1099 



BIRKENFELD. 



BIRMA. 



1090 



BIRKENFELD, a principality in Germany, which formerly gave 

 title to a collateral branch of the ducal house of Deux-Ponts 

 or Zweibriicken, but now belongs to the dukes of Oldenburg. It 

 lies in the west of Germany, on the left . bank of the Rhine, in the 

 basin of the Nahe, and between the hilly districts of the Hochwald 

 on the west and the Hundsriick on the east. It occupies an area of 

 about 160 square miles, and has a population of about 30,000. The 

 soil is unsuited to husbandry, its surface being covered with forests 

 and mountains ; it possesses iron-mines, and produces a variety of 

 semi-precious stones, such as the jasper, agate, chalcedony, &c., which 

 are wrought up into articles of luxury for exportation. The principal 

 occupation of the inhabitants is cattle-breeding : some wine also is 

 made. The principality formed part of the former French depart- 

 ment of Saar. Under the treaty of Vienna Birkeufeld was, in 1817, 

 transferred by Prussia to the Duke of Oldenburg. The prin- 

 cipality is divided into three bailiwicks. It derives its name from 

 Birkenfeld, a market-town on the Zimnierbach, which is situated 

 in the Huudsriick, the range of country between the Rhine and 

 Nahe ; it has a castle, a seminary for educating teachers, and about 

 2300 inhabitants. There are two iron-mines in the neighbourhood, 

 and thu town has very considerable fairs for horses. Oberstein on 

 the Nahe is also a market-town, with a castle and about 2200 

 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in manufacturing articles in 

 semi-precious stones, and grinding and polishing them. 



BIRKENHEAi), Cheshire, a market-town and port, in the chapelry 

 of Birkenhead and lower division of Wirral hundred, is situated near 

 the mouth of the Mersey, on its left bank, opposite to Liverpool ; in 

 53 23' N. lat., 3 2' W. long.; 16 miles N.N.W. from Chester, 199 

 miles N.W. from London by road, and 193 miles by the North- 

 Western and Lancashire and Cheshire Junction railways : the popu- 

 lation of the chapelry in 1841 was 8223; that of the town in 1851 

 was 24,285. Birkenhead is governed by commissioners appointed in 

 terms of an Act of Parliament. The living is in the archdeaconry of 

 Liverpool and diocese of Chester. 



Birkenhead owed its origin to the foundation of a Benedictine 

 priory in the reign of Henry II., some interesting remains of which 

 exist ; on a part of the site of the priory the incumbent's house is 

 built. In 1833 an Act was passed for paving, lighting, watching, and 

 otherwise improving Birkenhead, for regulating its police, and for 

 establishing a market; and in 1841 another Act was obtained for 

 supplying the town with water and for lighting it with gas. The 

 jurisdiction of the commissioners extends over an area of about 

 1300 acres. 



The commissioners for the improvement of Birkenhead are invested 

 with powers which enable them to carry into practice sanitary regu- 

 lations. The streets are of considerable width. A fine park of 226 

 acres has been laid out : it has six entrances, and on the western side 

 of the park is a cemetery of 71 acres, situated on elevated ground. 

 Numerous good dwelling-houses have been built, arranged in hand- 

 some streets, crescents, and squares. The market-hall is 430 feet 

 long by 131 feet broad, with six entrances, and 42 shops and 80 stalls 

 around the market; it is provided with two fountains. Slaughter- 

 houses are built in a suitable situation. A town-hall, a bridewell, 

 police offices, a magistrates' room, baths and washhouses, and a fire- 

 establiahment are among the new works undertaken by the commis- 

 sioners. Many handsome villas in the town and suburbs are occupied 

 by the merchants of Liverpool and Birkenhead. In the town are 

 four chapels for Episcopalians, three for Presbyterians, and one each 

 for Wesleyan Methodists and Independents ; five schools in connection 

 with the parish church, three with Trinity church, three with St. 

 John's, and two with St. Ann's ; besides schools in connection with 

 the Dissenting chapels. St. Aidan's College, founded in 1846, for the 

 training of candidates for the ministry in the Episcopal Church, is 

 under the care of a principal and three other tutors ; the number 

 of students in 1852 was 40 ; the number of scholars in the school 

 department was 30. There are also an hospital and a dispensary, a 

 savings bank, and other useful institutions. The communication with 

 Liverpool is kept up by small steam-boats which are constantly 

 plying from each side of the river throughout the day. 



The rapid growth of Birkenhead is owing to the formation of com- 

 modious docks. The town commissioners in pursuance of the powers 

 conferred on them by various Acts of Parliament, have since 1842 

 been engaged in the execution of several docks, warehouses, and other 

 extensive works for the accommodation of shipping. The design of 

 converting Wallasey Pool, on which Birkenhead is situated, into docks, 

 was entertained some years ago, and originated with Mr. M. Laird. 

 The first atone of the docks was laid on the 23rd of October, 1844. 

 The principal or floating dock is 120 acres in extent, a space exceeding 

 that of ill the docks in Liverpool. 



A certain clashing of interests between different governing bodies 

 at Birkenhead, has rendered new arrangements frequently necessary. 

 Besides the Act of 1844, a second was obtained in 1845 for the 

 formation of dock and wharf walls; and another in 1847 for new 

 powers in respect to these constructions. In 1848 an Act was passed 

 for the formation of a board of trustees of the Birkenhead docks, 

 which board (in order to represent and reconcile conflicting interests) 

 is constituted as follows : Four trustees chosen by the bondholders, 

 with whose foods the docks were in part constructed ; four chosen 



OEOO. DIV. VOL. I. 



by the Birkenhead commissioners ; and three by the Wallasey com- 

 missioners. 



When the Act of 1844 was obtained, the Commissioners of Woods 

 and Forests, on the part of the crown, claimed a right to the mud 

 shore of Wallasey Pool, between high and low water marks. The 

 value put upon this by the Commissioners of Woods and Forests was 

 nearly 800,000?. ; but ail arrangement was made by which the whole 

 of the existing works become forfeited to the crown in 1854, unless 

 completed and the agreement with the crown carried out by that year. 

 By an Act passed in 1850 these terms are modified in favour of the 

 Birkenhead commissioners, and the period extended within which the 

 works must be completed. 



Birkenhead is connected by railway with Chester, and thence with 

 all parts of England. The rails aro brought round all the quays of 

 the docks. Hitherto the trade of Birkenhead has not reached so 

 high a point as had been anticipated, and the hope of which had led 

 to such extensive and costly works ; but whenever a large traffic 

 shall grow up there, it will be well accommodated by the railway, 

 the docks, and the warehouses, all of which are admirably planned 

 to work together in one system. 



(Ads of Parliament ; Proceedings of Commissioners ; Communication 

 from Birkenhead.) 



BIRKET-EL-KEROUN, the ancient Lake Mceris, a large lake in 

 the province of Fai'oum in middle Egypt, to the west of the great 

 valley of the Nile, from which it is separated by the range of the 

 Libyan Mountains. A canal which is a branch of the Bahr Yussouf, 

 carries the waters of the Nile at the time of its rise into the Fai'oum, 

 through a gap in the ridge near Benisouef, and after serving the 

 purposes of irrigation the superfluous waters discharge themselves 

 into the Lake Keroun. The lake is in the form of a crescent, the 

 convex part of which faces the north-west, and it is bounded on 

 that side by a ridge of rocks that separates it from the sandy 

 desert. Along its south-east or concave bank is the fertile plain of 

 the Fai'oum, once irrigated with numerous canals and covered with 

 villages. The present number of villages in the Fa'ioum is said not 

 to exceed 70. The length of the lake from one-horn of the crescent 

 to the other is above 30 miles, and its greatest breadth in the centre 

 is about 5 miles. The water is brackish, but it abounds with fish. 

 It is said by Herodotus (ii. 149) that the waters of the Lake Moeris 

 flowed out into the Nile for six months in the year, and during the 

 other six months the waters of the Nile flowed into the lake. This 

 emission of the waters of the lake has been supposed by some to 

 have taken place through a canal near Tamieh, at the north-east 

 extremity of the lake, where the French accounts say there is a valley 

 .or depression in the direction of Jizeh. But if the level of the lake 

 be about 120 feet lower than the bank of the Nile at Benisouef, as 

 Mr. Wilkinson states it to be, the account of Herodotus must be 

 incorrect as applied to the lake, though it would be true as applied 

 to the canal. The description of this lake in Herodotus is very 

 confused, as appears from his considering it a natural excavation. 

 The description in Strabo also (p. 810, Casaub.) is not without its 

 difficulties, though he appears to distinguish better than Herodotus 

 between the canals, which were an artificial work, and the lake itself. 



(Herodotus ; Strabo ; Pliny, v. 9, &c. ; Wilkinson's Topography of 

 Thebes ; Description de VEgypte, by the French Engineers.) 



BIRKET-EL-MARIOUT, the Lake Mareotis, or Marea Palm, of 

 the ancients, a large lake to the south of Alexandria in Egypt, which 

 once washed the city walls on that side. It communicated by a 

 canal with the Cauopic branch of the Nile. It also communicated 

 by another canal with the sea at Port Eunostus, or the old harbour 

 of Alexandreia. [ALEXANDREIA.] During the decay of that city after 

 the Arab conquest, the canals being neglected, the Lake Mareotis 

 ceased to receive the waters of the Nile, and its own waters gradually 

 receded from their banks. When Belon visited Egypt in the 16th 

 century, soon after the Ottoman conquest, the lake had receded about 

 two miles from the walls of the town, but it was still a large piece of 

 water, the banks of which were planted with date-trees, and had a 

 verdant and pleasant appearance. (Belon's ' Travels.') In the course 

 of centuries however the lake became gradually dried up ; and when 

 Savary visited Egypt in 1777, its former bed was a sandy waste. 

 In 1801, during the French invasion of Egypt, the English army in 

 order to distress the French garrison of Alexandria, cut the narrow 

 isthmus which separates the bed of the Mareotis from Lake Mddieh, 

 or Aboukir, when the sea-water flowed in and covered again the 

 Mareotis to the extent of about 30 miles in length, and about 15 miles 

 in its greatest breadth. After the peace Mehemet Ali Pasha re- 

 established the isthmus, and restored the old canal of Alexandria 

 which communicates with the Rosetta branch of the Nile at Foua, 

 and which has been called the Canal Mahmoud, in honour of the then 

 reigning sultan. The depth of the Lake Mariout varies from 14 feet 

 in its northern part near Alexandria to 4 and 3 feet towards, its 

 southern extremity. To the westward the lake forms a long shallow 

 projection, running nearly as far as the tower of the Arabs, and is 

 separated from the sea only by a narrow isthmus. [ALEXANDREIA.] 



BIRMA, or the BIRMAN EMPIRE, of which other names are- 

 Burma, Brahma, Buraghmah, Boman, Barma, and Varma, called also 

 the kingdom of Ava, extends over more than one-fourth of the 

 surface of the peninsula beyond the Ganges, and contains more than 



4 A 



