B D E 



B E A 



.JITS called Ordenanzas del valle (laws or statutes of the 

 valley), approved by the supreme council of Navarra in 

 1 696. The inhabitants, in a junta-general held every three 

 years, appoint three individuals, out of whom the viceroy 

 of Navarra chooses one to hold the office of Alcalde. This 

 officer is tne civil and military chief of the valley, and also 

 the judge in minor offences. He is also the presidentof the 

 concejo, or common council of the capital. Every man in the 

 valley is a soldier, and is bound to provide himself with arms 

 and ammunition. It is the alcalde's duty to instruct the 

 men in the management of arms, and every three years he 

 holds a general review, on which occasion every man is 

 obliged to appear with a musket in good condition, half a 

 pound of gunpowder, and twelve bullets. In a privilege 

 granted by Alonso I. of Aragon, to the town of San- 

 giiesa, in 1 132, he is entitled king of Aragon and Baztan. 

 The Baztanesc, afterwards, on the separation of Aragon 

 from Navarra, became subjects of the kings of Navarra. 

 At the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa they fought so gal- 

 lantly that their king, Sancho VI., granted them a privilege 

 in 1212, by which every native of Baztan was declared an 

 hidalgo or gentleman. Any Spaniard from another pro- 

 vince, who can prove a noble origin, is admitted to the 

 rights of citizenship in the valley. The letters of citizen- 

 ship are granted by the junta-general of the valley. The 

 population of the valley amounts to 7065 inhabitants, dis- 

 tributed into fourteen towns and villages. The capital, 

 Elizondo, is situated on the banks of the Baztanzubi, which 

 divides it into two parts. According to Mifiano it con- 

 tains 1111 inhabitants. The principal buildings are the 

 town-house, where the junta-general is held, and the Casa 

 de Misericordia, or charity house, in which the poor and 

 destitute of the village receive support and employment. 

 This benevolent institution has ceased to exist for want of 

 funds. The house was inhabited by some poor families of the 

 town, and has been of late changed into a fortified place by 

 the Carlists : but it is at present occupied by the troops of the 

 queen (1835). The front of the town-house is ornamented 

 with the names of the illustrious persons who at different 

 epochs have made themselves conspicuous for their valour, 

 or for other eminent services. These names are written 

 on wooden scutcheons carved into the shape of a crowned 

 eagle with two heads. The Baztanese speak the Basque 

 liinijuage. 



(See Academia de la Historia, Diccionario Geogrdjico 

 Histnricn de Espana ; Minano.) 



BDE'LLIUM, commonly called a gum, but in reality a 

 gum-resin, the origin of which is a subject of doubt. It 

 would appear that there are two, if not more kinds, of bdel- 

 lium, the source of one of which seems to be ascertained ; tho 

 others are matters of controversy. The bdellium of the an- 

 ticnts, said by Pliny (book xii. chap. 9) to be brought from 

 Bactria and other parts of Asia, still comes from Asia. Adan- 

 son states that he saw in Africa the substance exude from a 

 thorny species of amyris, called by the natives niuuttoutt. 

 From its resemblance to myrrh, the analogy is in favour of its 

 being obtained from an amyris or balsamodendron. Indeed, 

 arcording to the recent statement of Mr. Royle, bdellium 

 would appear to be the produce of a species of amyris, or rather 

 balsamodcndron, a native of India, called by Dr. Roxburgh 

 Amyris Cnmmiphora (Fl. Ind. ii. p. 244), Amyris Agallocha 

 i/'tn Catalogue, p. 28), the native name of which i*goo- 

 < Royle, Illustration! nf the Flora of the Himalayah, part 

 vi. p. 1 76.) The opinion of its being obtained from a palm, 

 either the Lontarus domestica (Gaertn.), or the Borassus 

 flabellifnrim*, is very improbable. This substance occurs in 

 masses of variable size and shape, sometimes as large as a 

 walnut, in oblong or angular pieces of a yellow, red, or 

 brownish colour. The clearest pieces are transparent ; the 

 ml ur is weak and peculiar; the taste bitter, balsamic, and 

 resembling myrrh or Venice turpentine. It is tolerably 

 brittle at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, hut 

 with a sli'.'ht increase of heat the finer kinds may he 

 kneaded between the fingers. Its specific gravity is P37). 

 In potass it is completely soluble. Analysed by Pelletier, 

 100 parts yielded 



!{ :n ..... 59 



Gum 9'2 



; n 30 - 6 



Volatile oil and loss . . 12 



100 

 John found also caoutchouc, tulphaUi, muriates, and phos- 



phates of potass, and lime with salts of magnesia, but pro- 

 bably he examined a different sort from that of Pelletier. 



Resembling myrrh in appearance, it also resembles it in 

 its effects upon the human system, and is often fraudulently 

 substituted fur it ; it is, however, weaker, while it is more 

 disagreeable and acrid. [See BALSAMODENDRON.] It was 

 formerly used in many compounds and plasters, such as 

 diachylon. It is now disused in Britain ; but is to be found 

 intermixed with gum Arabic. 



The Sicilian bdellium is produced by the Daucus His-pa- 

 nicus (Decand.), the D. gummifer of Lamarck, or perhaps 

 the D. gingidium (Linn.), according to Boccone (Museo di 

 Piante rare delta Sicilia, fyc. torn, xx.), which grows on the 

 islands and shores of the Mediterranean. 



The Egyptian bdellium is conjectured to be produced by 

 the Borasxus jtabdliformis (Linn.), the Chamceraps humfiis, 

 or the Hyph&ne cuciphera (Pers.j 



The bdellium mentioned in the second chapter of Genesis 

 is obviously a mineral, and has no reference to the substances 

 above-mentioned. It is supposed to mean pearls. 



BEACIIY HEAD, in Sussex, is a high bluff chalk 

 cliff, forming a remarkable headland in the British Channel, 

 which may always be known by seven conspicuous white 

 cliffs to the westward of it. There is a telegraph and sta- 

 tion-house on the top ; and a little farther to the westward, 

 on that portion of the Head called Belltout Cliff, a tempo- 

 rary lighthouse was erected in 1828, which has been found 

 so serviceable, that it has been replaced by a more durable 

 one of stone. The lights, like the old ene, revolve alter- 

 nately bright and dark at intervals of two minutes : their 

 elevation above the sea is 285 feet. 



Caverns near Beachy Head. There are six caverns, 

 with entrances three feet wide, and flights of steps twenty 

 feet in height, terminating in an apartment eight feet 

 square, now cut in the cliffs, between Beachy Head and 

 Cuckmere. A place called Derby Cave has also been re- 

 paired, by which means mariners, who may be unfortunately 

 wrecked on that part of the coast, can find a place of refuge 

 from the sea. There is no danger a quarter of a mile imme- 

 diately off the Cape, but six miles to the eastward of it thero 

 are some dangerous rocks, on which the Royal Sovereign, 

 a first-rate, once struck. (British Channel Pilot, p. 51.) 



BEACON, a sign or token ordinarily raised upon some 

 foreland or high ground as a sea mark. It is also used for 

 the fire-signal which was formerly set up to alarm the in- 

 terior of the country upon the approach of a foreign enemy. 

 The word, as used in England, is derived from the Anglo- 

 Saxon beacen or beacn, a sign or signal, whence bycnian, to 

 show or point out. Beac or Lee is the real root, which we 

 still have in beck, beckon. 



Fires by night, as signals, to convey the notice of im- 

 pending danger to distant places with the greatest expe- 

 dition, have been used in almost all countries. They are 

 mentioned in the prophecies of Jeremiah, who (chap. vi. 

 v. 1) says, ' Set up a sign of fire in Beth-haccerem, for evil 

 appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.' In the 

 treatise De Mundo, attributed to Aristotle, we are told 

 (edit. 12mo. Glasg. 1745, p. 35), that fire-signals were so 

 disposed on watch-towers through the King of Persia's do- 

 minions that, within the space of a day, he could receive 

 intelligence of any disturbances plotted or undertaken in 

 the most distant part of his dominions; but this is evidently 

 an exaggerated statement, ^schylus, in his play of the 

 Agamemnon, represents the intelligence of the capture of 

 Troy as conveyed to the Peloponnesus by fire-beacons. 

 During the Peloponnesian war we find fire-beacons (<f>pvKToi) 

 employed. (Thucyd. iii. 22.) Pliny distinguishes this sort 

 of signal from the Phari, or light-houses placed upon the 

 coasts for the direction of ships, by the name of 'Ignca 

 proeni'.ntiativi,' notice-giving fires (Plin. Hist. Nat., edit. 

 Harduin, lib. ii. sect. 73), these being occasional only, the 

 phari constant. 



Lord Coke, in his Fourth Institute, chap, xxv., speaking 

 of our own beacons, says, ' Before the reign of Edward III. 

 they were but stacks of wood set up on high places, which 

 were fired when the coming of enemies was descried ; but 

 in his reign pitch-boxes, as now they be, were, instead of 

 those stacks, set up ; and this properly is a beacon.' These 

 beacons had watches regularly kept at them, and horsemen 

 called hobbelars were stationed by most of them to give 

 notice in day-time of an enemy's approach, when the fire 

 would not be seen. (Camd. Brit, in Hampshire, edit. 1789 

 vol. i. p. 173.) 



