Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/486

BALKAN PENINSULA. and tho Turkish district of Xovibazar (occupied by Austria-Hungary ), and Greece. More accurately speakinsj. however, the northern lioundary of the Balkan Peninsula is the parallel of 45° N. In this broader designation, the peninsula embraces, in addition, the southern half of Rumania, Dalniatia, and part of Croatia.

The eastern coast of the peninsula, overlooking the Black Sea, is generally low and marshy, and almost unbroken, except for the Gulf of Burgas. Through the Bosporus, a narrow channel about 20 miles long, the Black Sea communicates with the Sea of Marmora, which adjoins the penin- sula on the southeast. The shores of the latter sea differ but little from those of the Black Sea in their general appearance. The Sea of ilar- mora comnumicates with the ^Egean Sea through the Dardanelles channel. The coasts of the iEgean Sea form numerous gulfs and safe har- bors of great commercial importance. The coasts of tho Greek Peninsula are greatl,y in- dented, and surrounded by numerous islands. The western coast of the Balkan Peninsula, above the Gulf of Arta, which separates Greece from Albania, is generall.v mountainous. The greater part of the peninsula is covered with numerous mountain-chains, the chief of which is the Balkan ( q.v. ), to which the peninsula owes its name.

Owing to the mountainous character of the country, the rivers which traverse the peninsula are mostl.y short, and very few of them navigable. The most important of them are the Slaritza, Vardar, and Drina. There are also several lakes, the most important of Avhich is that of Scutari. The climate is colder than in the other Mediter- ranean regions in the same latitude, and the snowfall during the winter is considerable.

The leading inhabitants of the peninsula (in the narrower sense) are the Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosniaks, and Montenegrins, all of whom be- long to the Slavic stock, 'the Turks, Greeks, and the Albanians, who are considered to be the de- scendants of the lUyrians, and are mostly found in Turkey and Greece. Turkey exercises suzer- ainty over Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, and nominally retains possession of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have virtuall,y become part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The States which are absolutel.y independent, in addition to Turkey, are Servia, Greece, and Montenegro. The Turks first obtained a foothold in the Bal- kan Peninsula in the nriddle of the Fourteenth Centurv, conquered Constantinople in 14,53, put- ting an end to the Byzantine or Greek Empire, and soon after were masters of the whole penin- sula. The Turkish Empire in Europe fell to pieces in the course of the Nineteenth Century, and at the present time Turkish rule extends over onl.v about one-third of the region. The strife of nationalities is intense in the Balkan Peninsula, and threatens at any moment to dis- turb the existing order. Consult: Miller, O'rnirln and Politics in the year East (Lon- don. ISnS) ; D. G. Hogarth. The Nearer East (New York, 1002) ; and Tuma, Die ostliche Balkan-Halbinscl (Vienna, 1886).

BALKES, biillies. The name which Arabian legend gives to the Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, married him. and bore him a son. She is mentioned in the SOth surah of the Koran, and also in Beckford's Vathck (q.v.).

BALKH, biilK. A district of Afghan Turkes- tan, corresponding to ancient Bactria. It is bounded on the north by the River Amu, on the- east by Badakhshan. and on the west by the des- ert. Offsets of the Hindu-Kush traverse it In a northwestern direction, and slojie down to the low step])es of Bokhara. The soil has the general characteristics of a desert land ; onl.y a few parts are made fertile by artificial irrigation. The climate shows great variation. The com- mercial importance of the district has greatly diminished with the discovery of the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope. The inhabitants, whose number cannot be ascertained, are Usbeg Tartars, and range in character and occupation from plunderers of caravans to tillers of the soil and artisans.

BALKH, biiliv (Turk., high town; ancientl,y, Buctru). The capital of a district of the same name, in Afghan Turkestan, situated where the Balkh River separates in numerous canals, about 23 miles south of the Amu-Darya, or Oxus River (Map: Asia, Central, K 3). It is sur- rounded by a mud wall ; but though bearing the imposing title of Amul-Balad ('mother of cities'), it has little of the grandeur of ancient Baetra, on the site of which it is built. It con- tains a mosque, a citadel, and several half-ruined schools. It was twice destro.yed by Genghis Khan and Timur, and in 1825 it -vas plundered by the ])owerful ruler of Kunduz, Mir-Murad- Bei. There is a new town of the same name a short distance to the north of Balkh. The population is estimated at from 6000 to 15,000.

BALKHASH, bal-Kiish' (probably the Touru- Kaslin of the Avesta; vouru, great + fcasJio, lake). The fourth lake in size on the Eurasiatie Continent, near the eastern borders of Rus- sian Central Asia, in latitude 45° and 48° N., and longitude 75° and 70° E. (Map: Asia, G 4). It has an area of 8000 square miles, and stretches from southwest to northeast over a distance of 330 miles; its breadth varies from 6 miles in the eastern part to 54 miles in the west- ern. The northeastern shores of Balkhash are so low that it is often difficult to locate their outline. The lake is shallow, navigation irregu- lar, and the fisheries unimportant. It is frozen from November to .-Xpril. It lias several feeders from the southeast, the principal of which is the navigable river Hi. The largest of several islands is Utch-Aral, near its western shore.

BALL (ORG. halla, Ger. Ball, Fr. lalle ; cf. Eng. hale, a round pack). The ball was to the primitive man not an implement of sport, but an absolute necessit.y of existence. The first were stones rounded by the action of tide or current, and man used them with a sling to crush in the forehead of the beasts upon whom he fed. Specimens of the Bos primigcnius so slain have been exhumed from ancient bogs. The slaying of Goliath b,v David will immediatel,v come to mind as an instance in which the stone ball from the brook was used as a weapon of offense. Hannibal's Balearic slingers, in the second Punic War, demoralized the Roman infantry by the terrible execution they did while yet at a distance and out of sight. The sling remained a part of the equipment of the English Army until the Fifteenth Century. The South Americana had a modification of the sling in their holo. They attached a ball to each end of a thong,