Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/598

* BRITISH MUSEUM. 523 BRITTANY. Layard, Rawlinson, George Smith, and other fa- mous explorers. It is now a siiifnilarly com- plete and varied collection of Egyptian, Baby- lonian, Assyrian, Phoenician, and Semitic an- tiquities. British and ^fedi(rval Antiquities and Eth- nographic Collcrlions. — This was made a sepa- rate department in IStU!. and contains all ob- jects of this nature found in the British Isles, and others which throw light on life in the Mid- dle Ages. The Christy and Slade collections have added much to its value. Prints and Drawings. — This magnificent col- lection, one of the most complete and valuable of its kind, is arranged in schools, according to the different styles of national art, now includ- ing the .Tapanese, and comprises original draw- ings of the old masters, etchings, and engrav- ings. The most recent addition of prominence is the famous collection of Mr. John Malcolm. The expenses of the maintenance and enlarge- ment of the museum are paid out of the na- tional treasury, the grants amounting sometimes to as much as £1.50,000. The whole system of arrangement facilitates the use of its collections by students; excellent catalogues and handbooks exist, and, as far as possible, all objects are clearly labeled. Its educational value is very great, and that it is appreciated is shown by the fact that in 1900 the visitors to the museum (exclusive of readers) numbered 689,249, of whom 43,892 went there on Sunday afternoons. BRITISH NAVY. See Navies. BRITISH SOMALILAND, sA-male-land. A British protectorate on the Gulf of .den. extend- ing from about longitude 43° to 49° E., and bounded inland by Italian Somaliland (q.v.) and Abyssinia (Map":" Africa. .14). Its present area, after the agreement with Abyssinia in 1897, is estimated at about 08,000 siiuare miles. The part along the coast is generally fliit, while the inte- rior is covered with mountains mostly of volcanic formation and rising in some cases above 0000 feet. The deficiency of rivers is largely responsi- ble for the poor vegetation which characterizes the whole territory. The climate is moderate and healthful in the niore elevated regions and some- what moist in tlic vicinity of the coast. The principal products exported are cattle, sheep, os- trich-feathers, skins, hides, and gum. Transpor- tation is eflfected chicHy by camels and donkeys. The principal commercial ])orts are Berbera, Bul- bar, and Zeyla. The annual value of the trade amcmnts to "about .$2, .500,000, almost evenly di- vided between imports and exports. A consider- able part of the trade comes from inland, and it is the general opinion that the completion of the Jibutil-llarar Railway line will ali'cct it unfavor- ably in view of the inadequate transportation facilities of British Somaliland. The protecto- rate of Somaliland was created in 1884, and was under the control of British India till 1898, when it was put under the direct control of the Crown. It is administered by a consul-general, and the three main ports are under the supervision of British oilicials. The capital is Berbera. Accu- rate information about the population is unavail- able, as it is mostly nomadic. The Somali are of Hamitic origin and profess Mohammedanism. Consult: Swayne. Sei^entcen Trips Through So- maliland (London, 1900) ; Peel, Somaliland (London, 1899) ; Hendebert. Au pays des Somalia el drs Comoricns (Paris. 1901). BRITISH WEST INDIES. A political division of the West Indies, comprising Jamaica and almost all the smaller islands of the. tilles, with the exception of the few small islands be- longing to France. Denmark, and the Nether- lands. They are divided into the following six groups : OBOUP8 Area Pop. 6.450 166 4,4H 701 1,868 600 63,736 Barbadoes 192,000 6,19,491 li7.434 281,917 Windward Islauds 160.296 Total 13,109 1,464,873 These groups are subdivided into administra- tive units with different forms of government. The chief means of subsistence with all of them is agriculture, sugar and fruit constituting the staple products. The population consists most- ly of negroes and mulattoes. For more details, see articles on the separate islands and groups. Consult: Jay, .1 (Uirnpse of the Tropies (London, 1900) ; Fiske, History of the West Indies (New York, 1899) ; Root, The British West Indies and the Sugar Industry (London, 1899) ; Report of the ^yest India Royal Commission (London, 1897) ; Rodwav, The West Indies and the Spanish Main (London, 1896). BRITO FREYRE, bre'tft fra'rft, Fbancisco DE (c. 1620-92). A Portuguese soldier, naval officer, and historian. He became a captain of cavalry in the land forces, and in 1663 and 166.5 commanded the fleet in the war which culminated in the expulsion of the Dutch from Brazil. He is best known for his yova Lusitania, Bistoria da Ouerra Brazilica (Lisbon, 1675), a rare and important work. BRIT'OMAR'TIS (Gk. BptriytiapTu, trans- lated by later Latin authors virgo dulcis, sweet maiden, from Cretan brity, rich in blessing -f- martis, maiden). A Cretan fenuile deity. Greek myth holds her to have been originally a nymph who drowned herself to avoid the embraces of Minos and to have been, thereupon, apotheosized by Artemis. Like the latter, she came to be re- garded as the virgin jiatron of the chase, and as such is used by Spenser in the Faerie Queene to sj-mbolize, in the form of a chaste huntress, the brave and single Queen Elizabeth. BRITS'KA (Russ. briiehka, Pol. bryczka, dim. of liryka, a freight-wagon). A long four- wheeled ])leasure carriage, in use in Russia and Poland, so constructed as to give space for re- clining at night, when used on a journey. The Polish britska. employed also in Russia, has a pole, a body of wickerwork, an<I a leather top. BRITTANY, or BRETAGNE, brc tiVny' (from the Bretons, its inhabitants). A penin- sula of triangular form in the northwest of France, anciently a Roman province, subse- quently a duchy, afterwards again a province, and now comprised in the departments of Finis- t6re, Cotcs-du-Nord, Morbihan, Loire-Infi'rieure, and Ille-et-Vilaine. It has the English Channel