Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/570

 550 BERBICE BERBICE. I. A river of British Guiana, which rises about lat. 3 30' K. and Ion. 57 30' W., and flows generally N. to New Am- sterdam, where it falls into the Atlantic through an estuary 3J m. wide, crossed hy a bar having but 7 ft. of water at low tide. The mouth is divided by Crab island into two channels, both pretty deep. The river is navigable by vessels drawing 12 ft. for 165 m., where the influence of the tide ceases, and above which point numerous cataracts impede navigation. Larger vessels can reach Fort Nassau, 45 m. from the sea. At new moon shipping is im- perilled by a formidable bore. The river is studded with bowlders and abounds in cay- mans, and its banks are generally low and cov- ered with luxuriant vegetation. In a basin of this river Schomburgk in 1837 discovered the magnificent water lily, the Victoria regia. II. The eastern of the two counties into which British Guiana is now divided, bounded E. by Dutch Guiana, and having a coast line on the Atlantic of about 150 m. ; area, about 21,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 50,000. It is watered by the Berbice and several smaller rivers. The interior is principally inhabited by aborigines, numbering about 30,000. The surface is most- ly covered with water during the rainy seasons (April to July, and December and January), and the cultivated portions are narrow strips along the coast and the banks of the rivers for some distance inland. Sugar, coffee, cacao, and cotton are the staple productions ; rum and molasses are exported in large quantities ; and dye and other valuable woods, spices, and fruits are plentiful. Travelling is chiefly done by boats on the rivers. Berbice was Brst settled by the Dutch, but was several times seized upon (last in 1803) by the British, to whom it was finally ceded in 1814. It was united with Essequibo and Demerara under one govern- ment in 1831. Capital, New Amsterdam. BERCHTESGADEJV. I. A principality of S. E. Bavaria, in the circle of Upper Bavaria, between the valleys of the Salzach and the Saalach, sur- rounded on all sides but the N. W. by the Aus- trian duchy of Salzburg ; area, 155 sq. m. ; pop. about 9,500. Only a small portion is fit for cultivation. Cattle are fed on the Alpine meadows, and the rest of the surface is all rock, forest, and mountain, comprising the "W. half of the Salzburg Alps, and in it Mount Watz- mann, above 9,000 ft. high. The mountain sce- nery and that of the Konigs or Bartholomaus lake rival Switzerland in picturesqueness. The lake is walled on almost all sides by moun- tains, and on its shores is St. Bartholomii with a chapel for pilgrims and a royal hunting box. Chamois are sometimes driven by peas- ants into the lake, when they are shot from boats. In this locality is an ice chapel, a drifted heap of snow which remains unmelted even in summer. Enormous fishes have been at times caught in the lake, which chiefly abounds in the char (salmo Alpinus). Besides 'salt, the products are marble, gypsum, lead, BEKDITCHEV and other minerals. The inhabitants are noted for their quaint manners and costumes, and for their skill in manufacturing toys of wood, bone, and ivory, and other handiwork, known as Berchtesgaden ware. The former ecclesias- tical territory of Berchtesfraden was secular- ized in 1803 as a principality of the electorate of Salzburg. In 1805 it came into the posses- sion of the Austrian crown, and in 1810 into that of Bavaria. II. A small town in the district of Traunstein, capital of the princi- pality, 12 m. S. of Salzburg, on the Ache or Albe, an affluent of the Konigs or Bartholo- maus lake, which is 3 m. distant; pop. about 1,800. The former convent, a stately building on a rocky elevation, has become a royal chateau. The late King Maximilian had a hunting villa built here in 1852. Adjoining the town are the extensive Sudhauser or boil- ing houses, which produce annually over 150,- 000 quintals of various kinds of salt. The salt mine is about 1 m. below Berchtesgaden, and the deposit is supposed to be a continuation of the celebrated llallein mine near Salzburg, though rock salt is here found in larger masses. Owing to the scarcity of wood, most of the brine is conveyed in pipes to Reichenhall, 11 m. distant. The superfluous brine is raised by an ingenious system of pumps over mountains nearly 2,000 ft. high. The total length of the brine conduit or aqueduct from Berchtesgaden and Reichenhall to Traunstein is nearly 60 m. The salt manufacture has been in active opera- tion since the end of the 12th century. BERCY, formerly a French village, forming since 1860 part of Paris, on the right bank of the Seine ; pop. about 14,000. There is a large trade in wine, brandy, oil, and vinegar, con- ducted by more than 1,000 wholesale dealers; and there are also sugar refineries, lumber yards, and tanneries. BERDIMSK, a seaport town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, on the N. shore of the sea of Azov, and on the cape of Ber- diansk, near the mouth of the river Berda, 150 m. N. E. of Simferopol ; pop. in 1867, 12,465. It has the best harbor on the sea of Azov, and carries on a large trade with Kertch. There are several tallow factories and brick kilns, a custom house, and a theatre. Near the town are valuable coal mines and two salt lakes from which large quantities of salt are made. The exports are grain, linseed, rape seed, hemp, butter, tallow, hides, and wool ; the im- ports, coffee, oil, olives, pepper, and fruits. In the vicinity are large colonies of Mennonites. Berdiausk in 1828 was an insignificant village, and owes its development to Prince Voron- tzoff. In 1855 the English and French fleets destroyed the Russian vessels in the port and burned the suburbs. BERDITCHEV (Pol. Berdyczew), a city of Rus- sia, in the government and about 85 m. W. S. W. of Kiev ; pop. in 1867, 53,787, mostly Polish Jews. It is the centre of trade between south- ern Russia and Germany. Five annual fairs