Brownsville

Brownsville, a port of entry, Texas, on the north bank of the Rio Grande, opposite Mata-moros, 35 miles from the river's mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. In May 1846 the town was occupied by a few U. S. troops, who maintained their position in the face of a bombardment that lasted a week. Pop. 6500.

Broxburn

Broxburn, a mining and manufacturing town of Linlithgowshire, on the Union Canal, 12 miles W. of Edinburgh. It is chiefly notable for its shale-oil works. Pop. 6250.

Bruar

Bruar, a Perthshire stream, with fine falls, 3 miles W. of Blair Athole.

Bruchsal

Bruchsal (Brook'sal), a town of Baden, on the Saalbach, 12 miles NB. of Karlsruhe. The prince-bishops of Spires resided here from the 16th century. Machinery, cigars, paper, and soap are manufactured. Pop. 14,000.

Brack

Brack (Brook), (1) a walled town of Austria, on the Leitha, 26 miles SE. of Vienna by rail. Pop. 4836. - (2) A town of Upper Styria, on the Mur, 108 miles SW. of Vienna by rail. Pop. 7795. - (3) A market-town of Bavaria, 15 miles W. of Munich by rail. Pop. 3418.

Bruckenau

Bruckenau (Bruk'en-ow), a town of Bavaria, on the Sinn, 17 miles NW. of Kissingen. Near it are warm springs. Pop. 1592.

Bruff

Bruff, a Limerick village, 6 miles N. of Kil-mallock. Pop. 798.

Brugg

Brugg (Broogg), a town in the Swiss canton of Aargau, on the Aar, 36 miles ESE. of Basel by rail. Near it is the site of Vindonissa, the chief Roman station in Helvetia; and it was also the cradle of the Hapsburgs, whose ruined castle (1020) crowns a wooded height 2 miles distant. Zimmermann was a native. Pop. 2435.

Bruhl

Bruhl (nearly Breal), a town of Rhenish Prussia, 8 miles SSW. of Cologne by rail. It has a splendid 18th-century castle. Pop. 7030.

Brunei

Brunei, a Mohammedan sultanate under British protection (since 1888) in the NW. of Borneo, whose sultan was formerly overlord of the whole island. Area, 4000 sq. m.; pop. perhaps 25,000 or 30,000. The capital, Brunei, on a river of the same name, is a miserable, dirty town, built on piles, with 10,000 inhabitants.

Brunig

Brunig, a Swiss pass (3396 feet), forming the shortest and easiest route between the ' Forest Cantons' and the Bernese Oberland. A road was formed in 1857-62, and in 1888 a Brunig branch of the Berne-Lucerne Railway was opened.

Bruni Island

Bruni Island (North and South) lies off the south part of the east coast of Tasmania, from which it is separated by D'Entrecasteaux Channel. It is 32 miles long, 1 to 11 miles wide, and 160 sq. m. in area. Coal is mined.

Brunn

Brunn, a city of the Austrian empire, the capital of Moravia, at the confluence of the Schwarzawa and the Zwittawa, 93 miles N. of Vienna by rail. Behind the city, on an eminence (984 feet), rises the castle of Spielberg, where Silvio Pellico was confined 1822-30. Brunn has a steam-tramway, a cathedral, St James's Church, with a tower 305 feet high, and important manufactures of woollens, machinery, linen, leather, chemicals, etc. Pop. (1881) 82,660; (1900) 110,000, 40 per cent. of whom were Czechs.