BEL 



482 



BEL 



Bekaa 



II 

 Belem. 



sa, situated on a sandy hill near the town, attracted 

 the inhabitants of Ghalefka, when their harbour was 

 choked up with sand, to settle in the vicinity of that 

 consecrated spot. As the new city increased in mag- 

 nitude, a citadel was built for its protection. The 

 town is composed of a number of houses, or rather 

 huts, detached from one another - y and after it was 

 burned down in 1765, many edifices of stone were 

 erected. The mode of building is constantly im- 

 proving ; yet a great many of the houses are built 

 with mud mixed with dung, and the roof is thatched 

 with a kind of grass common in the country. These 

 houses are not divided into separate apartments. A 

 range of straw beds surrounds the apartment; and it 

 is not often that they have any windows. A species 

 of ant, called ard by the Arabs, infest the houses 

 to a very great degree. By forming covert ways, 

 they introduce themselves into the houses, and destroy 

 both clothes and provisions. The trees in the garden 

 suffer also from their depredations ; and even when 

 their cells and passages are destroyed, they repair 

 them with astonishing celerity. 



" This city," says Niebuhr, " is in a favourable si- 

 tuation for trade, being only half a day's journey 

 from the hills on which the coffee grows, and but a 

 few day's journey from the harbours of Loheia, Hod- 

 eida, and Mocha, from which this commodity is ex- 

 ported ; it naturally becomes the most considerable 

 market for it. This trade brings hither merchants 

 from Egypt, Syria, Barbary, Persia, Habbesch, India, 

 and often from Europe." A dola, who resides in 

 this town, has an extensive jurisdiction over the sur- 

 rounding country. According to Lord Valentia's 

 chart of the Red Sea, Beit el Fakih is situated in East 

 Long. 43 23' 40", and North Lat. 14 32' 10". 

 See Niebuhr's Travels, Sect. viii. chap vi. (q) 



BEKAA, the name ofa fertile valley in Syria, which 

 lies between the mountains of Antelibanus and Li- 

 banus. The earthquake of 1759, destroyed the thri- 

 ving villages and plantations of the Moloualis ; and the 

 subsequent cruelties of the Turks completed the de- 

 solation of this charming valley, (j ) 



BEKIA, Bekouya, Bequia, or Boquio, called 

 by the French Little Martinico, is the smallest of the 

 Grenadilles islands in the West Indies. It is about 

 36 miles in circuit, .contains 3700 acres, and pro- 

 duces wild cotton and water melons. The inhabi- 

 tants of Grenada and St Vincent's resort to it for the * 

 purpose of catching turtles. It is 32 miles north- 

 east of Grenada. West Long. 61 22', North Lat. 

 12 37'. (.; ) 



BEI.EM, a town of Portugal, in the vicinity of 

 Lisbon, and province of Estremadura, is situated on 

 the north bank of the Tagus, and is remarkable for 

 its monastery and royal palace, and as the burial 

 place of many of the Portuguese kings and princes. 

 A little below Belem is a square tower, defended by 

 cannon, along with several batteries, and a small irre- 

 gular fort. The magnificent church of Belem sunk 

 in 1756. Mr Link observes, that this town, which 

 partly stands on a basalt hill, suffered less from the 

 earthquake of 1755, than some parts of the town evi- 

 dently founded on limestone. Hence he suggests, 

 that the basalt had, at some former period, been for- 

 ced up from these parts by a similar convulsion ; and 

 1 



that.the shocks which Lisbon 'has occasionally felt, B.Uinnite, 

 are attempts of nature to raise similar hills. iic '~- 



r The monastery which we have mentioned, is one * 

 of Hieronymites, the architecture of which is very 

 striking, the greatest pains having been taken to avoid 

 every appearance of regularity and order. The ad- 

 jacent church is in a grand stile of Gothic architec- 

 ture ; and there arc also in Belem two handsome church- 

 es, which have been recently erected. Near one of 

 these churches is the botanic garden ; and the royal 

 garden is a little farther on. Belem is a considerable 

 market town, and is inhabited by many persons ot 

 property, and by tradesmen of the highest class. The 

 royal family formerly had their residence here, but 

 after the castle was burnt, they removed to Que- 

 lus. () 



BELEMNITE. See Oryctoc.xo.v. 



BELFAST, a large flourishing town of Ireland, 

 in the county of Antrim, and capital of the province 

 of Ulster, situated at the mouth of the river Lagan, 

 which separates it from the county of Down. The 

 lower part of the town is not elevated more than six 

 feet above high water mark at spring tides. Belfast 

 lough, or the bay of Carrickfergus, which receives 

 the river Lagan, isa spacious estuary, containing twen 

 ty four square miles, a great part of which is left dry 

 every tide, which is the case likewise with Strangford 

 lough, another great estuary, the nearest extremity of 

 which is eight miles S. E. 



Between Belfast and Lough Neagh, which is about 

 twelve miles west of it, there is a chain of mountains, 

 the highest of which, called Devis, is about 1580 

 feet high. These mountains extend to the neighbour- 

 hood of the town, and are mostly covered with heath. 

 Some of them, however, consist of very good loam 

 to their summits, interspersed with veins of limestone. 

 About three miles north of the town stands the Cave 

 Hill, so called from a number of caves in it formed 

 out of the solid rock, the largest of which is about 

 thirty-two feet wide, and thirty-six long; this hill 

 shelters the bay on the we6t, and being contrasted 

 with the delightful plantations and elegant country 

 seats which extend almost from its base to the town, 

 exhibits a most beautiful and picturesque view. The 

 town is more ancient than is generally supposed ; the 

 parish is a vicarage, called Shaulcil, or the old church. 

 There was formerly a castle at Belfast, the ruins of 

 which are still to be seen. Its date is unknown ; but 

 it is said to be very ancient, and seems to have been a 

 post of some importance, as it was twice taken and de- 

 stroyed by the Earl of Kildare, lord deputy, in 1503 

 and 1512. It was inhabited before Queen Elizabeth's 

 time, by Randolphus Lane, and granted by her, with 

 a vast tract of adjoining lands, to the family of Smith, 

 who forfeited their title in the reign of James I. 



About the beginning of the seventeenth century, 

 after the complete reduction ef Ireland, Belfast be- 

 came the property of Sir Arthur Chichester, after- 

 wards lord deputy and baron of Belfast, who exerted 

 himself in the settlement of Ulster, and in whose fa- 

 mily it still remains. Through his influence it was 

 made a borough in 1613, and sent two members to 

 the Irish Parliament, and under the act of union 

 returns one member to the Imperial legislature. 

 An English gentleman, who travelled through part 



