e
large chalybeate and sulphur springs. Roads also lead north to Mush and
Erzerum and along the lake to Van. Postal communication is through
Erzerum with Trebizond. Tobacco of an inferior quality is largely grown,
and the chief industry is the weaving of a coarse red cloth. Manna and
gum tragacanth are also collected. Fruit is also plentiful, and there
are many vineyards close by.

The Bitlis vilayet comprises a very varied section of Asiatic Turkey, as
it includes the Mush plain and the plateau country west of Lake Van, as
well as a large extent of wild mountain districts inhabited by turbulent
Kurds and Armenians on either side of the central town of Bitlis, also
some of the lower country about Sairt along the left bank of the main
stream of the Tigris. The mountains have been little explored, but are
believed to be rich in minerals, iron, lead, copper, traces of gold and
many mineral springs are known to exist. (F. R. M.)

BITONTO (anc. _Butunti_), a town and episcopal see of Apulia, Italy, in
the province of Bari, 10 m. west by steam tramway from Bari. Pop. (1901)
30,617. It was a place of no importance in classical times. Its medieval
walls are still preserved. Its cathedral is one of the finest examples
of the Romanesque architecture of Apulia, and has escaped damage from
later restorations. The palazzo Sylos-Labini has a fine Renaissance
court of 1502.

BITSCH (Fr. _Bitche_), a town of Germany, in Alsace-Lorraine, on the
Horn, at the foot of the northern slope of the Vosges between Hagenau
and Saargemund. Pop. (1905) 4000. There are a Roman Catholic and a
Protestant church, a classical school and an academy of forestry. The
industries include shoe-making and watch-making, and there is some trade
in grain and timber. The town of Bitsch, which was formed out of the
villages of Rohr and Kaltenhausen in the 17th century, derives its name
from the old stronghold (mentioned in 1172 as Bytis Castrum) standing on
a rock some 250 ft. above the town. This had long given its name to the
countship of Bitsch, which was originally in the possession of the dukes
of Lorraine. In 1297 it passed by marriage to Eberhard I. of
Zweibrucken, whose line became extinct in 1569, when the countship
reverted to Lorraine. It passed with that duchy to France in 1766. After
that date the town rapidly increased in population. The citadel, which
had been constructed by Vauban on the site of the old castle after the
capture of