BAOHKKME. 



BAHAMAS. 



-.I 



mort important, u it contribute* largely to the subsistence of the 

 population. Grape*, figs, pomegranates, quince*, &c, are very good 

 and abunduit; but apples, pean, oranges, Ac. are of inferior size and 

 quality: and cherries, gooseberries, strawberries, and currants are 

 unknown. Melons, cucumbers, and onions are most abundant and 

 excellent; but of these as well as of fruits and of cruciferous and 

 leguminou* plant*, it may with few exceptions be stated that the 

 species which are the rarest in this country are the moat common in 

 toe Baghdad pashalic. The groat heat of the climate in siiinnu-r 

 burns up almost every green thing. The winter is almost like a 

 northern summer. Barley and wheat are reaped in the beginning of 

 Hay. The hills to the east of the Tigris of course enjoy a cooler 

 atmosphere than the plains of Mesopotamia, the temperature of which 

 may be judged by that of BAGHDAD. Furious thunderstorms are not 

 uufrequent in spring, and hot suffocating winds from the south and 

 south-weit often sweep over the country. 



The principal wild birds of this region are black partridges, snipes, 

 and wild doves ; the lakes and marshes abound with wild geese and 

 ducks, widgeons, and pelicans. The common fowl and pigeons are 

 the only domestic birds. The wild animals are gazelles, lions, jackals, 

 hogs, and hares. The lions are not numerous, and their haunts are 

 chiefly among the sepulchral barrows of the Tigris. The jackals are 

 more abundant and troublesome, and when they find on opportunity, 

 enter the towns and Tillages during the night. The domestic animals 

 are horses, asses, mules, buffaloes, single-humped camels, and drome- 

 daries. The horses of the country, especially those reared by the 

 ahmtnr and Anezeh Arabs, are most beautiful animals. As beef 

 ia not an article of food, oxen are not reared for slaughter ; but they 

 are much employed in agricultural labour. 



(Dr. Layard's Nineveh and Babylon ; Papers by Lieut. H. B. Lynch, 

 Dr. Ross, and Colonel Shiel, in the Royal Geographical Journal, vols. 

 viiL and ix. ; Colonel Chesney's Exjiedition to the Euplirata and 

 Tigri,.) 



BAGHERME. [BEGHABML] 



BAGNERES-DE-BIOORRE. fPvRfetiEiB, HAUTES.] 



BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON. [QARONNI:, HAUTE.] 



BAGNOLS. [GAHD.] 



BACK ADAS. [MEJEBDAH.] 



BAHA'MAS, or LUCATOS, a chain of low islands stretching in 

 a north-westerly direction from the north side of St. Domingo to 

 the coast of East Florida ; between 20 55' and 27 40' N. lat, and 

 68 40' and 79 20' W. long. It is composed of innumerable rocks, 

 islet* (called keys), and islands, of which about 20 are inhabited. 



St. Salvador was the first land fallen in with by Columbus on his 

 first voyage in 1492. The Spaniards carried away to Mexico the few 

 natives whom they found on the island, and the Bahamas remained 

 uninhabited till the year 1629, when New Providence was settled 

 by the English ; the settlers held it till 1641, and were then expelled 

 by the Spaniards, who destroyed the colony, but made no attempt to 

 settle there themselves. It was again colonised by the English in 

 1666, and continued in their hands till 1703, when a combined force 

 of French and Spaniards destroyed Nassau, and obliged the inhabit- 

 ants to seek refuge by flight Some however who remained were 

 rendered desperate by their recent sufferings, and the place became 

 a rendezvous for pirates, who became so notorious and committed 

 such depredations in the adjacent seas, that government determined 

 to suppress them, and re-settle the colony. This took place in 1718, 

 and shortly afterwards settlements were formed on some of the 

 other islands : Nassau itself (the town of New Providence) was 

 fortified in 1740. In 1776 New Providence was taken possession of 

 by the Americans, but they abandoned it very shortly afterwards. 

 In 1781 all the Bahamas were reduced by the Spaniards, but by the 

 treaty of peace in 1783 they were again restored to the British 

 crown. At the close of the American war many of the Royalists 

 transferred the remains of their property, including in many cases 

 their house*, to these islands, and since that period the number of 

 the people and the cultivation of the land have progressively 

 increased. 



The principal islands are situated on those remarkable flats called 

 the Bahama Bank*, of which the Great Bank (lying at the western 

 extremity of the Archipelago) occupies an extent of 800 miles in 

 length N.W. and S.E., and 80 mile* in breadth ; the deepest water 

 on any part of this bank if 30 feet, but the patches of coral rock and 

 dry sand are innumerable. These banks rise almost perpendicularly 

 from an unfathomable depth of water, and are formed of coral, with 

 an accumulation of shells and calcareous aand. The islands are gene- 

 rally long and narrow, low, and covered with a light sandy soil, their 

 figure and surface throughout being nearly uniform in character. 

 At the greatest depth yet reached by digging, nothing ha* been 

 found but calcareous rock, with an intermixture of shells. Those 

 inlands not situated on the bank have a reef of rock* extending a 

 abort distance from the shore, forming the boundary of sounding*, 

 immediately ouUide which the sea is often unfathomable. 



The entire population of the Bahamas in 1845 was 26,500: de.l 

 the population of Caicos and Turk's Islands, it was 22,841, which in 

 1861 had increased to 25,892. 



Th.- climate is temperate and healthy ; but thunderstorms are 

 violent and frequent, and earthquakes are sometimes felt From May 



to October the thermometer range* from 82 to 88 Faliranheit ; 

 from November to April it is about 70 or 72*. There are no stream* 

 or rivers, but water is easily procured by digging. The soil U dry 

 and hard, but the islands are generally fruitful, and produce several 

 specie* of trees, as mahogany, satiuwood, lignum vita, cedars, pines, 

 broziletto, wild cinnamon, fustic, and pimento, with a great variety 

 of esculent vegetables. Cattle are reared in great plenty, and in thu 

 wood* are found the wild hog and the agouti. 



The imports include provisions, lumber, shingle*, and other 

 materials for ship and house building from the United States of 

 America; and sugar, coffee, and other tropical productions from Cuba, 

 Porto Rico, and the British West Indies. 



The chief articles of export are salt, fruit*, sponge, shells, turtle, 

 timber, dyewoods, bark, and fustic. The crops of cotton are often 

 destroyed by the chenille and red bug ; the latter stains the cotton 

 DO a* to render it of little value. The cultivation of cotton is now 

 little attended to. Great numbers of pine-apples are grown for gale, 

 principally to North American traders. Oranges, lemons, and lime* 

 are being more extensively cultivated than formerly. The islands 

 generally produce sufficient maize and ground provisions for the use 

 of the inhabitants. Turk's Islands and the Island of Inagua afford 

 the principal supply of salt ; since the political separation of Turk's 

 Islands from the Bahamas in 1848, much encouragement has been 

 given for the production of salt in Inagua Island, and a largely 

 increased quantity has been raked from the salt ponds. Many of the 

 inhabitants of the Bahamas derive considerable profit by giving 

 assistance to vessels involved in the inextricable labyrinth of their 

 innumerable rocks and shoals, and in danger of being wrecked, or by 

 saving lives and property from those already wrecked, whence they 

 have obtained the name of 'wreckers.' They are licensed by the 

 government, and a legal salvage is allowed on property recovered by 

 them. 



The revenue for 1850 was 22,3562. ; the expenditure 25,4571. The 

 imports in the same year amounted in value to 92,756?. ; the exports 

 to 54,2391. The vessels belonging to the islands in 1851 were 144, 

 of 3978 tons. The tonnage of vessels which arrived at the islands 

 during 1850 was 31,117, of which 17,069 tons belonged to the United 

 State* of America, and 1691 tons to Great Britain. 



The following are the principal islands (arranged nearly in their 

 order from north to south) : 



Grand or Great Bahama has 810 inhabitant , <m]>lyed in agri- 

 culture. 



Abaco. [ABACO.] 



Berry Island*, of which the chief Is Stirrup' I Cay, have 161 inhabit- 

 ants, who live by wrecking. 



Androt is the largest of the islands; only the coast is inhabited, 

 the interior being so covered with swamps and jungle as to be 

 uninhabitable ; it has a population of 819, mostly coloured : the 

 island produces excellent cedar. 



New Providence, although a small island, about 20 miles long by 

 7 miles broad, contains the chief town, Nassau, with a population of 

 8400 inhabitants. 



Eleuihera, the principal fruit-growing island, has an area of about 

 100 square miles, and a population of 3400. The chief settlement* 

 are at Governor's Harbour, the Cove, Rock Sound, and the Current 



Harbour Jtland contains about 8 square miles, with a population 

 of 1700, employed in ship-building, trading on a limited scale to 

 the United States, and wrecking. 



&. Halt-odor, called also Guanahani or Cat Island, was the first land 

 discovered by Columbus, October 12th, 1492. A marie on a prominent 

 rock overhanging the bay, is popularly considered to be the spot 

 where the cross was planted by him. St. Salvador has two settle- 

 ment*, with 674 inhabitants. 



Exuma has 1682 inhabitant*, engaged in agriculture, cotton- 

 growing, and salt-raking. 



Kum Cay ho* 561 inhabitants, employed in agriculture and in 

 salt-raking. 



Long liland, 70 miles' long, by 3 or 4 miles in width, has 1236 

 inhabitants, employed in salt-raking, sponge- and conch-fishing, and 

 turtling. 



Crooked Itland, population 935, engaged in salt-raking. 



Ragged Iiland ha* a aalt-exporting settlement, with 313 inhabitants. 



Mai/ayuana, with an area of 81 square miles, is scarcely yet inha- 

 bited, but U supposed to be one of the most fertile islands of the group. 



Inagua is the most southern of the islands ; it contains 576 square 

 miles ami 172 inhabitant*; it has several prairies and a salt-pond, 

 covering about 1600 acres, which has much increased in productive- 

 ness during the last few years. A railway one mile long connects the 

 alt-lake with Matthew Town, the port of embarkation. About 8000 

 bushel* of salt have been sometimes raked from a single acre of the 

 Halt-pond. luagua is also used as a penal settlement, to which 

 convict* are transported from the other islands. 



Caicot Iriandi and Turk'i Iitandt were formerly included in the 

 Bahama group for purposes of government, but at the urgent request 

 of the inhabitant* they were in 1848 formed into a presidency, under 

 the control of the governor of Jamaica. 



Nassau, which was declared a free port in 1787, is the centre of 

 trade and the seat of government ; it is situated in 25 5' N. ltd., 



