460 



nAYONET HEAR. 



New York is, in fact, drieHy indebted tor its quaran- 

 tine laws, although they liave .since Ix-en alien. I ;nul 

 amended. In August, 1801, doctor U., in Uie dis- 

 cliarge of his duty as lic.illh physician, enjoined the 

 passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant ship, afflic- 

 ted with llie ship fever, to go on shore to the rooms 

 and tents appointed for them, leaving their luggage 

 !>ehind. The next morning, on oing totlie lio-jiilal, 

 he found that both crew and pas... n^i -rs, well, sick, 

 jnl living, were huddled together in one apartment, 

 where they had passed the night, lie inconsiderately 

 entered into this room before it had been properly 

 ventilated, but remained scarcely a moment, being 

 obliged to retire by a most deadly sickness at the 

 stomach, and violent pain in the head, with which he 

 was suddenly seized. He returned home, and retired 

 to his bed, from which he never rose. In the after- 

 noon of the seventh day following, he expired. 



Bn-oNVTT. This is the name of the iron blade, 

 formed like a dagger, and placed upon the muzzle of 

 the musket, which is thus transformed into a thrusting 

 weapon. It was probably invented, about 1(540, iii 

 Hayonne, and was used in the Netherlands, in 1647, 

 but was not universally introduced until after the pike 

 was wholly laid aside, in the beginning of the 18th 

 century. Since the general war in Europe, some 

 officers have adopted Uie idea of former military wri- 

 ter (tor instance Guibert), of increasing the efficiency 

 of the bayonet by a more regular exercise of the infan- 

 try in its use. A Saxon captain, von Selmnitz, has the 

 merit of having first developed this idea in a systema- 

 tic treatise. (See The Art of Fighting with the Bay- 

 onet, by E. von Selmnitz, Dresden, 1825, with cop- 

 perplates.) As cavalry are often counted by horses, 

 infantry are sometimes counted by bayonets. 



BAYONNB ; a well-built, rich, commercial city, the 

 largest in the French department of the Lower Pyre- 

 nees, formerly capital of the district Labour, in Gas- 

 cony (Ion. 1 24' W. ; lat. 43 20 7 N.), at the conflu- 

 ence of the Nive and the Adour, about two miles 

 from the Bay of Biscay. It has 13,600 inhabitants, 

 6000 of whom live in the suburbs. The Nive and 

 the Adour (the former of which is navigable about 

 30, and the latter 70 miles) form a harbour capable 

 of admitting men of war from 40 to 50 guns, but it 

 has a difficult access. These two rivers serve to con- 

 vey timber, tar, and iron from the Pyrenees to B. 

 A citadel, built by Vauban, on the summit of an emi- 

 nence in the suburb, commands the harbour and the 

 city. The Bishop of B. is under the archbishop of 

 Toulouse, and exercises spiritual jurisdiction over 

 three departments. The cathedral is a beautiful an- 

 cient building. B. has considerable commerce with 

 Spain ; French and foreign goods being exchanged 

 for iron, fruit, gold, and silver. B. is much engaged 

 in the cod and whale fishery, in which, before the 

 i < volution, 30 40 vessels of 250 tons burthen were 

 employed. Masts and other timber for ship-building, 

 from the Pyrenees, are exported to Brest and other 

 ports of France. The hams of B. are famous. Its 

 wine and chocolate are shipped to the north of Eu- 

 rope. Among the lower class, the ancient Biscayan 

 or Basque language is spoken. Catharine of Medicis 

 had an important interview with the duke of Alba in 

 B., June 1565. The meeting of Napoleon with the 

 king of Spain, Charles IV., and the prince of the As- 

 turias, also took place here in May, 1808, in conse- 

 quence of which the two last signed (5th and 10th 

 May) an agreement, by which they, and all the chil- 

 dren of the king, transferred their rights to the Spa- 

 nish territories, in Europe and India, to the French 

 emperor. Napoleon convened a Spanish general junta 

 at B., June 15th, to draw up a constitution. This 

 constitution was published, July 6, and Joseph depart- 

 ed, on the 9th, from B. for Madrid. The convention 



of B., between the Poles ami France, was signed or 

 I lie 10th May, 180S. (See Scholl's Traitcn <te I'aijc, 

 vol. <, page 2H.) The transactions at. U. are .some of 

 the mo>l important in Napoleon's life, and disclose 

 the wretched character of the royal family of Spain. 



HA/.AK, BAZAAR, or BASAR ; a market-place, in the 

 East. The word is Arabic, and originally denotes 

 sale or exchange. Some are open, some covered with 

 lofty ceilings, or domes. At the bazars, or in th 

 neighbourhood of them, are the coffee housi 

 much frequented in Turkey, Persia, c. ; and, as the 

 Orientals live almost entirely out of doors, the bazars 

 of populous cities, besides their mercantile importance, 

 are of consequence as places of social -intercourse. 

 The bazar of Ispahan is one of the finest places in 

 Persia. That of Tauris is the largest known. At 

 Constantinople are two bazars the old and new one. 

 In the Oriental tales for instance, in the Arabian 

 Nights, the ba/ar.s occupy a very conspicuous place. 

 Since the system of credit is almost entirely unknown 

 in Eastern trade, and all commercial transactions 

 take place in merchandise and money, the places 

 where this merchandise is brought and changed from 

 one owner to another are, of course, very much fre- 

 quented. The word bazar has been used, in recent 

 times, also, in Europe, to denominate a market-place. 



BEACON. See Signals, and Lighthouse. 



BEAGLE ; a species of the genus dog, kept entirely 

 for hunting hares. They are small, and much in- 

 ferior to the hare in swiftness, but have a very deli- 

 cate scent, and seldom fail of running her down. 



BEAR (ursus, L.) ; a genus of carnivorous, or, more 

 accurately, frugi-carnivorous, mammiferous quadru- 

 peds, belonging to the family plantigrada, which 

 tread on the entire soles of the [hindj feet. The 

 genus is characterized by a heavy body, covered with 

 a thick, woolly coat, a large head, terminating in a 

 prolonged snout, with very extensible lips. The 

 ears are of moderate size, and rather pointed, and 

 the tongue smooth. The limbs are large and heavy, 

 and all the feet are five-toed, and furnished with 

 very strong, hooked claws, well suited for burrow- 

 ing. Five species at present belong to this genus. 

 The Linnoean genus comprised the raccoon, badger, 

 &c., now, properly, separated from it. These species 

 are, the brown bear of Europe (17. urctos) ; the white 

 or polar bear (C7. maritimus) ; the American or black 

 bear (U. Americanus) ; the grisly bear (U. horribilis), 

 also of America ; and the Malayan or Asiatic bear 

 (U. labiatus). 



The brown bear is chiefly an inhabitant of cold 

 and elevated situations, and feeds on a great variety 

 of animal and vegetable substances. During winter, 

 this species, like some others, remains torpid in 

 caves, whither it retires, in the autumn, very fat, 

 and comes out, in the spring, extremely emaciated. 

 The brown bear is remarkable for its sagacity, as 

 well as the ferocity of its disposition, and it becomes 

 especially sanguinary as it advances in age. Besides 

 the differences of colour and size which distinguish 

 this bear from those belonging to the old continent, 

 it differs from the American bears, by having a con- 

 vexity of front above the eyes, which renders its 

 physiognomy strikingly dissimilar to theirs. Other 

 distinctions, sufficiently obvious, present themselves 

 when the species are compared. 



The polar, or maritime bear, is only found in high 

 northern latitudes, along the borders of the Icy ocean 

 and northern coasts of America in the vicinity of 

 Hudson's bay. It does not descend to the eastern 

 coast of Siberia nor Kamtschatka ; neither is it found 

 in the islands lying between Siberia and America. 

 It is uniformly white, attains a large size, is very 

 powerful, ferocious, and daring. It is an excellent 

 diver and swimmer, being apparently as much at 



