88 



BEKE, CHARLES T. 



BELGIUM. 



geographer, and ethnologist, born in London, 

 October 10, 1800 ; died in London, Septem- 

 ber 2, 1874. He was from an ancient family 

 long settled in Bekesburne, East Kent. He 

 received a commercial education, and after- 

 ward studied law in Lincoln's Inn ; but event- 

 ually resumed mercantile pursuits, residing for 

 a short time in Saxony, whence he returned 

 to London, and eventually sailed for the Mau- 

 ritius, where he remained for several years. 

 Having devoted much attention to ancient his- 

 tory, geography, philology, and ethnography, 

 lie published the results in " Origines Biblicse ; 

 or, Researches in Primeval History," London, 

 1834, a work of great labor and study, which 

 brought him, from the University of Tubingen, 

 the diploma of Ph. D. His historical and geo- 

 graphical studies of the East led him to con- 

 sider the great importance of Abyssinia for 

 commercial and other intercourse with Central 

 Africa ; but his proposals to undertake an ex- 

 ploring journey were declined by the Govern- 

 ment. Supported by private individuals, he 

 proceeded to Slioa, in Southern Abyssinia, 

 which country he reached in the beginning of 

 1851, several months before the party under 

 Major Harris. Shortly after the arrival of the 

 latter, Dr. Beke quitted Shoa, and went alone 

 into the interior, where he explored Godjam 

 and the countries lying to the west and south, 

 previously almost entirely unknown in Europe. 

 The results of these researches appeared partly 

 in several journals, and in "A Statement of 

 Facts," etc. (first edition, London, 1845 ; sec- 

 ond edition, 1846). Having returned to Eu- 

 rope, he excited the attention of geographers 

 by his publications : " An Essay on the Nile 

 and its Tributaries" (London, 1847) ; " On the 

 Sources of the Nile in the Mountains of the 

 Moon " (1848) ; " On the Sources of the Nile " 

 (1849) ; and by his " Memoire Justificatif en 

 Rehabilitation des Peres Paez et Lobo," Paris 

 (1848). He became involved in a controversy 

 with M. d'Abbadie ; and in a " Letter to M. 

 Daussy " (1849), and " An Inquiry into A. 

 d'Abbadie's Journey to Kaffa" (1850), he de- 

 clared this journey for the alleged discovery 

 of the sources of the Nile (1843-'44) to be a 

 mere fiction. In addition to many essays on 

 ethnography and geography, Dr. Beke has 

 published a treatise " On the Geographical 

 Distribution of Languages in Abyssinia" (Edin- 

 burgh, 1849) ; and while in Mauritius he wrote 

 " The Sources of the Nile, with the History of 

 Nilotic Discovery" (London, 1860), in which 

 work he has incorporated the results of his 

 previous labors on that particular subject. Qn 

 his return from his Abyssinian travels, the 

 Geographical Societies of. London and Paris 

 gave him their gold medals. From 1836 to 

 1838, being then resident at Leipsic, Dr. Beke 

 was acting British consul in Saxony, and from. 

 1849 to 1853, in- London, acted as secretary of 

 the National Association for the Protection of 

 British Industry and Capital. In 1861 Dr. 

 and Mrs. Beke undertook a journey to Harran, 



near Damascus, which place he had identified, 

 in his " Origines Biblicse," with the residence 

 of the patriarch Abraham, as mentioned in the 

 books of Genesis and Acts ; and they thence 

 traveled over Mount Gilead into the Holy 

 Land, in the footsteps of the patriarch Jacob. 

 In 1865, Mrs. Beke, with the cooperation of 

 her husband, published a narrative of this jour- 

 ney, under the title of " Jacob's Flight, or a 

 Pilgrimage to Harran." Dr. and Mrs. Beke 

 again left England November 4, 1865, on a 

 fruitless mission to obtain the release of the 

 Abyssinian captives, and, on his return, he 

 published a second edition of " The British 

 Captives in Abyssinia," London, 1867. In 

 1870 Dr. Beke received a civil-list pension of 

 100 ($500), in consideration of his geographi- 

 cal, researches, and especially of the value of 

 his explorations in Abyssinia. But, though he 

 had passed the limit of threescore and ten, his 

 zeal for geographical exploration did not cease. 

 Several months, in 1871 and 1872, were passed 

 in a careful reexploration of the Sinaitic Pen- 

 insula, especially with reference to the true 

 site of Mount Sinai; and, in 1873, he followed 

 this investigation with the startling announce- 

 ment, in an elaborate memoir, that Jebel Musa 

 was not the true Sinai, but that " the Mount 

 of God" lay at a considerable distance from it, 

 and was the only mountain which fulfilled all 

 the required conditions. He maintained this 

 position by plausible and perhaps conclusive 

 arguments, but it involved him in a protract- 

 ed controversy, which only terminated at his 

 death. 



BELGIUM,* a kingdom of Europe. Leo- 

 pold II., King of the Belgians, son of King 

 Leopold I., former Duke of Saxe-Coburg, was 

 born April 9, 1835, ascended the throne at the 

 death of his father, December 10, 1865; was 

 married August 22, 1853, to Marie Henriette, 

 daughter of the late Archduke Joseph of Aus- 

 tria, born August 23, 1836. Offspring of this 

 union are three daughters. Heir-apparent to 

 the throne is the brother of the King, Philipp, 

 Count of Flanders, born March 24, 1827, Lieu- 

 tenant-General in the service of Belgium; mar- 

 ried April 26, 1867, to 1'rincess Marie of Ho- 

 henzollern-Sigmaringen, born November 17, 

 1845 ; offspring of the union is a son, Baldwin, 

 born July 3, 1869. 



The area of the kingdom is 11,373 square 

 miles ; population, according to the last census, 

 taken in 1866, 4,727,833 ; according to an offi- 

 cial calculation of December, 1872, 5,175,037. 

 Of this population, 54 per cent, belong to the 

 Flemish and 44 to the Walloon-French nation- 

 ality. The following table exhibits the popu- 

 lation of each province of the kingdom on De- 

 cember 31, 1872, as well as the number of ar- 

 rondissements and communes into which each 

 province is divided : 



* See ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA of 1873 for latest informs- 

 lion on the army, navy, commerce, and movement of 

 shipping. 



