Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 Part 18

When the Sudan War broke out, Baker, hastening with 3500 men to relieve Tokar, encountered the enemy under Osman Digna at El Teb. His men became panic-stricken at the first rush and allowed themselves to be slaughtered like sheep. Baker himself with a few of his officers succeeded by hard fighting in cutting a way out, but his force was annihilated. British troops soon afterwards arrived at Suakin, and Sir Gerald Graham took the offensive. Baker Pasha accompanied the British force, and guided it in its march to the scene of his defeat, and at the desperately-fought second battle of El Teb he was wounded. He remained in command of the Egyptian police until his death in 1887. Amongst his works may be mentioned _Our National Defences_ (1860), _War in Bulgaria, a Narrative of Personal Experience_ (London, 1879), _Clouds in the East_ (London, 1876).

BAKER CITY, a city and the county-seat of Baker county, Oregon, U.S.A., about 337 m. E. by S. of Portland. Pop. (1890) [v.03 p.0229] 2604; (1900) 6663 (1017 foreign-born); (1910) 6742. The city is served by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, and by the Sumpter Valley railway, a short line (62 m.) extending from Baker City to Austin, Oregon. Baker City lies in the valley of Powder river, at the base of the Blue Mountains, and has an elevation of about 3440 ft. above the sea. It is the largest city in eastern Oregon, and is the centre of important mining, lumber, farming and live-stock interests. It was laid out as a town in 1865, became the county-seat in 1868, and was chartered as a city in 1874. The county and the city were named in honour of Edward d.i.c.kinson Baker (1811-1861), a political leader, orator and soldier, who was born in London, England, was taken to the United States in 1815, was a representative in Congress from Illinois in 1845-1846 and 1849-1851, served in the Mexican War as a colonel (1846-1847), became a prominent lawyer in California and later in Oregon, was a Republican member of the United States Senate in 1860-1861 and was killed at Ball's Bluff, Virginia, on the 21st of October in 1861, while serving as a colonel in the Federal army.

BAKEWELL, ROBERT (1725-1795) English agriculturist, was born at Dishley, Leicestershire, in 1725. His father, a farmer at the same place, died in 1760, and Robert Bakewell then took over the management of the estate. By visiting a large number of farms all over the country, he had already acquired a wide theoretical knowledge of agriculture and stock-breeding; and this knowledge he now put to practical use at Dishley. His main object was to improve the breed of sheep and oxen, and in this he was highly successful, his new Leicestershire breed of sheep attaining within little more than half a century an international reputation, while the Dishley cattle (also known as the new Leicestershire long-horn) became almost as famous. He extended his breeding experiments to horses, producing a new and particularly useful type of farm-horse. He was the first to establish the trade in ram-letting on a large scale, and founded the Dishley Society, the object of which was to ensure purity of breed. The value of his own stock was quickly recognized, and in one year he made 1200 guineas from the letting of a single ram. Bakewell's agricultural experiments were not confined to stock-breeding. His reputation stood high in every detail of farm-management, and as an improver of gra.s.s land by systematic irrigation he had no rival. He died on the 1st of October 1795.

BAKEWELL, ROBERT (1768-1843), English geologist, was born in 1768. He was an able observer, and deserving of mention as one of the earliest teachers of general and practical geology. His _Introduction to Geology_ (1813) contained much sound information, and reached a fifth edition in 1838. The second edition was translated and published in Germany, and the third and fourth editions were reprinted in America by Professor Silliman of Yale College. Bakewell as author also of an _Introduction to Mineralogy_ (1819), and of _Travels comprising Observations made during a Residence in the Tarentaise_, &c. (2 vols., 1823). He died at Hampstead on the 15th of August 1843.

BAKEWELL, a market-town in the western parliamentary division of Derbyshire, England, on the river Wye, 25 m. N.N.W. of Derby, on the Midland railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 2850. The church of All Saints is mentioned in Domesday, and tradition ascribes the building of its nave to King John, while the western side of the tower must be older still.

Within are some admirable specimens of encaustic tiles, and several monuments of the Vernon and Manners families; while an ancient runic rood-stone stands in the churchyard. Zinc and marble are worked in the neighbourhood. The cotton manufacture was established in the town by Sir Richard Arkwright. Bakewell is noted for a chalybeate spring, of use in cases of chronic rheumatism, and there are baths attached to it. A kind of jam-cake, called a "Bakewell pudding," gives another sort of fame to the place. The almshouses, known as St John's hospital, were founded in 1602; and in 1637 a free grammar school was endowed by Lady Grace Manners. Among modern buildings may be mentioned the Bakewell and High Peak Inst.i.tute, and the town hall and museum. On Castle Hill, in the vicinity, are the remains of an earthwork, said to have been raised by Edward the Elder in 924.

Within the parish are included the mansions of Burton Closes and Castle Hill. Two miles from the town, amidst beautiful gardens and meadows, is Haddon Hall. To the east lies the magnificent domain of Chatsworth. The scenery of the neighbourhood, in both the Wye and the Derwent valleys, is very beautiful; the village of Eyam (p.r.o.nounced Eem) near the Derwent may be noticed as specially picturesque. The plague of 1665, carried hither from London, almost depopulated this village, and the name of the rector, William Mompesson, attracted wide notice on account of his brave attempts to combat the outbreak.

BAKHCHI-SARAI (Turk. for "garden-palace"), a town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, situated in a narrow gorge in the Crimea, 20 m. by rail S.S.W. of Simferopol. From the close of the 15th century down to 1783 it was the residence of the Tatar khans of the Crimea; and its streets wear a decidedly oriental look. The princ.i.p.al building, the palace, or _Khan-sarai_, was originally erected in 1519 by Abdul-Sahal-Ghirai, destroyed in 1736, and restored at Potemkin's command for the reception of Catherine II. Attached to it is a mausoleum, which contains the tombs of many of the khans. There are in the place no fewer then thirty-six mosques.

The population consists for the most part of Tatars. Bakhchi-sarai manufactures morocco, sheepskin cloaks, agricultural implements, sabres and cutlery. Pop. (1897) 12,955. Two and a half miles to the east is Chufut-Kaleh (or Jews' city), formerly the chief seat of the Karaite Jews of the Crimea, situated on lofty and almost inaccessible cliffs; it is now deserted except by the rabbi. Between Bakhchi-sarai and Chufut-kaleh is the Uspenskiy monastery, clinging like a swallow's nest to the face of the cliffs, and the scene of a great pilgrimage on the 15th (29th) of August every year.

BAKHMUT, a town of Russia, in the government of Ekaterinoslav, near the river from which it derives its name, 136 m. E. of the town of Ekaterinoslav. It owed its origin in the latter half of the 17th century to the discovery of salt-springs, and now produces coal, salt, alabaster and quicksilver, and manufactures steel rails. Pop. (1897) 19,416.

BAKHTIaRI, one of the great nomad tribes of Persia, whose camping-grounds are in the hilly district, known as the Bakhtiari province. This province extends from Chaharmahal (west of Isfahan) in the E., to near Shushter in the W., and separated from Luristan in the N. by the Dizful river (Ab i Diz), and in the S touches Behbahan and Ram Hormuz. The Bakhtiari are divided into the two great divisions Haft-lang and Chahar-lang, and a number of branches and clans, and were known until the 15th century as the "Great Lurs," the "Little Lurs" being the tribes settled in the district now known as Luristan, with Khorremabad as capital. According to popular tradition the Lurs originally came from Syria in the 10th century, but it is now held that they were in Persia long, perhaps fifteen centuries, before. They speak the Lur language, a Persian dialect. The Bakhtiari number about 38,000 or 40,000 families, under 200,000 souls, while the area of the district occupied by them is about 25,000 sq. m. In the middle of the 19th century they could put 20,000 well-equipped hors.e.m.e.n into the field, but in consequence of misrule and long-lasting feuds between the different branches, which the government often fostered, or even instigated, the district has become poor, and it would now be difficult to find 4000 hors.e.m.e.n. The province is under the governor-general of Arabistan, and pays a yearly tribute of about 5000. The chiefs of the Bakhtiari in 1897, having obtained the shah's permission for improving the road between Shushter or Ahvaz and Isfahan, an iron suspension bridge with a span of 120 ft. was erected over the Karun river at Gudar i Bulutek; another, with a span of 70 ft., over the Bazuft river at Pul i Amarat; and a stone bridge over the Karun at Do-pu-lan.

For accounts of the Bakhtiari see Mrs Bishop (Isabella Bird), _Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan_ (London, 1893); C. de Bode, _Travels in Luristan_ (London, 1841); Lord Curzon, _Persia and the Persian Question_, vol. ii.

283-303 (London, 1892); Sir H. Layard, _Early Adventures in Persia_ (London, 1894).

(A. H.-S.)

BAKING, the action of the verb "to bake," a word, in various forms, common to Teutonic languages (cf. Ger. _backen_), meaning to cook by dry heat.

"Baking" is thus primarily applied to [v.03 p.0230] the process of preparing bread, and is also applied to the hardening by heat or "firing"

of pottery, earthenware or bricks. (See BREAD; CERAMICS and BRICK.)

BAKIS (_i.e._ "speaker," from [Greek: bazo]), a general name for the inspired prophets and dispensers of oracles who flourished in Greece from the 8th to the 6th century B.C. Suidas mentions three: a Boeotian, an Arcadian and an Athenian. The first, who was the most famous, was said to have been inspired by the nymphs of the Corycian cave. His oracles, of which specimens are extant in Herodotus and Pausanias, were written in hexameter verse, and were considered to have been strikingly fulfilled. The Arcadian was said to have cured the women of Sparta of a fit of madness.

Many of the oracles which were current under his name have been attributed to Onomacritus.

Herodotus viii. 20, 77, ix. 43; Pausanias iv. 27, ix. 17, x. 12; Schol.

Aristoph. _Pax_, 1070; see Gottling, _Opuscula Academica_ (1869).

BAKoCZ, TAMaS, CARDINAL (1442-1521), Hungarian ecclesiastic and statesman, was the son of a wagoner, adopted by his uncle, who trained him for the priesthood and whom he succeeded as rector of Tetel (1480). Shortly afterwards he became one of the secretaries of King Matthias I., who made him bishop of Gyor and a member of the royal council (1490). Under Wladislaus II. (1490-1516) he became successively bishop of Eger, the richest of the Hungarian sees, archbishop of Esztergom (1497), cardinal (1500), and t.i.tular patriarch of Constantinople (1510). From 1490 to his death in 1521 he was the leading statesman of Hungary and mainly responsible for her foreign policy. It was solely through his efforts that Hungary did not accede to the league of Cambrai, was consistently friendly with Venice, and formed a family compact with the Habsburgs. He was also the only Magyar prelate who seriously aspired to the papal throne. In 1513, on the death of Julius II., he went to Rome for the express purpose of bringing about his own election as pope. He was received with more than princely pomp, and all but succeeded in his design, thanks to his extraordinary adroitness and the command of an almost unlimited bribing-fund. But Venice and the emperor played him false, and he failed.

He returned to Hungary as papal legate, bringing with him the bull of Leo X. proclaiming a fresh crusade against the Turks. But the crusade degenerated into a _jacquerie_ which ravaged the whole kingdom, and much discredited Bakocz. He lost some of his influence at first after the death of Wladislaus, but continued to be the guiding spirit at court, till age and infirmity confined him almost entirely to his house in the last three years of his life. Bakocz was a man of great ability but of no moral principle whatever. His whole life was a tissue of treachery. He was false to his benefactor Matthias, false to Matthias's son Janos Corvinus (_q.v._), whom he chicaned out of the throne, and false to his accomplice in that transaction, Queen Beatrice. His rapacity disgusted even an age in which every one could be bought and sold. His attempt to incorporate the wealthy diocese of Transylvania with his own primatial province was one of the princ.i.p.al causes of the spread of the Reformation in Hungary. He left a fortune of many millions. His one redeeming feature was a love of art; his own cathedral was a veritable Pantheon.

See Vilmos Fraknoi, _Tamas Bakocz_ (Hung.) (Budapest, 1889).

(R. N. B.)

BAKRI [Ab[=u] 'Ubaid 'Abdallah ibn 'Abd ul-'Az[=i]z ul-Bakr[=i]], (1040-1094), Arabian geographer, was born at Cordova. His best-known work is the dictionary of geographical names which occur in the poets, with an introduction on the seats of the Arabian tribes. This has been edited by F.

Wustenfeld (Gottingen, 1876-1877). Another of his works was a general geography of the world, which exists in ma.n.u.script. The part referring to North Africa was edited by McG. de Slane (Algiers, 1857).

See C. Brockelmann's _Gesch. der Arab. Litteratur_ (Weimar, 1898), vol. i.

p. 476.

BAKU, a government of Russian Transcaucasia, stretching along the west coast of the Caspian Sea from 41 50' to 38 30' N. lat., and bounded on the W. by the government of Elisavetpol and the province of Daghestan, and on the S. by Persia. It includes the Kuba plain on the north-east slope of the Caucasus; the eastern extremity of that range from the Shad-dagh (13,960 ft.) and the Bazardyuz (14,727 ft.) to the Caspian, where it terminates in the Apsheron peninsula; the steppes of the lower Kura and Aras on the south of the Caucasus, and a narrow coast-belt between the Anti-Caucasus and the Caspian. The last-mentioned region lies partly round the Kizil-agach Bay, opening to the south. Area of government, 15,172 sq.

m. Both slopes of the Caucasus are very fertile and well irrigated, with fine forests, fields of rice and other cereals, and flourishing gardens.

The steppes of the Kura are also fertile, but require artificial irrigation, especially for cotton. In addition to agriculture and cattle-breeding, the vine and mulberry are extensively grown. The Apsheron peninsula is dry and bare of vegetation; but within it are situated the famous petroleum wells of Baku. These, which go down to depths of 700 to 1700 ft., yield crude naphtha, from which the petroleum or kerosene is distilled; while the heavier residue (_mazut_) is used as lubricating oil and for fuel, for instance in the locomotives of the Transcaspian railway.

Whereas in 1863 the output was only 5500 tons of crude naphtha, in 1904 it amounted to 9,833,600 tons; but business was much injured by a serious fire in 1905. The oil-fields lie around the town of Baku: the largest, that of Balakhany-Sabunchi-Romany (6 sq. m.), is 8 m. north of the town; that of Bibi-Eybat, is 3 m. south; the "black town" (n.o.bel's) is 2 m. south-east; and beyond the last names is the "white town" (Rothschild's). The lighter oil is conveyed to Batum on the Black Sea in pipes, and is there shipped for export; the heavier oils reach the same port and the ports of Novorossiysk and Poti, also on the Black Sea, in tank railway-cars. At Surakhani, 13 m. east of the town, is the now disused temple of the Pa.r.s.ee fire-worshippers, who were attracted thither by the natural fountains of inflammable gas.

The government is divided into six districts, the chief towns of which are Baku (the capital of the government), Geok-chai (pop. 2247 in 1897), Kuba (15,346), Lenkoran (8768), Salyany (10,168), in district of Jevat, and Shemakha (20,008). The population numbered 828,511 in 1897, of whom the major part were Tatars; other races were Russians, the Iranian tribes of the Tates (89,519) and Talysh (34,994), Armenians (52,233) and the Caucasian mountaineers known as Kurins.

BAKU, the chief town of the government of the same name, in Russian Transcaucasia, on the south side of the peninsula of Apsheron, in 40 21'

N. and 49 50' E. It is connected by rail with the south Russian railway system at Beslan, the junction for Vladikavkaz (400 m.), via Derbent and Petrovsk, with Batum (560 m.) and Poti (536 m.) on the Black Sea via Tiflis. A long stone quay next the harbour is backed by the new town climbing up the slopes behind. To the west is the old town, consisting of steep, narrow, winding streets, and presenting a decidedly oriental appearance. Here are the ruins of a palace of the native khans, built in the 16th century; the mosques of the Persian shahs, built in 1078 and now converted into an a.r.s.enal; nearer the sea the "maidens' tower," transformed into a lighthouse; and not far from it remains of ancient walls projecting above the sea, and showing traces of Arabic architecture of the 9th and 10th centuries. Beside the harbour are engineering works, dry docks and barracks, stores and workshops belonging to the Russian Caspian fleet.

Besides the petroleum refineries the town possesses oil-works (for fuel), flour-mills, sulphuric acid works and tobacco factories. Owing to its excellent harbour Baku is a chief depot for merchandise coming from Persia and Transcaspia--raw cotton, silk, rice, wine, fish, dried fruit and timber--and for Russian manufactured goods. The climate is extreme, the mean temperature for the year being 58 F., for January 38, for July 80; annual rainfall 9.4 in. A wind of exceptional violence blows sometimes from the N.N.W. in winter. Pop. (1860) 13,381; (1897) 112,253; (1900) 179,133.

The town is mentioned by the Arab geographer, Masudi, in the 10th century.

From 1509 it was in the possession of the Persians. The Russians captured it from them in 1723, but restored it in 1735; it was incorporated in the Russian empire in 1806. In 1904-1905, [v.03 p.0231] in consequence of the general political anarchy, serious conflicts took place here between the Tatars and the Armenians, and two-thirds of the Balakhani and Bibi-Eybat oil-works were burned.

See Marvin, _The Region of the Eternal Fire_ (ed. 1891) and J. D. Henry, _Baku, an Eventful History_ (1906).

(P. A. K.)

BAKUNIN, MIKHAIL (1814-1876), Russian anarchist, was born of an aristocratic family at Torjok, in the government of Tver, in 1814. As an officer of the Imperial Guard, he saw service in Poland, but resigned his commission from a disgust of despotism aroused by witnessing the repressive methods employed against the Poles. He proceeded to Germany, studied Hegel, and soon got into touch with the leaders of the young German movement in Berlin. Thence he went to Paris, where he met Proudhon and George Sand, and also made the acquaintance of the chief Polish exiles. From Paris he journeyed to Switzerland, where he resided for some time, taking an active share in all socialistic movements. While in Switzerland he was ordered by the Russian government to return to Russia, and on his refusal his property was confiscated. In 1848, on his return to Paris, he published a violent tirade against Russia, which caused his expulsion from France. The revolutionary movement of 1848 gave him the opportunity of entering upon a violent campaign of democratic agitation, and for his partic.i.p.ation in the Dresden insurrection of 1849 he was arrested and condemned to death. The death sentence, however, was commuted to imprisonment for life, and he was eventually handed over to the Russian authorities, by whom he was imprisoned and finally sent to eastern Siberia in 1855. He received permission to remove to the Amur region, whence he succeeded in escaping, making his way through j.a.pan and the United States to England in 1861. He spent the rest of his life in exile in western Europe, princ.i.p.ally in Switzerland. In 1869 he founded the Social Democratic Alliance, which, however, dissolved in the same year, and joined the International (_q.v._).

In 1870 he attempted a rising at Lyons on the principles afterwards exemplified by the Paris Commune. At the Hague congress of the International in 1872 he was outvoted and expelled by the Marx party. He retired to Lugano in 1873 and died at Bern on the 13th of June 1876.

Nothing can be clearer or more frank and comprehensive in its destructiveness than the revolutionary anarchism of Bakunin. He rejects all the ideal systems in every name and shape, from the idea of G.o.d downwards; and every form of external authority, whether emanating from the will of a sovereign or from universal suffrage. "The liberty of man," he says in his _Dieu et l'etat_ (published posthumously in 1882) "consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature, because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual." In this way will the whole problem of freedom be solved, that natural laws be ascertained by scientific discovery, and the knowledge of them be universally diffused among the ma.s.ses. Natural laws being thus recognized by every man for himself, he cannot but obey them, for they are the laws also of his own nature; and the need for political organization, administration and legislation will at once disappear. Nor will he admit of any privileged position or cla.s.s, for "it is the peculiarity of privilege and of every privileged position to kill the intellect and heart of man.

The privileged man, whether he be privileged politically or economically, is a man depraved in intellect and heart." "In a word, we object to all legislation, all authority, and all influence, privileged, patented, official and legal, even when it has proceeded from universal suffrage, convinced that it must always turn to the profit of a dominating and exploiting minority, against the interests of the immense majority enslaved." Bakunin's methods of realizing his revolutionary programme are not less frank and destructive than his principles. The revolutionist, as he would recommend him to be, is a consecrated man, who will allow no private interests or feelings, and no scruples of religion, patriotism or morality, to turn him aside from his mission, the aim of which is by all available means to overturn the existing society. (See ANARCHISM.)

BA-KWIRI, a Bantu nation of German Cameroon, West Africa. According to tradition they are migrants from the eastward. The "Brushmen," for that is the meaning of their name, are grouped in about sixty separate clans. They are a lively intelligent people, brave fighters and daring hunters, and in their love of songs, music and elocution are superior to many negro races.

Their domestic affections are strongly developed. Their chief physical peculiarity is the great disparity between the size and complexion of the s.e.xes, most of the women being much shorter and far lighter in colour than the men. The Ba-Kwiri are generous and open-handed among themselves; but the law of blood for blood is mercilessly fulfilled, even in cases of accidental homicide. Their religion is ancestor-worship blended with witchcraft and magic. They believe in good and evil spirits, those of the forests and seas being especially feared. In common with their neighbours the Dualla (_q.v._) the Ba-Kwiri possess a curious drum language. By drum-tapping news is conveyed from clan to clan. Slaves and women are not allowed to master this language, but all the initiated are bound to repeat it so as to pa.s.s the messages on. The Ba-Kwiri have also a horn language peculiar to themselves.

BALA, a market-town and urban district of Merionethshire, N. Wales, at the north end of Bala Lake, 17 m. N.E. of Dolgelley (Dolgellau). Pop. (1901) 1554. It is little more than one wide street. Its manufactures are flannel, stockings, gloves and hosiery (for which it was well known in the 18th century). The Tower of Bala (some 30 ft. high by 50 diameter) is a tumulus or "moat-hill," formerly thought to mark the site of a Roman camp. The theological college of the Calvinistic Methodists and the grammar school (endowed), which was founded in 1712, are the chief features, together with the statue of the Rev. Thomas Charles, the distinguished theological writer, to whom was largely due the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Bala Lake, the largest in Wales (4 m. long by some m.

wide), is subject to sudden and dangerous floods, deep and clear, and full of pike, perch, trout, eel and _gwyniad_. The _gwyniad_ (Caregonus) is peculiar to certain waters, as those of Bala Lake, and is fully described by Thomas Pennant in his _Zoology_ (1776).

The lake (_Llyn Tegid_) is crossed by the Dee, local tradition having it that the waters of the two never mix, like those of Alpheus and the sea.

BALAAM ([Hebrew: BIL'AM] Bil'am; [Greek: Balaam]; Vg. _Balaam_; the etymology of the name is uncertain), a prophet in the Bible. Balaam, the son of Beor, was a Gentile seer; he appears in the history of the Israelites during their sojourn in the plains of Moab, east of Jordan, at the close of the Forty Years' wandering, shortly before the death of Moses and the crossing of the Jordan. Israel had conquered two kings of eastern Palestine--Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Balak, king of Moab, became alarmed, and sent for Balaam to curse Israel; Balaam came after some hesitation, but when he sought to curse Israel Yahweh compelled him to bless them.

The main pa.s.sage concerning Balaam in Num. xxii-xxv.; it consists of a narrative which serves as a framework for seven oracular poems, the first four being of some length and the last three very brief. The story is doubtless based on ancient traditions, current in various forms; the Old Testament references are not wholly consistent.

The narrative in Num. xxii. ff. is held to be compiled with editorial additions from the two ancient doc.u.ments (900-700 B.C.) commonly denoted by the symbols J and E The distribution of the material between the two doc.u.ments is uncertain; but some such scheme as the following is not improbable. The references to portions the origin of which is especially uncertain are placed in brackets ( ).

The present narrative, therefore, is not really a single continuous story, but may be resolved into two older accounts. In combining these two and using them as a framework for the poems, the compilers have altered, added and omitted. Naturally, when both doc.u.ments made statements which were nearly identical, one might be omitted; so that neither account need be given in full in the composite pa.s.sage. The two older accounts, [v.03 p.0232] as far as they are given here, may have run somewhat thus: restorations of supposed omissions are given in square brackets [ ].

(i) J. xxii. 3b-5a to "Beor" (5c to "to the land"--7, 11, 17, 18). Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at the Israelite conquests, sends _elders_ of Moab and Midian to Balaam, son of Beor, to the land of _Ammon_, to induce him to come and curse Israel. He sends back word that he can only do what Yahweh commands.

The land of _Ammon_. The current Hebrew Text has the land of _ammo_, _i.e._ as EV, "his people," but _Ammon_ is read by the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac and Vulgate Versions and some Hebrew MSS., and is accepted by many modern scholars.

xxii. 22-35a to "Balaam," also "Go" and "So Balaam went." Nevertheless Balaam sets out with two servants to go to Balak, but the Angel of Yahweh meets him. At first the Angel is seen only by the a.s.s, which arouses Balaam's anger by its efforts to avoid the Angel. The a.s.s is miraculously enabled to speak to Balaam. Yahweh at last enables Balaam to see the Angel, who tells him that he would have slain him but for the a.s.s. Balaam offers to go back, but is told to go on.

Speaking animals are a common feature of folk-lore; the only other case in the Old Testament is the serpent in Eden. Maimonides suggested that the episode of the Angel and the conversation with the a.s.s is an account of a vision; similar views have been held by E. W. Hengstenberg and other Christian scholars. Others, _e.g._ Volck in Hauck's _Realencyklopadie_ (s.

"Bileam"), regard the statements about the a.s.s speaking as figurative; the a.s.s brayed, and Balaam translated the sound into words. The ordinary literal interpretation is more probable; but it does not follow that the authors of the Pentateuch intended the story to be taken as historical in its details. It need hardly be said that the exact accuracy of such narratives is not an essential part of the Christian faith; no such doctrine is laid down by the creeds and confessions.

xxii. 36, 39, xxiv. 1, 2, 10-14, 25. Balak meets Balaam and they go together [and offer sacrifices]; Balaam, however, blesses Israel by divine inspiration; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him of his message and again blesses Israel. Then Balaam goes home. (For the relation of the poems to J's narrative, see below.)

(ii.) E. xxii. 2, 3a, 5b "to Pethor, which is by the river," 8-10, 12-16, 19-21, 37a, to "unto me," 38. Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at the conquests of Israel, sends the princes of Moab to Balaam at _Pethor_ on the Euphrates, that he may come and curse Israel.

A. Jeremias, _Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients_, p. 278, adopts Marquart's view that the "River" (_nahar_) is the so-called "River"