BAHIA BLANCA 



544 



BAINBRIDGE 



received an archbishop. In 1624 the port 

 aeiz, Dutch, who remained in posses- 



sion In 1863 the seizure of 



. r Florida by Cap- 

 tain Collins of the Tn: ship Wachu- 

 m the harbor of Buhiu was a disregard of 

 neutral rights for which the United States 

 government apologized. 



The history of Bahia has been singularly 



uneventful, but the completion of its harbor 



improvements is expected to be followed by a 



great >n in commercial lines. The ex- 



on of the railway system from Bahia into 



the interior, which in 1916 was restricted to a 



line running northward, should also add to the 



verity of the city. H.M.S. 



BAHIA BLANCA, bahee'a blang' ka, is the 

 important seaport on the Atlantic coast 

 of Argentina, more wheat and oats being 

 shipped from here than from any other port 

 of the country. It is situated on the Neposta 

 River, three miles from its entrance into the 

 bay of Bahia Blanca, and on the southern 

 boundary of the province of Buenos Aires. 

 Buenos Aires, the capital, is about 450 miles 

 northeast. There is steamer communication 

 een Bahia Blanca and European ports, and 

 railroads connect it with all parts of Argentina. 

 Millions of dollars have been spent in building 

 docks and elevators for loading grain and in 

 dredging the channels for sea-going vessels. 

 Excepting Buenos Aires, Bahia Blanca is the 

 largest wool market in the country. 



The site was a trading post in 1829; the city 

 did not begin to grow until about 1900, and it 

 is therefore new. Most of the houses are 

 low and are built of concrete, and the wide 

 streets are so devoid of trees as to suggest 

 that the place is too new to have trees. The 

 municipal theater and the municipal adminis- 

 m buildings are noteworthy. Near the 

 entrance to the harbor the government has 

 erected Puerto Militar, a military and naval 

 station. 



Bahia Blanca is a Spanish name and means 

 white bay. In 1911 the population was 70,000. 



BAIKAL, bikahl', the largest fresh water 

 lake in Asia, situated in Southern Siberia, cov- 

 ering an area of 13,200 square miles, a trifle 

 more than the combined area of the states of 

 Vermont, Delaware and Rhode Island. It is 

 surrounded by lofty and rugged mountains and 

 has occasional depths of over 4,000 feet. The 

 deepest recorded sounding is 4,997 feet, making 

 it the deepest fresh-water lake in the world. 

 The lake is frozen over from December to 



April and traffic is then conducted by sleighs. 

 During the Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905) 

 a railroad was constructed over the frozen 

 surface of the lake for the conveyance of troops 

 and supplies. The route of the Trans-Siberian 

 railway skirts the southern shore, a new route 

 having been opened in 1905. The salmon, 

 sturgeon and seal fisheries are valuable and 

 many oil wells are found in the vicinity of 

 the lake. Over 300 rivers, mostly mountain 

 torrents, empty themselves into Lake Baikal, 

 the surplus waters being carried off by the 

 Lower Angara, a tributary of the Yenisei River. 

 For location on the map, see ASIA. 



BAIL, a legal term applied to the property 

 or surety which one person pledges as the 

 security for another under arrest, that the latter 

 may enjoy his liberty until the date of trial. 

 Bondsmen, those whose pledges are accepted 

 as bail, must be owners of property in value 

 usually double the amount required in the 

 bond, and must be citizens of the state residing 

 within reach of the court. The responsibility 

 of a bondsman ceases if the person is rearrested 

 upon his complaint. A person accused of wilj- 

 ful murder cannot apply for temporary liberty 

 on bail bonds. 



BAILEY, LIBERTY HYDE (1858- ), an 

 American educator, one of the best known 

 authorities on agriculture and rural conditions. 

 He was born at South Haven, Mich., and re- 

 ceived his college training at the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, from which he was grad- 

 uated in 1882. After serving for a year as 

 assistant to Professor Asa Gray at Harvard and 

 for five years as professor of horticulture and 

 landscape gardening at Michigan Agricultural 

 College, he was professor of horticulture from 

 1888 to 1903 at the New York State College 

 of Agriculture at Ithaca. In 1903 he became 

 director of that institution, and held the posi- 

 tion until his retirement in 1913. Professor 

 Bailey has been an authoritative and volumi- 

 nous writer on botany and agriculture. His most 

 important works include Lessons with Plants; 

 Botany, an Elementary Text for Schools; The 

 Nature-Study Idea; The Country-Life Move- 

 ment and The Practical Garden Book. He is 

 also the editor of Cyclopedia of American Hor- 

 ticulture; Cyclopedia of Agriculture, and the 

 Rural Science Series. 



BAINBRIDGE, WILLIAM (1774-1833), one of 

 the few American naval officers who have been 

 voted gold medals by Congress for distin- 

 guished services. After sailing some years on 

 merchant vessels, he entered the United States 



