Act 1534, the power to grant such dispensations, which had been

exercised previously by the court of Rome, was transferred to the archbishop of Canterbury, certain ecclesiastical persons having been declared by a previous statute (1529) to be entitled to such dispensations. The system of pluralities carried with it, as a necessary consequence, systematic non-residence on the part of many incumbents, and delegation of their spiritual duties in respect of their cures of souls to assistant curates. The evils attendant on this system were found to be so great that the Pluralities Act 1838 was passed to abridge the holding of benefices in plurality, and it was enacted that no person should hold under any circumstances more than two benefices, and this privilege was made subject to the restriction that his benefices were within ten statute miles of each other. By the Pluralities Act 1850, the restriction was further narrowed, so that no spiritual person could hold two benefices except the churches of such benefices were within three miles of each other by the nearest road, and the annual value of one of such benefices did not exceed L100. By this statute the term benefice is defined to mean benefice with cure of souls and no other, and therein to comprehend all parishes, perpetual curacies, donatives, endowed public chapels, parochial chapelries and chapelries or districts belonging or reputed to belong, or annexed or reputed to be annexed, to any church or chapel. The Pluralities Acts Amendment Act 1885, however, enacted that, by dispensation from the archbishop, two benefices could be held together, the churches of which are within four miles of each other, and the annual value of one of which does not exceed L200.

All benefices except those under the clear annual value of L50 pay their first fruits (one year's profits) and tenths (of yearly profits) to Queen Anne's Bounty for the augmentation of the maintenance of the poorer clergy. Their profits during vacation belong to the next incumbent. Tithe rent charge attached to a benefice is relieved from payment of one-half of the agricultural rates assessed thereon. Benefices may be exchanged by agreement between incumbents with the consent of the ordinary, and they may, with the consent of the patron and ordinary, be united or dissolved after being united. They may also be charged with the repayment of money laid out for their permanent advantage, and be augmented wholly by the medium of Queen Anne's Bounty.

A benefice is avoided or vacated--(1) by death; (2) by resignation, if the bishop is willing to accept the resignation: by the Incumbents' Resignation Act 1871, Amendment Act 1887, any clergyman who has been an incumbent of one benefice continuously for seven years, and is incapacitated by permanent mental or bodily infirmities from fulfilling his duties, may, if the bishop thinks fit, have a commission appointed to consider the fitness of his resigning; and if the commission report in favour of his resigning, he may, with the consent of the patron (or, if that is refused, with the consent of the archbishop) resign the cure of souls into the bishop's hands, and have assigned to him, out of the benefice, a retiring-pension not exceeding one-third of its annual value, which is recoverable as a debt from his successor; (3) by cession, upon the clerk being instituted to another benefice or some other preferment incompatible with it; (4) by deprivation and sentence of an ecclesiastical court; under the Clergy Discipline Act 1892, an incumbent who has been convicted of offences against the law of bastardy, or against whom judgment has been given in a divorce or matrimonial cause, is deprived, and on being found guilty in the consistory court of immorality or ecclesiastical offences (not in respect of doctrine or ritual), he may be deprived or suspended or declared incapable of preferment; (5) by act of law in consequence of simony; (6) by default of the clerk in neglecting to read publicly in the church the Book of Common Prayer, and to declare his assent thereto within two months after his induction, pursuant to an act of 1662.

See also ADVOWSON; GLEBE; INCUMBENT; VICAR; also Phillimore, _Eccles. Law_; Cripps, _Law of Church and Clergy_.

BENEFICIARY (from Lat. _beneficium_, a benefit), in law, one who holds a benefice; one who is beneficially entitled to, or interested in, property, i.e. entitled to it for his own benefit, and not merely holding it for others, as does an executor or trustee. In this latter sense it is nearly equivalent to _cestui que trust_, a term which it is gradually superseding in modern law.

BENEKE, FRIEDRICH EDUARD (1798-1854), German psychologist, was born at Berlin on the 17th of February 1798, studied at the universities of Halle and Berlin, and served as a volunteer in the war of 1815. After studying theology under Schleiermacher and De Wette, he turned to pure philosophy, studying particularly English writers and the German modifiers of Kantianism, such as Jacobi, Fries and Schopenhauer. In 1820 he published his _Erkenntnisslehre_, his _Erfahrungsseelenlehre als Grundlage alles Wissens_, and his inaugural dissertation _De Veris Philosophiae Initiis_. His marked opposition to the philosophy of Hegel, then dominant in Berlin, was shown more clearly in the short tract, _Neue Grundlegung zur Metaphysik_ (1822), intended to be the programme for his lectures as privat-docent, and in the able treatise, _Grundlegung zur Physlk der Sitten_ (1822), written, in direct antagonism to Kant's _Metaphysic of Ethics_, to deduce ethical principles from a basis of empirical feeling. In 1822 his lectures were prohibited at Berlin, according to his own belief through the influence of Hegel with the Prussian authorities, who also prevented him from obtaining a chair from the Saxon government. He retired to Gottingen, lectured there for some years, and was then allowed to return to Berlin. In 1832 he received an appointment as _professor extraordinarius_ in the university, which he continued to hold till his death. On the 1st of March 1854 he disappeared, and more than two years later his remains were found in the canal near Charlottenburg. There was some suspicion that he had committed suicide in a fit of mental depression.

The distinctive peculiarity of Beneke's system consists, first, in the firmness with which he maintained that in empirical psychology is to be found the basis of all philosophy; and secondly, in his rigid treatment of mental phenomena by the genetic method. According to him, the perfected mind is a development from simple elements, and the first problem of philosophy is the determination of these elements and of the processes by which the development takes place. In his _Neue Psychologie_, (essays iii., viii. and ix.), he defined his position with regard to his predecessors and contemporaries, and both there and in the introduction to his _Lehrbuch_ signalized as the two great stages in the progress of psychology the negation of innate ideas by Locke, and of faculties, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, by Herbart. The next step was his own; he insisted that psychology must be treated as one of the natural sciences. As is the case with them, its content is given by experience alone, and differs from theirs only in being the object of the internal as opposed to the external sense. But by this Beneke in no wise meant a psychology founded on physiology. These two sciences, in his opinion, had quite distinct provinces and gave no mutual assistance. Just as little help is to be expected from the science of the body as from mathematics and metaphysics, both of which had been pressed by Herbart into the service of psychology. The true method of study is that applied with so much success in the physical sciences--critical examination of the given experience, and reference of it to ultimate causes, which may not be themselves perceived, but are nevertheless hypotheses necessary to account for the facts. (See on method, _Neue Psych._, essay i.)

Starting from the two assumptions that there is nothing, or at least no formed product, innate in the mind, and that definite faculties do not originally exist, and from the fact that our minds nevertheless actually have a definite content and definite modes of action, Beneke proceeds to state somewhat dogmatically his scientifically verifiable hypotheses as to the primitive condition of the soul and the laws according to which it develops. Originally the soul is possessed of or is an immense variety of powers, faculties or forces (conceptions which Beneke, in opposition to Herbart, holds to be metaphysically justifiable), differing from one another only in tenacity, vivacity, receptivity and grouping. These primitive immaterial forces, so closely united as to form but one being (essence), acquire definiteness or form through the action upon them of _stimuli_ or excitants from the outer world. This action of external impressions which are appropriated by the internal powers is the first fundamental process in the genesis of the completed mind. If the union of impression and faculty be sufficiently strong, consciousness (not _self_-consciousness) arises, and definite sensations and perceptions begin to be formed. These primitive sensations, however, are not to be identified with the sensations of the special senses, for each of these senses is a system of many powers which have grown into a definite unity, have been educated by experience. From ordinary experience it must be concluded that a second fundamental process is incessantly going on, viz. the formation of new powers, which takes place principally during sleep. The third and most important process results from the fact that the combination between stimulus and power may be weak or strong; if weak, then the two elements are said to be movable, and they may flow over from one to another of the already formed psychical products. Any formed faculty does not cease to exist on the removal of its stimulus; in virtue of its fundamental property, _tenacity_, it sinks back as a trace (_Spur_) into unconsciousness, whence it may be recalled by the application to it of another stimulus, or by the attraction towards it of some of the movable elements or newly-formed original powers. These traces and the flowing over of the movable elements are the most important conceptions in Beneke's psychology; by means of them he gives a rationale of reproduction and association, and strives to show that all the formed faculties are simply developments from traces of earlier processes. Lastly, similar forms, according to the degree of their similarity, attract one another or tend to form closer combinations.

All psychical phenomena are explicable by the relation of impression and power, and by the flow of movable elements; the whole process of mental development is nothing but the result of the action and interaction of the above simple laws. In general this growth may be said to take the direction of rendering more and more definite by repetition and attraction of like to like the originally indefinite activities of the primary faculties. Thus the sensations of the special senses are gradually formed from the primary sensuous feelings (_sinnliche Empfindungen_); concepts are formed from intuitions of individuals by the attraction of the common elements, and the consequent flow towards them of movable forms. Judgment is the springing into consciousness of a concept alongside of an intuition, or of a higher concept alongside of a lower. Reasoning is merely a more complex judgment. Nor are there special faculties of judging or reasoning. The understanding is simply the mass of concepts lying in the background of unconsciousness, ready to be called up and to flow with force towards anything closely connected with them. Even memory is not a special faculty; it is simply the fundamental property of tenacity possessed by the original faculties. The very distinction between the great classes, Knowledge, Feeling and Will, may be referred to elementary differences in the original relations of faculty and impression.

This is the groundwork of Beneke's philosophy. It should be carefully compared with the association psychology of modern British thinkers, most of whose results and processes will be found there worked into a comprehensive system (see ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS). In logic, metaphysics and ethics Beneke's speculations are naturally dependent on his psychology.

The special value of Beneke's works, as has been already said, consists in the many specimens of acute psychological analysis scattered throughout them. As a complete explanation of psychical facts, the theory seems defective. The original hypotheses, peculiar to Beneke, on which the whole depends, are hastily assumed and rest on a clumsy mechanical metaphor. As is the case with all empirical theories of mental development, the higher categories or notions, which are apparently shown to result from the simple elements, are really presupposed at every step. Particularly unsatisfactory is the account of consciousness, which is said to arise from the union of impression and faculty. The necessity of consciousness for any mental action whatsoever is apparently granted, but the conditions involved in it are never discussed or mentioned. The same defect appears in the account of ethical judgment; no amount of empirical fact can ever yield the notion of absolute duty. His results have found acceptance mainly with practical teachers. Undoubtedly his minute analysis of temperament and careful exposition of the means whereby the young, unformed mind may be trained are of infinite value; but the truth of many of his doctrines on these points lends no support to the fundamental hypotheses, from which, indeed, they might be almost entirely severed.

Beneke was a most prolific writer, and besides the works mentioned above, published large treatises in the several departments of philosophy, both pure and as applied to education and ordinary life. A complete list of his writings will be found in the appendix to Dressler's edition of the _Lehrbuch der Psychologie als Naturwissenschaft_ (1861). The chief are:--_Psychologische Skizzen_ (1825, 1827); _Lehrbuch der Psychologie_ (1832); _Metaphysik und Religionsphilosophie_ (1840); _Die neue Psychologie_ (1845); _Pragmatische Psychologie oder Seelenlehre in der Anwendung auf das Leben_ (1832).

Among German writers, who, though not professed followers of Beneke, have been largely influenced by him, may be mentioned Ueberweg and Karl Fortlage (1806-1881). In England, perhaps, the only writer who shows traces of acquaintance with his works is J.D. Morell (_Introd. to Mental Philosophy_). The most eminent members of the school are J.G. Dressler (whose _Beneke oder Seelenlehre als Naturwissenschaft_ is an admirable exposition), Fried. Dittes and G. Raue. The compendium by the last-named author passed through four editions in Germany, and has been translated into French, Flemish and English. The English translation, _Elements of Psychology_ (1871), gives a lucid and succinct view of the whole system.

Among more recent works on Beneke are O.E. Hummel, _Die Unterrichtslehre Benekes_ (Leipzig, 1885); on his ethical theory, C.H.Th. Kuhn, _Die Sittenlehre F.E. Benekes_ (1892); Joh. Friedrich, _F.E. Beneke_ (Wiesbaden, 1898, with biography and list of works); Otto Gramzow, _F.E. Benekes Leben und Philos._ (Bern, 1899, with full bibliography); on his theory of knowledge, H. Renner, _Benekes Erkenninistheorie_ (Halle, 1902); on his metaphysics, _Die Metaphysik Benekes_, by A. Wandschneider (Berlin, 1903); Brandt, _Beneke, the Man and His Philosophy_ (New York, 1895); Falckenberg, _Hist. of Phil._ (Eng. trans., 1895); and H. Hoffding, _Hist. of Mod. Phil._ vol. ii. (Eng. trans., 1900). (R. Ad.)

BENETT, ETHELDRED (1776-1845), one of the earliest of English women geologists, the second daughter of Thomas Benett, of Pyt House near Tisbury, was born in 1776. Later she resided at Norton House, near Warminster, in Wiltshire, and for more than a quarter of a century devoted herself to collecting and studying the fossils of her native county. She contributed "A Catalogue of the Organic Remains of the County of Wilts" to Sir R.C. Hoare's _County History_, and a limited number of copies of this work were printed as a separate volume (1831) and privately distributed. She died on the 11th of January 1845.

BENEVENTO, a town and archiepiscopal see of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 60 m. by rail and 32 m. direct N.E. of Naples, situated on a hill 400 ft. above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore and Sabbato. Pop. (1901) town, 17,227; commune, 24,137. It occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or Maluentum, supposed in the imperial period to have been founded by Diomedes. It was the chief town of the Samnites, who took refuge here after their defeat by the Romans in 314 B.C. It appears not to have fallen into the hands of the latter until Pyrrhus's absence in Sicily, but served them as a base of operations in the last campaign against him in 275 B.C. A Latin colony was planted there in 268 B.C., and it was then that the name was changed for the sake of the omen, and probably then that the Via Appia was extended from Capua to Beneventum. It remained in the hands of the Romans during both the Punic and the Social Wars, and was a fortress of importance to them. The position is strong, being protected by the two rivers mentioned, and the medieval fortifications, which are nearly 2 m. in length, probably follow the ancient line, which was razed to the ground by Totila in A.D. 542. After the Social War it became a _municipium_ and under Augustus a colony. Being a meeting point of six main roads,[1] it was much visited by travellers. Its importance is vouched for by the many remains of antiquity which it possesses, of which the most famous is the triumphal arch erected in honour of Trajan by the senate and people of Rome in A.D. 114, with important reliefs relating to its history (E. Petersen in _Romische Mitteilungen_, 1892, 241; A. von Domaszewzki in _Jahreshefte des Osterreich. archaologischen Instituts_, ii., 1899, 173). There are also considerable remains of the ancient theatre, a large _cryptoporticus_ 197 ft. long known as the ruins of Santi Quaranta, and probably an emporium (according to Meomartini, the portion preserved is only a fraction of the whole, which once measured 1791 ft. in length) and an ancient brick arch (called the Arco del Sacramento), while below the town is the Ponte Lebroso, a bridge of the Via Appia over the Sabbato, and along the road to Avellino are remains of _thermae_. Many inscriptions and ancient fragments may be seen built into the houses; in front of the Madonna delle Grazie is a bull in red Egyptian granite, and in the Piazza Papiniano the fragments of two Egyptian obelisks erected in A.D. 88 in front of the temple of Isis in honour of Domitian. In 1903 the foundations of this temple were discovered close to the Arch of Trajan, and many fragments of fine sculptures in both the Egyptian and the Greco-Roman style belonging to it were found. They had apparently been used as the foundation of a portion of the city wall, reconstructed in A.D. 663 under the fear of an attack by Constans, the Byzantine emperor, the temple having been destroyed under the influence of the bishop, St Barbatus, to provide the necessary material (A. Meomartini, O. Marucchi and L. Savignoni in _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1904, 107 sqq.). Not long after it had been sacked by Totila Benevento became the seat of a powerful Lombard duchy and continued to be independent until 1053, when the emperor Henry III. ceded it to Leo IX. in exchange for the bishopric of Bamberg; and it continued to be a papal possession until 1806, when Napoleon granted it to Talleyrand with the title of prince. In 1815 it returned to the papacy, but was united to Italy in 1860. Manfred lost his life in 1266 in battle with Charles of Anjou not far from the town. Much damage has been done by earthquakes from time to time. The church of S. Sofia, a circular edifice of about 760, now modernized, the roof of which is supported by six ancient columns, is a relic of the Lombard period; it has a fine cloister of the 12th century constructed in part of fragments of earlier buildings; while the cathedral with its fine arcaded facade and incomplete square campanile (begun in 1279) dates from the 9th century and was rebuilt in 1114. The bronze doors, adorned with bas-reliefs, are good; they may belong to the beginning of the 13th century. The interior is in the form of a basilica, the double aisles being borne by ancient columns, and contains _ambones_ and a candelabrum of 1311, the former resting on columns supported by lions, and decorated with reliefs and coloured marble mosaic. The castle at the highest point of the town was erected in the 14th century.

Benevento is a station on the railway from Naples to Foggia, and has branch lines to Campobasso and to Avellino.

See A. Meomartini, _Monumenti e opere d'Arte di Benevento_ (Benevento, 1899); T. Ashby, _Melanges de l'ecole francaise_, 1903, 416. (T. As.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] These were (1) the prolongation of the Via Appia from Capua, (2) its continuation to Tarentum and Brundisium, of which there were two different lines between Beneventum and Aquilonia at different dates (see APPIA, VIA), (3) the Via Traiana to Brundisium by Herdoniae, (4) the road to Telesia and Aesernia, (5) the road to Aesernia by Bovianum, (6) the road to Abellinum and Salernum.

BENEVOLENCE (Lat. _bene_, well, and _volens_, wishing), a term for an act of kindness, or a gift of money, or goods, but used in a special sense to indicate sums of money, disguised as gifts, which were extorted by various English kings from their subjects, without consent of parliament. Among the numerous methods which have been adopted by sovereigns everywhere to obtain support from their people, that of demanding gifts has frequently found a place, and consequently it is the word and not the method which is peculiar to English history. Edward II. and Richard II. had obtained funds by resorting to forced loans, a practice which was probably not unusual in earlier times. Edward IV., however, discarded even the pretence of repayment, and in 1473 the word _benevolence_ was first used with reference to a royal demand for a gift. Edward was very successful in these efforts, and as they only concerned a limited number of persons he did not incur serious unpopularity. But when Richard III. sought to emulate his brother's example, protests were made which led to the passing of an act of parliament in 1484 abolishing benevolences as "new and unlawful inventions." About the same time the Chronicle of Croyland referred to a benevolence as a "nova et inaudita impositio muneris ut per benevolentiam quilibet daret id quod vellet, immo verius quod nollet." In spite of this act Richard demanded a further benevolence; but it was Henry VII. who made the most extensive use of this system. In 1491 he sent out commissioners to obtain gifts of money, and in 1496 an act of parliament enforced payment of the sums promised on this occasion under penalty of imprisonment. Henry's chancellor, Cardinal Morton, archbishop of Canterbury, was the traditional author of a method of raising money by benevolences known as "Morton's Fork." If a man lived economically, it was reasoned he was saving money and could afford a present for the king. If, on the contrary, he lived sumptuously, he was evidently wealthy and could likewise afford a gift. Henry VII. obtained considerable sums of money in this manner; and in 1545 Henry VIII. demanded a "loving contribution" from all who possessed lands worth not less than forty shillings a year, or chattels to the value of L15; and those who refused to make payment were summoned before the privy council and punished. Elizabeth took loans which were often repaid; and in 1614 James I. ordered the sheriffs and magistrates in each county and borough to collect a general benevolence from all persons of ability, and with some difficulty about L40,000 was collected. Four counties had, however, distinguished themselves by protests against this demand, and the act of Richard III. had been cited by various objectors. Representatives from the four counties were accordingly called before the privy council, where Sir Edward Coke defended the action of the king, quoted the Tudor precedents and urged that the act of 1484 was to prevent exactions, not voluntary gifts such as James had requested. Subsequently Oliver St John was fined and imprisoned for making a violent protest against the benevolence, and on the occasion of his trial Sir Francis Bacon defended the request for money as voluntary. In 1615 an attempt to exact a benevolence in Ireland failed, and in 1620 it was decided to demand one for the defence of the Palatinate. Circular letters were sent out, punishments were inflicted, but many excuses were made and only about L34,000 was contributed. In 1621 a further attempt was made, judges of assize and others were ordered to press for contributions, and wealthy men were called before the privy council and asked to name a sum at which to be rated. About L88,000 was thus raised, and in 1622 William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, was imprisoned for six months for protesting. This was the last time benevolences were actually collected, although in 1622 and 1625 it was proposed to raise money in this manner. In 1633 Charles I. consented to collect a benevolence for the recovery of the Palatinate for Charles Louis, the son of his sister Elizabeth, but no further steps were taken to carry out the project.

See W. Stubbs, _Constitutional History of England_, vol. iii. (Oxford, 1895); H. Hallam, _Constitutional History of England_, vol. i. (London, 1855); T.P. Taswell-Langmead, _English Constitutional History_ (London, 1896); S.R. Gardiner, _History of England, passim_ (London, 1893).

BENFEY, THEODOR (1809-1881), German philologist, son of a Jewish trader at Norten, near Gottingen, was born on the 28th of January 1809. Although originally designed for the medical profession, his taste for philology was awakened by a careful instruction in Hebrew which he received from his father. After brilliant studies at Gottingen he spent a year at Munich, where he was greatly impressed by the lectures of Schelling and Thiersch, and afterwards settled as a teacher in Frankfort. His pursuits were at first chiefly classical, and his attention was diverted to Sanskrit by an accidental wager that he would learn enough of the language in a few weeks to be able to review a new book upon it. This feat he accomplished, and rivalled in later years when he learned Russian in order to translate V.P. Vasilev's work on Buddhism. For the time, however, his labours were chiefly in classical and Semitic philology. At Gottingen, whither he had returned as privat-docent, he wrote a little work on the names of the Hebrew months, proving that they were derived from the Persian, prepared the great article on India in Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopaedia_, and published from 1839 to 1842 the _Lexicon of Greek Roots_ which gained him the Volney prize of the Institute of France. From this time his attention was principally given to Sanskrit. He published in 1848 his edition of the _Sama-veda_; in 1852-1854 his _Manual of Sanskrit_, comprising a grammar and chrestomathy; in 1858 his practical Sanskrit grammar, afterwards translated into English; and in 1859 his edition of the _Pantscha Tantra_, with an extensive dissertation on the fables and mythologies of primitive nations. All these works had been produced under the pressure of poverty, the government, whether from parsimony or from prejudice against a Jew, refusing to make any substantial addition to his small salary as extra-professor at the university. At length, in 1862, the growing appreciation of foreign scholars shamed it into making him an ordinary professor, and in 1866 Benfey published the laborious work by which he is on the whole best known, his great _Sanskrit-English Dictionary_. In 1869 he wrote a history of German philological research, especially Oriental, during the 19th century. In 1878 his jubilee as doctor was celebrated by the publication of a volume of philological essays dedicated to him and written by the first scholars in Germany. He had designed to close his literary labours by a grammar of Vedic Sanskrit, and was actively preparing it when he was interrupted by illness, which terminated in his death at Gottingen on the 26th of June 1881.

A collection of his various writings was published in 1890, prefaced by a memoir by his son.

BENGAL, a province of British India, bounded on the E. by the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, the boundary line being the Madhumati river and the Ganges; on the S. by the Bay of Bengal and Madras; on the W. by the Central Provinces and United Provinces; and on the N. by Nepal and Sikkim. It has an area of 141,580 sq. m. and a population of 54,096,806. It consists of the provinces of Behar, Orissa and Chota Nagpur, and the western portion of the Ganges valley, but without the provinces of Northern and Eastern Bengal; and is divided into the six British divisions of the presidency, Bhagalpur, Patna, Burdwan, Chota Nagpur and Orissa, and various native states. The province was reconstituted in 1905, when the Chittagong, Dacca and Rajshahi divisions, the district of Malda and the state of Hill Tippera were transferred from Bengal to a new province, Eastern Bengal and Assam; the five Hindi-speaking states of Chota Nagpur, namely Chang Bhakar, Korea, Sirguja, Udaipur and Jashpur, were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces; and Sambalpur and the five Oriya states of Bamra, Rairakhol, Sonpur, Patna and Kalahandi were transferred from the Central Provinces to Bengal. The province of Bengal, therefore, now consists of the thirty-three British districts of Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, Midnapore, Hugli, Howrah, Twenty-four Parganas, Calcutta, Nadia, Murshidabad, Jessore, Khulna, Patna, Gaya, Shahabad, Saran, Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Purnea, Santal Parganas, Cuttack, Balasore, Angul and Khondmals, Puri, Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Palamau, Manbhum, Singhbum and Sambalpur, and the native states of Sikkim and the tributary states of Orissa and Chota Nagpur.

The name Bengal is derived from Sanskrit geography, and applies strictly to the country stretching southwards from Bhagalpur to the sea. The ancient Banga formed one of the five outlying kingdoms of Aryan India, and was practically conterminous with the delta of Bengal. It derived its name, according to the etymology of the Pundits, from a prince of the Mahabharata, to whose portion it fell on the primitive partition of the country among the Lunar race of Delhi. But a city called Bangala, near Chittagong, which, although now washed away, is supposed to have existed in the Mahommedan period, appears to have given the name to the European world. The word Bangala was first used by the Mussulmans; and under their rule, like the Banga of old Sanskrit times, it applied specifically to the Gangetic delta, although the later conquests to the east of the Brahmaputra were eventually included within it. In their distribution of the country for fiscal purposes, it formed the central province of a governorship, with Behar on the north-west, and Orissa on the south-west, jointly ruled by one deputy of the Delhi emperor. Under the English the name has at different periods borne very different significations. Francis Fernandez applies it to the country from the extreme east of Chittagong to Point Palmyras in Orissa, with a coast line which Purchas estimates at 600 m., running inland for the same distance and watered by the Ganges. This territory would include the Mahommedan province of Bengal, with parts of Behar and Orissa. The loose idea thus derived from old voyagers became stereotyped in the archives of the East India Company. All its north-eastern factories, from Balasore, on the Orissa coast, to Patna, in the heart of Behar, belonged to the "Bengal Establishment," and as British conquests crept higher up the rivers, the term came to be applied to the whole of northern India. The presidency of Bengal, in contradistinction to those of Madras and Bombay, eventually included all the British territories north of the Central Provinces, from the mouths of the Ganges and Brahmaputra to the Himalayas and the Punjab. In 1831 the North-Western Provinces were created, which are now included with Oudh in the United Provinces; and the whole of northern India is now divided into the four lieutenant-governorships of the Punjab, the United Provinces, Bengal, and Eastern Bengal and Assam, and the North-West Frontier Province under a commissioner.

_Physical Geography._--Three sub-provinces of the present lieutenant-governorship of Bengal--namely, Bengal proper, Behar and Orissa--consist of great river valleys; the fourth, Chota Nagpur, is a mountainous region which separates them from the central India plateau. Orissa embraces the rich deltas of the Mahanadi and the neighbouring rivers, bounded by the Bay of Bengal on the S.E., and walled in on the N.W. by tributary hill states. Proceeding west, the sub-province of Bengal proper stretches to the banks of the Ganges and inland from the sea-board to the Himalayas. Its southern portion is formed by the delta of the Ganges; its northern consists of the Ganges valley. Behar lies on the north-west of Bengal proper, and comprises, the higher valley of the Ganges from the spot where it issues from the United Provinces. Between Behar and Orissa lies the province of Chota Nagpur, of which a portion was given in 1905 to the Central Provinces. The valley of the Ganges, which is now divided between Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam, is one of the most fertile and densely-populated tracts of country in the world. It teems with every product of nature. Tea, indigo, turmeric, lac, waving white fields of the opium-poppy, wheat and innumerable grains and pulses, pepper, ginger, betel-nut, quinine and many costly spices and drugs, oil-seeds of sorts, cotton, the silk mulberry, inexhaustible crops of jute and other fibres; timber, from the feathery bamboo and coroneted palm to the iron-hearted _sal_ tree--in short, every vegetable product which feeds and clothes a people, and enables it to trade with foreign nations, abounds. Nor is the country destitute of mineral wealth. The districts near the sea consist entirely of alluvial formations; and, indeed, it is stated that no substance so coarse as gravel occurs throughout the delta, or in the heart of the provinces within 400 m. of the river mouths.

Climate.

The climate varies from the snowy regions of the Himalayas to the tropical vapour-bath of the delta and the burning winds of Behar. The ordinary range of the thermometer, on the plains is from about 52 deg. F. in the coldest month to 103 deg. in the shade in summer. A temperature below 60 deg. is considered very cold, while with care the temperature of well-built houses rarely exceeds 95 deg. in the hot weather. The rainfall varies from 37 in. in Behar to about 65 in. in the delta.

Rivers.

Lower Bengal exhibits the two typical stages in the life of a great river. In the northern districts the rivers run along the valleys, receive the drainage from the country on either side, absorb broad tributaries and rush forward with an ever-increasing volume. But near the centre of the provinces the rivers enter upon a new stage of their career. Their main channels bifurcate, and each new stream so created throws off its own set of distributaries to right and left. The country which they thus enclose and intersect forms the delta of Bengal. Originally conquered by the fluvial deposits from the sea, it now stretches out as a vast dead level, in which the rivers find their velocity checked, and their current no longer able to carry along the silt which they have brought down from northern India. The streams, accordingly, deposit their alluvial burden in their channels and upon their banks, so that by degrees their beds rise above the level of the surrounding country. In this way the rivers in the delta slowly build themselves up into canals, which every autumn break through or overflow their margins, and leave their silt upon the adjacent flats. Thousands of square miles in Lower Bengal annually receive a top-dressing of virgin soil from the Himalayas,--a system of natural manuring which renders elaborate tillage a waste of labour, and defies the utmost power of over-cropping to exhaust its fertility. As the rivers creep farther down the delta, they become more and more sluggish, and their bifurcations and interfacings more complicated. The last scene of all is a vast amphibious wilderness of swamp and forest, amid whose solitudes their network of channels insensibly merges into the sea. The rivers, finally checked by the sea, deposit their remaining silt, which emerges as banks or blunted promontories, or, after a year's battling with the tide, adds a few feet or it may be a few inches to the foreshore.

The Ganges gives to the country its peculiar character and aspect. About 200 m. from its mouth it spreads out into numerous branches, forming a large delta, composed, where it borders on the sea, of a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, running through the dense forests of the Sundarbans, and exhibiting during the annual inundation the appearance of an immense sea. At this time the rice fields to the extent of many hundreds of square miles are submerged. The scene presents to a European eye a panorama of singular novelty and interest--rice fields covered with water to a great depth; the ears of grain floating on the surface; the stupendous embankments, which restrain without altogether preventing the excesses of the inundations; and peasants going out to their daily work with their cattle in canoes or on rafts. The navigable streams which fall into the Ganges intersect the country in every direction and afford great facilities for internal communication. In many parts boats can approach by means of lakes, rivulets and water-courses to the door of almost every cottage. The lower region of the Ganges is the richest and most productive portion of Bengal, abounding in valuable produce. The other principal rivers in Bengal are the Sone, Gogra, Gandak, Kusi, Tista; the Hugli, formed by the junction of the Bhagirathi and Jalangi, and farther to the west, the Damodar and Rupnarayan; and in the south-west, the Mahanadi or great river of Orissa. In a level country like Bengal, where the soil is composed of yielding and loose materials, the courses of the rivers are continually shifting from the wearing away of their different banks, or from the water being turned off by obstacles in its course into a different channel. As this channel is gradually widened the old bed of the river is left dry. The new channel into which the river flows is of course so much land lost, while the old bed constitutes an accession to the adjacent estates. Thus, one man's property is diminished, while that of another is enlarged or improved; and a distinct branch of jurisprudence has grown up, the particular province of which is the definition and regulation of the alluvial rights alike of private property and of the state.

_Geology._--The greater part of Bengal is occupied by the alluvial deposits of the Ganges, but in the south-west rises the plateau of Chota Nagpur composed chiefly of gneissic rocks. The great thickness of the Gangetic alluvium is shown by a borehole at Calcutta which was carried to a depth of about 460 ft. below the present level of the sea without entering any marine deposit. Over the surface of the gneissic rocks are scattered numerous basins of Gondwana beds. Some of these are undoubtedly faulted into their present positions, and to this they owe their preservation. In the Rajmahal Hills basaltic lava flows are interbedded with the Gondwana deposits, and in the Karharbari coalfield the Gondwana beds are traversed by dikes of mica-peridotite and basalt, which are supposed to be of the same age as the Rajmahal lavas. The Gondwana series is economically of great importance. It includes numerous seams of coal, many of which are worked on an extensive scale (at Giridih, Raniganj, &c.). The quality of the coal is good, but unfortunately it contains a large amount of ash, the average being as high as 17%.

_People._--In the sub-provinces under the lieutenant-governor of Bengal dwell a great congeries of peoples, of widely diverse origin, speaking different languages and representing far separated eras of civilization. The province, in fact, became so unwieldy that this was the chief reason for its partition in 1905. The people exhibit every stage of human progress, and every type of human enlightenment and superstition from the educated classes to primitive hill tribes. On the same bench of a Calcutta college sit youths trained up in the strictest theism, others indoctrinated in the mysteries of the Hindu trinity and pantheon, with representatives of every link in the chain of superstition--from the harmless offering of flowers before the family god to the cruel rites of Kali, whose altars in the most civilized districts of Bengal, as lately as the famine of 1866, were stained with human blood. Indeed, the very word Hindu is one of absolutely indeterminate meaning. The census officers employ it as a convenient generic to include 42 millions of the population of Bengal, comprising elements of transparently distinct ethnical origin, and separated from each other by their language, customs and religious rites. But Hinduism, understood even in this wide sense, represents only one of many creeds and races found within Bengal. The other great historical cultus, which during the last twelve centuries did for the Semitic peoples what Christianity accomplished among the European Aryans, has won to itself one-fifth of the population of Bengal. The Mahommedans number some 9,000,000 in Bengal, but the great bulk of their numbers was transferred to Eastern Bengal and Assam. They consist largely of the original inhabitants of the country, who were proselytized by the successive Pathan and Mogul invasions. In the face of great natural catastrophes, such as river inundations, famines, tidal waves and cyclones of the lower provinces of Bengal, the religious instinct works with a vitality unknown in European countries. Until the British government stepped in with its police and canals and railroads, between the people and what they were accustomed to consider the dealings of Providence, scarcely a year passed without some terrible manifestation of the power and the wrath of God. Mahratta invasions from central India, piratical devastations on the sea-board, banditti who marched about the interior in bodies of 50,000 men, floods which drowned the harvests of whole districts, and droughts in which a third of the population starved to death, kept alive a sense of human powerlessness in the presence of an omnipotent fate. Under the Mahommedans a pestilence turned the capital into a silent wilderness, never again to be re-peopled. Under British rule it is estimated that 10 millions perished within the Lower Provinces alone in the famine of 1769-1770; and the first surveyor-general of Bengal entered on his maps a tract of many hundreds of square miles as bare of villages and "depopulated by the Maghs." But since the advent of British administration the history of Bengal has substantially been a record of prosperity; the teeming population of its river valleys is one of the densest in the world, and the purely agricultural districts of Saran and Muzaffarpur in the Patna division support over 900 persons to the square mile, a number hardly surpassed elsewhere except in urban areas.

_Language._--Excluding immigrants the languages spoken by the people of Bengal belong to one or other of four linguistic families--Aryan, Dravidian, Munda and Tibeto-Burman. Of these the languages of the Aryan family are by far the most important, being spoken by no less than 95% of the population according to the census of 1901. The Aryan languages are spoken in the plains by almost the whole population; the Munda and Dravidian in the Chota Nagpur plateau and adjoining tracts; and the Tibeto-Burman in Darjeeling, Sikkim and Jalpaiguri. The most important Aryan languages are Bengali (q.v.), Bihari, Eastern Hindi and Oriya. On the average in the province, before partition, out of every 1000 persons 528 spoke Bengali, 341 Hindi and Bihari, and 79 Oriya. As a rule Bengali is the language of Bengal proper, Hindi of Behar and Chota Nagpur, and Oriya of Orissa.

_Agriculture._--The staple crop of the province is rice, to which about 66% of the cropped area is devoted. There are three harvests in the year--the _boro_, or spring rice; _aus_, or autumn rice; and _aman_, or winter rice. Of these the last or winter rice is by far the most extensively cultivated, and forms the great harvest of the year. The _aman_ crop is grown on low land. In May, after the first fall of rain, a nursery ground is ploughed three times, and the seed scattered broadcast. When the seedlings make their appearance another field is prepared for transplanting. By this time the rainy season has thoroughly set in, and the field is dammed up so as to retain the water. It is then repeatedly ploughed until the water becomes worked into the soil, and the whole reduced to thick mud. The young rice is then taken from the nursery, and transplanted in rows about 9 in. apart. _Aman_ rice is much more extensively cultivated than _aus_, and in favourable years is the most valuable crop, but being sown in low lands is liable to be destroyed by excessive rainfall. Harvest takes place in December or January. _Aus_ rice is generally sown on high ground. The field is ploughed when the early rains set in, ten or twelve times over, till the soil is reduced nearly to dust, the seed being sown broadcast in April or May. As soon as the young plants reach 6 in. in height, the land is harrowed for the purpose of thinning the crop and to clear it of weeds. The crop is harvested in August or September. _Boro_, or spring rice, is cultivated on low marshy land, being sown in a nursery in October, transplanted a month later, and harvested in March and April. An indigenous description of rice, called _uri_ or _jaradhan_, grows in certain marshy tracts. The grain is very small, and is gathered for consumption only by the poorest. Wheat forms an important food staple in Behar, whence there is a considerable export to Calcutta. Oil-seeds are very largely grown, particularly in Behar. The principal oil-seeds are _sarisha_ (mustard), _til_ (sesamum) and _lisi_ or _masina_ (linseed). Jute (_pat_ or _kosta_) forms a very important commercial staple of Bengal. The cultivation of this crop has rapidly increased of late years. Its principal seat of cultivation, however, is Eastern Bengal, where the superior varieties are grown. The crop grows on either high or low lands, is sown in April and cut in August. Apart from the quantity exported and the quantity made up by hand, it supports a prosperous mill industry, chiefly in the neighbourhood of Calcutta and Howrah. In 1905 there were thirty-six jute mills in the province and 2-1/4 million acres were cropped. The value of jute and of the goods manufactured from it represents more than a third of the aggregate value of the trade of Calcutta. Indigo used to be an important crop carried on with European capital in Behar, but of late years the industry has almost been destroyed by the invention of artificial indigo. Tea cultivation is the other great industry carried on by European capital, but that is chiefly confined to Assam, the industry in Darjeeling and the Dwars being on a small scale. Opium is grown in Behar with its head station at Patna. The cultivation of the cinchona plant in Bengal was introduced as an experiment about 1862, and is grown on government plantations in Darjeeling.

_Mineral Products._--The chief mineral product in Bengal is coal, which disputes with the gold of Mysore for the place of premier importance in the mining industries of India. The most important mine in point of area, accessibility and output is Raniganj, with an area of 500 sq. m. Another of rising importance is that of Jherria, with an area of 200 sq. m., which is situated only 16 m. to the west of Raniganj; while Daltonganj also has an area of 200 sq. m. The small coalfield of Karharbari with an area of only 11 sq. m. yields the best coal in Bengal. Besides these four coalfields there are twenty-five others of various sizes, which are only in the initial stages of development.

_Commerce._--The sea-borne trade of Bengal is almost entirely concentrated at Calcutta (q.v.), which also serves as the chief port for Eastern Bengal and Assam, and for the United Provinces. The principal imports are cotton piece goods, railway materials, metals and machinery, oils, sugar, cotton, twist and salt; and the principal exports are jute, tea, hides, opium, rice, oil-seeds, indigo and lac. The inter-provincial trade is mostly carried on with Eastern Bengal and Assam, the United Provinces and the Central Provinces. From the United Provinces come opium, hides, raw cotton, wheat, shellac and oil-seeds; and from Assam, tea, oil-seeds and jute. The frontier trade of Bengal is registered with Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet and Bhutan, but except with Nepal the amount is insignificant.

_Railways._--Bengal is well supplied with railways, which naturally have the seaport of Calcutta as the centre of the system. South of the Ganges, the East Indian follows the river from the North-Western Provinces, with its terminus at Howrah on the Hugli, opposite Calcutta. A chord line passes by the coalfield of Raniganj, which enables this great railway to be worked more economically than any other in India. The Bengal-Nagpur, from the Central Provinces, also has its terminus at Howrah, and the section of this railway through Midnapore carries the East Coast line from Madras. North of the Ganges the Eastern Bengal runs north to Darjeeling, and maintains a service of river steamers on the Brahmaputra. The Bengal Central serves the lower Gangetic delta. Both of these have their termini at Sealdah, an eastern suburb of Calcutta. Northern Behar is traversed by the Bengal & North-Western, with an extension eastwards through Tirhoot to join the Eastern Bengal. In addition there are a few light lines and steam tramways.

_Canals and Rivers._--Rivers and other waterways still carry a large part of the traffic of Bengal, especially in the delta. The government maintains two channels through the Sundarbans, known as the Calcutta and Eastern canals, and likewise does its best to keep open the Nadiya rivers, which form the communication between the main stream of the Ganges and the Hugli. There is further a route by water between Calcutta and Midnapore. The most important canals, those in Orissa (see MAHANADI) and on the Sone river in southern Behar, have been constructed primarily for irrigation, though they are also used for navigation. Except as a protection against famine, expenditure on irrigation is not remunerative in Bengal, on account of the abundance of rivers, and the general dampness of the climate.

_Administration._--The administration of Bengal is conducted by a lieutenant-governor, with a chief secretary, two secretaries and three under-secretaries. There is no executive council, as in Madras and Bombay; but there is a board of revenue, consisting of two members. For legislative purposes the lieutenant-governor has a council of twenty members, of whom not more than ten may be officials. Of the remaining members seven are nominated on the recommendation of the Calcutta corporation, groups of municipalities, groups of district boards, selected public associations and the senate of Calcutta university. The number of divisions or commissionerships is 6, of which Chota Nagpur ranks as "non-regulation." The number of districts is 33.

_Army._--In Lord Kitchener's reconstitution of the Indian army in 1904 the old Bengal command was abolished and its place taken by the Eastern army corps, which includes all the troops from Meerut to Assam. The boundaries of the 8th division include those of the former Oudh, Allahabad, Assam and Presidency districts; and the troops now quartered in Bengal only consist of the Presidency brigade with its headquarters at Fort William.

_History._--The history of so large a province as Bengal forms an integral part of the general history of India. The northern part, Behar (q.v.), constituted the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the nucleus of the imperial power of the successive great dynasties of the Mauryas, Andhras and Guptas; and its chief town, Patna, is the ancient Pataliputra (the Palimbothra of the Greeks), once the capital of India. The Delta or southern part of Bengal lay beyond the ancient Sanskrit polity, and was governed by a number of local kings belonging to a pre-Aryan stock. The Chinese travellers, Fa Hien in the 5th century, and Hsuan Tsang in the 7th century, found the Buddhist religion prevailing throughout Bengal, but already in a fierce struggle with Hinduism--a struggle which ended about the 9th or 10th century in the general establishment of the latter faith. Until the end of the 12th century Hindu princes governed in a number of petty principalities, till, in 1199, Mahommed Bakhtiyar Khilji was appointed to lead the first Mussulman invasion into Bengal. The Mahommedan conquest of Behar dates from 1197 A.D., and the new power speedily spread southwards into the delta. From about this date until 1340 Bengal was ruled by governors appointed by the Mahommedan emperors in the north. From 1340 to 1539 its governors asserted a precarious independence, and arrogated the position of sovereigns on their own account. From 1540 to 1576 Bengal passed under the rule of the Pathan or Afghan dynasty, which commonly bears the name of Sher Shah. On the overthrow of this house by the powerful arms of Akbar, Bengal was incorporated into the Mogul empire, and administered by governors appointed by the Delhi emperor, until the treaties of 1765, which placed Bengal, Behar and Orissa under the administration of the East India Company. The Company formed its earliest settlements in Bengal in the first half of the 17th century. These settlements were of a purely commercial character. In 1620 one of the Company's factors dates from Patna; in 1624-1636 the Company established itself, by the favour of the emperor, on the ruins of the ancient Portuguese settlement of Pippli, in the north of Orissa; in 1640-1642 an English surgeon, Gabriel Boughton, obtained establishments at Balasore, also in Orissa, and at Hugli, some miles above Calcutta. The vexations and extortions to which the Company's early agents were subjected more than once almost induced them to abandon the trade, and in 1677-1678 they threatened to withdraw from Bengal altogether. In 1685, the Bengal factors, driven to extremity by the oppression of the Mogul governors, threw down the gauntlet; and after various successes and hairbreadth escapes, purchased from the grandson of Aurangzeb, in 1696, the villages which have since grown up into Calcutta, the metropolis of India. During the next fifty years the British had a long and hazardous struggle alike with the Mogul governors of the province and the Mahratta armies which invaded it. In 1756 this struggle culminated in the great outrage known as the Black Hole of Calcutta, followed by Clive's battle of Plassey and capture of Calcutta, which avenged it. That battle, and the subsequent years of confused fighting, established British military supremacy in Bengal, and procured the treaties of 1765, by which the provinces of Bengal, Behar and Orissa passed under British administration. To Warren Hastings (1772-1785) belongs the glory of consolidating the British power, and converting a military occupation into a stable civil government. To another member of the civil service, John Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth (1786-1793), is due the formation of a regular system of Anglo-Indian legislation. Acting through Lord Cornwallis, then governor-general, he ascertained and defined the rights of the landholders in the soil. These landholders under the native system had started, for the most part, as collectors of the revenues, and gradually acquired certain prescriptive rights as quasi-proprietors of the estates entrusted to them by the government. In 1793 Lord Cornwallis declared their rights perpetual, and made over the land of Bengal to the previous quasi-proprietors or _zamindars_, on condition of the payment of a fixed land tax. This piece of legislation is known as the Permanent Settlement of the Land Revenue. But the Cornwallis code, while defining the rights of the proprietors, failed to give adequate recognition to the rights of the undertenants and the cultivators. His Regulations formally reserved the latter class of rights, but did not legally define them, or enable the husbandmen to enforce them in the courts. After half a century of rural disquiet, the rights of the cultivators were at length carefully formulated by Act X. of 1859. This measure, now known as the land law of Bengal, effected for the rights of the under-holders and cultivators what the Cornwallis code in 1793 had effected for those of the superior landholders. The status of each class of persons interested in the soil, from the government as suzerain, through the _zamindars_ or superior landholders, the intermediate tenure-holders and the undertenants, down to the actual cultivator, is now clearly defined. The act dates from the first year after the transfer of India from the company to the crown; for the mutiny burst out in 1857. The transactions of that revolt chiefly took place in northern India, and are narrated in the article INDIAN MUTINY. In Bengal the rising began at Barrackpore, was communicated to Dacca in Eastern Bengal, and for a time raged in Behar, producing the memorable defence of the billiard-room at Arrah by a handful of civilians and Sikhs--one of the most splendid pieces of gallantry in the history of the British arms. Since 1858, when the country passed to the crown, the history of Bengal has been one of steady progress. Five great lines of railway have been constructed. Trade has enormously expanded; new centres of commerce have sprung up in spots which formerly were silent jungles; new staples of trade, such as tea and jute, have rapidly attained importance; and the coalfields and iron ores have opened up prospects of a new and splendid era in the internal development of the country.

During the decade 1891-1901 Bengal was fortunate in escaping to a great extent the two calamities of famine and plague which afflicted central and western India. The drought of 1896-1897 did indeed extend to Bengal, but not to such an extent as to cause actual famine. The distress was most acute in the densely populated districts of northern Behar, and in the remote hills of Chota Nagpur. Plague first appeared at Calcutta in a sporadic form in April 1898, but down to April of the following year the total number of deaths ascribed to plague throughout the province was less than 1000, compared with 191,000 for Bombay. At the beginning of 1900, however, there was a serious recrudescence of plague at Calcutta, and a malignant outbreak in the district of Patna, which caused 1000 deaths a week. In the early months of 1901, plague again appeared in the same regions. The number of deaths in 1904 was 75,436, the highest recorded up to that date.

The earthquake of the 12th of June 1897, which had its centre of disturbance in Assam, was felt throughout eastern and northern Bengal. In all the large towns the masonry buildings were severely damaged or totally wrecked. The permanent way of the railways also suffered. The total number of deaths returned was only 135. Far more destructive to life was the cyclone and storm-wave that broke over Chittagong district on the night of the 24th of October 1897. Apart from damage to shipping and buildings, the low-lying lands along the coast were completely submerged, and in many villages half the inhabitants were drowned. The loss of human lives was reported to be about 14,000, and the number of cattle drowned about 15,000. As usual in such cases, a severe outbreak of cholera followed in the track of the storm-wave. Another natural calamity on a large scale occurred at Darjeeling in October 1899. Torrential rains caused a series of landslips, carrying away houses and breaking up the hill railway.

The most notable event, however, of recent times was the partition of the province, which was decided upon by Lord Curzon, and carried into execution in October 1905. Serious popular agitation followed this step, on the ground (_inter alia_) that the Bengali population, the centre of whose interests and prosperity was Calcutta, would now be divided under two governments, instead of being concentrated and numerically dominant under the one; while the bulk would be in the new division. In 1906-1909 the unrest developed to a considerable extent, requiring special attention from the Indian and home governments; but as part of the general history of India the movement may be best discussed under that heading (see INDIA: _History_).

See Parliamentary Papers relating to the reconstitution of the provinces of Bengal and Assam (Cd. 2658 and Cd. 2746, 1905); Colonel E.T. Dalton, _The Ethnology of Bengal_ (1872); Sir W.W. Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_ (1868), and _Orissa_ (1872); Sir H.H. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_ (1891); C.E. Buckland, _Bengal under the Lieutenant-Governors_ (1901); and Sir James Bourdillon, _The Partition of Bengal_ (Society of Arts, 1905).

BENGAL, BAY OF, a portion of the Indian Ocean, resembling a triangle in shape, lying between India and Burma. A zone 50 m. wide extending from the island of Ceylon and the Coromandel coast to the head of the bay, and thence southwards through a strip embracing the Andaman and Nicobar islands, is bounded by the 100 fathom line of sea bottom; some 50 m. beyond this lies the 500-fathom limit. Opposite the mouth of the Ganges, however, the intervals between these depths are very much extended by deltaic influence. The bay receives many large rivers, of which the most important are the Ganges and Brahmaputra on the north, the Irrawaddy on the east, and the Mahanadi, Godavari, Kistna and Cauvery on the west. On the west coast it has no harbours, Madras having a mere open roadstead, but on the east there are many good ports, such as Akyab, Moulmein, Rangoon and Tavoy river. The islands in the bay are very numerous, including the Andaman, Nicobar and Mergui groups. The group of islands, Cheduba and others, in the north-east, off the Burmese coast, are remarkable for a chain of mud volcanoes, which are occasionally active. Thus in December 1906 a new island of mud was thrown up, and measured 307 by 217 yds.

BENGALI, with ORIYA and ASSAMESE, three of the four forms of speech which compose the Eastern Group of the Indo-Aryan Languages (q.v.). This group includes all the Aryan languages spoken in India east of the longitude of Benares, and its members are the following:--

Number of speakers in British India, 1901. Bengali 44,624,048 Oriya 9,687,429 Assamese 1,350,846 Bihari 34,579,844 ---------- Total 90,242,167

Of these Bihari is treated separately. In the present article we shall devote ourselves to the examination of Bengali together with the two other closely connected languages. The reader is throughout assumed to be in possession of the facts described under the heads INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES and PRAKRIT.

Language.

Bengali is spoken in the province of Bengal proper, i.e. in, and on both sides of the delta of the Ganges, and also in the Eastern Bengal portion of the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The name "Bengali" is an English word, derived from the English word "Bengal." Natives call the language _Banga-Bhasa_, or the language of Banga, i.e. "Bengal." "Oriya" is the native name for the language of Odra or Orissa. Assamese, again an English word, is spoken in the Assam Valley. Its native name is _Asamiya_, pronounced _Ohamiya_. All these languages have alphabets derived from early forms of the well-known Nagari character of northern India. That of Bengali dates from about the 11th century A.D. It is a cursive script which admits of considerable speed in writing. The Assamese alphabet is the same as that of Bengali, but has one additional character to represent the sound of _w_, which has to be expressed in the former language in a very awkward fashion. In Orissa, till lately, writing was done on a talipot palm-leaf, on which the letters were scratched with an iron stylus. In such circumstances straight lines would tend to split the leaf, and accordingly the alphabet received a peculiar curved appearance typical of it and of one or two other South Indian methods of writing.

The three languages are all the immediate descendants of Magadhi Prakrit (see PRAKRIT), the headquarters of which were in south Behar, near the modern city of Patna. From here it spread in three lines--southwards, where it developed into Oriya; south-eastwards into Bengal proper, where it became Bengali; and eastwards, through Northern Bengal, into Assam, where it became Assamese. It thus appears that the language of Northern Bengal, though usually and conveniently treated as a dialect of Bengali, is not so in reality, but is a connecting link between Assamese and Bihari, the language of Behar. It is noteworthy that Northern Bengali and Assamese often agree in their grammar with Oriya, as against standard Bengali.

Omitting border forms of speech, Bengali, as a vernacular, has two main dialects, a western and an eastern, the former being the standard. The boundary-line between the two may be roughly put at the 89th degree of east longitude. The eastern dialect has many marked peculiarities, amongst which we may mention a tendency to disaspiration, the pronunciation of _c_ as _ts_, of _ch_ as _s_, and of _j_ as _z_. In the northern part of the tract a medial _r_ is often elided, and in the extreme east there is a broader pronunciation of the vowel _a_, like that in the English word "ball," _k_ is sounded like the _ch_ in "loch," and both _c_ and _ch_ are pronounced like _s_. The letter _p_ is often sounded like _w_, and _s_ like _h_, which again, when initial, is dropped. The distinction between cerebral and dental letters is lost, so that the words _ath_ and _sat_ are both pronounced _'at_. In the south-east, near Chittagong, corruption has gone even further, and the local dialect, which is practically a new language, is unintelligible to a man from Western Bengal. Throughout the eastern districts there is a strong tendency to epenthesis, e.g. _kali_ is pronounced _kail_. A more important dialectic difference in Bengali is that between the literary speech and the vernacular. The literary vocabulary is highly Sanskritized, so much so that it is not understood by any native of Bengal who has not received special instruction in it. Its grammar preserves numerous archaic or pseudo-archaic forms, which are invariably contracted in the colloquial speech of even the most highly educated. For instance, "I do" is expressed in the literary dialect by _karitechi_, but in the vernacular by _korcci_ or _kocci_. Oriya and Assamese may be said to have no dialects. There are a few local variations, but the standard form of speech, as a whole, is used everywhere in the respective tracts where the languages are spoken.

The three languages, being all children of a common parent, present many similar features. Oriya on the whole preserves the usual accentuation of the Indo-Aryan Languages (q.v.), seldom having the stress syllable farther back than the antepenultimate. Bengali, on the other hand, throws the accent as far back as possible, and this produces the contracted forms which we observe in the colloquial language, the first syllable of a word being strongly accented, and the rest being hurried over. Literary Bengali preserves the full form of the word, and in reading aloud this full form is adhered to. Assamese follows Bengali in its accentuation, but the language has never been the toy of euphuism. In its literature colloquial words are employed, and are written as they are pronounced colloquially.

In the following account of the three languages, Bengali, literary and colloquial, will be primarily dealt with, and then the points of difference between it and the other two will be described. Abbreviations used: A. = Assamese, Bg. = Bengali, O. = Oriya, Pr. = Prakrit, Mg. Pr. = Magadhi Prakrit, Skr. = Sanskrit.

_Vocabulary._--As already said, Literary Bengali abounds in _tatsamas_, or words borrowed in modern times from Sanskrit (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES), and these have also intruded themselves into the speech of the educated. So much has the false taste for these learned words obtained the mastery that, in the literary language, when a genuine Bengali or _tadbhava_ word is used in literature it is frequently not put into writing, but the corresponding learned _tatsama_ is written in its place, although the _tadbhava_ is read. It is as though a French writer wrote _sicca_ when he wished the word _seche_ to be pronounced. Similarly, the Bengali word for the goddess of Fortune is _Lakkhi_, but in books this is always written in the Skr. form _Laksmi_, although no Bengali would dream of saying anything but _Lakkhi_, even when reciting a purple passage _ore rotunda_. In fact, the vocal organs of most Bengalis are incapable of uttering the sound connoted by the letters _Laksmi_. The result is that the spelling of a Bengali word rarely represents its pronunciation. Oriya also borrows freely from Sanskrit, but there is no confusion between _tatsamas_ and _tadbhavas_, as in Bengali. Assamese, on the other hand, is remarkably free from these parasites, its vocabulary being mainly _tadbhava_. In Eastern Bengal, where Mussulmans predominate, there is a free use of words borrowed from Arabic and Persian. Owing to geographical and historical circumstances, Oriya is to some extent infected by Telugu and Marathi idioms, while the Tibeto-Burman dialects and Ahom have left their marks upon Assamese.

_Phonetics._--The three forms of speech agree in sounding the vowel _a_ like the _o_ in "hot." When writing phonetically, this sound is represented in the present article by _o_. The pronunciation of this frequently recurring vowel gives a tone to the general sound of the languages which at once strikes a foreigner. In Bg. and A. a final vowel preceded by a single consonant is generally not pronounced. In Bg. this is only true for nouns, a final _a_ being freely sounded in adjectives and verbs. In O., on the other hand, a final _a_ is always pronounced. The sound of such a final _a_ is in all three languages the same as that of the second _o_ in "promote"; thus, the Bg. _bara_ is pronounced _boro_. In Bg. a medial _a_ sometimes has the sound of the first _o_ in "promote," as, for instance, in the word _ban_ (_bon_), a forest. In A. and Eastern Bg. a medial _a_ is often sounded like the _a_ in "ball," and is then transliterated _a_. _A_ has preserved as a rule its proper sound of _a_ in "father." The distinction between _i_ and _i_ and between _u_ and _u_ is everywhere lost in pronunciation, although in _tatsama_ words the Sanskrit spelling is followed in literature. Thus, in Bg., the Skr. _vyatita_ is pronounced _betito_, with the accent on the first syllable. In A. the distinction between these long and short vowels is obliterated more than elsewhere, the reason being, as in Bg., the changes of pronunciation due to the shifting back of the accent. In O., the Skr. vowel _r_ is pronounced _ru_. Elsewhere it is _ri_. In O. the vowel _e_ is always long, but in Bg. it may be long or short, and in A. it is always short. The syllable _ya_ preceded by a consonant has in Bg. the sound of a short _e_, so that _vyakti_ is pronounced _bekti_. Moreover, in the same language the letter _e_ is often pronounced like the _a_ in the German _Mann_, a sound here phonetically represented by _a_; thus, _dekha_ is sometimes pronounced _dekho_, and sometimes _dakho_ or even _dako_. The syllable _ya_, when following a consonant, also has this _a_-sound, so that the English word "bank" is written _byank_ in Bengali characters. _O_ in O. is always long. In Bg., when it has not got the accent it is shortened to the sound of the first _o_ in "promote," a sound which, as we have seen, is also sometimes taken by a medial _a_. In A. _o_ approaches the sound of _u_, and it actually becomes _u_ when followed by _i_ in the next syllable. The diphthongs _ai_ (in _tatsamas_, i.e. the Skr. _ai_) and _ai_ (in _tadbhavas_) are sounded like _oi_ in "oil" in Bg. and O., while in A. they have the sound of _oi_ in "going." Similarly, in Bg. and O. the diphthongs _au_ and _au_ are sounded like the _au_ in the German _Haus_, but in A. like _au_ in the French _jaune_, or the second _o_ in "promote." In colloquial Bg. the two syllables _ai_ often have the sound of _e_, as in _khaite_ (_khete_), to eat.

In Eastern Bengal _k_ has often the sound of _ch_ in "loch." In A. the consonants _c_ and _ch_ are both pronounced like _s_, and _j_ and _jh_ become _zh_ (i.e. the _s_ in "pleasure") or (when final) _z_. The same tendency is observable in Bg., though it is usually considered vulgar. In parts of Eastern Bengal _c_ is pronounced like _ts_. O. as a rule has the proper sound of these letters, but towards the south _c_ and _ch_ become _ts_ and _tsh_ when not followed by a palatal letter. The letters _d_ and _dh_, when medial, are pronounced as a strongly burred _r_, and are then transliterated _r_ and _rh_ respectively. In A. and Eastern Bg. there is a strong tendency to pronounce both dentals and cerebrals as semi-cerebrals, as is done by the neighbouring Tibeto-Burmans. In A. _r_ and _rh_ become _r_ and _rh_ respectively. In Bg. and A. _n_ has universally become _n_, but is properly pronounced in O. _Y_ is usually pronounced as _j_, unless it is a merely euphonic bridge to avoid a hiatus between two vowels, as in _kariya_ for _kari-a_. In A. the resultant _j_ has the usual _z_-sound. When _y_ is the final element of a conjunct consonant, in Bg. (except in the south-east) it is very faintly pronounced. In compensation the preceding member of the conjunct is doubled and the preceding vowel is shortened if possible, thus _vakya_ becomes _bakk^yo_. In A., while the _y_ is usually preserved, an _i_ is inserted before the conjunct, so that we have _baikyo_. _M_ and _v_ when similarly situated are altogether elided in Bg., and this is also the case with _v_ in A., in which language _m_ under these circumstances becomes _w_; thus, _smarana_ becomes Bg. _ssoron_, A. _sworon_, and _dvara_ becomes Bg. and A. _ddara_. _R_ is generally pronounced correctly, except that when a member of a compound it is often not pronounced in colloquial Bg.; thus _karma_ (_kommo_). In North-eastern Bengali and in A. a medial _r_ is commonly dropped; thus, Bg. _karilam_ (_kailam_), A. _kari_ (_kai_).[1] The vulgar commonly confound _n_ and _l_. O. has retained the old cerebral _l_ of Pr., which has disappeared in Bg. and A. The semi-vowel _v_ (_w_) becomes _b_ in Bg. and O., but retains its proper sound when medial in A. When Bg. wishes to represent a _w_, it has to write _oya_; thus, for _chawa_ it writes _chaoya_. Similarly _baro_, twelve, +_yari_, friendship, when compounded together to mean "a collection of twelve friends," is pronounced _barwari_. Bg. pronounces all uncompounded sibilants as if they were _s_, like the English _sh_ in "shin." This was already the case in Mg. Pr. (see PRAKRIT). O., on the contrary, pronounces all three like the dental _s_ in "sin," while A. sounds them like a rough _h_, almost like the _ch_ in "loch." In Eastern Bg. _s_ becomes frankly _h_, and is then often dropped. The compound _ks_ is everywhere treated as if it were _khy_, In colloquial Bg. there is a tendency to disaspiration; thus _dekha_ is pronounced _dako_ and the Pr. _hattha-_, a hand, becomes _hat_, not _hath_. In Eastern Bg. there is a cockney tendency to drop _h_, so that we have _'at_, a hand, and _kailam_ for _kahilam_, I said.

The above remarks show that O. has, on the whole, preserved the original sounds of the various letters better than Bg. or A.

_Declension._--The distinction of gender has disappeared from all three languages. Sex is distinguished either by the use of qualifying terms, such as "male" or "female," or by the employment of different words, as in the case of our "bull" and "cow." The plural number is almost always denoted by the addition of some word meaning "many" or "collection" to the singular, although we sometimes find a true plural used in the case of nouns denoting human beings. Case was originally indicated by postpositions (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES), but in many instances these have been joined to the noun, so that they form one word with it. The following is the full declension of the singular of the word _ghora_, a horse, in the three languages:--

+-----------+---------+-------------------+-----------+ | | Oriya. | Bengali. | Assamese. | +-----------+---------+-------------------+-----------+ | Nom. | ghora | ghora | ghora | | Acc.-Dat. | ghoraku | ghorake | ghorak | | Instr. | ghorare | ghorate | ghorare | | Abl. | ghoraru | ghora-haite | ghoraye | | Gen. | ghorara | ghorar | ghorar | | Loc. | ghorare | ghorate or ghoray | ghorat | +-----------+---------+-------------------+-----------+

In Bg. and A. a noun often takes _e_ (_e_) in the nominative singular, when it is the subject of a transitive verb; thus Bg. _bedee_ (from _bed_) _bale_, the Veda says. In Bg. the nominative plural may, in the case of human beings, be formed by adding _a_ to the genitive singular; thus, _santan_, a son; gen. sing., _santaner_; nom. plur., _santanera_. The same is the case with the pronouns; thus _amar_, of me; _amara_, we; _tahar_, his; _tahara_, they. In Bihari (q.v.) the pronouns follow the same rule, and, as is explained under that head, the nominative plural is really an oblique form of the genitive. With this exception, the plural in all our three languages is either the same as the singular, or (when the idea of plurality has to be emphasized) is formed by the addition of nouns of multitude, such as _gan_ in Bg., _mana_ in O., or _bilak_ in A.

We shall see that pronominal suffixes are freely used in all three languages in the conjugation of verbs. In the Outer languages of the north-west of India (for the list of these, see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES) pronominal suffixes are also commonly added to nouns to signify possession. In most of the languages of the Eastern Group such pronominal suffixes added to nouns have fallen into disuse, but in A. they are still commonly employed with nouns of relationship; thus, _bap_, a father; _bopai_, my father; _baper_, your father; _bapek_, his father. Their retention in A. is no doubt due to the example of the neighbouring Tibeto-Burman languages, in which such pronominal _prefixes_ are a common feature.

In all three languages the adjective does not change for gender, for number or for case.

The personal pronouns have at the present day lost their old nominatives, and have new nominatives formed from the oblique base. In the first and second persons the singulars have fallen into disuse in polite conversation, and the plurals are used honorifically for the singular, as in the case of the English "you" for "thou." For the plural, new plurals are formed from the new singular (old plural) bases. In A., however, the old singular of the first person is retained, and the old plural plays its proper function. The Bg. pronouns are, _mui_ (old), I; _ami_ (modern), I; _tui_ (old), thou; _tumi_ (modern), thou; _se_, _tini_, he; _e_, _ini_, this; _o_, _uni_, that; _je_, _jini_, who; _ke_, who?; _ki_, what?; _kon_, what (adjective)?; _keha_, anyone; _kichu_, anything; _kona_, any. Most of the forms in the other languages closely follow these. The words in O. for "I" and "thou" are _ambhe_ and _tumbhe_ respectively. All these pronouns have plurals and oblique forms to which the case suffixes are added. These must be learnt from the grammars.

_Conjugation._--It is in the conjugation of the verb that colloquial Bg. differs most from the literary dialect. There is no distinction in any of the three languages between singular and plural. Most of the old singular forms have survived in a non-honorific sense, but they are rarely employed in polite language except in the third person. The old plural forms are generally employed for the singular also. The usual base for the verb substantive, when employed as an auxiliary, is _ach_, be, derived from the Skr. _rcchati_. O., however, forms its past from the base _tha_ (Skr. _sthita-_), and in South-western Bengal the base _tha_, derived from the same original, is used for both present and past time. Only two of the old Skr.-Pr. tenses have survived in the finite verb, the simple present and the imperative. Thus, Bg. _kari_, I do; _kar_, do thou. The past is formed by adding pronominal suffixes to the old past participle in _il_ (Skr. _-illa-_, a pleonastic suffix, see PRAKRIT), and the future by adding them to the old future participle in _b_ (Skr. _-tavya-_, Pr. _-avva-_). Thus, Bg. _karil-am_, done + by-me, I did; _karib-a_, it-is-to-be-done + by-me, I shall do. In Bg. there are two modern participles, a present (_kar-ite_) and a past (_kar-iya_), and from these there are formed periphrastic tenses by suffixing auxiliary verbs. Thus, _karite-chi_ (colloquial, _korci_ or _kocci_), I am doing; _karite-chilam_ (coll. _korcilum_ or _koccilum_), I was doing; _kariya-chi_ (coll., _korsi_), I have done; _kariya-chilam_ (coll., _korsilum_), I had done. A past conditional is formed by adding pronominal suffixes to the present participle; thus, _karitam_ (coll., _kortum_ or _kottum_), (if) I had done. Similar tenses are formed in O. and A., but the periphrastic tenses are formed with verbal nouns and not with participles. Thus, O. _karu-achi_, A. _kari-cho_, I am a-doing, I am doing. O. and A. have each a very complete series of gerunds or verbal nouns which are fully declined. In Bg. only one gerund, that of the genitive, is in common use.

In order to illustrate the conjugation of the verb, we here give that of the root _kar_, do, in its present, past and future tenses.

+----------------------------+---------+----------+----------------+----------+ | | | Literary | Colloquial | | | | Oriya. | Bengali. | Bengali. | Assamese.| +----------------------------+---------+----------+----------------+----------+ | I do | karn | kari | kori | karo | | Thou doest | kara | kara | koro | kara | | He (non-honorific) does | kare | kare | kore | kare | | He (honorific) does | karanti | karen | koren | kare | | I did | karilu | karilam | kollum, korlum | karilo | | Thou didst | karila | karile | kolle, korle | karila | | He (non-honorific) did | karila | karila | kollo, korlo | karile | | He (honorific) did | karile | karilen | kollen, korlen | karile | | I shall do | karibu | kariba | korbo | karim | | Thou wilt do | kariba | karibe | korbe | kariba | | He (non-honorific) will do | kariba | karibe | korbe | kariba | | He (honorific) will do | karibe | kariben | korben | kariba | +----------------------------+---------+----------+----------------+----------+

All the three languages have negative forms of the verb substantive, and A. has a complete negative conjugation for all verbs, made by prefixing the negative syllable _na_ under certain euphonic rules.

Literature.

_Bengali Literature._--The oldest recognized writer in Bengali is the Vaishnava poet Candi Das, who flourished about the end of the 14th or the beginning of the 15th century. His language does not differ much from the Bengali of to-day. He founded a school of poets who wrote hymns in honour of Krishna, many of whom, in later times, became connected with the religious revival instituted by Caitanya in the early part of the 16th century. In the 15th century Kasi Ram translated the _Mahabharata_, and Krttibas Ojha the _Ramayana_ into the vernacular. The principal figure of the 17th century was Mukunda Ram who has left us two really admirable poems entitled _Candi_ and _Srimanta Saudagar_. Parts of the former have been translated by Professor Cowell into English verse, and both well deserve putting into an English dress. With Bharat Candra, whose much admired but artificial Bidya Sundar appeared in the 18th century, the list of old Bengali authors may be considered as closed. They wrote in genuine nervous Bengali, and the conspicuous success of many of them shows how baseless is the contention of some native writers of the present day that modern literary Bengali needs the help of its huge imported Sanskrit vocabulary to express anything but the simplest ideas. This modern literary Bengali arose early in the 19th century, as a child of the revival of Sanskrit learning in Calcutta, under the influence of the college founded by the English in Fort William. Each decade it has become more and more the slave of Sanskrit. It has had some excellent writers, notably the late Bankim Candra, whose novels have received the honour of being translated into several languages, including English. Even he, however, sometimes laboured under the fetters imposed upon him by a strange vocabulary, and all competent European scholars are agreed that no work of first-class originality has much chance of arising in Bengal till some great genius purges the language of its pseudo-classical element.

_Oriya Literature_ does not go back beyond the 16th century, though examples of the language are found in inscriptions of the 13th century. Nearly all the works are connected with the history of Krishna, and the translation of the _Bhagavata Purana_ into Oriya in the first half of the 16th century still exercises great influence on the masses. Dina Krsna Das (17th century) was the author of another popular work entitled _Rasa Kallola_, or "The Waves of Sentiment," which deals with the early life of Krishna. Every verse in it begins with the letter k. It is not always decent, but is immensely popular. Upendra Bhanja, Raja of Gumsur, a petty hill state, is the most famous of Oriya poets, and was the most prolific. His work is insipid to a European taste, and when not unintelligible is often obscene. Oriya poetry, from first to last, has been an artificial production, the work of _pandits_, who clung to the rules of Sanskrit rhetoric, and loaded their verses with so many ideas and words borrowed from that language that it is rarely understood, except by the learned. The whole literature is, in fact, overshadowed by the great temple of Jagannath (a name of Krishna) at Puri in Orissa.

_Assamese Literature._--The Assamese are justly proud of their national literature. It has an independent growth, and its strength lies in history, a branch of letters in which other Indian languages are almost entirely wanting. They have chronicles going back for the past 600 years, and a knowledge of their contents is a necessary part of the education of the upper classes of the country. In poetry, the Vaishnava reformer, Sankar Deb, who flourished some 450 years ago, was a voluminous writer. His best known work is a translation of the _Bhagavata Purana_. About the same time Ananta Kandali translated the _Mahabharata_ and the _Ramayana_ into his native tongue. Medicine was a science much studied, and there are translations of all the principal Sanskrit works on the subject. Forty or fifty dramatic works in the vernacular are known and are still acted. Some of them date back to the time of Sankar Deb.

AUTHORITIES.--There is no work dealing with the three languages as a group. Both the _Comparative Grammars_ of Beames and Hoernle (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES) are silent about Assamese. The fullest details concerning them all will be found in vol. v. of the _Linguistic Survey of India_, parts i. and ii. (Calcutta, 1903). In this each dialect and subdialect is treated with great minuteness and with copious examples.

The first Bengali grammar and dictionary in a European language was the _Vocabulario em Idioma Bengalla e Portuguez_ of Manoel da Assumpcam (Lisbon, 1743). N.B. Halhed wrote the first Bengali grammar in the English language (Hooghly, 1778), but the real father of Bengali philology was the great missionary, William Carey (_Grammar_, Serampore, 1801; _Dictionary, ib_., 1825). W. Yates's _Grammar_, as edited and improved by T. Wenger (Calcutta, 1847) and others, is still on sale. It is entirely confined to the literary Bengali of the pandits. Its great rival has been Syama Caran Sarkar's _Grammar_ (Calcutta, 1850), of which there have been numerous reprints. In 1894 J. Beames published his _Grammar_ (Oxford), now the standard work on the subject. It is largely based on Syama Caran's work, but with much new material, especially that dealing with the colloquial side of the language. G.F. Nicholl's _Grammar_ (London, 1885) is an independent study of the language, in which the vernacular works of the best native grammarians have been freely utilized. There is no good Bengali dictionary. G.C. Haughton's _Dictionary_ (London, 1833) is perhaps still the best, but J. Mendies' (Calcutta, about 1870) is also well known, and is the parent of countless others which have issued from the Calcutta presses. _A Small Dictionary of Colloquial Bengali Words_, by J. M. C. and G. A. C. (Calcutta, 1904), may also be studied with advantage. Cf. also Syama-caran Ganguli, _Bengali Spoken and Written_ (Calcutta, 1906). For Bengali literature, see R.C. Dutt, _The Literature of Bengal_ (Calcutta and London, 1895), and Hara Prasad Sastri, _The Vernacular Literature of Bengal before the Introduction of English Education_ (Calcutta, n.d.). The most complete work is _Bangabhasa o Sahitya_ by Dines Candra Sen (2nd ed., Calcutta, 1901) in the Bengali language.

For Oriya there are E. Hallam's (Calcutta, 1874), T. Maltby's (Calcutta, 1874) and J. Browne's (London, 1882) _Grammars_. The last two are in the Roman character. They are all mere sketches of the language. Sutton's (Cuttack, 1841) is still the only _Dictionary_ which the present writer has found of any practical use. For Oriya literature, see App. IX. of Hunter's _Orissa_ (London, 1872), and Monmohan Chakravarti's "Notes on the Language and Literature of Orissa" in the _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, vol. lxvi. (1897), part i. pp. 317 ff., and vol. lxvii. (1898), part i. pp. 332 ff.

The first Assamese _Grammar_ was Nathan Brown's (Sibsagar, 1848, 3rd ed. 1893), and it is still the one usually studied. G.F. Nicholl gives an Assamese grammar as a supplement to his Bengali _Grammar_ already quoted. Like that work, it is quite independent, and is not a revised edition of Brown. M. Bronson's _Dictionary_ (Sibsagar, 1867) was for long the only vocabulary available, and a very useful and practical work it was. It is now superseded by Hem Candra Barua's _Hema-kosa_ (Shillong, 1900). For Assamese literature, see Ananda Ram Dhekial Phukan's _A Few Remarks on the Assamese Language_ (Sibsagar, 1855), partly reprinted in the _Indian Antiquary_, vol. xxv. (1896), pp. 57 ff. (G. A. Gr.)

FOOTNOTE:

[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.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Mr Annesley (b. 1851), after having served in the Prussian army, and in the Turkish army during the war of 1877, was in the British consular service from 1879 to 1892. In 1888 he became consul to the Congo Free State.

BENITOITE, a mineral discovered in 1907 near the headwaters of the San Benito river, San Benito Co., California, and described by Prof. G.D. Louderback. It is a titano-silicate of barium (BaTiSi3O9), crystallizing in the hexagonal system, with a hardness of 6.5, and specific gravity 3.65. It may be colourless or blue, the colour varying sometimes in different parts, and passing to a deep sapphire blue. The blue variety is cut as a gem stone, and often resembles blue spinel, though its softness distinguishes it from spinel and sapphire. It is a brilliant stone, with high refractive index, and is strongly dichroic, being pale when viewed parallel to the principal axis and dark when viewed transversely.

BENJAMIN, a tribe of Israel, named after the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel. As distinct from the others Benjamin was born not beyond the Jordan but in Palestine, between Bethel and Ephrath. His mother, dying in childbed, gave him the name Ben-oni, "Son of my sorrow," which was changed by his father to Ben-jamin, meaning probably "Son of the right hand" (i.e. "of prosperity," or, perhaps, "son of the south"; Gen. xxxv. 16-18). Of his personal history little is recorded. He was the favourite of his father and brothers (with which contrast the spirit of the stories in Judg. xix.-xxi.), and the reputation of fierceness ascribed to him in the blessing of Jacob ("Benjamin is a wolf that teareth," Gen.