a considerable country on the western coast of Africa, included in the territory of Angola. Being occupied by the Portuguese, to the exclusion of all other European nations, the knowledge of it is withheld from the latter with the most jealous care. The general observations made upon the coast of Angola will in a great measure apply to Benguela. The air is said to be unwholesome, the water is bad, and the natives are extremely fierce and uncivilized. The mountains contain mines of copper, which is extracted only in very small quantities. The port of St Felipe de Benguela was formed by the Portuguese on the Bahia das Vallas or Cone's Bay, and made the centre of their trade upon this coast, especially of the iniquitous traffic in slaves, which is still clandestinely carried on. The articles almost exclusively in demand among the natives are coral and beads, which are not only used as ornaments, but circulate as

Of Bengal, prior to the Mahommedan invasion of India, our knowledge is very imperfect. From its conquest by Shaha budiin at the commencement of the thirteenth century, it appears to have been ruled in feudal subordination to the empire, until the year 1340, when, during the reign of Mohammed Toghluk, it succeeded in throwing off its allegiance. A few years later, the successor of Toghluk consented to receive an embassy from Bengal, and thus recognised the independence of its ruler. In 1528 the king of Bengal, having been defeated by Baber, consented to terms of peace. Shortly after the province was again brought under the dominion of Delhi by the Afghan monarch Shir Shah; and though subsequently it succeeded in re-establishing its independence, it was finally reunited to Delhi by the Emperor Akbar, who formed it into a soubah or viceroyalty of the empire. Bengal continued to be ruled by governors under the Mogul dynasty, until the breaking up of the empire in the middle of the last century. The attack upon Calcutta by the nabob of Bengal in 1756, and the barbarous treatment of the servants of the East India Company, led to the battle of Plassey, and to the increased power and influence of the British. In 1765, the Emperor of Delhi conferred upon the East India Company the dewanny of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, and thus did this part of India form one of the earliest and most important of the acquisitions of the British in the East.

(B. B.—N.) The few Portuguese ships which now pass to and from the East Indies touch here for refreshment. Long. 13° 37', E. Lat. 12° 30', S. Pop. of town about 3000.