BENIN, an important country of Western Africa, situated on a bay or bight of the same name, in the most interior part of the great Gulf of Guinea. It forms the eastern limit of that long line of coast to which the name of Guinea is usually applied; and here commences that long chain of estuaries which, as there is now reason to believe, forms the termination of the Niger.

The first discovery of Benin was made by the Portuguese about the year 1485. It escaped the observation of Diego Cam when he sailed from El Mina to the mouth of the Congo; but tidings of it having been there obtained, Alfonso de Aveiro sailed thither, and brought the first specimen of the plant called long or Guinea pepper. He came accompanied also by an ambassador from the king of Benin, requesting, it is said, that missionaries should be sent to instruct the people in the Christian religion. The king of Portugal, accordingly, dispatched an expedition under Fernando Po, who discovered and gave his name to a fine island near the mouth of the gulf; and having ascended the river, established a settlement at Gatton. A church was built, and upwards of a thousand people received baptism. Much interest was excited by the account of a regular embassy sent at the accession of every new prince to the court of a powerful sovereign named Ogané, whose capital lay about seven hundred miles to the eastward. He was held almost in religious veneration, and his sanction was considered necessary to render valid the title of any new monarch. This mysterious prince maintained himself in retired pomp, and at every audience a silk curtain concealed him from view. At the parting interview, however, his foot was put forth from behind the curtain, and was venerated as a sacred object. He delivered to the ambassador a staff, a helmet, and a cross, all of brass, to be presented to his sovereign. From these circumstances the Portuguese interred that this was the Prester John or Christian prince whom they expected to find in the interior of Africa; but Major Rennell has more reasonably concluded that it was the king of Ghana or Cano, who then held extensive sway over that continent.

The Portuguese carried on for some time a brisk trade in slaves, who were carried to El Mina and sold to the natives of the Gold Coast. John HL, however, prohibited this nefarious traffic; and as the situation was found very unhealthy, while the conversions were professed only with the view of obtaining military aid against their neighbours, the settlement was ordered to be withdrawn. The Dutch afterwards established factories, and maintained them for a considerable time, chiefly with a view to the slave trade. The English and French have also formed occasional settlements. But all these are at present abandoned, and trading vessels come merely to the mouth of the river. On the whole, the river of Benin has always been, and now is, much less frequented for commercial purposes than that of Bonny and the towns situated at the opening of more southern estuaries.

The coast of Benin presents a succession of river branches, all probably diverging from one great trunk, connected and interlaced with numerous creeks and channels, which always afford an easy navigation for boats from one to the other. The whole of this territory consists of an immense swamp, either covered with water or composed of mud, in which the foot sinks to a great depth, and out of which rises a dark and impenetrable forest. The waters are so muddy that no fish except eels can subsist in them. The river, called by the Portuguese Formosa, is about two miles wide at its mouth; but it is crossed by a bar of mud, on which there is only twelve feet of water at spring tides, so that vessels drawing more than nine or ten feet cannot conveniently enter. Eighteen miles up is New Town, where vessels can anchor in three and a half fathoms water. It is a mere trading station, consisting of hovels built on a foundation of mud, so soft as to render it necessary to place old canoes, with their bottoms upwards, that the inhabitants may pass over them from house to house.

At New Town, two branches strike off on each side, and are followed by traders in preference to the main trunk. The left or northern branch leads first to Gatton, the port of Benin, to which barks of sixty tons can ascend, and near which dry land first appears emerging out of the morass. A land journey of forty miles from Gatton leads the traveller to Benin, the capital.

From information obtained on the Gold Coast, Μ. Dupuis considers Benin as ranking even above Ashantee and Dahomey among the great states of Western Africa; possessing an extensive and highly cultivated territory, and capable of sending 200,000 men into the field, although only 10,000 are armed with muskets. But Captain Adams, who appears to be the last that actually penetrated to Benin, leads us to believe this description exaggerated. The city was indeed found to cover a great extent of ground; but the houses were built in so scattered a style that the population did not appear to exceed 15,000. The country around was also fruitful, but by no means very highly cultivated. Sheep, goats, pigs, and poultry, were plentiful; but the vegetable food consisted almost entirely of yams. No information, however, is given respecting the districts in the interior. The king is absolute, being revered by his subjects as a species of divinity. It is a crime to believe that he either eats or sleeps, and all offences against him are punished with the utmost severity, as a species of impiety. At his death, or that of any of his great men, numerous human victims are devoted to attend them in the other world; and every year, at the mouth of the river, three or four are presented as votive offerings, to attract ships and commerce. Yet the practice of human sacrifice does not appear to exist on the same dreadful scale as in Ashantee and Dahomey.

The large channel which branches off to the right from New Town communicates with the Rio de Forcados, [7:4:572]and then with another river whose branches inclose the beautiful island of Waree, about five miles in circumference, which seems almost like a spot fallen from the clouds in the midst of a desert. Being somewhat elevated above the surrounding swamps, it is dry, verdant, and cultivated. The soil consists of a tenacious red clay, fitted for the manufacture of earthen jars, which form an article of trade. The island contains two towns, the joint population of which is estimated at 5000. The government is monarchical, but mild; and the natives seem to enjoy a considerable degree of freedom and equality. The houses are neatly built of clay, and some of them ornamented with wooden pillars. Waree carries on a communication with the sea by New Town, which is at present dependent upon it.

The main stream of the Formosa extends upwards in an east-north-easterly direction, but is not navigable for ships of fifty tons burden for more than fifty miles. Europeans have never ascended it, nor received accounts of any town situated on its banks.

Since the abolition of the slave trade, the chief commodities to be obtained in the river of Benin are palm oil and ivory, both at tolerably cheap rates. The imports consist of salt, silk and cotton stuffs, guns and gunpowder, coral, beads, iron, brass, brandy, tobacco, &c. The king must be immediately waited upon and presented with a large piece of fine red damask. Captain Adams advises that the trade be carried on by vessels of about 250 tons, lying off. the mouth of the river, outside the bar. They should have two large boats, one communicating with a factory at Lagoa, whilst the other plies up and down the river. Precautions must however be employed against a band of desperadoes, inhabiting what is called the Io Creek, by whom the boats are often attacked and plundered, and even the crews put to death. (e.) BENISH-Days, among the Egyptians, a term applied to three days of the week, which are days of less ceremony in religion than the other four, and are so called from the benish, a garment of common use, not of ceremony. In Cairo, on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, they go to the pasha’s divan; and these are the general days of business. On Friday they stay at home, and go to their mosques at noon; but although this is their day of devotion, they never abstain from business. The three other days of the week are the benish-days, in which they throw off all business and ceremony, and go to their little summerhouses in the country.