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fyas, and to the young Sicilian fhepherd Daphnis, who fird 

 compofed paftorals. 



An anonymous French author has publifhed a treatife of 

 the bagpipe, " Traitc de la Mufctte," with a new method 

 of learning to play on it without a mailer. Fol. Par. 

 1672. 



I5agpipe the Ulizcn, in Sea Language, is to lay it aback, 

 by bringing the Ihect to the mizen-flnouds. 



BAGRADA, or BraGada, now Jllijeiiia, \n Ancient Geo- 

 gmphy, a river of Africa Propria, the fource of which Pto- 

 lemy fixes in mount Mampfarus, erroneoutly reprefeiiting 

 its courfe to have been from north to fouth ; whereas it 

 flows in a direclion from wcfl to caft. It is equal, fays Dr. 

 Shaw (Travels, p. 77.), to the Ifis united with the Cherwell, 

 and continues winding, through its whole courfe, along a 

 rich and fertile country, with the foil of which it becomes 

 fo well faturated, that it is of the fame colour with the Nile, 

 and has the fame property of making encroaclnrients on the 

 fea. To this circumftance may be afcribed the many changes 

 which appear to have been made at one time or other in tlie 

 channel of it ; and to this alfo it is owing that an open 

 creek of the fea, into which the Mejerda about a century 

 ago difcharged itfelf, is now circumfcribed by the mud, 

 and become a large navigable pond, the anti- harbour, as 

 Dr. Shaw calls it, to port Farina. The fituation of Utica 

 and of Carthage, with refpeft to this river, are materially 

 altered. (See Carthage, and Utica.) Bochart (1. i. 

 c. 24.) deduces the name Bagrada, from HDI^ O"" KDDT^ 

 baraha, a pond, agreeably to the defcription of Silius Itali- 

 cus, 1. vi. 140 : — 



« Turbidus arentes lento pede fulcat harenas 

 Bagrada, non uUo Libycis in finibus amne 

 Vidus limofas extendere latins undas, 

 Et flagnante vado patulos involvere campos." 

 BAGRADAS, a river which flowed on the confines of 

 Perfia and Carmania, and difcharged itfelf into the Perfiau 

 gulf. Ptolemy. 



BAGRE, in Ichthyology, a fpecics of SiLuaus that in- 

 habits South America. The pofterior dorfal fin is fat or 

 flelhy ; firil ray of the dorfal and peftoral fin fetaceous ; 

 beards four. Gmel. 



BAG-REEF, in Sea Language, denotes a fourth or 

 lower reef of fail, fometimes ufed in the royal navy. 



BAGSZELAR, in Geography, a town of European 

 Turkey, in the province of Bulgaria, 20 miles north-eaft 

 of Ternova. 



BAGUETTE, in Jrchileclure, a little round moulding, 

 lefs thaivan aftragal ; fometimes carved and enriched with 

 foliages, pearls, ribbands, laurels, &c. According to M. 

 Le Clerc, when the baguette is enriched with ornaments, 

 it changes its name, and is called chapht ; and unornamented, 

 it is a bead. 



BAHAMA Islands, in Geography, a name commonly 

 applied by the Engli(h geographers to that clufter of fmall 

 iilands, reefs, and rocks of fand, which ftretch in a north- 

 weilerly direAion for the fpace of near 300 leagues from 

 the northern coall of Hifpaniola to the Bahama llrait, op- 

 pofite to the Florida (liore ; or from about 20° to 28° N. 

 lat. and from about 70° to 80° W. long. This whole 

 jjroup is called by the Spaniards Lucayos. The ifland of 

 Bahama, which gives name to the reft, N. lat. 26'^ 45'. W. 

 long. 78° 35', is about 25 leagues diftant from the conti- 

 nent of Florida; it is about 50 miles long, and fcarcely 

 any where 16 broad. The number of thefe iflands is faid 

 to be about 500, of which, however, fome are merely rocks. 

 Though their number is confiderable, and fome of them are 

 of a large lize, our knowledge of them is very imperftd. 



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Tliey were full difcovered by Columbus, A. D. 1492; and the 

 firft land he difcovered was that of Guanahani, on which he 

 landed to return thanks for his fuccefs, and to ereft a crofs ; 

 and he denominated tiie ifland San Salvadore, taking poflef- 

 fion of it in the name of his Catholic majelly. This illaiid, in 

 the vicinity of Providence ifland, is known to the Englifli 

 navigators by the name of Cat ifland. Columbus, however, 

 made no fettlement in thefe iflands. About the year 1629, 

 it is faid (fee Anderfon'sComm. vol. ii. p. 37.), the Engliflt 

 began to plant on the ifland of Providence, which till then 

 was uninhabited ; and after the conclufiou of peace with 

 Spain, king Charles I. renewed his grant of tliis and the 

 otiicr Bahama iflands. In the year 1666, captain Sayle, an 

 Englifliman, was forced in his paflage to Carolina, by ilrcfs 

 of weather, to land upon one of thefe iflands ; and upon 

 his return to England, he made fo favourable a report of 

 them, that fix of the proprietaries of Carolina folicited, 

 and obtained a grant of them. Captain Sayle, in a ftcond 

 vifit to the ifland of Providence, which was one of them, 

 difcovered the advantage which England might derive from 

 it ; and he made the government of England fo fenfible of 

 it, that about the yeat 1672 they fent thither a governor 

 and a colony. But the fettlement was difliurbed by Spanifli 

 pirates ; and the ifland of Providence, and the other Baha- 

 mas, were abandoned. The chief town of Providence, 

 called Naflau, confiiled at this time of 150 houfes. The 

 ifland afterwards became a neft of pirates, who interrupted 

 the American navigation ; and on this account, an order 

 was ifl'ued by his majefty king George I. on the conclufion 

 of a peace with Spain in 1721, to fortify and fettle the 

 ifland, and to diflodge thefe outlaws. The Englifli in the 

 Bahama iflands have been computed at three or four thou- 

 fand ; half being fettled in Providence, where is the fort 

 called Naflau ; and a fmall harbour. But the natural bar- 

 rennefs of the foil, and the narrow length of thefe ifles, 

 which expofes them to the heat and to the winds, account 

 for their comparative infignificance in this grand commer- 

 cial archipelago. Of their prefent ftate, little fatisfaftory 

 information has been obtained even by the lords of the-com- 

 mittee of council for the affairs of trade and plantations. 

 To the inquiries of their lordQiips in 1789, as to the extent 

 of territory in thefe iflands, the quantity of land in culti- 

 vation, the number of white inhabitants, productions, and 

 exports, &c. the only anfwer that could be obtained from 

 the governor was this, " that it was at that time impofllhle 

 to afccrtain any of thofe particulars." It appears, however, 

 from the teftimony of other perfons, that thefe iflands in 

 general are rocky and barren ; that the only article cultiva- 

 ted for exportation is cotton, of which the medium export 

 is 1500 bags of two hundred weight ; that the inhabitants, 

 who in 1773 confifted of 2052 whites and 2241 blacks, 

 have been of late years confiderably augmented by emi» 

 grants from North America ; but of their prefent number 

 no preciie account is given. Edwards's Hill, of the Well 

 Indies, vol.i. p. 470. 



Bahama Straits, called the gulf of Florida, the narrow 

 fea between the coail of America and the Bahama iflands, 

 about 45 leagues long, and 16 broad. 



Bahama Banh, Great, a bank of fand extending from 

 near the ifland of Cuba, N. lat. 22° 20', to the Bahama 

 iflands, N. lat. 26° 15'. The fand which hes to the north 

 of the ifland Bahama is called Little Bahama Bank. 



BAHAR, or Barr, in Commerce, a weight ufed at Ter- 

 nate, Moca, in the Moluccas, Achem, and divers other 

 parts of the Eall Indies. There are two kinds, the great, 

 with which fpice is weighed, equal to 524 lb. 9 oz. avoir- 

 dupois The little bahar fervcd for the weighing quickiil- 



ver. 



