BEL 



204 



B K I. 



poet* and trtisti: (be painting of Belshazxar's Feast 1>\ 

 Martin, and the dramas of Milman and Hannah More on 

 this -,ul>jixt. arc well known. 



The Awyrio-Babylonic name given to Daniel at the court 

 of Nebuchadnezzar was ISK'i'D^. Beluhazzar. (Dan. i. 



7. ii. 26. iv. 5, \i. l'i, x. 1.) Tho names of the sovereign 

 and the f.u'ourite indicate the esteem in \vliich Bel was held. 

 and mean the Prince of Ret, i.e. I'rinct whom Bel favours. 



BELSK or BYSLSK. the chief town of a circle of that 

 name in the province of Bialystok in western Russia, und 

 formerly the capital of the. 'Polish voyvodcship of Pod- 

 larhia, "is a neat, well- built, paved town on the Biala, a 

 small stream which traverses the fertile country that lies 

 amund it. It has two Roman Catholic churches and a 

 united Greek and Carmelite monastery ; but the population, 

 which is onoc said to have been 5l)0u, is at present reduced 

 to about 1800 souls, among whom are but lew Jens, to 

 whom Belsk has, among other privileges, that of refusing a 

 settlement within its jurisdiction. 52" 41)' N. lat and -Hit- 

 i' E. long. ; about twenty-three miles (thirty-five versts) 

 south of Bialystok. 



BELT, which in Danish, as in English, signifies a girdle, 

 is the name given to two of the three straits by which the 

 Baltic Sea is joined to the Cattegat. They are distinguished 

 l>y thi' addition of Great and Little. 



"Tho Great Kelt, which is the middle one of the three 

 straits, and the widest outlet for the waters of the Baltic, 

 begin* on the south, about J4 00' N. bit, between the south- 

 ern extremity of the island of Langeland and the western 

 shores of Laaiaml, and terminates on the north between 

 Nr>son the island of Zealand, and the southern ex- 

 tremity of Samsoe. Its length may be about seventy miles. 



The narrowest part of the strait is at its southern ex- 

 tremity, where it is, properly speaking, divided into two 

 straits by the island of Langeland ; for the narrow sea be- 

 tween that island and those of Arriie, Taasing, and Fionia 

 is comprehended under the name of Great Belt, and is 

 hardly more than four miles in breadth. The principal 

 branch Ijotween Langeland and Laaland is rather more than 

 eight miles wide. To the north of the northern extremity 

 of Langeland the breadth of the strait varies between 

 sixteen and twenty-four miles. 



Except near the shores the depth of the water is consider- 

 able, but very irregular, varying from five to twenty-live 

 fathoms. Bill some small and low islands and many shoals 

 render the navigation difficult and dangerous, and on that 

 account the passage of the Sound is preferred. In the last 

 war, however, English men-of-war commonly passed through 

 the Belt. The merchant-vessels which pass through it are 

 obliged to pay the customary duties at Nyborg or Nyeborg, 

 on the island of Fionia. The shores on both sides of the 

 strait, being low and irregular, form many good harbours 

 and anchorages. 



Between Nyborg in Fionia and Corsiier in Zealand, where 

 the strait is only sixteen miles across, a regular communi- 

 cation is established by steam-boats and smacks. In the 

 good season the passage is not dillicult ; but in the latter 

 part of the autumn ami in winter it is difficult and danger- 

 ous, especially on account of the pieces of floating ice which 

 in severe weather become very numerous, and arc sometimes 

 cemented together by hard frost. It is then sometimes ne- 

 i v t<> make one part of the passage in a sledge and the 

 other in a boat When in such circumstances snow begins 

 to full, the small island of Sprogiie, which lies in the strait, 

 but considerably nearer to the coast of Fionia than to that of 

 Zealand, offers a place of refuge. The Danish government 

 has erected a budding on this island for the reception of 

 traveller*. 



The Little Bflt, the most western of the three straits, 

 begins on the south between the islands of Arrue and A Km, 

 and extends, between the island of Fionia and Jutland, to 

 the Capes called Ogcr Ness on Fionia, and Bicornsknuddc 

 on Jutland. Its length is upwards of eighty miles, but 'its 

 width varies considerably. Towards the southern extremity, 

 between the islands Arriie and Alsen, it is generally above 

 ten miles across. At Assens, a town of Fionia, it narrows 

 suddenly to about fixe, and farther north it grows by degrees 

 narrower, so that between the town of Middelfart on Fionia, 

 and the opposite coast at Snoghcie, the distance hardly 

 amounts to three-quarters of a mile. At Fredericia, where 

 the vessels which pass the strait pay the customary duties, 

 the strait is little more than a mile wide. 



The depth of the water if considerable, varying from four 

 to twenty-seven fathoms: but the navigation in il.mgi 

 on account of the low islands (Aariw. : I Kunoe), 



the numerous shoals, and the violent ru:i<-:r.s winch con- 

 stantly run through the strait from south to north. 



The shores of the island of Fionia u;c low ; but on the 

 mainland they rise in a few places, though nowhere to any 

 considerable Might Regular places of passage are be- 

 tween Fredenem and Slriib. and Snoghoe and Middi-llait. 



(Catteau, Tableau de la Mer HaltiifUf; Glicmann, Ceo- 

 graph. Description nf Denmark ; and Pauly's Typography 

 nf Denmark; Gliemann s Map.) 



BELTEIN. or BELTANE, the name of a kind ... 

 tival. formerly and probably still observed in Ireland and 

 Scotland, in most places on the 1st of May. In some parts 

 of the west of Scotland it is observed on St. Peter's 

 June 29. In Ireland we find two belteins, one on tl. 

 of May, the other on the 21st of June. To the beltein, also, 

 in all probability, the fires which were formerly and arc per- 

 haps yet lighted in many parts of England on Midsummer 

 Eve, are to be referred. 



Beltein signifies the fire of Baal, the worship of whom is 

 supposed to have existed in England, Scotland, and Ireland 

 in the remotest period of druidical superstition. Tin- 1'liu;- 

 nician Baal probably denoted the Sun [see BAAL], ns .\~li- 

 taroth did the Moon. Beltein was therefore the fire lighted 

 in honour of the Sun, whose return and visible influence 

 upon the productions of the earth was thus celebrated. La 

 na Beat Una, and neen na Seal titia, in the Irish language, 

 are the day and eve of Seal's fire. (Fairy Legend* and 

 Traditions of the South nf Ireland; aiid MaeCurtm's 

 English-Irish Diet., 4to. Par. 173-1. p. IM.) 



The following account of the beltein is given in Focal air 

 Gaoidhilge-Sax-Bhearia, or an Irish- English Dictionary 

 (by O'Brien), printed at Paris, 4to. 1768: ' Bedltine, or 

 beil-tine, ignis Beli Dei Asiatic! : i.e. tinc-Beil. May-day, 

 so called from large fires which the Druids were used to 

 light on the summits of the highest hills, into which they 

 drove four-footed beasts, usinir at the .-.une time certain 

 ceremonies to expiate the sins of the people. Th> \ .a'.'.m 

 ceremony of lighting these fires in honour of the Asiatic 

 god Belus. gave its name to the entire month of May. which 

 is to this day called mi na Beat-line in the Irish laiu: 

 Dr. Keating, speaking of this fire of Beal, says, that, the 

 cattle were driven through it and not sacrificed, and that the 

 chief design of it was to keep off all contagious ih-i rdeis 

 from them for that year: and he also says, that all the inha- 

 bitants of Ireland quenched their (ires on that day. and 

 kindled them again out of some part of that fire. The above 

 opinion about the cattle is confirmed by the following uonls 

 of an old glossary, copied by Mr. Edward Lhuyd : Da tens 

 soinmerh do guilis na druftheeotitincet luib mnraibfnraib 

 agus do berdis na ceatra entra or teomatiditib rec/ta bliadna 

 the main sense of which is, that the Druids lighted two 

 solemn fires every year, and drove all four-fooled beasts 

 through them in order to preserve them from all contagious 

 distempers through the current year.' 



In Sir John Sinclair's Slatixliml Armani nf Sroflantl., 

 vol. xi. 8vo. Edinb. 1794, p. 620, the minister of Callamler 

 in Perthshire, speaking of ' peculiar customs,' savs, 'Upon 

 the first day of May, which is called Heltan or Beltein (lay, 

 all the boys in a township or hamlet meet in the moors. 

 They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure. b\ cas- 

 ing a trench in the ground of such circumference as to hold 

 the whole company. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast 

 of eggs und milk in the consistence ofn cutard. They 

 knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted ut the embers 

 against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide 

 the cake into so many portions, as similar as possible to one 

 another in size and shape, as there are pcr-or.s in I he c >m 

 pany. They daub one of these portions all oxer with char- 

 coal, until it be perfectly black. They put all the bits of 

 cake into a bonnet. Every one, blindfold, draws out a por- 

 tion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. 

 Whoever draws, the black bit is the devoted person who is 

 to be saenlici-d to Baal, whose favour they mean In implore, 

 in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man 

 and beast. There is little doubt,' the writer adds, ' of the-e. 

 inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country 

 as well as in the East, although they now pass from the act 

 riftrine. and only compel the devoted person to leap 

 three times through the (lames, with which the ceremonies 

 of this festival are closed.' 



