government managed to pay its debt amounting to L43,786, but crime
increased and sickness became very prevalent. The cessation of the trade
was marked, however, by hardly any disturbance; there were no local
failures, and in a few months the steamers and their crews departed, and
New Providence subsided into its usual state of quietude. This, however,
was not fated to last long, for in October 1866 a most violent hurricane
passed over the island, injuring the orchards, destroying the fruit-trees,
and damaging the sponges, which had proved hitherto a source of profit. The
hurricane, too, was followed by repeated droughts, and the inhabitants of
the out-islands were reduced to indigence and want, a condition which is
still, in some measure, in evidence.

See the valuable _General Descriptive Report on the Bahama Islands_, by Sir
G. T. Carter (governor, 1898-1904), issued in place of the ordinary annual
report by the Colonial Office, London, 1902; also Governor R. W. Rawson's
_Report_, 1866; Stark's _History and Guide to the Bahama Islands_ (Boston,
Mass., 1891); _Bahama Islands_ (Geog. Soc. of Baltimore), ed. G. B.
Shattuck (New York, 1905). For geology see A. Agassiz, "A Reconnaissance of
the Bahamas and of the Elevated Reefs of Cuba in the steam yacht 'Wild
Duck,' January to April 1893," _Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard_, vol. xxvi.
no. 1, 1894.

BAHAWALPUR, or BHAWALPUR, a native state of India, within the Punjab,
stretching for more than 300 m. along the left bank of the Sutlej, the
Punjnud and the Indus. It is bounded on the N. and E. by Sind and the
Punjab, and on the S. by the Rajputana desert. It is the principal
Mahommedan state in the Punjab, ranking second only to Patiala. Edward
Thornton thus described the general aspect of the state:--

"Bahawalpur is a remarkably level country, there being no considerable
eminence within its limits, as the occasional sand-hills, seldom
exceeding 50 or 60 ft. in height, cannot be considered exceptions. The
cultivable part extends along the river line for a distance of about 10
m. in breadth from the left or eastern bank. In the [v.03 p.0210] sandy
part of the desert beyond this strip of fertility both men and beasts,
leaving the beaten path, sink as if in loose snow. Here, too, the sand
is raised into ever-changing hills by the force of the wind sweeping
over it. In those parts of the desert which have a hard level soil of
clay, a few