726 BLODGET BLOIS States, and of the Temperate Latitudes of the North American Continent," which was widely circulated in Europe, and for which he was highly complimented by Humboldt. It con- tinues to be the standard work on the sub- ject. In 1863 he was placed in charge of the financial and statistical reports of the treas- ury department, of which he prepared live vol- umes, 1862-'3 to 1864-'5. Since 1865 he has been United States appraiser at large of cus- toms. For the treasury department he prepar- ed, from 1865 to 1867, reports on finance and revenue ; reports on industrial progress and census of industry, 1861 and 1871 ; and on the resources of North Carolina, 1870. His pam- phlet on the " Commercial and Financial Re- sources of the United States," in 1864, was re- printed in Germany, and did much to sustain the credit of the government in the money markets of the old world. lil.OIM.l.T, Samuel, an American inventor, born at Woburn, Mass., in 1720, died at Haver- hill, N. H., Sept. 1, 1807. Before the revolu- tion he was judge of common pleas in New Hampshire, and was at the siege of Louisburg in 1745. In 1783, having raised by a machine of his own invention a valuable cargo from a vessel sunk near Plymouth, he became pos- sessed with the idea of recovering the buried treasures of the ocean, and went to Spain and to England with this view. He desired to obtain a contract for raising the Royal George, but meeting with no encouragement returned to New Hampshire, and in 1791 commenced the manufacture of duck. In 1793 he removed to Haverhill, and began the construction of the canal which bears his name, around the Amos- keag falls. Before it was completed, after C :,stl of Bio spending large sums upon it, he became em- barrassed, and was thrown into prison for debt. He was rigidly temperate in his habits, and had peculiar theories about exposure to the weather. He expected by his mode of life to prolong it to the age of 100 years, but at the age of 87 he died from the effects of exposure on a journey from Boston to Haverhill. BLOEMAERT, Abraham, a Dutch painter, horn at Gorkuiu about 1564, died in Utrecht in 1647. Hi 1 was the son of an architect, studied under Dutch and French masters, and painted for the churches of Brussels and Mechlin. He excelled in landscape and as a colorist. The best of his historical pictures is that representing the death of Niobe and her children. He produced a number of excellent copper etchings in chiar- oscuro. His four sons also were favorably known artists, especially COKNEUS and ADRIAN, engravers. BLOFJIFJV. I. Jan Frans van, a Flemish paint- er, born in Antwerp in 1656, died in Rome in 1740. He was an imitator of Poussin, and was called Orizonte on account of the fine horizons in his Roman landscapes. His best pictures are in the Colonna, Doria, Rospigliosi, and Monte Cavallo palace in Rome. II. Peter van, brother of the preceding, born about 1645, died in 1719. He was in Rome till 1699, when he became director of the academy of Antwerp. He ex- celled chiefly as a painter of battles. The gal- i leries at Berlin, Dresden, and Munich possess some of his pictures. BLOEJIFOXTEIN, a town of S. Africa, capital ! of the Orange River Free State, on the Modder
- river, a tributary of the Vaal, in lat. 29 8' S.,
Ion. 43 47' E., about 600 m. N. E. of Cape Town, and 260 m. W. N. W. of Port Natal ; ' pop. 1,200. Under British rule (1848-'54) it was the capital of a district of -the same name. Though a small town, it carries on a large com- merce in wool and other articles, chiefly with Cape Colony and with the sister republic of Transvaal. It has a the- atre, a public school, a club, and a large Dutch Reformed church, be- sides Anglican, Metho- dist, and Roman Catho- lic chapels. The in- habitants are chiefly Boers. BLOIS, a city of France, capital of the department of Loir-et- Cher, on the right bank of the Loire, and on the railway from Paris to Nantes, 100 m. S. W. of Paris; pop. in 1866,20,086. It is built on the declivity of a hill overlooking the river. The streets in the upper part are narrow and 1 crooked, and some of them are too steep for the use of carriages, stairs being cut in sev- ! eral places for the accommodation of pedes- trians. Blois contains many objects of in-
