%z B A L 
mouth is larger than in the other balifte9; jaws of an equal 
•length, each furnifhed with ten large or cutting teeth, 
■Th? eyes round, with black pupil and white iris. There 
are four apertures near the eyes. Inftead of the ventral 
'fin is a long, hard, firong, ray, covered for the mod part 
by the (kin. This fifh is rough to the hand, and in feveral 
parts formed into trapezium-fhaped divilions. At the tail 
■are feven or eight rows of prickles bent forwards, which 
wound the fingers when the hand is moved from the head 
to the tail. The fird ray of the fil'd dorfal fin is very (irong, 
bent backwards but toothed before ; the fecond is fmall. 
All the rays of the fins are branched at the ends, and the 
two outermod rays of the tail form by their length a fork¬ 
ed (lope or hollow. Thisfi/h is found in China; and Ofbeck 
■allures us, that, when drawn towards the fhore by the 
waves, it may be enticed by a piece of bread, and taken 
with the hand. It grows larger than other fifh of this kind. 
■Its black colour makes it very remarkable and curious. 
Lifter fird made this fifh known, and Willoughby gave the 
fird correct drawing of it, which is engraved in the annex¬ 
ed plate. 
8. The Chinenfis, or Chinefe baliftes, is didinguifhed 
from the three fird fpecies by the ventral fin, and from 
the red by the prickle on the head. Here are thirteen rays 
in the pectoral fin, thirteen in the ventral, thirty in the 
anal, twelve in the tail; one in the fird dorfal, and thirty 
in the fecond. The body is large and rough, lias many 
little yellow fpots, and is much compreffed on the Tides. 
The head is lhort and doping ; jaws of an equal length, 
with ten narrow teeth in each, placed very clofe. The 
eyes are large and round, with a black pupil in a green 
iris; and near them are four little apertures. The horn 
prickle, ereCted above the eyes, hath a faw-like or double 
row of teeth. Behind this horn is a furrow on the back 
to receive it. The back’and belly are (harp ; the belly is 
whitifli, the Tides grey. The lateral line begins behind the 
eyes, foon after makes a bend towards the belly, and is 
fcarcely vifible at the tail. Here are eight prickles bent 
forwards, and placed in two rows. There is only one ven¬ 
tral fin, which is rough to the touch ; the rays are dentat- 
ed, and hidden in a thick fkin ; only the firft ray hands 
out. fecond dorfal fin and that of the anus are fcat- 
tered with grey and yellow prickles. The tail-fin is round, 
.and its rays are divided at the end ; but thofe of the other 
fins are Ample. This fifh is natural to Brafil and China. 
As it is not flefiiy, nor of a very good tafte, it is only eat- 
.en by the poor. Marcgrave firfi: brought this fifh into no¬ 
tice ; and, as Willoughby made it pretty well known, it 
is fomewhat firange that Klein and Artedius have omitted 
it entirely. 
BALl'VO AMOVEN'DO,/] in law, a writ for remov¬ 
ing a bailiff from his office, for want of having fufficient 
land in his bailwick to anfwer the king and his people, ac¬ 
cording to the fiatute of Weftminfier. 2 Reg. Orig. 78. 
B A'LIUS and Xanthus, the two holies of Achilles ; 
they were laid to be born of Zephyr and Celeno. 
BALK,yi [balk, Dut. and Germ.] A great beam, fuch 
as is tiled in building ; a rafter over an out-houfe or barn. 
BALK,yi [derived by Skinner from valicare, Ital. to 
pals over.] A ridge of land left unploitghed between the 
furrows, or at the end of the field. 
Bai.k, or Balkh, a province of Great Bukharia in 
Alia, about 360 miles long and 250 broad, fituated to the 
Tenth of the province of Samarcand, and to the eaft of 
Bukharia Proper. It is the leaft of the three provinces of 
Great Bukharia; but, being extremely fertile and well cul¬ 
tivated, the prince draws a great revenue from it. The 
country abounds with lilk, of which the inhabitants make 
divers manufactures. The Uzbecks fubjeCt to the khan 
of Balkh are the moft civilized of all the Tartars inhabit¬ 
ing Great Bukharia, owing probably to their commerce 
with the Perfians: they are likewife more induftrious, and 
more honeft ; but in other refpeCtshave the Tame cufioms 
•with the reft of the Tartars. The province is fubdivided 
into feveral counties; the moft remarkable of which are 
SAL 
Khotlan or ‘Katlan, Tekhareftan, and Badagfhan. Its 
chief cities are Balk, Farriyab, Tallchan, Badagfiian, and 
Anderab. 
Balk, the capital of the province above-mentioned, 
fituated on the frontiers of Perfia, in N. lat.,37. o. E. Ion. 
65. 20. 'It is probably the ancient Baftra, capital of the 
kingdom of Bacfria; and is laid to have been founded 
by Kay-umaraz the firfi king of Perfia, becaufe lie met 
his brother upon this fpot, after he had been loft for a 
long time ; balkhiden or balghiden, in the Perfic language, 
fignifying to receive or embrace a friend. The firfi kings 
of Perfia who refided in the province of Media or Ader- 
bijan, confidered this city as one of their principal fron¬ 
tiers on the fide of Scythia. In the 27th year of the He¬ 
gira, of Chrift 647, Balk was reduced by the Arabs, un¬ 
der the command of Abdallah Ebn Atner. It continued 
fubjeCt to the Arabs till the year of the Hegira 432, of 
Chrift 1041; when it was reduced by Togrol Beg, the 
Tangrolipix of the Greeks, and prince of the Seljukian 
dynafty. It was taken by Jenghiz Khan, A. D. 1221, who 
with his ufual and unparalleled cruelty caufed all the inha¬ 
bitants to be brought without the walls and maflacred in 
cold blood. In 1369, Sultan Hofein, the laft of the race 
of Jenghiz Khan, was driven from Balk by Tamerlane, 
whole fucceffors were driven out by the Uzbecks in the 
15th century. It was afterwards redeemed by Shah If- 
mael Sufi ; but finally wrefted from him by the Uzbeck 
Tartars, between whom and the Perfians it is the occafion 
of almoft continual wars. It is the moft confiderable city 
poffeffed in thefe parts by the Mahometan Tartars, being 
large, well-built, and populous, the houfes for the mofc 
part of (tone or brick. The fortifications confift of bul¬ 
warks of earth, fenced with a ftrong wall high enough to 
cover the foldiers employed in its defence. As this place 
is the refort of all the bufinefs tranfafled between the 
Indies and Great Bukharia, trade flourilhes extremely at 
Balk ; efpecially as it has a fine river palling through its 
fuburbs. This river falls into the Amu, in N. lat. 38. 30. 
upon the confines of Great Bukharia and Kowarazm. The 
khan’s palace, or caftle, is a large edifice built almoft en¬ 
tirely of marble, of which there are fine quarries in the 
neighbourhood. 
To Balk, v. a. To difappoint; to fruftrate ; to elude. 
—Every one has a defire to keep up the vigour of his fa¬ 
culties, and not to balk his underftanding by what is too 
hard for it. Locke. —To mifs any thing; to leave untouched: 
Balk'd of his prey, the yelling monfter flies, 
And fills the city with his hideous cries. Pope. 
To omit, or refufe, any thing.—This was looked for at 
your hand, and this was balkt. Shakefpeare.— To heap, as 
on a ridge. This, or fomething like this, Teems to be in¬ 
tended here: 
Ten thoufand bold Scots, three-and-twenty knights. 
Balk'd in their own blood, did Sir Walter fee 
On Holmedon’s plains. Shakefpeare. 
BAL'KAN, a mountain of European Turkey, which 
divides Romania from Bulgaria. 
BAL'KEE, a town of Hindoftan, in the country of 
Doulatabad, fifteen miles weft-north-weft of Beder. 
B ALK'ERS,/ - . in fiftiery, men who ftand on a cliff, or 
high place on the fhore, and give a fign to the men in the 
fifhing-boats, which w'ay the paffage or fhoal of herrings 
is.—The pilchards are purfued by a bigger fifh, called a 
plufher, who leapeth above water, and bewrayeth them 
to the balker. Carew. 
BALL,y [Be/, Dan. bol, Dut. bal, diminutively belin, 
the fun, or Apollo, of the Celtse, was called by the an¬ 
cient Gauls abellio. Whatever was round, and in particu¬ 
lar the head, was called by the ancients either bal, or bel % 
and likewife bol and bill. Among the modern Perfians, 
the head is called pole ; and the Flemings (till call the head 
boile. IIoX©-, is the head or poll ; and irohuv, is to turn, 
likewife fignifies a round bail, whence bowl, and be/(. 
