position as a
starting-point for the East. The inner harbour, admirably sheltered and 27
to 30 ft. in depth, allows ocean steamers to lie at the quays. Brindisi
has, however, been abandoned by the large steamers of the Peninsular &
Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which had called there since 1870, but
since 1898 call at Marseilles instead; small express boats, carrying the
mails, still leave every week, connecting with the larger steamers at Port
Said; but the number of passengers leaving the port, which for the years
1893-1897 averaged 14,728, was only 7608 in 1905, and only 943 of these
were carried by the P. & O. boats. The harbour railway station was not
completed until 1905 (_Consular Report_, No. 3672, 1906, pp. 13 sqq.). The
port was cleared in 1905 by 1492 vessels of 1,486,269 tons. The imports
represented a value of L629,892 and the exports a value of L663,201--an
increase of L84,077 and L57,807 respectively on the figures of the previous
year, while in 1899 the amounts, which were below the average, were only
L298,400 and L253,000. The main imports are coal, flour, sulphur, timber
and metals; and the main exports, wine and spirits, oil and dried fruits.

Frederick II. erected a castle, with huge round towers, to guard the inner
harbour; it is now a convict prison. The cathedral, ruined by earthquakes,
was restored in 1743-1749, but has some remains of its mosaic pavement
(1178). The baptismal church of S. Giovanni al Sepolcro (11th century) is
now a museum. The town was captured in 836 by the Saracens, and destroyed
by them; but was rebuilt in the 11th century by Lupus the protospatharius,
Byzantine governor. In 1071 it fell into the hands of the Normans, and
frequently appears in the history of the Crusades. Early in the 14th
century the inner port was blocked by Giovanni Orsini, prince of Taranto;
the town was devastated by pestilence in 1348, and was plundered in 1352
and 1383; but even greater damage was done by the earthquake of 1456.

(T. AS.)

BRINDLEY, JAMES (1716-1772), English engineer, was born at Thornsett,
Derbyshire, in 1716. His parents were in very humble circumstances, and he
received little or no education. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed
to a millwright near Macclesfield, and soon after completing his
apprenticeship he set up in business for himself as a wheelwright at Leek,
quickly becoming known for his ingenuity and skill in repairing all kinds
of machinery. In 1752 he desi