Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/255

Rh and a representative assembly of 28 members. The qualifications of electors are full age, a residence of twelve months, six of which must have been as a freeholder, or a resi dence of six months and a payment of duties to the amount of 26, Os. lOd. The qualification of members is possession of an estate of real or personal property to the value of .500. The executive is composed partly of official and partly of unofficial members ; the latter have usually a .seat in one of the branches of the legislature. There are 35 Government schools in the Bahamas, 5 of which are ia New Providence, and 30 in the out islands. These schools are managed by an education board composed of 5 or more members, with the governor as president. The legislative grant for educational purposes is 2200 a year, exclusive of the salary of the inspector of schools, who is borne upon the civil establishment on a salary of 200. The number of children on the books is about 3006, and there are 1200 in addition attending schools in connection with the Church of England. It is calculated that about 55 per cent, of the children between 5 and 15 attend school. The isolation of the settlements, the low salaries of the teachers, and the indifference of parents, are great obstacles to the spread of sound education in the Bahamas. There are numerous lighthouses in the group, the princi pal being at Gun Cay, Abaco. Cay Sal, Great Isaacks, Cay Lobos, Stirrups Cay, Elbow Cay, Castle Island, Hoy Island, and Athol Island. The chief institutions of the Bahamas are to be found in New Providence. They include a savings bank, a public library, a well-conducted newspaper press, the Agricultural Society, Bahama Institute, Fire Brigade, the Xew Providence Asylum, Public Dispensary, St AndreAv s Charitable Society, a provincial grand lodge of freemasons, etc. There are also libraries at Dunmore Town, in Harbour Island, at Matthew Town, Inagua, at New Plymouth, at Abaco, &c.  BAHIA, a province of the Brazilian empire, situated on the S.E. coast, and extending from the Rio Grande do Belmonte in the S. to the Rio Real in the N. It is bounded by Sergipe and Pernambuco on the N., by Piauhi on the N.W., by Goyaz on the W., and on the S. by Minas Geraes and Espirito Santo. It has an area of 202,272 square miles, and its population is stated at 1,450,000. Bahia sends 14 deputies to the general assembly of the empire, and 7 senators to the upper house, while its own legislative assembly consists of 36 members. Besides Bahia the capital, Olivenga, Branca, Jacobina, and Joazeira are important towns. A chain of mountains, broken into numerous sierras, runs from N. to S. through the province at the distance of 200 miles from the coast, while the intermediate district gradually rises in successive terraces. The maritime region, the so-called Keconcavo, is remarkably fertile, and is studded with thriving towns and villages, but the interior is often very dry and barren, and is only thinly peopled in many places with wandering Botacudos. The main sources of the wealth of the province are cotton, coffee, sugar, and tobacco, all of which are cultivated with the greatest success. Mandioc, rice, beans, and maize are grown ; also jalap, ipecacuanha, and saffron, as well as oranges, mangoes, and various other fruits. A large portion is still covered with primeval forest, but the woodman is rapidly diminishing the extent. The mineral wealth of the province is but partially explored and still more partially utilised. In 1844 diamond mines were discovered to the N. of the River Peraguass, and, till the deposits near the Cape of Good Hope were brought to light, afforded employment to a large number of garimpdros or &quot; washers.&quot; The discovery of amethysts at Catite&quot; in 1872 attracted numerous searchers; and about the same time coal was found in the island of Itaparica. Gold is present in the alluvium of the River San Francisco.  BAHIA, or, in full,, a large city, and, till 1763, the capital of Brazil, is situated on the S.E. coast on the Bay of All Saints, from which it takes its name, in 13 S. lat., and 38 20 &quot;W. long. Built partly along the foot and partly on the top of a steep hill, it consists of an upper and lower town, communication between the two being effected by large flights of steps, and since 1873 by a powerful hydraulic elevator. The carrying of goods and passengers up and down these stairway-streets affords employment to a large number of negro porters and chairmen. The lower town, or Praya, consists mainly of one long and narrow street, with still narrower and more tortuous lanes. The houses are built of stone, and many of them are several stories high. This is the business part of the city, where are situated the quays, docks, warehouses, custom-houses, exchange, and arsenal ; and here the sailors, porters, and lower classes generally reside. The church of Nostra Senora da Praya is remarkable as having been built of stones that were hewn in Lisbon and shipped across the ocean. The upper city has wide and well-paved streets, open squares, and pleasant promenades, adorned with orange trees and bananas. The most important is the Passeio Pultlico, which was opened in 1814, and overlooks the beautiful bay. There is no city in Brazil that can vie with Bahia in the number and splendour of its ecclesiastical buildings, among which the Jesuits college, now used as a hospital, and the cathedral, which is built of marble, are preeminent. There are likewise numerous educational institutions, including a lyceum (in which Latin, Greek, French, and English, mathematics, philosophy, &c., are taught), a theological seminary, and a medical academy, which is supported by the imperial Government, and has about 400 students. The museum and public library also deserve mention. Among the buildings connected with the civic and commercial activity of the city are the government-house, the court-house, the mint, and the town-house; also the Alfandega, where all foreign importations have to be entered, and the Oonsolado, where all native productions are registered for exportation. There are likewise a number of banks and commercial associations of various kinds. Bahia has long been a place of great traffic. The streets of the upper city are very inconveniently paved, but the city and its suburbs are now connected by street railways, two running in the upper town and one in the lower. Bomsim is the name of the northern suburb, and Victoria that of the southern ; the foreign merchants for the most part reside in the latter. The commerce principally consists in the exportation of cotton, coffee, sugar, rum, tobacco, and rosewood, and the importation of miscellaneous foreign goods. The value of the imports in 1870 was 1,671,676, of which 885,206 belonged to Britain. The exports of the same year were valued at 1,790,928. The bay is one of the finest in America, and is well defended by forts. The entrance is protected by the large island of Itaparica, which has upwards of 16,000 inhabitants, of whom more than 7000 are collected in the town of San Gonzalo. A large number of these are employed in the whale-fishery, which has greatly fallen off, however, from its former prosperity. Bahia was visited in 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci. The first settlement was founded and called San Salvador by Diego Alvarez Correa, who had been shipwrecked on the coast ; but the Portuguese governor who gave formal existence to the city was Thomas de Souza, who landed in 1549. It owed its increase to the Jesuits, who defended it against the English in 1588. In 1623 it fell into the hands of the Dutch, who held it for two years. In 1823 it was surrendered by the Portuguese to the Brazilian nationality. A revolution, which broke out in the city in 1837, was suppressed by the imperial Government. The 