1013 



BEXGAZI. 



BENGAZI. 



1011 



from ita furnishing a material part of the freight of homeward-boun- 

 ships, the weight and bulk of saltpetre being great in proportion tc 

 its money value, while the opposite condition holds with regard to 

 the greater part of the productions of India. 



From France Bengal receives wine and brandy in much larger 

 quantities than the same articles were formerly supplied by England 

 The returns are principally made in saltpetre and indigo. 



To Portugal cotton piece-goods form the principal export : the 

 imports consist almost wholly of bullion and wine. As regards the 

 latter article a great alteration has occurred of late years, in the sub 

 stitution by the European residents in India of sherry for Madeira ; 

 and on the other hand the piece-goods of India are now nearly super- 

 seded in Portugal by the cheaper products of English looms. A large 

 part of the trade of Portugal with China has been carried on inter- 

 mediately through Calcutta, where the Portuguese traders take in 

 opium and cotton, the returns for which go direct from Canton to 

 Portugal, or to the Transatlantic possessions of that country. A trade 

 nearly similar in its character has been kept tip between Bengal and 

 Brazil since the political separation of the latter country from Portugal. 

 The United States of America take from Bengal silk, piece-goods, 

 and indigo, with some other articles of Indian produce to a small 

 amount. The imports from North America consist mostly of specie, 

 or of metals and manufactured goods procured from Europe. Cargoes 

 of ice have been brought to Calcutta from the United States. 



Bengal exports to Java piece-goods and opium, and receives in 

 return copper of Japan, Banca tin, with pepper and spices, the pro- 

 duce of Java. The trade with Sumatra has nearly ceased since the 

 cession of Bencoolen to the Dutch. To Manilla cotton piece-goods 

 are sent ; the returns are copper and silver from the South American 

 mines, and a few trifling articles of fragrant woods and spices, the 

 produce of the Philippine isles. 



From the Coromandel coast chank-shells amounting to a considerable 

 value are brought. These shells are employed by the Hindoos in their 

 religious worship, and are cut into bracelets or worn round the ancle : 

 payment for them is usually made in rice and European goods. 

 Ceylon supplies Bengal with cocoa-nut oil, coir, a few pearls, some 

 spices, and chank-shells, in return for piece-goods, sugar, silk, and 

 rice. Teak timber, sandal-wood, coir, cocoa-nuts, and drugs are 

 received from Malabar, which takes in payment piece-goods, metals, 

 and British woollens, with dates, raisins, coral, and pearls brought 

 from the Arabian and Persian gulfs. From the countries bordering 

 on the Arabian and Persian gulfs Bengal receives Persian copper, 

 almonds, dates, coffee, gums, pearls, coir, cocoa-nuts, pepper, and 

 bullion, the last in a large proportion, chiefly in the form of Spanish dol- 

 lars, Persian rupees, gold tomauns, and Venetian sequins. The returns 

 are made in cotton piece-goods, silk goods, indigo, sugar, and grain. 



The Mauritius is supplied with large shipments of rice from Bengal, 

 and gives in return pepper and spices from the Malabar coast. 



Penang, and of late years Singapore, have been the chief entrepdts 

 of the trade carried on between Bengal and the straits of Malacca, 

 Borneo, Celebes, and the Molucca Islands. The most valuable part 

 of the import trade from this quarter is treasure in the form of gold- 

 dust from Borneo and Sumatra, and dollars and Sycee silver brought 

 by Chinese vessels. Besides the precious metals Bengal receives 

 pepper, spices, tin, various drugs, betel-nut, and wax. Cotton piece- 

 goods, opium, and rice form the principal articles of export from 

 Bengal to these settlements. 



From the Birmese empire Bengal imports timber and planks. 

 Gold and silver in the form of circular flat cakes of various sizes, and 

 also of various standards from pure gold or silver to two-thirds alloy 

 are imported to a considerable amount. Small quantities of wax, 

 Bapan-wood, ivory, and drugs are furnished by this trade to Bengal, 

 which returns British cotton-goods, grain, indigo, sugar, and opium. 



Military Forces. These include regular and irregular cavalry, 

 infantry, artillery, and police battalions. In the native regiments 

 a considerable proportion of the officers are British. The expense of 

 the military force in the presidency, including the North- Western 

 provinces, amounted in 1850-51 to the gross sum of about five 

 millions sterling. It does not appear that the cost of military stores 

 sent from England is included in this statement. 



Revenue, <tc. The net revenue of the presidency of Bengal in the 

 year 1850-51 was about 7,000,OOOZ., or including the North-Western 

 provinces (otherwise the Agra Presidency), and the Panjab and Trans- 

 Indus territory, about 13,880,000?. The total of the charges in the 

 same period was 10,818,430?. The public debt of the Presidency on 

 April 30th, 1851, amounted to about 45,000,000?. 



(Ayin-i-Akbari ; Rennell's Memoir of a Map of Hindustan ; Mill's 



History of British India; Mr. Charles Grant's Observations on the 



Wail' of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain ; 



M'Pherson's History of the European Commerce with India; Dr. 



Francis Hamilton's (late Buchanan) Statistical Survey of certain 



"is of Bengal ; Parliamentary Reports ; Journal of the Statistical 



/ for May, 1850; Statistical Papers of East India Company, 



1853 ; Report of Select Committee of the House of Commont on Indian 



Territories, 1853.) 



]!KN"GA'ZI, a town of Barbary, situated at the eastern entrance of 

 the Greater Syrtis, In the district of Barca, in 32 7' N. lat. ; 20 8' 

 . long. It stands close on the sea-shore, at the extremity of a 



beautiful plain, extending to the foot of the Cyrenaic chain of moun- 

 tains, which are fourteen miles to the south-east. The coast is 

 sandy for about half a mile inland, but beyond there is a mixture of 

 rock and excellent soil, which is well wooded aud supplies the town 

 abundantly with corn and vegetables ; cattle and sheep are brought 

 from the neighbouring mountains. 



The port appears formerly to have been capable of containing 

 vessels of about 300 tons burden ; but it is fast filling up with sand 

 and alluvium brought down by the heavy rains which annually 

 deluge the town, and boats only can now enter where fifty years ago 

 large ships used to lie. It is well protected by a reef of rocks lying 

 across at a short distance from the mouth, which leave a narrow and 

 difficult channel on each side, only accessible to vessels drawing seven 

 or eight feet water. The harbour doubtless communicated in former 

 times with a large salt-water lake (probably the Tritouis of Strabo) to 

 the southward of the town, but from the accumulation of sand this 

 communication is now interrupted during the summer months. At 

 the entrance of the harbour stands the castle, constructed on the 

 ruins of some ancient building, which are still visible above the soil ; 

 but the present structure is so slightly put together with small stones 

 and mud that it is deemed prudent not to fire salutes from it. It is 

 provided with nine guns, 18-pounders; its form is square, with round 

 towers at three of the angles ; but the fourth, the only one which 

 would prove offensive to vessels entering the harbour, is occupied by 

 a pile of buildings appropriated to the harem of the governor. 



The houses like most Arab buildings are constructed of roiigh 

 small stones, cemented with mud instead of mortar. They consist of 

 a ground-floor only, which is built round a quadrangular open court- 

 yard : this court-yard is not paved, and in the better class of houses 

 there is a well in the centre. Some spread a preparation of lime over 

 the mud, which covers the flat roofs of the houses, thus forming 

 a surface impervious to the weather as long as the coating remains 

 in good condition. During the heavy rains which occur from 

 January till March every year these frail fabrics give way, and fall in 

 on their indolent tenants. At this season the streets are converted into 

 rivers, the market is without supplies, and many thousand sheep end 

 goats perish from the bleak winds and chilling rains which prevail. 

 Bengazi has become proverbial for flies, the swarms of which are a 

 serious nuisance during the day, and are exchanged at night for 

 myriads of fleas and mosquitoes. 



Bengazi is in the dominions of the pasha of Tripoli, under whom it is 

 joverned by a bey. The bey, his officers, and the troops reside in 

 the castle. The town contains about 2500 inhabitants, a large pro- 

 portion of whom are Jews and negro slaves ; the former, in spite of the 

 many heavy exactions on them, are the principal merchants and trades- 

 men of the place. The exports consist chiefly of cattle, corn and 

 wool ; for cattle Malta offers a ready and (with a favourable passage) 

 a lucrative market. Dysentery, liver complaints, cutaneous diseases, 

 and fevers are common in Bengazi, but cases of ophthalmia are 

 comparatively rare. Ships touching at this port are always sure to 

 ind a plentiful supply of beef, mutton, and poultry, with fruit, 

 vegetables, and water. The fig and palm flourish abundantly ; the 

 3g-tree, for the most part wild, produces only a small fruit, which 

 never comes to perfection ; but great care is taken with the culti- 

 vation of the palm for the sake of the dates. [BAKOA.] 



Bengazi occupies the site of the Berenice of the Ptolemies, and of 

 ;he Hesperis of earlier times, one of the Cyrenaic cities ; but few 

 remains now appear to mark its former importance. Extensive 

 remains are however still found within half a mile round Bengazi, at 

 ;he depth of a foot or two below the surface ; and when a house is 

 ntended to be built the projector has only to send a few men to 

 obtain the most beautiful specimens of Grecian architecture, which 

 are broken up on the spot into small pieces to be used in the 

 construction of the new buildings. 



Though the walls of Berenice were completely rebuilt by Justinian 

 Procopius, book vi.) scarcely a vestige of them remains ; but to the 

 north of the town reservoirs may be traced with water-troughs of 

 stone. At the time of the heavy rains many coins and gems are 

 washed down from this spot, where a bank of 20 or 30 feet has 

 >een formed by the rubbish of the ancient city. In the quarries 

 whence the materials for the ancient city were procured, and 

 which when not far from the town were usually excavated for tombs, 

 no sepulchral traces could be found : they must therefore be sought 

 >eneath the soil with other remains. 



Some of these quarries are sunk below the plain to a considerable 

 depth, and are not visible till closely approached. Besides these 

 .here are some singular chasms of natural formation, whose bottoms 

 present a flat surface of excellent soil several hundred feet in length, 

 nclosed within steep sides of solid rock rising to the height of CO or 

 70 feet before they reach the level of the plain. They generally 

 iresent a scene of the greatest luxuriance ; and in these calm and 

 >eautiful retreats some authors appear to recognise the far-famed 

 ;ardens of the Hesperides described by Scylax. The town was 

 riginally called Hesperides. 



Some of these chasms have assumed the form of lakes, in most of 



which the water appears to be very deep, rising in some nearly to the 



op, and in others about 20 feet below. There are also several 



lubterranean caves, one of which at the depth of about 80 feet below 



