office being usually for four or five years. He is also governor-general of Irak, and possesses supreme authority from Diarbekir to Bahrein, though he does not under ordinary circumstances interfere with the subordinate governnents of Mosul and Kurdistan.1

The East India Company used to maintain a resident in Baghdad with a large establishment, and his post is now replaced by that of a consul-general and political agent. A French consul is also regularly appointed. Until recently Baghdad was supposed to be entirely a Mahometan city, dating from the time of Al Mansúr; but Sir H. Rawlinson discovered in 1848, during an unusually dry season, when the rivers had fallen six feet below the ordinary low-water mark, that the western bank of the Tigris was lined with an embankment of solid brick-work, dating from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, as the bricks were each stamped with his name and titles; and it has been since remarked that in the Assyrian geographical catalogues of the time of Sardanapalus, one of the Babylonian cities bears the name of Bagdad, and may thus very possibly represent the after site of the capital of the caliphs. According to the Arabian writers, however, there were no traces of former habitation when Al Mansúr laid the foundation of the new city. It was adorned with many noble and stately edifices by the magnificence of the renowned Haroun el Raschid, who also built on the eastern side of the river, connecting the two quarters of the town by a bridge of boats. Under the auspices of Zobeide, the wife of that prince, and Jaffer the Barmecide, his favorite, the city may be said to have attained its greatest splendor. It continued to flourish and increase, and to be the seat of elegance and learning, until the 656th year of the Hegira (1277 A.D.), when Hulaku the Tatar, the grandson of Genghis Khan, took it by storm, and extinguished the dynasty of the Abbassides. The Tatars retained possession of Baghdad till about the year 1400 of our era, when it was taken by Timur, from whom the Sultan Ahmed Ben Avis fled, and finding refuge with the Greek emperor, contrived afterwards to repossess himself of the city, whence he was finally expelled by Kara Yusef in 1417. In 1477 his descendants were driven out by Usum Cassim, who reigned 39 years in Baghdad, when Shah Ishmael the First, the founder of the royal house of Sefí, made himself master of it. From that time it continued for a long period an object of contention between the Turks and Persians. It was taken by Soliman the Magnificent, and retaken by Shah Abbas the Great; and it was afterwards besieged by Amurath the Fourth, with an army of 300,000 men. After an obstinate resistance, it was forced to surrender 1638 A.D.; when, in defiance of the terms of capitulation, most of the inhabitants were massacred. Since that period it has remained under a nominal subjection to the Turks. Achmet, the greatest of the pashas of Baghdad, and the first who rendered the pashalic independent of the Porte, defended the town with such courage against Nadir Shah, that the invader was compelled to raise the siege, after suffering great loss. Baghdad, according to Colonel Chesney, had 110,000 inhabitants previously to the great plague of 1830; but in 1853 Mr. Layard estimated its population under 50,000. An estimate made in 1872 on a census taken in 1869 rises as high as 150,000, but this is in all probability an exaggeration (v. Allen's Indian Mail, 1874). Long. 44° 24′ E., lat. 33° 21' N. Buckingham's Travels in Mesopotamia (1827); Sir R. K. Porter's Travels in Georgia, Persia, Armenia, and Ancient Babylonia (1821-22); Kinneir's Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire (1813); Chesney's 1 Besides the court of superior officers which assists the pasha in the general administration of the province, there is also a Mejlis, or mixed tribunal, for the settlement of municipal and commercial affairs, to which both Christian and Jewish merchants are admitted. Much, of course, depends on the individual character of the pasha, but, on the whole, justice is fairly administered, and with less disposition perhaps to press on the non-Mussulman portion of the population than in any other city of Asiatic Turkey. The Jewish and Christian communities, indeed, from their wealth, intelligence, and ong standing in the country, enjoy an exceptionally favorable social position, and live on terms of equality with their Mahometan neighbors.

Baghdad is also the headquarters of the army of Irak, and regular troops to the amount of five or six thousand men of all arms are usually kept together in the city, while an equal force is distributed in small garrisons in the Arab and Kurdish districts. Baghdad, after paying all its expenses, remits about £100,000 per annum to the imperial treasury, but its resources are capable of almost indefinite development, and there is indeed no reason why the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates should not, under an enlightened government, vield a revenue fully equal to that of the valley of the Nile.

[The 656th year of the Hegira is 1258 A.D., which is Gibbons' date.

Expedition (1850); Rousseau's Description du pachalik de
Bagdad (1809); Wellsted's City of the Caliphs; Grove's
Residence in Baghdad (1830-32); Transactions of Bombay
Geog. Soc. (1856).
(H. C. R.)

BAGHERMI, or BAGIRMI, a district or kingdom of
Central Africa, lying to the S. of Lake Chad and S. W. of
Bornu. It extends about 240 miles from N. to S., and has
a breadth of barely 150 miles. The surface is almost flat,
with a slight inclination to the N., and the general eleva-
tion is about 950 feet above sea-level. The Shari, a large
and always navigable river, forms the western boundary,
and throws out an important effluent called the Bachikam,
which passes through the heart of the country. The soil
consists partly of lime and partly of sand, and is by no
means unfertile. In many parts not a stone is to be seen.
Negro-millet, sesamum, and sorghum are the principal
grains in cultivation, but rice grows wild, and several kinds
of grass or poa are used as food by the natives. Cotton
and indigo are grown to a considerable extent, especially
by Bornu immigrants. Among the trees the most import-
ant are the Tamarind, the deleb-palm, the dum-palm, the
hajilij or Balanites ægyptiaca, the sycamore, and the
cornel. The country often suffers from drought, and is
greatly plagued with worms and insects, especially ants of
all kinds, red, black, and white. The Kungjungjudu, a
sort of beetle which does great damage to the crops, is eaten
by the natives. A large proportion of the people have
their feet mutilated by the attacks of a small worm, which
takes up its residence in the first joint of the little toe and
eats it gradually away. The inhabitants of Baghermi are
a vigorous, well-formed race, who, according to their own
traditions, came from the Far East several centuries ago.
They speak a language cognate with those spoken by the
Sara, who dwell about two degrees further south, and the
Dor, who are situated at the confluence of the Dyor with
the White Nile. On their arrival they soon extended their
power over the Fellata and Arabs already settled in the
district, and after being converted to Mahometanism under
Abd-Allah, their fourth king, they extended their authority
over a large number of heathen tribes. The most import-
ant of these are the Sokoro, the Bua, the Nyillam, the
Sara, the Tumok, and the Busso. They are almost all in
a low state of civilization, and practise strange supersti-
tions-a belief in a god whom they identify with thunder
being the greatest extent of their religion. They are sub-
ject to the barbarous raids of their Baghermian masters,
who derive from them a constant supply of slaves with
which to pay the tribute demanded from them in their
turn by the sultan of Bornu. For our knowledge of this
district we are principally indebted to Barth and Nachti-
gal; the former was for some time a prisoner in Masseña,
the capital.

See Barth, Travels in Northern and Central Africa in 1849-53, vol. iii., and Nachtigal, in Petermann's Mittheil. for 1874, and in Zeitsch. d. Ges. f. Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1875. BAGHMATI, a river of Hindustán, which has its source in the hills to the north of Katmandu, the capital of Nepál, whence it flows in a southerly direction through the district of Tirhut, in the province of Behar, and, receiving the waters of the Buchia on its north bank, and of Burá Gandak on its south bank, joins the Ganges, after a course of 285 miles, in 25° 23′ N. lat. and 86° 34′ E. long., about 8 miles below the town of Monghir, but on the opposite bank.

BAGLIVI, GIORGIO, an illustrious Italian physician, descended from a poor persecuted Armenian family, was born at Ragusa in 1669, and assumed the name of his adoptive father, Pietro Angelo Baglivi, a wealthy physician of Lecce. He studied successively at the universities of Salerno, Padua, and Bologna; and after travelling over Italy he went in 1602 to Rome, where, through the influence of the celebrated Malpighi, he was elected professor of anatomy in the college of Sapienza. He died at Rome in 1707, at the early age of thirty-eight. A collection of his writings, which are all in the Latin language, was published in 4to in 1704, and has been several times reprinted in the same form. An edition in 2 vols. 8vo was published in 1788. Baglivi's work De Fibra Motrice, is the foundation of that theory of medicine which was substituted by Hoffmann and Cullen for the Humoral Pathology.

BAGNACAVALLO, BARTOLOMMEO, an Italian painter who flourished about the beginning of the 16th century. Article MONGOLS, Vol. XVI., p. 768, puts this event in 1263 A.D.—AM. ED.]

His real name was Ramenghi, but he received the cogno- | form it is mentioned in Scripture (1 Sam. x. 5; Isa. v. 12; men Bagnacavallo from the little village where he was Jer. xlviii. 36), and was used by the Egyptians, the born in 1484. He studied first under Francia, and then Greeks, and the Romans. The strain upon the player of proceeded to Rome, where he became a pupil of Raffaelle. these pipes was so great that he had to bandage up his lips While studying under him he worked along with many and cheeks with a popẞeía or Tεpioτóшov, the Roman others at the decoration of the gallery in the Vatican, capistrum, a leathern muzzle or headstall. It seems very though it is not known what portions are his work. On probable that the bagpipe derived its origin from these his return to Bologna he quickly took the leading place as double and triple reed-pipes, by the after addition to them an artist, and to him were due the great improvements in of a wind-bag made of the skin of a goat or kid, together the general style of what has been called the Bolognese with a valved porte-vent, in order to relieve the strain on school. His works were considered to be inferior in point the lungs and cheeks of the player. There are several of design to some other productions of the school of evidences that the bagpipe was well known in the time of Raffaelle, but they were distinguished by rich coloring Nero. It is represented on a coin of that reign, copied in and graceful delineation. They were highly esteemed by Montfaucon's Antiquities, and Suetonius (Ner., 54) speaks Guido and the Carracci, who studied them carefully and of a promise made by Nero shortly before his death, that in some points imitated them. The best specimens of he would appear before the people as a bagpiper (utricuBagnacavallo's works, the Dispute of St. Augustin_and a larius). In medieval Latin the instrument is designated Madonna with Child, are at Bologna. He died in 1542. the Tibia utricularia. Chaucer represents the miller as BAGNÈRES-DE-BIGORRE (the Vicus Aquensis of the skilled in playing the bagpipe; and Shakspeare's familiar Romans), the capital of an arrondissement in the depart- allusion to "the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe" is suffiment of Hautes-Pyrénées, is situated on the left bank of cient of itself to disprove the common notion that the inthe Adour, 13 miles S. E. of Tarbes. It is one of the princi- strument has always been peculiar to Scotland. pal watering-places in France, and is much admired for its picturesque situation and the beauty of its environs, particularly the valley of Campan, which abounds with beautiful gardens and handsome villas. The town is remarkably neat and clean, and many of the houses are built or ornamented with marble. Its thermal springs and baths are numerous and varied, and are very efficacious in debility of the digestive organs and other maladies. Their temperature is from 90° to 135° Fahr. The season commences in May and terminates about the end of October, during which time the population is more than doubled. Manufactures of woollen cloth, worsted, leather, pottery, and toys are carried on, and marble from the neighboring quarries is wrought in the town. Greatly frequented by the Romans, and destroyed by the Gothic invaders, Bagnères begins to appear again in history in the 12th century, and rose into permanent importance under the reign of Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of Henry IV. Permanent population, about BAGNÈRES-DE-LUCHON, a small well-built town of France, department of Haute-Garonne, pleasantly situated in the valley of the Luchon, at the foot of the Pyrenees. It is celebrated for its sulphurous thermal springs, which vary in temperature from 88° to 180° Fahr. The bathing establishment is one of the most complete in Europe. The waters are employed with success in a variety of chronic affections, and about 10,000 patients visit the town annually. Resident population, about 3600.

9500.

BAGRATION, PETER, PRINCE, a distinguished Russian general, descended from the noble Georgian family of the Bagratides, was born in 1765. In 1782 he entered the Russian army and served for some years in the Caucasus. In 1788 he was engaged in the siege of Oczacow, and afterwards accompanied Suwaroff, by whom he was highly esteemed, through all his Italian and Swiss campaigns. He particularly distinguished himself in 1799 by the capture of the town of Brescia. In the wars of 1805 his achievements were even more brilliant. With a small force he withstood for several hours the united troops of Murat and Lannes, and though half his men fell, the retreat of the main army under Kutusoff was thereby secured. At Austerlitz he had the command of the advanced guard of Prince Lichtenstein's column, and at Eylau and Friedland he fought with the most resolute and stubborn courage. In 1808 he commanded in Finland, and in 1809 in Turkey, and was almost uniformly successful in his operations. In the famous Russian campaign of 1812, the corps under his leadership had been separated from the main army under Barclay de Tolly, and was defeated by Davoust at Mohilev. Bagration, however, succeeded in effecting the desired junction at Smolensk. He was mortally wounded in the bloody battle of the Borodino, 7th Sept., 1812, and died one month later.

BAHAMAS, or LUCAYAS, a very numerous group of islands, cays, rocks, and reefs, comprising an area of 3021 square miles, lying between 21° 42′ and 27° 34′ N. lat. BAGPIPE (Fr. musette, Ger. Sackpfeife, Ital. cornamusa), and 72° 40′ and 79° 5′ W. long. They encircle and almost a musical instrument of unknown antiquity, which seems enclose the Gulf of Mexico, stretching more than 600 miles to have been at one time or other in common use among from the eastern coast of Florida to the northern coast of all the nations of Europe, and still retains its place in St. Domingo, and are traversed by only three navigable many Highland districts, such as Calabria, the Tyrol, and channels--1st, the Florida Channel to the N., which the Highlands of Scotland. The wind is generally sup- runs along the coast of the United States and lies to the plied by a blowpipe, though in some cases bellows are used. westward of the whole Bahama group; 2d, the Providence These and other slight variations, however, involve no Channels, passing through the group to the N., and essential difference in character or construction, and a separating the Great and Little Banks; and 3d, the old description of the great bagpipe of the Highlands of Bahama Channel, which passes to the S. of the Great Bahama Scotland will serve to indicate the leading features of the Bank, between it and Cuba. The islands lie for the most instrument in all its forms. It consists of a large wind- part on the windward edge of the Great and Little Banks, bag made of greased leather covered with woollen cloth; a or of the ocean sounds or tongues which pierce them. The mouth-tube, valved, by which the bag is inflated with the total number of islands is 29, while the cays are reckoned player's breath; three reed drones; and a reed chanter with at 661, and the rocks at 2387. The principal islands are finger-holes, on which the tunes are played. Of the three New Providence (which contains the capital Nassau), Abaco, drones, one is long and two are short. The longest is tuned Harbor Island, Eleuthera, Inagua, Mayaguana, St. Salvato A, an octave below the lowest A of the chanter, and the dor,'Andros Island, Great Bahama, Ragged Island, Rum two shorter drones are tuned each an octave above the A Cay, Exuma, Long Island, Crooked Island, Acklin Island, of the longest drone; or, in other words, in unison with Long Cay, Watling Island,' the Berry Islands, and the the lowest A of the chanter. The scale of the chanter Biminis. Turk's Island and the Caicos, which belong has a compass of nine notes, all natural, extending from G geographically to the Bahama group, were separated politon the second line of the treble stave up to A in alt. In ically in 1848. The formation of all the islands is the the music performed upon this instrument, the players same,-calcareous rocks of coral and shell hardened into introduce among the simple notes of the tune a kind of limestone, honeycombed and perforated with innumerable appoggiatura, consisting of a great number of rapid notes cavities, without a trace of primitive or volcanic rock; the of peculiar embellishment, which they term warblers. No surface is as hard as flint, but underneath it gradually exact idea of these warblers can be formed except by hear- softens and furnishes an admirable stone for building, ing a first-rate player upon the Highland bagpipe. The which can be sawn into blocks of any size, these hardhistory of the bagpipe can be clearly traced from the ening on exposure to the atmosphere. The shores are earliest periods by means of pictorial representations and generally low, the highest hill in the whole range of the references occurring in literature. The instrument probably islands being only 230 feet high. The soil, although very consisted at first of the pipes without the bag, and in this thin, is very fertile. On Andros Island and on Abaco there ' [St Salvador and Watling islands are officially the same. The former is here given as the equivalent of Cat Island.—AM. ED.]

It is a remarkable fact that except in the island of Andros, no streams of running water are to be found in the whole | the beautiful humming-bird, as well as wild geese, ducks,

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 Colleton. 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 subse-ished a license fee, payable hitherto by the men employed quently, during the American war of independence, colonists arrived in great numbers, bringing with them wealth and also slave labor. 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 Turk's and Caicos Islands in 1848, which had been hitherto the most productive of the salt-producing islands, unfavorably affected the finances. Probably the abolition of the slave-trade in 1834 was not without its effect upon the fortunes of the landed proprietors.

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 abolas wreckers, and they repealed a special income-tax 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 favorably 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 pine-apples 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 paralyzed 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 Harbor 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 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 The colony is divided into 13 parishes, although the benefited little. The Government managed to pay its division is now used for civil purposes only. An Act to debt, amounting to £43,786, but crime increased, and amend the ecclesiastical laws of the colony was assented to sickness became very prevalent. The cessation of the on the 1st of June, 1869, and confirmed on the 7th of Octrade was marked, however, by hardly any disturbance; tober, 1869, and the Church of England at the Bahamas there were no local failures, and in a few months the disestablished. The population of the islands taken at [Esek. Hopkins (1718-1802), of Rhode Island, commander-in-chief of the navy (1775-77). Died at Providence.—AM. ED.]

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 colored 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 colored, and 9186 black; since then the proportion of colored and black to white has increased. The health of the colony has been improving of late years; the deathrate 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.

Height of Thermometer in Degrees Fahr. at 9 A.M.

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 Harbor 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 utilized. 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.

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 colored 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 con- BAHIA, or, in full, SAN SALVADOR DA BAHIA DE sumptive disease. The principal religious denominations TODOS OS SANTOS, a large city, and, till 1763, the capital are the Wesleyan, Baptist, Church of England, and of Brazil, is situated on the S.E. coast on the Bay of All Presbyterian. The following figures represent approxi- Saints, from which it takes its name, in 13° S. lat., and 38° mately the number of persons generally attending the 20′ W. long. Built partly along the foot and partly on the churches and chapels of the several denominations:- top of a steep hill, it consists of an upper and lower town, Wesleyan, 7370; Baptist, 7971; Church of England, communication between the two being effected by large 4250; Presbyterian, 300. There is no Roman Catholic flights of steps, and since 1873 by a powerful hydraulic place of worship in the islands, and the members of elevator. The carrying of goods and passengers up and that church are very few in number. The constitution of down these stairway-streets affords employment to a large the Bahamas consists of a governor, aided by an executive number of negro porters and chairmen. The lower town, council of 9 members, a legislative council of 9 members, or Praya, consists mainly of one long and narrow street, and a representative assembly of 28 members. The quali- with still narrower and more tortuous lanes. The houses fications of electors are full age, a residence of twelve are built of stone, and many of them are several stories months, six of which must have been as a freeholder, or a high. This is the business part of the city, where are sitresidence of six months and a payment of duties to the uated the quays, docks, warehouses, custom-houses, examount of £26, Os. 10d. The qualification of members is change, and arsenal; and here the sailors, porters, and possession of an estate of real or personal property to the lower classes generally reside. The church of Nostra Se value of £500. The executive is composed partly of offi- ñora da Praya is remarkable as having been built of stones cial and partly of unofficial members; the latter have that were hewn in Lisbon and shipped across the ocean. usually a seat in one of the branches of the legislature. The upper city has wide and well-paved streets, open There are 35 Government schools in the Bahamas, 5 of squares, and pleasant promenades, adorned with orange which are in New Providence, and 30 in the out islands. trees and bananas. The most important is the Passeio PubThese schools are managed by an education board com- lico, which was opened in 1814, and overlooks the beautiful posed of 5 or more members, with the governor as presi- bay. There is no city in Brazil that can vie with Bahia in dent. The legislative grant for educational purposes is the number and splendor of its ecclesiastical buildings, £2200 a year, exclusive of the salary of the inspector of among which the Jesuits' college, now used as a hospital, schools, who is borne upon the civil establishment on a sal- and the cathedral, which is built of marble, are pre-eminent. ary of £200. The number of children on the books is about There are likewise numerous educational institutions, in3006, and there are 1200 in addition attending schools including a lyceum (in which Latin, Greek, French, and 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.

English, mathematics, philosophy, &c., are taught), a theological seminary, and a medical academy, which is sup ported 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 governmentThere are numerous lighthouses in the group, the princi-house, the court-house, the mint, and the town-house; also pal being at Gun Cay, Abaco, Cay Sal, Great Isaacks, Cay the Alfandega, where all foreign importations have to be Lobos, Stirrups Cay, Elbow Cay, Castle Island, Hoy Island, entered, and the Consolado, where all native productions and Athol Island. The chief institutions of the Bahamas are registered for exportation. There are likewise a numare to be found in New Providence. They include a ber of banks and commercial associations of various kinds. vings bank, a public library, a well-conducted newspaper Bahia has long been a place of great traffic. The streets