BASHAHR — BASIM 'winter of 1898-99 the matriculated students of the university numbered 332, and in that of 1899-1900, 603 (including “ hearers ”). A number of new buildings {e.g., the Bernouillianum and the Yesalianum) for the purposes of natural science have of late years been erected in Basel. In modern days it has become known as a centre of missionary enterprise. Literature.—Easier Chroniken (original chronicles), 5 vols. Leipzig, 1872-90.—Boos. Gcschichte d. Sit,add Basel. Basel (from 1877).—Geering. Handel a. Industrie d. Stadt Basel, 1885.— Rcditsqnellen von Basel Stadt u. Land, 2 vols. Basel and Biel, 1856-65.-—-Sturby. Die Weidewirthschaft im Kant. Baselland. Soleure, 1894.—Urkundenbuch d. Landschaft Basel (from 1881) and ditto for the city of Basel (from 1890). (y, ^ jg q Bashahr, or Blsahir, a native state of India, within the Punjab, amid the Himalayan mountains, with an area of 3300 square miles, and a population of about 75,000. The estimated gross revenue is Ks.70,000; the tribute is Bs. 39,450. The administration is temporarily in charge of a British official. Bash an, a country on the E. side of the Jordan valley, often mentioned in the Bible. It included the Roman districts Itunea, Gaulanitis, Trachonitis, Auranitis, and Batamea, the present Jeidiir, Jaulan, Leja, llauran, and Ard el-Batanieh. The region is now remarkable for the fertility of its friable volcanic soil, and for the character of its archaeological remains. It is for the most part a plateau, 1500-2000 feet above the sea, with small isolated volcanic hills rising above its surface, and near its eastern extremity the Jebel Hauran, or Jebel ed-Druz mountains. The climate is healthy and the summer heat is mitigated by the prevailing westerly winds. The soil is peculiarly suitable for the growth of wheat and barley, especially the highly-prized hard wheat. The area under ■cultivation has increased greatly since the railway was opened in 1894, from Damascus to Mezeirlb; but much of the produce is still sent by camel to Acre and Haifa. Fruit trees and eucalyptus have been introduced on the Hauran property of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and thrive well. At Adraah (Edrei) there are subterranean dwellings which are evidently of very early date. Great interest attaches to the stone houses, built without using Avood, and to the numerous temples, mausolea, reservoirs, and conduits, all constructed with basalt. Most of the buildings are the work of the Ghassanide Arabs, who came under Greco-Roman influence, and at an early period embraced Christianity. The decorative details of the temples show strong local influence, and they and the dAvelling-houses have many points in common with the temples and houses, built about the same time, in the treeless districts of Moab and Edom, where, however, the material is usually limestone or sandstone. The usual identification of the Leja with the Argob of the Bible is now rejected by some scholars. Schumacher, Across the Jordan, 1886 ; the Jauldn, 1888 ; Northern 'Ajlun, 1890. -yy. w.) Bashkirtseff, Maria Constantinova (Marie), (1860-1884), Russian artist and writer, was born at Gavrontsi in the government of Pultowa in Russia, on the 23rd of November 1860. When Marie was seven years old, as her father (marshal of the nobility at Pultowa) and her mother were unable through incompatibility to live together, Madame Bashkirtseff, Avith her little daughter, left Russia, to spend the Avinters at Nice or in Italy, and the summers at German watering-places. Marie acquired an education superior to that given to most girls of her rank. She could read Plato and Yirgil in the original, and write four languages Avith almost equal facility. A gifted musician, she at first hoped to be a singer, and studied seriously in Italy to that end; her voice,
103
hoAvever, Avas not strong enough to stand hard work and failed her. Mcamvhile she Aras also learning to draAv. When she lost her voice she devoted herself to painting, and in 1877 settled in Paris, Avhere she worked steadily in Tony Robert-Fleury’s studio. In 1880 she exhibited in the salon a portrait of a woman; in 1881 she exhibited the “Atelier Julian”; in 1882 “Jean et Jacques”; in 1884 the “Meeting” (see Plate), and a portrait in pastel of a lady—her cousin—now in the Luxembourg gallery, for which she was awarded a mention honorable. Her health, always delicate, could not endure the labour she imposed on herself in addition to the life of fashion in Avhich she became involved as a result of her success as an artist, and she died of consumption on the 31st of October 1884, leaving a small series of works of remarkable promise. From her childhood Marie Bashkirtseff kept an autobiographical journal; but the editors of these brilliant confessions (Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff, 1890), aiming apparently at captivating the reader’s interest by the girl’s precocious gifts and by the names of the various distinguished persons Avith whom she came in contact, so treated certain portions as to draAv down vehement protest. This, to some extent, has brought into question the stamp of truthfulness which constitutes the chief merit of this extraordinarily interesting book. More recently a further instalment of Marie Bashkirtseff literature has been published in the shape of letters between her and Guy de Maupassant, Avith Avhom she started a correspondence under a feigned name and without revealing her identity. See Mathilde Blind, A Study of Marie Bashkirtseff. T. Fisher Unwin, 1892. — The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff: an Exposure and a Defence. By “ S.” (Showing that there is throughout a mistake of four years in the date of the Diary). Black and White, 6th Feb. and 11th April 1891, pp. 17, 304.—The Journal of Marie Bashkirtseff. Translated,—with an Introduction. By Mathilde Blind (2 vols.), London, 1890.—The Letters of Marie Bashkirtseff, 1 vol. (b. K.) Ba.SiHca.ta., a territorial division of S. Italy, lying between Apulia, Calabria, Campania, and the sea, contains the one province of Potenza, with an area of 3845 sq. miles, and a population of (1901) 490,000. Marble, lignite, and chalk are the most important minerals worked. Mineral springs, especially sulphur springs, are abundant. Industrial activity is but little developed. Its tOAvns are mostly small, the more important being Potenza, Avigliano, Rionero, Melfi, Matera, and Lauria.. Basim, a town and district of India, in Berar or the Haidarabad assigned districts, under British administration. The town is 52 miles south from Akola railway station. Population, about 12,000; municipal income in 1897-98, Rs.14,868. The district of Basim has an area of 2956 square miles. The population in 1891 Avas 398,179, being 135 persons per square mile. Classified according to religion, Hindus numbered 371,537; Mahommedans, 23,020; Christians, 88, of whom 17 Avere Europeans; “others,” 3534, chiefly Jains. In 1891 the population was 353,522, showing a decrease of 11 per cent., compared with an increase of the same amount in the preceding decade. The land revenue and rates in 1897-98 Avere Rs.6,76,026, the incidence of assessment being nearly 9 annas per acre; the number of police Avas 426. The principal crops are millet, wheat, other food grains, pulse, oilseeds, and cotton. There is some manufacture of cotton-cloth and blankets. There is no railway, but the district is traversed from north to south by an old military road. In 1896-97 the number of schools was 118, attended by 4127 pupils, the proportion of boys at school being 13 per cent, of the male population of school-going age. The death-rate in 1897 was 42-7 per 1000.
