B A L 



42, the expedition, which he had planned, was rellnquinied. 

 Balboa was dillingiiiOicJ among his countrymen by a variety 

 of important and (ireful qualities, adapted to the ftation he 

 occupied^ and the fervices in which he engaged. Befidcs 

 bravery, which he poflcded in an eminent degree, he was 

 prudent in conducl, generous, affable, a.nd poffeffcd of thofe 

 popular talents which, in the mod defperate undcrtaknigs, 

 infpire confidence and fecurc attaclmicnt. Robertfon's Hill. 

 Amer. vol.i. p. 276 — 301. 



BALBRIGGEN, in Geography, a fmall port town of 

 Ireland, in the county of Dubhii. It has a fafe harbour with 

 a pier, within which fhips of 200 tons burden may lay their 

 broadfides, and unload on the quay. The bafe of the pier 

 is 18 feet thick, and on the outfide is a confiderable 

 rampart of large fragments of rock, funk to defend tlie 

 pier againll tlie waves. At this town there once was an 

 extenfive cotton manufaftory ; but it has lately declined fo 

 much, that the proprietors are now converting one of their 

 principal cotton mills into a flour mill. Many of tlie inha- 

 bitants derive a fubfiftence from fifhiiig, in which nine wher- 

 ries arc ennployed. On t'le (liore near the town is a flale 

 i-ock, which is a good quany for blocks of fufficient iize 

 for making ton dates. It is diflant from Dublin 155 Iridi 

 miles. N. lat. 53° 36'. W. long. 6' 13'. 



BALBUL, in Oniitholory, a fpecies of Anas, or duck, 

 having a black beak, and fpot of the wing above obliquely 

 green, beneath obliquely black. Forflc. Fn. Arab. 



BALBURA, inJiickntGeogrnphy, ?i\.o\\n of Afia Minor, 

 in Cabcllia, a country of Caria, fituaCed in the vicinity of 

 Cibyra Major. When the prastor Murena extended the 

 principality of Cibya, Balbura was annexed to Lycia. 



BALBUS, a m'oui-tain of Africa, between the town of 

 Chipea, the terricory of Carthage, Nnmidia, and the fea. 

 Hither Mafi.iitfa retired, after having been defeated by Sy- 

 phax, kin;); of Numidia. 



BALBUSARDUS,in Ornithology. See Bald-euzz ard. 

 ■ BALCASH, Tengis, or Palkati, in Geography, a 

 lake of Independent Tartary, in the country of the Kal- 

 muks, fubjetl to China, is about 140 Britifh miles in length 

 by half that breadth ; being the largeft lake in Afia, next 

 to the feas of Aral and Baikal. 



BALCDUTHA, a fettlement in the caftcrn part of 

 Kentucky, in America, on the weft fide of Big Sandy 

 river. 



BALCH, a river of Germany, which rims into the Rhine 

 at Cologn. 



BALCHIKANSKOI, a town of Siberia, 140 miles 

 fouth-wcft of Doroninfli. 



BALCHUYSEN, a town of Germany, in the circle 

 of Weftphalia, and duchy of Julitrs, nine miles well of 

 Cologn. 



BALCONY, from the French balcon, in ytrchiteSure, a 

 kind of ODcn gallery without the walls of buildings, con- 

 zrived chiefly for the convenience of looking around, feeing 

 proctfilons, cavalcades, and the like. 



Where there is but one, it is ufually in the middle of the 

 front of the edifice, and level with the firft floor : fome- 

 times they are made of wood, fomctimes of call iron ; the 

 former furrounded with a rail or balultradc, the latter 

 wrought in various figures in Jtmi-rclkvo. Some are alfo 

 made of bar iron, falhionod in crail-work, or flourifhes of 

 divers fancies. 



Balcony, in a fhip, denotes a gsllery either covered or 

 •pen, made abaft, either for ornament or convenience of the 

 captain's cabin. 



BALDA, in ^Indent Geography, a town of Hifpania 

 Batica, in the country of ll cTurduli. Ptolemy. 



B A L 



BALDACANIFER, corruptly alfo written lakamfer, 

 denotes a (landard-bearer ; chiefly in the ancient order of 

 knights Templars. 



BALDACHIN, or Baldaqj.mn, in Arch'dcdurc, a 

 building in form of a canopy, fupporttd with columns, and 

 ferving as a crown or covering to an altar. 



The word comes from the Italian haldaccbino, which fig- 

 nifies the fame. 



Baldachin, or Baldal'in, or BaMeL'in, popularly Bau- 

 clelin, in Middle Age Writers, denotes a rich kind of cloth 

 made of gold waip and filk woof, varioufly figured. It 

 took the denomination from its being formerly brought into 

 thefe countries from BaliLiem, or Babylon. 



BALD-BUZZARD, in Omuhology, the name under 

 which Falco //(//.vjfVw is defcribed by Willughby and other 

 Englifli naturalllls. It is alfo called lallii'z.iirdXiy BufTon. 



BALD-EAGLE, in Geography, or IVarriur Mountains, 

 lie about 200 miles W. of Pl.iladelphia, in the county of 

 Bedford, in Pcnufylvauia, and fomi the weftern boundary of 

 Ba'.d-eagle valley. 



Bald-eagle is alfo ariverwhlch runs a north-eafl courfe 

 forty-four miles, and falls mio the wellern branch of the 

 Sufquchaniia river. The water of Huron river, which 

 falls into the hike Erie, is called Bald-eagle creek. 



Bald-eagle J' alley, or Si:iLing-Spring Valley, lies upon 

 the frontiers of Bedford county in Ptniifylvania, about 

 200 miles weft of Philadelphia. On the eait it has a chain 

 of high rugged mountains, called the " Canoe ridge ;" and 

 on the well, the " BalJ-eagle," or Warrior monntairs. It 

 is a pleafant vale of llme-ilone botto.-n, about five miles wide ; 



o, it con- 



:id its vicinity abounds with, lead-oie. It 

 tallied about 60 or 70 famihes that lived in log-houfes, and 

 formed in fcven or eight years feveral valuable plantations. 

 Among the curiofities of this place is that called the " Swal- 

 lows," Vfhich abforb feveral of the lavy;cil flreams of the 

 valley, and after conveying them feveral miles under ground, 

 return them again upon the furface. Thefe fubtenaneous 

 paffages have given occafion to the name of " Sinking- 

 Spring Valley." Of thefe the mod remarkable is called 

 the " Arch Springs," which run clofe upon the road from 

 the town to tlie fort ; being a deep hollow formed in the 

 limelloiie rock, about thirty feet wide, covered with a 

 ftony arch, and giving paflagc to a fine ilrcam of water. 

 The fubterraneous river enters the mouth of a fpacious 

 cave, wliofe exterior aperture is fufficient to admit a flval- 

 lop with her tails full fpread ; and in the niidll of this cave, 

 from eighteen to twenty feet wide, are timber, bodies and 

 branches of trees, &c. which being lodged up te the roof 

 of the paffage, fliews that the water rifcs to the top during 

 frcflies. The cave, extending about forty yards, widens 

 into a large kind of room, at the bottom of which is a vor- 

 tex, where the water forms a whirlpool, and abforbs pieces 

 of floating timber, which are inftantly conveyed out of 

 fight. From the top of the Bald-eagle mountains there is 

 a fine profpeft of thofe of the Alleghany, ftretching along 

 till they feem to meet the clouds. Much flate is iound 

 here ; and there are ftrong figns of pit-coal. 



BALDEGG, a lake of Swifferland, four miles long 

 and one wide ; nine miles S.S.W. of Bremgarten. 



BALDENAU, a town of Germany, in the circle of 

 the lower Rhine, and bilhopric of Treves ; 36 miles S.S.W. 

 of Coblentz. 



BALDERIC, in Biography, a French hiftorian, a na- 

 tive of Orleans, lived in the 12th century, and was bilhop 

 of Dole in Britanny. He affifted at the council of Cler- 

 liiont, held on occafion of the holy war, and wrote a hiitory 

 of that war in four books, containing an account of the 



events 



