BI IT 



Gascony. It wa* bounded on the W. hy Bcarn, and on the 

 N. and K. by different districts of Armagnae, vi/.. mi tho 

 N. by Le Pays d Kivie.c B.I--C. on the N'.E. by 1 

 or A-' on the E. by Le Pays de Nebouzan and 



1 in the south it was bounded 

 the Pyrenees serving to mark the frontier line. 

 The country of Bigorre i> included in the basin of tho 



r, which takes its n-c in the valley of Campan in tho 



southern part of the district, and flows northward through 



Its length from N. by E. to S. by W. is about sixty 



, and ii- greatest breadth nearly thirty. (Map of 

 France in provinces by the Society for the diffuti 



J KnmcleJge.) This country is very mountainous, 



.ally in the southern parts; and some of the loftiest 

 summits of the Pyrenees are either within its frontier, or 



l.tlle removed from it. It is watered by the Adour 

 and its tributaries, hut these are not navigable within its 

 borders. For an account of its cliirfate, soil, and produc- 

 tions we refer to PYRK'.NK'ES (IlAVTKS), DKP. OF, within the 

 limits of which Bigorre is now included. 



The chief towns were Tarbes, the capital, on the Adour, 

 (pup. 9706 :) Vic-de-Bigorre (pop. 3599 for the town, 3679 

 for the whole commune;) Lourdes (pop. 3161 for the town, 

 3818 for the whole commune;) Bagnores (pop. 5633 for the 

 town, 7586 for the whole commune ;) Barege, St. Sever de 

 Ilustan, Jornac, &c. The whole district w as divided into three 

 p.ir:s. Les Montagues (the mountains), Li Plaine (the plain), 

 and Le Rustan. ' Les Montagues' were subdivided into the 

 valli es d'Azun, de Barege, de Campan, and dc Lavcdan. 



In the time of Julms Cwsar the country of Bigorre 

 was occupied by the Bigerrones. a people or tribe of the 

 Aquitani, from whom it has derived its name. They 

 submitted to Crassus, the lieutenant of Ca-sar, when he 

 attacked the Aquitani. Pliny, who mentions them, 

 gives them the name of Bcgcrri ; but they are not noticed 

 liy Ptolemy and the other geographers. Their capital 



Tnrba, afterwards Tarvia and Tarba (now Tarbes), 

 called also Castruin Bigorra. There were other tribes, 

 who were included partly or wholly within the district 

 of Bigorre ; as the Tornates (people of Tournay, a town 

 in Kstarac, just on the border of Bigorre) and the Cam- 

 pini, who probably resided in and have given name to 

 the Vallee de Campan. These tribes of course shared the 

 file of their countrymen in becoming subject to the 

 Romans: and in the Roman subdivision of Gaul their 

 country was included in the province of Novempopulania. 

 In the fifth century, upon the downfall of the Western 

 Empire, Bigorre passed with the neighbouring districts 

 under the yoke of ihe Visigoths: and early in the sixth 

 century it was acquired hy the Franks under Clovis, who 

 had defeated and killed Alaric, king of the Visigoths. 

 During the troubles which marked the period of the M. , , 

 vingian kings, successors of Clovis, the Gascons began to 

 extend themselves over the south-western parts of France, 

 and their leaders were created dukes of Aqliilaine. and ac- 

 quired possession of liigorre. In the earlier part of the ninth 

 century Louis le Dehonnaire, successor of Charlemagne, 



"d Bigorre into a county in favour of a son of the duke 

 of (iascogne. This count and his posterity held the so- 

 vereignty of the district as feudal subjects of the king ol 

 France for about four hundred and seventy years. In the 

 latter part of the 1.1th century the country was seqneMi ro<] 

 and put into the hands of Philip IV. (\je Bel) king ol 

 France : but in 13S9 it ITM '>' Charles VI. to a de- 



l ml of the former counts; and having lieen by the mar- 

 lia.'e of tho possessors or by other means united to Beam 

 and J-oix, it became part of the patrimony of Henry IV., by 

 whom it w as united to the crown of France. 



Bill Alt (Hungar. Itihur Kiirinr/:i/e), a county of Upper 

 Hungary, in the province ' Beyond tin- Tliei-s' is bounded 

 : by Transsylvania." It lies between 46' 28' and 

 -l 7 li'' NM.it., mid -j'r H/and U'2'55' E. long., and MM 

 tain* an area of about 4.'07 square miles, more than twice 

 the surface of the county of Northumberland. This popu- 

 lous district of Hungary is in many parts intersected hy 

 nwanips and foreM*. In the east it is encircled by the Car- 

 pathians, of which the Bihanzrgy and Csaf are here Ihe 

 most elevated points, and is full of forests, but in the west 



urfarc is a level, covered with swamps in many quar- 

 ters, and for an extent of several square miles aroui.d Iv - 

 m.'i'ii. occupied by Ihe great S.ir I!' Ije, a morass formed by 

 the OVIT||"I!I'_' of the IWcttvo and K'irlis rivers. In this 

 part of Bill* arc a number of eminences, from thirty to 



R I J 



forty feet in height, which some assert to l>c watch-hills of 

 artificial con-tr\. prin- 



cipal rivers in the county are the Black K!':ii-, the Rapid 

 and the Bcivtlvt'i. which pour dow n from the moun- 

 tainous district- int 'the plain country, and heini: unimpeded 

 by any harrier on either bank, oveillo i . cut lands 



and give ri.-e 1 1 the numerous and extcn-ive m 

 which Bihar is distinguished. In this way the llapi I I 

 alone has, during the last half ccT.tury, lai '.000 



.nder water, and not onh havew: 



le, but the atmosphere round them h.; :en d 



unhealthy. As you approach the mountain 

 becomes pure and salubrious. In the Vale of Korotsh, 

 which extends over an area thirty-seven miles in I- 

 and eighteen in breadth, the climate is so genial, thai 

 parts of Hungary are sui>erior to it in culr 

 ductiveness. On the whole, however, Bihar is 

 one of the moat fertile counties in the kingdom: it ronl 

 2,160,834 acres of available soil, of which 1,09'.,1JU are 

 under the plough, and 71,078 are laid out in viney 

 and it raises grain of all kinds in superabundance, particu- 

 larly wheat of very superior quality. \ - and fruit 

 are of luxuriant growth : the principal wines are white, and 

 some of them are much esteemed. To these must be 

 added large crops of tobacco. Timber abounds in the 

 mountainous parts of the county, but fuel is so scarce 

 in the low lands, that reeds, straw, and dried dung supply- 

 its place. Indian corn, hemp, flax, and saffron are among 

 the other vegetable products of this c.amty. It i- 

 in minerals also : gold-dust, with pieces sometimes as 

 large as a filbert, is obtained from the Black Kiirus, near 

 Vaskoll in particular ; Rczbanya produces annually 

 1000 marks of silver; of copper about 840 cwt. are yearly 

 raised, and of lead about 2 j tons ; much iron ore and 

 many iron-works are found in the neighbourly d of 

 Vaskoll and Grosvardein ; and the road from Barod into 

 Transsylvania leads over a continued bed of marble for a 

 distance of nine miles and more. Bihar also product 

 bastcr, chalk, and limestone, potter's clay, porcelain earth, 

 fire stone, granite, petrified carbon or jet, which t 

 brilliant polish, coals (near Derna and Feketeto), n:,; 

 mineral alkalis, saltpetre, and excellent mineral wat. 

 which those near Grosvardein are much e-teemed. The 

 rearing of domestic animals, among which ho: 

 cattle, and swine are the chief, is canied to a . 

 extent; and game and fish ane plentiful. The pop 1 /. 

 of Bihar is estimated at about 445.000 souls, giving an 

 average of nearly 106 per square mile: of these tie 

 portion of Protestants to Roman Catholics is about i 

 3 j, and of Protestants to Greeks about 150 to i:<s. There 

 is no part of the country where agriculture is not f 'llo,\o^ 

 almost to the exclusion of the arts and manufacture- & 

 cepting Debreczin and Grosvardein, which are pla 



lerable trade. Bihar contains one royal fr< e town, 

 Debreczin, the largest town in Hungary after Pc-th, with 

 upwards of 40,OdO inhabitants: the anticnt episc ipal 



ardoin, or Nanv Barad, on the Sedes-Ki'irii-. IT ; 

 Kiiriis, with about 10,000 inhabitants: _'! market-towns, 

 460 villages, and 170 pncdia. It is divided into the live 

 circles of Sarcte, Szalonta, Belcnye, Vardein, and Er- 

 melye. 



B'l.IA GANITA. [See Via* C VMTA.] 

 BI.IANACHUR, or B18NAGHUR (I'ijuyan, 

 signifying, in Sanscrit, the triumphal fortress), sometimes 

 called Annagoonclcy, was once a Hindu city of great im- 

 portance, but is now nearly uninhabited and litlle 1110:0 

 than a heap of ruins. It stands on both sides of tie 

 To imbuddra. in 16 14' N. lat., and 70 37' E. long. Tl.o 

 name of Annagoonduy is more generally applied to that 

 part cf the city which occupies the north-west hank of the 

 river, while the part on the opposite side retains usually tin; 

 name of Bijanaghur. The Toembttddra al this -] 

 800 yards wide, and rapid in its course : its bed i- occupied 

 by many granite rocks. The ri- l!y at one 



en the two parts of the city, and here the. 



bridge, which is in ruins, and the com- 

 munication is now kept up liy mean- of a ferry. 



The city stands in a plain, which is surrounded by enor- 

 mous nia-sr- of granilc. seine of which take the form and 

 Hide (if lulls. In the plain there are lilv 

 . of granite, many of which have ii 

 when building the city, ihe course of tho street 

 iiianv pails made winding in order to avoid the f. 



