that time till his death his attention was devoted to geographical studies, chiefly of Africa and the Nile Valley. Aided by private friends, he visited Abyssinia in connection with the political mission under Major Harris, and explored districts which up to that time had remained unknown to Europeans. The valuable results of this journey, which occupied him from 1840 to 1843, he gave to the world in 1845 in the work entitled Abyssinia, a Statement of Facts, &c. Once again, after an interval of more than twenty years, he went to Abyssinia, for the purpose of obtaining from King Theodore the release of Mr. Rassam and other British captives. In this he succeeded, but the king afterwards changed his mind and continued to detain the prisoners. In 1848 he made an unsuccessful attempt to explore the Upper Nile; his labor was repaid, however, by a large amount of information about the countries which he traversed. The ardor with which he pursued his chosen path was shown by his undertaking in his seventy-fourth year a journey to Palestine, for the purpose of determining the real position of Mount Sinai. He conceived that it was on the eastern side of the Gulf of Akabah; and his exploration convinced him that his view was right. It has not, however, commended itself to general acceptance. Dr. Beke did at Bromley, in Kent, July 31, 1874.

was appointed to a professorship in the university of Berlin. For several years, between 1810 and 1821, he travelled in France, Italy, England, and parts of Germany, examining classical manuscripts and gathering materials for his great editorial labors. Some detached fruits of his researches were given in the Anecdota Græca, 3 vols., 1814-21; but the full result of his unwearied industry and ability is to be found in the enormous array of classical works edited by him. The most famous are Plato, 10 vols., 1814-21; Oratores Attici, 7 vols., 1823; Aristoteles (the Berlin edition), 4 vols., 1831-36; Thucydides, 3 vols., 1821; Aristophanes, 3 vols., 1825; Sextus Empiricus, 1842. He also edited 24 volumes of the Byzantine historians. Bekker confined himself entirely to textual recension and criticism, and contributed little to the extension of general scholarship. He was well read in the old French iterature, pårticularly that of Provence, and contributed many papers on it to the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy.

BEL. See BAAL.

BEL, or BELIUS, MATTHIAS, an Hungarian divine and historian, was born in 1684, and was educated partly at Halle. In 1719 he was made rector of the evangelical Lyceum at Presburg, where he remained his death in 1749. His great work was the History of Hungary (Notitia Hungaria nova historico-geographica), 4 vols., 1735-42, which was not completed. Other works devoted to the history of his native country are-Hungariæ antiquæ et novæ prodromus, 1723; Adparatus ad Historiam Hungariæ, 1735-46. He also wrote on the literature of the Hungarians. BEL AND THE DRAGON, one of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament. See APOCRYPHA.

BÉKÉS, a market-town of Hungary, formerly a royal free city, and the capital of the county of the same name, situated at the confluence of the White and Black Körös, 14 miles N.N.W. of Gyula, which is now the capital. The inhabitants, principally Calvinists, amount to 22,500, and are chiefly engaged in agriculture and the rearing of cattle. Count Wenkheim has a fine castle in the town, which was at one time strongly fortified. Long. 20° 41′ 37′′ E., lat.

46° 46' 16'' N.

BEKKER, BALTHAZAR, a celebrated Dutch divine, was born in Friesland in 1634. He was the author of several works in philosophy and theology, which from their freedom of thought and critical rationalism excited considerable enmity against him. His most celebrated production was the work entitled Die Betooverde Wereld, or The World Bewitched, in which he examined critically the phenomena generally ascribed to spiritual agency, and exposed with much force the many absurdities regarding the power of Satan that had become articles of Christian faith. The odium theologicum was fiercely roused by this book, and Bekker was deposed from the office of the ministry. He resided at Amsterdam till his death in 1698.

BEKKER, or Wolff, ElizabETH, a Dutch novelist, was born in 1738. She was married to Adrian Wolff, a Reformed clergyman, but is always known under her maiden name. After the death of her husband in 1777, she resided for some time in France, with her close friend, Agatha Deken. She was exposed to some of the dangers of the French Revolution, and, it is said, escaped the guillotine only by her great presence of mind. In 1795 she returned to Holland, and resided at the Hague till her death in 1804. Her novels were written in conjunction with Agatha Deken, and it is somewhat difficult to determine the exact qualities contributed by each. The Historie van William Levend (1785), Historie van Sara Burgerhart (1790), Abraham Blankaart (1787), Cornelie Wildschut (1793-96), have been extremely popular. Some of them have been translated into German and French.

BEKKER, IMMANUEL, a distinguished philologist, was born at Berlin in 1785, and died 7th June, 1871. He completed his classical education at the university of Halle under the famous F. A. Wolf, who was accustomed to speak of him as his most promising pupil. In 1810 he

BELBEIS, or BELBEYS, a town of Upper Egypt, in the province of Kelyubieh, on the eastern arm of the Nile, 28 miles N.N.E. of Cairo. It was formerly considered the bulwark of the kingdom on that side, and was defended by strong fortifications, but these were suffered to fall into decay till 1798, when Napoleon ordered them to be put in repair. In 1163-4 it was besieged for three months by the Crusaders under Amalric, who at length, in 1168, captured and pillaged it. The present population is not supposed to exceed 5000.

BELEM, a town of Portugal, now regarded as a suburb of Lisbon. See LISBON.

BELFAST, the chief manufacturing and commercial town of Ireland, a municipal and parliamentary borough, the capital of Ulster, and, since 1850, the county town of Antrim, in which, with the exception of the large suburb of Ballymacarret on the other side of the river, it is mainly comprised. It is situated in lat. 54° 36′ 8.5'' N., and long. 5° 55′ 537 W., at the mouth of the Lagan, which flows into Belfast Lough (Carrickfergus Bay), and is built on an alluvial deposit and land reclaimed from the sea, the greater portion of which is not more than 6 feet above high-water mark. It was thus for a long period exposed to occasional inundations, and was somewhat subject to epidemics; but its situation, improved by drainage, has become more healthy, while the environs are agreeable and picturesque.

The etymology of the name and the origin of the town are equally uncertain, and there is not a single monument of antiquarian interest upon which to found a conjecture. About the beginning of the 16th century Belfast is described as a "town and fortress," but it was in reality a mere fishing village in the hands of the house of O'Neil. This sept had all along been opposed to the English, and had forfeited every baronial right; but in 1552 Hugh O'Neil of Clandeboye promised allegiance to the reigning monarch, and obtained the castle of Carrickfergus, the town and fortress of Belfast, and all the surrounding lands. His turbulent successors having been routed by the English, the town and fortress fell into the hands of Sir Thomas Smyth, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, but were afterwards forfeited by him to the Lord-Deputy Sir Arthur Chichester,

Robert Joy in 1777, the establishment in 1791 of shipbuilding on an extensive scale by William Ritchie, an energetic Scotchman, combined with the rope and canvas manufacture already existing, supplied the inhabitants with employment, and increased the demand for skilled labor The population now made rapid strides as well by ordinary extension as by immigration from the rural districts. At the close of last century there were about 20,000 inhabitants in the borough, and this total had risen in 1821 to 37,277, in 1831 to 53,287, in 1841 to 70,447, in 1851 to 87,062, in 1861 to 121,602, and in 1871 to 174,412-males 79,815, and females 94,597. In 1875 the population is estimated at 200,000. At the last census the following were the religious professions of the population, viz., Presbyterian, 60,249; Catholic, 55,675; Episcopal, 46,423; Methodist, 6775; Unitarian, 1498; and various, 3892. The number of persons who could read and write at the same date was 95,986; who could read only, 71,700; and who were illiterate, 46,726, or about 27 per cent. of the whole. The number of houses in 1871 amounted to 29,918, viz., inhabited, 27,961; uninhabited, 1761; and building, 196.

Belfast Lough is exceedingly picturesque, whether entered by the Antrim or by the Down side of the channel. The outer harbor is one of the safest in the kingdom, great improvements having been made within the last thirty years on the more immediate entrance to the port. The course of the Lagan, which runs past the quays and down to Gramoyle, was origi nally most tortuous and somewhat difficult to navigate; but, about 1840, the late Willian Dargan was employed to make a straight cut from the lower part of the harbor and to deepen the channel, so that ships of large draught can be brought to the quays, which extend for about a mile below Queen's Bridge on both sides of the river. There are also seven extensive docks and tidal basins supplied with the necessary conveniences for the shipping. The following table of vessels entered inwards shows the increase of shipping frequenting the port:

Two

the benefits of his enlightened policy, receiving, among | other favors, certain fiscal rights which his lordship had purchased from the corporation of Carrickfergus. years after the rebellion of 1641 a rampart was raised round the town, pierced by four gates on the land side. In 1662, as appears by a map still extant, there were 150 houses within the wall, forming five streets and as many lanes; and the upland districts around were one dense forest of giant oaks and sycamores, yielding an unfailing supply of timber to the woodmen of Carrickfergus.

Throughout the succeeding fifty years the progress of Belfast surpassed that of most other towns in Ireland. Its merchants, in 1686, owned forty ships, of a total carrying power of 3300 tons, and the customs collected were close upon £20,000. When King William arrived at Belfast in 1690 there were only two places of worship in the town, the old corporation church in the High Street, and the Presbyterian meeting-house in Rosemary Lane,-the Roman Catholics not being permitted to build their chapels within the walls of corporate towns.

At the commencement of the 18th century Belfast had become known as a place of considerable trade, and what was then thought a handsome, thriving, and well-peopled town, with many new houses and good shops. During the civil commotions which so long afflicted the country, it suffered less than most other places; and it soon afterwards attained the rank of the "greatest town for trade in the north of Ireland." James Blow and Co. introduced letterpress printing in 1696, and in 1704 issued the first copy of the Bible produced in the island. In September, 1737, Henry and Robert Joy started the Belfast News Letter, which not only still maintains its existence, but has long been at the head of the Irish Conservative press. Twenty years afterwards the town contained 1800 houses and 8549 inhabitants, 556 of the latter being members of the Church of Rome. It was not, however, till 1789 that Belfast obtained the regular communication, which towns of less importance already enjoyed, with Dublin by stage coach, a fact which is to be explained by the badness of the roads and the steepness of the hills between Newry and Belfast.

The increased freedom of trade with which Ireland was favored, the introduction of the cotton manufacture by

The exports from Belfast being largely conveyed by steamer to London, Liverpool, and Glasgow, and thence trans-shipped to their destinations, do not appear in the Board of Trade returns, as only the direct business with foreign countries, which does not reach any considerable amount, is registered in those tables. Thus other ports get credit for business which really belongs to Belfast. The best illustration of this is afforded by the Board of Trade returns for 1858. Belfast is there stated to have exported goods that year to the amount of £9344, while the actual sum was £8,569,504. In 1810 the total value of exports was £2,904,820, and in 1835 £4,341,794; in 1852 the amount was £6,573,198, and for 1866 it ran up to £11,915,000. For some years past no official data have been published on this subject, but it may be safely estimated that the gross value of the exports from Belfast exceeds £20,000,000 annually.

The amount of customs and excise collected at the port in 1762 was £32,900, and in 1810 the sum was £428,174. As trade increased with London and Liverpool, a large share of the duties on goods disposed of in Belfast was paid to the merchants of those ports. In 1821 the customs amounted to £306,243, and in 1848 to £376,767. The customs paid in Belfast in 1851 reached £369,415, which, added to that paid in London and Liverpool (£184,750), made a total of £554,165. During the year 1874 the duty paid in Belfast on tea, wine, spirits, and tobacco, amounted to £1,215,191.

For nearly a century past the flax manufacture of Ulster has been gradually concentrating itself in Belfast. The introduction there in 1830, by T. and A. Mulholland, of machinery for the spinning of linen yarn, was followed by a rapid extension of the industry, and in 1841 there were

240,000 spindles at work. The succeeding ten years showed | still greater increase. In 1851 there were 561,000 spindles in operation throughout Ireland, 630,000 in 1861, and 903,000 in 1871, of which about four-fifths had been set up in Belfast. Linen yarns from Belfast form a considerable item in the total export of manufactures. For some time after the trade was started, the average annual export was only about 1,000,000 lb weight; but in 1850 five times that quantity was despatched; in 1862, 15,685,600 fb, and in 1864, 24,075,520 t.

The weaving of linen by means of power-looms, though long carried on in Dundee, Leeds, and other great seats of manufacture, is of comparatively recent introduction into Belfast,-being hardly known there five-and-twenty years ago. In 1859, however, there were 3000 looms engaged; in 1866 there were 10,500, and that number has now (1875) increased to about 12,500. A number of these have been fitted up for the damask trade, but the great proportion are used for plain linens, "sets" of which of great fineness are worked. The extent of the linen trade may be indicated by the number of persons employed, which amounted in 1871 to 8507, or about 5 per cent. of the population.

Cotton-spinning, which at one period formed a most extensive industry in Belfast, has greatly fallen off-nearly all the mills having been converted to the spinning of flax. The enterprise of the citizens of Belfast was well supported by the liberal system of tenure for building purposes granted by the late Lord Donegall and his predecessors. Sites for mills, factories, and other public works were obtained on very reasonable terms, and for all religious and charitable objects those lords of the soil bestowed ground free of rent. In 1851 the places of worship in Belfast open for service belonged-11 to the Episcopalians, 21 to Presbyterians, 8 to Wesleyans, and 4 to Roman Catholics. Since then there has been a large increase in the number; and there are now 19 Episcopalian churches, 28 Presbyterian, 16 Wesleyan Methodist, 6 Roman Catholic, 3 Unitarian, and 7 or 8 belonging to various other sects.

The river Lagan is crossed by three bridges, of which the principal is the Queen's Bridge, opened in January, 1843, and built on the site of the Old Long Bridge, which dated from 1686. Like most modern towns which have rapidly risen through commerce and manufactures, Belfast cannot boast of many architectural beauties. It would seem as if its people had been too deeply absorbed in the bustle of business to think of aesthetic superfluities. More recently, however, a higher style of building has been adopted; and some of the warehouses and shops show great taste in design and finish of workmanship.

The public buildings most worthy of notice are the White and Brown Linen Halls, the Corn Exchange, the Commercial Buildings, the Museum, the Albert memorial monument, the Northern, Belfast, Ulster, and Provincial Banks, the new theatre, the town-hall, and the range of buildings containing the offices for the customs, the inland revenue, and the postal departments. The county lunatic asylum is in the suburbs of the town; and in the neighborhood of Queen's College there is an extensive and wellkept botanic garden.

The chief educational establishments are the Royal Academical Institution, the Queen's College (built of brick in the Tudor style and opened in 1849), the Government School of Design, the General Assembly's College, the Catholic Institute, and the Wesleyan Institute; and altogether, in proportion to its extent, no town in the kingdom is better supplied with educational appliances than Belfast.

Belfast is governed by a corporation of 40 membersa mayor, 10 aldermen, and 29 councillors; and all matters connected with the docks and shipping are under the harbor commissioners, an important body elected by the ratepayers. The borough returns two members to parliament, and the county assizes are held there, as well as the quarter sessions, recorder's court, and petty sessions. BELFORT, BEFORT, or BEDFORT, a second-class fortified town of France, was formerly in the department of Upper Rhine, and capital of an arrondissement; but since the peace of 1871, it has given name to a separate territory not as yet incorporated with any department. It is situated on the left bank of the Sauvoureuse, 38 miles S.S.W. of Colmar, at the intersection of several important roads and

railways, by which it maintains a considerable trade with Germany and Switzerland. It contains a handsome church St. Christophe, erected in the 18th century-a college, a large public library, a synagogue, a theatre, and an hospital. There are several iron foundries, and iron-wire and tin-plate factories; and the manufacture of hats and leather is also carried on. Belfort, however, derives its chief importance from the citadel and entrenched camp, which render it one of the most valuable military posts on the French frontier, defending as they do the entrance into the country through the opening between the Vosges and the Jura. The citadel dates from the 13th century, and the town itself was first regularly fortified in 1688 by Vauban. In November, 1870, siege was laid to the place by the German forces, but the French garrison managed to hold out till the 16th of February, 1871, when they capitulated with the sanction of the Government, and marched out with the honors of war. The conquerors finally evacuated the place in July, 1871. At the census of 1872 the population of the town was found to be 8014.

BELGAM [BELGAUM], a district of British India in the Bombay Presidency, extending from 15° 30' to 16° 15′ N. lat., and 74° to 76° 30' E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the state of Miraj, on the N.E. by the Raládgi collectorate, on the E. by the states of Jamkhandi and Mudhol, on the S. by the collectorates of Dhárwár and Kánará, on the S.W. by the Portuguese territory of Goa, and on the W. by the states of Sawantwári and Kohlhápur. The principal rivers, none of which are navigable, are the Krishna, flowing through the northern; the Ghataprabhá, through the centre; and the Máláprabhá, through the southern portion of the collectorate. To the N. and E. the country is open and well cultivated, but to the S. it is intersected by spurs of the Sahyadri range, thickly covered in some places with forest. Area, 4591 square miles. Population, 938,750 souls, or 204 to the square mile; 57 per cent. Hindus, 7.5 per cent. Mahometans, 5 per cent. Buddhists, 5 per cent. Christians, and 01 per cent. Parsis. Marathi and Kanarese are both spoken, the former chiefly in the W. and S. of the district, and the latter in the N. and E. The chief occupation of the people is agriculture, the other industries being spinning and weaving, manufactures in wood and metals, pottery, and shoemaking. There is also a considerable trade in cloth and silk. The principal agricultural products are rice, tawári, rági, wheat, bájra, sugar-cane, barley, and pulses. Tobacco is cultivated to a small extent. The entire revenue of the district amounts to £233,371, of which £179,321 is derived from the land revenue, and £17,597 from the local fund cess. Of the remainder £15,444 is derived from stamps, £14,996 from excise, assessed taxes yield £2344, and forests £3669. Of a total area of 4591 square miles, 1894-63 square miles are returned as cultivable, and 17297, or 37 per cent. of the total area, are actually under cultivation. The last settlement of the land revenue was made for a period of thirty years at various times between 1848 and 1864. The total imperial expenditure in the district amounts to £98,097. The following towns have a population of more than 5000 inhabitants:-Belgaum, 26,947; Gohak, 12,612; Athani, 11,588; Nipáni, 9371; Temkanmardi, 5296; Hougal, 9001; Sankeshwar, 8905; Sawadáti, 8180; Murgod, 7181; Ketur, 7166; Sádalgi, 6863; Mánoli, 6232; Chikadi, 6184; Nandighar, 5748; Hukéri, 5364; and Konganoli, 5143. Municipalities have been established in the first five of these towns, the necessary revenue being raised by octroi dues, except in the case of Temkanmardi, where a house tax has been levied. The district contains 113 schools, with an attendance of 7624 pupils, or 08 of the entire population. Of the total number of schools, 2, with an attendance of 198 pupils, are private institutions, receiving Government aid. There is a stipendiary police of 684 men. The Kurirs, a wandering and thieving tribe, the Kamais, professional burglars, and the Báruds, cattle stealers and highwaymen, are special criminal classes. Of these the Báruds are the most troublesome. The district of Belgám was ceded to the East India Company by the Peshwa, under the treaty of June, 1817, for the maintenance of a subsidiary force to be provided by the British Government.

Extent and

BELGIUM (Fr. Belgique, Ger. Belgien) is one of the smaller of the European states, boundaries. among which it ranks 16th in point of area and 8th according to population. It lies between lat. 49° 30'

of Great Britain. This country is divided into nine provinces,-Antwerp in the N., West and East Flanders and Hainault in the W., Namur in the S., Luxembourg in the 8.E., Liége and Limbourg in the E., and Brabant in the

centre.

Physical features.

Belgium is in general a very flat country having few elevations, and these rarely exceeding 2000 feet in height. They are principally to be found in the E. and S.E., while the N. and N.W. parts of the country bear a considerable resemblance to Holland. The elevations of Belgium take their rise in France, and extend generally in a N.E. direction. A chain proceeding from the neighborhood of the sources of the Saone separates the waters of the Meuse from those of the Moselle, passes Arlon and Neufchateau, then extends in a northeastern direction towards Bastogne, and finally enters Prussia. A branch of this chain goes off at Neufchateau, proceeds northward towards Liége, passes St. Hubert, and separates the Ourthe from the Meuse. A part of the Ardennes also extends into Belgium, and separates the basin of the Meuse from that of the Scheldt. It proceeds in a north-eastern direction, passing Fontaine l'Evêque, Gembloux, Ramillies, and Tongres, then, gradually decreasing in height, it turns northward to Asch, and afterwards N.W. to Hechtal, Lommel, and Turnhout. A series of heights on the frontier of France, near Chimay, extends in a N.W. direction towards Namur, and separates the Meuse from the Sambre.

The provinces of Liége, Luxembourg, and Namur present the greatest irregularities of surface. This part of

| the country is intersected by numerous ravines and streams with steep and rocky banks, by deep valleys, and by ridges of hills, which often have precipitous and rocky escarp ments. The vegetation here is of a very poor and languid character. The greater part of the region is covered with dense forests, marshy and uncultivated plateaus or poor pasture land, and corn is very rarely cultivated. Descending towards the coast the forests become less extensive; and rye, oats, and potatoes take the place of the pasture land. In the western and north-western provinces are extensive and well-watered plains, which, from their great fertility and the high state of their cultivation, are the boast of the Belgians and the admiration of strangers.

In the provinces bordering on the sea the land is in some places so low as to require to be protected from inundation by dikes. These parts are called polders. Numerous places along the banks of the rivers are also protected by embankments; these are called interior polders. About a sixtieth part of the kingdom (50,000 hectares, or 193 square miles) is thus artificially gained from the sea and rivers.

The coast of Belgium is said to be undergoing a change similar to that of Scandinavia,-in some parts a gradual elevation, and in others a gradual depression. Nieuport is said to be on the axis of this change, from which, northward to the mouth of the Scheldt, the sea is continually gaining upon the land, while southward to Pas de Calais it is losing.

The principal rivers are the Scheldt, Meuse, and Yzer, with their tributaries. The Scheldt is navigable during i's