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BEIRA—BELA

a protected chief under the British Baj. To the east lies tract in India, and, therefore, always liable to famine; but Sind, and to the west Makran, and from time immemorial it is now well protected almost everywhere by railways. the great trading route between Sind and Persia has passed It is a country of large landholders, and also of indigo through Las Bela. The low-lying, alluvial, hot and malarial planters. The vernacular language is not Bengali, but a plains of Las Bela, occupying about 2000 square miles dialect of Hindi; and the people likewise resemble those on the north-east corner of the Arabian Sea, are highly of Upper India. irrigated and fertile—two rivers from the north, the Porali Beira, a region of Portugal, formerly divided between and the Kud, uniting to provide a plentiful water supply. the provinces of Beira Alta and Beir Baixa, but now com- The bay of Sonmiani once extended over most of these prised within the districts of Vizeu (answering to the plains where the PorMi delta is now growing with measurformer), and Guarda and Gastello Branco (corresponding able strides. The hill ranges to the east parting the plains to the latter). from Sind, generally known as Hala but, locally, as the Mor and the Kirthar, between which lies the long narrow Beira. (town). See East Africa, Iortuguese. line of the Hab valley, strike nearly north and south Beirut, or Beyrout. (1) A vil&yet of Syria which diminishing in height as they approach the sea and stretches along the sea-coast from Jebel el-Akra, south o allowing of a route skirting the coast between Karachi and the Orontes, to the Nahr Zerka, south of Mount Carmel, Bela. To the west they are broken into an infinity of and towards the south extends from the Mediterranean minor ridges massing themselves in parallel formation to the Jordan. (2) The chief town of the vilayet, ancient with a strike which curves from south to west till they Benitus, the most important sea-port town in byna, form the coast barrier of Makran. The Persian route, situated on the south side of St George’s Bay, on rising curving somewhat to the north, traverses this waste of ground at the foot of Lebanon. Since the pacification ot barren ridges almost at right angles, but on dropping the Lebanon after the massacre of the Christians m lb60, into the Kolwah valley its difficulty ceases. It then Beirut has greatly increased in extent, and has become e becomes an open road to Kej and Persia with an easy centre of the transit trade for all Syria. In 1894 a small gradient. This was undoubtedly one ot the greatest harbour, constructed by a French company, was opened, trade routes of the mediaeval days of Arab ascendancy in but the dues are so high that trade is being driven away Sind and it is to this route that Bela owes a place m to Haifa and Tripoli. In 1895 a French company com- history which its modern appearance and dimensions pleted a railway across the Lebanon to Damascus, and hardly seem to justify. Bela is itself rather pretti} connected it with a line from Damascus to Mezeirib m the situated on a rocky site above the banks of the Poiali Hauran. In 1898 a portion of a railway from Beirut to About four miles to the south are the well-kept gardens Tripoli was opened. The town has been supplied with which surround the tomb of Sir Robert Sandeman; which water, since 1875, by an English company, and with gas is probably destined to become a “ ziarat or place of pi since 1888, by a French company. There are ma y grimage, of even greater sanctity than that of General Jacob American and European institutions in the city: the at Jacobabad. The population of the town numbers about American Presbyterian mission, with a girls school and a 5000 The Jam’s retinue consists of about 300 mtantrj, printing office, which published the Arabic translation o 50 cavalry, and 4 guns. Liability to assist on active the Bible, and now issues a weekly paper and bandar service is the only acknowledgment of suzerainty ^kick works in Arabic; the Syrian Protestant college with its paid by the Jam to the Khan of Kalat. theological seminary, medical faculty, training co ege, an From very early times this remote corner of Baluchistan has astronomical observatory; the Scottish mission, and St a distinct place in history. There are traces of ancient George’s institute for Moslem and Druse girls, the held Arab (possibly Himyaritic) occupation to be found in certain stone British Syrian mission schools; the German Hospital nSi(aPt Gonikeha'on thi KudLiver 10 miles to orphanage^ and boarding school; the French hospital and nf Rpla whilst the Greek name “ Arabis for the 1 oraii is nseii fte S, Atr tb schools and the Jesuit “Universite de St Joseph ” with a indicative of an printing office The average value of the exports for the ^71^ (bScon of the indcPersian telegrapMine) five^years 1894-98 was £726,981, and the impoHs mav be traced the indentation which once formed the ba> 656 672 In 1898 the exports were £2600, and the Sboto, noted in the voyage of Nearkos imports’ £253,400 less than the average, the latter bemg borders of Makran that the Tnraman town of Eh.mbakia w ^ situated,7twhich was f‘t^d by a Buddhist £650,000 less than m 1894. Bopulation, 1- > In the l Avbul Ali the province of Gandava was Buddhist, (Moslems, 36,000; Christians, 77,000; Jews^-60 , Druses, 400; foreigners, 4100). v Beith. a market and manufacturing town of Ayrshffi Scotland, 184 miles W.S.W. of Glasgow, with which it has two railway connexions. Mode|fin ereCg0^ ^ Free Church, court house, and a post office Beith is the centre of the West of Scotland cabinet-making md^tiy. There is a good secondary school. Population (1891), -, . /1 Qo i, 7523 The parish contains coal and ironstone mines, and trap, sandstone, and limestone quarries. one of the mediaeval Arab geographersf e HaukeR ^ P that Kara Pir U miles to <' s» es^”d“ wYaUmed ipj TliL is another Bela, a town and episcopal see of Portugal, capital of the site of the Annabel which was in his victorious march to Sm • town The ruins district of the same name, 87 miles south-east from Lisbon Kasim old site 5 miles to the west o Khairokot, contain Population 8394. The district of Beja has an aiea of at Karia Pir, like those of T^. ^ Lumris, or r 5% square miles, and population 167,751 giving thirty- Arab pottery, seals and other medieval e. ^ ^ offBela> Tbev are comparatively seven ^habitants to the square mile. Pig-breeding is the Lassis, who originate the nam are tlm dominant tribe in the PJ^f^^^Vabk and Brahui chief industry. Copper, iron, and manganese are min. recent "rivals who djsplaejid the ^'of^pJ population Bela or Las Bela, situated in 26“ 2 ( 30 N lat., A" E long 350 feet above sea level, capital of a was1 coincident bit™ the displacement of the ^ ntUry J^rry^.n^ A by the Mahommedan Rajputs “1 * tman independent stfi to the south of Kalat (Baluchistan) Sind Some authorities connect the Lunins with the Sumras. rufed by the Jam (or Cham), who occupies the position of