BADI`A-Y-LABLICH, a Spaniard, born at Barcelona; travelled in the East; having acquired a knowledge of Arabic and Arab customs, disguised himself as a Mohammedan under the name of Ali-Bei; his disguise was so complete that he passed for a Mussulman, even in Mecca itself; is believed to be the first Christian admitted to the shrine of Mecca; after a time settled in Paris, and wrote an account of his travels (1766-1818).

BADRINATH, a shrine of Vishnu, in N.W.  India, 10,000 ft. high; much frequented by pilgrims for the sacred waters near it, which are believed to be potent to cleanse from all pollution.

BAEDEKER, KARL, a German printer in Coblenz, famed for the guide-books to almost every country of Europe that he published (1801-1859).

BAER, KARL ERNST VON, a native of Esthonia; professor of zoology, first in Koenigsberg and then in St. Petersburg; the greatest of modern embryologists, styled the “father of comparative embryology”; the discoverer of the law, known by his name, that the embryo when developing resembles those of successively higher types (1792-1876).

BAFFIN, WILLIAM, an early English Arctic explorer, who, when acting as pilot to an expedition in quest of the N.W.  Passage, discovered Baffin Bay (1584-1622).

BAFFIN BAY, a strait stretching northward between N. America and Greenland, open four months in summer to whale and seal fishing; discovered in 1615 by William Baffin.

BAGDAD (185), on the Tigris, 500 m. from its mouth, and connected with the Euphrates by canal; is the capital of a province, and one of the most flourishing cities of Asiatic Turkey; dates, wool, grain, and horses are exported; red and yellow leather, cotton, and silk are manufactured; and the transit trade, though less than formerly, is still considerable.  It is a station on the Anglo-Indian telegraph route, and is served by a British-owned fleet of river steamers plying to Basra.  Formerly a centre of Arabic culture, it has belonged to Turkey since 1638.  An imposing city to look at, it suffers from visitations of cholera and famine.

BAGEHOT, WALTER, an English political economist, born in Somerset, a banker by profession, and an authority on banking and finance; a disciple of Ricardo; wrote, besides other publications, an important work, “The English Constitution”; was editor of the Economist; wrote in a vigorous style (1826-1877).

BAGGE`SEN, JENS EMMANUEL, a Danish poet, travelled a good deal, wrote mostly in German, in which he was quite at home; his chief works, a pastoral epic, “Parthenais oder die Alpenreise,” and a mock epic, “Adam and Eve”; his minor pieces are numerous and popular, though from his egotism and irritability he was personally unpopular (1764-1826).

BAGHELKAND, name of five native states in Central India, Rewah the most prosperous.

BAGHE`RIA, a town in Sicily, 8 m. from Palermo, where citizens of the latter have more or less stylish villas.