BISTRE, the French name of a brown paint made from the soot of wood ; now largely superseded by Indian ink. BISTRITA, a town of Transylvania, Rumania, capital of the department of Nasaud, situated on the river Sieul, on the edge of the Carpathian mountains. Pop. (1930), 13,251, including 5,000 Germans, 4,000 Rumanians. A railway runs west to the main system, via Dej ; 18m. east of Bistrita (at Borgo Bistrita) the line ends, but a motor train runs through the mountains to the watering-place of Dornavatra and the Bukovina. Bistrita is a Saxon settlement, centre of the old "Nosnerland." There is an interesting Gothic church with Oriental carpets (c f . Brasov) and arcaded market-place.