levied in the United States on salt has almost paralysed the salt-making trade of the Bahamas. The total number of pine-apples exported to the United States and England in 1873 was 422,994 dozen, valued at £38,767. To this must be added the tinned fruit, a branch of industry introduced in 1872. Pine-apples in tins were exported in the following year to the number of 69,165 dozen, valued at £13,018, and cases of pine-apples from the same establishment to the value of £1712. The exportation of other fruit was of oranges, 2,252,000, valued at £3822; of Bananas, 7172 bunches, valued at £346; and about £700 worth of grape-fruit, shaddocks, lemons, limes, and melons. One great and profitable business at the Bahamas has decreased, and is not likely to flourish again. There has

been of late years a marked diminution in the number of marine casualties, which in past times threw into the ports of the colony a large amount of valuable property, of which a great part was frequently exported. The erection of lighthouses, the diversion of trade from the southern ports of America, and the increased use of steam, have all tended to this decline of the wreckers' trade, and it is said that the people of Harbour Island, at one time the great stronghold of the wreckers, have now all turned their attention to the cultivation of pine-apples. In 1864 the number of wrecks reported was, including complete and partial, 67, while in 1871 it was but 39.

The colony is divided into 13 parishes, although the division is now used for civil purposes only. An Act to amend the ecclesiastical laws of the colony was assented to on the 1st of June 1869, and confirmed on the 7th of October 1869, and the Church of England at the Bahamas disestablished. The population of the islands taken at the census of 1871 was 39,162 (being an increase in the decennial period since 1861 of 3875), of whom 19,349 were males, and 19,813 females. With regard to race, it may be said that the native and coloured inhabitants now enormously outnumber the white colonists. The last return showing the varieties of race was published in 1826; the population was 16,033, of whom 4588 were white, 2259 coloured, and 9186 black; since then the proportion of coloured and black to white has increased. The health of the colony has been improving of late years; the death-rate of 1872 was only 17.9 in 1000. The total births were 1475 against 704 deaths. The climate of the Bahamas has always borne a reputation for salubrity. The mean of a series of daily observations of temperature for 10 years is as follows:

The rainfall is heavy from May to October. During the winter months it is small, and from the month of November up to April the climate of New Providence is most agreeable. Advantage has been taken of this for many years by the inhabitants of the mainland of America, who can escape by a four days' voyage from the icy winter of New York to the perpetual summer of the Bahamas. New Providence has gained a name as a resort for the consumptive, and perhaps justly so far as the Anglo-Saxon race is concerned, but the Africans and coloured races suffer greatly from diseases of the lungs, and the black troops stationed at Nassau have always been notorious for the proportion of men invalided from consumptive disease. The principal religious denominations. are the Wesleyan, Baptist, Church of England, and Presbyterian. The following figures represent approximately the number of persons generally attending the churches and chapels of the several denominations :Wesleyan, 7370; Baptist, 7971; Church of England, 4250; Presbyterian, 300. There is no Roman Catholic place of worship in the islands, and the members of that church are very few in number. The constitution of the Bahamas consists of a governor, aided by an executive council of 9 members, a legislative council of 9 members,

and a representative assembly of 28 members. The qualifications of electors are full age, a residence of twelve months, six of which must have been as a freeholder, or a residence of six months and a payment of duties to the amount of £26, 0s. 10d. The qualification of members is possession of an estate of real or personal property to the value of £500. The executive is composed partly of official and partly of unofficial members; the latter have usually a seat in one of the branches of the legislature. There are 35 Government schools in the Bahamas, 5 of which are in New Providence, and 30 in the out islands. These schools are managed by an education board composed of 5 or more members, with the governor as president. The legislative grant for educational purposes is £2200 a year, exclusive of the salary of the inspector of schools, who is borne upon the civil establishment on a salary of £200. The number of children on the books is about 3006, and there are 1200 in addition attending schools in connection with the Church of England. It is calculated that about 55 per cent. of the children between 5 and 15 attend school. The isolation of the settlements, the low salaries of the teachers, and the indifference of parents, are great obstacles to the spread of sound education in the Bahamas.

There are numerous lighthouses in the group, the principal being at Gun Cay, Abaco, Cay Sal, Great Isaacks, Cay Lobos, Stirrups Cay, Elbow Cay, Castle Island, Hoy Island, and Athol Island. The chief institutions of the Bahamas are to be found in New Providence. They include a savings' bank, a public library, a well-conducted newspaper press, the Agricultural Society, Bahama Institute, Fire Brigade, the New Providence Asylum, Public Dispensary, St Andrew's Charitable Society, a provincial grand lodge of freemasons, &c. There are also libraries at Dunmore Town, in Harbour Island, at Matthew Town, Inagua, at New Plymouth, at Abaco, &c. (J. T. W. B.)

BAHIA, a province of the Brazilian empire, situated on the S.E. coast, and extending from the Rio Grande do Belmonte in the S. to the Rio Real in the N. It is bounded by Sergipe and Pernambuco on the N., by Piauhi on the N.W., by Goyaz on the W., and on the S. by Minas Geraes and Espirito Santo. It has an area of 202,272 square miles, and its population is stated at 1,450,000. Bahia sends 14 deputies to the general assembly of the empire, and 7 senators to the upper house, while its own legislative assembly consists of 36 members. Besides Bahia the capital, Olivença, Branca, Jacobina, and Joazeira are important towns. A chain of mountains, broken into numerous sierras, runs from N. to S. through the province at the distance of 200 miles from the coast, while the intermediate district gradually rises in successive terraces. The maritime region, the so-called Reconcavo, is remarkably fertile, and is studded with thriving towns and villages, but the interior is often very dry and barren, and is only thinly peopled in many places with wandering Botacudos. The main sources of the wealth of the province are cotton, coffee, sugar, and tobacco, all of which are cultivated with the greatest success. Mandioc, rice, beans, and maize are grown; also jalap, ipecacuanha, and saffron, as well as oranges, mangoes, and various other fruits. A large portion is still covered with primeval forest, but the woodman is rapidly diminishing the extent. The mineral wealth of the province is but partially explored and still more partially utilised. In 1844 diamond mines were discovered to the N. of the River Peraguass, and, till the deposits near the Cape of Good Hope were brought to light, afforded employment to a large number of garimpeiros or "washers." The discovery of amethysts at Catité in 1872 attracted numerous searchers; and about the same time coal was found in the island of Itaparica. Gold is present in the alluvium of the River San Francisco.

nas.

BAHIA, or, in full, SAN SALVADOR DA BAHIA DE TODOS OS SANTOS, a large city, and, till 1763, the capital of Brazil, is situated on the S.E. coast on the Bay of All Saints, from which it takes its name, in 13° S. lat., and 38° 20′ W. long. Built partly along the foot and partly on the top of a steep hill, it consists of an upper and lower town, coinmunication between the two being effected by large flights of steps, and since 1873 by a powerful hydraulic elevator. The carrying of goods and passengers up and down these stairway-streets affords employment to a large number of negro porters and chairmen. The lower town, or Praya, consists mainly of one long and narrow street, with still narrower and more tortuous lanes. The houses are built of stone, and many of them are several stories high. This is the business part of the city, where are situated the quays, docks, warehouses, custom-houses, exchange, and arsenal; and here the sailors, porters, and lower classes generally reside. The church of Nostra Señora da Praya is remarkable as having been built of stones that were hewn in Lisbon and shipped across the ocean. The upper city has wide and well-paved streets, open squares, and pleasant promenades, adorned with orange trees and banaThe most important is the Passeio Publico, which was opened in 1814, and overlooks the beautiful bay. There is no city in Brazil that can vie with Bahia in the number and splendour of its ecclesiastical buildings, among which the Jesuits' college, now used as a hospital, and the cathedral, which is built of marble, are pre-eminent. There are likewise numerous educational institutions, including a lyceum (in which Latin, Greek, French, and English, mathematics, philosophy, &c., are taught), a theological seminary, and a medical academy, which is supported by the imperial Government, and has about 400 students. The museum and public library also deserve mention. Among the buildings connected with the civic and commercial activity of the city are the government-house, the court-house, the mint, and the town-house; also the Alfandega, where all foreign importations have to be entered, and the Consolado, where all native productions are registered for exportation. There are likewise a number of banks and commercial associations of various kinds. Bahia has long been a place of great traffic. The streets of the upper city are very inconveniently paved, but the city and its suburbs are now connected by street railways, two running in the upper town and one in the lower. Bomsim is the name of the northern suburb, and Victoria that of the southern; the foreign merchants for the most part reside in the latter. The commerce principally consists in the exportation of cotton, coffee, sugar, rum, tobacco, and rosewood, and the importation of miscellaneous foreign goods. The value of the imports in 1870 was £1,671,676, of which £885,206 belonged to Britain. The exports of the same year were valued at £1,790,928. The bay is one of the finest in America, and is well defended by forts. The entrance is protected by the large island of Itaparica, which has upwards of 16,000 inhabitants, of whom more than 7000 are collected in the town of San Gonzalo. A large number of these are employed in the whale-fishery, which has greatly fallen off, however, from its former prosperity.

Bahia was visited in 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci. The first settlement was founded and called San Salvador by Diego Alvarez Correa, who had been shipwrecked on the coast; but the Portuguese governor who gave formal existence to the city was Thomas de Souza, who landed in 1549. It owed its increase to the Jesuits, who defended it against the English in 1588. In 1623 it fell into the hands of the Dutch, who held it for two years. In 1823 it was surrendered by the Portuguese to the Brazilian nationality. A revolution, which broke out in the city in 1837, was suppressed by the imperial Government.

The

first printing-press was introduced in 1811, and the first sugar-mill in 1823. In 1858 railway communication was established to Joazeiro.

BAHRDT, KARL FRIEDRICH, a German theologian, distinguished for his extreme rationalism and his erratic life, was born in 1741 at Bischofswerda, of which place his father, afterwards professor of theology at Leipsic, was for some time pastor. He was educated chiefly at the celebrated school of Pforta, and afterwards entered the university of Leipsic, where he studied theology, and at first attached himself to the strongly orthodox party headed by Crusius. After graduation he lectured for a time as adjunct to his father, and then with the rank of catechist proceeded to Leipsic, where he became exceedingly popular as a preacher, and was appointed extraordinary professor of Biblical philology. During this period of his life he published a popular book of devotions, called the Christian in Solitude. In 1768 the notorious irregularity of his conduct necessitated his resignation and his departure from Leipsic. By some influence he obtained a professorship of Biblical antiquities in the philosophical faculty of the new university of Erfurt, and having procured a theological degree from Erlangen, he again began to read theological lectures. His orthodoxy had by this time completely vanished; he was an avowed rationalist of the extreme school, and with great diligence and ability sought to popularise the principles of his creed. At the same time his bitter and quarrelsome disposition embroiled him with his colleagues, and in 1771 he left Erfurt, but obtained another professorship at Giessen. Here also the bold expression of his opinions cut short his tenure of office; in 1775 he resigned and became director of Von Salis's educational establishment, the philanthropin at Marschlins, a post he held for only one year. For a brief period he acted as general superintendent at Dürkheim, and then endeavoured, but unsucessfully, to set up an educational institution at Heidesheim. He had now become most obnoxious to the German Government, who prohibited him from lecturing or publishing any work on theology, or from holding any professorial office. In 1779 he took refuge in Halle, where he resided for ten years, lecturing in the forenoon on moral philosophy, and officiating in the afternoon as landlord of a public-house which he had opened at the gate of the town, and which was largely patronised by the students. In 1789 he was arrested, partly on account of a pasquinade he had written upon the Prussian religious edict, and was condemned to two years' imprisonment. The period of his confinement, reduced by the king to one year, was employed by Bahrdt in writing memorials of his life and opinions. After his release he continued his former course of life, and died after a severe illness, 23d April 1792. His numerous works, including a translation of the New Testament, are comparatively worthless, and are written in an offensive

tone.

He has been well called by Herzog a caricature of the rationalism of the 18th century.

BAHREIN, the principal island of a cluster in the Persian Gulf, in an indentation of the Arabian coast. It is about 70 miles long and nearly 25 broad, and is very flat and low except towards the east, where a range of hills attain an elevation of 800 or 900 feet. The climate is mild, but humid, and rather unhealthy. The soil is for the most part fertile, and produces rice, pot herbs, and fruits, of which the citrons are especially good. Water is abundant, but frequently brackish. Fish of all kinds abound off the coast, and are very cheap in the markets. The inhabitants are a mixed race of Arab, Omanite, and Persian blood, slender and small in their physical appearance; they possess great activity and intelligence, and are known in all the ports of the Persian Gulf for their commercial and industrial ability. The

traffic in the island itself is great and various, the harbour of Manama, which admits vessels of 200 tons, being largely frequented by ships from Persia, Sindh, India, &c. This town, which has in some respects supplanted the older and more inland Ruffin, is well built, and contains about 25,000 inhabitants; and there are besides about 15 villages in the island. There is a city of almost equal extent in the neighbouring and smailer island of Mohanek, but the trade is not so great. Bahrein has from a remote period been famous for its pearl fishery, which produces the finest pearls in the world. The Portuguese obtained possession of the islands in 1507, but were driven from their settlements in that quarter by Shah Abbas in 1622. The islands afterwards became an object of contention between the Persians and Arabs, and at last the Arabian tribe of the Athubis made themselves masters of them in 1784. Since then they have been for some time subject more or less to the Wahabees, whose interference has greatly damaged the commerce of the ports, and led to extensive emigration of the inhabitants. (See Palgrave, in J. Roy. Geo. Soc., vol. xxxiv.)

BAIÆ, an ancient town of Campania, Italy, situated between the promontory of Misenum and Puteoli, on the Sinus Baianus, and famous for its warm springs and baths, which served the wealthier Romans for the purposes both of health and pleasure. The variety of these baths, the mildness of the climate, and the beauty of the landscape, captivated the minds of the opulent nobles. The habitations at first were small and modest; but increasing luxury added palace to palace, and enterprising architects, supported by boundless wealth, laid the foundations of new erections in the sea. From being a place of occasional resort for a season, Baiæ grew up into a city, and the confluence of wealthy inhabitants rendered it as much a miracle of art as it had before been of nature, though it never attained the rank of a municipium, but continued to be dependent on Cuma. C. Marius, Lucullus, Pompey, and Julius Cæsar are among the most remarkable of those who gave éclat to Baiæ during the republic; and at a later period it was a favourite resort of Nero, Caligula, Hadrian, and Severus. It flourished till the days of Theodoric the Goth; but its destruction followed quickly upon the irruption of the northern conquerors. When the guardian hand of man was withdrawn, the sea reclaimed its old domain; moles and buttresses were washed away; and promontories, with the proud towers that once crowned their brows, were undermined and tumbled into the deep. Innumerable ruins, heaps of marble, mosaics, and other relics of the past, attest the ancient splendour of the city. The most remarkable are the so-called temples of Mercury, Venus, and Diana, and various buildings which, rightly or wrongly, have been assigned to the more famous of those who are known to have had villas in the town. The Castello di Baja was built in the 16th century by Pietro di Toledo. Long. 14° 3′ E., lat. 40° 50' N.

BAIBURT, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the pashalic of Erzeroum, and 65 miles W.N.W. from that city. According to Neumann it was an Armenian fortress in the 1st century, and it is identified by Ritter with the Baiberdon fortified by Justinian. It was afterwards one of the strongholds of the Genoese, when prosecuting their trade with India. Remains of their fortifications still exist, but in a very dilapidated state, the Russians having blown up the defences in 1829. (See view in Yule's Marco Polo, vol. i.) Population of town about 6000.

BAÏF, JEAN ANTOINE DE, poet of the French Renais sance and member of the Pleiad, was the natural son of Lazare de Baïf and an Italian girl. He was born in 1532 at Venice, where his father was residing as French ambassador. Thanks, perhaps, to the surroundings of his childhood, he

BAIKAL (i.e., Baïakhal, or Abundant Water), a great fresh-water lake of Siberia, in the government of Irkutsk, 397 miles in length from S.W. to N.E., and from 13 to 54 miles in breadth, with an area of about 12,500 square miles. This vast reservoir is situated 1360 feet above the level of the sea, in the midst of steep mountain ranges, that often rise sheer from the water's edge in lofty walls of syenite, gneiss, or conglomerate, while elsewhere their sloping flanks are thickly clad with dark forests of coniferous trees. The lake is fed by several rivers, the Upper Angara, the Selenga, which descends from the basin of Lake Kossogol, the Barguzin, and others; while the only visible outlet is by the Lower Angara, a tributary of the Yenisei. The water is excellent, and is extremely clear, so that the bottom can be seen at the depth of 8 fathoms. The depth of the lake varies from 22 to upwards of 300 fathoms. It yields abundance of salmon, and there is a profitable fishery of seals on its shores during the whole summer. The climate is extremely severe; and the lake, which is frozen over from November to May, is almost perpetually swept by the wind. It facilitates, however, the Russian trade with China, and that between Irkutsk and Dauria. It is navigated by the Russians in summer, and in winter they cross it on the ice. Europeans embarked on its waters for the first time in 1643. Steamvessels were introduced in 1846, and the passage across is made in about eight hours. Several hot springs and mineral waters are seen on the margin, and naphtha is sometimes found floating on the surface. The lake is between 51° 20′ and 55° 30′ N. lat., and 103° and 110° E. long. The island of Olkhon, near its north shore, is 32 miles long and nearly 10 broad. This island and the southern borders of the lake are inhabited by Mongolian tribes, while towards the north the Tungooses are to be found in gradually diminishing numbers. (See "Description du lac de Baikal," trad. du russe par M. Klaproth, in Nouv. Ann. des Voy. t. xvii. p. 289; Erman's Siberia, 1848; Semenoff, Slovar Ross. Imp.)

BAIKIE, WILLIAM BALFOUR, M.D., eldest son of Captain John Baikie, R.N., was born at Kirkwall, Orkney, on the 21st August 1824. He studied at Edinburgh, and, on obtaining his degree, joined the royal navy. He early attracted the notice of Sir Roderick Murchison, through whom he was appointed surgeon and naturalist to the Niger Expedition of 1854. The death of the senior officer occurring at Fernando Po, Dr Baikie succeeded to the command. The results of the voyage are given in his own and other narratives. Ascending the river about 250 miles beyond the point reached by former explorers, the

after a voyage of 118 days without the loss of a single man. The second expedition started in March 1857. After two years passed in exploring, the navigating vessel was wrecked in passing through some of the rapids of the river, and Dr Baikie was unable longer to keep his party together. All returned home but himself; no way daunted, he determined single-handed to carry out the purposes of the expedition. Landing from a small boat with one or two native followers at the confluence of the Quorra and Benue, he here chose the old model farm ground as the base of his future operations-a spot memorable from the disasters of the exploring party of 1841. After purchasing the site, and concluding a treaty with the native chief, he proceeded to clear the ground, build houses, form enclosures, and pave the way for a future city. Numbers flocked to him from all parts round, and in his settlement were representatives of almost all the tribes of Central Africa. To the motley commonwealth thus formed he acted not merely as ruler, but also as physician, teacher, and priest. Before five years he had opened up the navigation of the Niger, made roads, and established a market, to which the native produce was brought for sale and barter. He had also collected vocabularies of nearly fifty African dialects, and translated portions of the Bible and prayer-book into Housa. Once only during his residence had he to employ armed force against the surrounding tribes. He died on his way home, at Sierra Leone, in November 1863, aged thirty-nine years. An appropriate monument has been erected to his memory within the nave of the ancient cathedral of St Magnus.

BAIL (Ballium) is used in common law for the freeing or setting at liberty of one arrested or imprisoned upon any action, either civil or criminal, on surety taken for his appearance at a certain day and place.

BAILEN, a town of Spain, in the province of Jaen, 24 miles N.N.W. of Jaen. It seems to correspond to the ancient Bæcula, where Scipio gained signal victories over Hasdrubal, 209 B.C., and over Mago and Masinissa, 206 B.C. (Polyb., x. 38, xi. 20; Liv., xxvii. 18-20, xxviii. 13). In the neighbourhood also, in 1812, was fought the great battle of Navas de Tolosa, where Alphonso VIII. is said.to have left 200,000 Moors dead on the field, with the loss of only 25 Christians. Here again, on the 23d of July 1808, the French general Dupont, after a bloody contest of several days, signed the capitulation of Bailen, by which 17,000 men were delivered up to the Spaniards as prisoners of war. This disaster was the first great blow to the French arms in the Peninsula. There is nothing remarkable about the town, except the ruins of a castle, formerly belonging to the counts of Benavente, and now the property of the Osuna family. Glass and tiles are manufactured, and the weaving of cloth and pressing of olives are carried on. Population, 7831. (Madoz, Diccionario; Ukert, vol. x. p. 379.)

BAILEY, or BAILY, NATHANAEL or NATHAN, an eminent English philologist and lexicographer, whose Etymological English Dictionary, published apparently in 1721, was a great improvement on all previous vocabularies, and really formed the basis of Johnson's great work. It is still worthy of being consulted for information with regard to the change of signification in certain words, and to the date at which others were introduced into the language. Bailey had a school at Stepney, near London, and was the author of Dictionarium Domesticum and several other educational works. He died in 1742.

BAILEY, SAMUEL, an able writer on philosophical and literary subjects, was born at Sheffield in 1791. His father carried on a large general business in that town, and for some years the son devoted himself to mercantile pur

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