B A L 



B A L 



pomegranate, and will ftrike a black with foUitions of iron. 

 They have little or no fmcll, and readily yield their aftrin- 

 gcnt virtue to watery or fpirituous mtnllnia. An extraft 

 v.'as formerly prepared from the balaullines, and it entered 

 into fome ot the officinal powders. It is now almoll, it not 

 entirely, difiifed. 



BALAYAN, in Geography, a diftriifl or province in the 

 iflaiid of Manila or LiKjon, with a town of the fame name. 

 It lies near the city of Manila, and extends along the coaft 

 on the eafl fide of the idaiid, is inhabited by about 2500 

 tributary Indians, and abounds in cotton, rice, and palm- 

 trees. 



BALBASTRE, Claude, in Biography, an eminent 

 organiil at Paris, and a fpirited compofer, of the old fchool, 

 for kcycd-Ir^rumcnts. He was born at Dijon, 1729, and was 

 a favourite dilciplc of Ramcau, and organiil of Nutre-Dame 

 and S. Roch. He was a zealous cultivator of his art, and 

 fuggelted to liarpfichord and piano-forte makers many im- 

 provements. 



B ALB ASTRO, in Grco-r,;^^^', an epifcopal town of Spain, 

 in Arra'^on, ftated on the Vero, near its eontUix with tl;« 

 Cinca, with a diocefe extending over i7opari(hes, forty- 

 fcven miles. N. W. of Barcelona, and forty E. N. E. of 

 Saragoffu. N.lat. 41° 50'. 'E. long. 0° 20'. 



BALBEC, BajIleiic, or Balbeck, a ffimous city of 

 Syria, in the pachalic of Saide, celebrated by the Greeks 

 and Latins under the name of Heliopolis, or the city of the 

 fun ; defcribed by the Arabians as the wonder of Syria, 

 and denoting by its prefent Arabic name Balbec, i. e. the 

 •uah cf Biial, its conneftion with the worfliip of the fun, 

 of which Biial, the chief idol deity of the country, was an 

 appropriate denomination. It is pleafantly fituatcd near 

 the north-call extremity of the valley of Bocat, or Bckaa, 

 at the foot of mount Anti-Libanus, on the lail riling 

 ground where the mountain terminates in the plain : it is 

 well watered by the Litane, rifmg from Anti-Libanus, and 

 the Barbouni from th« foot of Libanus, and abounds in 

 gardens. It is of a fquare iigore, extending, as Maundrell 

 conjectured (Journey from Aleppo to Jcrufalem, p. 135-), 

 about two furlongs ou each fide ; and its houfei are of 

 the meancll ilrutture, being fuch as arc ufually feen in 

 Turkifli villagef. Its dillance from Damafcus is about 

 fifty miles to the north-weft, and about thirty miles from 

 the neareft fea-coall, which is the fituation of the ancient 

 Byblus. N.lat. 34^. E-long. 36" 45.'. 



" As we arrive from the fouth (fays Volncy, Travels in 

 Egypt and Syria, vol. ii. p. 232, &c.), we difcover the 

 city at the dillance of only a league and a half, behind a 

 hedge of trees, over the verdant tops of which appears a 

 white edging of domes and minarets. After an hour's 

 journey we reach thcfe trees, which are veiy fine walnuts ; 

 and foon after, crofTuig fome ill-cultivated gardens, by 

 winding paths arrive at the entrance of the city. We 

 there perceive a ruined wall, flanked with fquare towers, 

 which alccrids the declivity to the right, and traces the pre- 

 cincts of the ancient city. This wall, which is only ten or 

 twelve feet high, permits us to have a view cf thole void 

 fpaces, and heaps of ruins which are the invariable appen- 

 dage of every Turkilh city ; but what principally attradrs 

 our attention, is a large edifice on the left, whicli, by its 

 lofty walls, and rich columns, manifeftly appears to be one 

 cf thofc temples which antiquity has left for our admiration. 

 .Tliefe ruins, which are fome of the moll beautiful and bell 

 prefri-vcd of any in Afia, merit a particular defcription. 



To give a juil idea of them, we mull fuppofe omfclves 

 defceoding from the interior of the town. After having 



erofTed the rubbifh and huts with which it is filled, we arrive 

 at a vacant place, which appears to have been a fquare ; 

 there, in front towards the weft, we perceive a grand ruin, 

 which confills of two pavilions ornamented with pilallers, 

 joined at their bottom angle by a wall 160 feet in length. 

 This front commands the open country from a fort of ter- 

 race, on the edge of which we dillinguifli, with difficulty, 

 the bafes of twelve columns, which formerly extended from 

 one pavilion to the other, and formed a portico. The 

 principal gate is obftruCled by heaps of lloncs ; but that 

 obllacle fmmounted, we enter an empty fpace, which is an 

 liexagonai court of iSo feet diameter. This court is ftrewed 

 with broken columns, mutilated c.tpitals, and the remain's 

 of pilafters, entablatures, and cornices ^ around i? a row of 

 ruined edifices, wliich difplay all the ornaments of the 

 richeft architecture. At the end of this court, oppofitc the 

 weft, is an outlet, which formerly was a gate through 

 which we perceive a ftiU more cxtenfive range of ruins, 

 whofe magnificence ftrongly excites curiofity. To have 

 a full prcfpedt of thcfe, wc muft afccnd a Hope, up which 

 were the lleps to this gate, and we then arrive at the entrance 

 of a fquare court, much more fpacious than the former. 

 The eye is firil attracted by the end of this court, 

 where fix enormous and majeftic columns render the fcene 

 aftonidiingly grand and piclurefque. Another objeft 

 not lefs interefting, is a tccond range of coliims to the left 

 which appear to have been part of the periftyle of a temple ; 

 but before we pafs thither, we cannot refufe particular atten- 

 tion to the edifices, which enclofe this court on each fida. 

 They forma fort of galLry which contains various chambers, 

 feven of which may be reckoned in each of the principal 

 wings : viz. two in a fcmicircle, and five in an oblong fquare. 

 The bottom of thefe apartments ftiU retains pediments of 

 niches and tabernacles, the fupporters of which are dcftroyed. 

 On the fide of the court they are open, and prefent only 

 four and fix columns, totally deftroycd. It is not ealy to 

 conceive the ufe of thefe apartments ; but this dots not df- 

 minilh our admiration at the beauty of their pilallers, and the 

 richnefs of the frieze of the entablature. Neither is it pof- 

 fible to avoid remarking the fingular effeft which refults from 

 the mixture of the garlands, the large foliage of the capital*, 

 and the fculplurc of wild plants with which they are every 

 where ornamented. In traverfing the length of the court, 

 we find in the middle a little Iquare efplanade, where was a 

 pavilion, of which nothing remains but the foundation. 

 At length we arrive at the foot of the fix columns ; and then 

 firft conceive all the boldnefs of their elevation, and the 

 richnefs of their workmanlhip. Their ftiafts are twenty-one 

 feet eight inches in circumference, and fifty-eight high ; fo 

 that the total height, including the entablature, is from fc- 

 venty-one to feventy-two feet. The fight of tliis fuperb ruin, 

 thus folitary and unaccompanied, at firll ilrikes us with 

 aftoniflimeut ; but on a more attentive examination, we dif- 

 cover a feries of foundations, which mark an oblong iquare 

 of 268 feet in length, and 146 wide ; and which, it feems 

 probable, was the periftyle of a grand temple, the primary 

 purpofe of this whole ftruclure. It prefented to t!ie great 

 court, that is to the eall, a front of ten columns, with nine- 

 teen on each fide, which, with the other fix, make in all fifty- 

 four. The ground on which it flood was an oblong fquare, 

 en a level with this court, but narrower than it, fo Uiat there 

 was only a terrace of twenty-fcven feet wide round the 

 colonnade. Tiie efplanade this produces, fronts the open 

 country, toward the weft, by a floping wall of about thirty 

 feet. This defcent, as you approach the city, becomes lefs 

 fleep, fo that th« ibundation of the paviijoais oa a level 



with 



