B E H 



B E H 



which the Liifitauians call Azores, and we, after the example 

 of Bochm's companions, call Flemilh iflands, but advanced 

 ilill farther and farther foutli, until he arrived at the remotefl 

 llrait, beyond which Ferdinand Mapjellan, following his 

 tracl, afterwards failed, and called it after his own name." 

 Magellan, it is fald, faw a chart of the coait of America, 

 drawn by Behem, and preferved in the archives of Nurein- 

 bcrj!;, and hence conceived the projeft of following the i'eps 

 of this great navit;ator. Riccioli, in his Geog. Reform. 

 1. iii. p. 90, fays, "Ciuiilophcr Cohimbus never thought of 

 an expedition to the Weil Indies, until fome time before, 

 while in the iflrmd of iVIadcira, where, amufmg himlelf in 

 forming aad delineating geographical charts, ho obtained in- 

 formation from Martin Bochm, or, as the Spaniiirds fay, from 

 Ah;honfus Sanchez de Huelva, a pilot, whp, by mere chance, 

 had fallen in with the ifland afterwards calk-d Dominica." 

 In another. place he fays, " Let Bochm and Columbus have 

 each their praife ; they were both excellent navigators ; but 

 Columbus would never have thought of his expedition to 

 America, had not Bochm gone there before him. His 

 name is not fo much celebrated as that of Columbus, Ame- 

 ricus, or Magellan, although he is fuperior to them all." 

 Martin Behem, in confideration of his great fervices to the 

 crown of Portugal, was knighted by king John in 1485, in 

 the prefence of his whole court. In 1492, the chevalier Be- 

 hem, crowned with honours and riches, undertook a journey 

 to Nuremberg, to vilit his native country and his family ; 

 and there he made a terredrial globe of curious conftruftion, 

 which is flill preferved in the library of that city. On this 

 globe is marked the traiSl of his difcoveries, under the appel- 

 lation of the weilcrn lands; and from their fituation it can- 

 not be doubted, that they are the prefent crafts of Brazil, 

 and the environs of the llraits of Magellan. This globe was 

 made in the fame year when Columbus fet out on his ex- 

 pedition ; and hence it is inferred, that Behem could not 

 have profited by the obfervations of this navigator. After 

 having performed feveral other interelling voyages, the che- 

 valier Behem died at l>ifbon in July 1506, univerfally re- 

 gretted, and leaving behind him no other work befides the 

 globe already mentioned, which was conlhufted from the 

 ■writings of I'toleiny, Pliny, Strabo, and efpecially from the 

 account of Mark Paul the Venetian, a celfbrated traveller 

 of the 13th century, and of John Mandcville, an Englidi- 

 iiian, who, about the middle of the 14th century, publiflied 

 an account of a journey of 33 )-carsin Africa and Alia. He 

 has alfo added the important difcoveries made by himfelf on 

 the coafts of Africa and .'\merica. 



Dr. Robertfon treats the hiftory of Behem as a fiftion of 

 •fome German authors, who were inclined to attribute to one 

 of their countrymen a difcoverv which has produced fo great 

 a revolution in the commerce of Europe. Nevertlieltfs, he 

 acknowledges with Herrera, that Behem had fettled in the 

 id-and of Fayal ; that he v.'as the intimate friend of Colum- 

 bus, and that Magellan had a globe made bv Behem, by the 

 help of which he undertook his voyage to the fouth fea. 

 He alfo relates, -that in 1492 this geogr^her vifitedhis family 

 at Nuremberg, and left there a map drawn by hiinfclf, 

 a copy of which was procurtd for him by Dr. Rcinhold Fof- 

 ter, and which, in his opinion, partakes of the imperfei'tion 

 of the cofmographical knowledge of the 15th century ; as he 

 found in it, under the name of the ifland of iSt.. Brandon, 

 land which appears to be the prefent coaft of Guiana, and 

 •which lies in the fame latitude with the cape Vcrd illes ; and 

 he conceives that this is an imaginary ifland, which has been 

 admitted into fome ancient maps, on no better authority 

 than the legend of the Irifli St. Brandon or Brendan, whofe 

 Ilory is fo childilhly fabulous as to be unworthy of any no- 



tice. He adds, that hardly any one place is laid down in 

 its true fituation. M. Otto thinks that Dr. Robertfon 

 furniflies, in his own hiftory, means of refuting his ob- 

 jcftions againft the truth of Behcm's hiftory. This learned 

 hiftorian allows, that Behem was very intimate with Colum- 

 "bus, that he was. the greateft geographer of his time, and 

 that he had been the difciple of the celebrated John Muller 

 or Regiomontanus ; that he had difcovered, in 1483, the 

 kiiigdom of Congo on th;. coaft of Africa ; that he con- 

 Rrucled a globe, ufed by Magellan ; that he drew a map at 

 Nuremberg, containing the particulars of his difcoveries ; and 

 that he placed in this chart land, which is found to be in the 

 latitude of Guiana. Whilft Dr. Robertfon aflerts, without 

 any proof, that this land was but a fabulous ifland, we may 

 fuppofe, fays M. Otto, upon the fame foundation, that the 

 chevalier Behem, engaged in an expedition to the kingdom 

 of Congo, was driven by the winds to Fernam.bouc, and 

 from thence by the currents, »ery common in thefe latitudes, 

 towards the coaft of Guiana ; and that he took for an ifland 

 the firft land which he difcovered. The courfe which Chrif- 

 tophcr Columbus afterwards fteered, makes this fuppofition 

 ftill more probable ; for if he knew only of the coaii of Bra- 

 zil, which they believe to have been difcovered by Behem, 

 he would have laid his courfe rather to the fouthweft. The 

 expedition took place in 1483 ; it is then poflible that, at his 

 returning, Behem propofed a voyage to the coafts of Brazil 

 and Patagonia, and that he requefted tlie afDftance of his 

 fovereign, which has been already mentioned. " It is cer- 

 tain," fays M. Otto, " that we cannot have too much de- 

 ference for the opinion of fo eminent a writer as Robertfon, 

 but this learned man not having it; in his power to confult 

 the German pieces in the original, which we have quoted, 

 we may be allowed to form a different opinion, without be- 

 ing too prefumptuous." For a farther difcuflion of this 

 fubjeft, fee M. Otto's Memoir on the difcovery of America, 

 in the Tranfadlious of the American Society at Philadelphia, 

 vol. ii. p. 263, &c. Robertfon's Hift. of America, vol. i. 

 p. 371, &c. 



BEHEME, or Ramsey, Sand, in Geography. See 

 Ramsey. 



BEHEMOTH, in Zoology, a huge animal mentioned in 

 Scripture, concerning which interpreters are much divided. 

 The ftrength of this creature, his manner of life, and fome 

 other particulars, we find admiriibly pourtrayed in the forty- 

 firft chapter of the book of Job, and from that defeription 

 fome have thought it could apply only to the elephant, but 

 it certainly more fully agrees with the hippopotamus, or river 

 horfe ; and this is now pretty generally beheved to be the 

 animal in queftion. Bochart, Franzius, and others, who 

 have endeavoured to afcertain all the animals mentioned in 

 the Old Teftament, entertain this opinion. See Hippopo- 

 tamus and Mammoth. 



BEHEN,in Botany. See Centaup.ea and Cucubalus. 



BEJ-IERUS, in Geography, a town of Afia, in the Ara- 

 bian Irak, 20 miles N.N.E. of Bagdat. 



BEHIRE, in Geography, a lake of Lower Egypt, 7 

 leagues in conr.pafs, near Aboukir. This is alfo the name 

 of a diftricl called Bahira, which fee. 



BEHIU, a town of Egypt, near the Nile, 17 miles S. 

 of Abu Girge. 



BEHKER, orBHAKOR, a diftrift of India, in the fouth- 

 ern part of the country of Moultan, confined chiefly to the 

 eaft fide of the Indus. This is alfo the name of a town, 

 which is the capital of the country to which it gives nanie, 

 about 2!5 geogriphical miles diftant from Moultaii to t!ie 

 fouth, and fuppoled in the Ayin Acbaree to be the ancient 

 Manfurah. N. lat. 27° 12'. E long. 70° i'. 



BEHLULIA, 



