BARBASTRO. 



BARCA. 



meridian of Algiers the inhabited country does not seem to extend 

 farther south than about 33 N. lat., where is the district of the Beni 

 Mozab. The southernmost parts of the inhabited country of Tunis are 

 nearly under the same parallel. In the regency of Tripoli the tract 

 of the inhabited land is much narrowed by the great indentation of 

 the coast produced by the Syrtes, where especially at the innermost 

 recess of the great Syrtis the sands of the Great Desert almost touch 

 the sea-shore. But at various distances in a southern direction across 

 the waste are several oases, such as Fezzan, Ghadames, and Audjelah, 

 which being dependencies of the regency of Tripoli must be considered 

 as parts of Barbary. The eastern limits of Barbary may be traced by 

 a line departing from the northern coast east of Bomba, about 25 E. 

 long., and running in a southern direction between the oasis of Aud- 

 jelah and that of Siwah, or Ammon, which last is considered as a 

 dependency of Egypt. 



Islamism is the religion of the great majority of the inhabitants of 

 Barbary. Of course the French and other European settlers in Alge*rie 

 are Christians. All the native tribes even of Berbers are said to pro- 

 fess IsUmism. A great number of Jews are found in all the principal 

 towns, where many of them carry on various branches of profitable 

 trade. The blacks, who are very numerous in Barbary and who come 

 originally from Soudan or the countries south of the Great Desert, 

 are, if they may be said to have any religion at all, Pagans. 



(Marmol's Detcripcion de Africa ; Procopius, De BMo Vandalico ; 

 Shaw's Trardt in flarbary, &c.) 



BARBASTRO, or BALBASTRO. [ARAOON.] 



BARBERYN. [CEYLON.] 



BARBEZIEUX. [CHARENTE.] 



BARBU'DA, one of the Leeward group of the Caribbean Islands, 

 situated 27 miles north of Antigua, is of an oval form, 15 miles in length 

 from south-east to north-west, and 8 miles broad. The castle is in 

 17' 38' N. lat, 61 51' W. long. Barbuda was first settled by a party 

 from St. Kitt's led by Sir Thomas Warner, in 1628. The first settlers, 

 finding a scarcity of water and that the coasts were surrounded by 

 rocks, and being harassed by incursions of the Caribbs from Dominica, 

 abandoned the island. Subsequently General Codrington obtained 

 the property of it by a grant from the crown, and formed the pro- 

 ject of raising stock for the supply of the neighbouring islands, in 

 which he succeeded very well. Barbuda is still held by the Codrington 

 family, and is the only proprietary government in the West Indies. 

 The inhabitants, chiefly coloured, are employed in breeding stock, 

 such as cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, Ac. They also cultivate corn, 

 cotton, pepper, indigo, and tobacco, but no sugar is grown. 



The island is low, level, and fertile. The highest part lies to the 

 east, and is called the High Land, though it is not more than 80 feet 

 above the sea. It is covered with woods, which are well stocked with 

 deer and various kinds of game. Land crabs are kept in preserves 

 here, and are considered a luxury for the table. There is a lagoon of 

 brackish water, seven miles in length, communicating on the north- 

 west with the sea, and having from four to six feet of water in it, in 

 which are snappers, baracoutas, kingfish, and other species of fish. 

 The mansion of the estate, or castle as it is called, is situated on the 

 margin of this lake, and around it are the plantations. A church and 

 school have recently been erected. The air is so mild and pure that 

 invalids from other islands commonly resort here for the restoration 

 of their health. 



The coasts are defended by several small batteries. Reefs extend 

 off the island in some places as far as five miles, but there is anchorage 

 on the western side. Several vessels having been lost on its rocky 

 shores, the merchants of Antigua petitioned some time ago for a light- 

 house to be built on it. As in other West India islands, turtle are 

 found here on the shores. 



From the nature of the ownership, the name of this island seldom 

 appears in parliamentary or statistical works. 



BATICA, the name of a district in the eastern division of the 

 regency of Tripoli. It is sometimes vaguely applied to the whole of 

 that division, including the regions called by the ancients the Syrtis, 

 the Cyrenaica or Pentapolis, and the Marmarica. But the political or 

 administrative division of that vast range of country is as follows : 

 The district called Sert or Sort -extends from the southern limits of 

 the district of Mesurata in Western Tripoli to a place called Muktar, 

 on the southernmost coast of the Gulf of Sidra or great Syrtis, 

 beyond which the district of Barca begins. The Sort is under an 

 Arab sheik, who is tributary to the pasha of Tripoli. The district 

 of Barca extends inland to the north-east from Muktar to beyond 

 Derna, and the line of coast parallel to it is divided into two bey- 

 liks, Bengazi and Derna, the beys of which are appointed by and 

 dependent on the pasha of Tripoli. The inland tract called Barca is 

 under another Arab aheik, who is himself subordinate to the two 

 beys of Benga/i and Derna. Barca then comprises the country that 

 lies between the Gulf of Sidra and Egypt, the Mediterranean and the 

 Desert. The district, which is entirely inhabited by nomadic Arabs, 

 includes the hilly region of Cyrenaica. Various tribes wander in it, 

 among which the Zaouyeh occupy the tract south of Bengazi, and the 

 great tribe called El-Harabi extend eastward of the aame place as far 

 M Derna. The western part of the hilly range of Cyrenaica towards 

 Bengazi u called by the Arabs Jebel Barca, or Mountainous Barca. 



The name Barca is the modern form of the Greek name Barce, a 



OEOO. rv. VOL. i. 



colony of Cyrene (Herod, iv. 160) which perhaps existed already 

 before as a Phoenician colony, as its name would indicate. It is 

 stated by Scylax to have been 100 stadia from its harbour, which 



Coin of Barca. 



From coin in British Museum. Silver. Actual size. Weight, 204. grains. 

 The plant on the reverse of the coins of Barca is the Silphium, or Asafoetida, 

 which formed a principal article of export from Barca and Cyrene. 



became afterwards the town called Ptolemai's, now Tolometa. Barca 

 was situated at a distance of 500 stadia from Cyrene and 620 stadia 

 from Hesperides in the plain now called El-Merjeh, a high table- 

 laud on the hills of Cyrenaica above Tolometa. The Arabs call the 

 inconsiderable ruins that mark the site of the city El-Medinah. 

 Herodotus gives an interesting account of Barce, of its rivalry with 

 Cyrene, and of the invasion of the Persians from Egypt, who took 

 Barce by treachery after a long siege, and earned away a great 

 number of its inhabitants into Asia, where Darius the son of 

 Hystaspes settled them in Bactria (iv. 204). The territory of Barce 

 occupied the western part of Cyrenaica, and its inhabitants seem to 

 have been a mixture of Greeks from Cyrene and of native Libyans. 

 When that country became subject to the Ptolemies these kings built 

 the town of Ptolemais, which drew away from Barce most of its 

 remaining Greek inhabitants. Barce however continued to exist as a 

 town ; and we find that in the first ages of Christianity it had its 

 bishops distinct from tho.se of Ptolemais. After the Saracens 

 conquered Egypt they entered Cyreuaica, and Barce or Barcah, as 

 they called it, became their chief town in that province. Hence the 

 Arab geographers speak of the kingdom of Barca, which is synony- 

 mous with Cyrenaica. Cyrene long before this was in ruins. 



Coin of Barca. 

 From a sulphur cast in the possession of Mr. Doubleday. 



Coin of Barca. 

 From the collection of Mr. Thomas. Actual size. Silver, 197 grains. 



Under the Fatemite kalifs of Egypt the oppressions of the 

 Saracen governors obliged the people of Barca to emigrate, and most 

 of them passed into Egypt. Delia Cella however mentions a treaty 

 of commerce in 1236 between the republic of Genoa and Busacherino 

 a Mussulman chief, who styles himself ' Lord of Africa,' by which 

 the Genoese were allowed to trade "from Tripoli to the extremity of 

 the kingdom of Barca." Since that time the town of Barca has 

 entirely disappeared, but the name has remained in use among the 

 Arabs to indicate the country which once belonged to it. About 

 1550 Sultan Solyman having conquered Tripoli, united the country of 

 Barca to it and made a pashalik of the whole. 



There has been "touch misapprehension among geographers about 

 the nature of the soil in the regions round the great Syrtis ; it has 

 been represented as a tract of barren sand. This however is by no 

 means the case. The country is parched up in summer, and it then 

 looks dreary, but after the autumnal rains it is covered with a 

 luxuriant vegetation : many parts of the Sort, which is the worst 

 tract, afford excellent pasturage, and some produce good crops of 

 barley and dhurra. The soil is sandy, but it is not merely sand. 

 As for Barca many parts of it are capable of the highest degree of 

 cultivation. Along the coast especially the soil is fertile, yielding corn 

 and fine pasturage where cultivated ; but most of the country is 

 neglected. Pines, date-palms, olive-trees, and flowering shrubs 

 flourish on the highlands. There are no permanent rivers ; the 



3 L 



