FOOTNOTE:

[1] The word is descended from the Aryan name of the animal, cf.

Sanskrit _babhrus_, brown, the great ichneumon, Lat. _fiber_, Ger.

_Biber_, Swed. _bafver_, Russ. _bobr'_; the root _bhru_ has given

"brown," and, through Romanic, "bronze" and "burnish."

BEAVER (from Fr. _baviere_, a child's bib, from _bave_, saliva), the

lower part of the helmet, fixed to the neck-armour to protect the face

and cheeks; properly it moved upwards, as the visor moved down, but the

word is sometimes used to include the visor. The right form of the word,

"baver," has been altered from a confusion with "beaver," a hat made of

beaver-fur or a silk imitation, also, in slang, called a "castor," from

the zoological name of the beaver family.

BEAVER DAM, a city of Dodge county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., situated in the

S.E. part of the state, 63 m. N.W. of Milwaukee, on Beaver Lake, which

is 9 m. long and 3 m. wide. Pop. (1890) 4222; (1900) 5128, of whom 1023

were foreign-born; (1905) 5615; (1910) 6758. Most of the population is

of German descent. Beaver Dam is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St

Paul railway. The city is a summer resort, has a public library, and is

the seat of Wayland Academy (1855, Baptist), a co-educational

preparatory school affiliated with the university of Chicago. Beaver Dam

is situated in the midst of a fine farming country; it has a good

water-power derived from Beaver Lake, and among its manufactures are

woollen and cotton goods, malleable iron, foundry products, gasolene

engines, agricultural implements, stoves and beer. The city was first

settled about 1841, and was incorporated in 1856.

BEAVER FALLS, a borough of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on

Beaver river, about 3-1/2 m. from its confluence with the Ohio, opposite

New Brighton, and about 32 m. N.W. of Pittsburg. Pop. (1890) 9735;

(1900) 10,054, of whom 1554 were foreign-born; (1910), census, 12,191.

The borough is served by the Pennsylvania and the Pittsburg & Lake Erie

railways. It is built for the most part on a plateau about 50 ft. above

the river, hemmed in on either side by hills that rise abruptly,

especially on the W., to a height of more than 200 ft. Bituminous coal,

natural gas and oil abound in the vicinity; the river provides excellent

water-power; the borough is a manufacturing centre of considerable

importance, its products including iron and steel bridges, boilers,

steam drills, carriages, saws, files, axes, shovels, wire netting,

stoves, glass-ware, scales, chemicals, pottery, cork, decorative tile,

bricks and typewriters. In 1905 the city's factory products were valued

at $4,907,536. Geneva College (Reformed Presbyterian, co-educational),

established in 1849 at Northwood, Logan county, Ohio, was removed in

1880 to the borough of College Hill (pop. in 1900, 899), 1 m. N. of

Beaver Falls; it has a preparatory and a collegiate department,

departments of music, oratory and art, and a physical department, and in

1907-1908 had 13 instructors and 235 students. Beaver Falls was first

settled in 1801; was laid out as a town and named Brighton in 1806;

received its present name a few years later; and in 1868 was

incorporated as a borough.

BEAWAR, or NAYANAGAR, a town of British India, the administrative

headquarters of Merwara district in Ajmere-Merwara. It is 33 m. from

Ajmere. Pop. (1901) 21,928. It is an important centre of trade,

especially in raw cotton, and has cotton presses and the Krishna cotton

mills. It was founded by Colonel Dixon in 1835.

BEBEL, FERDINAND AUGUST (1840- ), German socialist, was born at Cologne

on the 22nd of February 1840; he became a turner and worked at Leipzig.

Here he took a prominent part in the workmen's movement and in the

association of working men which had been founded under the influence of

Schultz-Delitzsch; at first an opponent of socialism, he came under the

influence of Liebknecht, and after 1865 he was a confirmed advocate of

socialism. With Liebknecht he belonged to the branch of the socialists

which was in close correspondence with Karl Marx and the International,

and refused to accept the leadership of Schweitzer, who had attempted to

carry on the work after Lassalle's death. He was one of those who

supported a vote of want of confidence in Schweitzer at the Eisenach

conference in 1867, from which his party was generally known as "the

Eisenacher." In this year he was elected a member of the North German

Reichstag for a Saxon constituency, and, with an interval from 1881 to

1883, remained a member of the German parliament. His great organizing

talent and oratorical power quickly made him one of the leaders of the

socialists and their chief spokesman in parliament. In 1870 he and

Liebknecht were the only members who did not vote the extraordinary

subsidy required for the war with France; the followers of Lassalle, on

the other hand, voted for the government proposals. He was the only

Socialist who was elected to the Reichstag in 1871, but he used his

position to protest against the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine and to

express his full sympathy with the Paris Commune. Bismarck afterwards

said that this speech of Bebel's was a "ray of light," showing him that

Socialism was an enemy to be fought against and crushed; and in 1872

Bebel was accused in Brunswick of preparation for high treason, and

condemned to two years' imprisonment in a fortress, and, for insulting

the German emperor, to nine months' ordinary imprisonment. After his

release he helped to organize, at the congress of Gotha, the united

party of Social Democrats, which had been formed during his

imprisonment. After the passing of the Socialist Law he continued to

show great activity in the debates of the Reichstag, and was also

elected a member of the Saxon parliament; when the state of siege was

proclaimed in Leipzig he was expelled from the city, and in 1886

condemned to nine months' imprisonment for taking part in a secret

society. Although the rules of the Social Democratic party do not

recognize a leader or president, Bebel subsequently became by far the

most influential member of the party. In the party meetings of 1890 and

1891 his policy was severely attacked, first by the extremists, the

"young" Socialists from Berlin, who wished to abandon parliamentary

action; against these Bebel won a complete victory. On the other side he

was involved in a quarrel with Volmar and his school, who desired to put

aside from immediate consideration the complete attainment of the

Socialist ideal, and proposed that the party should aim at bringing

about, not a complete overthrow of society, but a gradual amelioration.

This conflict of tendencies continued, and Bebel came to be regarded as

the chief exponent of the traditional views of the orthodox Marxist

party. He was exposed to some natural ridicule on the ground that the

"Kladderadatsch," which he often spoke of as imminent, failed to make

its appearance. On the other hand, though a strong opponent of

militarism, he publicly stated that foreign nations attacking Germany

must not expect the help or the neutrality of the Social Democrats. His

book, _Die Frau und der Socialismus_ (1893), which went through many

editions and contained an attack on the institution of marriage,

identified him with the most extreme forms of Socialism.

See also Mehring, _Geschichte der deutschen Social-Demokratie_

(Stuttgart, 1898); _Reports of the Annual Meetings of the Social

Democratic Party_, Berlin Vorwarts Publishing Company (from 1890); B.

Russell, _German Social-Democracy_ (London, 1897). (J. W. He.)

BECCAFICO (Ital. for "fig-pecker"), a small migratory bird of the

warbler (_Sylviidae_) family, which frequents fig-trees and vineyards,

and, when fattened, is considered a great delicacy.

BECCAFUMI, DOMENICO DI PACE (1486-1551), Italian painter, of the school

of Siena. In the early days of the Tuscan republics Siena had been in

artistic genius, and almost in political importance, the rival of

Florence. But after the great plague in 1348 the city declined; and

though her population always comprised an immense number of skilled

artists and artificers, yet her school did not share in the general

progress of Italy in the 15th century. About the year 1500, indeed,

Siena had no native artists of the first importance; and her public and

private commissions were often given to natives of other cities. But

after the uncovering of the works of Raphael and Michelangelo at Rome in

1508, all the schools of Italy were stirred with the desire of imitating

them. Among these accomplished men who now, without the mind and

inspiration of Raphael or Michelangelo, mastered a great deal of their

manner, and initiated the decadence of Italian art, several of the most

accomplished arose in the school of Siena. Among these was Domenico, the

son of a peasant, one Giacomo di Pace, who worked on the estate of a

well-to-do citizen named Lorenzo Beccafumi. Seeing some signs of a

talent for drawing in his labourer's son, Lorenzo Beccafumi took the boy

into his service and presently adopted him, causing him to learn

painting from masters of the city. Known afterwards as Domenico

Beccafumi, or earlier as Il Mecarino (from the name of a poor artist

with whom he studied), the peasant's son soon gave proof of

extraordinary industry and talent. In 1509 he went to Rome and steeped

himself in the manner of the great men who had just done their first

work in the Vatican. Returning to his native town, Beccafumi quickly

gained employment and a reputation second only to Sodoma. He painted a

vast number both of religious pieces for churches and of mythological

decorations for private patrons. But the work by which he will longest

be remembered is that which he did for the celebrated pavement of the

cathedral of Siena. For a hundred and fifty years the best artists of

the state had been engaged laying down this pavement with vast designs

in _commesso_ work,--white marble, that is, engraved with the outlines

of the subject in black, and having borders inlaid with rich patterns in

many colours. From the year 1517 to 1544 Beccafumi was engaged in

continuing this pavement. He made very ingenious improvements in the

technical processes employed, and laid down multitudinous scenes from

the stories of Ahab and Elijah, of Melchisedec, of Abraham and of Moses.

These are not so interesting as the simpler work of the earlier schools,

but are much more celebrated and more jealously guarded. Such was their

fame that the agents of Charles I. of England, at the time when he was

collecting for Whitehall, went to Siena expressly to try and purchase

the original cartoons. But their owner would not part with them, and

they are now in the Siena Academy and elsewhere. The subjects have been

engraved on wood, by the hand, as it seems, of Beccafumi himself, who at

one time or another essayed almost every branch of fine art. He made a

triumphal arch and an immense mechanical horse for the procession of the

emperor Charles V. on his entry into Siena. In his later days, being a

solitary liver and continually at work, he is said to have accelerated

his death by over-exertion upon the processes of bronze-casting.

BECCARIA, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1716-1781), Italian physicist, was born at

Mondovi on the 3rd of October 1716, and entered the religious order of

the Pious Schools in 1732. He became professor of experimental physics,

first at Palermo and then at Rome, and was appointed to a similar

situation at Turin in 1748. He was afterwards made tutor to the young

princes de Chablais and de Carignan, and continued to reside principally

at Turin during the remainder of his life. In May 1755 he was elected a

fellow of the Royal Society of London, and published several papers on

electrical subjects in the _Phil. Trans_. He died at Turin on the 27th

of May 1781. Beccaria did much, in the way both of experiment and

exposition, to spread a knowledge of the electrical researches of

Franklin and others. His principal work was the treatise _Dell'

Elettricismo Naturale ed Artificiale_ (1753), which was translated into

English in 1776.

BECCARIA-BONESANA, CESARE, MARCHESE DE (1735-1794), Italian publicist,

was born at Milan on the 15th of March 1735. He was educated in the

Jesuit college at Parma, and showed at first a great aptitude for

mathematics. The study of Montesquieu seems to have directed his

attention towards economic questions; and his first publication (1762)

was a tract on the derangement of the currency in the Milanese states,

with a proposal for its remedy. Shortly after, in conjunction with his

friends the Verris, he formed a literary society, and began to publish a

small journal, in imitation of the _Spectator_, called _Il Caffe_. In

1764 he published his brief but justly celebrated treatise _Dei Delitti

e delle Pene_ ("On Crimes and Punishments"). The weighty reasonings of

this work were expounded with all the additional force of a clear and

animated style. It pointed out distinctly and temperately the grounds of

the right of punishment, and from these principles deduced certain

propositions as to the nature and amount of punishment which should be

inflicted for any crime. The book had a surprising success. Within

eighteen months it passed through six editions. It was translated into

French by Morellet in 1766, and published with an anonymous commentary

by Voltaire. An English translation appeared in 1768 and it was

translated into several other languages. Many of the reforms in the

penal codes of the principal European nations are traceable to

Beccaria's treatise. In November 1768 he was appointed to the chair of

law and economy, which had been founded expressly for him at the

Palatine college of Milan. His lectures on political economy, which are

based on strict utilitarian principles, are in marked accordance with

the theories of the English school of economists. They are published in

the collection of Italian writers on political economy (_Scrittori

Classici Italiani di Economia politico_., vols. xi. and xii.). In 1771

Beccaria was made a member of the supreme economic council; and in 1791

he was appointed one of the board for the reform of the judicial code.

In this post his labours were of very great value. He died at Milan on

the 28th of November 1794.

BECCLES, a market town and municipal borough, in the Lowestoft

parliamentary division of Suffolk, England; on the right bank of the

river Waveney, 109 m. N.E. from London by the Great Eastern railway.

Pop. (1901) 6898. It has a pleasant, well-wooded site overlooking the

flat lands bordering the Waveney. The church of St Michael, wholly

Perpendicular, is a fine example of the style, having an ornate south

porch of two storeys and a detached bell tower. There are a grammar

school (1712), and boys' school and free school on the foundation of Sir

John Leman (1631). Rose Hall, in the vicinity, is a moated manor of

brick, of the 16th century. Printing works, malting, brick and tile, and

agricultural implement works are the chief industries. Beccles was

incorporated in 1584. It is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12

councillors. Area, 2017 acres.

BECERRA, GASPAR (1520-1570), Spanish painter and sculptor, was born at

Baeza in Andalusia. He studied at Rome, it is said under Michelangelo,

and assisted Vasari in painting the hall of the Concelleria. He also

contributed to the anatomical plates of Valverde. After his return to

Spain he was extensively employed by Philip II., and decorated many of

the rooms in the palace at Madrid with frescoes. He also painted

altar-pieces for several of the churches, most of which have been

destroyed. His fame as a sculptor almost surpassed that as a painter.

His best work was a magnificent figure of the Virgin, which was

destroyed during the French war. He became court painter at Madrid in

1563, and played a prominent part in the establishment of the fine arts

in Spain.

BECHE-DE-MER (sometimes explained as "sea-spade," from the shape of the

prepared article, but more probably from the Port, _bicho_, a worm or

grub), or TREPANG (Malay, _tripang_), an important food luxury among the

Chinese and other Eastern peoples, connected with the production of

which considerable trade exists in the Eastern Archipelago and the

coasts of New Guinea, and also in California. It consists of several

species of echinoderms, generally referred to the genus _Holothuria_,

especially _H. edulis_. The creatures, which exist on coral reefs, have

bodies from 6 to 15 in. long, shaped like a cucumber, hence their name

of "sea-cucumbers." The skin is sometimes covered with spicules or

prickles, and sometimes quite smooth, and with or without "teats" or

ambulacral feet disposed in rows. Five varieties are recognized in the

commerce of the Pacific Islands, the finest of which is the "brown with

teats." The large black come next in value, followed by the small black,

the red-bellied and the white. They are used in the gelatinous soups

which form an important article of food in China. They are prepared for

use by being boiled for about twenty minutes, and then dried first in

the sun and afterwards over a fire, so that they are slightly smoked.

BECHER, JOHANN JOACHIM (1635-1682), German chemist, physician, scholar and

adventurer, was born at Spires in 1635. His father, a Lutheran minister,

died while he was yet a child, leaving a widow and three children. The

mother married again; the stepfather spent the tiny patrimony of the

children; and at the age of thirteen Becher found himself responsible not

only for his own support but also for that of his mother and brothers. He

learned and practised several small handicrafts, and devoting his nights

to study of the most miscellaneous description earned a pittance by

teaching. In 1654, at the age of nineteen, he published an edition of

Salzthal's _Tractatus de lapide trismegisto_; his _Metallurgia_ followed

in 1660; and the next year appeared his _Character pro notitia linguarum

universali_, in which he gives 10,000 words for use as a universal

language. In 1663 he published his _Oedipum Chemicum_ and a book on

animals, plants and minerals (_Thier- Krauter- und Bergbuch_). At the same

time he was full of schemes, practical and unpractical. He negotiated with

the elector palatine for the establishment of factories at Mannheim;

suggested to the elector of Bavaria the creation of German colonies in

Guiana and the West Indies; and brought down upon himself the wrath of the

Munich merchants by planning a government monopoly of cloth manufacture

and of trade. He fled from Munich, but found a ready welcome elsewhere. In

1666 he was appointed teacher of medicine at Mainz and body-physician to

the archbishop-elector; and the same year he was made councillor of

commerce (_Commerzienrat_) at Vienna, where he had gained the powerful

support of Albrecht, Count Zinzendorf, prime minister and grand

chamberlain of the emperor Leopold I. Sent by the emperor on a mission to

Holland, he there wrote in ten days his _Methodus Didactica_, which was

followed by the _Regeln der Christlichen Bundesgenossenschaft_ and the

_Politischer Discurs vom Auj- und Abbluhen der Stadte_. In 1669 he

published his _Physica subterranea_, and the same year was engaged with

the count of Hanau in a scheme for settling a large territory between the

Orinoco and the Amazon. Meanwhile he had been appointed physician to the

elector of Bavaria; but in 1670 he was again in Vienna advising on the

establishment of a silk factory and propounding schemes for a great

company to trade with the Low Countries and for a canal to unite the Rhine

and Danube. He then returned to Bavaria, and his absence bringing him into

ill odour at Vienna, he complained of the incompetence of the council of

commerce and dedicated a tract on trade (_Commercien-Tractat_) to the

emperor Leopold. His _Psychosophia_ followed, and "An invitation to a

psychological community" (_Einladung zu einer psychologischen Societat_),

for the realization of which Duke Gustavus Adolphus of Mecklenburg-Gustrow

(d. 1695) offered him in 1674 a site in his duchy. The plan came to

nothing, and next year Becher was again busy at Vienna, trying to

transmute Danube sand into gold, and writing his _Theses chemicae

veritatem transmutationis metallorum evincentes_. For some reason he

incurred the disfavour of Zinzendorf and fled to Holland, where with the

aid of the government he continued his experiments. Pursued even there by

the resentment of his former patron, he crossed to England, whence he

visited the mines of Scotland at the request of Prince Rupert. He

afterwards went for the same purpose to Cornwall, where he spent a year.

At the beginning of 1680 he presented a paper to the Royal Society, _De

nova temporis dimetiendi ratione et accurata horologiorum constructione_,

in which he attempted to deprive Huygens of the honour of applying the

pendulum to the measurement of time. The views of Becher on the

composition of substances mark little essential advance on those of the

two preceding centuries, and the three elements or principles of salt,

mercury and sulphur reappear as the vitrifiable, the mercurial and the

combustible earths. When a substance was burnt he supposed that the last

of these, the _terra pinguis_, was liberated, and this conception is the

basis on which G.E. Stahl founded his doctrine of "phlogiston." His ideas

and experiments on the nature of minerals and other substances are

voluminously set forth in his _Physica Subterranea_ (Frankfort, 1669); an

edition of this, published at Leipzig in 1703, contains two supplements

(_Experimentum chymicum novum_ and _Demonstratio Philosophica_), proving

the truth and possibility of transmuting metals, _Experimentum novum ac

curiosum de minera arenaria perpetua_, the paper on timepieces already

mentioned and also _Specimen Becherianum_, a summary of his doctrines by

Stahl, who in the preface acknowledges indebtedness to him in the words

_Becheriana sunt quae profero_. At Falmouth he wrote his _Laboratorium

portabile_ and at Truro the _Alphabetum minerale_. In 1682 he returned to

London, where he wrote the _Chemischer Gluckshafen oder grosse Concordanz

und Collection van 1500 Processen_ and died in October of the same year.

BECHUANA, a South African people, forming a branch of the great

Bantu-Negroid family. They occupy not only Bechuanaland, to which they

have given their name, and Basutoland, but are the most numerous native

race in the Orange River Colony and in the western and northern

districts of the Transvaal. It seems certain that they reached their

present home later than the Zulu-Xosa [Kaffir] peoples who came down the

east coast of the continent, but it is probable that they started on

their southward journey before the latter. It would appear that the

forerunners of the movement were the Bakalahari and Balala, who were

subsequently reduced to the condition of serfs by the later arrivals,

and who by intermingling to a certain extent with the aborigines gave

rise to the "Kalahari Bushmen" (see KALAHARI DESERT). The Bechuana

family may be classed in two great divisions, the western or Bechuana

proper, and the eastern or Basuto. The Bechuana proper consist of a

large number of tribes, whose early history is extremely confused and

involved owing to continual inter-tribal wars and migrations, during

which many tribes were practically annihilated. Further confusion was

produced by subsequent marauding expeditions by the coast "Kaffirs." An

ingenious attempt to disentangle the highly complicated tribal movements

which took place in the early 19th century may be found in Stow's

_Native Races of South Africa_. One migration of particular interest

calls for mention. In the early part of the 19th century a number of

Basuto, led by the chief Sebituane, crossed the Zambezi near the

Victoria Falls, and, under the name Makololo, established a supremacy

over the Barotse and neighbouring tribes on the upper portion of the

river, imposing their language on the conquered peoples. After the death

of Sekeletu, Sebituane's successor, the vassal tribes arose and

exterminated their conquerors. Only a few escaped, whom Sekeletu had

sent with David Livingstone to the coast. These established themselves

to the south of Lake Nyasa, where they are still to be found. Sesuto

speech, however, still prevails in Barotseland. The chief Bechuana

tribes were the Batlapin and Barolong (the last including the Baratlou,

Bataung, Barapulana and Baseleka), together with the great Bakuena or

Bakone people (including the Bahurutsi, Batlaru, Bamangwato, Batauana,

Bangwaketse and Bakuena). The clans representing the southern Bakuena

were in comparatively recent times welded together to form the Basuto

nation, of which the founder was the chief Moshesh (see BASUTOLAND). The

Basuto have been not only influenced in certain cultural details (e.g.

the form of their huts) by the neighbouring Zulu-Xosa [Kaffir] peoples,

but have moreover received an infusion of their blood which has improved

their physique. They are good riders and make considerable use of their

horses in war and the chase.

The Bechuana, though not so tall as Kaffirs, average 5 ft. 6 in. in

stature; they are of slender build and their musculature is but

moderately developed except where a Kaffir strain is found. Their skin

is of a reddish-brown or bronze colour, and their features are fairly

regular, though in all cases coarser than those of Europeans. One of

their chief peculiarities lies in the fact that each tribe respects

(usually) a particular animal, which the members of the tribe may not

eat, and the killing of which, if necessary, must be accompanied by

profuse apologies and followed by subsequent purification. Many of the

tribes take their name from their _siboko_, as the animal in question is

called; e.g. the Batlapin, "they of the fish"; Bakuena, "they of the

crocodile." The _siboko_ of the Barolong, who as a tribe are

accomplished smiths, is not an animal but the metal iron; other tribes

have adopted as their particular emblem respectively the sun, rain, dew,

&c. Certain ceremonies are performed in honour of the tribal emblem,

hence an inquiry as to the tribe of an individual is put in the form

"What do you dance?" In certain tribes the old and feeble and the sickly

children were killed, and albinos and the deaf and dumb exposed; those

born blind were strangled, and if a mother died in childbirth the infant

was buried alive in the same grave. With the extension of British

authority these practices were prohibited. Circumcision is universally

practised, though there is no fixed age for it. It is performed at

puberty, when the boys are secluded for a period in the bush. The

operation is accompanied by whipping and even tortures. Girls at puberty

must undergo trials of endurance, e.g. the holding of a bar of heated

iron without crying out. The Bechuana inhabit, for the most part, towns

of considerable size, containing from 5000 to 40,000. Politically they

live under a tribal despotism limited by a council of elders, the chief

seldom exercising his individual authority independently, though the

extent of his power naturally depends on his personality. They have

their public assemblies, but only when circumstances, chiefly in

reference to war, require. These are generally characterized by great

freedom of speech, and there is no interruption of the speaker. The

chief generally closes the meeting with a long speech, referring to the

subjects which each speaker has either supported or condemned, not

forgetting to clear his own character of any imputation. These public

assemblies are now, except in Basutoland, of very rare occurrence. The

clothing of the men consists of a leather bandage; the women wear a skin

apron, reaching to the knee, under which is a fringed girdle. Skin

cloaks (_kaross_) are worn by both sexes, with the difference that the

male garment is distinguished by a collar. The hair is kept short for

the most part; women shave the head, leaving a tuft on the crown which

is plastered with fat and earth, and adorned with beads. Beads are worn,

and various bracelets of iron, copper and brass.

The Bechuana are mainly an agricultural people, the Bangwaketse and

Bakuena excelling as cultivators. Cattle they possess, but these are

used chiefly for the purpose of purchasing wives, especially among the

Basuto. At the same time they are excellent craftsmen, and show no

little skill in smelting and working iron and copper and the preparation

of hides and pottery vessels. The most efficient smiths are the Barolong

and Bamangwato (the latter were spared by the Matabele chief Umsilikazi

on this account); the Bangwaketse excel as potters; the Barolong as wood

carvers, and the Bakuena as hut builders. The huts, with the exception

of those of the Basuto who have adopted the Kaffir model, are

cylindrical, with clay-plastered walls and a conical roof of thatch. In

spite of the constant tribal feuds dating from the beginning of the 19th

century, the Bechuana cannot be classed as a warlike people, especially

when they are compared with the Zulu. Their weapons consist of the

throwing assegai, usually barbed, axes, daggers in carved sheaths, and,

occasionally, bows and arrows, the last sometimes poisoned. Hide shields

of a peculiar shape, resembling a depressed hour-glass, are found except

among the Basuto, who use a somewhat different pattern. Hunting usually

takes the form of great drives organized in concert, and the game is

driven by means of converging fences to a large pitfall or series of

pits. Their religious beliefs are very vague; they appear to recognize a

somewhat indeterminate spirit of, mainly, evil tendencies, called

_Morimo_. The plural form of this word, _Barimo_, is used of the _manes_

of dead ancestors, to whom a varying amount of reverence is paid. There

is universal belief in charms and witchcraft, and divination by means of

dice is common. Witchdoctors, who are supposed to counteract evil magic,

play a not insignificant part, and the magician who claims the power of

making rain occupies a very important position, as might be expected

among an agricultural people inhabiting a country where droughts are not

infrequent. They have a great dread of anything connected with death;

when an old man is on the point of expiring, a net is thrown over him,

and he is dragged from his hut by a hole in the wall, if possible before

life is extinct. The dead are buried in a sitting position with their

faces to the north, in which direction lies their ancestral home. Under

the influence of missionaries, however, large numbers of the Bechuana

have become Christianized, and many of the customs mentioned are no

longer practised.

Polygamy is the rule, but, except in the case of chiefs, is not found to

the same extent as among the Zulu-Xosa [Kaffirs]. The woman is purchased

from her father, chiefly by means of cattle, though among the western

Bechuana other articles are included, many of which become the property

of the girl herself. The wives live in separate huts, and the first is

given priority over those purchased subsequently. Chastity after

marriage is the rule, and adultery and rape are severely punished, as

offences against property. Cannibalism is found, but is rare and

confined to certain tribes.

The Bechuana language, which belongs to the Bantu linguistic family, is

copious, with but few slight dialectic differences, and is free from the

Hottentot elements found in the Kaffir and Zulu tongues. The richness of

the language may be judged from the fact that, though only oral until

reduced to writing by the missionaries, it has sufficed for the

translation of the whole Bible.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--G.W. Stow, _The Native Races of South Africa_ (London,

1905); Gustav Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Sud-Afrikas_ (Breslau, 1872);

Robert Moffat, _Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa_

(1842); David Livingstone, _Missionary Travels and Researches in South

Africa_ (London, 1857); J.C. MacGregor, _Basuto Traditions_ (Cape

Town, 1905). (T. A. J.)

BECHUANALAND (a name given from its inhabitants, the Bechuana, q.v.), a

country of British South Africa occupying the central part of the vast

tableland which stretches north to the Zambezi. It is bounded S. by the

Orange river, N.E. and E. by Matabeleland, the Transvaal and Orange

River Colony, and W. and N. by German South-West Africa. Bechuanaland

geographically and ethnically enjoys almost complete unity, but

politically it is divided as follows:--

I. British Bechuanaland, since 1895 an integral part of Cape Colony.

Area, 51,424 sq. m. Pop. (1904) 84,210, of whom 9276 were whites.

II. The Bechuanaland Protectorate, the northern part of the country,

governed on the lines of a British crown colony. Area (estimated),

225,000 sq. m. Pop. (1904) 120,776, of whom Europeans numbered 1004. The

natives, in addition to the Bechuana tribes, include some thousands of

Bushmen (Masarwa). Administratively attached to the protectorate is the

Tati concession, which covers 2500 sq. m. and forms geographically the

south-west corner of Matabeleland.

The Griqualand West province of Cape Colony belongs also geographically

to Bechuanaland, and except in the Kimberley diamond mines region is

still largely inhabited by Bechuana. (See GRIQUALAND.)

_Physical Features._--The average height of the tableland of which

Bechuanaland consists is nearly 4000 ft. The surface is hilly and

undulating with a general slope to the west, where the level falls in

considerable areas to little over 2000 ft. A large part of the country

is covered with grass or shrub, chiefly acacia. There is very little

forest land. The western region, the Kalahari Desert (q.v.), is mainly

arid, with a sandy soil, and is covered in part by dense bush. In the

northern region are large marshy depressions, in which the water is

often salt. The best known of these depressions, Ngami (q.v.), lies to

the north-west and is the central point of an inland water system

apparently in process of drying up. To the north-east and connected with

Ngami by the Botletle river, is the great Makari-Kari salt pan, which

also drains a vast extent of territory, receiving in the rainy season a

large volume of water. The marsh then becomes a great lake, the water

surface stretching beyond the horizon, while in the dry season a mirage

is often seen. The permanent marsh land covers a region 60 m. from south

to north and from 30 to 60 m. east to west. In the south the rivers,

such as the Molopo and the Kuruman, drain towards the Orange. Other

streams are tributaries of the Limpopo, which for some distance is the

frontier between Bechuanaland and the Transvaal.

The rivers of Bechuanaland are, with few exceptions, intermittent or

lose themselves in the desert. It is evident, however, from the extent

of the beds of these streams and of others now permanently dry, and from

remains of ancient forests, that at a former period the country must

have been abundantly watered. From the many cattle-folds and walls of

defence scattered over the country, and ruins of ancient settlements, it

is also evident that at that period stone-dykes were very common. The

increasing dryness of the land is partly, perhaps largely, attributable

to the cutting down of timber trees both by natives and by whites, and

to the custom of annually burning the grass, which is destructive to

young wood.

_Climate._--The climate is healthy and bracing, except in the lower

valleys along the river banks and in the marsh land, where malarial

fever is prevalent. Though in great part within the tropics, the heat is

counteracted by the dryness of the air. Throughout the year the nights

are cool and refreshing; in winter the cold at night is intense. In the

western regions the rainfall does not exceed 10 in. in the year; in the

east the average rainfall is 26 in. and in places as much as 30 in. The

rainy season is the summer months, November to April, but the rains are

irregular, and, from the causes already indicated, the rainfall is

steadily declining. From December to February violent thunder and hail

storms are experienced. In the whiter or dry season there are occasional

heavy dust storms.

_Geology._--The greater part of Bechuanaland is covered with superficial

deposits consisting of the sands of the desert regions of the Kalahari

and the alluvium and saliferous marls of the Okavango basin. The oldest

rocks, granites, gneisses and schistose sandstones, the Ngami series,

rise to the surface in the east and south-east and doubtless immediately

underlie much of the sand areas. A sandstone found in the neighbourhood

of Palapye is considered to be the equivalent of the Waterberg formation

of the Transvaal. The Karroo formation and associate dolerites

(_Loalemandelstein_) occur in the same region. A deposit of sinter and a

calcareous sandstone, known as the Kalahari Kalk, considered by Dr

Passarge to be of Miocene age, overlies a sandstone and curious breccia

(_Botletle Schnichten_). These deposits are held by Passarge to indicate

Tertiary desert conditions, to which the basin of the Zambezi is slowly

reverting.

_Fauna._--Until towards the close of the 19th century Bechuanaland

abounded in big game, and the Kalahari is still the home of the lion,

leopard, hyena, jackal, elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, buffalo,

antelope of many species, ostrich and even the giraffe. Venomous

reptiles, e.g. puff-adders and cobras, are met with, enormous frogs are

common, and walking and flying locusts, mosquitoes, white ants, flying

beetles, scorpions, spiders and tarantulas are very numerous. The

crocodile is found in some of the rivers. Many of the rivers are well

stocked with fish. In those containing water in the rainy season only,

the fish preserve life when the bed is dry by burrowing deeply in the

ooze before it hardens. The principal fish are the baba or cat-fish

(_clarias_ sp.) and the yellow-fish, both of which attain considerable

size. Bustards (the great kori and the koorhaan) are common.

_Flora._--In the eastern district are stretches of grass land, both

sweet and sour veld. In the "bush" are found tufts of tall coarse grass

with the space between bare or covered with herbaceous creepers or

water-bearing tubers. A common creeper is one bearing a small scarlet

cucumber, and a species of watermelon called _tsoma_ is also abundant.

Of the melon and cucumber there are both bitter and sweet varieties.

Besides the grass and the creepers the bush is made up of berry-yielding

bushes (some of the bushes being rich in aromatic resinous matter), the

wait-a-bit thorn and white thorned mimosa. The indigo and cotton plants

grow wild. Among the rare big trees--found chiefly in the

north-east--are baobab and palmyra and certain fruit trees, one bearing

a pink plum. There are remains of ancient forests consisting of wild

olive trees and the camel thorn, near which grows the _ngotuane_, a

plant with a profusion of fine, strongly scented yellow flowers.

_Chief Towns._--The chief town in southern Bechuanaland, i.e. the part

incorporated in Cape Colony, is Mafeking (q.v.), near the headwaters of

the Molopo river. It is the headquarters of the Barolong tribe, and

although within the Cape border is the seat of the administration of the

protectorate. Vryburg (pop., 1904, 2985), founded by Boer filibusters in

1882, and Taungs, are towns on the railway between Kimberley and

Mafeking. Taungs has some 22,000 inhabitants, being the chief kraal of

the Batlapin tribe. About 7 m. south of Vryburg, at Tiger Kloof, is an

Industrial Training Institute for natives founded in 1904 by the London

Missionary Society. Upington (2508) on the north bank of the Orange, an

agricultural centre, is the chief town in Gordonia, the western division

of southern Bechuanaland. Kuruman (q.v.) is a native town near the

source of the Kuruman river, 85 m. south-west of Vryburg. It has been

the scene of missionary labours since the early years of the 19th

century. North of Mafeking on the railway to Bulawayo are the small

towns of Gaberones and Francistown. The last named is the chief township

in the Tati concession, the centre of a gold-mining region, and the most

important white settlement in the protectorate. Besides these places

there are five or six large native towns, each the headquarters of a

distinct tribe. The most important is Serowe, with over 20,000

inhabitants, the capital of the Bamangwato, founded by the chief Khama

in 1903. It is about 250 m. north-north-east of Mafeking, and took the

place of the abandoned capital Palapye, which in its turn had succeeded

Shoshong. The chief centre in the western Kalahari is Lehututu.

_Agriculture and Trade._--The soil is very fertile, and if properly

irrigated would yield abundant harvests. Unirrigated land laid under

wheat by the natives is said to yield twelve bushels an acre. Cereals

are grown in many of the river valleys. Maize and millet are the chief

crops. The wealth of the Bechuana consists principally in their cattle,

which they tend with great care, showing a shrewd discrimination in the

choice of pasture suited to oxen, sheep and goats. Water can usually be

obtained all the year round by sinking wells from 20 to 30 ft. deep. The

"sweet veld" is specially suitable to cattle, and the finer shorter

grass which succeeds it affords pasturage for sheep.

Gold mines are worked in the Tati district, the first discoveries having

been made there in 1864. There are gold-bearing quartz reefs at Madibi,

near Mafeking, where mining began in 1906. Diamonds have been found near

Vryburg. The existence of coal near Palapye about 60 ft. below the

surface has been proved. The coal, however, is not mined, and much of

the destruction of timber in southern Bechuanaland was caused by the

demand for fuel for Kimberley. Copper ore has been found near

Francistown.

Formerly there was a trade in ostrich feathers and ivory; but this has

ceased, and the chief trade has since consisted in supplying the natives

with European goods in exchange for cattle, hides, the skins and horns

of game, firewood and fencing poles, and in forwarding goods north and

south. The protectorate is a member of the South African Customs Union.

The value of the goods imported into the protectorate in 1906 was

L118,322; the value of the exports was L77,736. The sale of spirits to

natives is forbidden.

_Communications._--As the great highway from Cape Colony to the north,

Bechuanaland has been described as the "Suez canal of South Africa." The

trunk railway from Cape Town to the Victoria Falls traverses the eastern

edge of Bechuanaland throughout its length. The railway enters the

country at Fourteen Streams, 695 m. from Cape Town, and at Ramaquabane,

584 m. farther north, crosses into Rhodesia. The old trade route to

Bulawayo, which skirts the eastern edge of the Kalahari, is now rarely

used. Wagon tracks lead to Ngami, 320 m. N.W. from Palapye Road Station,

and to all the settlements. From the scarcity of water on the main

routes through the Kalahari these roads are known as "the thirsts";

along some of them wells have been sunk by the administration.

_Government._--The protectorate is administered by a resident

commissioner, responsible to the high commissioner for South Africa.

Legislation is enacted by proclamations in the name of the high

commissioner. Order is maintained by a small force of semi-military

police recruited in Basutoland and officered by Europeans. Revenue is

obtained mostly from customs and a hut tax, while the chief items of

expenditure have been the police force and a subsidy of L20,000 per

annum towards the cost of the railway, a liability which terminated in

the year 1908. The average annual revenue for the five years ending the

31st of March 1906 was L30,074; the average annual expenditure during

the same period was L80,114. There is no public debt, the annual

deficiency being made good by a grant-in-aid from the imperial

exchequer. The tribal organization of the Bechuana is maintained, and

native laws and customs, with certain modifications, are upheld.

Missionary work.

_History._--Bechuanaland was visited by Europeans towards the close of

the 18th century. The generally peaceful disposition of the tribes

rendered the opening up of the country comparatively easy. The first

regular expedition to penetrate far inland was in 1801-1802, when John

(afterwards Sir John) Truter, of the Cape judicial bench, and William

Somerville--an army physician and afterwards husband of Mary

Somerville--were sent to the Bechuana tribes to buy cattle. The London

Missionary Society established stations in what is now Griqualand West

in 1803, and in 1818 the station of Kuruman, in Bechuanaland proper, was

founded. In the meantime M.H.K. Lichtenstein (1804) and W.J. Burchell

(1811-1812), both distinguished naturalists, and other explorers, had

made familiar the general characteristics of the southern part of the

country. The Rev. John Campbell, one of the founders of the Bible

Society, also travelled in southern Bechuanaland and the adjoining

districts in 1812-1814 and 1819-1821, adding considerably to the

knowledge of the river systems. About 1817 Mosilikatze, the founder of

the Matabele nation, fleeing from the wrath of Chaka, the Zulu king,

began his career of conquest, during which he ravaged a great part of

Bechuanaland and enrolled large numbers of Bechuana in his armies.

Eventually the Matabele settled to the north-east in the country which

afterwards bore their name. In 1821 Robert Moffat arrived at Kuruman as

agent of the London Missionary Society, and made it his headquarters for

fifty years. Largely as the result of the work of Moffat (who reduced

the Bechuana tongue to writing), and of other missionaries, the Bechuana

advanced notably in civilization. The arrival of David Livingstone in

1841 marked the beginning of the systematic exploration of the northern

regions. His travels, and those of C.J. Andersson (1853-1858) and

others, covered almost every part of the country hitherto unknown. In

1864 Karl Mauch discovered gold in the Tati district.

Boer encroachment.

At the time of the first contact of the Bechuana with white men the Cape

government was the only civilized authority in South Africa; and from

this cause, and the circumstance that the missionaries who lived among

and exercised great influence over them were of British nationality, the

connexion between Bechuanaland and the Cape became close. As early as

1836 an act was passed extending the jurisdiction of the Cape courts in

certain cases as far north as 25 deg. S.--a limit which included the

southern part of Bechuanaland. Although under strong British influence

the country was nevertheless ruled by its own chiefs, among whom the

best-known in the middle of the 19th century were Montsioa, chief of the

Barolong, and Sechele, chief of the Bakwena and the friend of

Livingstone. At this period the Transvaal Boers were in a very unsettled

state, and those living in the western districts showed a marked

inclination to encroach upon the lands of the Bechuana. In 1852 Great

Britain by the Sand river convention acknowledged the independence of

the Transvaal. Save the Vaal river no frontier was indicated, and

"boasting," writes Livingstone in his _Missionary Travels_, "that the

English had given up all the blacks into their power ... they (the

Boers) assaulted the Bakwains" (Bakwena).

With this event the political history of Bechuanaland may be said to

have begun. Not only was Sechele attacked at his capital Kolobeng, and

the European stores and Livingstone's house there looted, but the Boers

stopped a trader named M'Cabe from going northward. Again to quote

Livingstone, "The Boers resolved to shut up the interior and I

determined to open the country." In 1858 the Boers told the missionaries

that they must not go north without their (the Boers') consent. Moffat

complained to Sir George Grey, the governor of Cape Colony, through

whose intervention the molestation by Transvaal Boers of British

subjects in their passage through Bechuanaland was stopped. At a later

date (1865) the Boers tried to raise taxes from the Barolong, but

without success, a commando sent against them in 1868 being driven off

by Montsioa's brother Molema. This led to a protest (in 1870) from

Montsioa, which he lodged with a landdrost at Potchefstroom in the

Transvaal, threatening to submit the matter to the British high

commissioner if any further attempt at taxation were made on the part of

the Boers. The Boers then resorted to cajolery, and at a meeting held in

August 1870, at which President Pretorius and Paul Kruger represented

the Transvaal, invited the Barolong to join their territories with that

of the republic, in order to save them from becoming British. Montsioa's

reply was short: "No one ever spanned-in an ass with an ox in one yoke."

In the following year the claims of the Boers, the Barolong, and other

tribes were submitted to the arbitration of R.W. Keate,

lieutenant-governor of Natal, and his award placed Montsioa's territory

outside the limits of the Transvaal. This attempt of the Boers to gain

possession of Bechuanaland having failed, T.F. Burgers, the president of

the Transvaal in 1872, endeavoured to replace Montsioa as chief of the

Barolong by Moshette, whom he declared to be the rightful ruler and

paramount chief of that people. The attacks of the Boers at length

became so unbearable that Montsioa in 1874 made a request to the British

authorities to be taken under their protection. In formulating this

appeal he declared that when the Boers were at war with Mosilikatze,

chief of the Matabele, he had aided them on the solemn understanding

that they were to respect his boundaries. This promise they had broken.

Khama, chief of the Bamangwato in northern Bechuanaland, wrote in August

1876 to Sir Henry Barkly making an appeal similar to that sent by the

Barolong. The letter contained the following significant passages:

"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your queen may preserve for

me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it,

and I do not like them." "Their actions are cruel among us black

people. We are like money, they sell us and our children." "I ask Her

Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people. There are three

things which distress me very much--war, selling people, and drink.

All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it is these things

which destroy people to make an end of them in the country. The custom

of the Boers has always been to cause people to be sold, and to-day

they are still selling people."

Stellaland and Goshen.

The statements of Khama in this letter do not appear to have been

exaggerated. The testimony of Livingstone confirms them, and even a

Dutch clergyman, writing in 1869, described the system of apprenticeship

of natives which obtained among the Boers "as slavery in the fullest

sense of the word." These representations on the part of the Barolong,

and the Bamangwato under Khama, supported by the representations of Cape

politicians, led in 1878 to the military occupation of southern

Bechuanaland by a British force under Colonel (afterwards General Sir

Charles) Warren. A small police force continued to occupy the district

until April 1881, but, ignoring the wishes of the Bechuana and the

recommendations of Sir Bartle Frere (then high commissioner), the home

government refused to take the country under British protection. On the

withdrawal of the police, southern Bechuanaland fell into a state of

anarchy, nor did the fixing (on paper) of the frontier between it and

the Transvaal by the Pretoria convention of August 1881 have any

beneficial effect. There was fighting between Montsioa and Moshette,

while Massow, a Batlapin chief, invited the aid of the Boers against

Mankoroane, who claimed to be paramount chief of the Batlapin. The

Transvaal War of that date offered opportunities to the freebooting

Boers of the west which were not to be lost. At this time the British,

wearied of South African troubles, were disinclined to respond to native

appeals for help. Consequently the Boers proceeded without let or

hindrance with their conquest and annexation of territory. In 1882 they

set up the republic of Stellaland, with Vryburg as its capital, and

forthwith proceeded to set up the republic of Goshen, farther north, in

spite of the protests of Montsioa, and established a small town called

Rooi Grond as capital. They then summoned Montsioa to quit the

territory. The efforts of the British authorities at this period

(1882-1883) to bring about a satisfactory settlement were feeble and

futile, and fighting continued until peace was made entirely on Boer

lines. The Transvaal government was to have supreme power, and to be the

final arbiter in case of future quarrels arising among the native

chiefs. This agreement, arrived at without any reference to the British

government, was a breach of the Pretoria convention, and led to an

intimation on the part of Great Britain that she could not recognize the

new republics. In South Africa, as well as in England, strong feeling

was aroused by this act of aggression. Unless steps were taken at once,

the whole of Bechuanaland might be permanently lost, while German

territory on the west might readily be extended to join with that of the

Boers. In the London convention of February 1884, conceded by Lord Derby

in response to the overtures of Boer delegates, the Transvaal boundaries

were again defined, part of eastern Bechuanaland being included in Boer

territory. In spite of the convention the Boers remained in Stellaland

and Goshen--which were west of the new Transvaal frontier, and in April

1884 the Rev. John Mackenzie, who had succeeded Livingstone, was sent to

the country to arrange matters. He found very little difficulty in

negotiating with the various Bechuana chiefs, but with the Boers he was

not so successful. In Goshen the Boers defied his authority, while in

Stellaland only a half-hearted acceptance of it was given. At the

instance of the new Cape government, formed in May and under control of

the Afrikander Bond, Mackenzie, who was accused of being too

"pro-Bechuana" and who had been refused the help of any armed force, was

recalled on the 30th of July by the high commissioner, Sir Hercules

Robinson. In his place Cecil Rhodes, then leader of the Opposition in

the Cape parliament, was sent to Bechuanaland.

Rhodes's Mission.

Warren expedition.

Rhodes's mission was attended with great difficulty. British prestige

after the disastrous Boer War of 1881 was at a very low ebb, and he

realized that he could not count on any active help from the imperial or

colonial authorities. He adopted a tone of conciliation, and decided

that the Stellaland republic should remain under a sort of British

suzerainty. But in Goshen the Boers would let him do nothing. Commandant

P.J. Joubert, after meeting him at Rooi Grond, entered the country and

attacked Montsioa. Rhodes then left under protest, declaring that the

Boers were making war against Great Britain. The Boers now (10th of

September) proclaimed the country under Transvaal protection. This was a

breach of the London convention, and President Kruger explained that the

steps had been taken in the "interests of humanity." Indignant protest

in Cape Town and throughout South Africa, as well as England, led to the

despatch in October 1884 of the Warren expedition, which was sent out by

the British government to remove the filibusters, to bring about peace

in the country, and to hold it until further measures were decided upon.

Before Sir Charles Warren reached Africa, Sir Thomas Upington, the Cape

premier, and Sir Gordon Sprigg, the treasurer-general, went to

Bechuanaland and arranged a "settlement" which would have left the Boer

filibusters in possession, but the imperial government refused to take

notice of this "settlement." Public opinion throughout Great Britain was

too strong to be ignored. The limit of concessions to the Boers had been

reached, and Sir Charles Warren's force--4000 strong--had reached the

Vaal river in January 1885. On the 22nd of January Kruger met Warren at

the Modder river, and endeavoured to stop him from proceeding farther,

saying that he would be responsible for keeping order in the country.

Warren, however, continued his march, and without firing a shot broke up

the republics of Stellaland and Goshen. Bechuanaland was formally taken

under British protection (30th of September 1885), and the sphere of

British influence was declared to extend N. to 22 deg. S. and W. to 20

deg. E. (which last-mentioned line marks the eastern limit of German

South-West Africa).

British protectorate.

The natives cheerfully accepted this new departure in British policy,

and from this time forward Khama's country was known as the British

protectorate of Bechuanaland. That portion lying to the south of the

Molopo river was described as British Bechuanaland, and was constituted

a crown colony. In 1891 the northern frontier of the protectorate was

extended to its present boundaries, and the whole of it placed under the

administration of a resident commissioner, a protest being made at the

time by the British South Africa Company on the ground that the

protectorate was included in the sphere of their charter. Under the able

administration (1885-1895) of Sir Sidney Shippard (q.v.) peace was

maintained among the natives, who have shown great loyalty to British

rule.

The history of the country shows how much has been due to the efforts of

men like Livingstone, Mackenzie and Rhodes. It is quite clear that had

they not represented the true state of affairs to the authorities the

whole of this territory would have gradually been absorbed by the Boers,

until they had effected a union with the Germans on the west. The great

road to the north would thus have been effectually shut against trade

and British colonization. With regard to the precise effect of

missionary influence upon the natives, opinion will always remain

divided. But Livingstone, who was not only a missionary but also an

enlightened traveller, stated that a considerable amount of benefit had

been conferred upon the native races by missionary teaching. Livingstone

was a great advocate of the prohibition of alcohol among the natives,

and that policy was always adhered to by Khama.

In 1891 the South African Customs Union was extended to British

Bechuanaland, and in 1895 the country was annexed to Cape Colony. At the

same time it was provisionally arranged that the Bechuanaland

protectorate should pass under the administration of the British South

Africa Company (see RHODESIA). Khama and two other Bechuana chiefs came

to England and protested against this arrangement. The result was that

their territories and those of other petty chiefs lying to the north of

the Molopo were made native reserves, into which the importation of

alcohol was forbidden. A British resident officer was to be appointed to

each of the reserves. A stipulation, however, was made with these chiefs

that a strip of country sufficient for the purposes of a railway to

Matabeleland should be conceded to the Chartered Company. In December

1895 the occurrence of the Jameson Raid, which started from these

territories, prevented the completion of negotiations, and the

administration of the protectorate remained in the hands of the imperial

government. The administration, besides fostering the scanty material

resources of the country, aids the missionaries in their endeavours to

raise the Bechuanas in the scale of civilization. The results are full

of encouragement. The natives proved staunch to the British connexion

during the war of 1899-1902, and Khama and other chiefs gave help by

providing transport. Anxiety was caused on the western frontier during

the German campaigns against the Hottentots and Herero (1903-1908), many

natives seeking refuge in the protectorate. A dispute concerning the

chieftainship of the Batawana in the Ngami district threatened trouble

in 1906, but was brought to a peaceful issue. The Bechuana were entirely

unaffected by the Kaffir rebellion in Natal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Of early works the most valuable are David Livingstone,

_Missionary Travels in South Africa_ (London, 1857); Robert Moffat,

_Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa_ (London, 1842); J.

Campbell, _Travels in South Africa_ (London, 1815), _Travels ... a

Second Journey_ ... (2 vols., London, 1822); and A.A. Anderson,

_Twenty-five Years in a Waggon in the Gold Regions of Africa_, vol. i.

(London, 1887). See also J.D. Hepburn, _Twenty Years in Khama's

Country_ (London, 1895); S. Passarge's _Die Kalahari_ (Berlin, 1904)

deals chiefly with geological and allied questions; John Mackenzie's

_Austral Africa, Losing it or Ruling it_ (London, 1887); _John

Mackenzie_, a biography by W.D. Mackenzie (London, 1902); and the

article "Bechuanaland" by Sir S. Shippard in _British Africa_ (London,

1899), give the story of the beginnings of British rule in the

protectorate. Of larger works dealing incidentally with Bechuanaland

consult G.M. Theal's _History of South Africa_; E.A. Pratt's _Leading

Points in South African History_ (London, 1900); and _Cecil Rhodes,

His Political Life and Speeches_, by Vindex (London, 1900). See also

the _Statistical Register, Cape of Good Hope_, issued yearly at Cape

Town, and the _Annual Report, Bechuanaland Protectorate_, issued by

the Colonial Office, London. (F. R. C.; A. P. H.)

BECK, CHRISTIAN DANIEL (1757-1832), German philologist, historian,

theologian and antiquarian, one of the most learned men of his time, was

born at Leipzig on the 22nd of January 1757. He studied at Leipzig

University, where he was appointed (1785) professor of Greek and Latin

literature. This post he resigned in 1819 in order to take up the

professorship of history, but resumed it in 1825. He also had the

management of the university library, was director of the institute for

the deaf and dumb, and filled many educational and municipal offices. In

1784 he founded a philological society, which grew into a philological

seminary, superintended by him until his death. In 1808 he was made a

_Hofrath_ by the king of Saxony, and in 1820 a knight of the civil order

of merit. His philological lectures, in which grammar and criticism were

subordinated to history, were largely attended by hearers from all parts

of Germany. He died at Leipzig on the 13th of December 1832. He edited a

number of classical authors: _Pedo Albinovanus_ (1783), Pindar and the

Scholia (1792-1795), Aristophanes (with others, 1794, &c.), Euripides

(1778-1788), Apollonius Rhodius (1797), Demosthenes _De Pace_ (1799),

Plato (1813-1819), Cicero (1795-1807), Titus Calpurnius Siculus (1803).

He translated Ferguson's _Fall of the Roman Republic_ and Goldsmith's

_History of Greece_, and added two volumes to Bauer's Thucydides. He

also wrote on theological and historical subjects, and edited

philological and bibliographical journals. He possessed a large and

valuable library of 24,000 volumes.

See Nobbe, _Vita C.D. Beckii_ (1837); and G. Hermann, _Opuscula_, v.

312.

BECK (or BEEK), DAVID (1621-1656), Dutch portrait-painter, was born at

Arnheim in Guelderland. He was trained by Van Dyck, from whom he

acquired the fine manner of pencilling and sweet style of colouring

peculiar to that great master. He possessed likewise that freedom of

hand and readiness, or rather rapidity of execution, for which Van Dyck

was so remarkable, insomuch that when King Charles I. observed the

expeditious manner of Beck's painting, he exclaimed, "Faith! Beck, I

believe you could paint riding post." He was appointed portrait-painter

and chamberlain to Queen Christina of Sweden, and he executed portraits

of most of the sovereigns of Europe to adorn her gallery. His death at

the Hague was suspected of being due to poisoning.

BECK, JAKOB SIGISMUND (1761-1840), German philosopher, was born at

Danzig in 1761. Educated at Konigsberg, he became professor of

philosophy first at Halle (1791-1799) and then at Rostock. He devoted

himself to criticism and explanation of the doctrine of Kant, and in

1793 published the _Erlauternder Auszug aus Kants kritischen Schriften_,

which has been widely used as a compendium of Kantian doctrine. He

endeavoured to explain away certain of the contradictions which are

found in Kant's system by saying that much of the language is used in a

popular sense for the sake of intelligibility, e.g. where Kant

attributes to things-in-themselves an existence under the conditions of

time, space and causality, and yet holds that they furnish the material

of our apprehensions. Beck maintains that the real meaning of Kant's

theory is idealism; that of objects outside the domain of consciousness,

knowledge is impossible, and hence that nothing positive remains when we

have removed the subjective element. Matter is deduced by the "original

synthesis." Similarly, the idea of God is a symbolical representation of

the voice of conscience guiding from within. The value of Beck's

exegesis has been to a great extent overlooked owing to the greater

attention given to the work of Fichte. Beside the three volumes of the

_Erlauternder Auszug_, he published the _Grundriss der krit.

Philosophie_ (1796), containing an interpretation of the Kantian

_Kritik_ in the manner of Salomon Maimon.

See Ueberweg, _Grundriss der Gesch. der Philos. der Neuzeit_; Dilthey

in the _Archiv fur Geschichte der Philos._, vol. ii. (1889), pp.

592-650. For Beck's letters to Kant, see R. Reicke, _Aus Kants

Briefwechsel_ (Konigsberg, 1885).

BECKENHAM, an urban district in the Sevenoaks parliamentary division of

Kent, England, 10 m. S.S.E. of London by the South Eastern & Chatham

railway. Pop. (1881) 13,045; (1901) 26,331. It is a long straggling

parish extending from the western tower of the Crystal Palace almost to

the south end of Bromley, and contains the residential suburb of

Shortlands. Its rapid increase in size in the last decade of the 19th

century was owing to the popularity which it attained as a place of

residence for London business men. It retains, however, some of its

rural character, and has wide thoroughfares and many handsome residences

standing in extensive grounds. King William IV.'s Naval Asylum was

endowed by Queen Adelaide for 12 widows of naval officers. The church of

St George was built in 1866 on the site of an ancient Perpendicular

church. Some 16th-century brasses, an altar tomb and a piscina were

removed hither from the old church. The tower of the church was

completed in 1903, and furnished with two bells in memory of Cecil

Rhodes, in addition to the old bells, one of which dates from 1624.

BECKER, HEINRICH (1770-1822), German actor, whose real name was

BLUMENTHAL, was born at Berlin. He obtained, while quite a young man, an

appointment in the court theatre at Weimar, at that time under Goethe's

auspices. The poet recognized his talent, appointed him stage-manager,

entrusted him with several of the leading roles in his dramas and

consulted him in all matters connected with the staging of his plays.

For many years Becker was the favourite of the Weimar stage, and

although he was at his best in comedy, he played, to Goethe's great

satisfaction, Vansen in _Egmont_, and was also seen to great advantage

in the leading parts of several of Schiller's plays; notably Burleigh in

_Maria Stuart_, Karl Moor in _Die Rauber_, and Antonio in _Torquato

Tasso_. Becker left Weimar in the spring of 1809, played for a short

time at Hamburg (under Schroder) and at Breslau, and then began a

wandering life, now joining travelling companies, now playing at

provincial theatres. Broken in health and ruined in fortune he returned

in 1820 to Weimar, where he was again cordially received by Goethe, who

reinstated him at the theatre. After playing for two short years with

indifferent success, he died at Weimar in 1822.

Becker was twice married. His first wife, CHRISTIANE LUISE AMALIE BECKER

(1778-1797), was the daughter of a theatrical manager and dramatic poet,

Johann Christian Neumann, and made her first stage appearance in 1787 at

Weimar. Here she received some training from Goethe and from Corona

Schroter, the singer, and her beauty and charm made her the favourite

both of court and public. She married Heinrich Becker in 1793. She died

on the 22nd of September 1797. Her last part was that of Euphrosyne in

the opera _Das Petermannchen_, and it is under this name that Goethe

immortalized her in a poem which first appeared in Schiller's _Musen

Almanack_ of 1799.

BECKER, WILHELM ADOLF (1796-1846), German classical archaeologist, was

born at Dresden. At first destined for a commercial life, he was in 1812

sent to the celebrated school at Pforta. In 1816 he entered the

university of Leipzig, where he studied under Beck and Hermann. After

holding subordinate posts at Zerbst and Meissen, he was in 1842

appointed professor of archaeology at Leipzig. He died at Meissen on the

30th of September 1846. The works by which Becker is most widely known

are the _Gallus_ or _Romische Scenen aus der Zeit Augusts_ (1838, new

ed. by Goll, 1880-1882), and the _Charicles_ or _Bilder altgriechischer

Sitte_, (1840, new ed. by Goll, 1877-1878). These two books, which have

been translated into English by Frederick Metcalfe, contain a very

interesting description of the everyday life of the ancient Greeks and

Romans, in the form of a romance. The notes and appendixes are valuable.

More important is the great _Handbuch der rom. Alterthumer_ (1843-1868),

completed after Becker's death by Marquardt and Mommsen. Becker's

treatises _De Comicis Romanorum Fabulis_ (1837), _De Romae Veteris Muris

atque Portis_ (1842), _Die romische Topographie in Rom_ (1844), and _Zur

romischen Topographie_ (1845) may also be mentioned.

BECKET, THOMAS (c. 1118-1170), by his contemporaries more commonly

called Thomas of London, English chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury

under Henry II., was born about the year 1118 in London. His mother was

a native of Caen; his father, who came of a family of small Norman

landowners, had been a citizen of Rouen, but migrated to London before

the birth of Thomas, and held at one time the dignified office of

portreeve, although he ended his life in straitened circumstances. The

young Thomas received an excellent education. At the age of ten he was

put to school with the canons of Merton priory in Surrey. Later he spent

some time in the schools of London, which enjoyed at that time a high

reputation, and finally studied theology at Paris. Returning at the age

of twenty-two he was compelled, through the misfortunes of his parents,

to become a notary in the service of a wealthy kinsman, Osbert Huit

Deniers, who was of some importance in London politics. About 1142 a

family friend brought Thomas under the notice of Archbishop Theobald, of

whose household he at once became an inmate. He accompanied the primate

to Rome in 1143, and also to the council of Reims (1148), which Theobald

attended in defiance of a prohibition from the king. It appears to have

been at some time between the dates of these two journeys that he

visited Bologna and Auxerre, and began those studies in the canon law

to which he was in no small degree indebted for his subsequent

advancement and misfortunes. Although the bent of his mind was legal, he

never made himself an expert jurist; but he had the art of turning his

knowledge, such as it was, to excellent account. In 1151 he was sent to

Rome by the archbishop with instructions to dissuade the Curia from

sanctioning the coronation of Stephen's eldest son Eustace. It is said

that Thomas distinguished himself by the ability with which he executed

his commission; in any case it gave him a claim on the gratitude of the

Angevin party which was not forgotten. In 1154 he was promoted to be

archdeacon of Canterbury, after first taking deacon's orders. In the

following year Henry II., at the primate's recommendation, bestowed on

him the important office of chancellor. In this capacity Thomas

controlled the issue of royal writs and the distribution of

ecclesiastical patronage; but it was more important for his future that

he had ample opportunities of exercising his personal fascination upon a

prince who was comparatively inexperienced, and thirteen or fourteen

years his junior. He became Henry's bosom friend and was consulted in

all affairs of state. It had been the hope of Theobald that Becket's

influence would be exercised to support the extensive privileges which

the Church had wrested from Stephen. But the chancellor, although

preserving friendly relations with his old patron, subordinated the

interests of the Church to those of his new master. Under his

administration the Church was severely taxed for the prosecution of

Henry's foreign wars; and the chancellor incurred the reproach "of

plunging his sword into the bowels of his mother." Like Wolsey he

identified himself with the military aspirations of his sovereign. It

was Thomas who organized the Toulouse campaign of 1159; even in the

field he made himself conspicuous by commanding a company of knights,

directing the work of devastation, and superintending the conduct of the

war after the king had withdrawn his presence from the camp. When there

was war with France upon the Norman border, the chancellor acted as

Henry's representative; and on one occasion engaged in single combat and

unhorsed a French knight of reputation. Later it fell to his part to

arrange the terms of peace with France. He discharged the duties of an

envoy with equal magnificence and dexterity; the treaty of May 1160,

which put an end to the war, was of his making.

In 1162 he was transferred to a new sphere of action. Henry bestowed on

him the see of Canterbury, left vacant by the death of Theobald. The

appointment caused some murmurs; since Becket, at the time when it was

made, was still a simple deacon. But it had been desired by Theobald as

the one means of averting an attack on clerical privileges which had

been impending almost since the accession of Henry II.; and the bishops

accepted it in silence. Henry on his side looked to find in Becket the

archbishop a coadjutor as loyal as Becket the archdeacon; and

anticipated that the Church would once more be reduced to that state of

dependence in which she had stood during the latter years of Henry I.

Becket, however, disappointed all the conflicting expectations excited

by his appointment. He did not allow himself to be made the king's tool;

nor on the other hand did he attempt to protect the Church by humouring

the king in ordinary matters. He devoted himself to ascetic practices,

confined himself to the society of churchmen, and resigned the

chancellorship in spite of a papal dispensation (procured by the king)

which authorized him to hold that office concurrently with the primacy.

By nature a violent partisan, the archbishop now showed himself the

uncompromising champion of his order and his see. Hence he was on the

worst of terms with the king before a year had elapsed. They came into

open conflict at the council of Woodstock (July 1163), when Becket

successfully opposed the king's proposal that a land-tax, known as the

sheriff's aid, which formed part of that official's salary, should be

henceforth paid into the Exchequer. But there were more serious

differences in the background. Becket had not shrunk from

excommunicating a tenant in chief who had encroached upon the lands of

Canterbury, and had protected against the royal courts a clerk named

Philip de Brois who was charged with an assault upon a royal officer.

These disputes involved questions of principle which had long occupied

Henry's attention, and Becket's defiant attitude was answered by the

famous Constitutions of Clarendon (q.v.), in which the king defined,

professedly according to ancient use and custom, the relations of Church

and State. Becket and the bishops were required to give these

constitutions their approval. Henry's demands were more defensible in

substance than might be supposed from the manner in which he pressed

them on the bishops. On the most burning question, that of criminous

clerks, he offered a compromise. He was willing that the accused should

be tried in the courts Christian provided that the punishment of the

guilty were left to the lay power. Becket's opposition rested upon a

casuistic interpretation of the canon law, and an extravagant conception

of the dignity attaching to the priesthood; he showed, moreover, a

disposition to quibble, to equivocate, and to make promises which he had

no intention of fulfilling. His conduct may be excused on the ground

that the bishops were subjected to unwarrantable intimidation. But when

he renounced his promise to observe the constitutions his conduct was

reprobated by the other bishops, although approved by the pope. It was

fortunate for Becket's reputation that Henry punished him for his change

of front by a systematic persecution in the forms of law. The archbishop

was thus enabled to invoke the pope's assistance, and to quit the

country with some show of dignity.

Becket fled to France in November 1164. He at once succeeded in

obtaining from Alexander III. a formal condemnation of the

constitutions. But Alexander, a fugitive from Italy and menaced by an

alliance of the emperor with an antipope, was indisposed to take extreme

measures against Henry; and six years elapsed before the king found

himself definitely confronted with the choice between an interdict and a

surrender. For the greater part of this time the archbishop resided at

the Burgundian monastery of Pontigny, constantly engaged in negotiations

with Alexander, whose hand he desired to force, and with Henry, from

whom he hoped to extract an unconditional submission. In 1166 Becket

received from the pope a commission to publish what censures he thought

fit; of which he at once availed himself to excommunicate the king's

principal counsellors. In 1169 he took the same step against two of the

royalist bishops. In more sweeping measures, however, the pope refused

to support him, until in 1170 Henry infringed the rights of Canterbury

by causing Archbishop Roger of York to crown the young king. In that

year the threats of the pope forced Henry to a reconciliation which took

place later at Freteval on the 22nd of July. It was a hollow truce,

since the subject of the constitutions was not mentioned; and Thomas

returned to England with the determination of riding roughshod over the

king's supporters. If he had not given a definite pledge to forgive the

bishops who had taken part in the young king's coronation, he had at

least raised expectations that he would overlook all past offences. But

the archbishop prevailed upon the pope to suspend the bishops, and

before his return published papal letters which, in announcing these

sentences, spoke of the constitutions as null and void. It was only to

be expected that such a step, which was virtually a declaration of war

against the king, should arouse in him the strongest feelings of

resentment. The archbishop's murder, perpetrated within a month of his

return to England (29th December 1170), was, however, the work of over

zealous courtiers and regretted by no one more than Henry.

Becket was canonized in 1172. Within a short time his shrine at

Canterbury became the resort of innumerable pilgrims. Plenary

indulgences were given for a visit to the shrine, and an official

register was kept to record the miracles wrought by the relics of the

saint. The shrine was magnificently adorned with the gold and silver and

jewels offered by the pious. It was plundered by Henry VIII., to whom

the memory of Becket was specially obnoxious; but the reformers were

powerless to expunge the name of the saint from the Roman calendar, on

which it still remains. Even to those who are in sympathy with the

principles for which he fought, the posthumous reputation of Becket must

appear strangely exaggerated. It is evident that in the course of his

long struggle with the state he fell more and more under the dominion of

personal motives. At the last he fought not so much for an idea as for

the humiliation of an opponent by whom he had been ungenerously treated.

William of Newburgh appears to express the verdict of the most impartial

contemporaries when he says that the bishop was _zelo justitiae

fervidus, utrum autem plene secundum scientiam novit Deus_: "burning

with zeal for justice, but whether altogether according to wisdom God

knows."

AUTHORITIES.--_Original:_--The correspondence of Becket and most of

the contemporary biographies are collected by J.C. Robertson in

_Materials for the History of Thomas Becket_ (7 vols., Rolls Series,

1875-1885). See also the _Vie de Saint Thomas_, by Garnier de Pont

Sainte Maxence (ed. Hippeau, Paris, 1859). For the chronology of the

controversy see Eyton's _Itinerary of Henry II._

_Modern:_--Morris, _Life and Martyrdom of St Thomas Becket_ (London,

1885); Lhuillier, _Saint Thomas de Cantorbery_ (2 vols., Paris,

1891-1892); J.C. Robertson, _Becket_ (London, 1859); F.W. Maitland,

_Roman Canon Law in the Church of England_, c. iv.; J.A. Froude in his

_Short Studies_, vol. iv., and Freeman in his _Historical Essays_

(1871), give noteworthy but conflicting appreciations.

(H. W. C. D.)

BECKFORD, WILLIAM (1760-1844), English author, son of Alderman William

Beckford (1709-1770), was born on the 1st of October 1760. His father

was lord mayor of London in 1762 and again in 1769; he was a famous

supporter of John Wilkes, and on his monument in the Guildhall were

afterwards inscribed the words of his manly and outspoken reproof to

George III. on the occasion of the City of London address to the king in

1770. At the age of eleven young Beckford inherited a princely fortune

from his father. He married Lady Margaret Gordon in 1783, and spent his

brief married life in Switzerland. After his wife's death (1786) he

travelled in Spain and Portugal, and wrote his _Portuguese Letters_

(published 1834, 1835), which rank with his best work. He afterwards

returned to England, and after selling his old house, Fonthill Abbey,

Wiltshire, began to build a magnificent residence there, on which he

expended in about eighteen years the sum of L273,000. His

eccentricities, together with the strict seclusion in which he lived,

gave rise to scandal, probably unjustified. In 1822 he sold his house,

together with its splendid library and pictures, to John Farquhar, and

soon after one of the towers, 260 ft. high, fell, destroying part of the

villa in the ruins. Beckford erected another lofty structure on

Lansdowne Hill, near Bath, where he continued to reside till his death

in 1844. His first work, _Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary

Painters_ (1780) was a slight, sarcastic _jeu d'esprit_. In 1782 he

wrote in French his oriental romance, _The History of the Caliph

Vathek_, which appeared in English, translated by the Rev. Samuel

Henley, in 1786 and has taken its place as one of the finest productions

of luxuriant imagination.

Beckford's wealth and large expenditure, his position as a collector and

patron of letters (he bought Gibbon's library at Lausanne), his literary

industry, and his reputation as author of _Vathek_, make him an

interesting figure in literary history. He had a seat in parliament from

1784 to 1793, and again from 1806 to 1820. He left two daughters, the

eldest of whom was married to the 10th duke of Hamilton.

Cyrus Redding's _Memoir_ (1859) is the only full biography, but

prolix; see Dr R. Garnett's introduction to his edition of _Vathek_

(1893).

BECKINGTON (or BEKYNTON), THOMAS (c. 1390-1465), English statesman and

prelate, was born at Beckington in Somerset, and was educated at

Winchester and New College, Oxford. Having entered the church he held

many ecclesiastical appointments, and became dean of the Arches in 1423;

then devoting his time to secular affairs he was sent on an embassy to

Calais in 1439, and to John IV., count of Armagnac, in 1442. At this

time Beckington was acting as secretary to Henry VI., and soon after his

return in 1443 he was appointed lord privy seal and bishop of Bath and

Wells. The bishop erected many buildings in Wells, and died there on the

14th of January 1465. The most important results of Beckington's

missions to France were one Latin journal, written by himself, referring

to the embassy to Calais; and another, written by one of his attendants,

relating to the journey to Armagnac.