510 BELOIT broke out he took the conservative side ; and in company with Archdeacon Nares he com- menced in 1793 the publication of the "British Critic," which strongly supported tory views. In 1804 he hecame assistant librarian of the British museum, but was soon dismissed on account of a loss sustained by the institution through his mistaken kindness to an unworthy applicant. He made a translation of Herodo- tus (4 vols. 8vo, 1791) which had for a time a high reputation, but has been superseded by more accurate versions. Besides many other translations, he published " Anecdotes of Liter- ature and Scarce Books" (6 vols. 8vo, 1806- '12), and other works; and after his death ap- peared "The Sexagenarian, or Memoirs of a Literary Life" (2 vols. 8vo, 1817). BELOIT, a city of Rock county, Wis., situated on both sides of Rock river, at the mouth of Turtle creek, near the southern boundary of the state, 65 m. S. W. of Milwaukee ; pop. in 1870, 4,396. It is built on a beautiful plain, from which the ground rises abruptly to a height of 50 or 60 feet, affording excellent sites for residences. It is the seat of Beloit college, founded in 1847, which is under the control of the Oongregationalists, and in 1871 had 9 instructors, 133 students in the preparatory and 64 in the academic department, and a li- brary of 7,200 volumes. The city is noted for its broad, handsome streets, and for its fine churches; the Congregational church, con- structed of gray limestone, is considered one of the most beautiful in the state. Beloit is well supplied with water power, has a flourishing trade, and contains several manufactories of woollen goods, of reapers and fanning mills, of scales, of carriages, an iron foundery and machine shop, several flouring mills, 2 news- paper offices, several hotels, a bank, a high school, and 4 grammar and 8 primary schools. It is the point of intersection of the Chicago and Northwestern and the Western Union rail- roads. A fertile prairie, the largest in the state, lies on the E. side of Rock river. Beloit was settled about 1837, and incorporated as a city in 1856. BEL01V, Pierre, a French naturalist, born at Soulleti&re, in the province of Maine, about 1517, assassinated in Paris in April, 1564. His early studies in natural history were facilitated by the bishop of Mans, and he graduated as doctor of medicine in Paris, where he became acquainted with Ronsard and other learned men. On his return from Germany, where he had travelled with the botanist Cordus, he was arrested for alleged conversion to the doc- trines of Luther. He made three journeys to the East and other countries (1546-'9), and a pension was conferred on him by Henry II., and a residence in the chateau de Madrid, in the Bois de Boulogne, by Charles IX. Late one evening he was found dead in the wood, having probably been killed by robbers. He is considered as the founder of the science of comparative anatomy. His principal work, BELOOCIIISTAX Observations de plusieurs singularitez et memorable*, trounces en Qrece, Asie, Judee, Ifgypte, Arabic et autres pays estranges (in 3 parts, Paris, 1553), passed through several edi- tions, and was translated into Latin and Ger- man. Among his other writings are : Ilwtoire naturelle des estranges poissons marine (1551), Histoire de la nature des oyseanx (1553), and Les remonstrances sur le default du labour et culture des plantes, &c. (1558). BELOOCHISTAN, or Beloojtstan, a country of Asia, between lat. 24 50' and 30 20' N. and Ion. 57 40' and 69 18' E., bounded N. by Af- ghanistan, E. by Sinde, S. by the Indian ocean, and W. by Persia ; area, about 166,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 2,500,000. The general aspect of the country is mountainous; but toward the shore of the Arabian sea on the south, and toward Persia on the west, there are extensive barren plains. The Hala mountains on the east and northeast, running from the months of the Indus to the Solyman mountains, include a quantity of comparatively fertile land, of val- ley and upland plain, in which the inhabitants raise tropical grains and fruits. A strip of ter- ritory to the east of the Hala chain, which, al- though within the Indus valley, belongs to Be- loochistan, is very fertile, producing cereals and rich crops of jowarree (a grain much in demand in northern India), and various tropical produc- tions. But the land here is low and swampy, to which indeed it owes its fertility, and, though more numerously inhabited than the other re- gions, is the most unhealthy of the whole. The remainder of the country is a barren wilderness. On the N. E. boundary are situated the famous mountain passes, the Bolan and Gimdawa. These form the direct road to Kelat, the capital, and the only means of communicating with the interior of the country, from the plains of N. W. India. There are no rivers worthy the name ; a few mountain brooks attain consider- able size in the spring, but do not endure ; and the streams emptying from the southern coast into the sea are insignificant. The northeast- ern and eastern provinces or districts are Sa- rawan, Kelat, Cutch-Gundava, and Jhalawan. On the south along the seashore are the dis- trict of Loos and Mekran, the ancient Gedrosia. In the northwest are Kohistan and Kalpoora- kan. The inhabitants of Beloochistan consist of two great varieties, the Belooches and the Brahooees, which are subdivided into other tribes, and these again into families. Their origin is uncertain, but they are probably a race of mixed Tartar and Persian descent. They themselves claim to belong to the earlies! Mohammedan conquerors of central Asia, and are zealous Sunnis, tolerating an unbeliever ra- ther than a Shiah. Polygamy is allowed. In their nomadic habits they resemble Tartars 01 Bedouins, living in tents of felt or canvas, ane wearing a woollen cloth on their heads, wit! woollen or linen outer coats. They are of slight but active forms, and practise arms and warlike exercises for amusement. Their wo-
