BENI

beni, a river of bolivia, a tributary of the madeira, rising in the elevated cordilleras near the city of la paz and at first known as the rio de la paz, and flowing east, and north-east, to a junction with the mamore at 10 deg. 20' s. lat. to form the madeira. fully one-half of its length is through the mountainous districts of central bolivia, where it is fed by a large number of rivers and streams from the snowclad peaks, and may be described as a raging torrent. below reyes its course is through the forest-covered hills and open plains of northern bolivia, where some of the old indian missions were located. the lower river is navigable for 217 m. from reyes to the esperanza rapids, 18 m. above its confluence with the mamore, where a fall of 20 ft. in a distance of 330 yds. obstructs free navigation. its principal affluent is the madre de dios, or mayu-tata, which rises in the eastern cordilleras about 35 m. east of cuzco, and flows in an east and north-east direction through northern bolivia to a junction with the beni 120 m. above its mouth. the principal tributaries of the madre de dios are the inambari and paucartambo, both large rivers, and the chandless, marcapata, and tambopata. in length and size of its tributaries the madre de dios is a more important river than the beni itself, and is navigable during the wet season to the foot of the andes, 180 m. from cuzco. beni (el beni), a department of north-eastern bolivia, bounded n. and e. by brazil, s. by the departments of santa cruz and cochabamba, and w. by la paz and the national territory contiguous to peru and brazil. pop. (est., 1900) 32,180, including 6000 wild indians; area (est., probably too high) 102,111 sq. m. the "llanos de mojos," famous for their flourishing jesuit mission settlements of the 17th and 18th centuries, occupy the eastern part of this department and are still inhabited by an industrious peaceful native population, devoted to cattle raising and primitive methods of agriculture. cattle and forest products, including rubber and coca, are exported to a limited extent. the capital, trinidad (pop. 2556), is situated on the mamore river in an open fertile country, and was once a flourishing jesuit mission. beni-amer (amir), a tribe of african "arabs" of hamitic stock, ethnologically intermediate between abyssinians and nubians. they are of the beja family, and occupy the coast of the red sea south of suakin and portions of the adjacent coast-country of eritrea, north of abyssinia. they are of very mixed beja and abyssinian blood, and speak a dialect half beja and half tigre, locally known as _hassa_. they marry the women of the bogos and other mountain tribes; but are too proud to let their daughters marry abyssinians. see _anglo-egyptian sudan_, ed. count gleichen (london, 1905); a.h. keane, _ethnology of egyptian sudan_ (1884); g. sergi, _africa: antropologia della stirpe camitica_ (turin, 1897). beni-israel ("sons of israel"), a colony of jews settled on the malabar coast in kolaba district, bombay presidency, chiefly centring in the native state of janjira. with the jews of cochin, they represent a very ancient judaic invasion of india, and are to be entirely distinguished from those jews who have come to india in modern days for purposes of trade. some authorities believe that the beni-israel settled in kolaba in the 15th century, but they themselves have traditions which indicate a far longer connexion with india (see jews: s 3).