Cherub._, s. 10.

[10] T. Steuernagel, _Einwanderung der israelitischen Staemme_ (1901).

BAL[=A]DHUR[=I] (AB[=U]-L-'ABB[=A]S AHMAD IBN YAHY[=A] IBN J[=A]BIR
AL-BAL[=A]DHUR[=I]), Arabian historian, was a Persian by birth, though his
sympathies seem to have been strongly with the Arabs, for Mas'[=u]d[=i]
refers to one of his works in which he refuted the Shu'[=u]bites (see ABU
'UBAIDA). He lived at the court of the caliphs al-Mutawakkil and
al-Musta'[=i]n and was tutor to the son of al-Mu'tazz. He died in 892 as
the result of a drug called _bal[=a]dhur_ (hence his name). The work by
which he is best known is the _Fut[=u]h ul-Buld[=a]n_ (Conquests of Lands),
edited by M. J. de Goeje as _Liber expugnationis regionum_ (Leiden, 1870;
Cairo, 1901). This work is a digest of a larger one, which is now lost. It
contains an account of the early conquests of Mahomet and the early
caliphs. Bal[=a]dhur[=i] is said to have spared no trouble in collecting
traditions, and to have visited various parts of north Syria and
Mesopotamia for this purpose. Another great historical work of his was the
_Ans[=a]b ul-Ashr[=a]f_ (Genealogies of the Nobles), of which he is said to
have written forty parts when he died. Of this work the eleventh book has
been published by W. Ahlwardt (Greifswald, 1883), and another part is known
in manuscript (see _Journal of the German Oriental Society_, vol. xxxviii.
pp. 382-406). He also made some translations from Persian into Arabic.

(G. W. T.)

BALAGHAT (_i.e._ "above the _ghats_ or passes," the highlands), a district
of British India in the Nagpur division of the Central Provinces. The
administrative headquarters are at the town of Burha. The district contains
an area of 3132 sq. m. It forms the eastern portion of the central plateau
which divides the province from east to west. These highlands, formerly
known as the Raigarh Bichhia tract, remained desolate and neglected until
1866, when the district of Balaghat was formed, and the country opened to
the industrious and enterprising peasantry of the Wainganga valley.
Geographically the district is divided into three distinct parts:--(1) The
southern lowlands, a slightly undulating plain, comparatively well
cultivated and drained by the Wainganga, Bagh, Deo, Ghisri and Son rivers.
(2) The long narrow valley known as the Mau Taluka, lying between the hills
and the Wainganga river, and comprising a long, narrow, irregular-shaped
lowland tract, intersected by