BRACEBRIDGE 



886 



BRADDOCK 



northern portion comprises the present Dutch 

 province of North Brabant, and the southern 

 portion the Belgian provinces of Brabant and 

 Antwerp. This district extends from the Waal 

 to the sources of the Dyle, and from the Meuse 

 and the plain of Limburg to the lower Scheldt. 

 In the time of Caesar, Brabant was inhabited 

 by a mixed race of Germans and Celts; in the 

 fifth century the Franks took possession of it. 



During the centuries which followed, this re- 

 gion was at various times a part of the domin- 

 ions of France and of Germany; in 1477 it 

 passed to the Austrian House of the Haps- 

 burgs, and so to the Emperor Charles V, be- 

 coming thereby the inheritance of his son, 

 Philip II of Spain. The people of Northern 

 Brabant joined the other Netherlander in their 

 revolt against that cruel monarch, and their 

 province became a part of the independent 

 Dutch Republic. At the close of the wars of 

 Napoleon, when the kingdom of the Nether- 

 lands was established, all of Brabant was in- 

 cluded in the realm, and it was divided into 

 the provinces of North Brabant, South Bra- 

 bant and Antwerp. The two latter provinces 

 became parts of Belgium in 1830., when that 

 country declared its independence and sep- 

 arated from the kingdom of the Netherlands, 

 South Brabant being known from that time as 

 Brabant. The oldest son of the king of Bel- 

 gium bears the title Duke of Brabant. See 

 BELGIUM, for fate of Brabant during the War 

 of the Nations. 



BRACE 'BRIDGE, ONT., the county town of 

 Muskoka County, a town in the heart of the 

 Muskoka Lakes district, famous for its beau- 

 tiful scenery and as the resort for hundreds 

 of summer visitors. Bracebridge is on the 

 Muskoka River, which carries a heavy tourist 

 traffic in summer, and on the Grand Trunk 

 Railway. The town was a pioneer in develop- 

 ing electric power from waterfalls and has be- 

 come an important industrial community. 

 Especially noteworthy among the manufactur- 

 ing establishments are large tanneries, woolen 

 mills, lumber mills and motor-boat factories. 

 Bracebridge was incorporated in 1871; it 

 adopted the commission form of government 

 in 1911. The Dominion post office, erected in 

 1914 at a cost of $50,000, is a conspicuous 

 building. Population in 1911, 2,776. G.H.O.T. 



BRACT , brackt, a small form of leaf near the 

 flower of a plant. From the point where the 

 bract joins the stem, the flower or flower-stalk 

 always develops. Bracts are often very much 

 like the ordinary leaf of the plant and are 



then called leaf-bracts. Usually, however, 

 they are unlike the leaf, often being merely 

 scales, or hair-like. Sometimes, too, they are 



BRACTS 

 a indicates location. 



colored and are mistaken for part of the 

 flower. 



BRADDOCK, brad' ock, EDWARD (1698-1755), 

 a famous English general who led the British 

 and American troops in the disastrous expedi- 

 tion against Fort Duquesne, during the French 

 and Indian War. Having been appointed com- 

 mander of all the British forces in America in 

 1754, he planned as the first event of the cam- 

 paign against the French the capture of Fort 

 Duquesne, on the site of the present city of 

 Pittsburgh. In 1755 he was joined by Virginia 

 troops near Alexandria, and at Frederick, Md., 

 he added to his staff George Washington and 

 Benjamin Franklin. 



Scorning the advice of both these experi- 

 enced Colonials regarding the danger of expos- 

 ing himself to the Indians, who were accus- 

 tomed to fight from ambush, he set out from 

 Fort Cumberland by the path marked out by 

 Washington two years before. On July 9 the 

 advance guard was attacked by a band of 

 French and Indians. The British, frightened 

 by the war whoop of the red men and con- 

 fused by the Indian method of fighting from 

 behind trees, were defeated. Braddock showed 

 conspicuous personal bravery, but fell mor- 

 tally wounded after five horses had been shot 

 from under him. Washington led the sur- 

 vivors, less than half the force, to a place of 

 safety. 



BRADDOCK, PA., a borough in Allegheny 

 County, noted for its great steel mills, which 

 rank with the largest in the United States. It 

 is on the right bank of the Monongahela River, 

 in the southwestern part of the state, ten miles 

 southeast of Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania, 

 Baltimore & Ohio and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie 

 railways provide steam transportation, and 

 electric lines are in operation to near-by cities 



