BIELITZ — 68 miles by rail S.W. from Hanover. It is the chief centre of the linen industry of Westphalia, and an important seat for the manufacture of plush, silk, and hosiery, and for bleaching. The old fort of Sparenberg was burnt down in 1877, but rebuilt. Population (1885), 34,931 ; (1900), 62,464. BielitZ (Bohemian or Czech, Bilsko; Polish, Bielsko), chief town of district of the same name in Austrian Silesia. In 1890 the population of the district, a German enclave, was 71,333, of whom 43,350 were Catholic, 26,663 Protestant, and 1320 Jews; in 1900, 75,425. Population of town (1890), 14,573; (1900), 16,885. It has important woollen and linen industry, and manufactures of jute, paper, machinery, &c. Biel la, a town and episcopal see of the province of Novara, Piedmont, Italy, on the N.W. edge of the valley of the Po, 30 miles by rail N.W. from Vercelli. It has statues to General Lamarmora, Garibaldi, and Sella (mineralogist, died 1884). Biella is the seat of very considerable woollen, cotton, and clothing manufactures, also ironworks and foundries, tanneries, sawmills, turnery shops, and hat factories. It has a technical school. Population about 15,000. In the neighbourhood are several hydropathic establishments, e.g., Oropa, Cossilla, &c. Bigelow, John (1817 ), American journalist and diplomat, was born at Malden, New York, 25th November 1817. He graduated at Union College, 1835; was a practising lawyer in New York several years after 1839 ; took up journalistic work, becbming jointowner (with William Cullen Bryant) and managing editor of the New York Evening Post (1849-61); was United States consul at Paris, 1861-64, and minister to France, 1864-67, and was secretary of state for the state of New York, 1875-77. He wrote books of travel, of popular biography, or of historical or political discussion, &c., from time to time; but his principal literary achievements were editions, between 1868 and 1888, of Franklin’s autobiography and autobiographical writings, copiously annotated; and of the complete works of Franklin, in ten octavo volumes (New York, 1887-89). These editions were based, in part, upon the editor’s personal investigations of manuscript sources in France and elsewhere, and supplanted the well-known, long serviceable, but less accurate edition by Jared Sparks (Boston, 1836-40). Mr. Bigelow was a close friend of Samuel J. Tilden, and became his literary executor, editing a two-volume collection of his speeches and other political writings, issued in 1885. As regards its unity of plan and symmetry of literary execution, Mr. Bigelow’s most noteworthy book is a brief biography of his editorial associate William Cullen Bryant (1890). Big Rapids, capital of Mecosta county, Michigan, U.S.A., situated on Muskegon river, in the central part of the lower peninsula. Population (1900), 4686. Bijapur, an ancient city and modern district of British India, in the Carnatic or Canarese-speaking division of Bombay. The city was made the administrative headquarters of the district in 1885; it is a station on the Southern Mahratta railway, 60 miles south of Sholapur. The population in 1881 was 11,424; in 1891 it was 16,759. The water-supply is derived from an elaborate system of reservoirs and aqueducts, which was restored in part as a famine relief work. Bijapur is probably the most picturesque collection of ruins in all India. The district of Bijapur, formerly called Kaladgi, occupies a barren plain, sloping eastward from a string of feudatory Mahratta states to the Nizam’s dominions. It contains an area of 5668 square miles. The population
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in 1891 was 796,339, being 140 persons per square mile. Classified according to religion, Hindus numbered 703,604; Mahommedans, 88,522 ; Jains, 3353 ; Christians, 827, of whom 42 were Europeans; “others,” 33. In 1901 the population was 735,041, showing a decrease of 8 per cent., compared with an increase of 27 per cent, in the preceding decade, and a decrease of 21 per cent, in the period between 1872 and 1881. These changes in population reveal the effects of famine, which was very severely felt in 1876-78, and again in 1899-1900. The total amount of land revenue and rates was returned as Bs. 18,52,507, the incidence of assessment being about eight annas per acre; the number of police was 684. In 1897-98, out of a total cultivated area of 2,608,290 acres, only 15,972 were irrigated from tanks, Ac. The principal crops are millet, wheat, pulse, oil-seeds, and cotton. There are considerable manufactures of cotton and silk goods and blankets, and eight factories for ginning and pressing cotton. The East Deccan line of the Southern Mahratta railway traverses the district from north to south. In 1897-98 there were 313 schools with 15,081 pupils, showing one village with a school to 23 square miles of area, and D9 pupils to every hundred of the population. There were four printing presses, each issuing a weekly newspaper in the vernacular. The municipalities had a total income of Ks.72,956, the incidence of taxation being 14 annas per head. The death-rate in 1897 was 46 per thousand for the district, rising to 50 for the city. Bijawar, a native state of India, in the Bundelkhand agency. Area, 974 square miles; population (1891), 123,414; average density, 127 persons per square mile; revenue (1897-98), Bs.1,53,757. The chief, whose title is Maharaja, is a Rajput of the Bundela clan, descended from Chhatar Sal, the champion of the independence of Bundelkhand in the 18th century. In 1901 the state was under British administration. The town of Bijawar is situated in 24° 37' N. lat. and 79° 31' E. long. Bijnor, or Bijnaur, a town and district of British India, in the Rohilkhand division of the North-West Provinces. The town is about three miles from the left bank of the Ganges. The population in 1891 was 16,236; the municipal income in 1897-98 was Rs.10,320. It conducts a large trade in sugar. The American Methodists have a mission, which maintains some aided schools, and there is an English high school for boys. The district of Bijnor has an area of 1898 square miles, and had a population in 1891 of 794,070, being 417 persons per square mile. Classified according to religion, Hindus numbered 525,002; Mahommedans, 267,162; Christians, 908, of whom 30 were Europeans; “others,” 998. In 1901 the population was 779,361, showing a decrease of 2 per cent. The land revenue and rates were Rs.13,99,964, the incidence of assessment being R.l :2:4 per acre ; the number of police was 2459. The country is watered in most parts by streams from the hills. A series of small canals has been constructed. Out of a total cultivated area in 189697 of 601,601 acres, 18,958 were irrigated from canals, and 26,969 from wells. Sugar is largely exported. A line of the Oudh and Rohilkhand railway from Moradabad to Saharanpur has been opened through the district. Bikanir, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency, with an area of 2309 square miles. The population in 1881 was 509,021, and in 1891 was 831,955, giving an average density of 36 persons per square mile. In 1901 the population was 584,712, showing a decrease of 30 per cent, due to the results of famine. The present Maharaja, Ganga Singh, was born in 1879, succeeded in 1887, and was intrusted with full powers in 1898. In 1897-98, the gross revenue was Rs.21,46,064. The
