BEG 



163 



13 E G 



occupies the higher ground, the old town occupies the 

 lower. The antient castle, which Vauban repaired, is on a 

 steep rock, and is remarkable for the great height of its 

 walls. Previous to the revolution there was a collegiate 

 church at Befort. 



The town is well situated for trade, being the centre from 

 which several roads branch out ; the neighbouring country 

 furnishes wood and iron ; and between the town and the 

 Vosges is a vast bed of peat, which might serve for fuel. 

 Iron-wire, wax-candles, leather, and paper are the chief 

 manufactures ; and the Dictiunnaire Unh-ersel de la 

 France, Paris, 18U4, speaks of a charitable institution for 

 orphan girls in which cotton-yarn was spun, also of manu- 

 factories of printed cottons. The population of the town in 

 1832 was 4537; that of the whole commune amounted to 

 3753. 



The principal objects worthy of notice are the town- 

 house, the church, the military hospital, and the barracks. 

 There are a library, a high school, and a society of agri- 

 culture. 



The arrondissement of Befort is very mountainous, being 

 entirely occupied by the branches of the Vosges or the 

 Jura. It comprehends 341 square miles, or 218,240 acres, 

 and is subdivided into nine cantons and 191 communes. 

 The population of the arrondissement in 1832, was 116,156. 



(Expilly ; Malte-Bvun ; Diclionnaire Universal de la 

 France ; Dupin, Forces productive! de la France.) 



15EG, also pronounced BEY, is a Turkish word which 

 signifies ' prince, lord, or chief,' and in the Osman empire 

 is rather vaguely used as a title of governors and other high 

 officer* of the state. It is also frequently subjoined to pro- 

 per names, to distinguish persons of high rank generally. 



BEGGAR. [See MENDICANT and MENDICITY.] 



BEGHARMI, called by Brown D AR BAGHERMI, ig 

 a country in Africa, extending southwards, probably to 10 

 N. lat. : its northern boundary reaches nearly to the Lake 

 Tchad, perhaps to 1 2 30' N. lat. We know only the western 

 1> uiulary with any degree of certainty, and this runs (about 

 18' K. long.) at a short distance from the eastern bank of 

 the river Shary, which empties itself into the Tchad from 

 the south-east. On the east it seems to extend to the nearly 

 unknown country of Waday, which separates Begharmi 

 from Dar-Fur. Some small kingdoms, which extend along 

 the river Shary, separate on the west Begharmi from 

 Bornou. 



This country, like its neighbour Bornou, lies between the 

 unknown region of central Africa and the Great Desert, the 

 Sahara, which latter may be considered as beginning on the 

 northern shores of the Lake Tchad. From the swampy 

 southern shores of the Tchad the country rises imper- 

 ceptibly for a considerable distance, and then the surface 

 begins to swell into hills, which by degrees attain the height 

 of mountains. The hilly and mountainous portion of it 

 belongs to Begharmi. The greatest part of this country 

 is covered with thick forests, chiefly inhabited by the fero- 

 cious animals common in this part of Africa. It is also 

 traversed by a great number of rivers and water-courses, 

 and contains numerous lakes. The river Shary, which pro- 

 bably has its source in the mountains of Begharmi, enters 

 the plain as a considerable stream, being at Kussery about 

 12(10 feet wide. 



As this country has never been visited by Europeans, we 

 aro unacquainted with its natural wealth. We only know 

 that its horses are of excellent breed, perhaps among the 

 best in the world. 



We know little more alxvut its inhabitants, who seem 

 to be numerous and warlike. They frequently under- 

 take predatory incursions into the neighbouring countries, 

 where they often appear in considerable numbers. Be- 

 sides, they seem to have made considerable progress in 

 some of the arts, at least in those of war. In Denham's 

 ;rney ' there is a picture of a Begharmi horseman, which 

 certainly may be atlduced in proof of this assertion. It 

 is not decided whether the inhabitants of Begharmi are 

 <>es, or whether they belong to the Galla tribes which 

 occupied a considerable part of Abyssinia. It would 

 appear, however, that they have not embraced the Islam, 

 but are still idolaters. 



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 

 hi-"p. 



The few notices respecting this country we owe to Major 



Denham, who collected them during his residence at 

 Bornou. 



BEGLERBEG, a compound word, which properly sig 

 nifies 'chief of chiefs,' was till very recently in the Osman 

 empire the title of the governor-generals of the provinces. 

 They stood next in rank to the vizier, and had under their 

 jurisdiction many sanja/<s,or districts, with their begs, agas, 

 &c. One of their external distinctions was that the sultan 

 of Constantinople always bestowed on them three ensigns, 

 named in Turkish tugh, which consisted of staves trimmed 

 with the tail of a horse : inferior officers of the crown were 

 honoured by only one or two of these insignia. About the 

 middle of the seventeenth century, the Turkish empire 

 comprised twenty-two beglerbeglics, or provinces governed 

 by beglerbegs, who derived their income from the places 

 under their government, viz., seventeen in Asia : Anatolia, 

 Caramania, Diarbekir, Damascus, Siwas, Erzerum, Van, 

 Childir, Shehrezur, Aleapo, Marash, Cyprus, Tarabolos, 

 Trebizond, Kars, Mosul and Rika; and five in Europe 

 Rumili, Gallipoli (the beglerbeglic of the seas), Budun or 

 Buda. Temeswar, and Bosna. Six other beglerbegs received 

 their salary out of the grand signior's treasury : they were 

 those of Cairo, Bagdad, Yemen, Habesh, Basra, and Lahsa. 

 (See Paul Rycaut, State of the Ottoman Empire, London, 

 1668, fol. pp. 51-57.) 



BEGONIA'CE^i, a natural order of Endogons, con- 

 sisting of a single genus, composed of species found exclu 

 sively in the dampest parts of the tropics in both the New 

 and Old World, particularly in Asia and America. They 

 have perfectly unisexual flowers, with a superior calyx, 

 generally coloured pink, consisting, in the sterile flowers, of 

 from two to four pieces, and in the fertile flowers of from 

 five to eight. The stamens are numerous ; the style sim- 

 ple ; the stigmas three, often forked, and having a wavy or 

 twisted appearance. These latter originate from a three- 

 cornered, three-celled ovary, containing a multitude of little 

 seeds, which changes to a thin-sided capsule with three 

 extremely unequal wings. The leaves are always more or 

 less unequal-sided, and have highly-developed membranous 

 stipules at their base. 



1, a sterile .(lower; 3, a fertile one; 3, the same in bud; 4, the Iialf-gron-ii 

 ovary aud stigmas ; 5, fruit ; 6, the same cut through horizontally ; 7. seeds 

 the natural size; 8, one seed magnified ; 9, the same cut through to shmv the 

 embryo in its natural position in the albumen ; 10, an embryo separate. 



It is very difficult to say with what other natural order 

 this has most affinity. By Link it has been stationed near. 

 Umbellifercc, a most unintelligible association. Jussieu, 

 attracted by its highly developed stipules, and apparently 

 apetalous flowers, together with the acid flavour which is so 

 prevalent in the order, suspected its near alliance with Po- 

 lygonea?, while Lindley, with a greater degree of proba- 

 bility, now makes it constitute an alliance of his Epigynous 

 Cohort of Exogens with polypetalous flowers, stationing it 

 in the vicinity of the Gourd tribe. 



