BLESSON. 172 BLIMBER. tary school in Berlin, and retired in 1829 with the rank of major. He wrote a number of im- portant military works, including Beitrag zur Geschichie des Festungskrirges in Frankreich 1S15 (Berlin, 1818); Veieisicht der Belager- iiiigskuiist (1827); and Vebcrsicht der Be f est i- guiignkunst (Berlin, 2 parts, 1827-34). BLICHER, bliK'er, Steen Steensen (1782- 1848). A, Danish lyric poet and novelist, born at Vium, October 11, 1782. He translated Os- siVoi, and followed this with poems and novels of little importance till he began to cultivate the field of .Jutland peasant stories and legends (1S2G), in which he excelled among Danish writers, and ranks very high in the world's lit- erature. He was a close and sensitive observer of the comedy and tragedy of the commonplace sphere in which his pastor's life was passed, and rendered his observations with sympathetic art and rare love of nature. He died at Spentrup, March 2G, 1848. "The Snow Bells" and "Birds of Passage" are his best later poems. The Knit- ting-Room, a collection of poems and stories largely in Jutland dialect, is characteristic of his simple naive humor. His collected tales (Jydske loman::er, Xationalnoi^eller, etc.) ap- peared 1833-36 and 1882. The collection Gamle og nye Noveller (Copenhagen, 1801-62) contains a humorous autobiography. Blicher's Poems ap- peared in two volumes (1835-36), supplemented by two others (1870). Consult Kristensen and Lund, Blicher's Liv og Gjerning (Copenhagen, 1882). BLIDA, ble-dii'. A town of Algeria, 30 miles southwest of Algiers (Map: Africa, E 1). It is beautifully situated on the borders of the fine plain of Metidja, at the base of the Atlas Moun- tains. The town is fortified with ramparts and - towers. These fortifications command the passes of the Atlas, and serve as a starting-point and base of supplies for all expeditions going south. The streets are of modern appearance, and there are numerous mosques, churches, arcades, bar- racks, a military hospital, and a railway depot. The Oued-el-Keljir, tlirough an aqueduct, yields an abundant water-supply. The exports consist of oranges, grain, cotton, tobacco, raisins, etc. Cedar and cork trees abound in the vicinity, and cop])er and lead mines are worked. In 1825 and in 1867 Blida was almost destroyed by eartli- quakes. Population, in 1891, 11,404; in 1896, 13,026. BLI'FIL, Captain John. The name of a character in Fielding's Tom Jones, probably the original of Sheridan's Joseph Surface. BLIGH, bli, William (1754-1817). An Eng- lish admiral, celebrated in connection with the mutiny of the Bounty. He was born, according to his" statement, at Tyntan, Saint Tudy, Corn- wall, 1753. It is probable, however, that he was the son of John Bligh, of Tretawne, and born at Plymouth, September 9, 1754. He entered the navy, and as sailing-master accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage around the world. At Otaheite the bread-fruit tree was discovered, and on December 23, 1787, 'Bread-Fruit Bligh,' as he had been nicknamed, was appointed commander of the Bounty, with orders to sail to Otaheite or Tahiti, collect bread-fruit tree-plants, and trans- port them for introduction to the West India Colonies, On the way from Tahiti to Jamaica, a part of the crew mutinied, and forced the cap- tain and eighteen men into the ship's launch, which they cast adrift, turning their own course back to Tahiti. The captain and his companions, who had very little provisions, and no sextant or map, arrived, after three months of severe hard- ship, at the island of Timor, a distance of 3000 nautical miles from the point where they were abandoned. To Bligh's skill and courage is due the fact that not a single life was lost. On Bligh's arrival in England, a man-of-war, under Captain Edwards, was sent, at his instance, to capture the mutineers. Some of them were seized; the rest had escaped to Pitcairn Island (q.v.), with Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny, accompanied by a number of Tahitian men and women. Their place of refuge, liowever, was not discovered until 1808, when an American ship accidentally touched at the island. At that time drunkenness and unbridled passion had left only one of the mutineers, .John Adams, remain- ing, who had succeeded in instilling morals and religion in the little comnuuiity there. Their fortunes form the subject of a poem by Byron, entitled The Island of Christian and His Com- rades. Bligh was again sent out to collect bread- fruit trees and convey them to the West Indies, in which he was successful. In 1794, during the French Revolutionary War, Bligli commanded a ship of the line; but again exciting the disafTec- tion of his men by his liarshness, they mutinied and ran the ship into a French harbor. In 1797 he commanded the Director at Camperdown, when Admiral Duncan defeated the Dutch Ad- miral De Winter; the .same year he distin- guished himself by his fearlessness at the mutiny at the Nore. In 1801, as commander of the (llat- ton at Copenhagen, he was personally thanke'd by Nelson. In 1808 Bligh was ajipoin'tcd Gover- nor of New South Wales; but in liis ])roliibition of the unlimited importation of ardent spirits his conduct was so tyrannical that the military officer of the colony sununarily arrested and kept him imprisoned for over two years. The officer. Major Johnson, was subsequently cashiered. Bligh, on returning to England, was made rear- admiral in 181 1, and vice-admiral in 1814. He died December 7, 1817. For narrative, consult Bligh, The Mutiny of the BoMn<«/, (Philadelphia, 1790). BLIGHIA, blI1-a. See Akee. BLIGHT, bllt (perhaps akin to hleak, pale, wan). A name applied to diseases of a number of plants, and to the parasites which cause them. The term has been very vaguely and variously used, having in fact been applied to almost every disease of plants caused by the condition of the atmosphere, or of the soil, the attacks of insects, parasitic fungi, etc. As now used by botanists, the term 'blight' is limited to attacks of parasitic fungi and bacteria: Among the numerous plants .sul)ject to blight are the apple, pear, strawberry, tomato, potato, and grape (qq.v.). BLIGHT, American. See Ame'rican Blight. BLIGHTBIBD. A small insect-eating bird IZoslcro/is eirrulcsceiis) of New Zealand, so called because it frees fruit-trees of blighting in- sects. See White-eye. BLIM'BEB,, Cornelia. A character in Dick- ens's novel Dombey and Son, assistant in Dr. Blimher's (her father's) school, and afterwards the wife of Mr. Feeder, B.A., the usher.
