porus, nearly opposite
Constantinople; and Heraclea Pontica, on the Euxine, about 120 m. east
of the Bosporus. All these rose to be flourishing places of trade, as
also Prusa at the foot of M. Olympus (see BRUSA). The only other places
of importance at the present day are Ismid (Nicomedia) and Scutari.

See C. Texier, _Asie Mineure_ (Paris, 1839); G. Perrot, _Calatie et
Bithynie_ (Paris, 1862); W. von Diest in _Petermanns Mittheilungen_,
Ergansungshelt, 116 (Gotha, 1895). (E. H. B.; F. W. Ha.)

BITLIS, or BETLIS (Arm. _Paghesh_), the chief town of a vilayet of the
same name in Asiatic Turkey, situated at an altitude of 4700 ft. in the
deep, narrow valley of the Bitlis Chai, a tributary of the Tigris. The
main part of the town and the bazaars are crowded alongside the stream,
while suburbs with scattered houses among orchards and gardens extend up
two tributary streams. The houses are massive and well built of a soft
volcanic tufa, and with their courtyards and gardens climbing up the
hillsides afford a striking picture. At the junction of two streams in
the centre of the town is a fine old castle, partly ruined, which,
according to local tradition, occupies the site of a fortress built by
Alexander the Great. It is apparently an Arab building, as Arabic
inscriptions appear on the walls, but as the town stands on the
principal highway between the Van plateau and the Mesopotamian plain it
must always have been of strategic importance. The bazaars are crowded,
covered across with branches in summer, and typical of a Kurdish town.
The population numbers 35,000, of whom about 12,000 are Armenians and
the remainder are Kurds or of Kurdish descent.

Kurdish beys and sheids have much influence in the town and wild
mountain districts adjoining, while the Sasun mountains, the scene of
successive Armenian revolutions of late years, are not far off to the
west. The town was ruled by a semi-independent Kurdish bey as late as
1836. There are some fine old mosques and _medresses_ (colleges), and
the Armenians have a large monastery and churches. There are British,
French and Russian consuls in the town, and a branch of the American
Mission with schools is established also. The climate is healthy and the
thermometer rarely falls below 0 deg. Fahr., but there is a heavy
snowfall and the narrow streets are blocked for some five months in the
year.

A good road runs southward down the pass, passing after a few miles som