BEL 



205 



BEL 



The minister of Logerail, in Perthshire, gives a similar 

 account (Ibid. vol. v. p. 84) of the celebration of the heltein 

 in his parish. He says, ' On the 1st of May, O. S. a festival 

 called Beltan is annually held here. It is chielly celebrated 

 hy the cow-herds, who assemble by scores in the fields to 

 dress a dinner for themselves, of boiled milk and eggs. 

 These dishes they eat with a sort of cakes baked for the 

 occasion, and having small lumps, in the form of nipples, 

 aised all over the surface. The cake might, perhaps, be 

 n offering to some deity in the days of Druidism.' 



Mr. Pennant's account of this rural sacrifice is more 

 minute. He tells us, that on the 1st of May, in the High- 

 lands of Scotland, the herdsmen of every village hold their 

 Bel-tein. ' They cut a square trench in the ground, leaving 

 the turf in the middle ; on that they make a fire of wood, 

 on which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal, 

 and milk, and bring, besides the ingredients of the caudle, 

 plenty of beer and whiskey: for each of the company must 

 contribute something. The rites begin with spilling some 

 of the caudle on the ground, by way of libation ; on that, 

 every one takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised 

 nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular being, 

 the supposed preserver of their flocks and herds, or to some 

 particular animal, the real destroyer of them. Each person 

 then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and, Hing- 

 ing it over his shoulders, says, " This I give to thee, preserve 

 thou my horses ;" " This to thee, preserve thou my sheep ;" 

 and so on. After that they use the same ceremony to the 

 noxious animals : " This I give to thee, O fox ! spare thou 

 my lambs:" "This to thee, O hooded crow !" "This to thee, 

 eagle !" When the ceremony is over, they dine on the 

 caudle ; and, after the feast is finished, what is left is hid by 

 two persons deputed for that purpose : but on the next Sun- 

 day they re-assemble, and finish the reliques of the first 

 entertainment.' (Pennant's Tour in Scotland, 8vo. Ches- 

 ter, 1771, p. 90.) 



General Vallancey, in his Essay on the Antiquity nf the 

 Irish Language, Svo. Dublin, 1772, p. 19, noticing tha 1st 

 of May, says, 'On that day the Druids druve all the cattle 

 through the fires, to preserve them from disorders the en- 

 suing year. This pagan custom is still observed in Munster 

 and Connaught, where the meanest cottager worth a cow 

 and a wisp of straw practises the same on the first day of 

 May, and with the same superstitious ideas. (See also the 

 Survey of the South of Ireland, p. 233.) 



Jamieson, in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scot- 

 tish Language, vol. i. in voce, says, ' In Ireland Beltein is 

 celebrated on the 21st of June, at the time of the solstice.' 

 This is beyond a doubt a second festival of Beltein. He 

 adds. ' There, as they make fires on the tops of hills, every 

 member of the family is made to pass through the fire ; as 

 they reckon this ceremony necessary to ensure good fortune 

 through the succeeding year.' Beltein, he says, is also ob- 

 served in Lancashire. Hutchinson, in his Hislnry of Cum- 

 berland, vol. i. p. 77, speaking of the parish of Cumwhet- 

 -ays, ' They hold the wake on the eve of St. John, with 

 lighting fires, dancing, &c. The old Belteing.' 



In Sir John Sinclair's Statittical Account of Scotland, 

 Svo. Edinb. 1792., vol. iii. p. 105, the minister of Loudoun 

 in Ayrshire says that the custom amongst the herds and 

 young people to kindle fires in the high grounds in honour 

 of Beltein is now kept there on St. Peter s day, that is 

 June 29th. 



The practice of lighting fires on Midsummer eve in Eng- 

 land, in honour of the summer solstice, is fully illustrated 

 by Brand, in his Papular Antiquities, vol. i. p. 238, et seq. 



Jamieson suys, 'Although the name of Beltein is un- 

 known in Sweden, yet on the last day of April, i. e. the | 

 evening preceding our Beltein, the country people light 

 great fires on the hills, and spend the night in shooting. 

 This with them is the eve of Walburg's Mess. The first of 

 May is also observed.' 



BELTIRS, THE, a small horde of Tartar extraction, 

 who dwell along the banks of Abakan, in the Russian pro- 

 vince of Tomsk, in Siberia. In features and dialect they 

 most resemble the Sagay-Tartars ; like them they are 

 heatheng, and only differ from them in the custom they have 

 of never burying their dead, whose bodies they suspend to 

 large trees : for this purpose they select the most secluded 

 and unfrequented spot they can find, and hang up the 

 corpse in a deal coffin, after placing the most valuable gar- 

 ments of the deceased, as well as his household utensils, 

 some victuals, and a saddle, in the coffin. In general they 



have two wives, and their refusal to abandon this habit is 

 said to be the only bar to their conversion to Christianity. 

 They bring their tribute to the Russian government, to tlie 

 fortified town of Kuznezk, where all lift'erenees that may 

 arise between them are adjusted. Their numbers do not 

 exceed 150 bows and arrows, or males of mature age; at 

 least, this is the quota for levy of the tribute. (Georgi and 

 Vsevoloysky.) 



BELTS," JUPITER'S. [See JUPITER.] 



BELTURBET, in the bavony of Loughtea, and county of 

 Cavan, on the river Erne, sixty-one miles N.W. by W. from 

 Dublin. The town formerly returned two members to the 

 Irish parliament. It is a corporate town, governed hy a 

 provost, and is chiefly the property of the Lanesborough 

 family. There is extensive commonage in the environs, 

 and turbary attached to each holding. Here is a good 

 market-house, with sessions-house above; and a spacious 

 church, in the church-yard of which there are the remains 

 of an extensive fortification. The water communication to 

 Ballyshannon is complete, and might be opened to the sea 

 at comparatively little cost, and with immense advantage to 

 both the county Cavan and Fermanagh. In 1821 the 

 population of Belturbet was a little above 2000 : it does not 

 seem to have increased within the last ten years. In 1 824 

 there were in the town four schools, and altogether in the 

 parish eleven, educating 310 males and 238 females. (Stat. 

 Surv. nf County Cavan ; Pettigrew and Oulton's General 

 Register ; Commissioners' Repiirts.) / 



BELU'GA. [See STURGKO.V.] 



BELUR TAGH. [See BoLbR TAGH.J 



BELUS fo or ^y;a. /3ij\oc) was the name of the chief 



deity of the Babylonians and Assyrians. The Chaldee 

 Bfl OJ^l), as well as the Hebrew Baal OJQ), means 



Lord. The Greeks were apt to substitute Zeus for Belus, 

 and the Romans Jupiter. The planet Jupiter was also 

 worshipped under the name of Baal by the old Arabians 

 as the chief star of happiness. The temple of Belus at 

 Babylon was plundered and much damaged by Xerxes. 

 Alexander gave orders for its restoration, but the priests 

 bi'inj slack in executing the work, he intended to employ 

 the whole army in rebuilding the temple. [See BABYLON.] 

 According to Herodotus (i. 7), Belus was the father of 

 Ninus. 



(See Isai. xlvi. 1; Jer. 1. 2, li. 44; Baruch vi. 40: Herod, 

 i. 176, 181-183; Diod.Sic. ii. 8,10; Paus. i. 16, 3, viii.33. 1; 

 1'lin. Hist. Nat. vi. 30. xxxviii. 55, 58 ; Arriani, Anab. iii. 16, 

 vii. 1 6, 1 7 ; Cio. Nat. Dear. iii. 1 6 ; Norberg, Onomast. p. 28 ; 

 Gesenius, Jes. vol. ii. pp. 286, 337, 358 ; Winer's Realwor- 

 terburh, under Bel.) [See BAAL.] 



BELUS, the name of a small river of Syria, the sand of 

 which was used for making glass. (See Plin. v. 19, and the 

 story in xxxvi. 26.) 



BELVEDE'RE, in architecture, is a small building con- 

 structed at the top of a house or palace, and open to the 

 air, at least on one side, and often on all. The term is an 

 Italian compound, signifying ' a fine view ;' and in Italy it is 

 constructed expressly for that purpose, combined with the ob- 

 ject of enjoying the cool evening breeze, which blows Iresher 



[View of th Ildlvcdere of Hie Vatican, from a print in Ihu HiHisIi Mini-urn. 



