BEYKANEER, or Bicanere, a principality of Asia, situated in the north-west of Hindostan, but the precise dimensions and limits of which are scarcely ascertained by [7:4:608]modern geographers. It extends from about 72. 10. to 75. 15. east longitude, and from 27. 40. to 29. 45. north latitude; and its superficial area probably amounts to not less than 17,000 square miles. It is bounded on the north by a country occupied by the Batties or people of Bat-neer; on the east by the territories of Hurriana or Shck-hawuttee, in the province of Delhi; on the south-east by Jeypour; on the south-west by Jesselmere; and on the west by Bahawulpoor. But these may be deemed obscure limits, for the countries named in them are scarcely better known than the subject of this article.

A vast proportion of the soil of Beykaneer is a barren sandy desert, or a hard flat clay, sounding like a board under horses’ feet, and entirely destitute of inhabitants, water, and vegetation. Many miles are occupied in hills and valleys of loôse heavy sand; the former, from twenty to a hundred feet in height, shifting their position and altering their shape according to the influence of the wind; and, during the heats of summer, clouds of moving sand threaten to overwhelm the traveller. Sometimes the phenomenon called mirage is exhibited in this desert, being that species of optical illusion, by which a spectator is induced to believe that he beholds a lake or a wide river well defined before him, reflecting surrounding objects, while there is nothing in view but a level uninterrupted surface.

Vegetation is exceedingly scanty throughout, except in a few patches, which are skilfully and industriously cultivated; and the whole country seems to depend on external supplies of grain. Nevertheless, in the midst of arid tracts, the water-melon, a juicy fruit, grows in profusion, attaining the remarkable size of three or four feet in circumference, from a stalk no larger than that of the common melon. The seeds are sown by the natives, and also grow wild; but it is difficult to account for such an enlargement of size with so little moisture. Water seems to be obtained only at an immense depth. The wells at Beykaneer are often from 300 to 345 feet in depth, yet not above three in diameter; they are all lined with masonry; and one of the most curious objects in the city of Beykancer is considered to be a well 300 feet deep, and fifteen or twenty in diameter, worked by four pair of oxen drawing as many buckets of water. The water is always brackish, scanty, and insalubrious; and this, combined with the nature of the soil, principally occasions the prevalent sterility of the country.

The wild ass, remarkable for its speed and its shyness, is found here, sometimes solitary, but oftener in herds. At a kind of shuffling trot, peculiar to itself, it will leave the best horses behind. Antelopes are seen in some parts; also foxes, but smaller than those of Britain; and the desert rat is found in great numbers, occasioning serious inconvenience to equestrians, from the holes it makes where the ground is sufficiently solid. Of domesticated animals, horses, bullocks, and camels, are in abundance; the last being kept in great herds for various purposes. The horses brought from the vicinity of the Lacky Jungle, an adjoining district, where they are reared on excellent pasture, and with the strictest attention, are much prized. But the original breed was greatly improved by the introduction of fine Persian horses, brought hither during the successive invasions of Hindostan by Nadir Shah and other eastern potentates. At present they bear very high prices, some of them bringing even L.250 sterling, a large sum in a poor country. But some decrease in the extent and quality of the breed has lately resulted from the impolitic conduct of the officers of the rajah of Beykaneer, by whom the owners are compelled to sell them at an under value. When purchased thus, the horses are sent on speculation to different parts of the Indian peninsula.

We are little acquainted with the manners and customs of the inhabitants of this country, otherwise than by their correspondence with those of the same tribes disseminated elsewhere in India. The natives are divided into two principal classes, Rajpoots and Jauts; the former the rulers, the latter the mass of the people. The Jauts are of small stature, black, ill-looking, and bear strong indications of poverty and wretchedness; the Rajpoots are stout and handsome, with Jewish features, of haughty manners an indolent disposition, and greatly addicted to intoxication with opium. It is doubtful whether the Rajpoots of Beykaneer entertain those elevated and magnanimous sentiments so peculiar to their tribe, whether they are animated by that high sense of honour and impatience of indignity which, united to the violence of their passions, lead to the most terrible catastrophes. When a man of rank finds himself beset by an enemy, from whom he has no chance of escape, he inquires whether, by surrender, he can preserve the honour of his family; should the answer be equivocal or unfavourable, he clothes himself in yellow, the symbol of despair, and repairing along with his nearest relatives to the apartments of the females, the whole are involved in promiscuous destruction; nor is it uncommon, on such occasions, for the women themselves to commit suicide. The Rajpoot then rushes furiously against his enemies, and though he should be successful and prevail over them, rather than survive his dire calamity he plunges his sword in his own breast. The same sense of dishonour induces females of rank to deem themselves contaminated by the gaze of any man but their most intimate relatives; and it also leads them to ascend the funeral pile of their husbands, lest, by survivance, they should lose the consideration of the world. The people of the East, while more placid and resigned to fate, are, at the same time, agitated by more acute and ungovernable passions than the inhabitants of the Western World. A Mahommedan officer of high rank, who was hard pressed by a victorious enemy, approaching the place where his wife and daughter had sought refuge on the banks of a river, gave the following account of his conduct: “I leapt from my horse, and seizing each by a hand, rushed with them into the water up to their waists, and covered the rest of their persons with a cloth: I drew my sword to defend them with my life from further insult, and, happily for my honour, their faces were not seen by the eyes of a stranger.” Of late the Rajpoots of Beykaneer have been accused of being cruel and treacherous.

The population of this territory is altogether uncertain; but, from the scarcity of water, it is probably very much restricted. The inhabitants are dispersed in towns and villages, of which Beykaneer, near the southern frontier, in about 27° 55' north latitude, the capital, and Churoo, on the eastern frontier, are the principal. Beykaneer, surrounded by lofty white walls, strengthened with numerous round towers crowned by battlements, presents the imposing picture of a great and magnificent city in the midst of a wilderness. But on entering the gates the illusion vanishes; and it is found to consist, for the most part, of huts built of mud, and painted red. Nevertheless, there are some high houses, several temples, and at one corner ι lofty and fine-looking fortress, a quarter of a mile square, environed by a wall thirty feet high, and a good dry ditch. The interior is a confused assemblage of towers and battlements, overtopped by houses; and it contains the royal palace, a curious old edifice. Churoo, independent of the suburbs, is above a mile and a half in circuit, and, althoug situate among sand hills, has a handsome appearance. A the houses have terraces, and are built of a pure win e limestone, like those of Beykaneer. Villages are occasionally seen in the most dismal situations, to which their mi [7:4:609] serable aspect corresponds. They consist of a few round huts of straw, with low walls, and conical roofs like little stacks of corn, and surrounded by hedges of thorny branches stuck in the sand. A modern traveller, describing the town of Pooggul, observes, “If I could present to my reader the foreground of high sand hills, the village of straw huts, the clay walls of the little fort going to ruins, as the soil which supported them was blown away by the winds, and the sea of sand which formed the rest of the prospect, he would probably feel, as I did, a sort of wonder at the people who could reside in so dismal a wilderness, and of horror at the life to which they seemed to be condemned.” The city of Beykaneer is said to stand 219 miles north-west of Delhi, but its real position is southwest, and we conceive the distance to be not less than 260 or 280 miles. Fortresses are not so common in this territory as in a large portion of Hindostan, owing to the equality of the surface.

Scarcely any thing definite can be said regarding the occupation and pursuits of the people in their trade and manufactures. Cattle of an inferior breed, and horses, are the only exports; rice, sugar, opium, and indigo, are obtained from the Punjab; salt from Samber; wheat from Jeypour; and spices, copper, and coarse cloth, are imported from Jesselmere.

Beykaneer is governed by a rajah, who is a sovereign and independent prince, though he seems formerly to have been tributary to the monarch of Delhi, and even acknowledged the supremacy of Britain when Delhi had fallen under a foreign power. He enjoys an absolute sway over the lives and property of his subjects, and maintains considerable state in his reception of strangers. His revenues do not exceed L.50,000 per annum, though occasionally augmented to nearly double that sum by vexatious imposts on merchandise in transitu. The consequence is, that those caravans which were accustomed to take the route of this province from Surat to Tatta, a town on the Indus, follow another course, in order to avoid such exactions. The resources of Beykaneer are thus very small, which is not surprising, considering they are derived from a country that becomes an absolute desert even within a few yards of the capital. The forces amount to about 10,000 men, of whom 2000 are cavalry, and these troops are paid by assignments of land. The rajah Soorut Sing having profusely dissipated the treasure accumulated by his predecessors, became cruel and tyrannical. Oppressive exactions to relieve pressing necessities alienated the regard of his subjects, and an army of mercenaries became necessary to preserve his authority. He was suspected of poisoning an elder brother, and undoubtedly murdered the envoy of another prince passing through his dominions. Yet, being strict in his external devotions, and religiously abstaining from prohibited food, his people have admitted him to the character of sanctity. The sovereign of Beykaneer has to contend with many enemies, who, in their turn, are opposed by the most powerful obstacles. Water must be earned by an invading army; for the natives either poison the wells, fill them up, or cover them over in such a manner that they cannot possibly be found; and, besides, they n 1 ux arsenic with bread, which is insidiously disposed of in the hostile camp. A number of years ago, George Thomas, a celebrated adventurer, who raised himself to the government of a neighbouring territory, invaded Beykaneer, ≡nd compelled the rajah to purchase peace with L.25,000. He also aided the Batties in expelling him, on occasion of an incursion he had made into their country. More recently, a war having commenced between the rajahs of Joudpour and Jeypour contending for the hand of an eastern princess, the interference of Soorut Sing excited the wr ath of some of the competitors against himself. Five different armies invaded Beykaneer in 1808, when the rajah filled up all the wells within ten miles of the walls of his capital. The contest was protracted for a considerable time, but the rajah succeeded in maintaining himself as an independent prince. His existence as such was further secured to him by his being admitted, in 1818, within the line of British protection.

See Franklin’s Memoirs of General Thomas; Scott’s Memoirs of Eradut Khan; Franklin’s Tracts; Elphinstone’s Account of Cabul.