BAG 



19.5 



BAG 



Bagdad. The revenues, which are drawn chiefly from the 

 customs, the annual contributions of governors and 

 -intendants of cities, and the tribute of the Arab 

 tribes, which ? -e dependant upon the government of 

 Bagdad, may be computed at seven millions and a 

 half of piastres, or 337,500 sterling. This would 

 be considerably increased, were not the Kurdes (in- 

 habitants of Kurdistan) exempted from all fixed con- 

 tributions, on account of their eminent services in the 

 field, and the frequent campaigns they are obliged to 

 make ; and were not the products of the city of Bas- 

 sora, so impoverished by the ruin of its commerce, 

 that they are scarcely adequate to defray the ex- 

 pense which it demands for its defence. But even 

 this sum is seldom fully collected, on account of the 

 slothfulness of the Turks, who often suffer themselves 

 to be plundered by the Arabs. 



In the reign of Soliman Pacha, Bagdad was the 

 centre of a rich and extensive commerce ; but many 

 obstacles have since arisen, which have paralysed the 

 exertions, and almost destroyed the activity of its 

 merchants. The dangerous navigation of the Medi- 

 terranean, occasioned by the war between Britain and 

 France ; the intestine disorders of Persia ; the mono- 

 poly of Indian produce by the English ; the frequent 

 excursions and robberies of the Wahabees ; the con- 

 tinual discord which reigns in Turkey, and the un- 

 protected state of agriculture and industry in that 

 empire, are the principal causes which have led to 

 the present derangement of the commercial affairs of 

 this city. Notwithstanding, however, these obstruc- 

 tions, and the comparative inferiority of Bagdad to 

 its former opulence as a place of trade, it may still 

 be considered as the great emporium of the East. 

 The productions of Arabia, India, and Persia, are 

 landed at Bassora, from which they are carried in 

 large boats, that ascend the Tigris or Euphrates 

 to Bagdad, where they find a ready market, and 

 from thence are spread over the other cities of Tur- 

 key. Europe furnishes it with merchandize of every 

 description, as also with the productions of America. 

 Muslins, rich silks, and cotton stuffs, are brought 

 from Coromandel ; indigo from Bengal ; shawls and 

 aromatics from Cashemire ; sugar from Java ; cloves 

 from the Moluccas ; and pepper from the coast of 

 Malabar. In return for these it has nothing of its 

 own to offer ; and except dates, tobacco, and a small 

 quantity of woollen stuffs, which are its only exports, 

 the trade of Bagdad consists entirely in the distri- 

 bution and exchange of foreign commodities. Ac- 

 cording to a late traveller, " the commerce of this city 

 suffers also greatly from the oppression and cruelty 

 of the Pachas, who are continually extorting money 

 from the poor inhabitants ; and none suffer more than 

 the unfortunate Jews and Christians, many of whom 

 are put to the most cruel tortures, in order to force 

 their property from them. This series of tyranny 

 has almost entirely driven them out of the city, in 

 consequence of which the trade must suffer consider- 

 ably, they being generally the principal merchants in 

 the place. Were the city mildly governed, it is so 

 well situated for traffic, that it certainly would be 

 the residence of a number of Christian merchants, 

 which would make it one of the richest and most 

 flourishing places in the world." Journal of a Journey 



Bagpipe. 



from Bassora to Bagdad, in 1779. See also Mod. Baglafecht 

 Un. Hist. vol. ii. p. 277, 284, 387 j vol. iii. p. 19, 

 192; vol. v. p. 156,336,422. Mignot's Hist, of , 

 the Ottoman Empire, vol. i. p. 53, 61 ; vol. iii. p. 6'i. 

 Prideaux's Connections, vol- i. p. 571. Gibbon's 

 Hist. chap. 52, 64. Tavernier's Persian Travels, b. 

 ii. c. 7 ; Jackson's Journey from India to England, 

 in 1797; and Description du Pachalik de Bagdad, 

 Paris, 1809. (a) 



BAGLAFECHT, in Zoology, a variety of the 

 Loxia PhilippiAna, or Philippine grosbeak, found in 

 Abyssinia, and distinguished from this latter bird by 

 having the tail and quill feathers of a greenish brown, 

 edged with yellow. The baglafecht, like another 

 species of this tribe, (See Ornithology,) display* 

 admirable care and instinctive foresight in the con- 

 struction and position of its nest, which it builds of 

 a spiral form, somewhat like the shell of the nautilus, 

 with the entrance below, and suspends at the very 

 extremity of a slender twig, so as to turn with the 

 gentlest breeze, and be out of the reach of predaci- 

 ous animals. See Buffon, Histoire Naturelle da 

 Oiseaux ; and Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, 

 torn. iii. ( /) 



BAGLANA, or Baglaneh, a mountainous but 

 fertile province of the Mogul empire, defended by- 

 no fewer than nine strong fortresses, built on the 

 summits of lofty rocks. It was long an independent 

 province, and its revenue before the Mogul conquest 

 was 80,000. See Rcnnel's Memoir, p. 259. (*) 



BAGPIPE, the ktkxvXos of the Greeks, and the 

 Tibia utricularis of the Romans, is a well known 

 musical instrument, which has erroneously been sup- 

 posed peculiar to Scotland and Ireland. The an- 

 cients, both Greeks and Romans, however, were ac- 

 quainted with it ; and in many countries it is a fa- 

 vourite and popular instrument at this day. 



The bagpipe, as constructed at the present perio ~ 

 consists of a large leather bag, inflated by the mouth f 

 or by means of bellows. Connected to it is a flute 

 part, or chaunter as it is called, into which is inserted 

 a reed, and the action of the air from the bag on this 

 reed produces the music. The chaunter is perforated 

 with holes like a common flute, for the different notes. 

 The other parts are three drones, also consisting of 

 reeds and tubes, two of which are in unison with D, 

 on the chaunter, or the first note of the German 

 flute, and the third, or long drone, is an octave lower. 



The bagpipe is an extremely defective and imper- 

 fect instrument in all its different kinds, of which 

 there are four. First, The Irish or soft pipe, in 

 which the chaunter takes a range of ten or twelve 

 notes with tolerable precision, and which is always 

 played with bellows : the reeds are softer, and the 

 tubes longer, whence the Irish pipe is more suitable 

 for performance in an apartment. An improvement 

 ha3 been attempted, by adapting three or four keys 

 like flute keys on one of the drones ; by pressing one 

 of these with the arm, a third or fifth to the note of 

 the chaunter is produced, which forms an interme- 

 diate chord with the drone, and has a pleasing effect. 

 The second kind of this instrument is the Scottish or 

 Highland bagpipe, which is played either with the 

 mouth or with bellows, like the Irish pipe ; and 

 excepting that, as far as we know, keys have never 



