Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/298

282 Jambulos, there must have been Indian settlers there before the middle of the 1st century, by whom the present name, probably cognate with the Sanskrit balm, strong, was in all likelihood imposed. It was not till 1633 that the Dutch attempted to enter into alliance with the native princes, and their earliest permanent settlement at Port Badong only dates from 1845. Their influence was extended by the results of the war which they waged with the natives about 1847-9. A geological survey of the whole island is at present (1874-5) in progress under their auspices. The Balinese language belongs to the same group of the Malayan class as the Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, &c., but is as distinct from each of these as French is from Italian. It is most nearly akin to the Sasak language spoken in Lornbok and on the east coast of Bali. The literary language has embodied many of its ingredients from the Old Javanese, as spoken in Java at the time of the fall of Majapahit (15th century), while the vulgar dialect has kept free from such admixture. Javanese influence is also traceable in the use of three varieties of speech, as in the Javanese language, according to the rank of the people addressed. The alphabet is with some modifi cations the same as the Javanese, but more complicated. The material universally used for writing on is the prepared leaf of the lontar palm. The sacred literature of the Balinese is written in the ancient Javanese or Kaivi language, which appears to be better understood here than it is in Java. (See E. van Eck, Beknopte handleiding bij debeoefening van het Balineesche taal, Utrecht, 1874.) In the years 1871 and 1872, 15,000 people died of small-pox in the island ; since then vaccination has been introduced by the Dutch. In September 1874 several districts were fearfully ravaged by cholera ; in Sampidi alone out of its 3000 inhabitants 700 fell victims to the scourge; the rest fled into the woods.

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 BALIOL, or,, an English baron, after whom Balliol College in Oxford has been named, was the son of Hugh Baliol, of Bernard s Castle, in the diocese of Durham. His great wealth and power raised him to a prominent position in the kingdom, and he rendered good service to Henry III. in his contest with De Montfort and the revolted barons. In 1263 he endowed several scholar ships at Oxford, and formed the intention of founding a college. This he did not accomplish, but after his death in 1269, his widow, Devorgille or Devorguill, carried out his design, and the foundation received the name of Balliol College. Sir John s son was the well-known John Baliol, the competitor with Bruce for the throne of Scotland.  BALKAN (the ancient Hæmus), a mountain range that separates the waters of the Lower Danube from those that flow^ into the Archipelago ; or, in the more extended application of the name, the whole mountain system from the Adriatic to the Euxine. The main chain has a mean elevation of 4000 or 5000 feet, and rises in various parts to a height of 7000 or 8000. Especially towards the east it breaks up into a number of parallel chains, and sends out various offshoots both south and north. Mount Scardus, the highest point of the Char-Dagh, attains to 9700 feet above the sea. The most of the rivers of the northern watershed find their way to the Black Sea, while those from the southern fall into the Mediterranean. The range is crossed by numerous defiles, most of which are left in a nearly impassable condition, though they might in many cases be turned into serviceable routes. Communication is kept up between Vienna and Constantinople by the pass usually known as Trajan s Gate. Others of importance are the Nadir-Derbent, the Karnabad, and the Basardshik- Sophia. The mountains are for the most part of granitic for mation, and are said to contain a variety of valuable mine rals, but are still imperfectly known, in spite of the labours of Pouqueville, Boue&quot;, Viquesnel, Grisebach, Hahn, Earth, &c. Kanitz, between 1870 and 1874, crossed the eastern part no fewer than seventeen times by different passes.

1em  BALKH, the ancient Bactra or Zaritupa, was formerly a great city, but is now for the most part a mass of ruins, situated on the right bank of the Adirsiah or Balkh river, in a large and fertile plain 1800 feet above the sea. The modern name is, according to Varnbe&amp;gt;y, the Turkish balik, or balikh, a city. The ruins, which occupy a space of about twenty miles in circuit, consist chiefly of fallen mosques and decayed buildings of sun-burnt brick. No monuments of pre-Mahometan date have been pointed out, if we except the bricks with cuneiform inscriptions which Ferrier asserts he observed; but nothing like a proper investigation of the site has yet been effected. The antiquity and great ness of the place are recognised by the native populations, who speak of it as the Mother of Cities. Its foundation is mythically ascribed to Kaiomurs, the Persian Romulus ; and it is at least certain that, at a very early date, it was the rival of Ecbatana, Nineveh, and Babylon. For a long time the city and country was the central seat of the Zoroastrian religion, the founder of which is said to have died within the walls. From the Memoirs of Hwen Thsang, a Chinese traveller, we learn that, at the time of his visit in the 7th century, there were in the city, or its vicinity, about a hundred Buddhist convents, with 3000 devotees, and that there was a large number of stiipas, and other religious monuments. The most remarkable was the Nuu Behar, Nava Bihara, or New Convent, which pos sessed a veiy costly statue of Buddha, A curious notice of this building is found in the Arabian geographer Yakut. Ibn-Haukal, an Arabian traveller of the 10th century, describes Balkh as built of clay, with ramparts and six gates, and extending half a parasang. He also mentions a castle and a mosque. El Edrisi, in the 1 2th century, speaks of its possessing a variety of educational establishments, and carrying on an active trade. There were several im portant commercial routes from the city, stretching as far east as India and China. In 1220 Genghis Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants, and levelled all the build ings capable of defence, treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwithstand ing this, however, Marco Polo can still, in the following century, describe it as &quot; a noble city and a great.&quot; Balkh formed the government of. Vurungzebe in his youth. In 1736 it was conquered by Nadir Shah. Under the Durani monarchy it fell into the hands of the Afghans ; it was conquered by Shah Murad of Kunduz in 1820, and for some time has been subject to the Khan of Bokhara.

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 BALL,, a Puritan divine, of whom Baxter speaks in very high terms, was born, in 1585, at Cassington, or Chessington, near Woodstock, and died in 1640. He entered Brazenose College, Oxford, in 1602, and remained there five years. He then migrated to St Mary s Hall, from which he took his bachelor s degree in 1608. Soon after graduating he went into Cheshire to act as tutor to 