BEN 



212 



B i: N 



BENI is the atatui constructs of the plural of the Arabic 

 word Eb* or Dm, 'a ton.' It occurs in eastern ci-o.u'raphy 

 M a component part of many name* of families or tribes, as 

 Item -is of Tcratm,' I. e. the tribe of TcniTin, 



or the Teiutmidet; Btni Omayyah, ' the sons of Omayyah,' 

 i r \ I i in history under the current name of 



the O Tiah Brni Itrael, ' the desert of the sons of 



Israel.' tin- name of a dreary wilderness towards tho north 

 of Mount Sinai. 



BEM II AsSAN-EL-QADVM, or Old Beni-Hassan, 

 very largi- ulUsir of Egypt, near the cast bank of the 

 Nile,' in 'J7 53' N. lat., and 30 J 55' E. long. It is called 

 Old' to distinguish it from another village, a little to the 

 south of it ami nearer to the Nile, which appears to have 

 been founded about sixty years since, when the inhabitants 

 of Beni- Hassan-el-Qadym were driven, by the encroach- 

 ment of the sands upon the grounds around the village, to 

 seek a more eligible site. But although abandoned and deso- 

 late, the village is not ruined. M. Joraard. who contributed 

 tho description of this place to the great work on Egypt, found 

 a largo proportion of the houses entire, and to appearance 

 new. The place is of no importance but as marking the site 

 of the catacombs in the neighbourhood, which are among the 

 finest and most interesting in Egypt. The most important 

 of these catacombs are in a mountain a little to the north of 

 Beni-Hassan-el-Qadym ; and near them, in what was once 

 the bed of a steep torrent, is a large natural cave, which 

 Hamilton conjectures may have given to the spot its Greek 

 name of Sepos Artemidos, or Cave of Artemis ; for he will 

 not allow with M.da Pauwthat the name was applied to any 

 of these artificial excavations, the architecture and general 

 disposition of which too much resemble those of other Egyp- 

 tian grottoes, which were confessedly appropriated to the 

 use of tho dead, for any doubt to be entertained of their 

 character. This mountain is composed of calcareous stone, 

 containing nummulites, and the chain to which it belongs 

 is from 200 to 300 feet in height ; but in front of the prin- 

 cipal chain there is a lower one formed by the debris of the 

 rock, shells, and sand. In this mountain are the excava- 

 tions, about thirty in number, all at the same height in the 

 rock, and all having their entrances on the same platform. 

 According to Mr. William Hamilton, these grottoes must 

 have been the cemeteries of the principal families of the 

 name of Hermopolis, which town is directly opposite to 

 them on the other side of the river. There are still remains 

 of stone roads, which lead from the river's side in straight 

 lines to the entrance of the principal grottoes. 



Many of the grottoes are of considerable extent, consist- 

 in); of one, two, or three apartments each ; the largest of 

 which is about seventy feet square, Hamilton says, but he 

 is probably mistaken, as M. Jomard does not mention any 

 so large, and Mr. Legh seems to describe the largest as not 

 exceeding sixty feet in length by forty in breadth. In front 

 of the principal grottoes are small porticoes of four or more 

 columns, and other columns support the roof, that is, have 

 been left there in the excavation of the rock. The roofs are 

 fur the most part arched, but in none does any instance of 

 a cotutructfd arch occur. The columns are, in general, of 

 the same character with those of the great portico at Ash- 

 mounein, or Hermopolis Magna, but the proportions are not 

 so massive, being from twelve to eighteen feet in height, 

 but never more than three feet in diameter at the base. 

 They appear to represent four large palm branches tied to- 

 gether near the small ends, and set upright on the thicker 

 ends, with traces of other bands at equal distances all the 

 way up. This contrivance, which is still actually employed 

 by the natives in the construction of reod-huts, appears to 

 have suggested the first idea of this kind of column, which 

 is in such frequent use in various parts of Egypt, as the 

 column with what is called the bell-capital is evidently in 

 imit.ition of the trunk of the palm-tree with its spreading 

 brandies. Columns fashioned in the manner of those at 

 B-iii II .1-. <-an have necessarily a (luted appearance, and M. 

 Jomard iwys that they are precisely similar to thoso which 

 arc found in tho most early Greek temples, and analogous 

 to the Grecian- Doric, thus enabling us to trace an early stylo 

 of European architecture to the banks of the Nile. In the 

 . the columns are usually covered with painted or 

 sculptured hieroglyphics, and this circumstance, while it 

 in ike* an unimportant difference, sufficiently attests that 

 the pilhrs in question were really and properly Egyptian. 

 The interior distribution of the excavations is very various, 

 The walls of all of them, like the columns, Lave been covered 



with paintings, some of which arc in perfect preservation, 

 and with the colours as vivid as if recently applied, while 

 others have been defaced through the fanaticism or zeal of 

 the Moslems, und probabh .ily Chri-tians. The 



interior of one of the principal grottoes has been entirely 

 covered with a thin coat f hunl and durable plaster, painted 

 so as to resemble a variegated marble. Mr. Hamilton has 

 given a very elaborate account of these paintings ; and from 

 his descriptions, and those of M. Jomanl.it appe.irs that they 

 mostly represent scenes of familiar life, und afford a most 

 interesting \ iew of the habits and occupations of the antient 

 Egyptians. 



It is impossible, within our limits, to give an adequate 

 idea of tho endless variety of domestic ami rural occu- 

 pations which are pourtrayed on these walls. We there 

 see the processes which were followed in the culture of 

 corn, hemp, and flax, and in the manufacture of arras 

 and ropes ; we have views of boats navigating the Nile ; 

 and scenes of fishing, hunting, dancing, Wrestling, sham- 

 fighting, &c. It docs not appear that horses were employed 

 in the labours of agriculture in Eg\pt ; perhaps it wa* 

 sidered that they were too expensive, or that the light soil 

 did not require them. Some of the fishing scenes are very 

 curious: besides the common mode offUhmj.' \\ith the drag 

 net, a superior personage is in some of them represi 

 as throwing his spear at the fiah in the stream. Several 

 hippopotami are seen walking at the bottom of the river, or 

 with their heads above water ; while servants are paddling 

 on their floats of rushes among the sedges and reeds to 

 drive these animals away, in which they are assisted by 

 water-dogs. The fish arc delineated with great minuteness. 



Among the most interesting of the representations is a 

 scene of antelope hunting, where the animals are pursued 

 by hunters armed with spears, and leading greyhounds in 

 leashes, a scene precisely similar to that which may still be 

 witnessed among the Arabs in the neighbouring deserts. 

 Dancing is frequently represented ; sometimes with men 

 and women together, hut generally separate. The move- 

 ments and attitudes of the men are in general very elegant 

 some of them exhibit feats of activity apart, others dance 

 together, and one man stands upon his head. The dances 

 of the women are much more extraordinary ; their attitudes 

 being quite as strained and unnatural as those of the mo- 

 dern almas. In the gymnastic exercises, the amazing va- 

 riety of postures and the expressive manner in which they 

 are drawn are equally creditable to the expert ness of the 

 Egyptians in this sort of amusement, and to the ingenuity 

 of the artist. In one of the grottoes there are no less than 

 180 single combats represented, each perfectly distinct from 

 any other, and all executed with equal spirit. Hamilton 

 says, he was surprised to find no professors of the art of 

 boxing among them. One curious scene exhibits a man in 

 the act of being punished with the bastinado ; he lies on his 

 belly, and one man holds his legs and another his arms, while 

 a third inflicts the punishment; the affair is altogether 

 such as may now be seen every day at Cairo. It is remark- 

 able that the representations are almost entirely of a civil 

 character, notwithstanding the solemn purposes to which 

 the excavations appear to have been consecrated. The na- 

 tives as usual assign the origin of these works to the genii. 

 Norden strangely enough attributed them to 'holy hi runts, 

 who made their abodes there :' but although they may m 

 later times have been occupied by recluses, it is evident that 

 they were in the first instance designed as cat, in nubs, tor 

 the remains of mummies hujo been found, even in the great 

 chamber of the principal grotto, and all the grottoes have in 

 one or other of the apartments mummy-pits, or perpendi- 

 cular graves near the wall, and holes have been perforated 

 in the walls to servo as ring-bolts for the coir. 

 letting down the bodies. (Hamilton's MgyptiMpi De- 

 scription de fk'gypte, vol. iv. 8vo. : J riitirg of a 

 Journey in Egypt, p. 86. 87, &c. ; Roscllini's Wales, fcc.) 



BENIN, HKJHT OF, in the Gulf of Guinea, iCO 

 tained between Cape Formosa to the east, and Cape bt. 

 Paul's to the west, the distance between which is sou geo- 

 graphical miles in an east-by-south direction, while that 

 along the coast is nearly 350 miles. It is, with very few 

 exceptions, one continuous line of low, marshy, sandy 

 shore, intersected by numerous rivers and estuaries, more 

 especially towards Cape Formosa, where they form allu- 

 vial islands, which are part of the delta of the Quorra. 

 The swampy character of the ground extends in some 

 placet upwards of fifty miles inland from the beach, and 



