606 BIIOTAN BIANCIIINI BHOTAN. See BOOTAN. BHIRTPOOR, or Bhnrtpore. I. A native state of N. W. Hindostan, bordering on the North- western Provinces, bet ween lat. 26 30' and 27 50' N., and Ion. 76 54' and 77 49' E. ; area, about 2,000 sq. m. ; pop. about 600,000, chiefly lauts professing Brahmanism. There are few perennial streams, and the soil is sandy, but large crops are produced by abundant irriga- tion from wells. II. A city, capital of the state, 33 m. W. of Agra, and 95 m. S. of Delhi ; pop. about 100,000. It is nearly 8 m. in circuit, and was formerly surrounded by a mud wall and wide ditch, and had a fort of great strength. Gen. Lake made four attempts to storm it in 1805, without success, losing over 3,000 men. It was, however, finally surrendered by the rajah, who concluded a treaty April 17; but his death in 1825 producing a contest about the succession, new complications arose, in con- Bhurtpoor. sequence of which Combermere stormed the town in 1826, having first destroyed a part of the wall by mining. The fortifications were afterward dismantled. Throughout the sepoy rebellion the city remained in the hands of the British. BIAFRA. I. A small kingdom of W. Africa, on the bight or bay of the same name. It lies between the equator and lat. 5 N., and extends only a small distance into the interior. The principal town, of the same name, is sit- uated not far from the coast. II. Bight of, the eastern part of the gulf of Guinea, extending from Cape Formosa on the north to Cape Lopez on the south. The delta of the Niger projects between it and the bight of Benin, some of the mouths of that river being upon either bay. It also receives the rivers Old Calabar, Cameroons, and Gaboon. It contains the islands of Fer- nando Po, belonging to Spain, and Principe and St. Thomas, to Portugal. BIALYSTOK. (Russ. Bielostok), a town of Rus- sia, in the government of Grodno, formerly in the Polish province of Podlachia, on a small tributary of the Narew, capital of a circle of the same name, 45 m. S. W. of Grodno; pop. in 1869, 16,985, about 12,000 of whom are Jews and nearly 4, 000 Roman Catholics. The town is well built, mostly with one-story brick houses. It has a beautiful castle, formerly belonging to the counts Branicki, but now to the muni- cipality, adjoining which are superb pleasure grounds. Leather, cloth, cotton and woollen goods, soap, and other articles are manufac- tured, and there is an active trade, chiefly in grain and timber, with Poland, the fairs being very lively. Together with the territory now forming the circle, the town was transferred to Prussia at the partition of Poland in 1795, and in 1807 to Russia by the treaty of Tilsit, when this part of Podlachia was formed into a sepa- rate district, subsequently united with Grodno. BIANCIIINI, Francesco, an Italian astronomer and author, born in Verona, Dec. 13, 1662, died in Rome, March 2, 1729. He studied under Montanari, and, though he took holy orders, he devoted himself to science. His merits won for him a high position under four successive popes; he became secretary of a committee for the reform of the calendar, drew a meridian line through Italy, but did not complete this work, superintended the antiqui- ties of Rome, and proposed the establishment of a museum of sacred monuments. He was an associate member of the French academy, and was ennobled. His works include Istoria
