BATAVIA 



621 



BATH 



coffee, hemp, corn and fruits, its trade is very 

 extensive. The chief manufactures are silk, 

 cotton goods and abaca. It is a progressive 

 city, and since American occupation numerous 

 expositions are held there with a view to 

 increasing its commerce. Population in 1910, 

 33,131. 



BAT A 'VIA, the capital of the Dutch East 

 Indies, a seaport of Java and the great commer- 

 markct of the Malay Archipelago. It is 

 situated on the north coast of the island, on a 

 . deep bay. The principal warehouses and 

 offices of the Europeans, the Java Bank, the 

 Exchange and other business buildings are in 

 the old town, which is built on a low, marshy 

 plain near the sea, and is intersected with 

 canals. The Europeans reside in a new, much 

 healthier and more attractive quarter, beautiful 

 in its abundant foliage. Here is located one of 

 the most magnificent botanical gardens in the 

 world. Newer Batavia has good electric rail- 

 ways, steam tramways, electric lighting, t< 1< - 

 phones and water works ; in public utilities and 

 architecture it equals any city of the same size 

 in Europe or America. The domestic and for- 

 eign trade is extensive, sugar, spices, coffee, rice 

 and indigo being the chief exports. 



The city was founded by the Dutch in 1619 

 and attained its greatest prosperity in the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century. Its in- 

 habitants are chiefly Malay, with a considerable 

 mixture of Chinese and about 9,000 Europeans. 

 Population, about 139,000. 



BATAVIA, N. Y., the county seat of Gene- 

 see County, in the west ITU part of the state, is 

 thirty-six miles northeast of Buffalo, on Tona- 

 \vanda Creek, and on the Erie* the Lehigh Val- 

 and the New York Central railroads. The 

 population was ll.r.i:; in 1910 and 13,278 by the 

 state census of 1915. The area exceeds three 

 square miles. 



Batavia is the seat of the New York State 

 School for tin- Blind. It contains the county 

 courthouse, county jail, the Richmond Mcmo- 

 iry and Y. M. C. A. building and 

 several club buildings. One of the most int.r- 

 estir - is the Old Holland Land < > 



containing a museum of historical relics. 



avia Scheme," a method by which back- 

 ward pupils receive individual instruction, 

 natcd in the schools of this city. 



AmoiiK the important manufactures of Bata- 



rr agricultural machinery, metal cons and 



tanks, clamps, preserved fruits and vegetables, 



cut glass, firearms, monuments, extracts and 



perfumes, automobile tires, shoes, vacuum 



cleaners, etc. Batavia was platted by Joseph 

 Ellicott in 1801 and was incorporated as a vil- 

 lage in 1823. It was the home of William 

 Morgan, whose death in 1826 was charged to 

 members of the Masonic Order because of his 

 avowed intention to reveal Masonic secrets 

 (see ANTI-MASONS). B.OFT. 



BATES, ARLO (1850-1918), an American 

 poet, novelist, essayist and teacher, was born in 

 Maine. After his graduation from Bowdoin 

 College, in 1876, he began a literary career in 

 Boston, and in 1880 became editor of the Sun- 

 day Courier. During his thirteen years of ser- 

 vice on that journal many of his novels and 

 poems were published, and he also corre- 

 sponded for the Providence Journal, the Chi- 

 cago Tribune and the Book Buyer. In 1893 he 

 accepted the chair of English in the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology. Professor 

 Bates' Talks on Writing English and Talks on 

 the Study of Literature are clearly and interest- 

 ingly written. Many of his graceful and pic- 

 turesque poems may be found in volumes 

 entitled Berries oj the Brier, Sonnets in Shadow 

 and Under the Beech Tree. Of his novels, 

 probably the best-known is the story of a New 

 England girl, called The Diary of a Saint. Tin- 

 Pagans, The Philistines and Love in a Cloud 

 are other well-known novels. 



BATES, BLANCHE (1873- ), an American 

 actress who became widely known to play- 

 goers while starring under the management of 

 David Belasco. She was bora at Portland, Ore., 

 and gained her first stage experience as a mem- 

 ber of a stock company which toured tin- 

 Pacific coast. Her real start in her profession, 

 however, she owed to August in Daly, who in 

 1898 gave her a small part in The Taming of 

 thf Shrew in his New York company. Tl 

 after she made rapid progress, and her inter- 

 pretation of the r<Mc of Mirtsa in the Gr> at 

 Ruby (1899) created a sensation. Her char- 

 acterization of Cigarette in Under Two Flags, 

 was another notable success, but she has gained 

 the noun in Belascp's production of 



Afo< ">>rfl\i, Tl i oj the Gods 



and 7 \ the Golden West. 



BATH, r.N.i.\M. a fashionable watrring- 

 . and the dm f city of Somersetshire. It 

 is beautifully situated in a wooded valley along 

 tin- Avon River. t \\elve miles southeast of 

 Bristol and the Bristol Channel, and 108 miles 

 west and south of London. The city was 

 founded by the Komans in the first century 

 A. D. They named it Aquae, Solis, meaning 

 the waters of the sun, and built many baths, 



