Formerly it should seem, that wood was cultivated in this country, but it is so long since, that the name is now hardly known among the inhabitants. On the husbandry and state of rural affairs in this county, much valuable information' will be found in Thomas Batchelor's Agricultural Report on Bedfordshire, Printed in 1808. A very Small portion of Bedfordshire now remains in the state of common or uninclosed. An agricultural society was established at Bedford in the }ear 1801, but which rather on'the de cline since 1803.
Mr Benjamin Bevan of Leighton-Busard has for some years kept a meteorological journal, which, with some account of the rain which falls about Woburn, will be found in the volumes of the Monthly Maga zine. There is a book society at Bedford, and per haps some others, but there is not in the county any scientific institution.
Bedfordshire, in common with Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, formed the habitation of the Cat tieuchlani, a British tribe, whose chief was Cassivel launus, at the time of the Roman invasion under Ju lius CTsaL. After the division of this island into five provinces, by the Emperor Constantine, about the year 310, Bedfordshire fell into the province called Flavia Cxsariensis. At the establishment of the Mercian kingdom it was included therein, and so continued until the year 827, when, in common with the rest of the kingdom, it beadle subject to Egbert king of the west Saxons. Upon the subdivision of the kingdom into shires, hundreds, and tithings, this county was formed as it at present remains. It is crossed by two Roman roads, the Watling Street, which enters it at Dunstable, and leaves it between Heath and Potsgrave ; and the Ichnild way, which enters it in Eaton Bray, and leaves it south-west of Barton. At Sandy, near Potton, is a Roman encampment called Salem;; and Maiden Bower, north west of Dunstable, is said to be another. At Totternhoe, near this, are two hills which have been fortified, and another at Ridgemont. See Britton's Beauties of England and Wales, vol. i ; Lyson's Magna Britannia, vol. i ; and Batchelor's Agricultural . Report on Bedfordshire.
or BEDOWANS, the wandering tribes of Arabs that inhabit the deserts c! Arabia, and other uncultivated parts of Asia and of Africa, which have been peopled from the original Arabian stock. Their name, which in Arabic is Bedouai, denotes wander ers, or inhabitants of the desert, being derived from bid, a desert. They are supposed to be descended from Ishmael, and are the legitimate representatives of the Arabcs &enitce, or tented Arabians of the ancients. They never dwell in houses, hut pitch their tents on spots of the desert which have springs and a little pasturage, sufficient to support their herds of camels, goats, sheep, or horses ; and mi grate from place to place, as their wants and inclina tion prompt them, taking care, however, not to en croach upon the district belonging to other tribes of the desert.
Although the Bedouins are divided into indepen dent tribes or communities, which are frequently hostile to one another, they may still be considered as forming but one nation ; as they have the same common origin, the same customs and religion, and speak the same language. Each tribe is composed of one or more principal families, the chiefs of which are called scheiks, or lords. Of these seheiks, one as sumes the supreme command, both in war and in peace,•and is sometimes called emir, or prince. His authority, however, is rather patriarchal than des potic ; and he is desirous of extending his power, by forming alliances with the chiefs of smaller tribes, ivho are too weak to maintain their own indepen dence, and whom he attaches to himself by supply ing their wants. The tribes are distinguished by the names of their respective chiefs, or by that of the ruling family ; and when they speak of any of the individuals that compose them, they call them the children of such a chief; as for example, Beni Tenzin, Oulad Tai, the children of Temm and of Tai. The tribes of the deserts of Arabia, properly so called, have descended by an uninterrupted suc cession from the remotest ages; but the African tribes are of less ancient origin, being posterior to the conquests in that country, by the caliphs, or suc cessors of Mahomet. • The description of the ancestors of the Bedouins, given by Diodorus Sieulus, 1S00 years ago, is by no 711=3 inapplicable to their present state. " The wandering Arabs," says that dwell in the open country, without any roof, They them selves call their country a solitude. They do not choose for their abode, places abounding in rivers and foun tains, lest that allurement alone should draw their enemies into their neighbourhood. Their law, or their custom, forbids them to sow corn, to. plant fruit-trees, to make use of wine, or to inhabit houses. He who should violate these usages would
be punished infallibly with .death ; because they are persuaded, that whoever is capable of subjecting himself to such inconveniences, would soon submit to a master, in order to preserve them. Some lead their camels to graze, some their sheep. The latter are the wealthiest ; for, besides the•advantages they derive from their flocks, they go to sell in the sea ports, frankincense, myrrh, and other precious aro matics, which they have received in exchange from the inhabitants of Arabia Felix. Extremely jealous of their liberty, at the news of the approach of an army, they take refuge in the depth of the deserts, the extent of which serves them as a rampart. The enemy, in fact, perceiving no water, could not dare to traverse them, whilst the Arabs, being furnished with it, by means of vessels concealed in the earth, with which they arc acquainted, are in no danger of this want. The whole soil being composed of clayey and soft earth, they find means to dig deep and vast cisterns, of a square form, each side of which is the length of an acre. Having filled them with rain water, they close up the entrance, which they make uniform with the neighbouring ground, leaving some imperceptible token, known only to themselves. They accustom their flocks to drink only once in three days, so that when they are obliged to fly across these parched sands, they may be habituated to sup port thirst. As for themselves, they live on -flesh and milk, and common and ordinary fruits. They have in their fields the tree which bears pepper ; and a great deal of wild honey, which they drink with water. There are other Arabs who cultivate the earth. They are tributary, like the Syrians, and resemble them in other respects, except that they do not dwell in houses. Such are very nearly the man ners of this people." The Bedouins of Arabia justly boast of their in dependence, since they have never been conquered ; nor have they assimilated themselves with other na tions by making conquests. The revolution effected by Mahomet had little influence upon these wander ing tribes ; and we find the prophet, in his Koren, styling them rebels and infidels. They have indeed adopted the Mussulman faith, but their manner of life, and the places in which they dwell, effectually secure them from foreign dominion. To figure to ourselves the country which they inhabit, we must, says M. Volney, imagine a sky almost perpetually inflamed, and without clouds ; immense and bound , less plains, without houses, trees, rivulets, or hills ; 'where the eye frequently meets nothing but an ex tensive and uniform horizon like the sea, though in some places the ground is uneven and stony. 'Al most invariably naked on everrside, the earth pre sents nothing but a few wild plants thinly scattered ; and thickets, whose solitude is rarely disturbed but by antelopes, hares, locusts, and rats. Such is the nature of nearly the whole country, which extends (300 leagues in length, and SOO in breadth, stretching from Aleppo to the Arabian Sea, and from Egypt' to the Persian Gulf, The soil, however, varies considerably in different places, and this variety occasions corresponding dif ferences in the manners and condition of the Be douins. In the more sterile districts, the tribes arc feeble and thinly scattered. This is the case in the desert of Suez, that of the Red Sea, and the interior of the great desert called the Najd. In general, the Bedouins are a small, meagre, and tawny race ; but. those who inhabit the heart of the desert are much more so than those who dwell.on the frontiers of the country. When, in the time of the Sheik Daher, some of the horsemen of a remote tribe came to visit Acre, every body viewed with surprise this meagre, swarthy, and diminutive race. Their wither-, ed legs were composed only of tendons, and had no calves. Their bellies seemed to cling to their backs, and their hair was frizzled almost as much as that of the negroes. They, on the other hand, v.:erc no astonished at every, thing they saw ; • they were un able to conceive how the houses and minarets could stand erect, or bow men ventured to dwell beneath them, and always in the same spot ; hut, above all, they were in an eestacy on beholding the sea, nor could they comprehend what that mighty desert of water could be. The Bedouins who are settled near towns and fertile provinces, enjoy many more com forts than those of the desert, and till the ground as • well as tend their flocks. They are, however, redu ced, in some measure, to a state of dependence on, the sovereigns of the adjacent country. But the, Bedouins on the confines of the desert have maintain ed their liberty unimpaired, and preserve their pa.