

BEEDER. 



in-.ntA. 



The province of Bcoder in divided into seven districts, namely, 

 Calberga, Naldroog, AkulcoUh. Calliany, Boeder, Nandeer, and Patrce. 



The turface of the province is hilly, but cannot be called moun- 

 tainous. It U watered by several small streams, and is intersected 

 liy the Beemah, Manjera, Kislna, and Oodavery rivers ; the Bceuiah, 

 which is a principal branch of the Kistna, is a sacred river of the 

 Hindoos. The aoil of Boeder is generally productive. Previous to 

 the Mohammedan conquest the province is said to have been thickly 

 peopled, but its population has since much decreased. The Hindoo* 

 exceed the Mohammedans in the proportion of three to one. 



On the invasion of the Deccaa in 1295, the founder of the Bhomenee 

 dynasty, Allah ud Deen, took up his residence at Colberga, the capital 

 of the district of that name, in 17" 1U' N. lat, 76 56' E. long. 

 Although once the capital of a Hindoo and afterwards of a Moham- 

 medan sovereign, Calberga has since become a place of no importance. 

 The province was brought under subjection by the Moguls in the 

 reign of Aurungzebe, but was wrested from the successors of that 

 prince in 1717 by Nizam ul Mulk, the sovereign of Hydprabad, and 

 h.xs since continued in the occupation of the successive Nizams. 



I' s British India; Hennell's Memoir; Fcrishta's Hittory of the 



BEEDER, the capital of the province of the same name, is situated 

 in 17" 55' N. lat, 77 35' E. long. ; it is 78 mile-. N.W. from Hydera- 

 bad, and 426 miles E.S.E. from Bombay. Some years back it was 

 surrounded by a stone wall, six miles in circumference, with round 

 towers at intervals. The space between this wall and the town is a 

 level and open place, a mode of building a town which is not uncom- 

 mon in India. 



Boeder was founded near the ruins of an old city at the end of the 

 16th century, by Ahmed Shah Bhomenee, who gave to it the name 

 of Ahmedabad, and transferred to it the seat of his government from 

 Calberga. 



I'.KEF ISLAND. [Viuorx ISLAXDS.] 



BEER ALSTON, Devonshire, a market-town in the parish of Beer 

 Ferris and hundred of Roborough. It is situated in a very picturesque 

 neighbourhood between the rivers Tamar and Tavy, 2 miles above 

 their confluence, in 50 28' N. lat, 4 12' W. long., 34 miles S.W. 

 from Exeter, 14 miles N. by W. from Plymouth, and 212 mi lea 

 W.S.W. from London. The population of the entire parish of Beer 

 Ferris in 1851 was 3401; the population of the town, taken in 

 August 1849 was, we are informed, 1836. The living of Beer Ferris 

 in a rectory in the archdeaconry of Totnes and diocese of Exeter. 



According to Rindon it was given by William I. soon after the con- 

 quest to the French family of Alencon, from whom it took its name. 

 In the reign of Henry II. " this honour," says Hisdon, " as well as 

 Beer-Ferrer ~ly called Berc Ferris, was held by Henry 



PVfTers ; and Martin Ferrers, the last of that ancient house, was put 

 In special trust to defend the sea-coast against the invasion of the 

 French iti Ivhvanl 1 1 1.'s time." Towards the close of the 14th century 

 it belonged to Alexander Champernowne of Darlington, and through 

 his grand-daughter it descended to Robert Willoughby, Lord Brooke. 

 It U now th* property of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. 



It may be as well to point out that Beer Ferris is the name of the 

 parish, Beer Alston that of the town, while the village surrounding 

 the church is called Beer Town. The coast line of the parish along 

 the rivers Tamar and Tavy U considered to be 25 miles long. In the 

 pariah arc four mines, all of silver-lead, and all in full work. At \Veir 

 Quay, on the Tamar, is a large smelling-houne for smelling uilver, 

 lead, and tin. The parish is locally celebrated for its extensive 

 ottlUtrdi of black cherries. 



The parish church of Beer Ferris is of Ihe decorated style of English 

 architecture ; it wa.i built in 1333. The founder's tomb on the north 

 ide of the chancel is very fine. There are several curious monuments 

 of other members of the Ferrers family, and some of the Champer- 

 nownes. In Beer Alston is an ancient chapel built in the beginning 

 of the lth century. It has however been long dismantled, having 

 been used as the pariah workhouse up to the passing of the New Poor- 

 Law. It is now used as a bam. A new district chapel was erected 

 in 1848 in Beer Alston. There are two places of worship belonging 

 to Dissenters in the town. There are no other public buildings calling 

 for notice. The town is now in a tolerably flourishing state ; but in 

 consequence of the large number of persons employed in the mines 

 the house accommodation is somewhat straitened. The increase of 

 the parish and its condition in 1851 may be seen by comparing the 

 returns of population and houses for 1841 and 1851 : in 1841 the 

 population was 2142, in 1851 it was 3401 : in 1841 there were 415 

 inhabited houses, 13 uninhabited, and one building; in 1851 Un- 

 inhabited houses were 041, the uninhabited 7, while 6 new houses 

 were being built 



Beer Alston was an ancient borough by prescription, although it 

 did not Mod members to Parliament till the reign of Elizabeth. The 

 election of members of Parliament, as well as of the portreeve and 

 "*f er municipal officers, took place in the open air under a large oak 

 t* The borough was disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832. 



J ' ^' T * y f "" nHU * f DtVm ' Comn * ni ' Mtion f nm Bttr 



BEER-SHEBA.'Wellof the Oath,' a spot in ,- Holy Land, so 

 Own an incident in the life of Abraham (Gen. xxi.), became in 



after-times the lite of a city. The city of Beer-Sheba wa 

 Ihe southern extremity of the Holy Laud, in i :. 



about 25 miles 8. by W. from Hebron, and 42 miles S.S.W. from Jeru- 

 salem. The name is still preserved ; and two ancient will* .iml exten- 

 sive ruins mark the site. Under the Human empire Beer-Sheba was 

 a large village of sufficient importance to be occupied by a Roman 

 garrison. The Roman road from Klath to Jerusalem paaaed through 

 or near Beer-Sheba. (Dictionary of Gredi and Human Oeoyraphy.) 



BKES, ST. [CUMBKRLAKD.l 



liKKSTON'. [CHESHIRE.]' 



UEdHAHMI, or BAGHERMI, is a country in Central Africa, 

 extending southward, probably to 10 N. lat. : it* northern boundary 

 reaches nearly to the Lake Tchad, perhaps to 12* 30' N. lat The 

 western boundary runs (about 18 E. long.) at a short distance from 

 the eastern bank of the river Shory, which empties itHclf into the 

 Tchad from the south-east On the east it seems to extend to the 

 country of Dar-Zoluh, or Wadai. Some small kingdoms which 

 extend along the river Shory, separate on the west Begharmi from 

 Bornou. 



From the swampy southern shores of Lake Tchad the country rises 

 imperceptibly for a considerable distance, aud then the surface begins 

 to swell into hill.", which by degrees attain the height of mountains. 

 The hilly and mountainous portion of it belongs to Begharmi. The 

 greatest port of the country is covered with thick forests, chief! y inha- 

 bited by the ferocious animals which ore common in this part of 

 Africa. It is also traversed by a great number of rivers and 

 courses, and contains numerous lakes. The river Shary, which pi 

 has its source in the mountains of Begharmi, enters the level country 

 as a considerable stream, being at Kussery about 400 yards wide. 



The inhabitants of the country are said to be numerous, and distin- 

 guished among other negro nations for their warlike disposition as 

 well as for their progress in industrial arts. It would appear that 

 they have not embraced the Islam, but are still idolaters. Some 

 years ago they effected their own deliverance from the yoke imposed 

 on them by Saboun, a former Sultan of Wadai. They carry on fre- 

 quent wars with the people of Bornou. The capital of Begharmi is 

 said to be Mesna. The horses of Begharmi ore represented as being 

 of very excellent breed. 



The flat country extending between Begharmi and the Lake Tchad 

 is the abode of a tribe of wandering Arabs called the Shouaas, who 

 have numerous flocks of cattle and sheep. 



(Dunham's Trarcls ; Balbi's Gfograph 



BEHRING'S ISLAND is situated in the North Pacific, 100 mile* 

 E. from Cape Kamtchatka. It was first discovered by Behriiig, the 

 Russian navigator, on his return to Kamtchatka from his voyage of 

 discovery on the coast of America in 1741. Soon after ><>. ,. Kamt- 

 chatkadales went over to the island to hunt the sea-otter, foxes, and 

 other animals for their skins. It was uninhabited at thn time of it< 

 discovery, and woo barren in the extreme, without a shrub on it* sur- 

 face, the only firewood being what was cast on the beach. It has 

 HJnce become an important trading station, aud vessels from Okhotzk 

 ami Kamtchatka, trading to the numerous islands in these seas, gene- 

 rally winter here. Fresh water is found on the island. 



Hearing's Island is high, steep, and cliffy to the north-wi-t. but 

 slopes gradually down to the southern shores, which are low. Nearly 

 the whole circuit of the island coast is rocky. The north point of thu 

 island is in 55 22' N. lat, 165 51' E. long. 



BEHIMMi'S STRAIT, which connects the Pacific with the 

 Ocean, is formed by Uie approach of the continents of Amen 

 Asia : the two nearest points of these continents respectively am 

 Cape Prince of Wales to the east, and East Cape to the wivt, which 

 are distant only 50 miles from each other in a north-west mid soufh- 

 e.int direction. They are both bold and high promontories, but the 

 hills on the American side are more ragged and peaked. About a 

 mile to the northward of Cape Prince of Wai -lioro 



begins, which continues all the way lo Kolzebue Sound. The greatest 

 depth of water in the strait is about 32 fathoms ; the bottom in soft 

 mud in the middle, and sandy towards each shore. About midway 

 across are three islands, colled the Itiomedet, the largesl of which 

 (Uatmanoff) is about four miles long; the next (Kruzenstern) nearly 

 two miles, and the last a mere rock. Neither these islands nor the 

 adjacent shores are permanently inhabited, though frequently visited 

 by the Esquimaux in their < 



This strait derives its name from the celebrated Russian navigator, 

 VitiiH Bchring, who in I7.' s left Kamtchatka aud made a coasting 

 voyage to the northward, though it is by no means certain that he 

 ever paused East Cape. To our own countryman Cook we are indebted 

 fur more accurate information about this strait, as well as to Captain 

 Beeohey, who has in more recent times visited and carefully examined 

 it. The ice in these seas does not present so formidable an obstruc- 

 tion to the navigator as that in Baffin's Bay. The prevailing current 

 appears to set thrwnrh the strait to the northward, but it has not that 

 decided character which it has farther to the northward, where along 

 ierican coast it runt strong to the north-east. 



I'.KIirr. or .JimirN (it,,,i<upa). [CABIIMKRK; HINDUSTAN.] 



I'.KIHA, a province of Portugal, situated between 39 28' aud 

 41" 20' N. lat, 6 38' and 8 53' W. long., in bounded N. by I 

 Douro-e-Minho and Tras-os -Monies, from which it is separated by tin 



