BAHAMAS BAHBDT. 



375 



into Scotland, but it is probable that the Norwegians 

 and Danes first introduced it into the Hebrides, which 

 islands they long possessed. The bagpipe is indeed 

 of very ancient origin, as representations of it are to 

 be found on Grecian and Roman sculptures. In 

 Rome, 19. this day, at the time of Advent, the pea- 

 sants of the mountains play on the bagpipes before the 

 images of the Virgin. The music is very simple and 

 sweet ; and every traveller remembers it with de- 

 light. 



BAHAMAS, or LUCAYA ISLANDS ; in the Atlantic, near 

 the east coast of North America. There are a great 

 number of these islands, some say 500 ; but many of 

 them are mere rocks, and others, on account of the 

 difficulty of the navigation, little known. The prin- 

 "cipal arc, Bahama, Eleuthera, Abaco, Yuma, or 

 Exuma, and Providence. They are, in general, fertile, 

 with a soil similar to South Carolina. Lon. 73 to 

 81 W. ; lat. 22 to 27 N. These islands, in 1773, 

 contained 2,052 whites, and 2,241 blacks ; and, in 

 1803, 14,318, including 11,395 blacks and people of 

 colour. The inhabitants are of two descriptions, the 

 residents and the wreckers. The residents are chiefly 

 loyalists, and their descendants, who emigrated from 

 Carolina and Georgia, at the close of the American 

 war. The wreckers are constantly employed in the 

 business of rescuing shipwrecked vessels, with their 

 crews and cargoes, from the waves. They sail in 

 small, flat bottomed sloops, just fitted for the seas 

 which they navigate. They are excellent sailors ; 

 are familiar with all the keys, shoals, and breakers ; 

 and, with alacrity and courage, encounter any dan- 

 ger or hardship. They are licensed by the governor, 

 and receive salvage on all property rescued from the 

 waves. By day they are always cruising ; at night, 

 they usually put into the nearest harbour. Their 

 great places of rendezvous are, the Florida gulf, the 

 Hole in the Wall, and the Hogsties. The number 

 of these vessels is very great, 40 sail being sometimes 

 seen in one inlet. These islands are heaps of lime- 

 stone and shells, covered with vegetable mould. The 

 keys are chiefly rocky and sandy : on some of them a 

 few trees are found. All the large islands that front 

 directly upon the Atlantic stretch from south-east to 

 north-west, and the ridge of each is in the same di- 

 rection. The soil of all the islands is a thin, but rich, 

 vegetable mould. It yields, for a few years, luxuri- 

 antly but is soon exhausted. The chief production is 

 cotton. 



The first discovery of these islands was made by 

 Columbus, Oct. 12, 1492, when he fell in with Gua- 

 nahani. New Providence, one of the largest of the 

 group, was discovered on the 17th of the same month. 

 In 1667, Charles II. of England granted all the Ba- 

 hamas to the duke of Albemarle and the other pro- 

 prietors of Carolina. Five years after this grant, the 

 first settlement was made on New Providence. For 

 many years, the inhabitants suffered severely from 

 the depredations of pirates and of their Spanish neigh- 

 bours. The celebrated Black Beard, or John Tench, 

 was the leader of the buccaneers. He was killed off 

 the. coast of North Carolina, in November, 1718. 

 The islands were soon afterwards abandoned by 

 the pirates, and a permanent settlement made 

 at Nassau, in New Providence under governor 

 Rogers. The town was fortified in 1740. Early in 

 the American war, it was taken by the Americans, 

 but speedily abandoned. The Spaniards took it 

 again in 1781, but the British soon repossessed 

 themselves of it. Since that period, all the islands 

 have continued under their jurisdiction. 



BaJiuma; the clu'ef of the Bahama islands, which 

 gives its name to the whole ; sixty-three miles long, 

 and about nine wide ; fifty-seven miles from the coast 

 of East Florida ; Ion. 78 10* to 80 24' W. ; lat 



26 4ff to 27 5' N. Though this island is well 

 watered, the soil fertile, and the air serene, yet it is 

 inhabited only by a few people, who subsist by sell- 

 ing necessaries to ships, which the currents drive on 

 their coasts. It formerly produced guaiacum, sarsa- 

 parilla, and red-wood ; all which the Spaniards are 

 said to have destroyed. 



BAHAR (more properly Bihdr, from the Sanscrit 

 Pi/idr, a Budd'hish monastery) ; the second province 

 of the British dominions in India; bounded E. by 

 Bengal, N. by Nepal and Morung, S. by Orissa, and 

 W. by Oude and Allabahad ; Ion. between 84 and 

 88 E. ; lat. between 22 and 27 N. The popula- 

 tion is estimated at 5,800,000 ; three Hindoos to one 

 Mohammedan. B. contains 51,973 square miles, of 

 which about 26,000 are plain arable ground. It is 

 one of the most fertile, highly-cultivated, and popu- 

 lous countries of Hindostan, producing grain, sugar 

 tobacco, cotton, rice, opium, betel, saltpetre, timber, 

 &c. It is now divided into seven collectorships. 

 The climate of B. is more temperate than that of 

 Bengal. The Ganges, the Soane, the Gunduck, the 

 Dummoodah, Caramnassa, and the Dewah are the 

 most remarkable of its rivers. The chief towns are 

 Patna, Monghyr, Buxa, Rotas, Guyah, Dinapoor, 

 and Boglipoor. The inhabitants excel the Benga- 

 lese both in strength and stature. Bahar Proper is 

 one of the seven districts into which B. is divided. 

 Square miles, 6680. Bahar, the capital of this dis- 

 trict, 220 miles N. W. Calcutta, Ion. 85 45' E., lat. 

 25 14' N., is remarkable for the number of magnifi- 

 cent funeral monuments which it contains. 



BAHAR, or BARRE ; weights used in several places 

 in the East Indies. They have been distinguished 

 as the great bahar, with which are weighed pepper, 

 cloves, nutmegs, ginger, &c., and the little baAar, 

 with which are weighed quicksilver, vermilion, ivory, 

 silk, &c. But this weight varies much in different 

 parts of the East. 



The bahar of Acheen, in Sumatra, consists of 100 cattees, 



and is =490 Ibs. avoirdupois. 

 " " of Betlefackee, in Arabia, consists of 40 <arcels, 



is = 815t Ibs. avoirdupois. 

 " " of Bencoolen = 560 Ibs. avoirdupois. 

 " '' of Junksevlon = 8 capins, = 485 Ibs. 5 oz. 51 dr. 



avoirdupois. 



" " of Malacca = 3 pecals, = 405 Ibs. avoirdupois. 

 " " of Mocha = 15 franks, = 445 Ibs. avoirdupois. 



BAHIA, formerly St Salvador, till 1771 the capital 

 of Brazil, is situated on the bay of All Saints, in 

 12 59' S. lat., and 37 23' W. Ion. It is strong by 

 nature, and is also fortified. It has 13,000 houses, 

 and about 100,000 inhabitants, among whom are 

 40,000 whites : the rest are mulattoes and negroes. 

 It is the seat of an archbishop, and contains a univer- 

 sity ; has a very healthy climate, as well as one of 

 the best harbours in Brazil ; carries on an active 

 trade with the United States and Europe, and pur- 

 sues the whale-fishery near the south pole. The ex- 

 ports are the productions of the tropics Brazil-wood, 

 spices, southern fruits, rice, tapioca, cattle, sugar, 

 tobacco, cotton, and coffee (cheaper than that of Rio 

 Janeiro, but inferior, because the soil is too rich for 

 the coffee-tree). Gold and diamonds are also secretly 

 exported. The government of this name (54,649 

 square miles, 560,000 inhabitants), on the river San 

 Francesco, is crossed, from north to south, by the 

 mountains Erio and Champado. It has its name 

 from the bay on which the capital, described above, 

 is situated. Sugar and coffee are raised here in large 

 quantities, and the soil is esteemed the best in Brazil 

 for the growth of the sugar-cane. 



BAHRDT, Charles Frederic, a German theologian, 

 born in 1741, at Bischofswerda, in Saxony, studied 

 in Schulpforte and Leipsic. He was endowed with 



