future, and got from God whatever he asked. This pro cured him great renown. In consequence, however, of his prevarication, God was offended with him, and left him to himself, so that he fell into infidelity. It is generally supposed that the words in the Koran ( Al-Araf) refer to him : " The history of him unto whom we brought our signs and he departed from them ; wherefore Satan followed him, and he became one of those who were seduced. And if we had pleased, we had surely raised him thereby unto wisdom ; but he inclined unto the earth, and followed his own desire. Wherefore his likeness is as the likeness of a dog, which, if thou drive him away, putteth forth his tongue ; or if thou let him alone, putteth forth his tongue
also."It has been conjectured with much probability that the Arabic wise man, commonly called Lokman, is identi cal with Balaam. The two names coincide in meaning, devourer, swallower ;[1] and the names of their fathers are also alike. The Jews suppose Balaam to have been a Nahorite, and so Lokman is regarded by many Arabic authors, though the more general opinion is that he was an Abyssinian slave who lived in the time of David, and was renowned as a Hakim. The proverbs or fables attributed to him are of Greek origin.
Modern critics are divided in opinion respecting him. Three leading views embrace the varieties of belief as to his true position, viz., that he was an idolater and sooth sayer, whose soul was uninfluenced by true religion a sorcerer who had acquired reputation by his insight into the force of nature and his incantations ; that he was a true prophet of God, a pious man who fell through covet- ousness ; and that he was a heathen soothsayer and a prophet of Jehovah at the same time, occupying an inter mediate position, with an incipient knowledge and fear of God, needing but to be developed, though checked by the love of gain. It appears impossible to arrive at a definite or com prehensive view of one who is described in different sources inconsistently. Bishop Butler, not recognising that the his tory of Balaam has poetical elements, and that different tradi tions are given respecting him, considers him a very wicked man under a deep sense of God and religion, persisting still in his wickedness, and preferring the wages of unright eousness even when he had before him a lively view of death. His mind was distracted by contradictory principles of action. All we know about him amounts to very little. After admitting that a heathen soothsayer of this name existed in Mesopotamia, and had acquired some renown in the regions adjoining, and that he was employed in some way as a medium for uttering eulogiums upon Israel, of whose pre-eminence and permanence he is fully conscious, nothing else can be affirmed with certainty. (Davidson s Introduction to the Old Testament, vol. i. p. 328, &c. ; Ewald s Geschichte des Volkes Israel, zweyter Band, p. 298, &c., 3d edition, and his Jahrbiicher, part 8, p. 1, &c. ; Kurtz s Geschichte des alien Bundes, zweyter Band, P. 454, &c. ; Hengstenberg s Die Geschichte ileam s und seine Weissagungen, 1842 ; Winer s Realworterbuch, s.v. "Bileam;" Knobel s Die Biicher Numeri, Deuteronomium, und Josua erUdrt, p. 121, <fcc. ; Schenkel s Bibel-Lexicon, s.v. " Bileam ; " and Hamburger s Real-Encyclopaedie fur Bibel und Talmud, s.v. " Bileam.")
BÁLÁGHÁT, a British district in the Central Provinces of India, situated between 21 and 23 N. lat. and 80 and 81 E. long. ; bounded on the 1ST. by the district of Mandld; on the E. by the district of Chhattisgarh ; on the S. by Chhattisgarh and Bhanddrd ; and on the W. by the district of Seoni. Bdldghdt forms the eastern portion of the cen tral plateau which divides the province from east to west. These highlands, formerly known as the Rdigarh Bichhid tract, remained desolate and neglected until 1866, when the district of Bdldghdt was formed, and the country opened to the industrious and enterprising peasantry of the Waingangd 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 Waingangd, Bdgh, Deo, Ghisri, and Son rivers. (2.) The long narrow valley, known as the Mau Tdlukd, lying between the hills and the Waingangd river, and com prising a long, narrow, irregular- shaped lowland tract, intersected by hill ranges and peaks covered with dense jungle, and running generally from north to south. (3.) The lofty plateau, in which is situated the Rdigdrh Bichhid tract, comprising irregular ranges of hills, broken into numerous valleys, and generally running from east to west. The highest points in the hills of the district are as fol lows : Peaks above Ldnji, 2300 or 2500 feet ; Tepdgarh hill, about 2600 feet; and Bhainsdghdt range, about 3000 feet above the sea. The principal rivers in the district are the Waingangd, and its tributaries, the Bdgh, Nahrd, and Uskdl ; a few smaller streams, such as the Masmdr, the Mdhkdrd, &c. ; and the Banjdr, Hdlon, and Jamunid, tribu taries of the Narbadd, which drain a portion of the upper plateau. Bdldghdt contains very extensive forests, but they do not produce timber of any great value. They teem with wild animals, from the great bison to the fox ; 470 beasts and venomous snakes were killed in 1867- 68, a total reward of 156 being paid under this head. The district contained in 1868 an assessed area of 1462 08 square miles or 935,731 acres, of which 214,587 acres were under cultivation ; 488,510 grazing lands ; 116,938 cultivable, but not actu ally under cultivation ; 115,696 unculturable waste. The census report of 1872 returned the area at 2608 square miles. The census of 1866 showed a population of 170,964. This had in 1872 increased to 195,008, residing in 37,192 houses and 781 villages; average number of persons per square mile, 7477; per village, 249 69; per house, 5 24. Of the total population, 131,176 or 67 27 per cent, were Hindus; 2934 or 1 50 per cent. Mahometans; 39 Buddhists; 11 Christians; 60,848 or 31 20 percent, of unspecified religions of aboriginal or imperfectly Hinduised types.
to the cultivating tribes of Ponwdrs, Kunbis, Mardrs, &c., of the low country to immigrate, and take up lands in the upland tracts. By this means a large quantity of jungle lands has lately come under cultivation. The acreage under the principal crops grown in the district is returned as follows : rice, 188,312 acres; wheat, 585; other food grains, 8770; oil-seeds, 3436; sugar, 505; fibres, 100; tobacco, 638 ; total, 202,346 acres. Iron is smelted by the Gonds ; gold exists in the beds of some of the rivers, but not in sufficient quantities to repay the labour of washing. There are no regularly made roads in the dis trict. Five passes lead from the low country to the high lands, viz., the Bdnpur Ghdt, the Warai Ghdt, the Pancherd Ghdt, the Bhondwd Ghdt, and the Ahmadpur Ghdt. For revenue purposes the district is divided into two sub divisions, the Burhd Tahsil and the Paraswdra Tahsil. In 1868-69 the total revenue of the Bdldghdt district amounted to 11,746, of which 6754, or 57 per cent., was from land. For the protection of person and property, Government maintained, in 1868, 115 policemen, at a total
cost of 1156, 16s. In 1868 only two towns in the dis-- ↑ [ Hebrew ] from [ Hebrew ], with the formative letter [ Hebrew ]. It has been derived from [ Hebrew ] (Sanhed. 105), destroyer or corrupter of the people, so that the name has passed for a typical designation of Israel s enemy ; and this is reflected in the Greek word NiKoAafr^j (Rev. ii. 6), from VI.KO.V and a,6s, as if the Nicolaitanes were essentially Balaamites, or seducers. But this etymology of the name Balaam is improbable.
