B A S 



13 



B A S 



town near the southern boundary of the department, on the 

 Luy de Beam. 



This village is remarkable for a kind of earth which has 

 the property of bitumen when used with wood, and which 

 forms an excellent cement for stone. It is easily worked, 

 as warm bitumen is worked, without attaching itself to the 

 finders ; and as it is impervious to water, it is used for 

 sealing bottles of liquor : but it is chiefly as a cement for 

 stone that it is valuable. It acquires, when exposed ftn 

 some time to the air, such hardness, that the stones joined 

 by it cannot be parted, but must be broken when it is re- 

 quired to demolish the structure in which they have been 

 used. 



This bituminous earth is found on the slope of two hills, 

 which extend in a direction N.E. and S.W. It is covered 

 with common earth, which is easily removed ; for the slope 

 of the hills being pretty steep, the earth, when disturbed, 

 rolls down by its own weight, leaving the surface of the 

 bituminous substance bare. This bitumen has the appear- 

 ance of a hard black stone, and considerable labour is re- 

 quisite to detach pieces of it from the mass. (EncyclopeJie 

 ^Ifthndiqne, Geog. Physique ; Expilly, Dictionnaire ties 

 Gaules et de la France.) 



BASTI'A is the principal to\vn in the island of Corsica, 

 and was formerly the residence of the governor, but of late 

 years the prefect of the department of Corsica has resided 

 at Ajaccio. Bastia is situated on the eastern coast of the 

 island, in 42" 43' N. lat., arid 9 26' E. long. Its port is not 

 very safe, n >r adapted for vessels of large burden : a singular 

 rock at its entrance has very much the appearance of a lion 

 in repose. The natives call it ' II Leone ;' it is of very con- 



[Rock called the Lion of Butia.] 



siderable dimensions, and lies completely isolated in the sea. 

 Its shoulders and neck are covered with creeping plants, 

 which invest them with the appearance of a bushy mane ; 

 the fore-legs are thrown forward, the neck is raised, and 

 the head has an air of fierceness about it. This singular 

 object lias every appearance of being the work of nature ; 

 indeed there is no evidence at all to show that art was in 

 any way concerned in giving the rock this singular form. 

 Tlic composition of the rock is a calcareous stone, of the 

 same character as the rock on which the citadel of Bastia 

 is built: and there can be little doubt that they are parts 

 of the same mass, though the sea appears to cut off the 

 connexion. This lion is of much use as a breakwater when 

 the north winds drive the waters before them. The town is 

 fortified with walls and bastions, but it has large suburbs 

 outside the fortifications. Hich hills rise behind the town, 

 above which the higher range which runs through the 

 i>!,md from north to south is seen. The view from Bastia 

 over the Tuscan Sea is very fine. It embraces the islands 

 of Elba, Capraja, and Monte Cristo, and the distant coast 

 of Tuscany. Tho streets of Bastia are narrow, and the 

 hou-irrs lofty, and built after the Italian fashion. The popu- 

 lation of Bastia is about 10,01)0. The Cour Royale, or court 

 of justice, civil and criminal, for the whole department, sits 

 nt Bastia. There is also a society of instruction which has 

 fur some years actively employed in spreading informa- 

 tion, especially among the country-people. Bastia has also 

 \ rnll-.Pi., or superior school. The cathedral of Bastia con- 

 tains nothing remarkable, but there is a new small church 

 called Ciippcllft di Santa Croce, the construction of which is 

 remarkably elegant. The people of Bnstia speak Italian, 

 but most of them are also acquainted with French. Bastia 

 carries on a litilr Imde, chiefly with I.i'ghorn. It exports 

 wine, timber, ana c,.ttlc. Toboceo and English manufac- 



tures are smuggled into Corsica from Leghorn. A road 

 leads from Bastia to Ajaccio across the island, and another 

 leads along the eastern coast to Bonifacio, at the southern 

 extremity of Corsica. Bastia is 32 miles W. by S. from the 

 nearest point of the island of Elba, and 56 from Piombino 

 on the coast of Tuscany. (Benson's Sketches of Corsica.) 



BASTIDE, LA, the name of a number of places in 

 France, all of them in the southern departments. The 

 Dictionnaire Universal de la France enumerates sixty- 

 one villages and three towns, of greater or less importance, 

 bearing this designation ; and in the Dictionnaire des 

 Gaules, &c. of Expilly fifty-six are enumerated. The word 

 bastide is derived from the verb bcitir, to build (which was 

 formerly written bastir), and is applied to a gentleman's 

 country seat. The most considerable places bearing this 

 name are as follows : 



LA BASTIDE DE CLARENCE, or CLAIRKNCB, a town in 

 the department of Basses Pyrenees (Lower Pyrenees), a little 

 way S.E. of Bayonne : 43 25' N. lat., 1 15' W. long. It 

 is on the right bank of the little river Joyeuse, that Hows 

 into the Adour. It was built by Louis X. (Hutin) before 

 he ascended the throne of France, while he was yet only 

 King of Navarre. The district belonging to the town con- 

 tains two mines, one of copper, the other of iron. This last 

 yields spathose ironstone (fer spathique see Aikin's Diet, 

 of Mineralogy and Chemistry.) The population, as given 

 in the Dictionnaire Universel de la France, 1 804, our latest 

 authority, was 2071. 



LA BASTIDE DE SEROX is in the department of Arriege, 

 between St. Girons and Foix, a short distance W.N.W. of 

 the latter town. It had, in 1832, a population of 1652. The 

 whole commune contained 291 1 inhabitants. Several of 

 the small streams in the neighbourhood bring down par- 

 ticles of gold. A grey argillaceous earth is found near this 

 place, which, from the goodness of the colour, is used in 

 colouring the houses. It is also used to make crucibles for 

 glass-works : 43 J 1' N. lat., 1 28' E. long. 



LA BASTIDE. ST. AMANS, or ST. AMAND, in tho depart- 

 ment of Tarn, S.E. of Castres, near the bank of the Taur, 

 had a population in 1804 of 2140 : 43 29' N. lat, 2" 27' 

 E. long. 



HASTILE, or BASTILLE, the name used in France 

 to denote a fortress or state- prison. There have been three 

 of that name at Paris, the Bastile du Temple, the Bastile 

 of St, Denis, and that of the Kue'St. Antoiue. We shall 

 only treat of the last, which has obtained historical cele- 

 brity, and is usually denominated The Bastile. This for- 

 tress stood at the cast end of Paris, on the north side of the 

 Seine. It was originally intended for the protection of the 

 city, but afterwards was used as a state-prison. Hugues 

 d'Aubriot, Provost des Marchands in the reign of Charles V., 

 laid the first stone on the 22nd of April, 136!), by the order 

 of that king. There had previously been a fortitied en- 

 trance to Paris on the same spot, on a small scale, which was 

 built by Etienne Marcel, the predecessor in office of Hugues 

 d'Aubriot. The Bastile consisted at first of two round 

 towers, with an entrance between them : afterwards, to 

 render it stronger, two additional towers, parallel to the two 

 first, were built, and the whole connected by walls. The 

 building, however, was not completed till 1383, in the reign 

 of Charles VI., when four more towers were added, of the 

 same dimensions, and at equal distances from the first four, 

 and the whole eight were united by masonry of great thick- 

 ness, in which were constructed a great number of apart- 

 ments and offices. The entrance to tho city by tho original 



[View of the Bastile, from * Print in tho Britiih Museum.] 



