B E I 431 B E I 



he was knighted by his patron the king of Portugal ; dego, in the neighbourhood of Coimbra, is reckoned 



and in an interest, ig account of the ceremony on the one of the most enchanting spots of Portugal, and 



occasion, we are told that the Duke of Begia put on has been celebrated in the immortal strains of Ca- 



his right spur, the count Christopher de Mela his moens. 



left : his iron helmet was put on by the count Mar- fo ^ Mond , s eVcr vfirdant b 

 tini Mabanms ; and the king himself girded on his 



sword. This dignity, however, some have supposed, lies the scene of the interesting and tragical story of 



was conferred for the discovery of the kingdom of Inez de Castro. 



Congo in Africa, because the gold and precious arti- The country round Coimbra is remarkable for its 

 cles carried from thence to Portugal would make a beauty and its cultivation. The mountains are cover- 

 much greater impression, than merely ascertaining the ed with pines, and even German oaks. They consist 

 existence of another continent. partly of a coarse grained sandstone, alternating with 



In the year 1492, Behem undertook a journey to a grey limestone. Highschistus mountains began at 



his native city Nuremberg. While residing there, he a distance. A yellowish grey argillaceous slate 



constructed a remarkable terrestrial globe yet in pre- changes to a sand slate, which is succeeded by mica 



servation, from the writings of Ptolemy, Strabo, and slate, terminating in granite. The plants in this part 



Pliny, of the ancients, and from the accounts of Mar- are remarkably beautiful, the land is well cultivated, 



co Polo and Sir John Mandeville, travellers of the and oil is produced in great abundance. The olive 



thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The track of tree abounds so much, that the traveller may wander 



the navigator's own discoveries is also laid down, for whole days without observing any other tree, 



which plainly exhibits, that the western lands mark- The olives are ripe in December and January. They 



ed on the globe, mean the coast of Brazil and 6traits are beaten from the trees by means of long poles. The 



ef Magellan. oiL presses are wrought by oxen ; but the oil is much 



After having performed several other interesting deteriorated by want of cleanliness in the process. The 



voyages, Behem died at Lisbon, in July 1506. ripe brown olives are the only ones that are pickled 



We cannot disguise, that there are historians who by the Portuguese, 

 have treated the discoveries, ascribed to this navigator, Various kinds of wheat grow round Coimbra ; but 

 as so many fictions of the Germans, arising from their the summer wheat only succeeds, when the inunda- 

 desire of claiming the first voyages to the new conti- tionsof the Mondego have rotted the seedin the ground, 

 nent. Yet it is acknowledged, even by those who Barley and a little rye are also sown ; and rice grows 

 most keenly controvert the point, that Behem effect- in the marshes alongthe Mondego. Indian corn is pro- 

 ed a settlement in Fayal ; that he was the intimace duced in much larger quantities throughout Beira, 

 friend of Columbus ; that he framed a chart of the than in the southern provinces, where the soil is too 

 seas before unknown ; and that Magellan possessed a light and dry. The oranges of this province are ex- 

 globe constructed by him. All the disputed facts cellent, and are exported to other countries. Coal is 

 re ably discussed in a memoir by M. Otto, to which found along the coast, from Buarcos to Figueira ; 

 we shall refer. American Philosophical Transac- but in 1779 this valuable mineral had not been work- 

 tions, vol. ii. p. 263. (c) ed. 



BEHUT, or Betuh, the Hydaspes of the an- Mountains of argillaceous schistus begin near So- 

 cients, is a large river of Hindostan, which issues bral, not far from Ovar ; mica slate soon succeeds it, 

 from the spring of Wair in Cashmere, and runs into and introduces a lofty ridge of steep mountains crowd- 

 the Chunaub, about fifty miles above Moultan. See ed upon one another, and extending along the souths 

 Robertson's Disquisition on India, p. 18 ; and Ren- cm banks of the Douro, even farther than Lame- 

 nt's Memoir, p. 99. (j) go. 



BEJARIA, a genus of plants of the class Do- This province is divided into seven corregidors and 



decandria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (to) two oydors, viz. 



BEING. See Metaphysics. Population* 



BEIRA, a province of Portugal, divided into the Corregidor of Coimbra, 150,000 



upper and the lower Beira. It is bounded on the north, Town of Coimbra, 12,000 



by the river Douro, which separates it from the pro- Corregidor of Viseu, 95,000 



vinces of Entre Douro a Minho, and Tralos Montes. Corregidor of Lamego, 60,000 



The ocean and part of Estremadura limit it on the Corregidor of Pinhel, 70,000 



west j the Tagus and another part of Estremadura Corregidor of Guarda, 7,000 



limit it on the south; and it is enclosed on the east Town of Guarda, 1,000 



by the kingdom of Leon and Spanish Estremadura. - Corregidor of Castello Branco 40,000 



This large and fertile ; province is about thirty-four Town of Castello Branco, .... 4,000 



miles long and as many broad, and contains the cities Oyder of Montemor-o-Velho, 3,000 



and towns of Coimbra, Lamego, Guarda, Viseu, Oyder of Mon-feira 40,000 



Miranda do Corvo, A veiro or Nova Braganza, Ten- Town of Mon-feira, 4,000 



tugal, Ovar, Pinhel, Almeida, Francoso, Meda, Cas- The whole population of Beira amounts to 560,000, 



tello Branco, Penamacor, and Covilhaa. The river (q) 



Mondego, which traverses the greater part of the BEIT el Fakih, or The Dwelling of the Sage, 



province, runs into the sea near the southern extre- is a city of Arabia, in the province of Yemen, 



mity, and adorns in its course many beautiful and fer- situated in a well cultivated plain, about 24 miles from 



tile Talleys. The narrow aud rich vale of the Mon- the Arabian Gulf. The tomb of Ahmed iba Mu- 



Beira, 

 Beit. 



