BEN 



Benber M,>fin,or Be,r,ar.M.ifin, the capUal oF a kinp;- 

 f^om of the fame name in the fouthcrn part of t'.-e idand of 

 Borneo, pofTctl^ng a good harbour, formed by tlie river Benjar, 

 flowing from the centre of the country ahnoft due fouth. 6. 

 lat. 2" 40'. E. long. 113=^ 50'. , a f 



Bender Rkhtr, a town of Perfia, on the north coalt ot 

 the Ptrfian gulf, in the province of Faififtan ; 160 miles 

 S.S.W. of Scliiras. 



Bender Ri-I:. a city of Perfia, in the proviiKe of Ker- 

 man. on the north-eafl coaft of the Pcrfian gulf. It is en- 

 compaffed with walls in an indifferent ftate, and lies north 

 from Abufchffhr or BiiHieer. The petty Hate, of which 

 this is the capital, comprehends feveral other placf s m Ker- 

 mefir, which render its fovcreign in fome mcafiMe dependent 

 upon Kerim Khan. The Arabs of this principality are 

 chiefly addiAed to a fea-faring life ; the Perfians inhabiting 

 its back parts arc huniandmeti. The reigning family of 

 Bender Rigk is of the Arabian tribe of Beni Saab, and pro- 

 ceeds originallv from Oman ; but the grandfather of one 

 ofits princes, having become a Schiitc, and married a Perfian 

 lady, tnis family is'uo longer reckoned by the Arabs among 

 their genuine nobility. A late reigning prince of Bender 

 Rigk, Mir Mahenna, was notorious through the country 

 for his vices and cruelties, as one of the moll execrable ty- 

 rants that ever exilled. He caufed his fervants to murder 

 his father in his own prefence, becaufe the old man had a 

 predileaion for his eldeil Ion. He killed his mother, be- 

 caufe (he reproached him for his crimes. He caufed his 

 brother, and iixteen other relations, to be affafiinated, that 

 he might eftablilh himfelf in the undifturbed pdifenion of 

 the throne. He drowned two of his fillers, becaufe a 

 neighbouring prince had afked one of them in marriage. He 

 expofes all the children that happen to be born to him. In 

 1765, this deteftable monftcr was under the aq;e of thirty 

 years. After having been twice captured by Kerim Khan, 

 he recovered his liberty, and immediately upon his return 

 to his own dominions began to pillage the caravans which 

 travelled between Schiras and Abufchaehr, and to praftife 

 piracy. Kerim Khan laid unfuccefsful fiege to his capital ; 

 and when he fent in 1765, to demand payment of the tribute 

 due for his pofTeffions in Kermefir, Mir Mahenna mal-treat- 

 ed the officer deputed for this puipofe, and caufed his beard 

 to be fliaven. Upon which Kerim Khan fent againft him a 

 powerful army, which conquered Bender Rigk and all its ter- 

 ritories. Mir Mahenna, however, hadprevioufly retired with 

 all his troops, and fome of his fubjefts, into a defart ide called 

 Khoueri, where he waited till the Perfian army retired 

 from his country. As foon as they were gone, he left the 

 idand, expelled the garrifon from Bender Rigk, and regained 

 pofTenion of his dominions. The tyrant had abandoned 

 himfelf to drunkennefs ; and had begun to exercife fuch 

 cruelties upon his troops, that he cut off the nofes and ears 

 of fome of the principal officers ; and yet fo attached to 

 him were his foldiers, that, in the period of his exile, he 

 took the ifle of Karek from the Dutch. Bender Rigk is 

 dlftant 132 miles W. S. W. from Schiras. N. lat. 29° 26'. 

 E, long. 51° 20'. 



BENDIDIA, ^syJ.Jiia, in Antlquily, folemn feafts held by 

 the Athenians on the twcnty-firll day of the month Thar- 

 gelion, in honour of the goddefs Diana. The word is form- 

 ed of /S?vJi{, a denomination of Diana, according to Strabo, 

 or of the moon, according to Suidas, which amounts to the 

 fame. The bendidia were held in the Pirxus, and bore 

 fome rcfcmblance to the bacchanalia. 



BENDING, in a general fenfe, denotes the reduftion of 

 a ftraight body into a curve, or giving it a crooked form. M. 

 Bernouilii has a difcourfc on the bending of fprings, or 



BEN 



elaftic bodies. (See Si-rin-g.) M. Amontons gives feveral 

 experiments concerning the bending of ropes. (See Rope.) 

 The friftion of a rope'bent, or wound round an immoveable 

 cvllnder, is fufficient, withatery fmall power, to fuftain very 

 great weights. Mem. Acad. Sc. 1703. 1705. 1699. Divers 

 methods have been contrived for bending timber, in order 

 to fiipplv crooked planks, and pieces for building fliips. 

 M. Dalefme ingcnioufly enough propofed to have the young 

 trees bent, while growing in the foreft. The method of 

 bending planks by a fand-heat, now ufed in the king's yards 

 at Deptford, was invented by captain Cumberland. Phil. 

 Tranf. N'^371. p. 75. 



The bending of boards, and other pieces of timber for 

 curved works in joilitry, is efFedled by holding them to the 

 fire, then giving them the figure required, and keeping thejn 

 in this figure by tools for the pui-pofe. 



A method has been lately invented and praftifed for 

 bending pieces of timber, fo as to make the wheels of car- 

 riages without joints. See Whbels. 



The ufe of fteaming wood for the purpofe of bending it 

 is evidently to fupple it, fo as to make it capable of being 

 brought the more cafily into the form required, as well as to 

 adapt it for retaining that form, after the prefTure by which 

 it was originally reduced to that figure has been lemoved 

 By means of fteaming, heat and moifture are applied to it. 

 If it has already moillure enough, as in the cafe of green 

 wood, heating in any other way, without the application of 

 fteam, may be fufficient ; or the effeil may be produced by 

 heating and wetting at the fame time. Thefe modes of 

 fuppling by heat and moifture, have been pradtifed from 

 time immemorial in Ruflia, and applied to wheels, and fome 

 other forts of wood-work. In England thefe, or fimilar 

 modes, have been applied for a long time jn the dock-yards, 

 and alfo, under a patent granted to Meffrf. Jacob and Viny, 

 but now expired, in the conftruftion of wheels ; and by 

 Mr. Bevan, under a patent ftill in force, to circular wooden 

 fafhes, foffits, fan-lights, door-mouldings, and hand-rails for 

 ftairs ; and, without patent, by cabinet and chair-makers in 

 general. Wlien the thicknefs required, compared with the 

 fharpnefs of the curvature, is fuch as to render it imprafti- 

 cable to bend the piece entire, it may be divided for this 

 purpofe into different thickneffes, in the manner propofed 

 by Mr. Samuel Benthani, under a patent obtained in 1793, 

 for methods of working wood, metals, ftc. with very little, 

 if any, lofs of flrength ; and if the ftrata are connefted by 

 proper faftenings, with a degree of ftrength far fuperior to 

 what a piece of the fame dimenfions would pofiefs, if grain- 

 cut. In this mode, curvature may be given to the wood- 

 work of all forts of engines, and of carriages of all forts ; to 

 all timbers defigned for receiving a curved fhape and em- 

 ployed in buildi.igs ; and to any of the timbers, that may be 

 ufed in the conltniftion of boats or veflels, not excepting fhips 

 of the largeft clafs. Thus, it is faid, a very confiderable 

 faving with refptdl to quantity and value might be obtained, 

 whilft at the fame time the ftrength would be augmented. 



In the operation of bending, care fhould be taken that 

 as faft as you force any piece to adapt itfelf to the curvature 

 of the mould to which you are bending it, you apply a- 

 prcffure, by means of fcrews or wedges, &c. to that part, 

 and along the whole piece, particularly at its fliarpeft con- 

 vexities ; fo that the piece may not only be kept to its pro- 

 per curvature, but the exterior fibres be prevented from 

 flarting out. In forming fhip-ribs of all fhapes and fizes, 

 fo as to fuperfede the ule of crooked-grown timber, where 

 that which is ftraight would be cheaper, Mr. Bcntham pro- 

 pofes to ufe one or other of the two following methods, 

 which, he fays, would effedually anfwer the purpofe. Firft, 



having 



