The resources and capabilities of the country are small. Hitherto the exports have been principally ostrich feathers, ivory, and cattle ; bnt the first two are become very scarce since the introduction of the horse and rifle. The elephant is now found principally in the regions where the tsetse fly abounds, and where horses cannut live, while the ostrich betakes itself to the deserts.
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BECK, or Beek, David, an eminent portrait painter, bom in 1G21, at Arnheim in Guelderland. He was trained by Yaudyck, from whom lie 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 Yaudyck 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. He lived in the highest favour with his royal mistress, and with difficulty obtained a short leave of absence from her court. He died soon after (1G5G) at the Hague, not without suspicion of having been poisoned.
BECKER, Wilhelm Adolf a classical archaeologist of distinction, was born at Dresden in 179G. He was at first destined for a commercial life, but was, in 1812, sent to the celebrated school at Pforta, whence, in 1816, he passed to the University of Leipsic. Here he had the good fortune to study under the famous Hermann. After holding subordin ate posts at Zerbst and Meissen, he was, in 1S3G, appointed extraordinary professor of classical archaeology at Leipsic ; and six years later he was raised to the professorship of antiquities in the same university. He died at Meissen in September 1846. The works by which Becker is most widely known are the Gallus, oder romische Scenen aus der Zdt des Augustus, 1838, and the Char ides, oder Bilder aliijriechischcn Sitte, 1840. The author shows not only a complete mastery of Greek and Roman antiquities, but a very happy faculty of imparting life to the dry bones of the science. Both works have been translated into English. Perhaps more useful for scholars is the great Handluch der rum. Alterthiimer, 5 vols. (1843-64), completed after Becker s death by Marquardt, and of which a second and enlarged edition i x s now in course of publication.
BECKFORD, William, an English author, the son of Alderman Beckford, who was noted for his manly reply to George III. on the presentation of an address from the city of London, was born in 1761. At the age of nine he inherited a large fortune from his father ; and in early life he travelled in Italy, Sicily, Spain, and Portugal, and resided some time near Cintra, where he had a princely residence. He afterwards returned to England, and after selling his old house of Fonthill began to build a magnificent residence there, on which he expended in about eighteen years. the sum of 273,000. This, together with its splendid library and pictures, he sold to Mr Farquhar in 1822 ; but soon after one of the towers, 260 feet high, fell, destroying part of the villa in the ruins. Beckford, however, began the erection of another lofty structure on Lansdowne-hill, near Bath, where he continued to reside till his death in 1844. He was a powerful and original writer. His first work, Biographical Memoirs of Extraor dinary Painters, which appeared in 1780, was a slight sarcastic jeu d esprit. In 1784 he published in French the singular tale entitled History of the Caliph Vathek, which soon afterwards appeared in English, and has taken its place as one of the finest productions of richly luxuriant imagination. In 1834 his first Continental tour appeared under the title of Letters from Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal, a work never, perhaps, surpassed for striking description and refined sarcasm. His latest pro duction, published in 1835, was entitled Recollections of an Excursion to Alcobaza and Batallia in 1794. All these works exhibit cultivated taste and a remarkable power of vivid description. He left two daughters, the eldest of whom was married to the 10th duke of Hamilton.
BECKMANN, Johann, the author of the History of Inventions, was born in 1739 at Hoya in Hanover, where his father was postmaster and receiver of taxes. His mother, who was left a widow before he was seven years of age, sent him to school at Stade; and in 1759 he repaired to the University of Gottingen with the intention of studying theology, which, however, he soon abandoned in favour of natural science. The death of his mother in 17G2 having deprived him of his former means of support, he accepted, at the offer of Busching, the professorship of natural history in the Lutheran Academy, St Petersburg. This office he soon relinquished, and journeyed through Sweden, where he inspected the manner of working the mines, and formed the acquaintanceship of Linnaeus at Upsala. In 17GG he was appointed professor at Gottingen. There he lectured on various arts and on political and domestic economy, and was in the habit of leading his students into the workshops that they might acquire a practical as well as a theoretical knowledge of different processes and handicrafts. While thus engaged he deter mined to trace the history and describe the present condition of each of the arts and sciences on which he was lecturing, being perhaps incited by the Sibliothecoz of Haller. But even Beckmann s industry and ardour were unable to overtake the amount of study necessary for this task. He therefore confined his attention to several practical arts and trades ; and to these labours we owe his Notices on the History of Discoveries in the Common Arts of Life, a work in which he relates the origin, history, and recent condition of the various machines, utensils, &c., employed in trade and for domestic purposes. In 1772 Beckmann was elected a member of the Royal Society of Gottingen, and he contributed valuable scientific disserta tions to its proceedings until 1783, when he withdrew from all further share in its work. After having been admitted into almost all the learned societies of Germany, and after having impressed on the minds of his numerous students a tendency to pursuits of practical utility, Beck mann died on the 3d of February 1811. His works display great natural sagacity, as well as profound and varied research. Besides the History of Inventions he wrote an interesting, but unfinished, History of the Earliest Voyages made in Modern Times, and produced editions of a work ascribed to Aristotle, of the Wonderful Histories of Anti- gonus Carystius, and of Marbodius s Treatise on Stones* These editions display a rare union of physical knowledge with philological learning. Beckmann was a man ot extreme modesty ; and his candour and sincerity, as well as his affability to these who studied under him, were acknow ledged with one consent by his colleagues and his scholars.
BEDARRIEUX, a town of France, in the department of He rault, situated on the River Orb, with a station on the branch railway from B6ziers to Graissesac. It is a neat and well-built town, and carries on a variety of industries, among the most important of which are the weaving of cotton and woollen cloth and the manufacture of hats, paper, leather, and oil ; while at Clairac in the neighbourhood there aro glass-works and a copper-foundry. Most of the produce is exported to Africa and the Levant. Not far from the town there is a thermal establishment open all the year round. In the end of the 18th century the population was only 250; in 1872 it was 8985.
