B I S 



566 



B I S 



Birming- 

 ham 



Biscara. 



means of its improved inland navigations, its heaviest 

 products are conveyed to the remotest distance with- 

 out any considerable addition to their original price. 

 By the old canal, which was cut in 1768 and 17W, 

 are conveyed to this place various raw materials, and 

 particularly the important article of fuel from the 

 Wcdnesbury collieries. This cut was, in 1772, ex- 

 tended to Autherby, and thence to the Severn, by 

 which there is a communication with Shrewsbury, 

 Gloucester, and Bristol. In another direction it joins 

 the Trent, and thus opens a conveyance to Gainsbo- 

 rough, Hull, and London. From this canal there is 

 likewise a junction with the grand line of canal, which 

 runs along the pottery in Staffordshire, thence ex- 

 tending to Manchester and Liverpool. By the new, 

 or Birmingham and Fazely canal, there is a com- 

 munication to Fisherwick, Tamworth, Polesworth, 

 Atherstone, Nuneaton, Coventry, Oxford, and thence, 

 by the canal or the Thames, to London. Thus the 

 produce of its manufactories are easily dispersed 

 throughout the kingdom, and conveyed entirely by 

 water carriage to the principal sea ports of the North 

 Sea, the British Ocean, the Irish Sea, and St George's 

 Channel. But, though the flourishing manufactures 

 of Birmingham have filled the town and its vicinity 

 with a multitude of ingenious and industrious inhabi- 

 tants, all usefully employed in their own support, 

 and in the service of the community, yet it must be 

 admitted, that much ignorance, profligacy, drunken- 

 ness, and discontent prevails among the labouring 

 classes, and that these have, on several occasions, ex- 

 hibited a strong disposition to rioting and tumult. 

 This was remarkably manifested in the year 1791, 

 about the commencement of the revolution in France, 

 when the most disorderly proceedings were carried on 

 during several successive days, and property to the 

 amount of 60,000 was plundered or destroyed. 



In 1801, the town of Birmingham contained 16,4-03 

 houses, of which 1875 were uninhabited ; and its 

 whole population amounted to 73.670, of whom 

 62,702 were employed in trade and manufactures. 

 See Hutton's History of Birmingham, (q) 



BIRR, or Pah.sons Towx, the name of a post 

 and market town in King's county, Ireland, situated 

 on the rjver Little Brosna. It carries on a consider- 

 able manufacture of cloth and serges, and has also 

 several breweries, distilleries, and malthouses. Sec 

 Coote's Survey of King's County. ( /) 



BIRSE, the name of a river in Switzerland, fa- 

 mous for the desperate battle fought near it in 1447, 

 when the French triumphed by the force of numbers, 

 over the matchless heroism of the Swiss. An ac- 

 rount of this battle will be found in Coxe's Travels 

 'n Switzerland, letter 17. vol. i. p. 177. See also 



SWITZERLAND, (t) 



BIRTH. See Midwifery. 



BISCARA, or BI8CABI8, or B.AscAnA, a town in 

 the kingdom of Algiers, originally built by the Ro- 

 mans, and afterwards destroyed by the Arabs, by 

 whom it was since rebuilt. Its paltry castle, defend- 

 ed by six pieces of ordnance, is the seat of a Turkish 

 garrison. The numbers of scorpions and poisonous 

 reptiles that infest the houses, drive the inhabitants 

 irom tne town during summer. The highest class 

 f the inhabitants carry on a little trade in negroes 



6 



and ostrich feathers, while the lower orders emigrate Biscay, 

 to Algiers, to seek for subsistence from the most me- ' "*""" 

 uial occupations in that metropolis. They are held 

 in great estimation for their honesty and kindness; 

 and when they have amassed a little money, they re- 

 turn to Biscara, where they are reckoned among the 

 wealthy of that place. E. Long. 5 15', N. Lat. 

 34 30'. to) 



BISCAY. Part of the Spanish monarchy, inclu- 

 ding three cantons, Alaba or Alava, Guipuzcoa, 

 and Biscay Proper, constitute a province called the 

 Lordship of Biscay. This province is bounded by 

 the Bay of Biscay, and the Gulf of Gascony, mi 

 the north; on the east, by Navarre ; on the south, 

 by Old Castile ; and on the west, by the same 

 kingdom and the Asturias. The country consists 

 entirely of hills and mountains, many of which are 

 piled on each other to a great height: the ascent 

 of the mountain Gorveya occupies five hours ; but 

 on the summit is a beautiful plain, whither the 

 herds of Biscay Proper and Alava are sent to pas- 

 ture during several months of the year : some of 

 the hills are cultivated to the top ; aud the vallies 

 dividing them being devoted to agriculture also, 

 and the pasture of flocks, the inhabitants suffer 

 few of the inconveniences attached to a mountainous 

 country. 



Different species of iron ore arc found in the 

 mountains of Biscay ; the richest is near Hernani in 

 Guipuzcoa ; in the vicinity of Bilboa the chief town, 

 where the ore reaches the surface of the earth, and 

 at Somorrostro likewise in Biscay Proper. The last 

 consists of a regular undulated hill, which may be 

 encompassed in walking during four or five hours ; 

 and here the ore forms an uninterrupted stratum from 

 three to ten feet in thickness, covered with a bed of 

 whitish calcareous rock from two to six feet thick. 

 When first taken from the mine, the ore is of the co- 

 lour of bull's blood, and exhibits a purple tinge on be- 

 ing wet. It is reputed the softest and most fusible iron 

 ore of all Europe, and is said to be frequently mixed 

 with what yields a harder metal in smelting, by those 

 who carry it to a distance from the mine. To re- 

 duce the ore to a malleable state, it is first roasted 

 by alternate strata of wood and ore piled together 

 being set on fire ; next it is put into a furnace, and 

 after having been in a state of fusion, it is placed on 

 an anvil, under an immense hammer of 700 or 1000 

 pounds weight, by which the mass is squared and re- 

 duced to bars. Thus the ore is said to be fused in 

 a few hours, the bars formed, and sold to blacksmiths. 

 A quintal of ore will afford thirty-live pounds of 

 good iron. The mine of Somorrostro has been work- 

 ed during many centuries ; and the workmen cm- 

 ployed in it, from frequently finding broken pieces of 

 implements that had been used to dig it out in an- 

 cient times, maintain that the ore is renewed. Be- 

 sides the mine of Somorrostro, there is a great ferru- 

 ginous rock, about half a mile from Bilboa, which 

 is of a different nature. An engineer engaged in 

 some public works near this rock, found a vein of 

 ore eighty feet from the surface, consisting of an in- 

 finite variety of ramifications, some an inch in diame- 

 ter, and others as thick as the arm. Hxmatitcs or 

 Llood-stoncs, are often found in the mines of Biscay, 



