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containing all the shipping of Europe ; but some-
what exposed to the swells of the Atlantic Ocean.
A French fleet endeavoured to land succours of
arms in this bay to the adherents of James II. 1689,
and they made another unsuccesful attempt to
effect a landing with a formidable force 1796. It
is 26 miles long, 3 broad, and 40 fathoms deep in
the middle. There is a town named Bantry, at
the head of the bay on the east side, the spacious
harbour of which is defended from the swells of
the ocean by the-island of Whiddy. It is 46 m.
Wr. by S. of Cork, and 163 from Dublin. Pop. in
1821, 3,659.
Banwell, a village in Somersetshire, Eng. four
miles N. N. AV. of Axbridge. Here was a mon-
astery, founded by one of the Saxon princes,
which was destroyed by the Danes. On its site
an episcopal palace was erected, some remains of
which are to be seen near the church. Pop. 1,430.
Bapaume, a town of France, in the department
of Pas de Calais, 12 m. S. E. of Arras. Pop. 3,150.
There is a river of the same name, falling into the
Seine, which drives about 20 paper mills.
Baptistown, p.v. Hunterdon Co. N. J. 30 m. N.
W. Trenton.
Bar, a town of Podolia, in Russian Poland, on a
river that flows east into the Bog. In 1768, a cath-
olic confederation was held here, to protect the reli
gion of the country from the encroachments of
dissenters. It is 48 m. E. N. E. of Kaminieck, and
55 N. W. of Braclaw. Long. 27. 40. E. lat. 49. 14.
N. _
Bar, a town of Hindoostan, in Bahar, near the
Ganges, 34 m. E. S. E. of Patna.
Bar, or Barrois, a late duchy of France, lying on
both sides of the Meuse, between Lorraine and
Champagne. It now forms the department of
Meuse.
Baraeoa, a town on the N. E. coast of Cuba, with
a good harbour for small vessels, 90 m. E. N. E. of
St. Jago de Cuba. Long. 74.42. W. lat. 20.30. N.
Baraneo de Malamba, or Baranguilla, a town of
Colombia, in the province of Magdalena, and a
bishop’s see, with a good harbour, at the mouth
of the Magdalena. 70 m N. E. of Carthagena.
Long 74. 50. AV. lat. 11. 20. N.
Barany, or Baranwahr, a town of Lower Hunga-
ry, capital of the county of Barany, taken from the
Turks in 1684. It is seated in an island, formed
by the river Crasso, 14 m. N. Esseg, and 120 S.
of Buda. Long. 19. 16. E. lat. 45. 42. N.
Baratwria, a bay or the coast of Louisiana, near
the mouth of the Mississippi, surrounded by- a flat
marshy country. Boats can pass from the Mis-
sissippi at New Orleans, through this bay to the
sea. This was formerly a great resort for pirates.
Barbacoa, a town of Colombia, in Cauca, on the
river Tolembi, 110 m. S. W. of Popayan.
Barbacoa, a town of Colombia, in Venezuela, on
the east side of the lake Maracaybo, 130 m. S. by
W. of Venezuela.
Barbadoes, the most easterly of the Windward
islands, in the West Indies, 25 m. long and 15
broad, subject to Great Britain. The soil is beau-
tifully undulated, and yields most of the produc-
tions common to the climate, but the chief object-
of culture is the sugar cane, the produce of which
is about 15,000 tons of sugar annually, which, with
some ginger and arrow-root, form its main exports.
The island suffered greatly by the storm, on the
10th of October, 1780, when upwards of 4,000 per-
sons perished by its violence, and at the commence-
ment of the 19th century was considerably on the
decline, the soil indicating symptoms of exhaus-
tion, until the year 1813, when a very singular phe-
nomenon occurred, which contributed essentially
to its resuscitation ; a vast dense cloud of matter
from the eastward, composed apparently of volcan-
ic eruption, fell, and covered nearly the whole sur-
face of the island, which tended greatly to its fer-
tility. Barbadoes was constituted an ecclesiastical
see over the whole of the Carribee Islands in 1824.
It is also the chief seat of commissariat for the same,
which occasions the internal commerce of the is-
land to be considerable. It was first settled by the
English in 1624; after the restoration of Charles |
II. a duty of 41-2 per ct. was exacted upon all pro-
duce exported, under the pretext of maintaining
and keeping in repair the forts of the island, and
for other protection. The duty has continued 150
years, and in 1820 amounted to xc2xa318,637, but whol-
ly converted into pensions, and the expenses of the
island defrayed out of the taxes levied in Eng-
land. It is divided into five districts and 11 par-
ishes. Bridgetown, the chief town, is in lat. 13.
5. N. and 59. 43. W. long. Charles’s, James's, and
Speight’s towns are the other towns of the island ;
the free population amounts to about 20,000
Barbara, St. a town on the wTest coast of North
America, capital of a jurisdiction of its name. It
stands in a rugged, barren country, but has a good
roadstead. Long. 119. 17. W. lat. 34. 54. N.
Barbareen, a village of Ceylon, on the wnst
coast, 35 m. south of Colombo. It has a harbour
for ship-boats, and a considerable manufacture of
cordage and cables from the cocoa tree.
Barbary, or the Barbary States, comprise the
whole northern coast of North Africa, bordering
on the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic
Ocean to Egypt; bounded or rather intersected,
on the south by the Atlas chain of mountains and
bounded by the deserts of Sahara, Tuarick, and
Lybia, extending in length from the long, of 10.
AV. to 25. of E. and varying in breadth from 300 to
600 or 700 m. between the lat. of 29. and 37. N. di-
vided into the six following sovereignties, or
states: viz. first, beginning with the west; Mo-
rocco, bordering wholly on the Atlantic Ocean,
Fez, forming the north-winst corner of the African
continent, and Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Barca,
all bordering on the Mediterranean. This exten-
sive territory was known to the ancients by the
name of Mauritania, Numidia, Africa Proper,
and Lybia, and at one period contended with
Rome for the empir,e of the world; and although
at the present day its inhabitants are among the ,
most unsocial and illiterate of the communities of
civilization, they were at one period as distin
guished for their attainments in art, as in arms.
The whole country abounds in local beauties, and
possesses all the advantages of soil and climate
which man can desire : the soil yields great crops
of maize and corn, and all the choice fruits, such
as lemons, oranges, the vine, olives, figs, almonds,
and dates are in great profusion ; the mountains
are rich in mineral substances, and all the domes-
tic animals common to Europe abound over the
whole country; the horses are much esteemeG
for their fleetness and beauty. The lion, panther
and hyasna, and other ferocious animals are nu
merous in the mountains, and frequently make
inroads into the plains. Reptiles are also very
numerous, and the Boa-Constrictor, the most fero
cious of the serpent kind, is common on the bor
ders of the deserts. The external commerce of thxc2xab
country is limited, but will be more particular!}
adverted to when ireating of the respective d:vi
sions. Mahometanism, in its utmost degree of |
