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 528 BENIOWSKY or "Warrali, situated 115 m. further S. upon an arm of the Niger. Wari seems to be the chief city of a negro kingdom which is subject to the king of Benin. No European settlements are now found upon the coast of Benin. Even the port of Gato (Agathon), which was situated 46 m. below Benin on the Formosa, and once had a number of European factories, has dis- appeared from the map. Benin was discovered by the Portuguese Diogo Cam in 1484, and was visited in 1486 by Alfonso Aveiro. In 1786 the French made settlements at the mouth of the river, which were destroyed by the Eng- lish in 1792. II. A town, the capital of the kingdom, situated on the right bank of the westernmost arm of the Niger, formerly sup- posed to be an independent stream and called the Benin or Formosa river ; pop. 15,000. The town occupies a large surface, and has an active trade, though since the breaking up of the Guinea slave trade it has been surpassed in commercial prosperity by Bonny, at the E. mouth of the delta. III. Bight of, the N. part of the gulf of Guinea, W. of the delta of the Niger, on the Slave Coast. BENIOWSK.Y,Moritz Angnst, count, a Hungarian soldier and adventurer, born at Verbo in the county of Neutra, in 1741, died May 23, 1786. He was the son of an Austrian general, served as lieutenant in the seven years' war, and after- ward studied navigation at Hamburg, Amster- dam, and Plymouth. Having joined the Poles in the war against Russia, he was taken prisoner and exiled to Kamtchatka in 1770. On his voyage thither he saved the vessel from de- struction by storm, and this service, with his skill in chess, procured for him a kind recep- tion from the governor of Kamtchatka, who appointed him instructor of his children in French and German. Having promised to colonize the southern extremity of Kamtchatka with his countrymen, he received in marriage the hand of Aphanasia, the governor's daugh- ter, though he had another wife in Europe. With her assistance he made his escape in 1771, with a number of companions, first de- feating a detachment of Russians and captur- ing a fortress with a large treasure. He first went to Formosa and then to Macao, where many of his company died, and among them Aphanasia.' He then took passage for France, entered the army, obtained the command of a regiment of infantry, and afterward received a commission to plant a colony in Madagascar, where, having ingratiated himself with the na- tives, he was made king of one of the tribes in 1776. In order to obtain assistance for his colony he returned to France, but was treated with so much severity by the French ministry that he went into the service of Austria, and was in the engagement between the Austrians and Prus- sians at Habelschwerdt in 1778. In 1783 he organized an expedition for Madagascar, obtain- ing some of the funds which he needed from private individuals in London, but the larger part from a mercantile house of Baltimore. He BENJAMIN set sail with his expedition in October, 1784. In Madagascar he provoked hostilities with the French, and finally lost his life in a fight with French troops, which were sent against him from the Isle of France. Translations of his autobiography, which was written in French, were published by Nicholson in England (2 vols., 1790), and by Forster and Ebeling in Germany. Kotzebue's play, " The Conspiracy of Kamtchatka," and an opera of Boleldieu, were founded upon the events of his life. BENJAMIN, a Hebrew patriarch, the youngest son of Jacob, full brother of Joseph, these being the only children by Rachel. His mother, dying in childbed, called him Ben-oni, meaning "son of my torment" (cause of my misfortune), or " son of my wealth " (my treasure) ; but his father changed the name to Ben-yamin, " son of the right hand " (my support, or perhaps in reference to Rachel). The Samaritan code has Ben-yamim, " son of days," that is, " son of old age." Benjamin was an infant at the time of the abduction of his brother Joseph, and as he grew up became the favorite son of his aged father. Jacob, in his dying address to his chil- dren, says that " Benjamin will ravin as a wolf, devouring prey in the morning, and dividing spoil at night ; " allusions to a fierce and un- governable disposition, a characteristic which his tribe seems to have manifested during its whole existence. The sons of Benjamin out- numbered those of any of his brothers ; but at the exodus the tribe was the smallest of all except that of Levi. The territory in Canaan assigned to the tribe of Benjamin, between Judah and Ephraim, and Dan and the Jordan, was comparatively small, but in ancient times noted for fertility. It included the stronghold of Jebus, afterward Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethel, Gibeah, Ramah, and Mizpeh. The Benjamites became noted for their expertness in the use of arms, especially of the sling. During the period of the judges the tribe was almost exterminated in a reckless struggle with the others ; but in time it recovered from the blow. Saul, the first king of Israel, was a Benjamite ; and after his death the tribe adhered to his son Ishbosheth in opposition to David, who had become king of Judah. The assassination of Abner by Joab, and David's public disclaimer of all part in it, decided the Benjamites in his favor, and they thence- forward entered into the closest relations with Judah ; and when the disruption of the king- dom took place, Benjamin and Judah alone adhered to the house of David, the other ten tribes going off with Jeroboam. From this time the general history of the tribe becomes merged in that of the kingdom of Judah, although it appears that some sort of tribal organization was ever maintained, for the tribe is separately mentioned wherever the statistics of the kingdom are given, down to the time of the return from the Babylonish captivity. BENJAMIN, Judah Phillips, an American lawyer and senator, born in Santo Domingo in 1812, of Jewish parents, who emigrated to Savannah