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BELOOCHISTAN, BORNEO, ETC.-1. Beloochistan soldier. 2. Interior of Dyak house, Borneo. 3. E of Banjermassin. 8. Dyak iron-smelting. 9. Market at Dobbo (Arru-island). 10. Joloffe w 16. Battle-scythe.

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fornoese dance. 4. Ngadjus (Southern Borneo). 5. Dyaks. 6. Beloochistan chief. 7. Nobleman arrior. 11. Joloffe. 12. Young negro in festival dress. 13. Fellatah and Negro. 14, 15. Flutes

Belper.

Egypt, Arabia, and other Foreign Countries. Charles IX. gave him apartments in the Château of Madrid, a sumptuous edifice which Francis I. had constructed in the Bois de Boulogne. Here he resided till his tragic death in April, 1564. He was murdered by robbers when gathering herbs at a late hour in the evening in the Bois de Boulogne.

Besides the valuable work already mentioned, B. published, in 1551, A Natural History of Strange Sea-fish, with a correct Representation and Account of the Dolphin, and several others of that Species, which contains, among other things, an exact description of the dolphin, and the earliest picture of a hippopotamus in any European book; in 1555, A Natural History of Birds, which is often quoted by Buffon, and acknowledged to be the most important treatise on ornithology of the 16th c.; in 1558, an elaborate and interesting work on arboriculture, in which he gave a list of the exotic trees which it would be useful to introduce into France. Besides these, B. wrote several other treatises of trees, herbs, birds, and fishes.

BELO, ALFRED HORATIO. See page 888.
BEL'ONE. See GARFISH.

BELOOCHISTAN', or BALUCHISTAN, a country of southern Asia, bounded on the n. by Afghanistan, on the e. by Sinde, on the s. by the Arabian sea, and on the w. by the Persian province of Kerman. B. corresponds in general with the ancient Gedrosia, excepting that the latter name appears to have extended to the Indus, while the former nowhere reaches that river. B. stretches in n. lat. between 24° 50' and 30° 20′, and in e. long. between 61° and 68° 40', having a coast-line of 500 miles. The area is about 106,000 sq.m., and the population is variously estimated at from 400,000 to 1,000,000. Though it was anciently a part of Persia, yet its modern relations connect it rather with India, more particularly since Sinde and Moultan have fallen under the dominion of the English. In the bygone ages of the overland invasions of Hindustan, the Gedrosian or Beloochee desert formed, as it were, a barrier for the lower Indus, constraining every assailant, from Alexander downwards, to prefer the less barren, though perhaps more rugged route through Afghanistan into the Punjab-a prefer. ence strengthened by Alexander's direful experience in returning from the Indus along the coast. The surface is generally mountainous, more especially towards the n., the peak of Takkatu being said to be 11,000 ft. high. Even the bottoms of some of the valleys have an elevation of 5700 ft.; and the capital, Kelat, situated on the side of one of them, is 6000 ft. above the level of the sea. The rivers are inconsiderable, unless after heavy rains: even the largest of them, the Dusti, after a course of about 1000 m., has been found to be only 20 in. deep, and 20 yds. wide at its mouth. The pastures, as may be supposed, are poor, so that there are few cattle: sheep and goats, however, are numerous. The dromedary is the ordinary beast of burden, and it is only in the n.w., towards Kerman, that horses are bred. Wherever there is a sufficiency of water, the soil is productive-the lowlands yielding rice, sugar, cotton, indigo, and tobacco; and the higher grounds, wheat, barley, madder, pulse, and European fruits. In the sandy waste of Mekran, where Alexander's army suffered its severest hardships and privations, the only valuable product is the date. The minerals are copper, lead, antimony, iron, sulphur, alum, and sal-ammoniac: and the manufactures are skins, woolens, carpets, and tent-covers of goat's and camel's hair, and rude fire-arms. B. has but one seaport, Sonmeanee, near the frontier of Sinde. The trade is insignificant, being, such as it is, chiefly monopolized by Hindus. The chief peoples of B. are the distinct races of the Belooches and the Brahoes; all the inhabitants are Mohammedans of the Sunnite confession. Most of the e. provinces, which alone come into contact with British India, are under the authority of the khan of Kelat, who, with a revenue of about £30,000, maintains an army of 2000 men. This petty sovereign having acted treacherously towards the British during the Afghan campaign of 1839, his royal city was taken by storm in the same year. In 1841 it was again temporarily held. Since 1877, England has, according to treaty, occupied Quettah. For types of people, see illus., BELOOCHISTAN AND BORNEO, p. 424, figs. 1, 6.

BELPAS'SO, a t. of Sicily, on the lower part of the southern slope of Mt. Etna, in the province and 8 m. n. w. from the town of Catania. Pop. about 7500. Below the town is an expanse of brown lava, but the surrounding country is generally rich and fruitful. A town called Mel Passo, from the abundance of honey in its neighborhood, stood not far from the site of the present town, but was destroyed by an eruption in 1669; when the inhabitants removed to a locality a few miles off, in the plain, and built a town of which the desolate remains bear the name of Belpasso Vecchio.

BELPER, a market t. of Derbyshire, England, on the Derwent; a station on the North Midland railway, 7 m. n. from Derby. It is well built, in great part of gritstone, which is obtained in the neighborhood. One of the most conspicuous public buildings is a church, of recent erection, on an eminence above the town; the union workhouse is also worthy of notice, being a splendid building in the Elizabethan style of architecture. B. is, to a considerable extent, a town of recent growth, and owes its prosperity to the establishment of cotton-works here by Messrs. Strutt, one of whom was elevated to the peerage as lord Belper. In these works, a very great number of operatives are employed. The manufacture of silk and cotton hosiery is also largely carried on in Belper. Nailmaking and the manufacture of brown earthenware also give employment to many of

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