1085 



BILLERICAY. 



EILSTOX. 



1036 



baths of Teplitz; it has a cotton-yaru manufactory, a handsome 

 church, and a new as well as an ancient castle, the oue containing a 

 collection of minerals, &c., and the other a laboratory, in which 

 artificial waters, salts, and magnesia are prepared. The environs are 

 remarkable for a precipitous isolated height, called Bilinerstein, which 

 consists of basaltic rocks, or according to some, of clinkstone and 

 gneiss ; but the place itself is most celebrated for its springs, which 

 are of two qualities, acidulous and bitter. The acidulous spring 

 yields 2381 quarts per hour, of the heat of 12 Reaumur (59 Fahren- 

 heit) : it h much resorted to in cases of spleen, indigestion, scrofula, 

 goxit, &c. ; large quantities of the water are annually exported. 



BILLERICAY, Essex, a market-town and the seat of a Poor-Law 

 Union, in the chapelry of Billericay, parish of Great Burghsted, or 

 Bursted, and hundred of Barstable, is situated on an eminence in 

 51 37' N. lat., 25' E. long., distant 9 miles S.S.W. from Chelms- 

 ford, and 23 miles E.N.E. from London. The living is a perpetual 

 curacy in the archdeaconry of Essex and diocese of Rochester. The 

 population of the chapelry of Billericay was 1533 in 1851. Billericay 

 Poor-Law Union contains 24 parishes and townships, with an area 

 of 48,81)*! acres, and a population in 1851 of 13,780. 



The r-ie of Billericay from its elevation commands a pleasing pros- 

 pect over the valley which extends southward to the Thames. The 

 chapel has been ascribed to the 14th century, but with the exception 

 of the tower the building is of more modern erection. The parish 

 church of Great B-irsted is about two miles south from the town. In 

 Billericay the Independents and Baptists have places of worship. 

 The Grammar school for 10 poor children, founded in 1692, has an 

 income from endowment of 80 a year, and had 15 scholars in 1852. 

 There are also National and British schools and a mechanics institute. 

 The town is lighted with gas. Billericay had the privilege of a market 

 granted to it by Edward IV. In Camden's time the market was con- 

 siderable, but it has long been unimportant. The market is held on 

 Tuesday. Fairs are held on August 2nd and October 9th. More 

 than half the inhabitants of the parish are engaged in agriculture. 



At Blunte-walls, near Billericay, are some earth-works, the remains 

 of a ditch and rampart, inclosing about four acres ; within the area 

 were some artificial mounds, now mostly levelled. Some remains of 

 Roman pottery, with silver and copper coins, have been found in the 

 neighbourhood. 



BILLESDON, Leicestershire, formerly a market-town, now a 

 village, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Billesdon 

 and hundred of Gartree, is situated in 52 37' N. lat., 56' W. long., 

 distant about 9 miles E. from Leicester, and 96 miles N.N.W. from 

 London : the population of the township of Billesdon in 1851 was 

 763 ; of the entire parish, 948. The living is a vicarage with the 

 chapelries of Goadby and Rollesdon annexed, in the archdeaconry of 

 Leicester and diocese of Peterborough. Billesdon Poor-Law Union 

 contains 36 parishes and townships, with an area of 45,960 acres, and 

 a population in 1851 of 7008. 



Billesdon is pleasantly situated in a rich valley. The church is a 

 good building, consisting of nave, chancel, and aisles, and a stone 

 tower with a lofty spire. There are in the parish two Baptist chapels, 

 a Free school, and several almshouses. A market-cross stands in the 

 centre of the town. Four annual cattle-fairs are held. The inhabitants 

 are chiefly employed in malting and in the manufacture of hosiery, 

 pottery, bricks, and pipes. Goadby chapel is an ancient building; 

 in the grave-yard of Rollesdon are the remains of a neat cross. 



BILLITON, an island between the eastern coast of Sumatra and 

 the south-western point of Borneo, in 3 S. lat., 108 E. long. The 

 south coast is about 170 miles N. from Batavia. The island is about 

 50 miles long from north to south, and 45 miles broad from east to 

 west, its form being nearly that of a square. On the east of the island 

 is the strait of Caramata or Billiton, which separates it from Borneo; 

 on the west Caspar Strait, which divides it from the island of Banca. 

 [BAXCA.] 



Billiton was included in the deed of cession by which the island of 

 Banca was made over to the English East India Company by the 

 Sultan of Paleinbang in 1812 ; but the company never took possession 

 of this new acquirement. The Dutch got possession of Billiton in 

 1822, and placed a garrison on the island in order to check the pirati- 

 cal practices of the inhabitants. The natives construct light vessels 

 of a peculiar form, well adapted for revenue cruisers in those seas. 



The inhabitants, who number about 6000, cultivate rice, but not in 

 sufficient quantity for their own subsistence, and food is consequently 

 imported by them from Banca and Sumatra : the soil of the island is 

 for the most part rocky and unproductive. It is however well 

 watered, the mouths of several rivers being marked on every part of 

 the coast. 



The Malays trade hither for iron, the ore of which is abundantly 

 found in the island ; the metal is esteemed by them for making the 

 blades of their ' kris,' or long daggers. Timber also, trepang, edible 

 nests, tortoise-shell, and wax are exported to Singapore. The 

 inhabitant* manufacture nails and common Iron tools, which are sold 

 in the neighbouring islands. 



C'xiirt'it />rti'ri./,/ir,H of Palembany, Banco,, <tc.; Count Hogendorp's 

 "'t.il tor File dt Jara.) 



l:II,[,ON. [PUT-DE-D6ME.] 



BILMA, a place in the Great African Desert, or the Sahara, situated 



between 1S and 19 X. lat., and about 14 E. long. It lies at some 

 distance east of a rocky ridge of mountains of moderate height, which 

 traverse the Sahara from north to south. These mountains begin on 

 the north in Fezzan to the south of Murzuk (about 25 N. lat.), and 

 extend between the meridians of 16 and 13 E. to the south of the 

 parallel of Bilma. Up to this point it seems to form an uninterrupted 

 ridge, with a steep declivity towards the east. It appears to continue 

 farther to the south, but with considerable interruptions, through 

 Soudan, in a south-western direction, and to join the upland of Africa 

 in the parallel of Sackatoo (12 N. lat.). This ridge, which separates 

 the tribes of the Tuaricks, who inhabit the western country, from 

 those of the Tibboos, who extend eastward towards Egypt, may also 

 be considered as the boundary between the western and larger and 

 the eastern and smaller desert of the Sahara. [SAHARA.] 



To the east of this ridge, at a distance of about 50 miles and 

 upwards, rises a chain of isolated rocky hills, which are most nume- 

 rous between 20 and 18 N. lat. : the country included by these two 

 ridges forms, as it were, a large oasis, which is called Wady Kawas. 

 Though in some way sheltered against the moving sands of both 

 deserts, its surface is mostly covered with sand, and in other places it is 

 rocky. It contains a few patches of cultivated ground and groves of 

 date-trees, besides many salt-lakes : it is inhabited by the Tibboos. 

 Bilma, which is considered as the capital of this nation, lies towards 

 the southern extremity of the oasis. 



Bilma stands in a hollow, and is surrounded by mud walls, 

 which, as well as the houses within them, are mean and miserable. 

 It owes its importance to the caravans which pass through it on the 

 road between Murzuk and Bornou, and still more to the salt-lakes in 

 its neighbourhood. About two miles north of the town, between low 

 sand-hills, are several lakes, in which great quantities of very fine 

 crystallised salt is collected for exportation to Bornou and Soudan. 

 As the scarcity and high price of salt in the interior of Africa are 

 well known, the importance of these lakes to the inhabitants of Bilrna 

 may easily be conceived. Dates are to be had in abundance at this 

 place, but other provisions are scarce and dear on account of the 

 difficulty of transport. 



(Denham and Clapperton's Travels ; Map of Berghaus.) 



BILSTON, Staffordshire, a market-town in the township and 

 chapelry of Bilston, parish of Wolverhampton, and hundred of North 

 Seisdon, is situated in 52 34' N. lat., 2 6' W. long. ; 3 miles S.E. 

 from Wolverhampton, 118 miles from London by road, and 123 miles 

 by the London and North- Western railway : the population of the 

 township in 1851 was 23,527. Bilston forms part of the municipal 

 and parliamentary borough of Wolverhampton. For sanitary purposes 

 it is governed by a Local Board of Health. The living is a perpetual 

 curacy in the gift of the inhabitants; it is in the archdeaconry of 

 Stafford and diocese of Lichfield. 



Bilston extends nearly 2 miles in length, and is situated upon a 

 rising ground on the great roads from London to Holyhead, and from 

 Birmingham to Manchester, Liverpool, and Chester. By these roads, 

 and by the Birmingham and Staffordshire Canal and its various 

 branches, Bilston possesses great facilities for transmitting its manr 

 factures, and the heavy products of its mines and foundries to the 

 eastern and western as well as northern coasts, and to the interior of 

 the country. Bilston owes its importance to its iron-works ; standing in 

 a district which possesses considerable mines of coal, iron-stone, quarry- 

 stone, and clay, it has rapidly increased in extent and population. 

 The town, which is irregularly built, contains a due proportion of 

 good and substantial houses in its principal streets : the dwellings of 

 the people employed in the different works are dispersed in all direc- 

 tions in the neighbourhood. 



The chapelry is divided into three districts, St. Leonard's, St. 

 Mary's, and St. Luke's. The original church, St. Leonard's, was 

 erected in 1826, in place of one which was built about the middle of 

 the last century ; that which previously stood there was erected in 

 the reign of Henry VI., but having become old and ruinous was taken 

 down, with the exception of the tower. The existing church, a 

 Grecian edifice, accommodates 2000 persons. St. Mary's church, a 

 handsome structure in the perpendicular style, was erected in 1829. 

 Another church has recently been built, with funds in part provided 

 by the Church-Building Society. The Roman Catholics, Wesleyan 

 Methodists, Baptists, and Independents have chapels. There is a 

 Charity school. 



The town suffered a dreadful visitation of cholera in 1832. The 

 population at that time was 14,700; of these 3568 persons were 

 attacked with cholera ; 742 died, and 450 young children were left 

 orphans. A substantial building, called the Cholera Orphan School, 

 was soon afterwards erected for the reception of the orphans. The 

 town is lighted by the Wolverhampton Gas-Works, but the streets are 

 very insufficiently lighted. In the autumn of 1849, at which time the 

 population was 23,500, a second visitation of the cholera occurred, of 

 which 700 persons died. 



The manufacturing industry of Bilston is very great. There are 

 numerous furnaces for smelting iron-ore, with foundries, forges, 

 slitting-mills, steam-engines, and the various works necessary for the 

 preparation of iron. The manufacture of tin, and of every kind of 

 japanned and enamelled wares, with that of iron, from nails and wire 

 to the heaviest and bulkiest articles, is largely carried on at Bilston. 



