s of a railway track are laid, and
also to the sand which a balloonist takes up with him, in order that, by
throwing portions of it out of the car from time to time, he may lighten
his balloon when he desires to rise to a higher level.

BALLATER (Gaelic for "the town on a sloping hill"), a village in the parish
of Glenmuick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 670 ft. above the sea, on the left
bank of the Dee, here crossed by a fine bridge, 43-1/4 m. by rail W. by S.
of Aberdeen. It is the terminus of the Deeside railway and the station for
Balmoral, 9 m. to the W. Founded in 1770 to provide accommodation for the
visitors to the mineral wells of Pannanich, 1-1/2 m. to the E., it has
since become a popular summer resort. It contains the Albert Memorial Hall
and the barracks for the sovereign's bodyguard, used when the king is in
residence at Balmoral. Red granite is the chief building material of the
houses. Ballatrich farm, where Byron spent part of his boyhood, lies some 4
m. to the E. Ballater has a mean temperature of 44.6deg F., and an average
annual rainfall of 33.4 in.

BALLENSTEDT, a town of Germany, in the duchy of Anhalt, on the river Getel,
20 m. E. of Quedlinburg by rail. Pop. (1900) 5423. It is pleasantly
situated under the north-eastern declivity of the Harz mountains. The
inhabitants are mostly engaged in agriculture and there is practically no
other industry. The palace of the dukes of Anhalt, standing on an eminence,
contains a library and collections of various kinds, including a good
picture gallery. It is approached by a fine avenue of trees and is
surrounded by a well-wooded park. In the Schlosskirche the grave of Albert
the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg (1100-1170) has been discovered.

BALLET, a performance in which dancing, music and pantomime are involved.
Originally derived from the (Sicilian) Gr. [Greek: ballizein], to dance,
the word has passed through the Med. Lat. _ballare_ (with _ballator_ as
synonymous with _saltator_) to the Ital. _ballare_ and _ballata_, to the
Fr. _ballet_, to the O. Eng. word _ballette_, and to _ballad_. In O. Fr.,
according to Rousseau, _ballet_ signifies "to dance, to sing, to rejoice";
and thus it incorporates three distinct modern words, "ballet, ball and
ballad." Through the gradual changes in the amusements of different ages,
the meaning of the first two words has at length become limited to dancing,
and the third is now confined to singing. But, although ballads are no
l