BALIOL BALKH 241 terminate in a volcanic peak orer 11,000 ft. high. The eruption in 1815 of another volcano, Gunung Batur, 7,000 ft. high, caused great loss of life. The coast is rugged, and has few harbors. The land is productive, and abun- dantly watered. The chief products in the south are grain and sweet potatoes, and in the north rice. The imports are opium, betel, ivory, gold, and silver ; and the exports include hides, oil, edible birds' nests, and other articles. The natives are skilful artificers in gold and iron, and manufacture firearms. They are sup- posed to be descended from Hindoo colonists of Java, and are with those of Lombok the only people in the archipelago who observe Hindoo rites. The Kavi is the religious lan- guage, and the Sunda is spoken by the masses. Widows are killed by their nearest relatives, and their bodies burned. Among the nobles the practice of burning the dead also prevails to some extent. Many of the higher classes are fond of letters, and have large collections of MSS., chiefly translations from Javanese and Malay. There are in the island about 4,000 Mohammedans and 8,000 Chinese. The island was divided in 1815 into nine principali- ties or rajahships, the village administration be- ing about the same as in Java. The prince of Klongkong has a theocratic supremacy over all the islands by virtue of his reputed descent from Deva Agung, the deified progenitor of the Balinese. The most powerful of all the principalities is Karang Assam, in the north- east, which is dynastically united with the neighboring island of Lombok. The Dutch in 1846 resented an alleged insult to one of their diplomatic agents by capturing the chief fortress, Baliling, and extorting a treaty, the violation of which led to a new expedition in 1847, in which they were defeated with considerable loss. Subsequent expeditions were more successful, both in checking the Bali pi- rates and inducing the ruling princes to make important concessions. The Dutch have a settlement at Badong on the S. coast. BALIOL. See BALLIOL. BALIZE, or Belize, a town of British Hon- duras, Central America, at the mouth of the river of the same name, in lat. 17 29' N., Ion. 88 8' W. ; pop. about 12,000, many of whom are negroes. It is built along a single street running parallel with the seashore ; from this extend only a few inconsiderable side streets, almost every house in the town facing the main thoroughfare. The principal buildings are the market (an iron structure), the government savings bank, a hospital and an insane asylum, and several churches. There are also numer- ous schools. The trade of Balize is consider- able ; cochineal and mahogany are the leading articles of export. Balize was first settled by J the English about 1670 ; and after numerous j contests with the Spaniards, who claimed pos- session of the site, it was finally confirmed to the British by the treaty of 1783. It is the seat of the legislature of British Honduras. BALKAN MOUNTAINS, an extensive range bounding the great plains of Bulgaria S. of the 1 lower Danube. The true Balkan, or ancient Htemus, commences on the Black sea at Cape Einineh or Haemus, lat. 42 43', and, after making a curve to the north, runs W. S. W. to the sources of the Maritza, the ancient Hebrus, comprising about four degrees of longitude, dividing Bulgaria from Roumelia or Thrace. Here it is intersected at an acute angle by a range running N. W. and S. E. from Roumelia into Servia, and called by the ancients Rho- dope and Scomius, by moderns Despoto Dagh and Dupansha Dagh. Further west, after mak- ing a sharp curve toward the southern frontier of Servia, it becomes the Mount Orbelus of the ancients. Between Servia and Albania it is the Mons Scardus, or Kara Dagh, and thence crosses Albania, joining the Dinaric Alps and approaching the Adriatic sea. The offshoots of the Balkan both N. and S. are very numer- ous, extending toward the Carpathians on one side, and the mountains of Macedonia on the other. The average elevation of these moun- tains is about 4,000 ft. The loftiest peaks rise about 4,000 ft. higher. The Balkan is the nat- ural northern defence of Turkey. It has a num- ber of passes, the principal of which is that of Shumla, by which the Russians under General Diebitsch effected a passage in 1829. Some of
- the rivers which take their rise in the Balkan
are of considerable importance. Those which flow from the northern watershed are tributa- ries to the Danube, with the exception of a few which run into the Black sea. On the south the Maritza and its tributaries flow into the ^Egean sea. From the western range the Morava (Margus) and the Drina (Drinus) flow north through Servia from Mount Orbelus. On the south the Mesta or Kara Su (Nestus), Stru- raa (Strymon), and Vardar (Axius) carry off ' the waters into the gulfs of Contessa and Salonica. The mountains are principally of granitic formation. Marble is abundant in the southern ranges. Gold and silver were found by the ancients. Copper, iron, and lead mines also exist. BALK ASH, Balkhash, or Tengiz, a lake of S. W. Siberia, between lat. 44 and 47 N., and Ion. 74 and 79 E. ; length from N". E. to S. W., 250 m. ; greatest breadth, 70 m. ; area about 8,01)0 sq. m. It has no visible outlet. It is enclosed by mountains on the E. and W. On the S. and S. W. it receives the Hi, whose valley was a century ago the principal domain of the Dzun- garis. They were nearly annihilated by the Chinese, who introduced various settlers for the cultivation of the soil. The lake is frozen during winter. It contains only small fish. The Russian government has attempted to nav- igate part of the Hi since 1852. BALKH. I. A country of central Asia, the main part of ancient Bactria, situated between lat. 35 and 37 N., and Ion. 63 and 69 E., bounded N. by the Oxus, E. by Badakhshan, W. by the desert, and S. by the Hindoo Koosh
