BAR 



during the fummer, prefers the rapid currents and Hiallows 

 of river-s, and retires at the approach of winter to the more 

 full and deeper places. They live in focitties ; lurking in 

 boles along the fides of the water iir>der (helur of the fteep- 

 eil banks, and feed on fmailer Hih and worms and flelh «f 

 all kinds, for which tliey di^ in the banks like fwine. In 

 the day-time they love to lurk occafioially among weeds, 

 and bttvi'een the (loncs in retired parts of the river, and 

 ■wander out at nisjht in fcarcli of prev. Ttiey fpawn in 

 April, ai.d be^in to be in feafon in May and June. 



The fl^fli of the barbel was never in great elleera for the 

 table. Mr. Pennant quotts a paffage in i\ufonius, which, 

 as he obferves, is no panegyric on its excellence, for he lets 

 us know it loves deep -.vatcrs, and that when it grows old, 

 it is not a'ijfolutely bad: 



" Laxos exerces barbe natatus 

 Tu melior pejore 2cvo, tibi coutigit uni 

 Spii antum ex nnnnero non inlaudnta feneftus." 

 And he adds himfelf, that " they are the word and coarfeft 

 of frcfh-water fidi, and feldom eat but by the poorer fort of 

 people, who fometimes boil them with a bit of bacon to 

 give them a reliih." 



" The barbel," fitys old Wakon, " though he be of a 

 fine fliape, and looks big, yet he is not accounted the bed 

 filh to eat, neither for his wholefomnefs nor his taite, but 

 the male is reputed much better than the female, whofe 

 fpawn is very hurtful." 



Again, when fpeaking of Rondelitius, he makes this re- 

 mark on the fpawn, " we agree witli him, that the fpawn 

 of the barbel, if it be not poifon, as he fays, yet that it is 

 dan6;erous meat, efpecially in the month of May ; which is 

 fo certain, that Gefner and Gaffius declare, it had an ill 

 effeft upon them even to the endangering of their hves." 

 Sir John Hawkins, in his Annotations, inclines to the fame 

 opinion, and gives an inftance of his fervant being taken 

 dangeroufly ill after having incautioufly eaten of this h(h. 

 M. Bloch, and fome other ichthyologifts, contend that this 

 is a vulgar and moil abfurd prejudice. M. Bloch in parti- 

 cular obferves, that himfelf and all his family have eaten 

 the fpawn of the barbel, and never experienced the flightell 

 ill effeils from it. Donov. Brit. Fifhes. 



The time for taking this fifh is very early in the morning, 

 or late in the evening : the place fliould be baited with 

 chopped worms fome time before ; and no bait is fo good 

 for the hook as the fpawn of the falmon, or fom.e other 

 filh : in defeft of thefe, lob-worms will do ; they muit be 

 very clean and nice, and the hook carefully covered, other- 

 wife he will not touch them. Old cheefe fteeped in honey 

 is alfo a very fine bait. The beft feafon for angUng for 

 this fi(h is from May to Auguft. 



BARBY, in Gography, a fmall baihwick of Germany, 

 in the circle of Upper Saxony, forms a part of the circle of 

 Wittenberg, and was granted in 1748 and 1765, to the 

 count of Reufs, and the fociety of united brethren, or 

 Moravians. 



Barby is alfo the name of a town of Germany, in the 

 circle of Upper Saxony, feated on the Elbe, near the 

 mouth of the Saale, in which is a Moravian academy for 

 the inftruftion of youth, 14 miles N.W. of Deffau, and 14 

 S.S.E. of Magdeburg. N. lat. 51° 37'. E. long. 11^51'. 



BARBYLA, in Botany, a name by which Theocritus, 

 and others of the early svriters, have called the common 

 damaflc prune. ' 



BARCA, in Geography, an extenfive defert country, fituate 

 on the fouth coall of the Mediterranean, between Tripoh 

 aad Egypt, and foiming part of the great defert, or Sahara. 



BAR 



It extends in length from weft to eaft from about the 39th 

 degree of longitude to the 415th degree, and in breadth from 

 north to louth about 30 leagues, tlir.ugh its confines on the 

 fouth fide are vi ry imperfedtly afcertaincd. It is, in general, 

 a dry and barren fand, whence the Arabs have c-^.l!ed it ■ 

 " S-Jhart," or «' Ceyrsrt Barka," that is the " Defert," 

 or " Road of Whirlwinds and Hurricanes." Water is 

 fcarce; and, except in the neighbourhood of its towns and 

 villages, if they may be fo called, where the ground produces 

 fome grain, fucii as corn, millet, and maize, it is quite ilcrilc 

 and uncultivated. The articles which the poor inh-.(bitart» 

 produce they are obliged to exchange with tbeir no lefs in- 

 digent neighbours for dates, flieep, and can;els. This country 

 forms part of the ancient Cyrenaica and Marmarica (fte Cy- 

 RENAiCA, and Makmarica): in the mod defert a:id dan- 

 gerous diilrift of it Hood the tcniple of Jupiter Ammon 

 (See Ammon.) This fpot, tliou-^rh in fome refpcfts plea- 

 fantly fituHted, is lurrounded by O'lick a'ld burning fands, 

 which are very pernicious to travellers, and fometimes over- 

 whelm whole caravans. Againft this te.mple Cambyfcs, and 

 an army of 50,000 men, marched fron:> Thebes in Upper 

 Egypt; but their fate is uncertain, as they never r-,tnrned 

 either to Egypt or to their own country. (See Ammon.) 

 This country is indeed fo defert, that there is no travelling 

 through it without the aid of a compafs, or the dircftion of 

 the ftars; and though it was once the thoroughfare for cara- 

 vans from Barbtiry and Morocco to Mecca, vet it has been 

 infefted with wild Arabs to fuco a degree, that thev are 

 obliged to fteer 50 leagues about to avoid being plundered.. 

 The French geographers divide the coujitry oi Barca into 

 two parts; one called the kingdom, and the other the de- 

 fert; the former hath, accordmg to their ilateirent, fome 

 confiderable ports, towns, and villages, and is under the 

 protevftion of the Porte, governed by a cadi, who is the hatha 

 of Cairo, and refides at Tripoli ; but for this they have no 

 fufficient authority. According to Sanfon and Baudrand, 

 the other part, which extends along the eallern coaft, called 

 by them the eaftern (hore of Tripoli, reaches from the port 

 of Solomon or Solyman, to the gulf of Sydra ; but this coalt 

 is commonly diftinguidied by the name of Derna, one of the 

 moll confiderable of its towns and ports; bcfides which it 

 has feveral others, and the ruins of many more, which are 

 now reduced to poor villages. The moll remarkable are the 

 cape Raccallino, ftyled by' Ptolemy Cherfonelus, becaufe it 

 forms a peninfula; and the furthelt towards Egypt is the 

 town of Angela or Ongnela. (See Anoela.) Between thefe 

 two, are many others differently placed and named, as the 

 Porto Tabarca, formerly Batrachns, Batracha, and Patri- 

 archa, cape de Luccb or Eoco, anciently Promontorium 

 Caryloniiim, Porto Mcfulman, the haven of Salonef or Salona, 

 fuppofed by iome to be the ancient Portus Panormus, and 

 Galinus, and by others the Portus Catabathmus, which our 

 latell geographers place on the moll eallern verge of the 

 Barcan coad, next to the confines of Egypt. To which 

 may be addcu the large valley of Carto Sappires, the ancient 

 Catabathmus, extending quite to Egypt, oppofite to the 

 fpot where the temple of Jupiter Ammon llood. From 

 thefe we proceed to Porto Albertene, or the Sultan's port ; 

 that of Cagnxi, formerly Trifachi ; the cape and haven of 

 Raxa, anciently Paretoiiium ; and, laftly, the city of Barca 

 or Barce, which gives name to the whole province, and hes 

 farther inland, on the eallern coaft of the gulf of Sydra. 

 This was the capital ef the Barcii, and is mentioned by 

 Strabo, Pliny, Scyiax, and Ptolemy ; and is faid by the two 

 former to have occupied the fpot on which Ptolemais was 

 afterwards built j but the two latter are of a different opl- 



