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BERLIN, TREATY OF

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BERNADOTTE

Mount Washington. It has large lumber and pulp mills, with an extensive annual product and employing a large force of men. Its other industries, all of which are usefully served by good waterpower, include shoe manufacture and other activities. The city is lighted by electricity, and possesses a public library, several fine church buildings and schools, as well as a number of attractive residences. Population, 11,780.

Berlin, Treaty of. After the Russp-Turkish War of 1877, what is known in Europe as the Eastern Question arose to trouble the diplomats, and a congress of the great powers met at Berlin, at the call of Prince Bismarck, to settle the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula and other boundary disputes. As a result of the conference, the Treaty of Berlin was drafted and signed by the representatives of the respective powers, modifying in some degree the Treaty of San Stefano, previously concluded between Turkey and Russia. By the Treaty of Berlin, Russia received from Rumania the territory called Bessarabia, lost by the Crimean War, and she acquired the fortress of Kars and the port of Batum; Bulgaria, the territory between the Danube and the Balkans, became virtually independent; Montenegro acquired full freedom; and Servia and Rumania became independent kingdoms. Bosnia and Herzegovina were at the same time transferred to the rule of Austria, while Cyprus became a British possession; and Greece acquired Thessaly and a portion of Epirus. The Turkish empire in Europe was thus reduced to narrow limits.

Berlioz (b$r'le-dzf), Hector, a great but eccentric musical composer, was born in 1803, at C6te St. Andre, near Grenoble, and was the son of a physician. Disregarding the wish of his father, who wanted his son to follow his own profession, he studied music at the Conservatoire in Paris, winning several prizes. In Italy, where he studied for a year, he became acquainted with Liszt and Mendelssohn. On his return to Paris, in 1832, he brought out some of his compositions, but their success was so small that he had to eke out his living by writing for musical journals and giving concerts. In his foreign concert tours he was far more successful than in his own country, being received with enthusiasm and offered several lucrative posts. He died at Paris in 1869. His Faust is his most popular musical composition. His symphonies, such as Romeo and Juliet; his opera, Beatrice and Benedict; his overtures, as The Carnival of Rome; and his sacred pieces, as The Childhood of Christ and his Te Deum, are among his most successful achievements. His literary work is also of a high order. Liszt, Heine and Balzac, the great novelist, were among his intimate friends.

Bermu'das, Tl^e,   or   Somers'  Islands,

are British possessions in the Atlantic, southeast of Cape Hatteras, 680 miles from New York. They were named from the Spaniard Bermudez, who first sighted them in 1522, and from the Englishman, Sir George Somers, who was shipwrecked there in 1609. They are said to be 360 in number, but many are mere specks, the whole being only about 12,000 acres in extent. They are composed of coral sand and are surrounded by a living, growing reef of coral. They are important to the British government as a half-way station between its possessions in Canada and the West Indies. Hamilton, the seat of government, is situated on Main Island. The next in importance is St. George's Island, which has a strongly fortified harbor. On Ireland Island is the Bermuda floating dock, built in England and towed out in 1869. It is 381 feet long and 124 feet wide. A large number of the islands are without name or inhabitant. Because of the balmy and temperate climate the Bermudas have become in winter a popular resort, for Americans as well as for English; and St. George's and Hamilton have many hotels. Although the soil is poor, yet, because of the absence of winter frosts, crops can be prepared for March, April, May or June, and so their early potatoes, onions, tomatoes and other garden vegetables bring high prices in the New York markets to enrich the Bermu-dians. The population is 17,53 5, more than half of which is colored. A governor and council of six members, appointed by the crown, and an assembly of thirty-six, four being elected by each of the nine parishes into which the Bermudas are divided, make up the governing body. The chief town is Hamilton, population, 2,627.

Bern or Berne, the capital of the canton of Bern and of Switzerland, lies on a promontory formed by the River Aar, which surrounds it on three sides. The population, 85,264. Berne is the first city in Switzerland, although Zurich, Bale and Geneva have each larger populations. The houses are massive, built of freestone, resting on arcades, which are lined with shops and furnish a covered walk on both sides of the streets. A bridge which spans the Aar is one of the largest bridges in Switzerland. The Gothic cathedral, mint, hospital and university are among the fine buildings of the city. The trade is chiefly in dress fabrics and hats. The figure of a bear is conspicuous in the ornaments of the place, in allusion to the origin of the name Bern, and a bear's den is maintained by the municipality at public expense. The area of the canton is 2,675 square miles, with a population, 642,744.

Bernadotte (her'net-dot'), Jean Baptiste Jules, king of Sweden and Norway as Charles XIV, was born at Pau, in the south