BENFEY, THEODOR, Orientalist, born near Goettingen, of Jewish birth; a great Sanskrit scholar, and professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at his native place; author of “Lexicon of Greek Roots,” “Sanskrit Grammar,” &c. (1809-1881).

BENGAL (76,643), one of the three Indian presidencies, but more particularly a province lying in the plain of the Lower Ganges and the delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, with the Himalayas on the N. At the base of the mountains are great forests; along the seaboard dense jungles.  The climate is hot and humid, drier at Behar, and passing through every gradation up to the snow-line.  The people are engaged in agriculture, raising indigo, jute, opium, rice, tea, cotton, sugar, &c.  Coal, iron, and copper mines are worked in Burdwan.  The manufactures are of cotton and jute.  The population is mixed in blood and speech, but Hindus speaking Bengali predominate.  Education is further advanced than elsewhere; there are fine colleges affiliated to Calcutta University, and many other scholastic institutions.  The capital, Calcutta, is the capital of India; the next town in size is Patna (165).

BENGA`ZI (7), the capital of Barca, on the Gulf of Sidra, in N. Africa, and has a considerable trade.

BENGEL, JOHANN ALBRECHT, a distinguished Biblical scholar and critic, born at Wuertemberg; best known by his “Gnomon Novi Testamenti,” being an invaluable body of short notes on the New Testament; devoted himself to the critical study of the text of the Greek Testament (1687-1752).

BENGUE`LA, a fertile Portuguese territory in W. Africa, S. of Angola, with considerable mineral wealth; has sunk in importance since the suppression of the slave-trade.

BENICIA, the former capital of California, 30 m.  NE. of San Francisco; has a commodious harbour and a U.S. arsenal.

BENI-HASSAN, a village in Middle Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, above Minieh, with remarkable catacombs that have been excavated.

BENI-ISRAEL (i. e.  Sons of Israel), a remarkable people, few in number, of Jewish type and customs, in the Bombay Presidency, and that have existed there quite isolatedly for at least 1000 years, with a language of their own, and even some literature; they do not mingle with the Jews, but they practise similar religious observances.

BENIN`, a densely populated and fertile country in W. Africa, between the Niger and Dahomey, with a city and river of the name; forms part of what was once a powerful kingdom; yields palm-oil, rice, maize, sugar, cotton, and tobacco.

BENI-SOUEF`, a town in Middle Egypt, on the right bank of the Nile, 70 m. above Cairo; a centre of trade, with cotton-mills and quarries of alabaster.

BENJAMIN, Jacob’s youngest son, by Rachel, the head of one of the twelve tribes, who were settled in a small fertile territory between Ephraim and Judah; the tribe to which St. Paul belonged.

BENNETT, JAMES GORDON, an American journalist, born at Keith, Scotland; trained for the Catholic priesthood; emigrated, a poor lad of 19, to America, got employment in a printing-office in Boston as proof-reader; started the New York Herald in 1835 at a low price as both proprietor and editor, an enterprise which brought him great wealth and the success he aimed at (1795-1872).