Part 14

BEIRUT or BEYROUT. (1) A vilayet of Syria, constituted as recently as 1888, which stretches along the sea-coast from Jebel el-Akra, south of the Orontes, to the Nahr Zerka, south of Mount Carmel, and towards the south extends from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. It includes five _sanjaks_, Latakia, Tripoli, Beirut, Acre and Buka'a. (2) The chief town of the vilayet (anc. _Berytus_), the most important seaport town in Syria, situated on the south side of St George's Bay, on rising ground at the foot of Lebanon. Pop. 120,000 (Moslems, 36,000; Christians, 77,000; Jews, 2500; Druses, 400; foreigners, 4100). Berytus, whether it is to be identified with Hebrew _Berothai_ or not (2 Sam. viii. 8; Ezek. xlvii. 16), was one of the most ancient settlements on the Phoenician coast; but nothing more than the name is known of it till B.C. 140, when the town was taken and destroyed by Tryphon in his contest with Antiochus VII. for the throne of the Seleucids. It duly passed under Rome, was much favoured by the Herods and became a _colonia_. It was famous for its schools, especially that of law, from the 4th century A.D. onwards. Justinian recognized it as one of the three official law schools of the empire (A.D. 533), but within a few years, as the result of a disastrous earthquake (551), the students were transferred to Sidon. In the following century it passed to the Arabs (635), and was not again a Christian city till 1111, when Baldwin captured it. Saladin retook it in 1187, and thenceforward, for six centuries and a half, whoever its nominal lords may have been, Saracen, Crusader, Mameluke or (from the 16th century) Turk, the Druse emirs of Lebanon dominated it (see DRUSES). One of these, Fakr ed-Din Maan II., fortified it early in the 17th century; but the Turks asserted themselves in 1763 and occupied the place. During the succeeding epoch of rebellion at Acre under Jezzar and Abdullah pashas, Beirut declined to a small town of about 10,000 souls, in dispute between the Druses, the Turks and the pashas,--a state of things which lasted till Ibrahim Pasha captured Acre in 1832. When the powers moved against the Egyptians in 1840, Beirut had recently been occupied in force by Ibrahim as a menace to the Druses; but he was easily driven out after a destructive bombardment by Admiral Sir Robert Stopford (1768-1847). Since the pacification of the Lebanon after the massacre of the Christians in 1860 (for later history, see LEBANON), Beirut has greatly increased in extent, and has become the centre of the transit trade for all southern Syria. In 1894 a harbour, constructed by a French company, was opened, but the insecurity of the outer roadstead militates against its success. Nevertheless trade is on the increase. In 1895 a French company completed a railway across the Lebanon to Damascus, and connected it with Mezerib in the Hauran, whence now starts the line to the Hejaz. Since 1907 it has also had railway communication with Aleppo; and a narrow-gauge line runs up the coast to Tripoli. The steepness of the Lebanon railway, and the break of gauge at Rayak, the junction for Aleppo, have prevented the diversion of much of the trade of North Syria to Beirut. The town has been supplied with water, since 1875, by an English company, and with gas, since 1888, by a French company. There are many American and European institutions in the city: the American Presbyterian mission, with a girls' school and a printing office, which published the Arabic translation of the Bible, and now issues a weekly paper and standard works in Arabic; the Syrian Protestant college with its theological seminary, medical faculty, training college and astronomical observatory; the Scottish mission, and St George's institute for Moslem and Druse girls; the British Syrian mission schools; the German hospital, orphanage and boarding school; the French hospital and schools, and the Jesuit "Universite de St Joseph" with a printing office. In summer most of the richer residents reside on the Lebanon, and in winter the governor of the Lebanon and many Lebanon notables inhabit houses in Beirut. The town has many fine houses, but the streets are unpaved and the bazaars mean. The Moslem inhabitants, being in a minority, have often shown themselves fanatical and turbulent. There are several fairly good hotels for tourists. (C. W. W.; D. G. H.)

BEIT, ALFRED (1853-1906), British South African financier, was the son of a well-to-do merchant of Hamburg, Germany, and in 1875, after a commercial education at home, was sent out to Kimberley, South Africa, to investigate the diamond prospects. He had relatives, the Lipperts, out there in business, and in conjunction with Mr (afterwards Sir) Julius Wernher (b. 1850) he rapidly acquired a leading position on the diamond fields, and became closely allied with the ideals of Cecil Rhodes (q.v.). In 1889 Rhodes and Beit effected the amalgamation of various interests in the De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. It was largely owing to the capital and enterprise of Beit that the deep-level mining in the Witwatersrand district of the Transvaal was started, and he had a large share in the principal company, the Rand Mines Limited. The firm of Wernher, Beit & Co. gradually transferred the centre of their financial operations to London, where they became the leading house in the dealings in South African mines. The rapid progress made in developing the diamond and gold output made Beit a man of enormous wealth, and he utilized it lavishly in pursuit of Rhodes's South African policy. He was one of the original directors of the British South Africa company, and was included with Rhodes in the censure passed by the House of Commons Commission of Inquiry on the Jameson Raid (1896). He was subsequently one of Rhodes's trustees. Personally of a modest, gentle, generous and retiring disposition, and strongly imbued with Rhodes's ideas of British imperialism, he was one of the South African millionaires of German birth against whom the anti-imperialist section in England were never tired of employing their sarcastic invective. But though shrinking from ostentation in any form, his purse was continually opened for public objects, notably his support of the Imperial Light Horse and Imperial Yeomanry in the South African War of 1899-1902, and his endowment of the professorship of colonial history at Oxford (1905). He gave L100,000 to establish a university in his native city of Hamburg and L200,000 for a university in Johannesburg. He built a fine house in Park Lane, London, but was never prominent in social life. He died, unmarried, on the 16th of July 1906.

BEJA (or BIJA), the name under which is comprised a widespread family of tribes, usually classed as Hamitic. They may, however, represent very early Semitic immigrants (see HAMITIC RACES). When first recorded the Beja occupied the whole region between the Nile and the Red Sea from the border of Upper Egypt to the foot of the Abyssinian plateau. They were known to the ancient Egyptians, upon whose monuments they are represented. They are the Blemmyes of Strabo (xvii. 53), and have also been identified with the Macrobii of Herodotus, "tallest and finest of men" (iii. 17). It has been suggested, though on insufficient grounds, that the Beja, rather than the Abyssinians, are the "Ethiopians" of Herodotus, the civilized people who built the city of Meroe and its pyramids. During the Roman period the Beja were much what they are to-day, nomadic and aggressive, and were constantly at war. In 216 A.H. (A.D. 832) the Moslem governor of Assuan made a treaty with the Beja chief, by which the latter undertook to guard the road to Aidhab and pay an annual tribute of one hundred camels. This is the earliest record of a government engagement with the northern section of the Beja, now the Ababda. Ibn Batuta, early in the 14th century, mentions a king of Beja, El Hadrabi, who received two-thirds of the revenue of Aidhab, the other third going to the king of Egypt. The Beja territory contained gold and emerald mines. The tribesmen were the usual escort for pilgrims to Mecca from Kus to Aidhab. According to Leo Africanus, at the close of the 14th or very early in the 15th century their rich town of Zibid (Aidhab?) on the Red Sea was destroyed. This seems to have broken up the tribal cohesion. Leo Africanus describes the Beja as "most base, miserable and living only on milk and camels' flesh." In the middle ages the Beja, partially at any rate, were Christians. The kingdom of Meroo was succeeded by that of "Aloa," the capital of which, Soba, was on the Blue Nile, about 13 m. above Khartum. The country was conquered by the Funj (q.v.), a negroid people who subsequently became Mahommedan and compelled the Beja to adopt that religion. Until the invasion of the Egyptians, under Ismail, son of Mehemet Ali (1820), the Funj remained in possession.

All the Beja are now Mahommedans, but generally only so in name, though some of the tribes enthusiastically fought for Mahdiism (1883-99). As a race the Beja are remarkable for physical beauty, with a colour more red than black, and of a distinctly Caucasic type of face. The chiefs are, as a rule, of much fairer complexion than the tribesmen. In spite of their claim to Arab origin, the tribes have preserved many negro customs in the matter of costume and scarring the body. Their hair-dressing is very characteristic. The hair, worn thick as a protection against the sun, is parted in a circle round the head on a level with the eyes, above which the hair, saturated with mutton fat or butter, is trained straight up like a mop, with separate tufts at sides and back. Most of the tribes are nomadic shepherds, driving their cattle from pasture to pasture; some few are occupied in agriculture.

They are polygynous, but, unlike the Arabs, great independence is granted their women. Among most of the Beja peoples the wife can return to her mother's tent whenever she likes, and after a birth of a child she can repudiate the husband, who must make a present to be re-accepted. Cases are said to have occurred where the woman has thus obtained all her husband's possessions. The whole social position of the Beja women points, indeed, to an earlier matriarchal system. Among some of the tribes the custom of the "fourth day free" is observed, by which the women are only considered married for so many days a week, forming what liaisons they please on the odd day. The chief Beja tribes are the Ababda, Bisharin, Hadendoa, Beni-Amer, Amarar, Shukuria, Hallenga and Hamran.

BEJA (probably the ancient _Pax Julia_), the capital of an administrative district formerly included in the province of Alemtejo, Portugal; situated 95 m. S.S.E. of Lisbon by the Lisbon-Faro railway, and at the head of a branch line to Pias e Orada (3855), 26 m. E. Pop. (1900) 8885. Beja is an episcopal city, built on an isolated hill, and partly enclosed by walls of Roman origin; on the south it has a fine Roman gateway. Its cathedral is modern, but the citadel, with its beautiful Gothic tower of white marble, was founded by King Diniz (1279-1325). The city is surrounded by far-reaching plains, known as the Campo de Beja, and devoted partly to the cultivation of grain and fruit, partly to the breeding of cattle and pigs; copper, iron and manganese are also mined to a small extent, and Beja is the central market for all these products. Cloth, pottery and olive oil are manufactured in the city.

The administrative district of Beja, the largest and most thinly-populated district in Portugal, coincides with the southern part of Alemtejo (q.v.); pop. (1900) 163,612; area, 3958 sq. m.; 41.3 inhabitants per sq. m.

BEJAN (Fr. _bejaune_, from _bec jaune_, "yellow beak," in allusion to unfledged birds; the equivalent to Ger. _Gelbschnabel_, Fr. _blanc-bec_, a greenhorn), a term for freshmen, or undergraduates of the first year, in the Scottish universities. The phrase was introduced from the French universities, where the levying of _bejaunium_ "footing-money" had been prohibited by the statutes of the university of Orleans in 1365 and by those of Toulouse in 1401. In 1493 the election of an _Abbas Bejanorum_ (Abbot of the Freshmen) was forbidden in the university of Paris. In the German and Austrian universities the freshman was called _beanus_. In Germany the freshman was anciently called a _Pennal_ (from Med. Lat. _pennale_, a box for pens), in allusion to the fact that the newly-arrived student had to carry such for the older pupils. Afterwards _Fuchs_ (fox) was substituted for _Pennal_, and then _Goldfuchs_ because he is supposed still to have a few gold coins from home.

BEJART, the name of several French actors, children of Marie Herve and Joseph Bejart (d. 1643), the holder of a small government post. The family--there were eleven children--was very poor and lived in the Marais, then the theatrical quarter of Paris. One of the sons, JOSEPH BEJART (c. 1617-1659), was a strolling player and later a member of Moliere's first company (l'Illustre Theatre), accompanied him in his theatrical wanderings, and was with him when he returned permanently to Paris, dying soon after. He created the parts of Lelie in _L'Etourdie_, and Eraste in _Le Depit amoureux_. His brother Louis BEJART (c. 1630-1678) was also in Moliere's company during the last years of its travels. He created many parts in his brother-in-law's plays--Valere in _Le Depit amoureux_, Dubois in _Le Misanthrope_, Alcantor in _Le Mariage force_, and Don Luis in _Le Festin de Pierre_--and was an actor of varied talents. In consequence of a wound received when interfering in a street brawl, he became lame and retired with a pension--the first ever granted by the company to a comedian--in 1670.

The more famous members of the family were two sisters.

MADELEINE BEJART (1618-1672) was at the head of the travelling company to which her sister Genevieve (1631-1675)--who played as Mlle Herve--and her brothers belonged, before they joined Moliere in forming l'Illustre Theatre (1643). With Moliere she remained until her death on the 17th of February 1672. She had had an illegitimate daughter (1638) by an Italian count, and her conduct on her early travels had not been exemplary, but whatever her private relations with Moliere may have been, however acrimonious and violent her temper, she and her family remained faithful to his fortunes. She was a tall, handsome blonde, and an excellent actress, particularly in soubrette parts, a number of which Moliere wrote for her. Among her creations were Marotte in _Les Precieuses ridicules_, Lisette in _L'Ecole des maris_, Dorine in _Tartuffe_.

Her sister, ARMANDE GRESINDE CLAIRE ELIZABETH BEJART (1645-1700), seems first to have joined the company at Lyons in 1653. Moliere directed her education and she grew up under his eye. In 1662, he being then forty and she seventeen, they were married. Neither was happy; the wife was a flirt, the husband jealous. On the strength of a scurrilous anonymous pamphlet, _La Fameuse Comedienne, ou histoire de la Guerin_ (1688), her character has been held perhaps unduly low. She was certainly guilty of indifference and ingratitude, possibly of infidelity; they separated after the birth of a daughter in 1665 and met only at the theatre until 1671. But the charm and grace which fascinated others, Moliere too could not resist, and they were reconciled. Her portrait is given in a well-known scene (Act iii., sc. 9) in _Le Bourgeois gentilhomme_. Mme Moliere's first appearance on the stage was in 1663, as Elise in the _Critique de l'ecole des femmes_. She was out of the cast for a short time in 1664, when she bore Moliere a son--Louis XIV. and Henrietta of England standing sponsors. But in the spring, beginning with the fetes given at Versailles by the king to Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa, she started her long list of important roles. She was at her best as Celimene--really her own highly-finished portrait--in _Le Misanthrope_, and hardly less admirable as Angelique in _Le Malade imaginaire_. She was the Elmire at the first performance of _Tartuffe_, and the Lucile of _Le Bourgeois gentilhomme_. All these parts were written by her husband to display her talents to the best advantage and she made the most of her opportunities. The death of Moliere, the secession of Baron and several other actors, the rivalry of the Hotel de Bourgogne and the development of the Palais Royal, by royal patent, into the home of French opera, brought matters to a crisis with the _comediens du roi_. Well advised by La Grange (Charles Varlet, 1639-1692), Armande leased the Theatre Guenegaud, and by royal ordinance the residue of her company were combined with the players from the Theatre du Marais, the fortunes of which were at low ebb. The combination, known as the _troupe du roi_, at first was unfortunate, but in 1679 they secured Mlle du Champmesle, later absorbed the company of the Hotel de Bourgogne, and in 1680 the Comedie Francaise was born. Mme Moliere in 1677 had married Eustache Francois Guerin (1636-1728), an actor, and by him she had one son (1678-1708). She continued her successes at the theatre until she retired in 1694, and she died on the 30th of November 1700.

BEK, ANTONY (d. 1311), bishop of Durham, belonged to a Lincolnshire family, and, having entered the church, received several benefices and soon attracted the attention of Edward I., who secured his election as bishop of Durham in 1283. When, after the death of King Alexander III. in 1285, Edward interfered in the affairs of Scotland, he employed Bek on this business, and in 1294 he sent him on a diplomatic errand to the German king, Adolph of Nassau. Taking part in Edward's campaigns in Scotland, the bishop received the surrender of John de Baliol at Brechin in 1296, and led one division of the English army at the battle of Falkirk in 1298. Soon after his return to England he became involved in a quarrel with Richard de Hoton, prior of Durham. Deposed and excommunicated by Bek, the prior secured the king's support; but the bishop, against whom other complaints were preferred, refused to give way, and by his obstinacy incurred the lasting enmity of Edward. In 1302, in obedience to the command of Pope Boniface VIII., he visited Rome on this matter, and during his absence the king seized and administered his lands, which, however, he recovered when he returned and submitted to Edward. He continued, however, to pursue Richard with unrelenting hostility, and was in his turn seriously harassed by the king. Having been restored to the royal favour by Edward II. who made him lord of the Isle of Man, the bishop died at Eltham on the 3rd of March 1311. A man of great courage and energy, chaste and generous, Bek was remarkable for his haughtiness and ostentation. Both as a bishop and as a private individual he was very wealthy, and his household and retinue were among the most magnificent in the land. He was a soldier and a hunter rather than a bishop, and built castles at Eltham and elsewhere.

Bek's elder brother, THOMAS BEK (d. 1293), bishop of St David's, was a trusted servant of Edward I. He obtained many important and wealthy ecclesiastical positions, was made treasurer of England in 1279, and became bishop of St David's in 1280. He was a benefactor to his diocese and died on the 12th of May 1293.

Another THOMAS BEK (1282-1347), who was bishop of Lincoln from 1341 until his death on the 2nd of February 1347, was a member of the same family.

Antony Bek must not be confused with his kinsman and namesake, ANTONY BEK (1279-1343), who was chancellor and dean of Lincoln cathedral, and became bishop of Norwich after a disputed election in 1337. He was a quarrelsome man, and after a stormy episcopate, died on the 19th of December 1343.

See Robert of Graystanes, _Historia de statu ecclesiae Dunelmensis_, edited by J. Raine in his _Historiae Dunelmensis scriptores_ (London, 1839); W. Hutchinson, _History of Durham_ (Newcastle, 1785-1794); J.L. Low, _Diocesan History of Durham_ (London, 1881); and M. Creighton in the _Dictionary of National Biography_, vol. iv. (London, 1885).

BEKE, CHARLES TILSTONE (1800-1874), English traveller, geographer and Biblical critic, was born in Stepney, Middlesex, on the 10th of October 1800. His father was a merchant in London, and Beke engaged for a few years in mercantile pursuits. He afterwards studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and for a time practised at the bar, but finally devoted himself to the study of historical, geographical and ethnographical subjects. The first-fruits of his researches appeared in his work entitled _Origines Biblicae, or Researches in Primeval History_, published in 1834. An attempt to reconstruct the early history of the human race from geological data, it raised a storm of opposition on the part of defenders of the traditional readings of the book of Genesis; but in recognition of the value of the work the university of Tubingen conferred upon him the degree of Ph.D. For about two years (1837-1838) Beke held the post of acting British consul in Saxony. From that time till his death his attention was largely given to geographical studies, chiefly of the Nile valley. Aided by private friends, he visited Abyssinia in connexion with the mission to Shoa sent by the Indian government under the leadership of Major (afterwards Sir) William Cornwallis Harris, and explored Gojam and more southern regions up to that time unknown to Europeans. Among other achievements, Beke was the first to determine, with any approach to scientific accuracy, the course of the Abai (Blue Nile). The valuable results of this journey, which occupied him from 1840 to 1843, he gave to the world in a number of papers in scientific publications, chiefly in the _Journal_ of the Royal Geographical Society. On his return to London, Beke re-engaged in commerce, but devoted all his leisure to geographical and kindred studies. In 1848 he planned an expedition from the mainland opposite Zanzibar to discover the sources of the Nile. A start was made, but the expedition accomplished little. Beke's belief that the White Nile was the main stream was, however, shown to be accurate by subsequent exploration. In 1856 he endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to establish commercial relations with Abyssinia through Massawa. In 1861-1862 he and his wife travelled in Syria and Palestine, and went to Egypt with the object of promoting trade with Central Africa and the growth of cotton in the Sudan. In 1865 he again went to Abyssinia, for the purpose of obtaining from King Theodore the release of the British captives. On learning that the captives had been released, Beke turned back, but Theodore afterwards re-arrested the party. To the military expedition sent to effect their release Beke furnished much valuable information, and his various services to the government and to geographical research were acknowledged by the award of L500 in 1868 by the secretary for India, and by the grant of a civil list pension of L100 in 1870. In his seventy-fourth year he undertook a journey to Egypt for the purpose of determining the real position of Mount Sinai. He conceived that it was on the eastern side of the Gulf of Akaba, and his journey convinced him that his view was right. It has not, however, commended itself to general acceptance. Beke died at Bromley, in Kent, on the 31st of July 1874.