B K 



10S 



parliament, u well as portreeve*, town-clerks, &e., took 



,n the open air, under a large oak-tree. The number 



of inhabitants in the borough alone is estimated at 3fiO, 



but the return of the population is included in that of the 



i, which in l.vJI amounted to 2198 ; but in 1831 had 



-ed t li7ii. The living of Beer -Ferris, a rectory in 



ad chapter of Exeter, is in tho urch- 



:iry ot'T.'tne-s, and diocese of Bath and Wells nd 



was rated in tho king's books at 247. 1*. OJ< Lord Voile- 



- the present patron. 



church possesses some curious monuments of the 



.ampemowne families. Beer-Alston was 



famous for its silver-mines, which at one time were 



productive, but at present they arc not ct.n>idered 



worth working. Perhaps to this and to the disi'ra:: 



of the Ixiroiigh is to be attributed the unusual di 



of the population in this parish. It is a curious fact, tint 



iniial v.ilue of real property, as assessed in 1815, in 



the parish of Beer-Ferris, is, with the exception of Plymouth 



and IMonport, the greatest in Devonshire, amounting to 



5 or. 

 BKER-SHEBA, Jtttf -INS, the tce/l of the oath, is 



called by the Septuagint ntipaafit, or <f>t>i.ap ipcurpov, and by 



ilnis (.-Int. i. 12) Bqpvovai, and (vi. 3) Jiapaoufat, 

 BijpToi'/J.i (Ant. viii. 13. 7), and Bi)p<ro& (Vila cd. Haver- 

 c.i-.np. p. 18, $ 37). Beer-sheba is a very antient city in 

 the south of Palestine, the existence of which can be traced 

 from the days oftlic Patriarchs to the present century. 



I-Vw places have been noticed in history during so many 

 centuries as Beer-sheba. Abraham called that place Beer- 

 sheba, because there they sware both of them, when he 

 made a covenant with Abimelech. And Abraham planted 

 a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of 

 the Lord, the everlasting God. (Gen. xxi. 14. 31.) About 

 B.C. 104, Abimelech went to Isaac from Gerar, and they 

 sware one to another ; and it came to pass the same day, 

 that Isaac's servants came and told him concerning the 

 well which they had digged, and said unto him, we have 

 found water. And he called it Sheba: therefore the name 

 of the city is Beer-sheba unto this day. (Gen. xxvi. 23, 33.) 

 In this antient explanation, JQ$. seven, is considered as 



equivalent to njO'.lJ. oath. Both words are, in Hebre 



\ : 



intimately related to each other, because the number seven 

 .nent occurrence in sacrifices and holy rites. 



Beer-shcba VMS frequently the dwelling place of Abra- 

 ham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. xxii. 1 9 ; xxviii. 1 ; xlvi. 15), 

 of the sons of Samuel, Joel, and Abiah, who were judges 

 in Beer-sheba. (1 Sam. viii. 2.) Zibiah of Beershcba was 

 the mother of Jehoash, king of Judah. (2 Kings xii. 12 ; 

 2 Chron. xxiv. 1.) The prophet Elijah retired to Beer- 

 sheba when he lied before Ahab and Jezebel. (Jos. Ant. 

 viii. 13. 7.) 



Beer-sheba belonged first to the cities of the tribe of 

 Judah. (Joshua xv. 28 ; 1 Kings xix. 3.) But it appears 

 from Joshua xix. 2. that, strictly speaking, Beer-sheba had 

 conceded to the Shimeonites. ' The second lot came 

 I'. rib to Shimeon, even to the tribe of the children of 

 Shimeon, and their inheritance was within the inheritance 

 of the children of Judah; and they had in their inheritance 

 Beersheba, Sheba, Molada,' &c. (I Chron. iv. 28.) 



That Beer-sheba was situated in the south of Judah is cx- 

 ly mentioned in 2 Sam. xxiv. 27. v. 15. Hence the 

 name of Beer-sheba is frequently mentioned, when the whole 

 extent of Palestine is described, in the expression from Dan to 

 Beer-sheba, or vice versa, ' From Beer-sheba even to ;Dan.' 

 ( I Chron. xxi. 2 ; 2 Chron. xxx. 5 ; Judges xx. 1 ; 1 Sam. iii. 

 20; 2 Sam. iii. 10; 2 Sam. xvii. 11, xxiv. 15 ; 1 Kings v. '<: 

 2 Chron. xxx. 5.) If the kingdom of Judah only is meant, 

 the following phrases are employed, from Geba to Beer- 

 sheba c2 King . xxiii. 8) ; from Beer-sheba to the mountain 

 of Ephraiiu. ('.! Chron. xix. 4.) 



Under the reign of Uzziah, about the year'787 n.c., Beer- 

 sheba was notorious for idolatry. (Araosv. 5 ; viii. 14.) The 

 city was re-occupied by the Jews after their return under Ne- 

 hemiah from the Bab\l .>ni.-di exile, about 445 n.c. According 

 to Nchemiah (xi. 27, 30), the children of Judah dwelled again 

 from Bccr-shcba unto the valley of Hinnom. A bout the 

 year 300 A.D. Kuscbius Pamphill describes Bccr-shcba as a 

 very large village, twenty miles south-west of Hebron, and 

 a garrison post. In the days of St. Hieronymus, about the 

 beginning of the fifth century A.D., we find it again de- 



B IS B 



srrilH-d in the same terms, apparently taken from Eusehius. 

 (Quoest. ad Gen. xvii. 30, in ;. h. v.) In the duys 



of the rrusade-, it is thus inenti .ncd by DC Yitriaco, or do 

 Vitry, in Gesta Dfi per Fruw-'/v, p. |n;u : Bcer-sheba is a 

 town at the foot of the mountains, an 



ment of the plain omul: . the mountains mid 



Ascalon, ten miles from .\ lie thu^ app^irs to 



sign it a diflVrent position from that f 1 In a 



similar manner J!cer->heba is mentioned b\ William "f 

 Tyre. Breitenbncli found, in the p! 

 castle called (Jallin, other travellers a village called (Mielin ; 

 but Scetzen assert* that the town is still extant, under 

 the name of Bir Szahca, under which name it is en' 

 in the maps of Kloden and Grimm. (Comp. Joseph. .///- 

 tiqiut.\\\\. 13,7; Zacbs Corretpondenz ; Relandi /' 

 linn, p. 484, 620; Hamelsveld liilil. Gfi^.m. 114, 

 Winers Biblishes If fitJirorter buch ; and Gescnii Thesaurus, 

 sub vocc.) 



This Beer-sheba, pn the southern frontiers of Palestine, 

 towards Iduraoca, should not be confounded with a 1 

 shoba (itijoTn&t, or HijpfuCij) in Upper Galiltca, ment: 

 by Josephus (Jiu-iJi U'ar, ii. 'JO, 6; iii. 3, 1, pp. 208 and 

 ml in Dr. Richardson's Traveti. 



BEESHA, a genus of grasses nearly allied to Bam 

 with which it is actually combined by some naturalists, but 

 from which it differs, according to tho concurrent testimony 

 of all authors, in the otherwise incredible circumslin. 

 its seeds being enclosed in a fleshy pericarp. 



Two species are known, both of which have the aspi 

 the spineless bamboos. Of these Beenha baccifera is found 

 on the Chittagong mountains of India, where it is i 

 Pagu tufla, growing in dry places on the sides of hills, 

 where the upper stratum of soil is sandy. Accord; 

 Roxburgh's flora Indica, the circumference of the ? 

 near the base is twelve or thirteen inches, and their height 

 from fifty to seventy; ' beautifully erect, and without the 

 least flexure or inequality of surface ; bare of branches, 

 except near the extremity : it perishes alter yielding its 

 fruit. It yields more or less tabashecr, of a siliceou.- 

 tallization ; sometimes it is said the cavity between the 

 joints is nearly filled with this, which the people call C/iy na 

 or lime.' (Flora Indira, ii. 197.) 



Beesha fax is a smaller species, not above eighteen feet 

 high : it is found in Amboyna and other parts of the Ma- 

 layan Archipelago, where it is applied to many useful pur- 

 It is the Arundarbor cratium of Rumphius's Her 

 barium of Amboyna. 



BKET, in Botany. [See BETA.] 



BEET, a plant of the genus Beta, in the class Penlan- 

 dria, and order Digynia of Linnaeus., and, in the natural 

 order, Chenopodeee of Jussieu. 



There are two distinct species of beet commonly cultivated, 

 each containing several varieties, the one talltd the Q'r/rt, 

 or Hortensis, producing succulent leaves only, the oilier the 

 Vulgaris, distinguishes by its large tleshy root. Tru 

 is chiefly cultivated in gardens as a culinary ^.ctalile, and 

 forms one of the principal vegetables used by agricultural 

 labourers and small occupiers of land in many parts of 

 Germany, France, and Switzerland. A variety known by 

 the name of Swiss chard produces numerous large suc- 

 culent leaves, which have a very solid rib running along tho 

 middle. The leafy part being stripped off and boded, is 

 used as a substitute for greens and spinach, and the rib and 

 stalk are dressed like asparagus or scorzr-nera : they have a 

 pleasant sweet taste, and are more wholesome than the cab- 

 bage tribe. In a good soil the produce is very abundant, 

 and if cultivated on a large scale in the field, this species of 

 beet would prove a valuable addition to the plants rai.-cd for 

 cattle. By cultivating it in rows, and frequently hoeing 

 and stirring the intervals, it would be an excellent sub- 

 stitute for u fallow on good light loams. 



All cattle are very fond of the leaves of this beet, which 

 add much to tho milk of cows without giving it that bad 

 -vhich is unavoidable when they are led with turnips 

 or cabbages, and which is chiefly owing to the greater ra- 

 pidity with which the latter undergo the putrefactive fer- 

 mentation. If sown in May in drills two feet wide, and 

 thinned out to tho distance of a foot from plant to plant in 

 tho rows, I hey will produce an abundance of leaves, which 

 may l>e gathered in August and September, and will 

 grow again rapidly, provided a bunch of the centre leaves 

 lie lelt on each plant. They do not sensibly exhaust tho 

 toil. These leaves, when boiled or steamed with bran, cut 



