literary effort the university of Tubingen conferred upon the author the degree of doctor of philosophy.
In 1834 and 1835 Dr. Beke published a considerable number of papers upon the writings attributed to Manetho, upon Egypt, Midian, the Red Sea of Scripture, and other collateral subjects, and in the latter year he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In consideration of these Eastern researches Beke was successively elected a fellow of the Statistical and Syro-Egyptian Societies of London, of the Oriental Society of Germany, of the Royal Geographical Societies of London and of Paris, and of the Asiatic Society. From July 1837 till May 1838 Beke was British acting consul at Leipzig. In 1840 he made his first journey into Abyssinia, with a view not only to the opening up of commercial relations with that state and adjoining countries, but also to the abolition of the slave trade and the discovery of the sources of the Nile. His journey resulted in his first making known the true physical structure of Abyssinia and of eastern Africa generally, showing that the principal mountain system of Africa extends north to south on the eastern side of that continent, and that the Mountains of the Moon of Ptolemy are merely a portion of the meridional range. Dr. Beke was the first to ascertain the remarkable depression of the Salt Lake, Assal. He fixed, by astronomical observations, the latitude of more than seventy stations, and mapped upwards of 70,000 square miles of country. He visited and mapped the watershed between the Nile and the Hawash, along a line of fifty miles northward of Ankober, and he discovered the existence of the river Gojeb. He constructed a very valuable map of Gojam and Damot, and determined approximately the course of the Abai. In this expedition Beke also collected vocabularies of fourteen languages and dialects spoken in Abyssinia. In recognition of his discoveries he received the gold medals of the Royal Geographical Societies of London and Paris.
After his return from Abyssinia in 1843, Beke resumed his commercial pursuits in London, devoting the whole of his leisure, however, to the study of the questions which deeply interested him. From 1844 to 1848 many papers connected with Abyssinian exploration appeared from his pen. In the latter year he prepared a bill, which became law, authorising British consuls to solemnise marriages in foreign countries. During the same year he set on foot an exploring expedition for the discovery of the sources of the Nile, the expedition to penetrate for the first time inland, from the coast of Ptolemy's Barbaricus Sinus, opposite Zanzibar, and to descend the river to Egypt. The Prince Consort and other distinguished persons gave their countenance to the expedition, and Dr. Bialloblotzky was appointed to command it; but unfortunately the leader was compelled to abandon the undertaking when it was only partially completed. It is stated that Captain Speke became aware of Beke's plan in 1848; and later explorers have proved the soundness of his theories by discovering that Lake Nyanza is within the basin of the Nile.
In 1849 Beke was appointed secretary to the National Association for the Protection of Industry and Capital throughout the British Empire, and on the dissolution of that society in 1853 he was formally thanked through the Duke of Richmond for his services to the cause of protection. M. Antoine d'Abbadie, a French traveller, having published an account of his alleged journey into Kaffa for the purpose of exploring the sources of the Nile, Beke issued a critical examination of his claims, severely criticising his 'pretended journey.' The Geographical Society of Paris having awarded to M. d'Abbadie its annual prize for the most important discovery in geography, on the ground of his travels, a warm controversy arose. The charges made by Beke, and M. d'Abbadie's defence, were brought before the society, and after considerable discussion the society decided that no action should be taken, and simply passed to the order of the day. This decision being unsatisfactory to Beke, he returned the gold medal which had been awarded him in 1846 for his travels in Abyssinia, and withdrew altogether from the society.
In 1852 Beke edited for the Hakluyt Society Gerrit de Veer's True Description of Three Voyages by the North-east, towards Cathay and China. Notes were added to the work, which had also an historical introduction relating chiefly to the earlier voyages to Novaya Zemlya. The ensuing year he addressed the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade upon the subject of politics and commerce in Abyssinia and other parts of Eastern Africa. Beke had married a grandniece of Sir J. W. Herschel, but this lady dying in 1853, in 1856 he married secondly Miss Emily Alston, a Mauritius lady, the daughter of Mr. William Alston of Leicester, a claimant of the baronetcy of Alston. He had three years before become a partner in a Mauritius mercantile house, and in 1856 he despatched a sailing vessel to the port of Massowah for the purpose of endeavouring to open up commercial relations with Abyssinia.
