1117 



BITLIS. 



BLACKBURN. 



1118 



Bas was succeeded in B.C. 326 by his son Zipoetes, who carried on 

 a successful war with Lysimachus, and founded the city Zipootion. 

 His eldest son Nicomedes I. came to the throne about B.C. 278. His 

 succession was disputed by his brother Zybcetes, and he called in 

 the Gauls to support his claim ; who also seem to have assisted his 

 son Zeilas in recovering his inheritance from his step-mother Etazeta. 

 Zeilas or Zelas (not Zielas, as Clinton writes it) reigned till about 

 B.C. 228, when he was succeeded by his son Prusias I. This prince 

 is described as a man of courage and activity, and indeed gained 

 his name of ' the lame ' from a wound which he received while 

 mounting a scaling ladder at the siege of Heracleia ; but his memory 

 is in some degree tarnished by his connection with the death of the 

 great Hannibal, who sought refuge at his court. Hannibal died in 

 B.C. 183, and Prusiaa II. probably came to the throne in B.C. 180, or 

 thereabouts. He married the sister of Perseus, king of Macedon, 

 between whom and the Romans he endeavoured to mediate. (Liv. 

 xliv. 14. \ He visited Rome B.C. 167 along with his son Nicomedes, 

 by whom he was murdered, B.C. 149. Little is known of Nicomedes II. 

 He was applied to for succours during the Cimbrian war by Marius, 

 and died probably in the year B.C. 91. His son Nicomedes III. was 

 expelled by Mithridates, but was restored by the Romans, and 

 expelled again B.C. 88. At the peace in B.C. 84 he was a second time 

 restored, and dying in B.C. 74, he left his kingdom to the Romans as 

 his heirs. 



Bithynia as a Roman province is thrown quite into the shade till 

 the time of Trajan, when Pliny the younger presided over it, and 

 from his epistles we derive a good deal of information respecting its 

 condition at that time. In the division of Augustus it was one of 

 the Proconsulares Provincial, that is, one of those provinces which 

 were left to the senate and the people (Dio. 53, 12; Strabo i. 17; 

 Tacitus 'Anna!.' xvi. 18); but Pliny's appointment was due to his 

 intimacy with the emperor, with whom he corresponded familiarly 

 on the affairs of the province. He found near Nicomedeia a foss 

 commenced by a king of Persia probably for the purpose of irrigating 

 the neighbouring lands, and he endeavoured to induce the emperor 

 to turn it into a canal between the Lake of Nicomedeia and the sea : 

 Trajan seems to have been inclined to adopt his suggestion. (' Epist.' x. 

 50, 69.) In his 46th ' Epist.' 1. 10, he asks Trajan "for an 'aquilex' to 

 complete the aqueduct commenced by the Nicomedians, and appears 

 in general to have been a great benefactor of the province. 



It was on the plain of Niejca that the Sultan Solyman cut to pieces 

 the army of Peter the Hermit, and its proximity to Constantinople 

 has made this district the scene of many important events in modern 

 history. [Xic.EA.] 



BITLIS, a town in Turkish Armenia, situated at the southern 

 extremity of a long rocky ravine which separates the Kerku Moun- 

 tains from the Nimrud-Dagh in a deep valley traversed by the 

 Bitlis River, one of the head-waters of the Tigris, at a distance 

 of about 120 miles S.E. from Erz-rum, and 12 miles S.W. from the 

 western angle of Lake Wan. Three ravines each traversed by a 

 stream open into the valley, one already mentioned from the north- 

 west, another from the west, and a third from the east ; and at their 

 junction with the main valley the town is situated at an altitude of 

 6156 feet above the sea. In the centre of the town rises an abrupt 

 rock 50 or 60 feet high, on the summit of which are the ruins of a 

 castle, the residence of the former Begs of Bitlis. The only access 

 to the castle is by a narrow steep passage strongly defended by gates. 

 The external wall which nms round the edge of the rock and is 

 30 feet high above its level platform, i solidly built and loopholed, 

 but within this inclosure there is nothing but a heap of ruins. At 

 the eastern base of the castle rock are the bazaars, which are low, 

 dark, ill-built, and dirty, but well stocked and generally much 

 crowded, as Bitlis is one of the chief marts for the imports and 

 exports of Armenia and Kurdistan. The bazaars are lighted only 

 by perforations at intervals in the roof, which is terraced over and 

 used as a highway for foot passengers. Near the bazaars and on 

 the tanks of the river are the slaughterhouses, haunted by mangy 

 dogs, and reeking with offensive effluvia. The streets run along the 

 streams and up the ravines, giving an irregular and straggling form 

 to the town, which covers a considerable area, as the buildings are 

 interspersed with numerous orchards and gardens, which smile in 

 singular contrast with the bare limestone mountains that rise on 

 every side to the height of about 2000 feet above the valley. The 

 streams are crossed by single-arched bridges sufficiently numerous 

 to afford a ready passage from one part of the town to another. 



The houses are all built of stone and flat roofed. The best of 

 them stand high up the declivities, and are ornamented with large 

 arched window,*, trellis-work, and porticoes. The stone used in 

 a soft volcanic rock which abounds in the neighbourhood, 

 in the north-west ravine ; it is cut into square blocks 



which are cemented with mud ; only a few of the houses are pointed 

 with lime cement. There are two good khans for the accommo- 

 dation of merchant", three mosqups with minarets, twelve tekiychs, 



nvent* of Howling Dervishes, and four Armenian churches. 

 The p .f tin) town consist* of about 2000 Mohammedan, 



' rrnenian, and 40 Jacobite families. The principal building in 



fied residence erected by Sherif Beg in 1836, on the 



level cnramit of a mountain spur that runs half way across the 



mouth of the eastern ravine, and is 5475 feet above the sea. It is a 

 rude but extensive structure, consisting of a quadrangle two stories 

 high, built round a court which contains a copious fountain. The 

 ground-floor is used for stables and store-houses ; the upper rooms are 

 entered from an open gallery overlooking the court, and are used as 

 sitting and receiving rooms, harem, &c. The windows are all on 

 the outer walls of the building, and command extensive views. 

 From this frowning castle which commands the town on the west 

 and the eastern ravine, Sherif Beg held Bitlis and its territory 

 (containing 80 villages, and forming about one-third of the pashalic 

 of Mush) in defiance of the Sultan for several years. The position 

 of, this fortress, as given in the ' Royal Geographical Journal,' vol. x., 

 is 38 23' 54" N. lat., 42 4' 45" E..long. ; on the map in Dr. Layard's 

 ' Nineveh and Babylon,' the town is placed 8' or 9' farther east. 



In point of trade Bitlis is an important place. The exports are 

 chiefly galls, honey, wax, wool, and gum tragacanth from the mountains 

 of Kurdistan and Armenia, carpets and cotton stuffs woven in the 

 town and neighbourhood, and dyed here in most brilliant colours. 

 The dyes of Bitlis are celebrated for their brilliancy ; they are made 

 from mountain herbs, and from indigo, yellow berries, and other 

 materials which are imported. The raw cotton used in their manu- 

 factures is brought from the districts of Kharzan and Shirwan 

 (which also supply madder), and some of it is imported from Khoi, 

 in Persia. It is spun by hand ; and several hundred thousand short 

 heavy calico pieces are manufactured throughout the country, of which 

 Bitlis is the centre, and sent here to be dyed. The favourite colours 

 among the Kurds are a dull deep red, and a bright yellow mingled 

 or striped with black. The carpets are of a rich soft texture with 

 patterns displaying considerable elegance and taste ; they are much 

 esteemed in Turkey. Manchester goods, including unbleached calicoes, 

 shawls, and prints ; gay-coloured silks and satins, some woollen clothes 

 and coarse cutlery are comprised in the list of British goods sold in the 

 bazaars. The manufactures of Damascus, Aleppo, and Diyar-Bekr 

 are more extensively used. 



Bitlis is said to be an ancient place. Until lately it was governed by 

 Kurdish Begs, who were but little under the control of the Porte. 

 Sherif Beg, the last of these lawless chiefs, was exiled to Constanti- 

 nople in 1849, after the so-called subjugation of the Kurds by Reshid 

 Pasha, and the town is now governed under the Pasha of Mush. 



BITONTO. [BARI.] 



BITTON. [GLOUCESTERSHIRE.] 



BIYSK. [SIBERIA; TOMSK.] 



BLABY, Leicestershire, a village and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, 

 in the parish of Blaby and hundred of Guthlaxton, is situated in 

 52 34' N. lat., 1 10' W. long., 4^ miles S.W. from Leicester, and 

 98 miles N.W. from London : the population of the entire parish, 

 including the chapelry of Countesthorpe, in 1851 was 1952 ; that of 

 Blaby alone was 1003. The living is a rectory held with the curacy 

 of Countesthorpe in the archdeaconry of Leicester and diocese of 

 Peterborough. Blaby Poor-Law Union contains 22 parishes and 

 townships with an area of 32,024 acres, and a population in 1851 of 

 14,190. 



The inhabitants of Blaby are generally engaged as frame-work 

 knitters ; some are employed in glove-making. The parish church is 

 a fine old building of the early English style. The Wesleyan Metho- 

 dists and Baptists have places of worship. The National school, 

 erected in 1849, is a very ornamental edifice. In addition to the 

 facilities for transporting goods afforded by the Midland railway, the 

 Wigstown station of which is about a mile and a half from Blaby, 

 water carriage is obtained by a canal which passes through a part of 

 the lordship. 



BLACKBURN, Lancashire, a manufacturing town, parliamentary 

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

 dred of Blackburn, is situated near the centre of the parish, on both sides 

 of a brook called in Domesday Book ' Blacheburne,' in 53 45' N. lat., 

 2 30' W. long.; 21 miles N.N.~W. from Manchester by railway, 209 

 miles N.W. by N. from London by road, and 209 miles from Londou 

 by the North- Western railway via Trent Valley : the population of 

 the municipal and parliamentary borough, with which the township 

 is co-extensive, was 46,536 in 1851. Blackburn returns two members 

 to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a vicarage in the arch- 

 deaconry and diocese of Manchester. Blackburn Poor-Law Union 

 contains 24 parishes and townships, with an area of 33,159 acres, and 

 a population in 1851 of 90,739. 



The parish of Blackburn extends nearly 14 miles in length and 10 

 miles in breadth. It contains 17 townships and 6 chapelries. The hun- 

 dred of Blackburn comprises four whole parishes Blackburn, Chipping, 

 Ribchester, and Whalley, with parts of Bury and Metton, altogether 

 containing 80 townships. 



The town of Blackburn is sheltered by a range of hills, which 

 stretch from the north-east to the north-west as far as Billinge Hill. 

 The older parts of the town are irregularly built ; but within the last 

 twelve years great improvements have been effected by widening and 

 improving the streets, erecting a new town-hall, market-house, 

 l;i 1 1" liter-houses; gas-works, water-works, &c. The town is now well 

 lighted and supplied with water. 



There are few public edifices in Blackburn except those which are 

 used for religious worship. The parish church, St. Mary's is of very 



