B A S 



323 



BAT 



Batsora. has of late rapidly declined. In comparison with its 

 former prospentv, commerce has lost its vigour and 

 activity ; industry and the arts are almost extinguish- 

 ed ; and the town itself is fast hastening into insigni- 

 ficance. Houses wretchedly built, and streets co- 

 vered with filth, surrounded with, a sorry mud wall, 

 present to us the humiliating picture of the once flou- 

 rishing city of Bai-sora. The bazars, or market 

 place, however, are extensive and well supplied, par- 

 ticularly with every description of fruit, Such as ap- 

 ples, grapes, peaches, nectarines, pomegranates, &c. 

 and the cabbages and other vegetables are equal to 

 any in Europe. Such is the honesty of the natives, 

 or rather such is the rigour with which theft is pu- 

 nished by the Turkish government, that these articles 

 lie exposed all night in the open market, without any 

 other protection than a mat thrown over them to 

 ecreen them from the weather The pale compac- 

 tions, and the weak and s'ekly constitutions of its in- 

 habitants, betray the unhealthincss of the climate, 

 which is rendered almost uninhabitable by the annual 

 overflowing of the river, which forms, in the vicinity 

 of the city, marshes and ponds, where the stagnant 

 water putrifies during summer, and poisons the at- 

 mosphere with its noxious exhalations. Mounds of 

 earth are raised by the natives to prevent these inun- 

 dations, but they are frequently broken down by the 

 violence of the water, which, spreading far into the 

 plain, deposits there the 6eeds of disease and of 

 death. This circumstance, joined to the terror which 

 the Wahabees have inspired by their frequent incur- 

 sions into the country, and the numerous pirates 

 which infest the Persian gulf, has tended consider- 

 ably to depopulate Bassora, and to bring it to its 

 present degradation. What remains of the com- 

 merce of this city is chiefly carried on by the Eng- 

 lish and Arabs ; and, notwithstanding these unto- 

 ward circumstances, it is still a general staple for 

 various kinds of merchandise. Coffee from Mocha ; 

 pearls from the islands of Bahrein ; plain and em- 

 broidered cloths, silk stuffs, spiceries, and drugs, 

 from India ; dried fruits, tobacco, carpets, and per- 

 fumes, from Persia, are here exchanged for gold, 

 silver, copper, dates, and various European commo- 

 dities, such as small ironware, satins, woollen cloths, 

 &c. which come through Syria by way of Bagdad. 

 Horses, also, form here a considerable article of 

 commerce. They are said to be the most beautiful 

 and strongest in the world, and capable of perform- 

 ing most incredible journies. They are exported 

 in great numbers by the English consul, who em- 

 ploys some ships for this purpose. The merchan- 

 dise annually brought to Bassora was valued by the 

 Abbe Raynal at 525,000; of which the Eng- 

 lish furnished 175,000, the Dutch 87,000, and 

 the Moors, Banians, Armenians, and Arabs, the re- 

 mainder. But the revenues of this city, which were 

 formerly very considerable, are now scarcely sufficient 

 for its defence. 



Bassora continued under the authority of the Sa- 

 racens till about the middle of the 17th century, 

 when it was taken by the Turks. It then yielded 

 to the Persians, after a siege of ten months, but was 

 evacuated by them upon the death of Kerim Khan. 

 From that time it has constituted a .part of the Ot" 



Bastile. 



toman empire, and is governed by a lieutenant, who Baesovu 

 exercises his authority in the name of the pacha of 

 Bagdad. Twelve armed galiots are constantly kept 

 here for the protection of the merchant vessels which 

 enter the Persian gulf ; but they seldom venture out 

 to sea, as they are too old and crazy to encounter the 

 least bad weather ; and the Arab tribes of Zibes and 

 Muntefiks receive an annual subsidy of 100,000 pias- 

 tres for the defence of the city. The Wahabees 

 have frequently attempted to get possession of Bas- 

 sora, but have as often been repulsed. It cannot, 

 however, be expected that it will long withstand the 

 fury of these sectaries, who have already subdued, or 

 converted, most of the neighbouring tribes. The 

 population of Bassora is composed of a mixture of 

 Christians, Jews, Persians, Indians, and Sabeans, bu'. 

 chiefly of Arabs, and amounts to about 40,000 souls. 

 Many of the Persians in Bassora are persons of good 

 family, who have been driven from their country by 

 the various revolutions with which it has been agita- 

 ted. E. Long. 46, N. Lat. 30 32'. See Descrip- 

 tion du Pachalik de Bagdad, p. 31, Paris, 1809. 

 Waring's Tour to Sheeraz. Peuchet Diet, de la 

 Geog. Commerc. torn. ii. Mirza Abu Taleb Khan's 

 Travels in Asia, Africa, and Europe, vol. ii. c. xxxv. 

 p. 364. (p) 



BASSOVTA, a genus of plants of the class Pen- 

 tandria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (oi) 



BASTARDY. See Illegitimacy, 



B 'STILE. This name was given to the chief 

 state prison of France, prior to the revolution in 

 1792. It is derived from bastir, to build, originally 

 spelt batir, and is of the same root with the term 

 bastion. There were many places of strength in dif- 

 ferent parts of France which were used as state pri- 

 sons, besides the edifice called, by way of distinction, 

 The Bastile. Thus, according to Linguet, ( Mem. sur 

 la Bastille) there were " Pierre en Cise," at Lyons, 

 the Isles of St Margaret in Provence, Le Mont St 

 Michael in Normandy, the Chateau du Taureau in 

 Brittany, the Castle of Ham in Picardy, that of 

 Saumur in Anjou, and others, amounting, in all, to 

 nearly a twentieth part of the fortified places in 

 France. Each of these had its governor, its etat 

 major, its inferior officers, and its prisoner!. 



Fhe Bastile, properly 6o called, was situated at 

 the gates of Paris, near the road to St Anthony. 

 It was built in the reign of Charles V., A. D. 1370, 

 by Hugh d'Aubriot, mayor of the city. Accord- 

 ing to the original plan, it consisted of nothing more 

 than two round towers on opposite sides of the 

 street, joined together by a cross wall of great 

 strength, having in the middle an opening for the 

 gate. This opening was afterwards shut up, when 

 the course of the road leading into the city was 

 changed. -Charles VI. built several other towers, 

 forming, by means of intervening walls, two com- 

 plete courts, which may be regarded as the body of 

 the edifice: the whole was then inclosed witlun a 

 ditch, and secured by a counterscarp, or facing in 

 masonry, nearly 36 feet from the bottom. In the 

 courts alluded to, the walls were of an extraordinary 

 thickness, and on the inside they extended to the 

 height of 80 feet above the level of the pavement. 

 The other parts of the building were added occasion- 



