Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/635

Rh it that it strengthens the gums, sweetens the breath, and stimulates the digestive organs. Among the Orientals betel is offered on ceremonial visits in the same manner as wine is produced on similar occasions by Europeans. Betel nuts are further used as a source of catechu, which is pro cured by boiling the nuts in water. The water of the first boiling becomes red and thick, and when this is inspissated after the removal of the nuts it forms a catechu of high astringency and dark colour called in Bombay &quot;Kossa.&quot; The nuts are again boiled, and the inspissated juice of the second decoction yields a weaker catechu of a brown or reddish colour. Betel nuts are used to some extent in the United Kingdom as the source of a charcoal tooth-powder, which, however, has no special virtue, and they are also employed by turners for ornamental purposes, and for coat buttons on account of the beauty of their structure. Recently they have come into repute as a vermifuge, and have been admitted into the Supplement to the British Pharmacopoeia (1874) as a cure for tape-worm. The quantity of betel nuts consumed in the East is enormous. Ceylon alone exports about 70,000 cwt. annually ; Travancore has upwards of a million of trees, the average produce of each being 300 nuts annually, or about 6000 tons in all; Sumatra is little less productive, and the small island of Penang, named from the Malayan name for the tree, is estimated to contain half a million trees. The nuts of other species of Areca are used by the poorer classes in the East as substitutes for the genuine betel nut.  BETHANY (i.e., probably, the &quot; House of Dates&quot;), a village, now called El Azariyeh, or Lazarieh, nearly two miles E.S.E. from Jerusalem, on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, at a height of 2208 feet above tte sea. The whole importance of the place is derived frjm its connection with New Testament history, it being never mentioned in the Old Testament or Apocrypha. It was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters, a favourite retreat of the Saviour, and the scene not only oi his greatest miracle but also of his ascension. From the 4th century down to the time of the Mahometan invasion several ecclesiastical buildings were erected on the spot, but of these no distinct traces remain. Lazarieh is a poor village of about twenty families, with few marks of anti quity ; and there is no reason to believe that the hous s of Mary and Martha and of Simon the Leper, or the sepulchre of Lazarus, still shown by the monks, have any claims to the names they bear.  BETHEL (i.e., in Hebrew, the &quot; House of God&quot;), origi nally called Luz, an ancient city of Palestine, on the borders of the tribe of Benjamin, eleven English miles north of Jerusalem. Of the origin of its new name two accounts are given in Geuesis, both of them, however, connecting it with the history of Jacob After the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites Bethel became a resting-place of the ark, and at a later date ic was chosen as a royal residence and a seat of idolatrous worship by several of the renegade kings. It seems to have continued to flourish down into the Christian era, some remains still existing of its ecclesiastical buildings. Its ruins, which now bear the name of Beitin, occupy about three or four acres.  BETHESDA was a pool or public bath in Jerusalem, where miraculous cures were believed to be performed ; now usually identified with the Birket Israel, near St Stephen s Gate. See.  BETHLEHEM (i.e., in Hebrew, the &quot; House of Bread &quot;), a small town in Palestine, situated on a limestone ridge, about six miles from Jerusalem, on the main roacl to Hebron. It was a place of great antiquity ; and, under the name of Ephrata is mentioned in the history of Jacob. From the book of Ruth, which contains the romantic story of some of its inhabitants, it would appear to have had special con nection with the land of Moab. At a later date it becaino famous as the birthplace of David, but does not seem to have received any special favours at his hand. It was fortified by Rehoboam ; and the neighbouring inn of Chimham seems to have become a regular rendezvous for travellers proceeding to Egypt. Almost complete obscurity, however, was gathering round it when it became one of the world s most memorable spots the birthplace of tha Saviour. Desecrated during the reign of Hadrian by a grove of Adonis, the traditional scene of the nativity (a grotto on the eastern part of the ridge) was enclosed by the Empress Helena with a noble basilica, which still stands, surrounded by the three convents successively erected here by the Greek, Latin, and Armenian Churches. In the neighbourhood is still shown the traditional grotto where Jerome spent a portion of his life busy with his Latin translation of the Scriptures. Captured by the Crusaders in the llth century, Bethlehem was made an episcopal see ; but the bishopric soon sank into a titular dignity. The present village is well built and clean, and the inhabitants, who number about 3000, profess Christianity. The carving of crucifixes and other sacred mementoes gives employment to a number of persons.  BETHUNE, the chief town of an arroudissernent in the French d rpartrnent of Pas de Calais, situated on a rock above the River Brette, 10 miles N.N.W. of Arras. It is strongly fortified, and its defences are partly the work of Vauban. It has a tribunal of primary jurisdiction, a com munal college, a Gothic church, two hospitals, and manu factures of linen, cloth, and beer. The trade, chiefly in grain, cheese, linen, and oil, is facilitated by the canal, which unites the Lawe with the Lys. The town, which dates from the llth century, was taken by the allied forces in 1710, ami restored to France by the treaty of Utrecht. Population in 18V2, 4594.  BETLIS,, or, a town of Turkish Armenia, in the Sandjak of Mush, situated near the south-west corner of Lake Van, in a highly cultivated valley, which is watered by the Bitlis-chai, a sub-tributary of the Tigris. Partly owing to the irregularity of the ground, the houses are scattered without much attention to order, and most of them are surrounded with gardens or orchards. The castle of the Bey, a straggling structure, is situated on the lava rock that bounds the valley ; while in the centre of the town, on an eminence so steep that it is only accessible by a road winding round it, stand the ruins of an ancient fortress of great strength. Betlis is a great seat of the dancing dervishes, who have twslve convents in the place. The Armenians, who form about a fourth of the population, have four churches and as many monasteries, and the Mahometans possess numerous mosques and medresses. A considerable trade is carried on, as well as the manufacture of gold and silver wares, the weaving of cotton-cloth and carpets, and the preparation of tobacco. According to an Armenian tradition Betlis was founded by Alexander the Great. In 1514 it became a Turkish possession, and it has for about three centuries been held as a fief by a Kurdish family. The population is variously estimated at from 10,000 to 12,000.  BETTERTON,, the best English actor of his time, was the son of Mr Betterton, under-cook to King Charles L, and was born at Westminster in 1635. He was apprenticed to Mr Rhodes, a bookseller near Charing Cross. Rhodes, who had been wardrobe-keeper to the theatre in Blackfriars, obtained in 1659 a licence to set up a company of players at the Cockpit in Drury Lane ; and there Betteiton made his first appearance on the stage. On the opening of the new theatre in Lincoln s-Inn-Fielda in 1662, Sir William Davenant, the patentee, engaged Betterton and all Rhodes s company to play in his Siege of <section end="BETTERTON"/>