BEG 



feveral tiibes of Negroes, idolaters in tlieir religion, favage in 

 their manners, and accullomed, it is faid, to feed on human 

 fl r/li. They are called the Kardee, the Serrowah, the Show- 

 V ih, the Battah, and the Mulgai. Thefe nations, the Be- 

 garmeefe, who fight on horfeback, and are great warriors, 

 annually ins-ade ; and when they have taken as many prifoncrs 

 2 3 opportunity affords, or their purpofe may require, they 

 drive the captives like cattle to Begarmee. It is faid, that 

 if any of them, matured by age, or exhaufted by fatigue, 

 happen to linger in their pace, one of the horfemen feizes on 

 the oldell, and cutting off his arm, ufes it as a club to drive 

 on the rell. From Begarmee they are fent to Bornou, 

 v/here they are fold at a low price ; and from thence many 

 of tUcm are conveyed to Fezzan, where they generally em- 

 brace the Muffulman faith, and are afterwards exported by 

 the way of Tripoli to different parts of the Levant. Begar- 

 mee, the capital of the kingdom, hes in N. lat. 15°. E. long. 

 26^ 30'. according to Renneli's Map ; but according to 

 Browne, N. lat. 16° 40'. E. long. 22° 25'. 



BEGARRA, a town of Spain in New Catlile, 4 leagues 

 from Alcarez. 



E'EGEMDER, a province of AbylTmia, north eaft of 

 Tigre, bordering upon Angot, and fcparated froin Amhara, 

 which runs parallel to it on the fouth, by the river Bafhilo. 

 Both thefe provinces are bounded by the river Nile on the 

 weft. The greateft length of Begemder is- about I So miles, 

 and il5 breadth 60; and it comprehends " L.afta," a moun- 

 tainous province, fometimes depending upon Begemder, 

 and often in rebellion. The inhabitairts are efleemed the bed 

 foldiers ill Abyflinia, being men of great ftrength and fta- 

 ture, but cruel and uncivilized ; fo that they are called, in 

 common converfation and writing, the peafants, or barbarians 

 of Lafta. They pay to the king 1000 ounces of gold. 



Several fmall provinces are now difmembered from Be- 

 gemder, fuch as Foggora, a fmall flripe of land reaching 

 fouth and north about 35 miles between Enifras and Dara, 

 and about I 2 miles broad from eaft to weft, from the moun- 

 tains of Begemder to the lake Tzana. On the north end of 

 this are two fmall governments, Dreeda and Karoota, the 

 only territoi-y in Abyffinia that produces wine ; the mer- 

 chants trade to Caffd and Narea, in the country of the 

 Galla. 



Begemder is the ftrength of Abyflinia in liorfemcn. It is 

 faid that, vv-ith Lafta, it can bring out 45,000 men ; but this 

 account Bruce thinksto be mucli exaggerated. Itiswell flock- 

 ed with cattle of every kind, that are very beautiful. The 

 mountains are full of iron mines ; they are not fo fteep and 

 rocky as in other provinces, if we except Lafta, and abound 

 in all forte of wild fowl and game. The fouth end of the 

 province near Nefas Mufa is cut into prodigious gullies, ap- 

 parently by floods, of which no hiftory remains. It is tlie 

 great barrier againll the encroachments of the Galla, who 

 have made many attempts to obtain a frttlement here, but 

 without fnccefs ; and they have loft whole tribes in thefe in- 

 tfTeiSual efforts. Begemder is a province of fuch confe- 

 quenee to the ftate, rtacliing fo near the metropolis, and re- 

 (fularly fupplying it with all forts of provifions, that none 

 but noblemen ji rank, family, and charafter, able to main- 

 tain ti large number of troops always on foot, and in good 

 order, are trufted with its government. It lies in about N. 

 lat. I r 45'. and from 37° 30'. to 38'' 30'. E. long. 



BEGER, Laurence, in Bi'j^rafi/jy, a German anti- 

 quarian, was the fon of a taimer at Heidelberg, and born 

 in 1653. At the requeft of his father he full lludied theo- 

 logy, and afterwards gratified his own inclination by the 

 ilndy of the law. Devoting hinifelf to clafllcal hccrature and 

 antiquities, he acquired inch reputation that, in 1677, he 

 was appointed librarian and keeper of the cabinet of antiqui- 



BEG 



tits by Charles Lewis, cleftor Palatine ; and he retained the 

 fame office under Frederick William, elector of Branden- 

 burg, to whom the cabinet was transferred in i68j. He 

 was a member of the Society of Berlin from its inftilution, 

 and died there in 1705. He was the author of various learn- 

 ed works. His " Confideralions on Maniage, by Daph- 

 nasus Arcuarius," was written in German, as a defence of 

 polygamy, to gratify the eledlor Palatine, who wifhed to 

 marry another lady, to whom he was attached, whilft his 

 wife was living. He afterwards gratified the fon by coin- 

 pofmg a refutation of this work, which was never printed. 

 The principal of his other works, which relate to hiftory and 

 antiquities, are " Thcfaunis ex Thefauro Palatine SeleAus," 

 1 68 J, fol. ; " Thefaurus Reg. eledif. Brandenburgius Sclecs- 

 tus," 3 vols. fol. ; " Regum et Imperutcr. Roman. Nu- 

 mifmata," 1700, fob; "DeNummisCretenfium ferpentiferis," 

 1702, fob; " I^ucernK Vetcrum fepulchrales," 1702; "Nu- 

 mifmata Pontif. Roman, aliorumque rariora," 1703, fob; 

 " Meleagrides et iEtolia," 1696, 4to. ; " Cranx infuJa Laco- 

 nica," 1696, 4to.; " Bellum et Excidium Trojanum iUull." 

 1699, 4to. Moreri. 



Laurentius Begcr, the nephew of this famous antiquarian, 

 was an engraver of fome eminence at Berlin, about the year 

 1700. 



Beger, in Geography, a town of Spain, in the -country 

 of Seville, 14 leagues from Medina Sidonia. 



BEGGA, in Enlomology, a fpecies of /V;i;/:fna, (Bombyx) 

 with white wings, having a black rib. This kind inhabits 

 Surinam. The body is white ; antennx and legs yellow,black 

 at the tips. Fabricius, Gmelin, &c. 



BEGGAR. Beggars pretending to be blind, lame, &c. 

 found begging in the ftreets, are to be removed by the con- 

 ftables ; and refufing to be removed, fhall be whipped, &c. ftat. 

 12. Anne ; and our ftatutes have been formerly fo ftrift for 

 punifliing of beggars, that in the reign of king Henry VIII. 

 a law was cnaftcd, that fturdy beggars convifted of a fecond 

 offence flrould be executed as felons. But this ftatute was 

 afterwards repealed. See Rogue and Vag.ibqnd. 



BEGGING Order. See Mendicant. 



BEGHARDI, Beguardi, or Begghardi, in Ecclc^ 

 ffijTical Hiftory, called alfo in Italy ii^ochi, and in France 

 beguins, derive their name from the old German word bcggen, 

 Lggeren, which fignifies " to feek any thing with zeal and 

 importunity." Accordingly, perfons of this defcription were 

 called Begbardi, whence probably the Englidi word beggar 

 is derived; and Begutta; denoted female beggars. This was 

 a general appellation, and given to no lefs than thirty fefts 

 or orders, that fprung up in the thirteenth century, which' 

 differed widely from each other in their opinions, their dif- 

 cipline, and manner of living. It was at firft indifcrimitiatcly 

 applied to all perfons who embraced, with refignation and 

 free choice, the horrors of abfolute poverty ; tiegging their 

 daily bread from door to door, and renouncing all their 

 worldly poffeffions and occupations. It was afterwards re- 

 ftrifted to thofe who diltinguifhed themfclves by an extraor- 

 dinary appearance of devotion, and was ufcd much in the 

 fame fenfe with the terra Mdhodift among us. Thefe per- 

 fons formed a fort of intermediate order between the monks 

 and citizens, refcmbling the former in their manner of liv- 

 ing, without affuming their name, or contrafting their obli- 

 gations. They were divided into two clafies, which derivtd 

 their different denominations ol pcrfcci and imperfed from the 

 different degrees of aufteritv that they difcovered in tlieir 

 manner of living. The p>:rfrcl lived upon alms, abftaintd 

 from wedlock, and had no fixed habitations. Tiie imprrjtcl 

 conformed to the cuftoms of the reft of tlieir fellow-citizcns 

 in thefe refpetls. The name was at firft honourable, but by 

 degrees it funk into reproach, being adopted by many, who, 

 R 2 under 



