Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/331

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BARI BARIMA 311 Gregory by St. Paul. In 1837, on the estab- lishment of "Bentley's Miscellany," Mr. Bar- ham contributed, under the pseudonyme of Thomas Ingoldsby, the "Ingoldsby Legends," a series of humorous stories, chiefly in verse, which became very popular. Three volumes of these legends were finally collected, to the last of which was prefixed a life of the au- thor. In 1840 Mr. Barham succeeded for a year to the presidency of Sion college. In 1842 he was promoted to the divinity reader- ship of St. Paul's, and allowed to exchange his living for that of St. Faith. BARI (anc. Barium), a seaport of Italy, on a small peninsula of the Adriatic, capital of the province of Terra di Bari, 140 m. E. of Naples ; pop. in 1872, 50,524. It is surrounded by strong walls and further defended by an old Norman castle nearly a mile in circuit. It has a good harbor, carries on an active trade with Trieste and the Dalmatian coast in corn, oil, wine, &c., and is environed by extensive olive and almond plantations. The priory of San Nicol6 in Bari is a magnificent old structure in the Lombard style, founded in 1087 for the purpose of receiving the remains of St. Nicho- las, which were brought from Myra in Lycia and deposited in a splendid crypt. Roger II. was here crowned king of Sicily ; and Bona Sforza, queen of Poland, was buried in a vault of the church in 1557. The cathedral of San Sabino was once a fine Gothic structure, but has been spoiled by modern repairs. In the time of Charlemagne Bari was the principal stronghold of the Saracens on the Adriatic. About 870 it was taken by the emperor Louis II. after a siege of four years. In the 10th cen- tury it was held by the Greek emperors, who made it the seat of the governor of all the Greek possessions in Italy. In the llth cen- tury it was taken by the Normans under Rob- ert Guiscard. BARI, or Baris, a negro tribe of Gondokoro and other places on the White Nile, savage in character and excessively brutal in appear- ance. Sir Samuel Baker says in his "Albert N'yanza" (1866): "The women are not pre- possessing, but the negro type of thick lips and flat nose is wanting ; their features are good, and the woolly hair alone denotes the trace of negro blood." The only hair upon the heads of the men is a small tuft, in which they stick feathers. Their villages are circular. They inhabit a region capable of the highest cultiva- tion. Goats, sheep, and cattle are very small, but extremely prolific. The poorer classes are employed in fishing and in manual labor. They live under chieftains in a patriarchal fashion, practise polygamy, and are under the influence of weather prophets and doctors. The hut of each family is surrounded by an impenetrable hedge of euphorbia, the interior generally con- sisting of a yard plastered with a cement of ashes, cow dung, and sand. When not at war with the slave and ivory traders, they are gen- erally at war among themselves. BARI, Terra di, a province of S. Italy, bound- ed N. E. by the Adriatic, and on the other sides by the provinces of Oapitanata, Basili- cata, and Terra d'Otranto ; area, 2,295 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 604,518. The southern part is crossed by a ridge from the Apennines, which aftords little else but pasturage ; but the lower lands are fertile, and wheat is produced in great quantities ; the other crops are olives, tobacco, cotton, flax, and fruits. Wine and oil are largely manufactured, and along the coast there are extensive fisheries and salt works. Ship-building is carried on to some extent. Terra di Bari formed the portion of ancient Apulia known as Apulia Peucetia, and was tra- versed by the Appian Way. Capital, Bari. BARILLA (Span, barrilla), or Soda Ash, a crude carbonate of soda, procured by the incin- eration of the salsola soda, salicornia, and other plants which are cultivated for this purpose in Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Canary Islands. In Alicante the plants are raised from seed, which is sown at the close of the year in salt marshes near the coast, and they are usually fit to be gathered in September following. In October the plants are dried like hay, and then burned in holes in the ground capable of containing a ton or a ton and a half of soda. Iron bars are laid across these cavities, and the dried plants, stratified with dry seeds, are placed upon them. The whole is set on fire, and the crude soda runs out in a red-hot fluid state and collects in the bottom of the pit. As fast as one portion is consumed fresh ma- terial is added, until the cavity is filled with the alkali. The holes are then covered with earth, and the soda is allowed to cool gradu- ally. The spongy mass, when sufficiently cold, is broken up and packed for shipment without further preparation. It rarely contains more than 20 per cent, of carbonate of soda ; the impurities are chiefly common salt and sul- phates of soda, lime, and alumina, with some free sulphur. Soda ash is now manufactured artificially from common salt according to the method of Le Blanc. Kelp, made from the drift sea plants of the north of Scotland and Ireland, and varec on the northern coast of France, of similar origin, are still more im- pure than barilla. The principal uses of baril- la are to furnish the alkali required in the man- ufacture of glass and soap. BARIMA, a river of South America, rising in the Imataca mountains of Venezuela, flowing E. into British Guiana, and then N. W. to the estuary of the Orinoco, which it enters just W. of the headland of Barima, in lat. 8 46' N., Ion. 60 W. Sixty miles above its mouth a natural canal 8 m. long connects it with the Guaini, a stream navigable for 70 m., having a depth of from 4 to 11 fathoms. The country bordering both streams abounds in the valua- ble black mora timber, and a great variety of other useful wood, as the bullet tree, red cedar, lancewood, silverballs, &c. The climate of this region is extremely unhealthy.