tra, which, according
to the beautiful description of Shakspeare--

"Like a burnished throne
Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold,
Purple her sails; and so perfumed, that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver.
Which to the tune of flutes kept time, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster
As amorous of their strokes."

The barges of the lord-mayor, civic companies, &c., and the coal-barges
of the Thames are varieties. Also, an early man-of-war, of about 100
tons. Also, an east-country vessel of peculiar construction. Also, a
flat-bottomed vessel of burden, used on rivers for conveying goods from
one place to another, and loading and unloading ships: it has various
names, as a Ware barge, a west-country barge, a sand barge, a row-barge,
a Severn trough, a light horseman, &c. They are usually fitted with a
large sprit-sail to a mast, which, working upon a hinge, is easily
struck for passing under bridges. Also, the bread-barge or tray or
basket, for containing biscuit at meals.

BARGEES. The crews of canal-boats and barges.

BARGE-MATE. The officer who steers when a high personage is to visit the
ship.

BARGE-MEN. The crew of the barge, who are usually picked men. Also, the
large maggots with black heads that infest biscuit.

BARGET. An old term for a small barge.

BARILLA. An alkali procured by burning _Salsola kali_ and other
sea-shore plants. It forms a profitable article of Mediterranean
commerce. (_See_ KELP.)

BARK. The exterior covering of vegetable bodies, many of which are
useful in making paper, cordage, cloth, dyes, and medicines.

BARK, OR BARQUE [from _barca_, Low Latin]. A general name given to small
ships, square-sterned, without head-rails; it is, however, peculiarly
appropriated by seamen to a three-masted vessel with only fore-and-aft
sails on her mizen-mast.--_Bark-rigged._ Rigged as a bark, with no
square sails on the mizen-mast.

BARKANTINE, OR BARQUANTINE. A name applied on the great lakes of North
America to a vessel square-rigged on the fore-mast, and fore-and-aft
rigged on the main and mizen masts. They are not three-masted schooners,
as they have a regular brigantine's fore-mast. They are long in
proportion to their other dimensions, to suit the navigation of the
canals which connect some of these lakes.

BARKERS. An old term for lower-deck guns and pistols.

BARKEY. A sailor's term for the pe