BURDWAN', the district of the last-mentioned city, lying between Beerbhoom on the n., and Hoogly on the south. It stretches in n. lat. from 22° 52' to 23° 40', and in e. long. from 87° 21' to 88° 23'. It has an area of 3523 sq.m., with (1871) 2,034,74.3 inhab itants, or 577 to the sq.m.—a which certainly seems to justify a name that signifies productive. The district is largely engaged in the refining of sugar. It exports also iron and coal; chiefly, however, brought from the mines of Bnncoorah, the district on the west. Next to the capital, Cutwa and Culna are the chief towns.—The division of B. has an area of 12,719 sq.m., and a pop. (1871) of 7,286,957.
&IRE, or Burt, a mythical being who stands in Norse mythology as the grandfather of Odin, the supreme deity in that religion. The larger portion of Snorro Sturleson's work known as the Younger or Prose Edda (in distinction from the poetical or Eder Edda) is devoted to the Fooling of Gylfi, and these two older and younger Eddas corre spond in that old heathen religion very nearly to the old and new testaments in Chris tianity. It is not in place here to tell all the strange adventures of Gylfl in his search for the origin of things, but only so far as concerns Bure. Gylfi (who was a king of Svithiod, or Sweden) journeyed to Asgard (the home of the gods) in search of knowl edge, and the gods, knowing of his coming and his purpose, were ready to answer him. After he had been satisfied about the gods, their number and attributes, Gylfi asked about their origin. He was told that, many ages before the earth was made, Niflheini (the nebulous or shadowy region) was formed ; that in the middle of Nifiheim was a spring called Hvergelnur (the roaring cauldron), from which twelve rivers flowed. When the
rivers had flowed far from their sources the venom which they rolled along hardened, as does the dross that runs from a furnace, and became ice. The ice stood still, and the vapor that gathered over it froze into rime, or frosty-snow, and in this manner were formed in Ginnunga-Gap (the yawning abyss, or all space) many layers of congealed vapor, piled one upon another. But the southern part of Ginnunga-Gap was tilled with sparks and flashes of fire that flew into it from Mushellheim (the home of elemental fire). In the conflict of elements the rime was melted and the melted drops took a human semblance, and the being thus formed was named Ymir (the primordial giant). Another creature formed from this conflict of heat and cold was a cow named Audlimnla (dark ness), and from her teats ran four streams of milk, on which Ymir was fed. "But." asked Gylfl, "on what did the cow feed?" The answer was that she supported herself by licking the surrounding stones, which were covered with hoar-frost and salt. The first day she licked there appeared the hair of a man; the second day the head came to view; and the third day the whole man appeared. This man was called Bur or Bure ("born," whence old German "barn," and Scottish "bairn," a child). This first crea ture in the form of a man was the father of 138r (also meaning born), who took for his wife Besla, the daughter of the giant Bolthorn (calamity or evil), and this pair were the parents of Odin, the Norse allfather, and his brothers Veli and Ire. No wife is named for Bure, nor is anything further related of him.