Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/494

478 tlie friendship of Zinzcndorf. He was made member of the council of commerce, and proposed various commercial schemes to the Austrian Government. He soon quarrelled with Ziuzendorf ; and about 1678 we find him at Haarlem. After a short time he visited England and Scotland, inspecting their mines. He died in 1682, it is said at London. He wrote many works, the principal of which are (1), Physica Subterranea, which was printed at Leipsic in 1703 and 1739, in 8vo, with a small treatise by E. Stahl, entitled /Specimen Becherianum ; (2), Experimentum chymicumnovum, 8vo; (3), Character pro NotitiaLinyuarum universali; (4), Institutions Chymicce, sen Manuductio ad PhilosopJdam Hermeticam, 4to ; (5), Institutiones Chymicce, sen OEdipus Chemicus, 12mo ; (6), Experimentum novum ac curiosum de Miniaria arenaria pcrpctua, &c. In some respects he anticipated Stahl, whose phlogistic theory is an extension of what he says. He was also the discoverer of boracic acid.  BECHWANA, or, the name of a nation extending over a large tract of the interior of South Africa, lying between 22 and 28 S. lat. and 22 and 29 E. long. There are remains as well as traditions indicating that they once occupied lands further to the south and north of their present boundaries. The country is bounded on the W. by what may be called the southern Sahara ; on the E. by the Limpopo, and on the N. by the Matebele, a tribe which escaped the power of the Chaka, the bloody chief of the Zulus. The country, though hilly and undulating, abounds in grassy plains and considerable forests of acacia. Trees, however, are scarce, as the grass is generally burned off every year ; and the young wood is thus not allowed time to grow. The natives also, in order to get fresh garden ground and obtain branches to raise their houses and make fences, are constantly destroying trees, and thus increasing the dryness and sterility of the country. It is evident, from the dry beds of what were once rivers and from remains of ancient forests, that, at an early 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 towns, it is also evident that at that period stone-dykes were very common. The number of the Bechwana has been variously estimated, and according to some amounts to more than 200,000. Their language is copious, with but few slight dialectic differences, being entirely free of the Hottentot elements found in the Katfre and Zulu. The power of the language which, like the Kaffre and Zulu, belongs to the Ba-nta family, formerly unwritten, may be conceived when it is known that, besides elementary and educational works, the whole of the Bible has been translated into it and is now read by thousands. The Bechwana are divided into numerous tribes, all inde pendent of each other, and each governed by its own chiefs and councillors. The names of some of the principal tribes are Batlapee, Barolong, Bangwaketse, Bakhatla, Bakuena, Bamangwato, and Batauana, the last living near the lake Ngami, first visited by Dr Livingstone. There are numerous minor divisions, with laws and customs very similar. With the exception of the Balala (the poor inhabiting the country), they are not nomadic, but live in towns of considerable size, containing from 5000 to 40,000. Doubtless, their former warlike habits had the tendency to induce them to congregate for security ; for latterly they live, for the sake of agriculture and pasturage, in many formerly uninhabited places. Though from time immemorial they had been engaged in constant strife with each other, and thus inured to warfare, they were no match for the warlike Kaffre and butchering Zulu and Matebele. Since the introduction of Christianity among the Bechwana, their clannish strifes have ceased ; and, being a people of industrious habits, and acute observers of whatever may increase their property and comfort, they go in great numbers to Cape Colony and other parts where they can obtain labour and wages, being prized as servants. This enables them to return enriched to their homes in a few years.

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