Bastimentos, small islands near the ithsmus of
Darien, at the entrance of the bay of Nombre de
Dios, with a fort and a good harbour. Long. 79.
45. W. lat. 9. 30. N.

Bastogne, a city of the Netherlands, in Luxem-
burg, near the forest of Ardennes. It was fortified
by the French in 1688, and commonly known among
them by the name of Paris in Ardennes. It is 23
m. N. N. W. of Luxemburg.

Baswapatanna, a town of Hindoostan,in Mysore,
with a fort and a celebrated mosque, 60 m. E. by
N. of Nagura.

Batabano, a town on the south coast of Cuba,
Stuate on the north side of a large bay, opposite
Pinos Island, 55 m. S. S. W. of Havannah. Long.
% 0. W. lat. 22. 20. N.

Batacole, a town of Hindoostan, on the coast of
Canara. The country produces a great quantity
of pepper. It is 10 m. N. of Barcalore.

Batacolo, a small fortress on the east side of Cey-
lon, built by the Dutch. It is of great importance,
an account of the extreme fertility of the adjacent
country, which, during a war, or times of scarcity
in the district of Trincomale, can supply the gar-
risons there with all kinds of provisions. It sur-
rendered to the English in 1796; and is situate at
the head of a deep bay, 54 m. S. S. E. of Trinco-
male.

Batalha, a town of Portugal, in Estremadura,
celebrated for its rich monastery, founded, in 1386.
br John I. who is interred here, with his queen
Philippa. It is S m. S. S. W. of Lerida.

Batavia, the ancient nasfte of an island in Hol-
land, whence the Dutch are sometimes called Ba-
tavians.

Batavia, a city and seaport, on the N. E. part of
the island of Java, capital of all the Dutch settle-
ments in the East Indies, finely situate in the
bosom of a spacious bay. The fort is built
of coral rock, brought from some of the adjoin-
ing islands, and has a fortification of brick. A
part of the town wall is built of dense lava
from the mountains in the centre of Java. No
stone, of any kind, is to be found for many
miles beyond this city; but marble and granite
are brought here from China. The harbour is ex-
cellent, and there are canals in the principal
streets, planted on each side with trees, after the
manner of the towns in Holland. The inhabitants
are composed of natives from nearly all the coun-
tries and islands of Asia and the Indian Ocean,
as well as of most of the chief trading parts of Eu-
rope and America, amongst whom the number of
Chinese is considerable.

The city was founded in 1619, and rose rapidly
into importance ; during the eighteenth century
it was deemed the finest European settlement in
all Asia: and although considered unhealthy, from
the influence of the heat of the climate on the mud
and stagnant waters of the canals and streams by
which it is intersected, it was vainjy denominated
by the Dutch, the “Queen of the East.’’ The
houses of two streets, forming the European part of
the town, are handsome and commodious, and vie
with if the v do not excel in capaciousness and con-
venience those of the best towns in Holland; but
the parts occupied by the Javanese, Chinese, and
other natives of the east, like most of the Asiatic
towns, are crowded, mean, and dirty. Batavia was
very sensibly affected by the war of 1793, and be-
came almost deserted, until its capture, with the
whole of the Island of Java, by the English, in
1811, when it became again the centre of an ex-
tensive commerce. It was ceded back to the

Dutch on the peace of 1814, who having relaxed
somewhat from their former system of proscription
and monopoly in their commercial regulations,
Batavia continues a flourishing and important
place. The stadthouse is the principal edifice de-
serving of notice. The natives of the several na-
tions and countries who compose the population,
which amounts to about 50,000, have each their
churches, mosques, and temples, but there are
none that merit any particular notice. The nature
of its commerce will be more fully elucidated un-
der the head of Java. The observatory is in lat.
69. S. and 106. 52. E. long.

Batavia, ph. Gennesee Co. N. Y. 38 m. N. E.
Buffalo. Pop. 4,271. It is a handsome town,
with considerable trade.

Batavia, ph. Geauga Co. Ohio.

Batesville, ph. Independence Co. Arkansas, on
White river, 110 m. N. E. Little Rock.

Bath, a city of England, in the east corner of
the county of Somerset, on the confines of Glou-
cester and Wilts ; it is bounded on the north by
a range of hills, up the declivity of which build-
ings have been constructed in varied, ornamental,
and tasteful styles of architecture, terraces, cres-
cents, &c. of a beautiful white stone, dug on the
spot. The city is beautifully situated on the riv-
er Avon. Its foundation is generally ascribed to
the Romans. A rude tradition, howinver, exists
which would carry its origin back into more dis-
tant times, and attribute the honour of its com-
mencement to one of the earliest British kings,
who, being expelled while a prince from his fath-
er's court, cured himself of leprosy by accidentally
washing in its waters. But rejecting what ap-
pears most fabulous in this tale, it is not impro-
bable that the inhabitants of the district were well
acquainted with the virtue of the spring before
the arrival of the invaders, and that the elements
of a town or village existed there from very early
times. - The Romans, characteristically luxurious
in their baths, and choosing their situations wnth
the most scrupulous care, were not likely to neg-
lect the advantages which such a neighbourhood
presented. The mildness of the air, and the lovely
amphitheatre of hills which surrounds this valley
of waters, would tend still farther to delight them
with the station,xe2x80x94the best counterpart of their
own Italy which the uncultivated land afforded,xe2x80x94
and we accordingly learn from the best accredited
accounts, that it shortly became the favourite re-
sidence of the Roman governors, and sometimes
of the emperors. The form in which the city was
first built was a parallelogram, extending from east
to west about 400 yards, and from north to south
about 380. It was"fortified by a wall twenty feet
high, and of a thickness varying from sixteen feet
at the base to eight at the top. Several strong
tow^rers supported its angles; and its four gates
stood one at each extremity of the two grand
streets, which intersected each other, and divided
the city into four parts. Near the centre of the
town were built those splendid baths, of which
the ruins were discovered in 1755 at the depth of
twenty feet below the surface of the ground. Sev
eral other Roman relics have been also dug up in
late years; and among them a head of Minerva,
reckoned one of the most valuable remains of an-
tiquity. In the time of William the Conqueror
it was named as one of the royal demenses; and in
that of Rufus it was erected into a see by John de
Villulo, who removed thither from Wells. After
undergoing several changes during the political
conviusions of the following centuries, it received