Bar´bary, a general name for the most northerly portion of Africa, extending about 2600 miles from Egypt to the Atlantic, with a breadth varying from about 140 to 550 miles, comprising Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (Tripolitania, Barqa, and Fezzan). The principal races are: the Berbers, the original inhabitants, from whom the country takes its name; the Arabs, who conquered an extensive portion of it during the times of the caliphs; the Bedouins, Jews, Turks, and the French colonists of Algeria, &c. The country, which was prosperous under the Carthaginians, was, next to Egypt, the richest of the Roman provinces, and the Italian States enriched themselves by their intercourse with it. In the fifteenth century, however, it became infested with adventurers who made the name of Barbary corsair a terror to commerce, a condition of things finally removed by the French occupation of Algeria.
Barbary Ape (Inŭus ecaudātus), a species of ape, or tailless monkey, with greenish-brown hair, of the size of a large cat, remarkable for docility, also called the magot. It is common in Barbary and other parts of Africa, and some used to live formerly on Gibraltar Rock, being the only European monkey, though probably not indigenous. It has been the 'showman's ape' from time immemorial.
Bar´bastel, or Barbastelle, a bat with hairy lips (Barbastellus commūnis), a native of England.
Barbas´tro, a city, Spain, Arragon, province of Huesca, with an interesting cathedral, and some trade and manufactures. Pop. 7202.
Bar´bauld, Anna Letitia, English poet and general writer, was born in Leicestershire, 1743, daughter of a Presbyterian minister named Aikin. She published a small volume of miscellaneous poems in 1772, and in 1773, in conjunction with her brother, Dr. John Aikin, a collection of pieces in prose. In 1774 she married the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld. Her Early Lessons and Hymns for Children, and various essays and poems, won considerable popularity. She edited a collection of English novels, with critical and biographical notices; a selection from the British essayists of the reign of Anne, and another from Richardson's correspondence. Her last long poem, Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, appeared in 1812. She died at Stoke-Newington, 1825.
Bar´becue, a word of West Indian origin, meaning a hog, or other large animal, roasted whole. In the United States the word means a large gathering of people in the open air, for a social or political feast, where whole animals are roasted and eaten.
Barbed Wire, wire-rope for fencing or other purposes, having fixed in it short bent pieces of wire with sharp projecting points, which serve to keep animals from pressing against it. There is an Act of Parliament (1893) to prevent the use of barbed-wire fences that form a nuisance on a public road or path; and a person employing barbed wire for fencing may render himself liable for damages caused by it to another person who is legitimately using the adjoining ground. Barbed wire plays an important part in the construction of obstacles in modern warfare. During the European War, all systems of trenches were protected by thick belts of wire. This wire was laid out in various different ways, two of the best being known as the Concertina Fence and the Double-apron Fence.
Barbel (Barbus), a genus of freshwater fishes of the carp family, distinguished by the four fleshy filaments growing from the lips, two at the nose and one at each corner of the mouth, forming the kind of beard to which the genus owes its name. Of the several species the European Barbus vulgāris, common in most rivers, has an average length of from 12 to 18 inches, and in form and habits strongly resembles the pike. Its body is elongated and rounded, olive-coloured above and bluish on the sides, and covered with small scales. The upper jaw, which is much longer than the lower, forms a snout, with which it bores into the mud for worms, insects, aquatic plants, &c. It is common in the Thames, where it gives good sport to the angler; but its flesh is very coarse, and at the time of spawning the roe is dangerous to eat.
Barber, one whose occupation is to shave or trim the beard, or to cut and dress hair. The practice of surgery was formerly a part of the craft, and by an Act of Henry VIII the Company of Barbers was incorporated with the Company of Surgeons—the company being then known as the Barber-surgeons—with the limitation, however, that the surgeons were not to shave or practise 'barbery', and the barbers were to perform no higher surgical operation than blood-letting and tooth-drawing. This continued till the time of George II. The signs of the old profession—the pole which the patient grasped, its spiral decoration in imitation of the bandage, and the basin to catch the blood—are
still sometimes retained. The barbers' shops, always notorious for gossip, were in some measure the news centres of classic and mediæval times. The ancient hall in London, formerly used by the Barber-surgeons, is still standing in Markwell Street, Cripplegate.