BEN 



is ftationed at this gate to receive the tolls, duties, and im- 

 polts colltfted from the merchandize. None but natives are 

 permitted to live in the city ; and of thefe fomc are wealthy, 

 and cp.rry on an cxtenfive trade, which is committed to tluir 

 wives, who fjo to all the circumjacent villages, and trafTick 

 in all forts of merchandize, and who arc obliged to bring the 

 greateft part of their gains to their hulbands. A principal 

 part of tile city is occupied by the royal palace, which is 

 more dilHnguirn.-d bv the extent of its dimenlions tlian by the 

 commoJioiUncls or elegance of the ftrnclure. All the male 

 ilavtsin this town arc foreigners ; for the inhabitants cannot 

 lie lold for flavcs, and only bear the name of the king's 

 flavcs. This is one of the European marts for the purchafe 

 of llavtf. N. lat. 6^ lo'. E.long. f 6'. 



Benin, River of, called by Juan Alfonfo de Aveiro, a 

 Portugueic, who is laid to have firft difcovercd the coun- 

 try, Formofa, on account of the verdure and beauty of its 

 banks ; a conliderable river of Africa, in the kingdom of Be- 

 nin. It divides itfclf into feveral bra:ichts ; and has fome 

 towns or villages on its banks, in which Europeans, and par- 

 ticularly the Dutch, carry on a commerce. Notvvithllanding 

 the beauty of its adjacent fccnery, the air is noxious and 

 peililential on account of the vapours exhaled by the fun's 

 heat from its mardiy banks ; and it is much infcfted by the 

 molquito flies. 'J''he entrance iitto this river is in N. lat. 6° 

 38', and E. long. 4° 47'. 



BENISH Days, among the Egyptians, a term for three 

 days of the week, which are dayo of lefs ceremony in reli- 

 gion than the other four, and have their name from the 

 benijh, a garment of common ufe, not of ceremony. In 

 Cairo, on Sundays, Tuefdays, and Tliurfdays, (luy go to the 

 balhaw's divan ; and thefe arc the general days of Dulinefs. 

 Fridays they ftay at home, and go to their mofques at noon ; 

 but though this is their day of devotion, they never abftain 

 from bulinefs. The three other days of the week are the 

 benidi days, in which they throw olT all bulinefs and cere- 

 mony, and go to their little fummer-houfes in the country. 



BENISOUEF, in Geography., a town of Egypt, on the 

 well fide of the Nile. According to Savary, it is half a 

 league in circumference ; and Sonnini fays, that of all the 

 places fituatcd along the Nile, from Cairo, or for the fpace 

 of more than 30 leagues, this is the largeft, as well as the 

 mod affluent. The houfes are only cottages of brick and 

 earth, coarfcly conftrufted ; but the lofty minarets, vying in 

 hSight with the furroundingdate-trecs, anddifcovered through 

 their higheft branches, prefent an agreeable objeft to the 

 view. A manufacture of coarle carpets renders this a com- 

 mercial town ; and the adjacent plains are fertile and pro- 

 duftive, fo that the people who cultivate them appear lefs 

 diftreffed and wretched than thofe who live near the capi- 

 tal. Benifouef is the refidence of a bey, or, in his abfence, 

 of \ kiafchef, who levies with an armed force his arbitrary 

 tributes Over againll Benifouef Hands the village of 

 " Baiad," partly inhabited by Copts ; and on the fame fide 

 of the river, and at the dillance of 3 leagues, is " Bcbt," a 

 large village, the refidence of a kiafchef, wluire are a mofq'ic 

 ana a convent of Copts. Benifouef lies in N. lat. 29"^ 14'. 

 E. long. 30° 5S'. 



BENI TO, St. a fmall idand of the north Pacific ocean, 

 on the north-weft coaft of America, furiounded with rocks 

 and iflets. N. lat. 27=" 41'. E. long. 244" 3S'. 



Benito, Si. or Suliennct, a river of Benin, in Africa, 

 that difcharges itfclf 7 leagues S.by W. fiom the bight of 

 Biafra, and on the fouth fide of the river Campo, into the 

 gulf of Guinea. On the north fide of this river Hands a 

 great hill, called the Havburn. N. lat. 1° 45'. E. Ion"'. 

 8° 10'. 



BEN 



BENIVIENI, GiROLAMo, in Biography, ^^as bom at 

 Florence, in 1452, and contributed, under the aufpices of 

 I^orenzo de Medici, to reclaim the Italian poetry from its 

 mean and trivial ftate, and to renew the fiyle and manner of 

 Dante and Petrarch. The principal topic of Beniviem was 

 divine love, which he clothed with the lentiments of Plato- 

 nifm, and thus obfcuved the poetical beauties of his works 

 by myllicirm. He was efteemed on account of his integrity 

 and virtue, and employed by Pico, prince of Mirandola, as 

 his almoner. He died at Florence in 15^' 2, and was buried 

 in the fame tomb with his friend Pico. His works were 

 printed at Florence in 1500, and again with additions in 

 1519. Nouv. Did. Hift. 



BENLAWERS, in Geography, a lofty mountain, being, 

 the chief fummit of the Grampian chain, near Kenmore, ia 

 Perthfliire, Scotland. One of its fidcb rifes from the banks 

 of the Tay, and afTuniing a conical (liape, elevates its fum- 

 mit about 4015 feet above the level of the Tea. 



BENLOJA, in Ichthyohjgy, tlie name by which the 

 Swedes call the common Ileal:, cyprinns alburmts of Linnjeus. 

 BENLOMOND, in Geography, a mountain of Scotland, 

 fituated in the parifn of Buchannan, in Dumbartonfhire. 

 Though not fo lofty asBennevis orBenlawers,yet its infulated. 

 fitnation with refpedl to the neighbouring hills, and broad lake 

 of Loch Lomond fpreading at its bafe, give it great magnitude 

 and grandeur. It is computed to be 3260 feet above the 

 level of the fea, and 3240 from the furface of the lake. The 

 form it afFumes nearly refembks a truncated cone, and its 

 fides, particularly towards the lake, are finely mantled with 

 natural woods. Its north fide is exceedingly ftecp, but on 

 the fouth-weft it may be eafily afcendtd. On the north-eaft 

 fide is the fource of tlie river Forth, which, like moft moun- 

 tain dreams, foon becomes a rapid river, and is alternately 

 feen expanding into a lake, or darting over fome craggy pre- 

 cipices. Benlomond is mollly compofed of granite, inter- 

 fperfed with large mafics of quart/, and near the bafe are 

 large itrata of micaceous fchilhis, fome of which is alfo 

 found at the top of the mountain. Sinclair's Staciftical Ac- 

 count of Scotland. 



BENNA, in BrUiJh Antiquily, a kind of carriage, which 

 was ufed for travelling rather than for war. It contained 

 two or more perfons, who were called " Combennones," 

 from their fitting together in this macliine. The name was 

 probably derived from the Britidi word " Ben," or pen, 

 which figiiifitrs head, or shief ; and thtfe carriages might, 

 perhaps, have got this appellation from the high rank of 

 the perfons who ufed them. 



BEMNAVENNA, or Bans'Avanto, in Ancient Geogro' 

 phy, a town of Britain in the itinerary of Antonine, placed 

 by Camden, Gale, and Stukely, at Weedoii, a village fix 

 miles weft of Northampton, but by Mr. Horlley, for reafons 

 which he has Hated, and which fcem to be fatisfadlory, at 

 or near Daventry. 



BENNECKSTEIN, a town of Germany, in the circle 

 of Upper Saxony, and county of Klettenberg, 22 miles 

 S.S.W. of Halberlladt. 



BENNECUM, in Geography, a town of Guelderland, 2 

 miles north of Wageningeu. 



BENNET, Christopher, \r\ Blograj>hy, was born at 

 Raynton, in Somerfetlhire, about the year 1617. After the 

 ufual fchool education, he was entered at Lincoln college, 

 Oxford, in the year 1632, where he proceeded bachelor, an J 

 then niafter of arts, but feems to have acquired his knowledge 

 of medicnie at Leyden, or foine other univcrfity, where he 

 took his degree of dodor. He then came to London, was 

 admitted fellow of the college of phyficians, and appears to 

 have had a confidcrable (hare of reputation and pradice. In 



1696, 



