837 



BAKU. 



BALACLAVA. 



grove of cypresses and several monuments in white marble ; from this 

 valley a short but exceedingly steep ascent leads to the gate of 

 Tshufut-Kale. The place was the site of an old fortress constructed 

 by the Genoese on the summit of a rock surrounded by precipices. 

 It is a clean town, inhabited solely by Karaitish Jews to the number 

 of about 1200. (Dernidofirs Travel* in Southern Russia.) 



BAKU, a former Khanate of Persia, which with the rest of Shirwan 

 was ceded to Russia at the close of the Persian war in 1813. It forms 

 the most eastern part of the Russian government of Grusia, or Georgia, 

 and consists of the peninsula of Apsheron, on the west side of the 

 Caspian Sea. Colonel Chesney in his work on the ' Expedition to the 

 Euphrates and Tigris ' says that Baku belongs to Daghestan, which is 

 also included in Grusia. Besides the town of Baku it contains 35 

 villages and has about 31,000 inhabitants, among whom Klaproth 

 states that there are 1000 Turkoman families. Their stock is com- 

 posed of camels, horses, oxen, and sheep. The peninsula though 

 elevated has no height within it which exceeds 1000 feet; in general 

 the soil in of a rocky or sandy nature, and sterile, without one attractive 

 spot in it* whole extent. It has only one permanent river, theSougait 

 or liiela (White River), so that it may be said to be without any 

 water but what is drawn from wells, and this has a salt disagreeable 

 flavour. Not a tree exists upon it, but portions of the territory have 

 a layer of mould on which wheat, barley, maize, melons, fruits, rice, 

 and cotton, and, on the highest ground, saffron are raised. In some 

 parts too opium is prepared from poppy-heads ; and a species of red 

 and highly savoury onion, which is not found elsewhere, is cultivated 

 under cover. The peninsula of Apsheron is remarkable for its salt 

 formation ; in different parts of it there are ten salt-lakes, only one of 

 which is worked, yielding about 10,000 tons of salt annually. 



Besides the gaseous eruptions proceeding from the saturation of the 

 soil with naphtha, the peninsula is celebrated for numerous volcanoes 

 which discharge volumes of mud. Round the town of Baku there are 

 nearly 100 bituminous springs, some of which are worked, supplying 

 petroleum and black and white naphtha. Other fountains in the 

 neighbourhood have for ages emitted a burning stream which is called 

 the ' Indian Fire.' The naphtha with which the soil is charged not 

 only streams spontaneously through the surface, but rises wherever a 

 hole is bored. It is of two descriptions, black and white ; and its 

 principal sources are situated at a spot called Balegan, about six miles 

 from Baku. The colour of the oil is black, but it shines with a red- 

 dish tint when the sun's rays are upon it. The natives use it for 

 burning as a light, and paint their roofs with it. Not far from the same 

 spot a spring of white oil gushes out from the foot of a hill. It readily 

 inflames and burns on the surface of the water, and in calm weather 

 the people of the country amuse themselves by pouring whole tons 

 of it into a bay of the Caspian ; they then set fire to it, and it is borne 

 out of sight, giving the waves the appearance of a sea of fire. The 

 whole of these naphtha springs belong to the government. The 

 weavers and other poor persons of the neighbourhood obtain a cheap 

 light and abundance of heat for cooking by driving a clay-pipe or 

 hollow-reed, steeped in lime-water, into the ground on which their 

 dwelling stands, and setting fire to the gsa which rises through it. 

 The Anjur-Meisjan, or Burning-Field, near Baku, is a hollow expanse 

 full of fissures, and coated with white sand and gray dust, in which 

 particles of sulphur abound. Some fissures are seen burning, some 

 smothering, and others emitting naphtha vapours. There is a boiling 

 lake too not far from the town which is in constant motion, and gives out 

 a flame altogether devoid of heat. After the warm showers of autumn, 

 when the atmosphere is scorching, the whole surrounding country 

 appears to be on fire, and it frequently rolls along the mountains in 

 enormous masses and with incredible velocity. At 'other times it 

 stands motionless. If the night be dark innumerable jets of flame, 

 sometimes isolated and at others in masses, cover all the low ground, 

 leaving the mountains in obscurity. The fire does not burn, and when 

 in the midst of what every one would conceive to be a devouring 

 element, it is impossible to detect the least heat in it. The reeds and 

 grass are no ways affected by it. These appearances never occur when 

 the wind blows from the east. In ancient times the Burning-Field 

 was one of the most celebrated Atecshyahs, or Shrines of Grace, 

 among the Ghebers, or Parsees ; it was the Mecca of fire-wor- 

 shippers, a spot to which thousands of pilgrims resorted. A few 

 adherents of this sect still find their way from time to time to the 

 Atecshyah of Baku, which lies about ten miles from the town, and 

 paw five, seven, or ten years on the spot. Here they spend their days 

 in worshipping the sacred fire, in praying, and penitential exercises. 

 The place is a walled quadrangle, with an altar raised on a flight of 

 steps in the centre. At each of the four corners stands a chimney 

 5 feet in height, from which issues a flame 3 feet in length. 

 The walls of this sanctuary are surrounded by twenty cells 

 r more, where the priests and Ghebers reside. Each cell contains 

 three earthen pipes inserted in the floor for the purpose of procuring 

 gas for domestic and other uses. 



The town of Baku is situated in 40 22' N. lat., 49 40' E. long., at 

 the southern extremity of the peninsula of Apsheron, where the Caspian 

 is land-locked by two islands, which render the roadstead a safe 

 anchorage even close upon the shore. The walls of Baku were once 

 washed by the Caspian ; but they are at present about 15 feet from 

 it : in other places the sea has gained upon the land ; and the ruins of 



ancient buildings are discovered at a depth of 18 feet and more. The 

 town is walled, and built upon a declivity, the summit of which is 

 crowned by the palace of the former chiefs, and commands some 

 delightful prospects. The streets are narrow and tortuous ; and the 

 houses ill constructed and of small dimensions, with flat roofs coated 

 with naphtha as a substitute for lead. An ancient and lofty tower, 

 which goes by the name of the ' Virgin's Tower,' is the most striking 

 object in the place. Baku possesses several spacious mosques, squares, 

 bazaars, and caravansarais, besides Russian and Armenian churches. 

 Its principal exports consist of naphtha, saffron, cotton, silk, opium, 

 rice, and salt. The fisheries are of some importance. The population 

 is about 9000, consisting of about 7000 Tartars and 2000 Russians and 

 Armenians. A considerable trade is carried on between Russia and 

 Persia through the port of Baku : the principal articles of trade are 

 cotton, silk, shawls, woollen goods, tobacco, indigo, fruits, fish, naphtha, 

 salt, and saffron. 



BALA, Merionethshire, North Wales, a market and borough town, 

 and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Llanycil and hun- 

 dred of Penllyan, is situated on the northern extremity of the lake 

 from which it derives its name, in 52 54' N. lat, 3 35' W long 

 17 miles N.E. from Dolgelley, 194 miles W.N.W. from London : the 

 population of the town in 1841 was 1257. It is an incorporated town 

 by prescription, and the government is vested in two bailiffs and a 

 common council. Neither it nor any other town in the county has 

 ever had a right to return a member to Parliament. The living 

 of Llanycil is a rectory in the archdeaconry of Montgomery and dio- 

 cese of St. Asaph. Bala Poor-Law Union contains five parishes with 

 an area of 58,292 acres, and a population in 1851 of 6,733. 



The town has only one main street, which is very wide : the houses 

 are generally low. At the south-east end of the town is a high arti- 

 ficial mound, which is generally supposed to have been the site of a 

 small fortress. Bala is a place of considerable trade in flannels, stock- 

 ing^ gloves, &c., in the manufacture of which articles most of the 

 inhabitants find employment. It has a weekly market on Saturdays, 

 and five annual fairs. The assizes are held here and at Dolgelley alter- 

 nately. A county court is held in the town. There is a savings 

 bank. The Grammar school, founded in 1712, is free to 30 boys, who 

 are clothed and educated : it has an income from endowment of 911. 

 a year, with a house for the head master. The Calvinistic Methodists 

 and the Independents have each a seminary for training young men 

 for the ministry, and there is a British school. Bala is the head- 

 quarters of the association of preachers connected with the Calvinistic 

 Methodists of North and South Wales. The annual meetings of the 

 body are held here ; and it is said that as many as 20,000 persons 

 sometimes assemble on these occasions. The Rev. Thomas Charles, 

 one of their most celebrated preachers, resided for many years in Bala, 

 where he died in 1813. It was in consequence of an earnest applica- 

 tion by Mr. Charles for a supply of Welsh Bibles that the British and 

 Foreign Bible Society was instituted in 1804. The district around 

 Bala is a great deal resorted to by tourists, for whose accommodation 

 there are two good inns in the town. 



Bala is a place of great antiquity. In the neighbourhood are the 

 remains of three Roman camps, which seem to have been used as sta- 

 tions before the total subjugation of the Ordovices. Llanycil village 

 is about one mile from the town. 



Bala Lake, or Pimble-mere (called by the natives Llyn Tegid), is the 

 largest lake in Wales, being 3J miles in length from north-east to 

 south-west, and five-eighths of a mile in breadth. Its average depth 

 of water is 40 feet ; but it sometimes rises above its usual level and 

 overflow? the adjoining valley of Eidernion. The bottom of the lake 

 is mostly rocky, and the water is so pure that the nicest chemical 

 tests can detect scarcely any quantity of foreign admixture. From 

 the north-east part of this lake issues the river Dee. The fishery of 

 the lake belonged in the 13th century to the abbey of Basiugwerk ; it 

 is now the property of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., who has a 

 fishing-lodge on the margin of the lake. It is well supplied with pike, 

 eels, red trout, and the fish called gwyniad. The usual mode of fish- 

 ing is by angling from the shore. The scenery in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the lake has nothing remarkable about it, though 

 it is pleasant and varied ; but the distant view, taking in Cader Idris, 

 is magnificent. A Roman road passed near the margin of Bala Lake ; 

 and some very curious tumuli are still to be seen in the vicinity. 

 The lake is sometimes though not often frozen over ; and when 

 covered with snow has been mistaken by travellers unacquainted 

 with the localities of the district for an extended valley or plain. 



(Cough's Camden's Britannia ; Pennant's Tour through Wales ; 

 Aikiu's Tour through Wales; Evans's Letters on North Wales ; Bingley's 

 North Wales ; Parry's Cambrian Mirror ; Land We Live In North 

 Wales vol. Hi. ; Communication from Bala.) 



BALACHNA. [NISHNEI-NOVOOROD.] 



BALACLA'VA, the Sy'mbolon Limen of Strabo, probably the KoXis 

 Xi^V (Good Port) of Pomponius Mela (ii. 1), and in more modern 

 times the Tshembale and subsequently the Cembalo, which seem to 

 be mere corruptions of Symbolon. The modern name, Dr. Clarke 

 says, is a Genoese translation of the ancient name Bella-Clava (Fair 

 Haven). It is a port on the south-west coast of the Crimea on a 

 small bay of the Black Sea, in the Russian province of Taurida. The 

 Tartars by whom it was inhabited when the Crimea fell into the 



