BAEDEKER 



541 



BAGDAD 



Mauvaises, the name first given to these 

 regions by Canadian trappers. 



There is in the minds of some people a belief 

 that the vicinity was so named because of the 

 wild and vicious character of some of the early 

 miners, hunters, and adventurers. This is un- 

 true; but the Sioux Indians, in their wars 

 against the United States, found natural 

 fortresses in the hills and valleys, and thus 

 made more stubborn their resistance to author- 

 ity; this fact probably emphasized the error 

 above noted. 



The section is noted for the great variety of 

 fossil remains found there (see FOSSIL). 



BAEDEKER, bed' eker, KARL (1801-1859), a 

 German publisher born in Essen, whose trav- 

 elers' handbooks, called Baedekers, for the use 

 of European tourists have become famous the 

 world over. He began as a bookseller of 

 Coblenz in 1827, and twelve years later issued 

 the first of his series of travel-books, these 

 being devoted* to Belgium and Holland. The 

 collection now includes all the European coun- 

 tries and portions of North America and the 

 Orient. Each volume is provided with good 

 maps and the books are always accurate to the 

 date of publication. Since 1872 the firm has 

 had its central offices in Leipzig. 



BAFFIN LAND AND BAFFIN BAY, an 

 island and bay in the Arctic regions to the west 

 of Greenland, named after the English navi- 

 gator, William Baffin. The area of the island 

 is not accurately known, but it is estimated 

 at about 236,000 square miles, making it the 

 fourth largest island in the world, yet it is one 

 of the least valuable. It is inhabited by a few 

 inos and is barren and inhospitable. In 

 1911 Bernard Hantzsch, who had spent a year 

 in it** exploration, died there, after completing 

 mod I* liable maps and surveys yet ob- 



Baffin Bay, separating the island from Green- 

 land, is about 800 miles long, with an average 

 breadth of 280 miles, and was first explored by 

 Baffin in 1615. The bay is seldom free from 

 ice, though open for a short time during the 

 hottest time of the year. On the shores, which 

 are high and rocky, are a few Eskimo and 

 Danish settlements. The black whale, walrus 

 and seal are found in the bay ; and bears, foxes 

 anil hares are numerous in the surrounding 

 ory. 



William Baffin, t! h navigator and 



< xplorer, was born about 1584. Having a 

 fondness for the sea, he visited Greenland in 

 1612, again in 1615, and also made voyages to 



Spitzbergen in 1613 and 1614, all before he was 

 thirty years old. After his Arctic explorations 



BAFFIN LAND AND BAFFIN BAY 



he entered the service of the East India Com- 

 pany, and in 1622 was killed while leading an 

 expedition to drive the Portuguese out of 

 Ormuz, in the Persian Gulf. 



BAGATELLE, bag aid', an indoor game, 

 supposed to have originated in Italy, played 

 with spherical balls and a cue similar to that 

 used in billiards, on a cloth-covered table about 

 eight feet long and two feet wide. At one end 

 of the table are nine holes, or cups, numbered 

 from one to nine, in size just sufficient to 

 receive the balls, of which there are nine, one 

 black and eight white or red. The black hall 

 is placed on a spot in front of the cups. From 

 tin other end of the table the player strikes 

 a ball, playing at the black ball, which he 

 must hit before he can score. Any ball going 

 into a cup scores the number of the cup, the 

 black ball being counted as double. Who 

 m.ik. - tin- highest total after playing the eight 

 balls is the winner. 



BAG 'DAD, the capital city of a Turkish 

 vilayet, or province, in Southern Mesopotamia, 

 was once one of the most beautiful and greatest 

 cities in tin world, the capital of the caliphs 

 and the center of Arabian culture and 1< anunn. 

 famous in literature as the scene of the Arabian 

 Nights Entertainment. Th. Kivrr Tigris, flow- 

 ing through the city, separates the old town, 



