BLACK LANDS, lands in the heart of Russia, extending between the Carpathians and the Urals, constituting one-third of the soil, and consisting of a layer of black earth or vegetable mould, of from 3 to 20 ft. in thickness, and a chief source, from its exhaustless fertility, of the wealth of the country.

BLACK MONDAY, Easter Monday in 1351, remarkable for the extreme darkness that prevailed, and an intense cold, under which many died.

BLACK PRINCE, Prince of Wales, son of Edward III., so called, it is said, from the colour of his armour; distinguished himself at Crecy, gained the battle of Poitiers, but involved his country in further hostilities with France; returned to England, broken in health, to die (1330-1376).

BLACK ROD, GENTLEMAN USHER OF, an official of the House of Lords, whose badge of office is a black rod surmounted by a gold lion; summons the Commons to the House, guards the privileges of the House, &c.

BLACK SATURDAY, name given in Scotland to Saturday, 4th August 1621; a stormy day of great darkness, regarded as a judgment of Heaven against Acts then passed in the Scottish Parliament tending to establish Episcopacy.

BLACK SEA, or EUXINE, an inland sea, lying between Europe and Asia, twice the size of Britain, being 700 m. in greatest length and 400 m. in greatest breadth; communicates in the N. with the Sea of Azov, and in the SW., through the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles, with the Mediterranean.  It washes the shores of Turkey, Rumelia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Asia Minor; receives the waters of the Danube, Dneister, Bug, and Don, from Europe, and the Kizil-Irmak and Sakaria from Asia—­three times as much as is received by the Mediterranean.  It has but one island, Adassi, off the mouths of the Danube; no reefs or shoals; hence in summer navigation is very safe.  In winter it is harassed by severe storms.  Among the chief ports are Odessa, Kherson, Batoum, Trebizond, and Sinope; the first two are ice-bound in January and February.  For three centuries the Turks excluded all other nations from its waters; but the Russians (1774), Austrians (1784), French and English (1802) secured trading rights.  Russia and Turkey keep fleets in it, but other warships are excluded.  Its waters are fresher than those of the ocean, and it has no noticeable tides.

BLACK WATCH, two Highland regiments, the 42nd and 73rd, so called from the dark colour of the tartan; raised originally for the preservation of the peace in the Highlands.

BLACKBURN (120), a manufacturing town in Lancashire, 21 m.  NW. of Manchester, a centre of the cotton industry, and the greatest in the world; is the birthplace of Hargreaves, the inventor of the spinning-jenny.

BLACKHEATH, a common 7 m.  SE. of London, once a favourite haunt of highwaymen, now a place of holiday resort for Londoners; for long provided the only golfing-course in England.