Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/507

BEI Peter drew up with his own hand, a few days before his death, the plan of an expedition for the promotion of discovery in the north-east of Asia, and more especially for the purpose of solving the then disputed problem of the junction of the Asiatic and American continents. Behring was appointed to the command of this expedition. He left St. Petersburg in February 1725, and travelling overland by way of Yakutsk, reached the town of Okotsk, on the shore of Eastern Siberia, whence he crossed over to Bolsheretsk, a small port upon the western side of the peninsula of Kamschatka, and from the latter place proceeded to Nijni-Kamschatka, upon the eastern coast of the same territory. At Nijni-Kamschatka he built a small vessel, and sailed in the summer of 1728 along the coast to the northeastward. By August he had reached the latitude of 67° 18´ (Cape Serdze), where the westerly trending of the land convinced him that the supposed junction of Asiatic and American coasts had no existence. Behring had, in fact, already passed the easternmost point of Asia, and had sailed through the channel which is now known by his name—Behring Strait. Thence he returned to Nijni-Kamschatka. In the following year, he again sailed from the same port, but was compelled by weather to shape his course in an opposite direction; sailing to the southward, he doubled, for the first time, the extreme point of Kamschatka (previously supposed to be continuous with Japan), and reached the port of Okotsk. Thence he returned to St. Petersburg, and obtained his promotion to the rank of captain-commander. In 1733 Behring was appointed to the command of a more considerable expedition, fitted out for the purpose of exploring the interior regions of eastern Siberia, as well as for the prosecution of discovery in the ocean beyond. After several exploratory excursions, he stationed himself at Yakutsk, whence he detached various parties down the different rivers flowing through the Siberian plain towards the polar sea. In 1740 he reached Okotsk, where vessels had already been built for him, and sailing thence to Avatsha Bay on the east coast of Kamschatka, founded in that locality the town of Petropaulovski, where he passed the winter. In the following June (1741), he departed thence on his final voyage. Sailing in an easterly direction towards the shores of the New World, and reaching the latitude of 46° without seeing land, he afterwards altered his course to the north-east, and descried the American coast in latitude 58½°—the land exhibiting high mountains covered with snow. Behring's landfall must have been about the spot now marked on the chart by his name (Behring Bay). Thence he proceeded to explore the coast to the north and west, but his ship becoming disabled from bad weather, and her crew suffering from sickness, he resolved on returning to Kamschatka. On November 3, in latitude 55°, Behring's vessel was cast upon a desolate and uninhabited island, where it became necessary for her crew to pass the winter. But the unfortunate commander of the expedition, previously suffering from indisposition and protracted anxiety, died on the 8th of the following month. He may be said, indeed, to have been almost buried alive. Unable to move by his own exertions, Behring had been carried ashore, and placed in a sheltered hollow between two sand-hills. The sand rolling down from these covered his feet and the lower part of his body, but he would not suffer it to be removed, on account of the warmth which it afforded, and it continued to accumulate to such a degree that, after he had expired, it was necessary to dig his body out, in order to inter it properly. Thirty of the crew perished during the long winter passed in this dreary spot, the only valuable produce of which consisted in the white foxes and sea otters with which it abounded. The survivors, forty-five in number, built in the ensuing summer a small vessel out of the remains of the wreck, and returned in it to Kamschatka. Behring Island, as the spot upon which the Danish navigator perished is called, is in latitude 55° N., longitude 166° 25´ E. An obelisk, erected by order of the Russian government, at Petropaulovski, commemorates his name and melancholy fate.—W. H.  BEIDHAWY,, a learned Mussulman, born at Beden, in Farsistan, in the thirteenth century; author of an Arabic commentary on the Koran, a manuscript.  BEIER,, a German protestant theologian, author of some commentaries on the Bible, and of one or two controversial works. Studied at Wittemberg, where he joined the society of the Lutherans. Born in 1516, and died in 1577.  BEIL,, a German actor and dramatic writer, was born at Chemnitz in 1734, and died at Mannheim in 1794. His best plays are—"Die Spieler" (The Gamblers—he was himself addicted to gambling), and "Die Schauspielerschule" (The School for Actors.) His dramatic works appeared after his death, in 2 vols. Leipzig, 1794.—K. E.  BEIMIRAM,, a Jewish physician of the eleventh century, contemporary of Avicenna and Constantinus Africanus. His works, which are written in Arabic, and appear never to have been edited, are entitled "De Definitionibus et Elementis;" "De Victus ratione;" "De Febribus;" De Urina;" "De Diaetis."—W. S. D.  BEIN, J., engraver, born at Coxwelie on the Rhine, 1789. He illustrated the passionate insane sentiment of Rousseau, as well as the exulting comedy of Moliere, and did much to perpetuate the works of David, Guerin, Vanloo, and Giroldet—works that are now therefore safe from annihilation, let fire and water, thief or restorer, do what they will.—W. T.  BEINGA-DELLA, the last king of Pegu, died in 1775. In 1752 he subjugated the kingdom of Ava, and in 1754 put to death the last king of the Birmans. He afterwards, however, lost his kingdom, and was made prisoner by Alompra, the chief of the Birmans, who, after subjecting him to a lengthened captivity, put him to an ignominious death.—G. M.  BEININ, ., or BENIGNUS, an Irish bishop, the son of Lecenan, a man of great power in Meath, who entertained St. Patrick on his way to Tara, and was, with his whole family, converted by him. Beinin received holy orders from the hands of St. Patrick, who afterwards consecrated him a bishop, and in 455 placed him in the episcopal chair of Armagh. In 465 he resigned this bishopric, and lived in retirement for three years, and died on the 9th November, 468. The "Leabhar na Cceart," (Book of Rights,) is said to have been written by St. Beinin, but it is probable that the work which, as it now exists, is very large, has been added to by more recent authors. It is a valuable book, and throws great light on the early history of Ireland. It is written partly in prose, and partly in verse. A copy in vellum is preserved in the library of Trinity college, Dublin.—J. F. W. <section end="507H" /> <section begin="507I" />BEIRAM,, a Turkish saint, founder and sheik of an order of dervishes called, from his name, Beirami, died about the year 1471. His tomb in the village of Sal, near Angora, was much resorted to by pilgrims. <section end="507I" /> <section begin="507J" />BEISCH,, a painter of landscapes and battles, born at Ravensburg in Swabia, in 1665. He was employed at Munich in painting the battles of the Elector Emanuel against the Turks in Hungary, (much better than fighting them.) Beisch visited Italy, and was imitated by Solimena. He had three styles, firm but dark, clear and true, and clear but weak. His composition resembles Poussin. His touch is light and vivacious. His etchings are scarce. Died 1748.—W. T. <section end="507J" /> <section begin="507K" />BEISLER,, a Bavarian statesman, born at Bensheim in 1790. He at first embraced the profession of arms, but in 1813 became general secretary of the minister of justice in the grand duchy of Frankfort. From this period until 1849, he was employed alternately in a civil and a military capacity, and was successively captain of a Bavarian battalion, president of the regency of Lower Bavaria, minister of justice, of public instruction and of worship, member of the German national assembly, and minister of the interior.—G. M. <section end="507K" /> <section begin="507L" />BEISSON,, an engraver, born at Aix, and died at Paris, 1820. This laborious artist, self-denying as an engraver, studied under Wille, and executed a large portion of that splendid work "La Galerie de Musée."—W. T. <section end="507L" /> <section begin="507M" />BEIYATO,, an Italian historian, native of Milan, in the second part of the sixteenth century; author of "A universal history from the Creation to 1569 of the Christian era." <section end="507M" /> <section begin="507N" />BEJAR,, son to the intellectual grandee who hesitated about accepting the dedication of Don Quixote, was a good amateur artist.—W. T. <section end="507N" /> <section begin="507O" />BEJOT,, a learned Frenchman, member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres; died in 1787. He assisted in drawing up the catalogue of the royal library in 1744, and wrote on some passages of Xenophon's Cyropedia. <section end="507O" /> <section begin="507Zcontin" />* BEKE,, born in 1800. The literary world is indebted to this accomplished English traveller for several valuable contributions to ethnographical and geographical science, the result of travels in Abyssinia, undertaken in company with Major Harris. The character of his researches may <section end="507Zcontin" />