BAR 



nion. It feems to have flood to the weft of Cyrene, and 

 had a port near the Greater Syrtis. As it was a maritime 

 city, it is mod probable that it flood by the port of tlie 

 BarCiEi, and not where Barce ftood; more efpecially as that 

 capital was loo ftaJia from the fea, according to Scylax. 

 Herodotus fays, that Barca was bnik by the brothers of Ar- 

 cefilaus III. king of Cyrene, more than a generation before 

 the beginning of the reign of Cyrus ; but it is more probable, 

 that it was of Phcenician, if not of Egyptian or Libyan ex- 

 traftion; for Barca was a Plicenician name, well known in 

 thofe parts of Africa, as we learn from Sihus Italicus, and 

 others. Servius intimates, that its citizens came originally 

 from Carthage, which would lead us to conclude, that 

 Barca, Dido's brother, who attended her into Africa, with 

 fome of his countrymen, fettled here. It fufficiently ap- 

 pears from Virgil and Silius, that the Barccei fpread them- 

 felves over feveral coufiderable parts of Libya ; and, accord- 

 ing to Servius, their metropolis made the greateft figure of 

 any city in this region, except Cyrene. St. Jerom confirms 

 thefe lafl: authorities, when he afl'erts that this town was 

 fituated in a defert; and that its inhabitar.ts, or at leaft their 

 defcendants, difperfed themftlvcs over feveral diflricls, lying 

 as far to the weftward as Mauritania, and the eaftward as 

 India. The Barccei learned (fays Stephanus* the art of 

 managing horfts from Neptune, and of driving chariots from 

 Minerva. The modern kingdom and defert of Barca un- 

 doubtedly derived their name from the Barcsi; and we 

 may hence infer, that thefe people formerly hehl a coufider- 

 able rank among the various nations of Libya. 



What is the prefent condition of the towns of Barca, what 

 is their commerce, and how they are governed, we have no 

 authentic documents for afcertaining. The maritime towns 

 are, probably, under the proteftion of the Porte; but it is 

 not certain whether they are under the government of the 

 bafha of Egypt or Tripoli, or they have formed themfelves 

 into free ftates like thofe of Algiers and Tunis. This how- 

 ever is certain, that the inhabitants of the maritime towns 

 are more civilized than thofe within land. The firft profefs 

 Mahometanifm, and have imbibed fome notions of humanity 

 and juftice; but the latter, and efpecially thofe of the defert, 

 who have neither religion nor any appearance of worfliip 

 among them, are altogether brutilh and favage, and live 

 wholly upon theft and plunder, like all other wild Arabs. 

 By them this tract, which was before a barren defert, was 

 firll inhabited. Deftitute and indigent in the extreme, they 

 are faid alfo to be the uglieil of all the Arabs; their bodies 

 being meagre, their faces grim, and afpeft fierce and ra- 

 venous; their garb, which is commonly ftripped from the 

 paflengers and pilgrims, tattered with long wearing; whilft 

 the pooreft of them want rags to cover their nakednefs. 

 They are likewife reported to be refolute and expert rob- 

 bers and plunderers; but deriving a fcanty fupply from their 

 own neighbourhood, they are compelled by neccffity to ex- 

 tend their excurfions as far as Numidia, Libya, and other 

 fouthern parts, where they commit many atrocious adts of 

 cruelty. So indigent and famifhed arc thefe Barcans, that 

 they commonly let, pledge, and even fell their children, for 

 procuring the neceffarics of life, to the Sicilians, and other 

 neighbouring Chrittians, from whom they have mod of their 

 corn, efpecially before they fet out on any long expedition. 

 The chief towns of Barca are Derna, the capital and refi- 

 dence of the fangiac, Tolometa or Ptolometa, and Grena 

 orCaren. Anc. Un. Hift. vol.xvi. p. iSl. Mod. Un. Hift. 

 vol. XV. p. 196, kc. 



Barca, a fmall port on the coaft of Peru, about S. 

 lat. 11° 20', where (hips may anchor, but obtain no fupply. 



BAR 



BARCALAO, a Spanifh word, which the French pro- 

 nounce baccala or barcuHau. By this laft name the Bafques 

 mod commonly call the fifh which we ftyle cod; and thofe 

 people call alfo the ifland which we call Newfoundlar.d, the 

 ifle of BaccaTum {Cod IJlnnd), bccaufe of the great plenty of 

 cod catched there. There is, however, a league to the weft 

 of that large ifland, another fmall one, which is more parti- 

 cularly called Baccnliau. 



BARCALON, an appellation given to the chief mini- 

 fler of the emperor of Siam, to whom belongs the care of 

 trade both within the kingdom and out of it, the fuperin- 

 tendency of the royal magazines, the receipt of the revenues, 

 and the management of foreign affairs. 



BARCA-LoNGA, a large Spanhh filhing-boat, navigated 

 with lug-fails, and having two or three malls. Thefe arc 

 very common in the Mediterranean. See Bark. 



BARCANl, in Ancient Geography, a people of Afia, in 

 the vicinity of Hyrcaaia. They are placed by M. D'An- 

 ville, on the call of the Cafpian lea, near one of the mouth* 

 of the Oxus. 



B ARCAROLLA, in ^frz/fc , a kind of fongin the Vene- 

 tian language, fung at Venice by their gondoliers or water- 

 men, in their boats or barks. Thefe aii-s (fays Rouffeau) 

 are compofcd for the commcn people, and often by the gon- 

 dolieri themfelves. They have fo much melody, and fuch 

 an agreeable accent, that there is not a mufician in all Italy 

 who does not pique himfelf on knowing fome of them. The 

 being admitted gratis mto a gallery appropriated to them in 

 all the theatres, enables gondolieri to form their ear and tallc, 

 without trouble or expence, fo that they compofe and fing 

 their airs, without altering their natural fimplicity, in the 

 ftyle and exprefllon of perfons not ignorant of the refine- 

 ment'; of mufic. The words of thefe fongs are commonly 

 jocofe, and more than natural, like the converfation of thofe 

 that fing them; but fuch as the faithful pifture of the man- 

 ners of a people can pleafe, and fuch as are likewife partial to 

 the Venetian dialeft, foon become pafTionately fond both of 

 the words and mufic of thefe airs, chiefly known in England 

 by the title of Venetian ballads, of which U'avellers into Italy 

 make coUetlions. 



The late earl of Leicefter, one of the fubfcribers to the 

 royal academy of mufic in 1720, ufed to fay, that at the firft, 

 eftablifhmcnt of operas in England, the nobility and gcntrv-, 

 in imitation of the Venetians, fuffered their fervants to have 

 admiffion, gratis, into the upper gallery, with a view to im- 

 prove the national talle in finging ; but inftead of profiting 

 or deriving pleafure from this privilege, they became fo noify 

 and infolent, that about 40 years ago, like our firil parents, 

 they were driven out of paradife. 



We muft not forget (fays Roufteau) to remark, for the 

 glory of Taflb, that moft of the gondolieri know the chief 

 part of his poem " Gierufalemmc liberata," by heart, and 

 fome the whole; that they pafs their funimer nights in their 

 gondolas, finging it alternately from bark to bark; that the 

 poem of Taiio is an admirable barcarolla ; that Homer only 

 had the honour of being thus fung before him ; and that, 

 fince his time, no other Epic poem has been thus dillin- 

 guifhed. 



BARCAROTA, in Gtogrnpby, a town of Spain, in 

 Eftramadura, 4 miles from Almendrolejo. 



BARCE, in Ancient Geography. See Barca. 



Barce, a town of India, built by Alexander, on the fea- 

 coaft, in memory of his exploits, and where, according to 

 Juftin, he erefted altars. 



BARCELONA, in Geography, a rich and flreng city 



and 



