B I L 



499 B I L 



Bilbao. 



ferent parts of the body. A lucrative traffic is car- 

 ried on in these gris-gris, which the fabricators will 

 assert render wh aever wears them invulnerable ; and 

 should any one accidentally escape an impending evil, 

 the priest preparing the charm is esteemed far supe- 

 rior to any of his fraternity. 



A traffic is carried on in the Bijuga archipelago, 

 chiefly by small vessels from the Portuguese settle- 

 ment of Bissao, and the English to the southward, 

 for slaves and hides. The slaves being prone to re- 

 volt, and commit acts of desperation, commanders of 

 ships are obliged to take more than usual precaution 

 in securing them ; for, on the slightest neglect, the 

 slaves will murder them, seize the vessel, and run her 

 ashore. M. Delajaille gives a list of all the articles 

 suitable for the Bijtiga islanders. 



It has been so peculiarly the interest of the Portu- 

 guese to repel all strangers from that part of the 

 African shores, that other nations are very imperfect- 

 ly acquainted with the history of the native tribes. 

 In 1687, while a Frenchman, named Delafond, was 

 trading with the isle of Cazegoot, the natives stole 

 some of his property : A favourable opportunity of 

 retaliation immediately occurring, by the arrival of 

 a French ship of war, he induced the commanderto 

 engage with him in pillaging the whole island. Ac- 

 cordingly 200 men were lauded, who invested the 

 town, and burnt the king in his hut ; but, except 

 ten or twelve, the whole population, consisting of 

 2000 or 3000 people, fled to the woods, and escaped 

 their sanguinary invaders. The French, however, 

 had the address afterwards to conciliate the natives, 

 and carry on a friendly traffic with them. More 

 lately, during the projected settlement of Bulama, 

 Captain Beaver, in 1792, made an amicable treaty 

 with two of the kings, from whom he purchased that 

 island for a quantity of goods. See Beaver's Afri- 

 can Memoranda. Durand's Voyage to Senegal. 

 Delajaille, Voyage an Senegal, (c) 



BILBAO, originally Belvao, or the Good Ford, is 

 a town of Spain, and the capital of Biscay Proper. 

 It is pleasantly situated on the Bay of Biscay, at the 

 mouth of the river Ausa, which is navigable for 

 boats. Bilbao was built in 1300 by Diego Lopez 

 de Haro. The houses are high and well built, with 

 projecting roofs, which shelter the pavement below 

 from the sun and rain. The streets are paved with 

 small square stones, and are kept remarkably clean 

 and cool, by means of several canals which convey 

 the water from the river. In this town there is a 

 naval academy, several docks for building merchant 

 vessels, four parishes, three convents of nuns, one 

 chapel, and two asylums. There is here a highly de- 

 corated promenade, called the Arenal, which stretch- 

 es along the bank of the river, and is planted with 

 oaks and lindens, and bordered with warehouses, gar- 

 dens, and houses adorned with paintings. In time of 

 peace, this port is frequented by vessels from England, 

 France, Holland, Bremen, and Hamburgh, which 

 import the productions of their manufactures and co- 

 lonies, and export the wool of Old Castile, the an- 

 chors of Guipuzcoa, some rigging, iron, and ches- 

 Jiuts. It generally imports about 160,000 quintals of 

 salt 6sh, and 6000 barrels of train oil. There were 

 formerly a number of tan-yards here, but of late they 



rid. 



have considerably diminished. The air is extremely _ Bile, 

 damp, though the town seems to be healthy. The Biledulge- 

 town contains about 200 mercantile houses. Num- ( 

 ber of houses 1200. Population 1 5,000. See La- 

 borde's View of Spain, vol. ii. p. 356 ; and Bour- 

 going's Travels in Spain, chap. i. (?r) 



BILE. See Anatomy, Chemistry, and Phy- 

 siology. 



BILEDULGERID, an appellation given to one 

 of the divisions of Northern Africa ; but which has 

 been continually varying in the extent of its applica- 

 tion. It was understood by the older geographers* 

 to comprehend all the countries formerly known by 

 the name of Numidia ; and was described as including 

 the southern part of Algiers, with the whole tract of 

 land between that kingdom and Egypt. It has been 

 confined by De Lisle to a province called Biledulge- 

 rid Proper, situated to the south of Tunis, but pro- 

 perly speaking, under the government of that state, 

 from which it is separated by a ridge of high moun- 

 tains. In several later maps, however, and especially 

 by the modern Arabs, the name Biledulgerid is applied 

 to the whole of that district which lies between the 

 maritime states of Barbary and Sahara, or the de- 

 sert ; which extends from 10 degrees west to 15 

 east longitude ; from 29 to 33 north latitude ; and 

 which comprehends Lower Suse, Dara or Draha, 

 Taflet or Tafilelt, Sigilmessa, and Biledulgerid Pro- 

 per. The word has been analysed by some authors 

 into Bled-el-Jerid, " the land of dates ;" by others, 

 into Bled-el-Jeraad, " the land of locusts ;" but Dr 

 Shaw, who writes it Blaid-el-Jeride, and Mr Jackson, 

 who makes it Bled-el-Jerrede, unite in giving it the 

 interpretation of " the dry country." The country* 

 especially in the central regions, is sandy, barren and 

 mountainous, and almost entirely destitute of rivers 

 and fresh water springs. In the districts nearer to 

 the Atlantic, water may generally be found by dig- 

 ging three or four feet below the surface, but it is of 

 a brackish taste, and unwholesome quality. The cli- 

 mate is extremely hot and unhealthy ; especially in 

 the months of July, August, and September, when a 

 suffocating wind, loaded with particles of sand, and 

 extremely pernicious to the eyes, blows very tempes- 

 tuously from the desart. In many parts of this ex- 

 tensive tract, very considerable ruins are to be found, 

 from which it would seem to have been formerly bet- 

 ter peopled, and more carefully cultivated ;. but now 

 its principal and almost only produce is dates, which 

 grow every where in the greatest variety and abun- 

 dance ; though, in some spots of the more western 

 provinces, a little Indian corn, rice, wheat, and bar- 

 ley, are produced : In these also a very superior breed 

 of goats are reared, which arc in high repute among 

 the inhabitants of Morocco. The natives of Biledul- 

 gerid are chiefly composed of wild Arabs, who come 

 originally from Sahara, and who resemble the wan- 

 dering tribes, already described under the article- 

 Barbary. Those of them who border upon the 

 northern states, are rather more civilized and station- 

 ary in their habitations, frequently engaging in agri- 

 culture and the mechanic arts ; but the inhabitants of 

 the interior are a set of miserable and murderous ban- 

 ditti : They are a meagre, swarthy race, with shri- 

 velled complexions, and almost continually afflicted; 



