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526 BENGAL ary of the following year, and on June 23 de- feated the nawaub in the famous battle of Plassey, which established English ascendancy in India. The history of Bengal since that date will be found under the title INDIA. BENGAL, Bay of (Lat. Gangeticiu Sinus), a gulf of the Indian ocean, embraced between the peninsula of Hindostan on the west and the coast of Lower Siam, Tenasserim, Pegu, and Aracan on the east. With the exception of the Arabian sea, it is the largest indentation on the southern coast of Asia, its width at the broadest part, from Cape Comorin at the south- ern extremity of Hindostan to the same latitude on the coast of Siam, being 1,400 m. From this point it continues of nearly uniform width to the parallel of Cape Negrais, lat. 16 1' N., whence it contracts until the opposite coasts are but 250 m. apart, and terminates in an inlet or indentation of its N. shore, about 50 m. wide, and thickly studded with islands. All that part of the bay lying S. of the parallel of Cape Ne- grais is distinguished by some hydrographers as the sea of Bengal. The bay (in its wider meaning) receives the waters of many im- portant rivers, among which are the Ganges, Brahmapootra, Hoogly, Irrawaddy, Godavery, and Kistnah. The tide in some places rises at times 70 or 80 feet. On the W. coast there are no good harbors, and no soundings at the distance of 30 m. from land; but on the E. side there are several safe ports, and soundings within 2 m. of the shore. The S. W. monsoon begins to blow on the W. or Coro- mandel coast about the end of March or early in April. In June it acquires its greatest strength and regularity ; in September it sub- sides ; and in October the N. E. monsoon com- mences, from which time till Dec. 1 navigation in the gulf is fraught with great danger. Dur- ing the prevalence of both these winds a heavy surf rolls along the entire W. coast, rendering access to the rivers extremely difficult. BENGEL, Johann Albreeht, a German theolo- gian, born at Winnenden, Wiirtemberg, June 24, 1687, died December 2, 1752. He distin- guished himself at Tubingen as a Greek schol- ar, early exhibited a predilection for critical study, and was the author of several important works ; hut that on which his fame as a scholar principally depends is his edition of the Greek Testament, which was published in 1734. It was severely criticised by many eminent scholars, such as Michaelis, Baumgarten, and others; but the acnteness, patience, and judg- ment with which he compared the ancient copies of the New Testament writings, aided materially in the grouping of the original man- uscripts into families which was afterward carried out. His short notes on the New Tes- tament, published in the Gnomon Nom Testa- menti, have been translated into several lan- guages, and are still held in great esteem. They form the basis of John Wesley's "Notes on the New Testament," which is one of the standard books of Wesleyan Methodism. Bengel also BENGUELA wrote a work on the Apocalypse. He consid- ered the Apocalypse as the key to all prophecy, and believed that any right exposition of it would unseal the entire future history of the world up to the end of time. He thought he discovered in the mystical figures of the seer of Patmos that the world would end in 1836. BMGER, Elizabeth Ogilvy, an English author- ess, born in Wells in 1778, died Jan. 9, 1827. She wrote poetry, dramas, and fiction, but her reputation was due mainly to works of a historical and biographical character. She wrote memoirs of Mrs. E. Hamilton, of John Tobin the dramatist, of Klopstock and his friends, of Anne Boleyn, of Mary, queen of Scots, and of Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia; and when she died she had made some pro- gress in memoirs of Henry IV. of France. BENGHAZI (anc. Hesperis, afterward Bere- nice), a town of Barca, Africa (the Cyrenaica of the Greeks), the seat of a bey, on the E. shore of the Greater Syrtis or gulf of Sidra, in lat. 32 7' N., Ion. 20 3' E. ; pop., including neigh- boring localities, about 7,000, many of whom are Jews and negro slaves. It stands on the verge of a large plain, sandy and barren for nearly half a mile from the shore, but beyond having a fertile but rocky soil to the foot of the Cyrenaic mountains, 14 m. S. E., where cattle abound. The port, formerly capacious, is now accessible only to small craft, being filled up with sand washed into it by the annual rains, from January till March. At the entrance is a large hut dilapidated castle. The principal building is the new Franciscan convent with a Roman Catholic church. The miserable houses are built of very small stones cemented with mud, and are generally washed away during the rainy season, when the streets are con- verted into rivers, and thousands of sheep and goats perish. Drinking water has to be brought from a neighboring village, annoying insects abound, and severe diseases prevail. Ancient reservoirs may be traced, with stone conduits ; and besides vestiges of deep quarries, there are remarkable chasms with luxuriant vegetation, so beautifully situated that many of the ancient writers placed here the gardens of the Hespe- rides. Some of these chasms have become deep lakes, and there are several caves, one of which is said to contain a large body of fresh water at a depth of 80 feet. The latter is iden- tified by some writers with the Lathon river of antiquity, and the large salt-water lake S. of the town with the Tritonis of Strabo. Owing to the condition of the harbor, commerce has declined, and the inhabitants support them- selves mainly by agriculture and cattle raising. Large quantities of dates are produced. No- madic Arab tribes wander over the territories S. and E. of Benghazi. Interesting antiquities are found upon excavation. (See BERENICE.) BENGUELA. I. A country on the W. coast of Africa, the possession of which is claimed by Portugal. (See ANGOLA.) Its limits are not well defined, but it is commonly described as