Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/452

BAHIA. ies it has communication by steamship and telegraphic cables. The city is divided into the cicade baixa, or lower city, and the cicade alta, or upper city. The former is the business quarter, with narrow, close, and dirty streets, while the upper city is clean and cool and commands a magnificent view. Hydraulic elevators connect the two parts of the city, and passenger traffic is also effected between them by means of cadeiras, or sedan chairs, the streets being so steep that carriages in many places cannot pass along them. The upper section is pleasantly surrounded by gardens of orange and banana trees, and contains some fine buildings, notably the cathedral and the palace of the archbishop. The former edifice, the finest basilica in Brazil, constructed from marble brought from Europe, was the Church of the Jesuits. The principal educational institutions are the university, normal school, medical college, museum, and a public library of several thousand volumes. Electric street railways traverse the city and suburbs, and Bahia is the starting-point and terminus of a railway to the interior. The harbor, protected by the natural breakwater formed by the island of Itaparica, is excellent. It has a circumference of more than 112 miles, and is everywhere deep enough for the largest vessels, which, however, cannot unload at the quays, because of the heavy ground swell from the open sea. The ocean liners of the chief maritime powers of the world are represented in the shipping trade of Bahia. The bay and city are defended by an extensive system of fortifications, making it the most strongly protected town in Brazil. Of these defenses the best is the Fort do Mar, or Sea Fort, perched on an artificially enlarged rocky islet in the middle of the harbor.

The city has numerous industries. For about fifty years, Bahia has been the largest producer of cotton cloth, and also the supply base of northern Brazil for shoes, boots, and hats. It exports sugar, cotton, coffee, hides, dyewoods, jute-wares, and tobacco — its snuff having a widespread reputation. Customs restrictions prevent the full expansion of its trade. Bahia is the seat of a United States consul. It is the oldest city in Brazil; Amerigo Vespucci first entered its bay in 1503; from its foundation, in 1510, by the Portuguese navigator Correa, till 1763, it was the capital of the country. It fell into the hands of Holland in 1624, but not long after was regained by Portugal, remaining in her possession till 1824, more than a year after the proclamation of independence in the rest of Brazil. Population, in 1890. 174,412.

BAHIA. An eastern State of Brazil, bounded by the States of Pernambuco and Piauhy on the north, Goyaz on the west, Minas Geraes on the south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. It has an area of 164,649 square miles. The slightly indented coast is well wooded, and is the most fertile part of the State. In the interior, the land rises in terraces and forms numerous elevated plateaus, mostly unfit for agricultural purposes. The northern part is taken up by the desert tracts called sertaos. The chief river is the São Francisco, which crosses the State from south to north. There are also a number of smaller streams flowing toward the Atlantic, such as the Paraguassu, Itapicuru. and the Rio de Contas, the former two navigable by steamers. The climate is hot and moist on the coast and dry in the interior. In the eastern part tobacco, sugar, cotton, coffee, and cocoa are raised, and the cultivation of rubber-trees has been recently introduced; but in the west more attention is paid to the raising of domestic animals. Gold and diamonds are mined chiefly in the Serra da Assurua, about the Paraguassu River, while salt and saltpetre are found in many other parts of the State. The commerce is to a large extent with Great Britain and France, and the exports consist of tobacco, sugar, coffee, diamonds, and skins. The chief railway line is the Bahia-São Francisco, mostly owned by the State. There is another line from São Amaro to Bom Jardim. Population, in 1890, 1,919,802. Capital, Bahia (q.v.). Consult Almanak administrativo do estado do Bahia (Bahia, 1898).

BAHIA BLANCA, bliin'k.a (Sp., White Bay). A growing port of Argentina, in the southern part of the Province of Buenos Ayres (Map: Argentina, E 11). It is on the Naposta River, 3 miles from its entrance into the bay of Bahia Blanca, where the town has a good harbor, which is in direct communication with Europe, while a railroad runs to Buenos Ayres. A fertile agricultural country is adjacent. The United States is represented by a consular agent. Popu- lation, about 10,000.

BAHIA HONDA, on'da (Sp., Deep Bay). A harbor on the northern coast of Cuba, in the Province of Pinar del Rio, about 55 miles west of Havana (Map: Cuba, B 4). The harbor is one of the best on the island, 5 miles long by 3 miles wide, with a depth of 18 to 36 feet. The town of Bahia Honda is situated about 2 miles from the harbor. Sugar is cultivated to a considerable extent in the vicinity, and there are also copper and coal mines. At Aguacate are sulphur springs. Population, Bahia Honda and Agua- cate, in 1899, 1278.

BAHMAN, ba'man, A character in "The Two Envious Sisters," a tale of the Arabian Nights. Leaving home in quest of adventure, he committed to his sister Parisadê a knife whose magic would reveal to her how he fared.

BAHNASA, ba-nii'sa. or BEHNESA, be-na'sa. A town of Central Egypt, situated on the Bahr Yusuf (Joseph Canal). It occupies the site of the ancient Oxyrhyncus, or Pempte, the capital of a nome in which the fish Oxyrhyncus ('sharp-snouted') was held sacred. Plutarch relates that a feud arose between this city and its neighbor, Cynopolis (Gk. κύων, dog + πόλις, city), where the dog was revered, on account of mutual insults and injuries to their respective sacred animals. Under the Ptolemaic dynasty Oxyrhyncus was the seat of a Greek colony, and after the establishment of Christianity it became a city of convents, containing at one time more than 20,000 monks and nuns. Excavations conducted by Grenfell in the neighborhood in 1897 resulted in the discovery of a large number of valuable Greek papyri, including portions of the New Testament and of the works of classical authors (Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Sophocles, etc.), some letters, and many legal and commercial documents, illustrating life in Egypt during the Greek and Roman periods. The most important of these papyri have been edited, with translation and notes, by Grenfell and Hunt, under the title