BEN 



237 



BEN 



grammatical inflexions, which constitutes so prominent a 

 characteristic of the Sanscrit language, has in Bengal! 

 almost entirely disappeared; and the want of terminations 

 marking -the cases and numbers of the noun, or the. persons 

 and tenses of the verb, is supplied by particles and other 

 auxiliary words, often rather clumsily subjoined (hardly 

 ever prefixed) to the mutilated stems of Sanscrit words. 

 The Bengali lias, however, preserved to a very considerable 

 extent the faculty, so conspicuous in Sanscrit, of forming 

 compound words, and recent writers have largely availed 

 themselves of this advantage, especially in treatises on 

 Hindu law and on philosophical subjects : we allude espe- 

 cially to the Bengali translation of the second book of the 

 Mttakshara (a Sanscrit law-book of high authority), pub- 

 lished by Lakshmt N:tr;tyana Nyayalankara (in 1824, 8vo.), 

 and to that of the Nyayadarsana, by Kasinatha Tarko- 

 panchanana (Calcutta, 1821, 8vo.). 



It does not appear that the Bengali language was ever 

 employed for literary purposes prior to the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. The earliest Bengali work extant is the Chaitanya- 

 Charitamrita, by Krishnadasa, a disciple of the Vaishnava 

 fanatic Chaitanya, the founder of a new mode of the worship 

 of Krishna, who lived towards the close of the fifteenth 

 century. This work, which is said to be almost as much 

 Sanscrit as Bengali, was till within very recent times fol- 

 lowed by only a few compositions, the most important of 

 which were the poetical versions, from Sanscrit into Ben- 

 gali, of the Mahabhurata, by Kasidasa, and of the Rama- 

 yana, by Kirtivasa ; these works are very popular in 

 Bengal, and are frequently recited at the houses of Hindoos 

 during several days, before assemblies of two or three hun- 

 dred auditors. Khemananda is named as the author of a 

 hymn called Afanasa-mangala, which is still recited at the 

 festivals in honour of the goddess Manasii, in the western 

 provinces of Bengal. A treatise on arithmetic, written in 

 verse, is ascribed to Subhancara : this work, and a treatise 

 called Gurudakshind, appear to have been the only ele- 

 mentary books composed by natives of Bengal for the pur- 

 poses of education. A new epoch in Bengali literature seems 

 to have begun with the foundation of the college of Fort 

 William near Calcutta, and with the labours of Dr. Carey 

 and Xis colleagues the Serampore missionaries, to whom, 

 acowding to the expression of a native author, may be 

 ascribed 'the revival of the Bengali language, its improve- | 

 yment, and in fact its establishment as a language.' The I 

 /Bible and various works of modern literature were trans- 

 / lated into Bengali, and printed: among others, ' Bunyan's 

 Pilgrim's Progress,' by F. Carey (Serampore, 1821), ' Ras- 

 selas,' by Raja Krishnachandra Roy, and the ' Discourse 

 on the Advantages of Knowledge,' published by the Society 

 for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. At the same time 

 various elementary works were printed, partly by the mission 

 press at Serampore, and partly under the superintendence 

 of the Calcutta School-Book Society. An impulse was 

 thus given to the cultivation of the language among Euro- 

 peans as well as among the natives, and the taste of the 

 latter for reading is attested by the fact that no less than 

 six newspapers in the Bengali language are now circulated 

 in Calcutta and its vicinity. One of the latest publications 

 in Bengali that has come under our notice is ' A Dictionary 

 in English and Bengal?, translated from Todd's edition of 

 Johnson's English Dictionary, by Ram Comulsen' (Seram- 

 pore, 1 834, 2 vols, 4to.), a work which does high honour to 

 tlie zeal and perseverance, and, as far as we may presume 

 to give an opinion, to the talent and skill of the translator. 

 (See the account of this work given by a competent judge 

 in the (London) Asiatic Journal, for April, 1835, pp. 

 2-21 236.) We are indebted to the author's preface for 

 the greater part of the preceding remarks concerning the 

 literature of the Bengali language. 



To Europeans who wish to commence the study of the 

 Bengali language, the following elementary works and 

 dictionaries may be recommended: A Grammar of the 

 alili language, by the Raja Rammohun Roy (Cal- 

 cutta, 8vo.) : Rudiment! of Bengali Grammar, by G. C. 

 Haughton (London, 1821. 4to.) ; nengati Selecliont, with 

 a translation and a vocabulary, by the same author (Lon- 

 don, 1822, 4to.). Dictionaries 'in Benjiili and English have 

 been published by H. P. Forster (Calcutta i"99, 2 vols. 

 4to.) ; Dr. Carey (Sorampore, 1 925, 3 vols. 4to. ; abridged 

 in 2 vols. 8vo. by F. Caret and Marshman, Serampore, 

 182730) ;' W. Morton (Calcutta, 1 828, 8vo.) : and Sir G. 

 C. Haughton (London, 1833, 4to.). 



BENGA'ZI, a town ofBarbary, situated at (he eastern 

 entrance of the Greater Syrtis, in the district of Barca. 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 S.E. 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, and 

 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 con- 

 taining vessels of two and three hundred tons burden ; hut 

 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 Tritonis of Strabo, p. 836) to the southward 

 of the town, but from the accumulation of sand this com- 

 munication is now interrupted during the summer months. 

 At the entrance of the harbour stands the castle, con- 

 structed on the ruins of some antient building, which are 

 still visible above the soil ; hut 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, eighteen-pounders ; its form is square, with 

 round towers at three of the angles ; but the fourth, the 

 only one which would prove offensive to4essels 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 

 rough small stones, cemented with mud instead of mortar. 

 They consist of a ground-floor only, which is built round a 

 quadrangular open court-yard, info which the doors of the 

 several chambers open, but the chambers seldom communi- 

 cate with each other : this court-yard is not paved, and in 

 the better class of houses there is a well in the centre. The 

 roofs are flat, formed of rafters, over which are laid mats, then 

 a quantity of "sea-weed or other vegetable rubbish, and over 

 the whole a thick stratum of mud, beat down to form a ter- 

 race, on which it is not uncommon to see grass and barley 

 growing, and goats feeding very contentedly. Those who 

 can allord it spread a preparation of lime over the mud, 

 which forms a surface impervious to the weather, as long as 

 the coating remains in good condition, and serves to collect 

 the rain into some general reservoir. During the heavy 

 rains which occur from January till March every year, these 

 frail fabrics give way, and fall in on their indolent tenants, 

 who generally neglect all repairs till they are roused from 

 their lethargy by the screams of wife and children, fre- 

 quently seriously wounded by the fall of the roof. At this 

 season the streets are literally converted into rivers, the 

 ma-.-ket is without supplies, from the impossibility of driving 

 the cattle into town, and many thousand sheep and goats 

 perish from the bleak winds and chilling rains which then 

 prevail. 



The market-place contains a pool of stagnant and putrid 

 water, which is the common receptacle for all the blood and 

 offal of the animals killed there, and of these offensive pests 

 there are several in various parts of the town. From this 

 and the general filth of the place, it is not surprising that 

 Bengazi has become proverbial for (lies, the swarms of which 

 are really a most 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 governed by a bey, generally connected with the 

 pasha's fumily, as from its commerce it is considered a lucra- 

 tive appointment. The bey, his officers, and the troops re- 

 fide in the castle. The town contains about 2000 inhabit- 

 ants, a large proportion of whom are Jews and negro slaves : 

 the former, in spite of the many heavy exactions on them, 

 are tlie principal merchants and tradesmen of the place. 

 Tlie exports consist chiefly of cattle, corn, and wool ; for 

 the first of these ?vlalta always offers a ready and (with a 

 favourable passage) a lucrative market : indeed this branch 

 alone employs a great number of small vessels during the 

 summer months. 



Dysentery, liver complaints, cutaneous diseases, and fevers 

 are common in Bengazi, but cases of ophthalmia are com- 

 paratively rare. Ships touching at this port are always 

 sure to find a plentiful supply of beef, mutton, and poultry, 



