15F.XARES. 



BKNEVKNTO. 



1002 



The district is well watered by the Ganges and the Goomty rivers, 

 as well as by several small tributaries of those streams ; and having 

 now enjoyed along period of peace and security, the inhabitants have 

 realised the advantages gffered by its soil and climate, and the district 

 exhibits many signs of prosperity. For about nine months in the 

 year the climate is temperate, and sometimes during the winter it is 

 found agreeable to have fires in the houses. During the three mouths 

 from April to June hot winds prevail, and for a time destroy the 

 verdure. 



(Rennell's Memoir ; Mill's British India ; Sykes and Macgregor, in 

 Parliamentary Papers, 1848.) 



BENA'RES, the capital of the district of Benares, is built on the 

 north or left bank of the Ganges, which here makes a fine sweep ; the 

 convex side of the curve is that on which the city is built ; it is situ- 

 ated in 25 20' N. lat., 83 1' E. long., 460 miles N.W. from Calcutta, 

 and 950 miles N.E. from Bombay. 



The streets of the city are for the most part only a few feet broad, 

 and the houses, which are built of stone and lofty, are so close toge- 

 ther that the sun's rays can hardly penetrate to the pavement. The 

 streets art- described as being covered with every kind of filth, which 

 renders the place highly disagreeable as a residence to Europeans. 

 When seen from the river the appearance of the city is beautiful ; 

 there beiiig much variety and ornament in the buildings, terraces on 

 their summit.', and numerous flights of stone steps which lead from 

 the banks of the river to Hindoo temples and other public buildings. 

 The number of brick and stone dwellings is said to exceed 12,000; 

 besides which there are above 16,000 houses built with mud. Many 

 of the houses are of large dimensions. It is customary for each story 

 to be rented by a separate family, and some of the buildings are thus 

 said to contain each 200 inhabitants. The more wealthy Hindoos live 

 in detached houses, with open courts, and surrounded by walls. 



Almost in the centre of the city is a large mosque, built by Aurung- 

 zebe on the site of a magnificent Hindoo temple, which he destroyed 

 for the purpose of erecting the present building : the mosque has 

 two minarets which rise to the height of 232 feet from the level of the 

 Ganges. The dwellings of the European residents are at Seerole, 

 about three miles from the city. 



The native population of Benares is at all times very great. In 

 1803 the resident inhabitants were estimated to amount to 582,000, 

 and the number is now supposed to be even greater. Nine-tenths of 

 the population are Hindoos, and the remainder Mohammedans. 



The sacredness of the city in the estimation of Hindoos makes it 

 the constant resort of pilgrims from all parts of Hindustan. A great 

 number of these devotees being exceedingly poor subsist upon charity, 

 and are consequently often reduced to a state of the greatest misery. 

 Numerous Turks, Persians, and Armenians are constantly in the city. 

 Sfvi-ral of the natives are men of great wealth, who act as diamond 

 merchants and bankers, and have been accustomed to facilitate the 

 money operations of the East India Company. Benares is one of the 

 stations for the shallow-draught steamers which ply between Calcutta 

 and Allahabad. The great sugar-refining firm of Messrs. Alexander 

 here ia one of the chief commercial establishments in the city. 



Benares is celebrated as having been in ancient times the seat of 

 Brahminical learning. A great part of the instruction formerly 

 given here was gratuitous, from the prevailing idea that all the 

 religious merit of the act would be lost if any payment were taken 

 from the pupils. It does not appear however that the teachers had 

 any scruples about receiving donations from pilgrims or from Hindoo 

 princes. At the time of the establishment of the British empire in 

 India the schools of Benares were in a declining condition. The 

 II iiidoo Sanscrit college of this city was established by the English iu 

 1791, and an English class added in 1827. Other schools have been 

 established in Benares during the present century, and have been 

 partly endowed by native inhabitants. In one of these schools chiMivn 

 are instructed in the English, Persian, and Hindustanee languages, as 

 well as in writing, arithmetic, general history, geography, and astro- 

 nomy. The London and other missionary societies have given con- 

 siderable attention to the city of Benares, as an important central 

 station for their operations in the religious instruction of the Hindoos. 



The government of Benares has been virtually exercised by the 

 British since 1775. The raja holds merely a nominal authority, and 

 is a stipendiary of the company. His residence is at Rhamnaghur, on 

 the opposite side of the river. A court of circuit and appeal is con- 

 ducted at Benares by representatives of the East India Company. 



(Rennell's Memoir of a Map of Hindustan ; Mill's History of India ; 

 Tennant's Indian Recreations ; Parliamentary Papers, &c.) 



UKN'AVENTE. [LEON.] 



I'KXCOOLEN, a settlement in the possession of the Dutch on the 

 west coast of the island of Sumatra, in 3 55' 8. lat., 102 20' 

 E. long. In order to carry on the pepper trade with advantage the 

 English East India Company formed an establishment at Bencoolen 

 in 1 i'A'i, to which they afterwards gave the name of Fort Marlborough. 

 In 1695 the company obtained by grant from the raja an addition 

 to their settlement. During the next twenty-five years the settlers 

 were much harassed in consequence of disputes between rival chiefs. 

 Jn 171'J thi^ English were nearly all destroyed by the natives. Ben- 

 coolen, with the other English settlements on the coast of Sumatra, 

 WM all but completely destroyed by a French force under Count 



D'Estaing iu 17CO, but the town was soon rebuilt. This settlement 

 had long ceased to be of any political or commercial importance to 

 the East India Company, while it was at the same time the cause of 

 considerable outlay. The East India Company therefore made no 

 sacrifice in delivering up Beucoolen to the Dutch government. The 

 arrangement was made in 1825, when the British settlements in 

 Sumatra were given up in exchange for Malacca and other Dutch 

 settlements on the continent of India. 



The district or province of Bencoolen is now dependent on the 

 Dutch settlement at Padaug. Beucoolen district is bounded N. and 

 W. by the district of Indrapoor. and E. and S. by Lampuug : the 

 total population is upwards of 90,000. 



The town of Bencoolen is tolerably well built, but is not favourably 

 situated in respect of health. Fort Marlborough, a short distance 

 inland, is said to be more healthy. The population is about 12,000, 

 and includes Europeans, Dutch, and English, and their descendants ; 

 Chinese, Malays, settlers from Pulo, Neas, an island lying off Tapa- 

 nooly Bay on the western coast of Sumatra, and some negroes. 



The cultivation of the spice plantations is kept up by the Dutch, 

 the labour being performed by slaves, who are principally brought 

 from Pulo Neas and from the island of Bali. Debtors are likewise 

 considered as slaves, being obliged to work for the benefit of their 

 creditors. Bencoolen trades with Batavia, Bengal, the Coromaudel 

 coast, and the more northern ports of Sumatra. The imports are 

 chiefly cloths, rice, salt, ophim, tobacco, sugar, and some European 

 manufactures. The produce of the 'district is sent to other parts on 

 the island or into the interior. 



(Marsden's History of Sumatra, ; Count Hogeudorp's Coup d'(Eil 

 sur Vile de Java et les autres Possessions Neetiamlaises dans I'Archipel 

 dcs Indes ; Parliamentary Papers.) 



BEND-EMIR RIVER. [ABAS ; BAKHTEGAN.] 



BENDER (formerly Teckin or Tigine, called by the Russians 

 Bendery, and by the natives Tigino), a fortified town in Bessarabia, 

 the most south-western province of Russia in Europe, is situated in 

 46 45' N. lat., 29 35' E. long., on the right bank of the Dniester. 

 The town is built on the land side in the shape of a crescent. It is 

 inclosed by a wall and a deep broad ditch, and has a citadel, which is 

 constructed on an eminence. The streets are narrow, gloomy, and 

 filthy ; the mosques, twelve in number, which had been erected ty 

 the Turks, to whom the town formerly belonged, have been mostly 

 converted to other purposes. There are an Armenian and a Greek 

 church as well as a synagogue in the town. Bender has seven gates 

 and two suburbs, which are inhabited by natives, whose occupation 

 is mostly agriculture and grazing. Its population is about 8000 ; the 

 chief source of their support is a saltpetre work, some tanneries, 

 iron-smithies, and three paper-mills. Achmet III. granted an 

 asylum in Bender to Charles XII. of Sweden, after he had lost his 

 army in the battle of Pultawa on the 8th of July 1709. He resided 

 in the adjoining village of Varnitza on the Dniester, where he lived 

 for four years ; but his conduct, maliciously aggravated iu the eyes 

 of the Turks by the intrigues of Catharine of Russia, ultimately 

 brought upon himself the hostility of his host, whom he had the 

 temerity to brave by resisting several thousand men with a handful 

 of followers in a barricaded house. The sultan however generously 

 allowed his royal prisoner to escape and make his way peaceably 

 back to his native country. In 1771 General Panin at the head of 

 a Russian force stormed the town, put the garrison and inhabitants, 

 to the number of 30,000, to the sword, and then set fire to the plase. 

 Russia, in dictating the subsequent treaty of Kutshuk-Kainarji (21st 

 July 17/4), restored the ruins of Bender to the Turks. In the 

 campaign of 1809 the Russians again assailed and captured it, but 

 restored it to Turkey at the peace of Jassy. It once more fell into 

 the hands of the Russians two years afterwards, in the campaign 

 which terminated with the treaty of Bucharest in 1812. 



BKNEVE'NTO, a town belonging to the Papal State, though 

 geographically inclosed within the province of Principato Ultra, in 

 the kingdom of Naples. It is situated on a hill at the junction of 

 two valleys, in which the rivers Galore and Sabato flow ; and between 

 Mount Taburnus to the west, which separates its territory from the 

 plains of Campania, and the central chain of Apennines to the east, 

 which divides it from the plains of Puglia. The Calore, one or two 

 miles above Benevento, receives the Tamaro, which comes from the 

 north from Mount Matese. After winding round the northern side 

 of the town, the Calore receives just below it the Sabato which comes 

 from the south, after which the united streams flow to the Volturno 

 above Cajazzo. Benevento is 33 miles N.E. from Naples, 130 miles 

 E.S.E. from Rome, in 41 7' N. lat., 14 43' E. long., and has a 

 population of 16,500. 



Tins town was anciently called Malcventum, the etymology of 

 which name has not been satisfactorily explained. Some ancient 

 coins with the legend ' Malies,' or ' Maliesa,' have been supposed to 

 belong to the Samnite Maleventum. Mideveutum was a very ancient 

 city ; some ancient writers ascribe its foundation to Diomedes, and the 

 city still has the Calydouian Boar among its armorial bearings. It 

 was probably an Ausonian city, which was acquired by conquest by 

 the Sarnuites. In the third Kamnite war with the Romans it fell into 

 the hands of the latter people, who in B.C. 274 defeated Pyrrhus in a 

 great battle near Maleventum. In B.C. 208 the city became a Roman 



