Dr. Adam Clarke believed it to be the mastodon, a kind of monster, whose prior existence on the earth is certified by huge fossil remains that have been discovered. Bochart, in a learned treatise, maintained that it was the hippopotamus, and this opinion has been adopted by most recent commentators. The rabbins teach that the behemoth is one of 2 marvellous ox-like animals, male and female, created by God at the beginning of the world. They add that the female has long been slain, and the flesh is preserved for a banquet to the faithful Israelites on the morn of the resurrection. The male still lives, and eats daily the foliage of 1,000 mountains, which grows again by night. He, too, will be slain to furnish a feast to the Messiah at his appearance.

BEHN, APHARA, or APHRA, a lady distinguished for her wit, beauty, and writings, in the reign of Charles II., born at Canterbury about 1640, died at London, April 16, 1689. She was very young when she sailed with her father, whose name was Johnson, for the province of Surinam, in South America, of which he was appointed lieutenant-general. Her father died on the passage, but the voyage being continued she resided for some time in Surinam, where she became intimately acquainted with the native prince Oroonoko, whom she admired as a type of heroism, and whose adventures and unhappy fate became the theme of one of her own novels, and of a tragedy by her friend Southern, Soon after her return to England she married Mr. Behn, a London merchant of Dutch extraction, and was introduced to Charles II., whom she delighted by her free and lively manners, and her entertaining account of the colony of Surinam. This monarch selected her as a political spy to collect intelligence and manage affairs for him on the continent during the Dutch war. She, therefore, took up her residence at Antwerp, and attracted numerous lovers and admirers, whom she managed so well that in 1666 she detected the project formed by Admirals De Witt and De Ruyter of burning the English ships in the Thames. She at once transmitted the intelligence to England, but the court of Charles refused to believe the fair envoy, though her report was speedily proved true by the event. Mortified that her skilful labors should have been so ill appreciated, she renounced politics, and revelled in the amusements of Antwerp. Embarking soon for England, she narrowly escaped death, being saved in a boat after the vessel had foundered, and from this time she devoted herself to authorship and to the gayest society of the capital. Her comely manners, brilliant eye, pas sionate character, and conversational talent, made her the delight of such men of wit and pleasure as Rochester, Etheridge, Southern, Crisp, and even of Dryden; and her works, consisting of 17 plays, some little novels, a variety of short poems, and numerous letters, of which those between a "Nobleman and his Sister-in-Law" (Lady Henrietta Berkeley and

Lord Grey) were the most famous, are remarkable for their grace and sprightliness, their lack of moral principle, and their entirely unbounded license. She wrote under the signature of "Astræa," and Pope alludes to her by that name. She died after a lingering sickness, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

BEHR, WILHELM JOSEF, a German publicist, born at Sultzheim, Aug. 26, 1775, died at Bamberg, Aug. 1, 1851. He was professor of law at Würtzburg, from 1799 to 1821, and became burgomaster there. In 1819 he represented the university at the Bavarian diet, and was a conspicuous member of the opposition. When he was chosen a second time to represent Würtzburg, in 1831, the royal approbation was not granted him. This created great disturbance, and Behr himself having taken advantage of an opportunity to express his ideas, at Gaibach, May 27, 1832, an investigation was ordered, and Behr was dismissed from office. In 1836 he was condemned to imprisonment at Passau; but in 1839 was released, but kept under supervision of the police, and not until 1848 was he restored to full liberty. In 1848 he was elected to the Frankfort parliament.

BEHRING, or BEERING, VITUS, an arctic navigator, born in 1680, at Horsens, Jutland, died Dec. 8, 1741. In his youth he made several voyages, in a subordinate capacity, to the East and West Indies. Peter the Great early enlisted his services for Russia. During the Swedish wars, he served in the Cronstadt fleet. He was made lieutenant in 1707, captain-lieutenant in 1710, captain some few years later; and captain commander in 1732. He previously made, in 1725, an expedition to the northern seas, to discover an overland passage to America. Having discovered, in 1728, what he considered to be the northeastern headland of the Asiatic continent, he returned the same year to his winter quarters, from which he made another expedition in the spring, the result of which was the discovery that Kamtchatka did not connect with Japan, according to the usual belief. In 1741 he took charge of an expedition with larger outfit, for purposes of general discovery. His first attempt was in the north. Soon, however, he was ordered by the government eastward, in which direction he proceeded for 44 days, making, from Avatcha, 50° of longitude, when he descried high mountains, which proved to be on the American side of the straits which now bear his name. Coasting for some time, probably on that part of the shore now called New Norfolk, the sickness of his crew compelled him to return. But on the island which bears his name, his vessel was wrecked, and he himself died there 35 days thereafter. His crew escaped in a boat constructed from the remains of the wreck.

BEHRING'S ISLAND. This island, named from its discoverer, Vitus Behring, lies off the east coast of the peninsula of Kamtchatka, nearly 2° distant from the cape. It is about 90 miles

long. It was uninhabited at the time of its discovery (1741), but has since been occupied by fur traders, and is a winter harbor for the trading vessels. The island is destitute of wood, and its soil is exceedingly barren. It abounds in springs of fresh water, and the furs of the arctic animals found here are very valuable, the principal of which are the ice-fox and seaotter.-BEHRING'S SEA, that part of the Pacific ocean which lies immediately south of Behring straits, and between the continents of America and Asia. Its southern limit is the curvilinear line of islands, which, in connection with Behring's island, stretches quite across the Pacific from Alaska to Kamtchatka. It receives the Anadyr river in a gulf of the same name on the Asiatic side, has several islands, and is almost perpetually covered with fog. The current sets north through the strait. This sea is not so much obstructed with ice as Baffin's bay. It was first explored by Behring, in 1728.BEHRING'S STRAITS. These straits connect the north Pacific and the Arctic oceans, and lie between the continents of Asia and America. Between East cape in Asia, and Cape Prince of Wales on the American side, the straits are only 36 miles wide. The depth of the straits is from 20 to 30 fathoms. They are commonly reckoned about 400 miles long. They were discovered by Vitus Behring in 1728, and from him take their name. Capt. Cook visited and described them in 1788, and later Capt. Beechey. About midway across, in the narrowest place, are 3 islands, called Diomedes. Opposite the southern opening of the straits stands the large island of St. Lawrence. A current sets through the straits from south to north. The adjacent coasts are uninhabited. The shores are bluff and deeply indented. The straits are frozen over every winter, and large quantities of ice are constantly blocked in north of the capes.

BEILAN, a town and pass of Syria, at its northern extremity, on the E. side of the gulf of Iskanderoon. The pass, between the mountains Rhossus and Amanus, is identical with the Amanian gates of antiquity. The town, which overlooks the pass, has some stone houses and several aqueducts. Here the Egyptians defeated the Turkish troops in 1832. Pop. 5,000.

BEIRA, or BEYRA, a central province of Portugal, between lat. 39° 30′ and 41° 30' N., and long. 6° 40′ and 9° 50′ W.; bounded N. by Minho and Tras-os-Montes, E. by Spain, S. by Estremadura and Alemtejo, and W. by the Douro; pop. in 1854, 1,155,275. The surface is very mountainous; the soil not fertile, but produces barley, wine, wheat, maize, olives, and fruits. The mountains furnish fine pasturage for sheep, and yield iron, marble, and coal. The province is divided into upper Beira, capital Viseu, and lower Beira, capital Castello Branco.

BEISAN (anciently called BETHSHAN and SCYTHOPOLIS), a village of Palestine, situated near the Jordan and about 55 miles north of

Jerusalem. It consists of 60 or 70 houses, and contains traces of the ancient city-the remains of walls on an acropolis, a Roman bridge, fragments of columns, ruins of houses, tombs, a theatre, &c.

BEIT, an Arabic word for house, often used as a name of a place, and corresponds to the Hebrew beth. Thus Beit-al-haram is "the edifice of the sanctuary," and is applied to the temple at Mecca. The village of Bethlehem is in Arabic Beit-al-Lahm, that is, the "house of bread."

BEIT-EL-FAKIH (house of a saint), a town of Arabia, 35 m. S. E. from Hodeida on the Red sea, and 77 m. N. E. from Mocha; pop. about 8,000. It contains a mosque and a strong citadel. The houses are built of brick and clay, and roofed with date leaves. Caravans from all parts of Arabia, Syria, Persia, and Egypt, resort hither with Indian and British goods, spices and sugar, receiving in exchange coffee, wax, and various gums. Much of the commercial importance of the place is owing to an annual festival of 3 days which is held at the tomb of a sheik near by.

BEIT-EL-MA, a village in the pashalic of Aleppo, in Syria. It is supposed to occupy a portion of the site of ancient Daphne, and contains, beside some classic remains, the ruins of an early Christian church.

BEJA, a fertile district of Portugal, in the province of Alentejo; pop. in 1854, 124,390. It is extraordinarily rich in cereal productions, and the plain surrounding the city of the same name, is said to produce more than a million bushels of wheat annually, beside oil, wine, and fruit. Pop. of the city 6,000.

BEJA, or BOJA, a race of Africans to the north of Abyssinia, near the harbor of Suakim. The Arabs traded all along this coast, and seem to have intermarried with the Bejas, who were once of some importance, and joined in the wars of their northern neighbors. They are mentioned on the obelisk of Axum as the Bougaeitæ.

BEJAPOOR, or VIZIAPOOR, a city and former province of Hindostan, in the great territorial division called the Deccan; bounded N. by Aurungabad, E. by that province and Beeder, S. by Canara, W. by the Indian ocean. It contains about 60,000 square miles. The city is situated in lat. 16° 48' N., long. 75° 46' E. It was once of great size, and, according to the tradition of the natives, the largest city of the East. It was a fortress defended by outworks of great extent. Among the artillery with which the walls were mounted were guns of huge dimensions, 2 of which came into the English possession, one said to be capable of carrying a ball weighing 2,646 lbs. The modern city retains few traces of its former grandeur. There is a street 3 miles in length, several nunneries, and a Bramin temple of unknown antiquity. The province was formerly under Mahratta government, and, in 1818, the British took possession of it, expelling the Peishwa

Bajee Rao, the prime minister and ruler of the province. The dominions of the present Rajah of Sattara are part of the original province, held by him under the provisions of a treaty with the East India company, by which he is to govern it in such manner as not to conflict with the British interests, he, on his part, being secured in his government.

BEKE, CHARLES TILSTONE, an English Abyssinian traveller, born October 10, 1800, in London. He quitted commerce to study law, and then devoted himself to historical, philological, and ethnographical investigations, and published Origines Biblica, or "Researches in Primeval History" (Lond. 1834). He next became impressed with the importance of Abyssinia in the history of civilization, and made propositions to the British government and several scientific institutions concerning its exploration. These offers were not accepted, but private individuals took the matter up, and he went out in the Abyssinian expedition, headed by Major Harris. He explored Godshem and the lands south. The results of his discoveries have been published in series, in the "Journal of the Geographical Society," London, and in a work of his own, entitled "Abyssinia" (Lond. 1846). BEKÉS, or BEKESVAR, a Hungarian town, situated at the confluence of the White and Black Kōrōs, in the county of the same name. It was formerly a fortified place, and the remains of an ancient castle are still to be seen in its vicinity. Bekes has considerable trade in cattle, corn, and honey. In 1854, the population of the town was 17,260, and of the county, 155,000.

BEKK, JOHANN BAPTIST, a statesman of Baden, born Oct. 29, 1797, at Tryberg, in the Black Forest, died at Bruchsal, March 22, 1855. He was a lawyer, entered the 2d chamber of Baden in 1831, was its president from 1842 to 1845, and, in 1846, was made prime minister. In the revolution of 1848, he was too moderate for one party and too liberal for the other, and went into retirement. In March, 1850, however, he again became president of the Baden chamber, and after his death a monument was erected to his memory at Bruchsal.

BEKKER, ELIZABETH, an elegant Dutch writer, was born in Flushing, July 24, 1738, and died at the Hague, Nov. 25, 1804. Many of her works are esteemed among the Dutch classics, especially her romance Historie van Wilhelm Lewend. In some of her more important works she was aided by her friend Agatha Deken, who died just 9 days after her.

BEKKER, IMMANUEL, a German philologist, was born in 1785 at Berlin, and was a pupil of the celebrated Wolf at Halle, by whom he was designated as the only person able to continue the researches he had begun. When the university at Berlin was established, he went thither, and passed 2 years in examining the manuscripts in the library. In 1815 he was made a member of the academy of sciences, and, in 1817, was sent to pursue his researches

in Rome and the Italian convents. He went, in 1820, to Oxford and Cambridge, and subsequently published his magnificent edition of all the Attic orators, with the works of Photius and some of the Greek grammarians. He also published the works of many of the Alexandrine historians, among them those of the princess Anna Comnena, and several volumes of Scholia on the Iliad and Aristotle, notes on Tacitus, and other classical works.

BEL, MATYAS, a Hungarian historian, born at Orsova in 1684, and died in 1749. He was distinguished as a theologian and historian, and became rector of the Protestant schools at Neusohl. He wrote on the history of Hungary alone, and achieved much distinction. writings are valuable even now.

His

BELA, BELAH, BEILA, or BEYLAH, capital of the province of Loos, or Lus, in Beloochistan. It contains the fortified palace of the chief of the province, and a mosque, but has no other substantial buildings. There are about 800 houses, of mud; pop. about 5,000.

BELA, the name of several Hungarian kings of the lineage of Arpad.-BELA I., son of Ladislas, reigned in the 11th century; was twice obliged to escape to Poland, on account of domestic dissensions occasioned by his brothers. In 1061, he returned, supported partly by Poles, partly by Magyars, and succeeded in seizing the throne. He energetically subdued the remains of paganism and strengthened the royal power, but his reign, lasting only 2 years, was too short to carry out all the reforms which Magyar annalists ascribe to him.BELA II., a drunkard, reigned 10 years, from 1131 to 1141. In his youth he was blinded by his own uncle.-BELA III. reigned in the last quarter of the 12th century, and died in 1196. He warred successfully against the Poles, Austrians, and Venetians, and reconquered from the latter some cities in Dalmatia. He was married to a sister of Philip Augustus, king of France.-BELA IV. reigned for 35 years, from 1235 to 1270. He was crowned in childhood, and was son of Andras II., who gave to the nobility the golden bull or charter, establishing their privileges. The greater part of his reign was stormy; the nobility rose and obliged him to fly to Austria, and thus external and internal war devastated Hungary, which was then likewise invaded by the Tartars, in pursuit of the Polowzy and the Kumans, admitted into Hungary by Bela. Their descendants are found in Central Hungary. He finally overpowered his enemies, was victorious over Frederic II., archduke of Austria, who behaved treacherously toward him during his misfortunes, and succeeded in curbing the encroachments of the clergy. His last days were embittered by the revolt against him of his own son Stephan.

BELABRE, a town in the department of the Indre, France. The sieur de Flavi, whose order to close the gates of Compiègne led to the capture of Joan of Arc, was strangled in

the old castle there. Pop. of the commune in 1856, 2,217.

BELAIA, or BIELAJA, a Russian river rises in the Ural mountains, in the government of Orenburg, flows S. E. for 100 miles, then N. 100 miles; then turns N. E. and joins the Kama river. Its entire length is 550 miles; navigable about 240.

BELASPOOR, capital of the rajahship of Cahlore, north Hindostan, situated on the Sut lej; pop. about 15,000.-In the presidency of Bengal is another town of the same name. BELBEC, or KABARTA, a small river of the Crimea. It rises in the mountains to the N. of Aloopka, and empties into the Black sea, on the W. side of the peninsula, to the N. of Sebastopol, and S. of the mouth of the Katcha. The valley of the Belbec is agreeable and fertile, and covered with vineyards which produce fine grapes, from which the Tartars prepare a poor wine. The Anglo-French army, Sept. 24, 1854, encamped upon the banks of the Belbec, 4 days after the battle of the Alma.

BELCHER, SIR EDWARD, grandson of Chiefjustice Belcher, of Nova Scotia, a British naval officer and hydrographer, born in 1799, entered the navy at an early age, and, after having taken part as midshipman in the defence of Gaeta and the battle of Algiers, he was in 1819 appointed to the Myrmidon sloop, destined for the African station. In 1825 he became assistant-surveyor to the Behring's straits discovery expedition under Capt. Beechey in the Blossom. In 1829 he was promoted to the rank of commander, and served on the coast of Africa, and of Portugal, rendering on the latter occasion valuable services to the British residents by protecting their property during the political troubles in Portugal. Subsequently he was engaged for a number of years in a voyage round the world in the surveying-vessel, Sulphur. In 1841 we find him in the Chinese waters, exploring the inlets of the Canton river, and materially assisting in securing the triumph of the British army. In acknowledgment of these services, he was knighted and appointed post-captain. Afterward he was employed on board of the Samarang, on surveying service in the East Indies, and was severely wounded while assisting the rajah of Sarawak, Sir James Brooke, in his efforts to subdue the pirates of Borneo. From 1852 to 1854 he commanded the expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. On his return to England, he was tried before a courtmartial for voluntarily abandoning the ships. The case against him, however, was not legally supported, he was acquitted, and his sword returned to him, but while some of the other officers were commended, his name was passed over in significant silence. Sir Edward has written books on his various surveying expeditions, and a treatise on practical surveying. Ilis best known work is his "Narrative," giving an interesting account of his voyage round the world.

BELCHER, JONATHAN, governor of Mas

sachusetts and New Jersey, born in Jan. 1681, died in 1757. He graduated at Harvard college in 1699, visited Europe and made acquaintance with the princess Sophia and her son, afterward George II.; returned to Boston, and lived there as a merchant. He was chosen a member of the council, and in 1729, went as agent of the colony to England. At the death of Gov. Burnet in 1730, he was appointed to the government of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which station he held 11 years, and was then superseded. Repairing to England, he obtained a victory over his opponents, and received the government of New Jersey, where he arrived in 1747, and where he spent the remainder of his life. He enlarged the charter of Princeton college, and was its chief patron and benefactor.-JONATHAN, chief justice of Nova Scotia, second son of the preceding, died at Halifax, March, 1767, graduated at Harvard_college in 1728, studied law at the Temple in London, and was one of the first settlers of Chibucto, afterward called Halifax. In 1760 he was appointed lieutenant-governor, and in 1761 chief justice.

BELCHER, TOM, an English pugilist, born at Bristol in 1783, died at Peckham, Dec. 9, 1854. He was the hero of 12 prize fights, in 8 of which he was the conqueror, in 3 he was defeated, and the 12th was a drawn battle. He was one of the 18 pugilists selected to act as pages at the coronation of George IV., to protect the access to Westminster abbey.

BELCHERTOWN, a village in the eastern part of Hampshire county, Mass., was originally granted to Gov. Belcher and others, and named from him. It contains a classical school, and is known for its manufactories of light wagons. Pop. in 1855, 2,698.

BELCHITE, a Spanish town, 22 miles S. S. E. of Saragossa, noted as the scene of a victory gained June 18, 1809, by the French, under Suchet, over the Spanish forces under Blake. Belchite has some manufactories of woollens. Pop. 2,655.

BELED-EL-JEREED, or BLED-EL-JEREED, the Bilidulgerid of old maps, "the land of dates," a district of the Atlas chain, on the borders of the great Sahara. It has earned its name, not from its absolute, but its comparative fertility, the date palms being dear to every Arab.

BELEM (properly BETHLEHEM), formerly a market town, now a suburb of Lisbon, on the Tagus, S. of the city. It derives its name from the church of Our Lady of Bethlehem, built here by King Emanuel in 1499, on the return of Vasco da Gama from his expedition to India around the Cape of Good Hope. Belem contains a Gothic church, in which is the tomb of the royal family of Portugal. It has also an old fortress, called Torre de Belem, which rises from the bank of the Tagus, and with its batteries commands that river. This quarter of the city contains a royal palace and the residences of many persons of note.-Also a city of Brazil. See PARA.

BELEMNITES (Gr. Bedeμvov, a dart, or ar row), a class of extinct molluscous animals, belonging to the same division as ammonites, termed cephalopodous, from the organs of motion being arranged around the head. The fossil remains of the animal are met with in the rocks of the upper secondary, both in this country and other parts of the world; they are particularly abundant in the strata of the green sand formation in New Jersey. The part preserved, often detached from the loose strata, is a pointed cone sometimes 8 inches long, of brown color and stony material, resembling in shape the head of a dart or javelin, whence their name. The larger end is hollow, the cavity being of similar shape to that of the whole specimen. Few fossil shells have attracted so much interest as these simple-looking, though still obscure, belemnites. They are found by millions in the formations to which they belong; and from 80 to 90 species of them have been recognized. They early attracted the attention of scientific men as well as of the common people; and it appears from the memoir of M. de Blainville, that no less than 91 authors, whose names he gives, beginning with Theophrastus, have written on this subject. The ancient inhabitants of Asia Minor are represented by some writers to have designated these fossils by the term dactyli Idæi, fingers of Mount Ida, which, however, according to other learned authorities, was very differently applied, some describing these unknown Dactyli as divine persons worthy of worship, as having nursed and brought up the god Jupiter; and others, as Sophocles, making them to be the inventors of the manufacture of iron. But whatever truth there may be in these representations, the term certainly finds a very proper application in these finger-shaped fossils, and the ancients, if they so used it, displayed a better taste in their selection of a name than the moderns, who call them thunder stones, devil's fingers, and spectre candles. By the researches of Dr. Buckland and Prof. Agassiz, the true nature of the belemnites has been fully established. The hollow pointed body is composed of carbonate of lime, part of which was the original fibrous shell, and the remainder introduced by infiltration. Thus the fossil became crystalline and nearly solid. The cavity was the receptacle of the animal, but as in the genera bulla and sepia, and the coralline zoophytes, it by no means covered the fleshy portions; these, on the contrary, extended outside of the shell, and enclosed it, very much as a skeleton is enclosed and covered with the softer portions of the body. Within this cavity was the apparatus of the air chambers and siphon, common also to the ammonite, nautilus, and other chambered shells, by means of which the animal could rise or sink at will. But the belemnites also were provided with the ink-bag apparatus of the modern sepia; an important protection for their soft bodies, unguarded as they were by any outer shell. These ink-bags were noticed in a communicaVOL. III.-6

tion by Dr. Buckland to the geological society of London in 1829, as having been found by him in a fossil state, and which he supposed, from comparison with known molluscous animals that were furnished with them, must have belonged to cephalopods connected with belemnites. Subsequently, Prof. Agassiz met with specimens retaining the ink-bag within the cavity; and the fact being thus established, the name belemnosepia was thereupon given to the family in the class of cephalopods comprising all the species of belemnites. From the immense numbers of these animals, and also of the still more abundant varieties of ammonites, which flourished during the periods of the formation of the oolite and cretaceous groups, Dr. Buckland is led to infer that these extinct families filled a larger space, and performed more important functions among the inhabitants of the ancient seas, than are assigned to their few living representatives in our modern oceans; and in the retention through long epochs of time of so delicate an apparatus as that of the airchamber and siphon, continued through successive species, and given to the nautilus of the present period, he sees the uniform and constant agency of a watchful and controlling intelligence.

BELESTA, a town and commune of France, department of Ariège, 17 miles E. S. E. of Foix; pop. 2,700. Its claim to notice rests mainly upon the intermitting spring of Fontestorbe. This spring rises in a natural grotto or cavern, and is so copious as to form the principal part of the river Lers, a feeder of the Garonne. The stream which flows from the cavern is 18 or 20 feet wide, and a foot or more deep, and runs very rapidly, yet in the summer and autumn, and whenever there is a drought, it becomes intermittent. The intermission takes place at equal intervals twice in the 24 hours.

BELFAST, a town in Waldo county, state of Maine, situated on a broad bay of the same name, on the west side of the Penobscot river, 30 miles from the ocean. Castine, 9 miles distant, occupies the opposite side of the bay. It was incorporated in 1773, and first settled in 1785. The harbor is deep and spacious, and always open; so that it is the winter port of the Penobscot. The Passaggassassawakeng, a small river, empties into the Penobscot at this point, and furnishes a limited water power, which is used in the manufacture of lumber. There is considerable ship building and commerce, the vessels built in 1854 amounting to over 12,000 tons. The schools are excellent, and there is a well-endowed academy. The churches are handsome specimens of architecture; and the public buildings, the court house, custom house, are neat and substantial. Lines of steamboats connect with Bangor, Portland, and Boston. A company has been incorporated here with a charter for a railroad to Quebec, via Moosehead Lake. Three weekly newspapers are published here, and there are 2 banks. Pop. in 1810, 1,259; 1820, 2,026; 1830, 3,077; 1840, 4,186; 1850, 5,051; 1857, about 6,000.