villages, which are encircled
by fine mango, _pipal_, banyan and tamarind trees, and intersected with
green shady lanes of bamboo. A few palmyras, date-palms and screw-pines (a
sort of aloe, whose leaves are armed with formidable triple rows of
hook-shaped thorns) dot the expanse or run in straight lines between the
fields. The submontane tract is an undulating country with a red soil, much
broken up into ravines along the foot of the hills. Masses of laterite,
buried in hard ferruginous clay, crop up as rocks or slabs. At Kopari, in
Kila Ambohata, about 2 sq. m. are almost paved with such slabs, dark-red in
colour, perfectly flat and polished like plates of iron. A thousand
mountain torrents have scooped out for themselves picturesque ravines,
clothed with an ever-fresh verdure of prickly thorns, stunted gnarled
shrubs, and here and there a noble forest tree. Large tracts are covered
with sal jungle, which nowhere, however, attains to any great height.

Balasore district is watered by six distinct river systems: those of the
Subanrekha, the Burabalang, the Jamka, the Kansbans and the Dhamra.

The climate greatly varies according to the seasons of the year. The hot
season lasts from March to June, but is tempered by cool sea-breezes; from
June to September the weather is close and oppressive; and from October to
February the cold season brings the north-easterly winds, with cool
mornings and evenings.

Almost the only crop grown is rice, which is largely exported by sea. The
country is exposed to destructive floods from the hill-rivers and also from
cyclonic storm-waves. The district is traversed throughout its entire
length by the navigable Orissa coast canal, and also by the East Coast
railway from Calcutta to Madras. The seaports of Balasore, Chandbali and
Dhamra conduct a very large coasting trade. The exports are almost confined
to rice, which is sent to Ceylon, the Maldives and Mauritius. The imports
consist of cotton twist and piece goods, mineral oils, metals, betel-nuts
and salt. In 1901 the population was 1,071,197, an increase of 9% in the
decade.

BALASSA, BALINT, BARON OF KEKKO and GYARMAT (1551-1594), Magyar lyric poet,
was born at Kekko, and educated by the reformer, Peter Bornemissza, and by
his mother, the highly gifted Protestant zealot, Anna Sulyok. His first
work was a translation of Michael Bock's _Wuertzgertlein fuer die krancken
Seelen_, to comfort his father while in prison (1570-1572) for som