B E A 



B E A 



little iniiired by the fea, and found on examination that 

 three of them were the common produce of the ifland of Ja- 

 maica ; where he had himfelf gathered them, and defcribed 

 them in his catalogue and hiftory. 



The fiift fort was a kind of kidney bean, and the plant 

 which produces it is defcribed by fir Hans under the name 

 of the great perennial kidney bean, with a great crooked- 

 lobe. It is alfo figured in the Ilortus Malabaricus by the 

 name of per'tm iakuvali, and lir Robert Sibbald alfo calls it 

 ntix Indica ex quj pyxhla pro pulvcre Jlernufaiio parnnt. This 

 is a native of the Kail and Well Indies, and is fometimes 

 found thrown on fliore in the county of Ken^ in Ireland, 

 and in fome othT places. A fecond kind of fruit thrown 

 on (hore in the Orkneys, is a very common fruit in Jamaica, 

 known there by the name of the horfe-eye btan ; it has 

 this name from its refen.bhng the eye of fome large animal, 

 by reafon of a Inliis or welt which farrounds it. This is de- 

 fcribed by many authors, and among the reft by fir Hans 

 Sloane, in his catalogue of Jamaica plants ; and is foimd in 

 many other of the hotter parts, both of the Ea!l and Well 

 Indies. A third kind of fruit found on thefe ftiores, is that 

 called by the people ot Jamaica the a(h-coloured nickar nut ; 

 it has this name from its colour, and from its being perfectly 

 round, of the fhape of a nickar, or marble, fuch as boys play 

 with. This is alfo common in the Eaft and Weft Indies. A 

 fourth kind is alfo a Jamaica fruit, with the hiftory of which 

 we are not yet well acquainted ; nobody has fecn it growing, 

 but the fruit itfelf is preferved in many of the collections of 

 the curious, and has been figured and defcribed by Clufius 

 and others under the name of a round exotic fruit rigid with 

 four rifing nerves. 



Thefe are the principal kinds of fruits thus tolTtd on fliorc 

 with us ; but how the produfts of Jamaica, or other parts 

 of America, (hould be brought to the (horts of Scotland 

 and Ireland, feems difficult to determine on any certain 

 foundation. It is eafy to conceive, that when they grow by 

 the fides of rivers, they may fall off from the trees into 

 them, and be thence conveyed into the fea. It is hkewife 

 eafy to fee, that when they are thus floating on the furface 

 of the fea, they may be carried about by the winds and 

 currents to a confiderable diftancc ; but their motion this 

 way muft naturally be ftopped by the main continent of 

 America, and they muft be forced through the gulf of Flo- 

 rida, or the canal of Bahama, going thence conftantly eaft, 

 and into the north American fea. This is eafily conceived 

 by a fimilar faft which happens ever)- day ; which is', that a 

 kind of fea lentil, called fargajo, which grows very plenti- 

 fully on the rocks about Jamaica, is waftied off from thence, 

 and carried by the winds and currents, which for the moft 

 part go impetuoufly the fame way, toward the coaft of Flo- 

 rida, and thence into the North American ocean, and is 

 there found floating on the furface. Thus far it is eafv to 

 trace our fruits from their native foil : but how after this 

 they fhould be forwarded to us is unaccountable, unlefs we 

 fuppofe, that as (hips when they go fouth expedt a trade 

 cafterly wind, and when they come north expeft and gene- 

 rally find a wefterly wind, for at Icaft two parts in three of 

 the year ; fo thefe fruits being brought north by the current 

 from the gulf of Florida, are put into the way of thefe weft- 

 erly winds, and by them conveyed to the coafts of Scotland 

 and Ireland. Philofoph.Tranfad. N° 222. p. 300. 



By the fame means that thefe beans came to Scotland, it 

 is reafonab'e to believe that the fame winds and currents 

 brought from America thofe feveral things towards the 

 Azores and Porto Santo, which are recorded by Ferdinand 

 Columbus in the life of his father ; which gave this bold ad- 

 •»enturer the iirft nation that there was fuch a place as Ame- 



rica. Among the things he mentions as walhed afhore in 

 tliis manner, was a piece of wood very ingenioufly wrought, 

 but evidently without the help of iron tools. This was taken 

 up by a Portuguefe pilot, four hundred and fifty leagues 

 from fliore, off cape St. Vincent, after a w'eft wind which 

 had blown violently for many days : after this fuch another 

 piece of wood v/as taken up on the fliore of Porto Santo, 

 after fuch another long and violent weft wind. Large 

 canes, vaftly fuperior to any of the growth of the then known 

 parts of the world, were alfo found thrown on the fame 

 iliores, and the fruits of pines v.hich did not grow in any- 

 known part of the world ; and finally the bodies of two 

 men appearing to be of a different nation from any of the 

 known people, and two of the canoes, were driven on fhorc 

 on the ifland Flores, one of the Azores. All thefe things 

 having been found only afrcr ftrong and continued weft 

 winds, it appeared very evident, that there muft be land 

 fomewhere to the weft, where fruits and men were to be 

 found ; and that thefe men had no knowledge of our arts, 

 by their want of iron. From thefe con'icdtural conclufions 

 fprung the greateft difcovery of modern times. 



Bean Staih. The aftics of bean ftalks make good and 

 clear glafs. 



Beam Tree, Erythrina. See Corallodendron. 

 Beam Tree, binding. See Mimosa. 

 Bean Trefoil. See ANAcyRis, andCvTisus. 

 Bean is alfo ufed by fome Anatom'ifls to denote the glans 

 of the penis, on account of its figure and refemblauce to that 

 pulfe. 



Bean is alfo improperly ufed for a weight, containing the 

 third part of a fcruple. 



BEANA, in /Indent Geography, a town of Ada, placed 

 by Ptolemy in Babylonia. 



BEAR, in /tftranomy, a name given to two conftellations 

 called the Greater and the Lejfer Bear, or Urfa major and 

 minor. 



The pole ftar is faid to be in the tail of the Lejer Bear ; 

 this ftar is never above two degrees diftant from the north 

 pole of the world. See Ursa. 



Bear, or Bere, in Agriculture, is a fpecies of barley 

 cultivated in Scotland and Ireland, and the northern parts of 

 England. It yields a large return, but is not efteemed f« 

 good for malting as the common barley. 

 Bear, in Zoology. See Ursus. 

 Bear, Ant. See Tapir, and Ant-eater. 

 Bear, Polar. vSee Polar i*Var. 



Bbar, Sand, is fuppofed to be a variety of the badger, 

 or Ursus Meles, and the fame animal which naturalifts have 

 defcribed under the na.r.c of the " fow-badger." Its colour 

 is a yellowifli white ; its eyes are fmall, and its head thicker 

 than that of the common badger ; its legs are fliort, and on 

 each foot are four toes, armed with fharp white claws. It 

 is almoft without hair, very fenfiblo of cold, and burrows 

 in the ground. Bewicke's Quadrupeds, p. 284. 

 Bear, Sea. See St.A.-Bear. 



Bear's Fhjh was much efteemed by the ancients : even 

 at this day the paw of a bear faked and fmoaked is ferved 

 up at the tables of princes. 



Bear's ficfli is reckoned one of the greateft rarities among 

 the Chinefe ; infomucli that, as Du-Ha!de informs us, the 

 emperor will fend fifty or a hundred leagues into Tartary, 

 to procure them for a great entertainment. The fleflj is 

 reckoned fuch a dainty among the inhabitants of Kamt- 

 fchatka, that thev feldom eat it alone, but ufually invite a 

 number of guefts to partake of the dehcious repaft. The iii- 

 teftines alfo, when cltanl'td and properly fcraped, are worn by 

 the fair fex as malks to guard their faces from the fun-beams, 

 H z which 



