504 



HKRB1CK BERCIITOLD. 



to attack it. Tliey dwell in huts, consisting of a few 

 stakes cirivni into tin- ground, \viih reeds or small 

 branches of trees tied to them, niul the wlmlc covered 

 with clay mixed with a little straw. Some of their 

 huts arc built with rough stones, arrancd with much 

 art. These dwellings are rectangular, with two 

 gable em Is, anil arc covt rnl \vith tluitcli or reeds ; 

 they arc seldom more than leu feel high, and are 

 entered by a low and narrow door, which shuts very 

 close; the windows arc small holes in the sidi ., a 

 M rj few of whicli arc iulorned with a piece of glass. 

 These huts are never built so as to form villages, but 

 are to be seen together in little groups, scattered 

 about in the vallcjs, .uid U|KHI the sides of the moun- 

 tain^ At Bcni Mcnad, Sumata, and some other 

 places, the huts of the Berbers are built in the midst 

 of thickets with scarcely any portion of cultivated 

 soil round them ; but in the mountains of Bcni-Sala, 

 and Hcni-Mcissera, each group of huts is situated in 

 the midst of a plantation, containing all kinds of 

 tin x, with a portion of ground laid out as a kitchen 

 garden. 



Although the Berbers have always lived in a state 

 of barbarous ignorance, and have had but little con- 

 nexion with civiliztd nations, they are a remarkably 

 industrious people. By working the mines in their 

 own mountains, they produce lead, copper, and iron. 

 \\iih tlie lead they manufacture bullets for war and 

 the chase; and with the copper, ornaments for their 

 women. It is even said that they work gold and 

 silver ; and it is true that their weapons are often 

 ornamented with plates of silver ; they also make an 

 immense quantity of base silver coin, which they 

 circulate at Algiers, and in other towns, 



After converting their iron ore into mallable 

 metal, they manufacture gun-lrarrels, implements of 

 husbandry, nnd many rudely formed utensils, which 

 they sell to the Moors and Arabs. They understand 

 the manufacture of steel, from which they make 

 knives, swords, and other sharp instruments, not very 

 elegant in form, but of good quality. They likewise 

 make gunpowder for their own use, but they sell 

 none : this powder is much superior to that made at 

 Algiers. One of their articles of commerce is a 

 species of black soap, which they make with olive 

 oil, and soda obtained from sea-weed. The tribes 

 inhabiting the borders of the plain and some of the 

 great valleys, breed sheep and cattle in considerable 

 numbers. Their sheep are small, and yield very 

 little wool. They have, likewise, numerous herds 

 of goats, which supply them with milk, and of the 

 flesh of which they are very fond. Their cows and 

 oxen are of a small species, but their asses and mules 

 are the test in all Barbary, and are much esteemed 

 by the Algerines. 



In their political state they are divided into tribes, 

 each of which is governed by a scheik, as among the 

 Arabs. There are patrician families in each tribe. 

 Several tribes often unite under the government of a 

 chief distinguished for his talents and courage, and 

 whom they term a scheik-zabo. A great number 

 of the Berber tribes, inhabiting the provinces of 

 Algiers and Titterie, obeyed a scheik-zabo named 

 Benzahmum, a man of great renown as a warrior, 

 and who did much harm to the French army after 

 the capture of Algiers. (For further information re- 

 specting the Berbers, see Lyon's Travels in Northern 

 Africa, Langle's translation of Hornemann's Travels 

 in Africa, and almost all the works which treat of 

 the north of Africa.) It appears from the Berber 

 language, that the first inhabitants of the Canary 

 islands were of the Berber race. 



BEHBICE ; a district of Guiana, formerly belonging 

 to the Dutch, but ceded to Great Britain in 1814; 

 watered by the river Berbice, the Canje, and others. 



It extends from Abarry creek, on the west, to Cour- 

 aniine river on the east, along the coast, about 150 

 miles. The towns are New Amsterdam, the capital, 

 or Fort Nassau, and Old Amsterdam. The produc- 

 tions are sugar, mm, cotton, cofl'ee, cocoa, and 

 tobacco. The coast is marshy and the air damp. 

 Population, in 1815, 29,959; of whom 550 wire, 

 whites, 240 people of colour, and a5,lii!i sla\es. 



BERCHTFMJADEN ; a market-town in the Salzburg 

 Alps, in the kingdom of Bavaria, with 3(100 inhabi- 

 tants ; famous for the salt mines in its neighbour- 

 hood, the salt-work Frauenreith, and the aqueducts 

 which conduct the salt water to the works called 

 Reichenhall. The rock-salt does not appear here in 

 large, solid masses, but in small pieces mixed with 

 clay. Fresh water is let into the mines, and, having 

 been saturated with salt, is carried into lare reser- 

 voirs, from which, at the works of Frauenreith, 

 130,000 cwt. of salt are annually obtained. A large 

 part of the water is conducted to Reidienhall. At 

 this place a large salt-spring was discovered in 1613, 

 and, on account of a deficiency in wood required in 

 the preparation of the salt, the water was conveyed, 

 by means of an aqueduct, to Traunstein, twenty miles 

 distant. Another aqueduct, thirty-five miles long, 

 from Reichenhall to Rosenheim, was completed in 

 1809, and, in 1817, these were again brought into 

 communication with B. in a most admirable way. 

 The first machine, which raises the brine coming 

 from B. fifty feet high, is near this place. From 

 hence, it runs in pipes 3500 feet, with a fall of seven- 

 teen feet only, into the second reservoir. A hydrau- 

 lic machine, invented by von Reichenbach, here lifts 

 the salt water 311 feet high, in iron pipes 934 feet 

 long. The water then runs in pipes 7480 feet, with 

 thirty-seven feet fall, to a valley, over which it is 

 led in iron pipes, 1225 feet long, and, after running 

 12,073 feet farther, it falls into the third reservoir. 

 Here is a second hydraulic machine, which lifts the 

 water to a perpendicular height of 1218 feet, in 

 pipes 3506 feet long ; and hence it flows, in pipes 

 73,000 feet long, to Reichenhall. The pipes running 

 from B. to Reichenhall amount to 104,140 feet. 

 From Reichejnhall to Siegsdorf there is but one aque- 

 duct for the salt water intended for Traunstein and 

 Rosenheim, 94,800 feet long. From Siegsdorf to 

 Traunstein the brine flows without an aqueduct. In 

 Traunstein, 140,000 cwt. are annually produced. 

 The other part of the brine flows in pipes, 78,000 

 feet long, to Rosenheim, which produces annually 

 180,000 cwt. of salt. The water required to work 

 the numerous machines is brought from places many 

 of which are 16-19,000 feet distant. 



BERCHTOLD, Leopold, count, was born in 1758, and 

 devoted his life to the relief of the wretched. He 

 spent thirteen years in traveling through Europe, 

 and four in traveling through Asia and Africa, to 

 assuage human misery. The results of his experi- 

 ence are contained in his Essay to direct and extend 

 the Inquiries of patriot Travelers (London, 1769, 2 

 vols.) He wrote several pamphlets on the means of 

 reforming the police, which he caused to be printed 

 in different European countries, at his own expense, 

 and to be distributed gratis. His prize questions 

 gave rise to many pamphlets and treatises on the 

 means of saving the drowned and seemingly dead. 

 He offered a prize of 1000 florins for the best trea- 

 tise on beneficent institutions, and was himself the 

 founder of many. From 1795 to 1797, he traveled 

 through Asiatic and European Turkey, chiefly for 

 the purpose of counteracting the ravages of the 

 plague. At a later period, he was engaged in mak- 

 ing vaccination more extensively known. During 

 the famine that raged in the Riesengebirge (Giant 

 mountains), from 1805 to 180G, he procured corn and 



