[1] In Mg. Pr. every _r_ becomes _l_. For an explanation of the
apparent non-observance of this rule in languages of the Eastern
Group, see BIHARI.
BENGAZI (anc. _Hesperides-Berenice_), a seaport on the north coast of
Africa, capital of the sanjak of Bengazi or Barca, formerly in the
vilayet of Tripoli, but, since 1875, dependent directly on the ministry
of the interior at Constantinople. It is situated on a narrow strip of
land between the Gulf of Sidra and a salt marsh, in 30 deg. 7' N. lat.
and 20 deg. 3' E. long. Though for the most part poorly built, it has
one or two buildings of some pretension--an ancient castle, a mosque, a
Franciscan monastery, government buildings and barracks. Senussi
influence is strong and there is a large _zawia_ (convent). The harbour
is half silted up with sand and the ruins of fortifications and is
accessible only to vessels of light draught. A lighthouse has been
erected at the entrance, but reefs render approach difficult, and the
outer anchorage is fully exposed to west and north and not good holding.
The export trade is largely in barley, shipped to British and other
maltsters. The Sudan produce (ivory, ostrich feathers, &c.) formerly
brought to Bengazi by caravan, has now been almost wholly diverted to
Tripoli, the eastern tracks from Wadai and Borku by way of Kufra to
Aujila having become so unsafe that their natural difficulties are no
longer worth braving. Consular vigilance has also killed the once
considerable slave trade. Trade in other commodities, however, is on the
increase, exports now amounting to nearly half a million sterling and
imports to half that figure. The neighbouring coast is frequented by
Greek and Italian sponge-fishers, the industry being a valuable one. The
province of Bengazi, being still without telegraphs or roads, is one of
the most backward in the Ottoman empire.
Founded by the Greeks of Cyrenaica under the name Hesperides, the town
received from Ptolemy III. the name of Berenice in compliment to his
wife. The ruins of the ancient town, which superseded Cyrene and Barca
as chief place in the province after the 3rd century A.D., are now
nearly buried in the sand. The modern town lies south-west of the
original site. Certain large natural pits which are found in the plain
behind, and have luxuriant gardens at the bottom, are supposed to have
originated the myth of the Gardens of the Hesperides. Ancient tombs are
found, which in 1882 yielded fine Greek vases to G. Dennis, then British
vice-consul. The present name is derived from that of a Moslem saint
whose tomb, near the sea-coast, is an object of veneration. The
population, amounting to about 25,000, is greatly mixed. Levantines,
Maltese, Greeks and Jews form the trading community, but since 1895,
when a branch of the Agenzia Italiana Commerciale was established at
Bengazi, Italians have exercised an increasing influence on Cyrenaic
commerce. Turks, Arabs and Berbers are the ruling castes, and negroes
act as labourers and domestics. Many of these found their way to Crete,
and becoming porters, &c. in Canea and Candia, were notorious for
turbulence and fanaticism. In 1897 and 1898 the European admirals
forcibly deported consignments of the worst characters back to Bengazi.
In 1858 and again in 1874 the town was devastated by plague (see also
TRIPOLI and CYRENAICA). (D. G. H.)
BENGEL, JOHANN ALBRECHT (1687-1752), Lutheran divine and scholar, was
born at Winnenden in Wurttemberg, on the 24th of June 1687. His father
died in 1693, and Bengel was educated by a friend, who became a master
in the gymnasium at Stuttgart. In 1703 Bengel left Stuttgart and entered
the university of Tubingen, where, in his spare time, he devoted himself
specially to the works of Aristotle and Spinoza, and in theology to
those of Philipp Spener, Johann Arndt and August Franke. His knowledge
of the metaphysics of Spinoza was such that he was selected by one of
the professors to prepare materials for a treatise _De Spinosismo_,
which was afterwards published. After taking his degree, Bengel devoted
himself to theology. Even at this time he had religious doubts; it is
interesting in view of his later work that one cause of his perplexities
was the difficulty of ascertaining the true reading of certain passages
in the Greek New Testament. In 1707 Bengel entered the ministry and was
appointed to the parochial charge of Metzingen-unter-Urach. In the
following year he was recalled to Tubingen to undertake the office of
_Repetent_ or theological tutor. Here he remained till 1713, when he was
appointed head of a seminary recently established at Denkendorf as a
preparatory school of theology. Before entering on his new duties he
travelled through the greater part of Germany, studying the systems of
education which were in use, and visiting the seminaries of the Jesuits
as well as those of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. Among other
places he went to Heidelberg and Halle, and had his attention directed
at Heidelberg to the canons of scripture criticism published by Gerhard
von Mastricht, and at Halle to C. Vitringa's _Anacrisis ad Apocalypsin_.
The influence exerted by these upon his theological studies is manifest
in some of his works. For twenty-eight years--from 1713 to 1741--he was
master (_Klosterpraceptor_) of the _Klosterschule_ at Denkendorf, a
seminary for candidates for the ministry established in a former
monastery of the canons of the Holy Sepulchre. To these years, the
period of his greatest intellectual activity, belong many of his chief
works. In 1741 he was appointed prelate (i.e. _General Superintendent_)
at Herbrechtingen, where he remained till 1749, when he was raised to
the dignity of consistorial counsellor and prelate of Alpirspach, with a
residence in Stuttgart. He now devoted himself to the discharge of his
duties as a member of the consistory. A question of considerable
difficulty was at that time occupying the attention of the church
courts, viz. the manner in which those who separated themselves from the
church were to be dealt with, and the amount of toleration which should
be accorded to meetings held in private houses for the purpose of
religious edification. The civil power (the duke of Wurttemberg was a
Roman Catholic) was disposed to have recourse to measures of repression,
while the members of the consistory, recognizing the good effects of
such meetings, were inclined to concede considerable liberty. Bengel
exerted himself on the side of the members of the consistory. In 1751
the university of Tubingen conferred upon him the degree of doctor of
divinity. He died after a short illness, in 1752.
The works on which Bengel's reputation rests as a Biblical scholar and
critic are his edition of the Greek New Testament, and his _Gnomon_ or
_Exegetical Commentary_ on the same.
(A.) His edition of the Greek Testament was published at Tubingen in
1734, and at Stuttgart in the same year, but without the critical
apparatus. So early as 1725, in an addition to his edition of
Chrysostom's _De Sacerdotio_, he had given an account in his _Prodromus
Novi Testamenti Graeci recte cauteque adornandi_ of the principles on
which his intended edition was to be based. In preparation for his work
Bengel was able to avail himself of the collations of upwards of twenty
MSS., none of them, however, of great importance, twelve of which had
been collated by himself. In constituting the text, he imposed upon
himself the singular restriction of not inserting any various reading
which had not already been _printed_ in some preceding edition of the
Greek text. From this rule, however, he deviated in the case of the
Apocalypse, where, owing to the corrupt state of the text, he felt
himself at liberty to introduce certain readings on manuscript
authority. In the lower margin of the page he inserted a selection of
various readings, the relative importance of which he denoted by the
first five letters of the Greek alphabet in the following
manner:--[alpha] was employed to denote the reading which in his
judgment was the true one, although he did not venture to place it in
the text; [beta], a reading better than that in the text; [gamma], one
equal to the textual reading; [delta] and [epsilon], readings inferior
to those in the text. R. Etienne's division into verses was retained in
the inner margin, but the text was divided into paragraphs. The text was
followed by a critical apparatus, the first part of which consisted of
an introduction to the criticism of the New Testament, in the
thirty-fourth section of which he laid down and explained his celebrated
canon, _"Proclivi scriptioni praestat ardua"_ ("The difficult reading is
to be preferred to that which is easy"), the soundness of which, as a
general principle, has been recognized by succeeding critics. The second
part of the critical apparatus was devoted to a consideration of the
various readings, and here Bengel adopted the plan of stating the
evidence both _against_ and _in favour_ of a particular reading, thus
placing before the reader the materials for forming a judgment. Bengel
was the first definitely to propound the theory of families or
recensions of MSS. His investigations had led him to see that a certain
affinity or resemblance existed amongst many of the authorities for the
Greek text--MSS., versions, and ecclesiastical writers; that if a
peculiar reading, e.g., was found in one of these, it was generally
found also in the other members of the same class; and this general
relationship seemed to point ultimately to a common origin for all the
authorities which presented such peculiarities. Although disposed at
first to divide the various documents into three classes, he finally
adopted a classification into two--the African or older family of
documents, and the Asiatic, or more recent class, to which he attached
only a subordinate value. The theory was afterwards adopted by J.S.
Semler and J.J. Griesbach, and worked up into an elaborate system by the
latter critic. Bengel's labours on the text of the Greek Testament were
received with great disfavour in many quarters. Like Brian Walton and
John Mill before him, he had to encounter the opposition of those who
believed that the certainty of the word of God was endangered by the
importance attached to the various readings. J.J. Wetstein, on the other
hand, accused him of excessive caution in not making freer use of his
critical materials. In answer to these strictures, Bengel published a
_Defence of the Greek Text of His New Testament_, which he prefixed to
his _Harmony of the Four Gospels_, published in 1736, and which
contained a sufficient answer to the complaints, especially of Wetstein,
which had been made against him from so many different quarters. The
text of Bengel long enjoyed a high reputation among scholars, and was
frequently reprinted. An enlarged edition of the critical apparatus was
published by Philip David Burk in 1763.
(B.) The other great work of Bengel, and that on which his reputation as
an exegete is mainly based, is his _Gnomon Novi Testamenti, or
Exegetical Annotations on the New Testament_, published in 1742. It was
the fruit of twenty years' labour, and exhibits with a brevity of
expression, which, it has been said, "condenses more matter into a line
than can be extracted from pages of other writers," the results of his
study. He modestly entitled his work a _Gnomon_ or index, his object
being rather to guide the reader to ascertain the meaning for himself,
than to save him from the trouble of personal investigation. The
principles of interpretation on which he proceeded were, to import
nothing _into_ Scripture, but to draw _out of_ it everything that it
really contained, in conformity with grammatico-historical rules; not to
be hampered by dogmatical considerations; and not to be influenced by
the symbolical books. Bengel's hope that the _Gnomon_ would help to
rekindle a fresh interest in the study of the New Testament was fully
realized. It has passed through many editions, has been translated into
German and into English, and is still one of the books most valued by
expositors of the New Testament. John Wesley made great use of it in
compiling his _Expository Notes upon the New Testament_ (1755).
Besides the two works already described, Bengel was the editor or author
of many others, classical, patristic, ecclesiastical and expository. The
more important are: _Ordo Temporum_, a treatise on the chronology of
Scripture, in which he enters upon speculations regarding the end of the
world, and an _Exposition of the Apocalypse_ which enjoyed for a time
great popularity in Germany, and was translated into several languages.
AUTHORITIES.--For full details regarding Bengel the reader is referred
to Oskar Wachter's _J.A. Bengels Lebensabriss_ and to the _Memoir of
His Life and Writings_ (_J.A. Bengels Leben und Wirken_), by J.C.F.
Burk, translated into English by Rev. R.F. Walker (London, 1837); see
also Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_, and E. Nestle, _Bengel als
Gelehrter_ (1893).
BENGUELLA (Sao Felipe de Benguella), a town of Portuguese West Africa,
capital of Benguella district, on a bay of the same name, in 12 deg. 33'
S., 13 deg. 25' E. Benguella was founded in 1617 by the Portuguese under
Manoel Cerveira Pereira. It was long the centre of an important trade,
especially in slaves to Brazil and Cuba, but has now greatly declined.
The anchorage, about a mile from the town, in 4 to 6 fathoms, is nothing
but an open roadstead. Besides the churches of S. Felipe and S. Antonio,
the hospital, and the fortress, there are only a few stone-built houses.
The white population numbers about 1500. A short way beyond Benguella is
Bahia Tarta, where salt is manufactured and sulphur excavated.
About 20 m. north of Benguella is Lobito Bay, a natural harbour chosen
(1903) as the starting-point of a railway to Katanga. At Lobito steamers
can come close inshore and discharge cargo direct. Lobito is connected
with Benguella by a railway which passes about midway through
Katumbella, a town at the mouth of the river of the same name, and the
sea terminus of an ancient route from the heart of Central Africa
through Bihe. Old Benguella is a small town about 120 m. north of Lobito
Bay.
BENI, a river of Bolivia, a tributary of the Madeira, rising in the
elevated Cordilleras near the city of La Paz and at first known as the
Rio de La Paz, and flowing east, and north-east, to a junction with the
Mamore at 10 deg. 20' S. lat. to form the Madeira. Fully one-half of its
length is through the mountainous districts of central Bolivia, where it
is fed by a large number of rivers and streams from the snowclad peaks,
and may be described as a raging torrent. Below Reyes its course is
through the forest-covered hills and open plains of northern Bolivia,
where some of the old Indian missions were located. The lower river is
navigable for 217 m. from Reyes to the Esperanza rapids, 18 m. above its
confluence with the Mamore, where a fall of 20 ft. in a distance of 330
yds. obstructs free navigation. Its principal affluent is the Madre de
Dios, or Mayu-tata, which rises in the eastern Cordilleras about 35 m.
east of Cuzco, and flows in an east and north-east direction through
northern Bolivia to a junction with the Beni 120 m. above its mouth. The
principal tributaries of the Madre de Dios are the Inambari and
Paucartambo, both large rivers, and the Chandless, Marcapata, and
Tambopata. In length and size of its tributaries the Madre de Dios is a
more important river than the Beni itself, and is navigable during the
wet season to the foot of the Andes, 180 m. from Cuzco.
BENI (EL BENI), a department of north-eastern Bolivia, bounded N. and E.
by Brazil, S. by the departments of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, and W. by
La Paz and the national territory contiguous to Peru and Brazil. Pop.
(est., 1900) 32,180, including 6000 wild Indians; area (est., probably
too high) 102,111 sq. m. The "Llanos de Mojos," famous for their
flourishing Jesuit mission settlements of the 17th and 18th centuries,
occupy the eastern part of this department and are still inhabited by an
industrious peaceful native population, devoted to cattle raising and
primitive methods of agriculture. Cattle and forest products, including
rubber and coca, are exported to a limited extent. The capital, Trinidad
(pop. 2556), is situated on the Mamore river in an open fertile country,
and was once a flourishing Jesuit mission.
BENI-AMER (AMIR), a tribe of African "Arabs" of Hamitic stock,
ethnologically intermediate between Abyssinians and Nubians. They are of
the Beja family, and occupy the coast of the Red Sea south of Suakin and
portions of the adjacent coast-country of Eritrea, north of Abyssinia.
They are of very mixed Beja and Abyssinian blood, and speak a dialect
half Beja and half Tigre, locally known as _Hassa_. They marry the women
of the Bogos and other mountain tribes; but are too proud to let their
daughters marry Abyssinians.
See _Anglo-Egyptian Sudan_, ed. Count Gleichen (London, 1905); A.H.
Keane, _Ethnology of Egyptian Sudan_ (1884); G. Sergi, _Africa:
Antropologia della Stirpe Camitica_ (Turin, 1897).
BENI-ISRAEL ("Sons of Israel"), a colony of Jews settled on the Malabar
coast in Kolaba district, Bombay presidency, chiefly centring in the
native state of Janjira. With the Jews of Cochin, they represent a very
ancient Judaic invasion of India, and are to be entirely distinguished
from those Jews who have come to India in modern days for purposes of
trade. Some authorities believe that the Beni-Israel settled in Kolaba
in the 15th century, but they themselves have traditions which indicate
a far longer connexion with India (see JEWS: S 3).
BENIN, the name of a country, city and river of British West Africa,
west of the main channel of the Niger, forming part of the protectorate
of Southern Nigeria. The name was formerly applied to the coast from the
Volta, in 0 deg. 40' E., to the Rio del Rey, in 8 deg. 40' E., and
included the Slave Coast, the whole delta of the Niger and a small
portion of the country to the eastward. Some trace of this earlier
application remains in the name "Bight of Benin," still given to that
part of the sea which washes the Slave Coast, whilst up to 1894 "Benin"
was used to designate the French possessions on the coast now included
in Dahomey.
In its restricted sense Benin is the country formerly ruled by the king
of Benin city. This area, at one time very extensive, gradually
contracted as subject tribes and towns acquired independence. It may be
described as bounded W. by Lagos, S. by the territory of the Jakri and
other tribes of the Niger delta, E. by the Niger river, and N. by
Yorubaland. The coast-line held by Benin had passed out of its
sovereignty by the middle of the 19th century. In physical
characteristics, climate, flora and fauna, Benin in no way differs from
the rest of the southern portion of Nigeria (q.v.). The coast is low,
intersected by creeks, and forms one huge mangrove swamp; on the rising
ground inland are dense forests in which the cotton and mahogany trees
are conspicuous.
Benin river (known also as the Jakri outlet), though linked to the Niger
system by a network of creeks, is an independent stream. It is formed by
the junction of two rivers, the Ethiope and the Jamieson, which rise
(north of 6 deg. N,) on the western side of the hills which slope east
to the Niger river. They unite about 50 m. above the sea. The general
course of the Benin is westerly. It enters the Atlantic in about 5 deg.
46' N., 5 deg. 3' E., and at its mouth is 2 m. wide. It is here
obstructed by a sand-bar over which there is 12-14 ft. of water at high
tide. The river is navigable by small steamers up to Sapele, a town on
the south bank immediately below the junction of the head streams. The
Ologi and Gwato creeks enter the Benin on the right or north bank, and
on the same side (8 m. above the mouth of the river) a channel, the
Lagos creek, 170 m. long, branches off to the north-west, affording a
waterway to Lagos. From the south or left bank of the Benin the Forcados
mouth of the Niger can be reached by the Nana creek.
The Beni are a pure negro tribe, speaking a distinct language, but
having many characteristics common to those of the Yoruba-and
Ewe-speaking tribes. Like the Ashanti and Dahomeyans the Beni had a
well-organized and powerful government and possessed a culture rare
among negro races (see below, _History_).
Benin city is situated in a clearing of the forest, about 25 m. from the
river-port of Gwato, on Gwato creek. The principal building is the
British residency, which is constructed of brick and timber. A primary
school, supported by the native chiefs, was opened in 1901, and a
meteorological station was established in 1902. In 1904 the town was
placed in telegraphic communication with the rest of the protectorate
and with Europe. Of the ancient city, whose buildings excited the
admiration of travellers in the 17th and 18th centuries, scarcely a
trace remains. The houses are neatly built of clay, coloured with red
ochre, and frequently ornamented with rudely carved pillars. The port of
Gwato, which lies about 30 m. north-north-east of the mouth of the Benin
river, has a special interest as the place where Giovanni Belzoni, the
explorer of Egyptian antiquities, died in 1823 when starting on an
expedition to Timbuktu. No trace of his grave can now be found. Wari
(formerly known also as Owari, Oywhere, &c.) is a much-frequented port
on a branch of the Niger of the same name reached from the Forcados
mouth, and is 55 m. south of Benin city.
Since the abolition of the slave trade the chief export of the country
is palm-oil. Other trade products were from time to time--with the
desire to preserve the isolation and independence of the country--placed
under fetish, i.e. their export was forbidden, so that in 1897 the only
article in which trade was allowed by the king was palm-oil. After the
British occupation, an extensive trade developed in oil, kernels,
timber, ivory, rubber, &c. In the rubber and timber industries great
strides have been made. The chiefs and people have shown considerable
aptitude in adapting themselves to the new order of things. Among the
articles prized by the Beni is coral, of which the chiefs wear great
quantities as ornaments.
_History._--Benin was discovered by the Portuguese about the year 1485,
and they carried on a brisk trade in slaves, who were taken to Elmina
and sold to the natives of the Gold Coast. At that time and for more
than two centuries afterwards, Benin seems to have been one of the most
powerful states of West Africa. It was known to Europeans in the 17th
century as the Great Benin. The towns of Lagos and Badagry were both
founded by Benin colonists. Benin city was the seat of a theocracy of
priests, in whose hands the oba or king, nominally supreme, appears to
have often been a puppet. He was revered by his subjects as a species of
divinity, and seldom left the enclosure surrounding the royal palace.
The religion and mythology of the Beni, like those of the Yorubas, are
based on spirit- and ancestor-worship (see NEGRO and AFRICA:
_Ethnology_); the chief spirit or juju was worshipped with human
sacrifices to an appalling extent, the Benin fetish being considered the
most powerful in all West Africa. The usual form of sacrifice was
crucifixion. Many chiefs, in no way politically dependent on Benin, used
to send annual presents to the juju. The Benin people do not appear to
have indulged in wanton cruelty, and it is stated that they usually
stupefied the victims before putting them to death. The people were
skilled in brass work; their carving and design were alike excellent.
Carved ivory objects abound, and there are many evidences of the skill
attained by native artists, who perhaps owed something to their contact
with the Portuguese. The weaving of cloth was also carried on. The Beni
remained politically and socially almost unaffected by European
influence until the occupation of their country by the British in 1897,
their connexion with the white men having previously been almost
confined to matters of trade. The Portuguese withdrew from the coast in
the 18th century, but one of the most striking proofs of their
commercial influence is the fact that a corrupt Lusitanian dialect was
spoken by the older natives up to the last quarter of the 19th century.
The first English expedition to Benin was in 1553; after that time a
considerable trade grew up between England and that country, ivory,
palm-oil and pepper being the chief commodities exported from Benin. The
Dutch afterwards established factories and maintained them for a
considerable time, chiefly with a view to the slave trade. In 1788
Captain Landolphe founded a factory called Barodo, near the native
village of Obobi for the French Compagnie d'Oywhere; and it lasted till
1792, when it was destroyed by the English. In 1863 Sir Richard Burton,
then British consul at Fernando Po, went to Benin to try and put a stop
to human sacrifices, an attempt in which he did not succeed. At that
time the decline in power of the kingdom of Benin was obvious, and the
city was in a decaying condition. In 1885 the coast-line of Benin was
placed under British protection, and steps were taken to enter into
friendly relations with the king. Consul G.F.N.B. Annesley[1] saw the
king in 1890, with the hope of making a treaty, but failed in his
object. In March 1892 Captain H.L. Gallwey, British vice-consul,
succeeded in concluding a treaty with the king Overami. The treaty,
however, proved of no avail, and the king kept as aloof as of old from
any outside interference. In January 1897 J.R. Phillips, acting
consul-general, and eight Europeans were brutally massacred on the road
from Gwato to Benin city, whilst on a mission to the king. Phillips had
persisted in starting for Benin despite the repeated request of the king
that he should delay his visit until he (the king) had finished the
celebration of the annual "customs." Two Europeans, Captain Alan
Boisragon and R.F. Locke, alone escaped. A punitive expedition was
organized under the command of Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, the success of
which was a remarkable example of good organization hastily improvised.
The news of the massacre of Phillips's party reached Rear-Admiral
Rawson, the commander-in-chief on the Cape station, on the 4th of
January 1897. The flagship was at Simons Town. The small craft were
dispersed. Two ships at Malta had been ordered to join the Cape command.
A transport was chartered in the Thames for the purposes of the
expedition. In twenty-nine days a force of 1200 men, coming from three
places between 3000 and 4500 m. from the Benin river, was landed,
organized, equipped and provided with transport. Five days later the
city of Benin was taken, and in twelve days more the men were
re-embarked, and the ships coaled and ready for any further service. On
the 17th of February Benin was occupied after considerable fighting. The
town, which was found to be reeking of human sacrifices, was partly
burned, and on the 22nd the expedition started on its return. The king
and chiefs responsible for the massacre were placed on their trial by
Sir Ralph Moor, high commissioner for Southern Nigeria; the king was
deposed and deported to Calabar, and the chiefs, six in all, were
executed. The chief offender was not brought to justice until a second
punitive expedition in 1899 completed the pacification of the country.
After the removal of the king in September 1897 a council of chiefs was
appointed. This council carries on the government of the whole Beni
country, and is presided over by a British resident.
AUTHORITIES.--H.L. Roth, _Great Benin, its Customs, Art and Horrors_
(Halifax, 1903), a comprehensive and profusely illustrated work, with
an annotated bibliography; C.H. Read and O.M. Dalton, _Antiquities
from Benin ... in the British Museum_ (1899); Pitt Rivers, _Works of
Art from Benin_ (1900); R.E. Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man's
Mind_ (London, 1906); Sir R. Burton, _Wanderings in West Africa_
(London, 1863); H.L. Gallwey, "Journeys in the Benin Country," _Geog.
Jnl._, vol. i., London, 1893; A. Boisragon, _The Benin Massacre_
(London, 1897); R.H. Bacon, _Benin, the City of Blood_ (London, 1898),
by a member of the punitive expedition of 1897; the annual _Reports on
Southern Nigeria_, issued by the Colonial Office, London.