BENGUELA

[s. 96] : A district of Angola, W. Africa, cattle-raising. and a town in that district from which a railroad to be constructed to the E. frontier of the colony, it being the seaport for trade with Bih6 and the region in which mi ionary stations are established. is BENITO: A town on an island in the San Benito River, in the Spanish Colony of Cape San Juan, W. Africa; station of the PN (1864), with 10 BENNETT, CEPHAS: Born at Homer, N. Y., March 20, 1804. Dr. BoUes, Secretary of the ABMU, advised him to offer himself to the Society go out as its mi ionary printer. He was appointed in 1828 and sailed May 22, 1829, reaching Calcutta October 6, and Maul main, January He com14, 1830, with his printing pre es. menced at once the printing of tracts, for which to the demand in the early history of the mi ion was very great. In 1832 he began to print the Burmese Scriptures, and as superintendent of the mi ion pre in Burma for more than half a century he was permitted to print the Bible in three languages the Burmese, translated by Dr. Judson; the Sgau Karen, translated by Dr. Mason, and the Pwo Karen, by Rev. D. L. Brayton, and also the New Testament in the Shan language. From the pre under his care were sent forth more than 200,000,000 of Scriptures, tracts, and religious and educational books in all the dialects of Burma. He was not — only a printer, but a preacher of the Gospel, having been ordained to the ministry by his brethren of the mi ion, and in the intervals of his work as a printer he labored as an evangelist. The year 1834 he spent in Rangoon, then under Burman rule, preaching and distributing tracts. When in Tavoy, whither he went in 1837 to print the Karen Bible, and where he remained till his return in 1857, he spent much of the cold season in the jungles, among the heathen and the native Christians. In these tours he visited all the Tavoy and Mergui districts. His deep interest in the educational work of mi ions led him, in the early part of his residence in Maul main, to take charge of the government school for two and a half years. To him chiefly is due the founding of the Burma Bible and Tract Society, and through his influence its operations were enlarged by the recent vernacular schoolbook departments. He was also much engaged in the English church in Rangoon. Mr. Bennett was taken seriously ill in July, 1885, but rallied. Early in November he had a relapse, and on the 16th he pa ed away, in the eighty-second year of his age, after fifth-six years of mi ion service. 96