n I R 



413 



B I R 



descriptions an given above, observes, that when the epider- 

 mis is removed the colour is whitish, with lactescent stripe*. 

 Then- are specimen* in the Chatham and British Museums. 



BIQUADRATIC, an algebraic term, meaning of the 

 fourth degree, or which contains the fourth power of any 

 letter. Thus, to flml the value of x in 



j- 4 + 3 a 1 = r -f 100 

 u the solution cf a biquadratic equation. 



The term means '.twice as high as a quadratic.' [See 

 QUADRATIC.] Among the older algebraists the fourtli 

 power was also denoted by the terms quadrato-quadratum, 

 piano ptanum, tueso/idum, zemizentic (corruption of an 

 Arabic word), &r. The word biquadratic is now wearing 

 out uf use, and it is becoming customary to say ' of the 

 fourth degree' instead. 



BI R, sometimes written BEER, the antient BIRTH A 

 according to D'Anville, a town of Mesopotamia in Asiatic 

 Turkey, in 3C J 59' N. lat. and 38 7' 15" E. lone., 144 miles 

 N.E. from Aleppo. It is situated on the side of a very 

 steep hill on the cast bank of the Euphrates, which is 

 here wider than the Tigris at Mosul, and may be loosely 

 said to be at least equal to the Thames at Blackl'riars 

 Bridge. Pooor.ke mentions some English gentlemen who 

 found it 2 1 4 yai ds wide in September ; and says generally that 

 the bed of the river is about a quarter of a mile across, and 

 that only half that breadth is occupied when the water is 

 low. More precisely, the same English gentlemen measured 

 the bed, and found it 630 yards wide. This seems a medium 

 account: some travellers make the breadth of the river 

 greater, and some much less ; but it is to be considered that 

 in the Euphrates the volume and breadth of the water is 

 greatly increased or diminished with the season. The 

 eastern bank of the river being here steep and the western 

 flat, the rapidity of the current is very different on the op- 

 posite sides, but its general course here is slow. The depth 

 of course varies with the season ; but Mr. Buckingham 

 states that when he was there, in the month of May, it did 

 not seem to exceed ten or twelve feet. This has long been 

 the point where caravans and travellers from Aleppo to 

 Orfuli. Oiarbekir, Bagdad, and Persia cross the Euphrates, 

 the passage being effected in large boats, about forty feet 111 

 length by ten broad, not more than two feet high at the stern, 

 but not less than fifteen at the prow. There was formerly 

 some trade carried on by the river between this place and 

 Bagdad, but it has long been discontinued by this channel. 



Bir is now become a place of considerable interest, as 

 it is the point from which it is proposed to navigate the 

 Euphrates by steam. Captain Chesney at first thought 

 that Annah was the highest point to which steamers 

 could attain. The water to Bir is indeed deep enough; 

 and it is well known at Bagdad, that some years ago heavy 

 ordnance from Constantinople, destined for Bagdad, was sent 

 down the Euphrates from Bir on kellecks or rafts, which 

 when heavily laden draw more water than an ordinary 

 steamer. Tlie obstructions arise from rocks in the river, as 

 mentioned by Thcvenot, and now confirmed by Captain 

 Chesney, who thought that to render the river navigable to 

 Bir, cither some of the rocks must be blasted, or some 

 means devised to protect the paddles from occasional con- 

 cussions against them, which, in places so limited, must be 

 almost inevitable when of the ordinary construction outside 

 the vessel. The means chosen to obviate this danger has 

 been a peculiar construction in the steam-vessels destined 

 for the navigation. The distance, by the river, from Bir to 

 Basrah is, by this officer's computation, 1143 miles. In 

 Mesopotamia itself the river is popularly considered to be of 

 the general depth of two men. 



There are perpendicular cliffs within and around the 

 town in different directions. They are composed of a hard 

 chalky stone, and have furnished the material with which 

 the town is built. Thus the houses and the rocky slope on 

 which they stand present to a spectator on the opposite side 

 of the river a mass of glaring white which greatly distresses 

 the eye when the sun shines, while the fine impalpable 

 powder is no less annoying when the wind blows. The en- 

 virons are, however, very pleasant. Niebuhr considered 

 the town to contain 500 houses. Buckingham, a more re- 

 cent viiiter, says about 400, and from 3000 to 4000 inha- 

 bitants; but Captain Chesney gays the houses are from 

 1800 to 2000. There are five mo&qucs with tall minarets, a 

 public bath, a caravanserai, a few coffee-houses, and a 

 but ill-supplied bazaar. The streets are narrow, but from 

 the steepness of the site and the material of the buii 



they are more than usually clean. Except on the side to- 

 wards the river, the town is surrounded by a wall of excel- 

 lent masonry, with towers at the angles, and pierced with 

 loop-holes throughout There is an old ruined fortification 

 in the centre of the town on a height of the rock ; and all 

 along the north end of the town, where a perpendicular cliff 

 faces the water, are the walls and towers of an antient 

 castle, which, though a ruin, still presents an imposing ap- 

 pearance. Maundrell and Pocockc mention a curious col- 

 lection of arms contained in this castle, such as were used 

 before the invention of gunpowder : among these were bows, 

 arrows, and slings. The cross-bows were about five 

 long, and nearly straight. There were many bundles of 

 long arrows with iron points, and others to which corabusti- 

 're variously attached, for the purpose of srtting fire 

 to the buildings of a town. The slings seemed adapt 

 some machine, and capable of throwing a stone ball one 

 foot in diameter, some of which were seen in the < 

 There were also large iron casques, and some coats of mail 

 made of small pieces of thick leather sewed together. Many 

 have considered these to be antient Roman weapons, and in 

 Pococke's opinion they certainly agree with the desrri; 

 of Ammianus Marccllinus ; but as there are Arabic inscrip- 

 tions on some of them, he concludes that they are the arms 

 which happened to be in the castle when fire-arms were 

 first invented. Niebuhr, whose visit was subsequent to 

 that of 1'ococke, takes no noli weapons, and 



Buckingham, who heard different reports on the subject 

 from the inhabitants, was unable >u from personal 



examination whether or not they still remained t 



Bir belongs to the pashalic of Orfah ; and the local go- 

 vernment is administered by an aga, who has only a few 

 personal attendants and no troops. 



The inhabitants principally belong to two tribes of Turks, 

 called Birk and Bashuan, who also extend five or six hours' 

 journey along both banks of the river downward, and are 

 described as a quiet and harmless people, not likely to dis- 

 turb the contemplated navigation. 



(Pococke's Description of the East, fol. vol. ii. : Niebuhr, 

 Peisebeschreibung, &c., vol. ii., Copenhag. ed. ; Thevenot's 

 Voyage au LfVant ; Buckingham's Travels in Mttopo- 

 tamia; Rennell's Treatise on the Cmnparatire G/ 

 Western Asia; Chesney's Report on the Kuj^n, 



BIRBHOOM (Virabhumi, signifying, in Sanscrit, the 

 land of heroes') is a district in the north-western extremity 

 of the province of Bengal, about 24 N. lat., and 86" E. 

 Birbhoom is bounded on the north by the district of Bogli- 

 pore ; on the east by Rajshahy ; on the south by Burdwan 

 and the Jungle Mahals ; and on the west by Bogliporu and 

 the Jungle Mahals. 



This district is hilly and in great part occupied by 

 jungles: its area is estimated at about 7000 square miles, 

 and its population at 700,000 Hindus and Mohammedans, in 

 the proportion of thirty of the former to one of the latter. 



The principal productions of the country are sugar, rice, 

 and silk. Mines of coal are now profitably worked for the 

 supply of Calcutta, and for the use of shipping. Iron-ore 

 is found in strata mixed with clay. This ore contains a large 

 proportion of metal, but the expense of smelting it is so 

 great, that it cannot, at least at present, be brought into 

 competition in the markets of India with iron of Kn^lish 

 production. Notwithstanding the presence of coal, the iron 

 is smelted by means of wood. The forests in the n. 

 bourhood of the smelting-works are of great extent, and so 

 rapid is the power of re-production in that climate, that the 

 consumption of fuel is very speedily compensated! 



Soory, the modern capital of the district, is in 23 54' N. 

 lat., and 87" 32' E. long., fifty miles south-west from Moor- 

 shedah.nl. This town stands on high ground, and the 

 country around it is open and undulating. The jnn-i 

 the westward offer great facilities for ilepr i the 



part of several petty chiefs. The principal sufferers from 

 marauders are Hindu pilgrims, who proceed in great 

 numbers to the temple at Dcoghur. The amount of pro- 

 perty of which these devotees are robbed is not great, but is 

 nevertheless important to them on account of their poverty. 

 These depredations are frequently accompanied by violence, 

 and arc even followed by loss of life. In 1828 there oc- 

 curred within the district of Birbhoom ten cases of dacoity, 

 two of which were aggravated by the commission of mur- 

 der, and three were attended with wounding. In the same 

 usre occurred t vo cases of theft with murder, and one 

 with wounding; there were beside* four cases of murder 



