BADIA BAFFIN. 



373 



strength of limb, and claws especially suited for 

 the purpose, the badger excavates a long and wind- 

 ing cavern, at the extremity of which it sleeps se- 

 curely during the day-time. At night, it comes out 

 to seek for its food, which consists either of vege- 

 tables, insects, or small birds, &c a regimen which 



shows the similarity of this genus to the bear as much 

 as its general resemblance of structure. When at- 

 tacked by dogs or other enemies, the badger defends 

 itself with great resolution, and inflicts many severe 

 wounds on the aggressors before it is finally vanquish- 

 ed. It is, therefore, often cruelly made sport of by dog- 

 fanciers, who place it in a long box, and set their 

 favourites to draw it out. Foxes often drive out the 

 badger from his den, and enlarge it for their own 

 "use. On the whole, the badger is a harmless crea- 

 ture, seldom seen unless hunted for, and doing very 

 little injury, except when greatly multiplied. The 

 female brings forth three or four at a litter. 



Only two species of the badger are known, the 

 European (M. vulgaris) and American (M. Labrado- 

 ria). The European badger has a broad, white 

 stripe from its forehead down to the nose ; and a 

 longitudinal black stripe begins between the eye 

 and snout, on each side, dilating as it goes back- 

 ward, until it includes the eye and the ear, behind 

 which it terminates. The hair covering the body is 

 harsh, long, scattered, and of three colours, white, 

 black, and red, differing in the proportion of these 

 tints in different parts. Black is the predominant 

 colour on the inferior parts of the body. The Ameri- 

 can badger is only found in the remote western 

 territories of the United States, and in some parts of 

 the British possessions in America. It is very different 

 from the European in physiognomy, having a fore- 

 head projecting considerably above the root of the 

 nose, which, in the European species, forms a con- 

 tinuous line with the forehead, and in having a 

 longer tail, covered with long hair, reaching almost 

 to the ground when the animal is walking. The 

 tail of the European badger is not more than half the 

 length of the legs. The colour of the American 

 badger is chiefly grayish, and lighter than that of the 

 European. The weight of the American species is 

 from 14 to 18 pounds. 



BADIA, Domingo ; a Spanish traveller, who, under 

 singular circumstances, visited, in 1803 and the four 

 following years, the Mohammedan countries border- 

 ing on the Mediterranean. During the whole of his 

 tour, he professed to be a Mussulman, which charac- 

 ter he had qualified himself to support, by submitting 

 to circumcision. He travelled under the denomina- 

 tion of AH Bey el Abbassi, which style he also as- 

 sumed in his travels, published in French at Paris, 

 by Didot, in 1814, 2 vols. 8vo; and about the same 

 time in English at London. It is now admitted that 

 he was employed as a political agent by the prince of. 

 peace, at the instigation of Napoleon. His peculiar 

 situation and religious profession gave him opportu- 

 nities for making many observations which could not 

 occur to other travellers ; and his volumes are curious 

 and interesting, though rather tinctured with an air 

 of exaggeration, somewhat excusable in a person 

 placed in such extraordinary circumstances. Burck- 

 hardt, another Oriental traveller, who heard of Ali 

 Bey at Aleppo, gives the following account of him : 

 " He called himself Ali Bey, aad professed to be born 

 of Tunisian parents in Spain, and to have received his 

 education in that country. Spanish appears to be 

 his native language, besides which he spoke French, 

 a little Italian, and the Moggrabeyan dialect of 

 Arabic, but badly. He came to Aleppo by the way 

 of Cairo, Yafla, and Damascus, with the. strongest 

 letters of recommendation from the Spanish govern- 

 ment to all its agents, and an onen credit upon them. 



He seemed to be a particular friend of the prince of 

 peace, for whom he was collecting antiques ; and, 

 from the manner in which it was known that he was 

 afterwards received by the Spanish ambassador, at 

 his arrival in Constantinople, he must have been a 

 man of distinction. The description of his figure, 

 and what is related of his travels, called to my re- 

 collection the Spaniard Badia, and his miniature in 

 your library. He was a man of middling size, long, 

 thin head, black eyes, large nose, long black beard, 

 and feet that indicated the former wearing of tight 

 shoes. He professed to have travelled in Barbary, 

 to have crossed the Lybian desert, between Barbary 

 and Egypt, and, from Cairo, to have gone to Mecca 

 and back. He travelled with Eastern magnificence, 

 but here he was rather shy of showing himself out of 

 doors : he never walked out but on Fridays, to the 

 prayers of noon in the great mosque. One of the 

 before-mentioned dervishes told me that there had 

 been a great deal of talking about this Ali Bey at 

 Damascus and Hamar : they suspected him of being 

 a Christian ; but his great liberality, and the pressing 

 letters which he brought to all people of conse- 

 quence, stopped all further inquiry. He was busily 

 employed in arranging and putting in order his jour- 

 nal during the two months of his stay at Aleppo." 

 This traveller died in his native country, some time 

 after his return to Europe. 



BAERT, Jean ; also BARTH ; born at Dunkirk, 

 1651 ; the son of a poor fisherman ; according to 

 some, a native of the parish of Corban, in the district 

 of Munster, and the canton of Berne, where his 

 family lives at present. He raised himself, under 

 Louis XIV., to the rank of commodore. The Dutch. 

 English, and Spanish called him the French devil. The' 

 marine of Louis XIV. owed principally to this rough 

 mariner the respect which it enjoyed from other na- 

 tions. B. happening to be at Versailles, the monarch 

 said to him, " Jean Baert, I have made you a com- 

 modore." " Sire, then you have done, well," answer ' 

 ed the mariner. The courtiers laughed ; but Louis 

 told them, " This is the answer of a man who feels 

 his own worth." B. brought into port a number of 

 Dutch and English vessels, burned others, landed at 

 Newcastle, and laid waste the neighbouring country. 

 In 1692, with a fleet of three sail, he met the Dutch 

 fleet, loaded with corn from the Baltic, <put to flight 

 the escort, and took sixteen merchantmen. In 1694, 

 when there was a scarcity of corn in France, he suc- 

 ceeded several times, notwithstanding the watchful- 

 ness of the English, in bringing into the harbour of 

 Dunkirk ships loaded with tliis article. Once he de- 

 livered a number of such vessels, in the boldest man- 

 ner, from the Dutch, into whose hands they had fal- 

 len, and received, in consequence, letters of nobility. 

 After having passed the English, in 1696, who block- 

 aded the harbour with a fleet three times as strong 

 as his own, he met the Dutch fleet, from the Baltic, 

 consisting of 110 sail, and convoyed by five frigates. 

 The escort, with forty ships, soon fell into the hands 

 of the French ; but, on his return to Dunkirk, thir- 

 teen Dutch ships of the line appeared, and, to avoid 

 a very unequal combat, he was obliged to burn the 

 greater part of his captures. The peace of Ryswick 

 put a stop to the deeds of this valiant officer. He 

 spent the last years of his life at Dunkirk, and died 

 there in 1702. 



BAFFIN, William ; an English navigator of the 17th 

 century, famous for his discoveries in the Arctic re- 

 gions. He visited West Greenland in 1612, again 

 in 1615, and made a voyage to Spitzbergen in 1614. 

 In 1623 and 1624 he ascertained the limits of that 

 vast inlet of the sea, since distinguished by the ap- 

 pellation of Baffin's Bay. The time of his death is 

 not recorded. 



