Bagging is the name of the textile material which is used in the making of bags. Baltic hemp was the first material used for the purpose, but now all kinds of fibres are used, though the majority of bags are made of jute fibre. The style of the bagging used depends, naturally, upon the requirements of the bag; for the export of raw cotton from the United States of America we find the coarsest of all cotton-bagging used. When intended to carry grain, spices, sugar, &c., the bag must be made of closely-woven material. In many cases bags to carry sugar are lined with paper.
Baghelkand, a tract of country in Central India, occupied by a collection of native States (Rewah being the chief), under the Governor-General's agent for Central India; area, 11,323 sq. miles. Pop. 1,772,574.
Bagheria (ba˙-gā´rē-a˙), a town of Sicily, province of Palermo, 9 miles by railway from the city of Palermo. Pop. 21,212.
Bagimont's Roll, a rent-roll of Scotland, made up in 1275 by Baiamund or Boiamond de Vicci, vulgarly called Bagimont, who was sent from Rome by the Pope, in the reign of Alexander III, to collect the tithe of all the church livings in Scotland for an expedition to the Holy Land. It remained the statutory valuation, according to which the benefices were taxed, till the Reformation. A copy of it as it existed in the reign of James V is in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
Bagirmi (ba˙-gir´mē), or Baghermi, a Mohammedan Negro State in Central Africa, situated to the south-east of Lake Tchad. It is mostly a plain; has an area of about 20,000 sq. miles, and about 100,000 inhabitants. The people are industrious, and fairly civilized. The country is in the French sphere of influence, but the people are still under a native ruler.
Bagnara (ba˙-nyä´ra˙), a seaport near the S.W. extremity of Italy. Pop. 11,000.
Bagnères de Bigorre (ba˙n-yār dė bē-gorr), a watering-place, France, department Hautes-Pyrénées, on the left bank of the Adour. It owes its chief celebrity to its sulphurous and saline baths. The springs were known to and used by the Romans. The site is one of the most romantic in the Pyrénées, and the town is well built and well provided with accommodation for visitors. Pop. 8455.
Bagnères de Luchon (ba˙n-yār dė lu-shōn), a town, France, department Haute-Garonne, in a picturesque valley surrounded by wooded hills, one of the principal watering-places of the Pyrénées, having sulphurous thermal waters, beneficial in rheumatic complaints. There is a large bathing establishment, and a large and splendid casino building, comprising a theatre, concert and ball rooms, &c. Resident pop. 4000.
Bagni (bän´yē), Italian for 'baths', a name in Italy for various places which possess natural baths or thermal springs, with some designation added to mark the particular locality. Bagni di Lucca, in the province of Lucca, and about 13 miles north-east of the city of Lucca, is one of the most frequented of these bathing-places, its waters being recommended against gout, rheumatism, affections of the skin, &c.
Bagpipe, a musical wind-instrument of very great antiquity, having been used among the ancient Greeks, and being a favourite instrument over Europe generally in the fifteenth century. It still continues in use among the country people of Poland, Italy, the south of France, and in Scotland and Ireland. Though now often regarded as the national instrument of Scotland, especially Celtic Scotland, it is only Scottish by adoption, being introduced into that country from England. It consists of a leathern bag, which receives the air from the mouth, or from bellows; and of pipes, into which the air is pressed from the bag by the performer's elbow. In the common or Highland form, one pipe (called the chanter) plays the melody; of the three others (called drones) two are in unison with the lowest A of the chanter, and the third and longest an octave lower, the sound being produced by means of reeds. The chanter has eight holes, which the performer stops and opens at pleasure, but the scale is imperfect and the tone harsh. The Highland bagpipe is a powerful instrument, and calls for great exertion of the lungs in order that the air may be supplied in sufficient quantity. There are several other species of bagpipes, as the soft and melodious Irish bagpipe, supplied with wind by a bellows, and having several keyed drones and a keyed chanter; the old English bagpipe (now no longer used); the Italian bagpipe, a very rude instrument, &c. The Irish bagpipe is, musically speaking, the most perfect of all.—Bibliography: Sir J. G. Dalyell, Musical Memoirs of Scotland; E. de Bricqueville, Les Musettes.