Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 6 (2/2)

Education, even primary, is in a very backward condition.

BADAJOZ, the capital of the Spanish province described above; situated close to the Portuguese frontier, on the left [v.03 p.0182] bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid-Lisbon railway. Pop. (1900) 30,899. Badajoz is the see of a bishop, and the official residence of the captain-general of Estremadura. It occupies a slight eminence, crowned by the ruins of a Moorish castle, and overlooking the Guadiana. A strong wall and bastions, with a broad moat and outworks, and forts on the surrounding heights, give the city an appearance of great strength. The river, which flows between the castle-hill and the powerfully armed fort of San Cristobal, is crossed by a magnificent granite bridge, originally built in 1460, repaired in 1597 and rebuilt in 1833. The whole aspect of Badajoz recalls its stormy history; even the cathedral, built in 1258, resembles a fortress, with ma.s.sive embattled walls. Badajoz was the birthplace of the statesman Manuel de G.o.doy, duke of Alcudia (1767-1851), and of the painter Luis de Morales (1509-1586). Two pictures by Morales, unfortunately retouched in modern times, are preserved in the cathedral. Owing to its position the city enjoys a considerable transit trade with Portugal; its other industries include the manufacture of linen, woollen and leather goods, and of pottery. It is not mentioned by any Roman historian, and first rose to importance under Moorish rule. In 1031 it became the capital of a small Moorish kingdom, and, though temporarily held by the Portuguese in 1168, it retained its independence until 1229, when it was captured by Alphonso IX.

of Leon. As a frontier fortress it underwent many sieges. It was beleaguered by the Portuguese in 1660, and in 1705 by the Allies in the War of the Spanish Succession. During the Peninsular War Badajoz was unsuccessfully attacked by the French in 1808 and 1809; but on the 10th of March 1811, the Spanish commander, Jose Imaz, was bribed into surrendering to the French force under Marshal Soult. A British army, commanded by Marshal Beresford, endeavoured to retake it, and on the 16th of May defeated a relieving force at Albuera, but the siege was abandoned in June.

The fortress was finally stormed on the 6th of April 1812, by the British under Lord Wellington, and carried with terrible loss. It was then delivered up to a two day's pillage. A military and republican rising took place here in August 1883, but completely failed.

BADAKSHAN, including WAKHAN, a province on the north-east frontier of Afghanistan, adjoining Russian territory. Its north-eastern boundaries were decided by the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1873, which expressly acknowledged ”Badakshan with its dependent district Wakhan” as ”fully belonging to the amir of Kabul,” and limited it to the left or southern bank of the Oxus. Much of the interior of the province is still unexplored.

On the west, Badakshan is bounded by a line which crosses the Turkestan plains southwards from the junction of the Kunduz and Oxus rivers till it touches the eastern water-divide of the Tashkurghan river (here called the Koh-i-Chungar), and then runs south-east, crossing the Sarkhab affluent of the Khanabad (Kunduz), till it strikes the Hindu Kush. The southern boundary is carried along the crest of the Hindu Kush as far as the Khawak pa.s.s, leading from Badakshan into the Panjs.h.i.+r valley. Beyond this it is indefinite. It is known that the Kafirs occupy the crest of the Hindu Kush eastwards of the Khawak, but how far they extend north of the main watershed is not ascertainable. The southern limits of Badakshan become definite again at the Dorah pa.s.s. The Dorah connects Zebak and Ishkas.h.i.+m at the elbow, or bend, of the Oxus with the Lutku valley leading to Chitral.

From the Dorah eastwards the crest of the Hindu Kush again becomes the boundary till it effects a junction with the Muztagh and Sarikol ranges, which shut off China from Russia and India. Skirting round the head of the Tagdumbash Pamir, it finally merges into the Pamir boundary, and turns westwards, following the course of the Oxus, to the junction of that river and the Khanabad (Kunduz). So far as the northern boundary follows the Oxus stream, under the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush, it is only separated by the length of these slopes (some 8 or 10 m.) from the southern boundary along the crest. Thus Badakshan reaches out an arm into the Pamirs eastwards--bottle-shaped--narrow at the neck (represented by the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush), and swelling out eastwards so as to include a part of the great and little Pamirs. Before the boundary settlement of 1873 the small states of Roshan and s.h.i.+gnan extended to the left bank of the Oxus, and the province of Darwaz, on the other hand, extended to the right bank. Now, however, the Darwaz extension northwards is exchanged for the Russian Pamir extension westwards, and the river throughout is the boundary between Russian and Afghan territory; the political boundaries of those provinces and those of Wakhan being no longer coincident with their geographical limits.

The following are the chief provincial subdivisions of Badakshan, omitting Roshan and s.h.i.+gnan:--On the west Rustak, Kataghan, Ghori, Narin and Anderab; on the north Darwaz, Ragh and s.h.i.+wa; on the east Charan, Ishkas.h.i.+m, Zebak and Wakhan; and in the centre Faizabad, Farkhar, Minjan and Kishm. There are others, but nothing certain is known about these minor subdivisions.

The conformation of the mountain districts, which comprise all the southern districts of Badakshan and the northern hills and valleys of Kafiristan, is undoubtedly a.n.a.logous to that of the rest of the Hindu Kush westwards. The water-divide of the Hindu Kush from the Dorah to the Khawak pa.s.s, _i.e._ through the centre of Kafiristan, has never been accurately traced; but its topographical conformation is evidently a continuation of that which has been observed in the districts of Badakshan to the west of the Khawak. The Hindu Kush represents the southern edge of a great central upheaval or plateau. It breaks up into long spurs southwards, deep amongst which are hidden the valleys of Kafiristan, almost isolated from each other by the rugged and snow-capped alt.i.tudes which divide them. To the north the plateau gradually slopes away towards the Oxus, falling from an average alt.i.tude of 15,000 ft. to 4000 ft. about Faizabad, in the centre of Badakshan, but tailing off to 1100 at Kunduz, in Kataghan, where it merges into the flat plains bordering the Oxus.

The Kokcha river traverses Badakshan from south-east to north-west, and, with the Kunduz, drains all the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush west of the Dorah pa.s.s. Some of its sources are near Zebak, close to the great bend of the Oxus northwards, so that it cuts off all the mountainous area included within that bend from the rest of Badakshan. Its chief affluent is the Minjan, which Sir George Robertson found to be a considerable stream where it approaches the Hindu Kush close under the Dorah. Like the Kunduz, it probably drains the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush by deep lateral valleys, more or less parallel to the crest, reaching westwards towards the Khawak pa.s.s. From the Oxus (1000 ft.) to Faizabad (4000 ft.) and Zebak (8500 ft.) the course of the Kokcha offers a high road across Badakshan; between Zebak and Ishkas.h.i.+m, at the Oxus bend, there is but an insignificant pa.s.s of 9500 ft.; and from Ishkas.h.i.+m by the Panja, through the Pamirs, is the continuation of what must once have been a much-traversed trade route connecting Afghan Turkestan with Kashgar and China. It is undoubtedly one of the great continental high-roads of Asia.

North of the Kokcha, within the Oxus bend, is the mountainous district of Darwaz, of which the physiography belongs rather to the Pamir type than to that of the Hindu Kush.

A very remarkable meridional range extends for 100 m. northwards from the Hindu Kush (it is across this range that the route from Zebak to Ishkas.h.i.+m lies), which determines the great bend of the Oxus river northwards from Ishkas.h.i.+m, and narrows the valley of that river into the formation of a trough as far as the next bend westwards at Kala Wamar. The western slopes of this range drain to the Oxus either north-westwards, by the Kokcha and the Ragh, or else they twist their streams into the s.h.i.+wa, which runs due north across Darwaz. Here again we find the main routes which traverse the country following the rivers closely. The valleys are narrow, but fertile and populous. The mountains are rugged and difficult; but there is much of the world-famous beauty of scenery, and of the almost phenomenal agricultural wealth of the valleys of Bokhara and Ferghana to be found in the as yet half-explored recesses of Badakshan.

[v.03 p.0183] The princ.i.p.al domesticated animal is the yak. There are also large flocks of sheep, cows, goats, ponies, fine dogs and Bactrian camels.

The more important wild animals are a large wild sheep (_Ovis poli_), foxes, wolves, jackals, bears, boars, deer and leopards; amongst birds, there are partridges, pheasants, ravens, jays, sparrows, larks, a famous breed of hawks, &c.

Badakshan proper is peopled by Tajiks, Turks and Arabs, who speak the Persian and Turki languages, and profess the orthodox doctrines of the Mahommedan law adopted by the Sunnite sect; while the mountainous districts are inhabited by Tajiks, professing the s.h.i.+'ite creed and speaking distinct dialects in different districts.

_History._--Badakshan, part of the Greek Bactria, was visited by Hsuan Tsang in 630 and 644. The Arabian geographers of the 10th century speak of its mines of ruby and lapis lazuli, and give notices of the flouris.h.i.+ng commerce and large towns of Waksh and Khotl, regions which appear to have in part corresponded with Badakshan. In 1272-1273 Marco Polo and his companions stayed for a time in Badakshan. During this and the following centuries the country was governed by kings who claimed to be descendants of Alexander the Great. The last of these kings was Shah Mahommed, who died in the middle of the 15th century, leaving only his married daughters to represent the royal line. Early in the middle of the 16th century the Usbegs obtained possession of Badakshan, but were soon expelled, and then the country was generally governed by descendants of the old royal dynasty by the female line. About the middle of the 18th century the present dynasty of Mirs established its footing in the place of the old one which had become extinct. In 1765 the country was invaded and ravaged by the ruler of Kabul. During the first three decades of the 19th century it was overrun and depopulated by Kohan Beg and his son Murad Beg, chiefs of the Kataghan Usbegs of Kunduz. When Murad Beg died, the power pa.s.sed into the hands of another Usbeg, Mahommed Amir Khan. In 1859 the Kataghan Usbegs were expelled; and Mir Jahander Shah, the representative of the modern royal line, was reinstated at Faizabad under the supremacy of the Afghans.

In 1867 he was expelled by Abdur Rahman and replaced by Mir Mahommed Shah, and other representatives of the same family.

(T. H. H.*)

BADALOCCHIO, SISTO, surnamed ROSA (1581-1647), Italian painter and engraver, was born at Parma. He was of the school of Annibale Carracci, by whom he was highly esteemed for design. His princ.i.p.al engravings are the series known as Raphael's Bible, which were executed by him in conjunction with Lanfranco, another pupil of Carracci. The best of his paintings, which are few in number, are at Parma. He died at Bologna.

BADALONA (anc. _Baetulo_), a town of north-eastern Spain, in the province of Barcelona; 6 m. N.E. of the city of Barcelona, on the left bank of the small river Besos, and on the Mediterranean Sea. Pop. (1900) 19,240.

Badalona has a station on the coast railway from Barcelona to Perpignan in France, and a small harbour, chiefly important for its fis.h.i.+ng and boat-building trades. There are gas, chemical and mineral-oil works in the town, which also manufactures woollen and cotton goods, gla.s.s, biscuits, sugar and brandy; while the surrounding fertile plains produce an abundance of grain, wine and fruit. Badalona thus largely contributes to the export trade of Barcelona, and may, in fact, be regarded as its industrial suburb.

BADBY, JOHN (d. 1410), one of the early Lollard martyrs, was a tailor (or perhaps a blacksmith) in the west Midlands, and was condemned by the Worcester diocesan court for his denial of transubstantiation. Badby bluntly maintained that when Christ sat at supper with his disciples he had not his body in his hand to distribute, and that ”if every host consecrated at the altar were the Lord's body, then there be 20,000 G.o.ds in England.” A further court in St Paul's, London, presided over by Archbishop Arundel, condemned him to be burned at Smithfield, the tournament ground just outside the city walls. It is said that the prince of Wales (afterwards Henry V.) witnessed the execution and offered the sufferer both life and a pension if he would recant; but in Walsingham's words, ”the abandoned villain declined the prince's advice, and chose rather to be burned than to give reverence to the life-giving sacrament. So it befell that this mischievous fellow was burnt to ashes, and died miserably in his sin.”

BADDELEY, ROBERT (_c._ 1732-1794), English actor, is said to have been first a cook to Samuel Foote, ”the English Aristophanes,” and then a valet, before he appeared on the stage. In 1761, described as ”of Drury Lane theatre,” he was seen at the theatre in Smock Alley, Dublin, as Gomez in Dryden's _Spanish Friar_. Two years later he was a regular member of the Drury Lane company in London, where he had a great success in the low comedy and servants' parts. He remained at this theatre and the Haymarket until his death. He was the original Moses in the _School for Scandal_.

Baddeley died on the 20th of November 1794. He bequeathed property to found a home for decayed actors, and also 3 per annum to provide wine and cake in the green-room of Drury Lane theatre on Twelfth Night. The ceremony of the Baddeley cake has remained a regular inst.i.tution.

His wife SOPHIA BADDELEY (1745-1786), an actress and singer, was born in London, the daughter of a sergeant-trumpeter named Snow. She was a woman of great beauty, but excessive vanity and notorious conduct. At the age of eighteen she ran away with Baddeley, then acting at Drury Lane, and she herself made her first appearance on the stage there on the 27th of April 1765, as Ophelia. Later, as a singer, she obtained engagements at Ranelagh and Vauxhall. Though separated from her husband on account of her misconduct, she still played several years in the same company. Her beauty and her extravagance rendered her celebrated, but the money which she made in all sorts of ways was so freely squandered that she was obliged to take refuge from her creditors in Edinburgh, where she made her last appearance on the stage in 1784.

See _Memoirs of Mistress Sophia Baddeley_, by Mrs Elizabeth Steele, 6 vols.

(1781).

BADEN, a town and watering-place of Austria, in lower Austria, 17 m. S. of Vienna by rail. Pop. (1900) 12,447. It is beautifully situated at the mouth of the romantic Helenenthal, on the banks of the Schwechat, and has become the princ.i.p.al summer resort of the inhabitants of the neighbouring capital.

It possesses a new _Kurhaus_, fifteen bathing-establishments, a parish church in late Gothic style, and a town-hall, which contains interesting archives. The warm baths, which gave name to the town, are thirteen in number, with a temperature of from 72 F. to 97 F., and contain, as chief ingredient, sulphate of lime. They rise for the most part at the foot of the Calvarienberg (1070 ft.), which is composed of dolomitic limestone, and are mostly used for bathing purposes. Several members of the Austrian imperial family have made Baden their summer residence and have built here beautiful villas. There are about 20,000 visitors annually. Baden possesses several parks and is surrounded by lovely and interesting spots, of which the most frequented is the picturesque valley of the Helenenthal, which is traversed by the Schwechat. Not far from Baden, the valley is crossed by the magnificent aqueduct of the Vienna waterworks. At the entrance to the valley, on the right bank of the river, lie the ruins of the 12th-century castle of Rauheneck, and at its foot stands the Chateau Weilburg, built in 1820-1825 by Archduke Charles, the victor of Aspern. On the left bank, just opposite, stands the ruined castle of Rauhenstein, dating also from the 12th century. About 4 m. up the valley is Mayerling, a hunting-lodge, where the crown prince Rudolph of Austria was found dead in 1889. Farther up is Alland, whence a road leads to the old and well-preserved abbey of Heiligenkreuz. It possesses a church, in Romanesque style, dating from the 11th century, with fine cloisters and the tombs of several members of the Babenberg family. The highest point in the neighbourhood of Baden is the peak of the Hoher Lindkogel (2825 ft.), popularly called the Eiserne Thor, which is ascended in about three hours.

The celebrity of Baden dates back to the days of the Romans, who knew it by the name of _Thermae Pannonicae_, and remains of their occupation still exist. It received its charter as a town [v.03 p.0184] in 1480, and although sacked at various times by Hungarians and Turks, it soon flourished again.

<script>